MLax: 2014 NCAA CHAMPS!!!!

[burnspbesq]

NCAA Tournament = ACC Invitational. Denver and Drexel up next, playing for the invitation.

[SCMatt33]

Duke moves on! Defense stepped up big in the second half. They really have an extra gear with Wolf that they haven't had to go to a lot this year, but you really saw that happen when Hopkins pulled within 2. Given that Luke Aaron had a bad day and Fowler had a average day by his standards, it was good to see them end up with such a big margin. The one thing that I'm looking for next weekend is some work on the clearing game. Those issues have flared up a few times this year and was a big part of Hopkins' comeback.

[burnspbesq]

Myles Jones is the Son of Patrick Davidson.

[MCFinARL]

Thought it should have been a penalty. Hop gets all the calls.

Was offline for a while but I agree. It started as a clean hit to the chest but at the end the stick went up under Dionne's chin and looked like a cross check.

[Here is a Turtle]

Denver is destroying Drexel right now so it looks like they will play Duke at 1pm on Saturday.
Notre Dame and Maryland are at 3:30. Still in disbelief that Maryland did as well as they did this season. A lot of people did not even have them in the tournament before the season started.

[burnspbesq]

14-5 after three quarters. So Semifinal Saturday is all rematches. Both Duke and Denver are different, and better, than they were in February when Duke smoked the Pios.

[burnspbesq]

The record for points in a tournament is 25, shared by former Cornell attackmen Eamonn McEnaney and Tim Goldstein. Myles has 15 in two games.

[Olympic Fan]

With all the joking about "Basketball School" or "baseball school" or "football school", this is the eighth straight year that Duke lacrosse has reached the NCAA Final Four. The last time Duke missed, it was because the Devils cancelled the season (for reasons we don't need to dredge up). Duke has reached the Final Four nine straight times in the tournaments they've competed in -- two titles, two runnerups and four semifinal appearances in that span. 2004 was the last time Duke finished the season without going to the Final Four.

Lacrosse school?

[arnie]

With all the joking about "Basketball School" or "baseball school" or "football school", this is the eighth straight year that Duke lacrosse has reached the NCAA Final Four. The last time Duke missed, it was because the Devils cancelled the season (for reasons we don't need to dredge up). Duke has reached the Final Four nine straight times in the tournaments they've competed in -- two titles, two runnerups and four semifinal appearances in that span. 2004 was the last time Duke finished the season without going to the Final Four.

Lacrosse school?

Women's golf school!

[Bob Green]

An observation I have from today's game is #6 Will Haus has impressive open field speed. The dude is fast!

[Olympic Fan]

Women's golf school!

Well, five national titles is impressive between 1999 and 2007 ... but the last was in 2007. I would contend that in the last eight years, no Duke program has had the sustained success of men's lacrosse.

The women golfers did have a runnerup finish in 2013 and are currently ranked No. 3, so they could bolster their claim with a title this year.

[devildeac]

With all the joking about "Basketball School" or "baseball school" or "football school", this is the eighth straight year that Duke lacrosse has reached the NCAA Final Four. The last time Duke missed, it was because the Devils cancelled the season (for reasons we don't need to dredge up). Duke has reached the Final Four nine straight times in the tournaments they've competed in -- two titles, two runnerups and four semifinal appearances in that span. 2004 was the last time Duke finished the season without going to the Final Four.

Lacrosse school?

Very interesting observation. I mentioned that in another thread also.

http://forums.dukebasketballreport.c...Baseball/page8

(post #144)

[burnspbesq]

Some things that jump out of the box score:

(1) Slowest tempo game of the season, by far, with only 53 possessions total (!) for both teams. Duke had a possession margin of plus seven.

(2) Both teams' offensive efficiency was off the charts: Duke 19 goals on 30 possessions for 63.3 percent, Hop a mere 47.8 percent (11-for-23; take away Hop's 3-for-3 on EMO and they're still at 40 percent, which is not superhuman but is anything but shabby). Duke shot 43.2 percent to 31.4 percent for Hop.

(3) Ground ball disparity is huge: 38-19 for Duke.

(4) According to the Baltimore Sun game story, Hop only had two shots in the final 24:19. Stanwick buried one to cut the lead to 14-11 with 14:14 to go in the game. The next one was snuffed out by Turri, Haus got if off the rug, and Duke went down and scored to start its climactic 5-0 run.

Wonder if Coach Dano will be listening to Little Feat in the car this week. "Right on through to Baltimore," indeed. Never gets old.

[Class of '94]

If Dionne cannot play next weekend in the Final 4, does that keep Duke from realistically having the chance/opportunity to win the Lacrosse National Championship? It seems like it would be a big loss for Duke if he cannot play; but I haven't followed the team close enough this season to know if this would be true. I liked what Coach D had to say in that if Dionne could not play, it would simply be next man up; and I love that mindset.

I felt like the injuries to Ryan and Kyrie killed our chances to win NCs in basketball; but I'm not sure this would be true for our Lacrosse team because they depend on so many more players to win a game than just one. That being said, I'd love to have Dionne healthy enough to effectively play next weekend against Denver.

[arnie]

Well, five national titles is impressive between 1999 and 2007 ... but the last was in 2007. I would contend that in the last eight years, no Duke program has had the sustained success of men's lacrosse.

The women golfers did have a runnerup finish in 2013 and are currently ranked No. 3, so they could bolster their claim with a title this year.

Lets hope both programs win out thus continuing this discussion on memorial day.

[burnspbesq]

If Dionne cannot play next weekend in the Final 4, does that keep Duke from realistically having the chance/opportunity to win the Lacrosse National Championship?

Others can (and probably will) chime in, but my answer is unequivocally "no."

Keenan is the most likely candidate to take Dionne's spot on the starting attack. He's a converted attackman, and was good enough to start for the USA at the 2012 u-19 world championships. His game is different that Dionne's: he's more of a dodger and wing sniper than an inside finisher. We might, in certain situations, see Bruckner bump up from the second midfield to play on the crease; he plays inside on EMO.

Moving either of those guys up from the second midfield to the starting attack creates a hole in the second midfield unit. It's possible that Duke could go with a five-man rotation, with the guys on the first unit taking turns at double-shifting. That's not a great idea if the weather goes sideways, as it often does in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. Shaffer and Scott will presumably gets lots of reps with the second unit early in the week, and get a chance to prove that they can step up. It's also possible that Zenker could be moved up to the second midfield from his current spot at d-mid, with Rhodes stepping into that role. My fantasy is that Haus runs first midfield with Jones and Class, and Walsh becomes the stabilizing influence for Cohan and Bruckner, but I'm not holding my breath waiting to see that.

We'll know soon enough.

[Reilly]

... "Right on through to Baltimore," indeed. ...

And when Duke wins it all, the team plane "takes off from Baltimore and touches down on Bourbon Street ..."

[MCFinARL]

An observation I have from today's game is #6 Will Haus has impressive open field speed. The dude is fast!

Yes. I think Haus is sometimes undervalued because he plays primarily a defensive/transition role--but he is very fast and a very important player on this team. His key ground ball pickup and dash upfield that led to a score was a thing of beauty and a key play in the game.

Others can (and probably will) chime in, but my answer is unequivocally "no."

Keenan is the most likely candidate to take Dionne's spot on the starting attack. He's a converted attackman, and was good enough to start for the USA at the 2012 u-19 world championships. His game is different that Dionne's: he's more of a dodger and wing sniper than an inside finisher. We might, in certain situations, see Bruckner bump up from the second midfield to play on the crease; he plays inside on EMO.

Moving either of those guys up from the second midfield to the starting attack creates a hole in the second midfield unit. It's possible that Duke could go with a five-man rotation, with the guys on the first unit taking turns at double-shifting. That's not a great idea if the weather goes sideways, as it often does in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. Shaffer and Scott will presumably gets lots of reps with the second unit early in the week, and get a chance to prove that they can step up. It's also possible that Zenker could be moved up to the second midfield from his current spot at d-mid, with Rhodes stepping into that role. My fantasy is that Haus runs first midfield with Jones and Class, and Walsh becomes the stabilizing influence for Cohan and Bruckner, but I'm not holding my breath waiting to see that.

We'll know soon enough.

This is a thorough analysis of the alternatives. And I agree completely with your overall conclusion that losing Dionne is not fatal to Duke's chances. But, as you point out yourself, he has a very specific type of game that has played a really big role in Duke's offense. I think he would be a big loss, and they will have to scramble a bit this week to game plan for appropriate adjustments.

Didn't Walsh open the year on the second midfield? (Or was that last season?) I agree that might be a viable solution, although I suspect you are right that we will not see that--the chemistry of Walsh, Jones, and Class has been so good it might be too big a risk to mess with it.

[budwom]

Good observations, Paul. But we surely could've had more possessions and more goals had Danowski not called off the dogs in the latter part of the fourth quarter. As you know, we had a two man advantage and
didn't really make an effort to score.

Some things that jump out of the box score:

(1) Slowest tempo game of the season, by far, with only 53 possessions total (!) for both teams. Duke had a possession margin of plus seven.

(2) Both teams' offensive efficiency was off the charts: Duke 19 goals on 30 possessions for 63.3 percent, Hop a mere 47.8 percent (11-for-23; take away Hop's 3-for-3 on EMO and they're still at 40 percent, which is not superhuman but is anything but shabby). Duke shot 43.2 percent to 31.4 percent for Hop.

(3) Ground ball disparity is huge: 38-19 for Duke.

(4) According to the Baltimore Sun game story, Hop only had two shots in the final 24:19. Stanwick buried one to cut the lead to 14-11 with 14:14 to go in the game. The next one was snuffed out by Turri, Haus got if off the rug, and Duke went down and scored to start its climactic 5-0 run.

Wonder if Coach Dano will be listening to Little Feat in the car this week. "Right on through to Baltimore," indeed. Never gets old.

[DST Fan]

Others can (and probably will) chime in, but my answer is unequivocally "no."

Keenan is the most likely candidate to take Dionne's spot on the starting attack. He's a converted attackman, and was good enough to start for the USA at the 2012 u-19 world championships. His game is different that Dionne's: he's more of a dodger and wing sniper than an inside finisher. We might, in certain situations, see Bruckner bump up from the second midfield to play on the crease; he plays inside on EMO.

Moving either of those guys up from the second midfield to the starting attack creates a hole in the second midfield unit. It's possible that Duke could go with a five-man rotation, with the guys on the first unit taking turns at double-shifting. That's not a great idea if the weather goes sideways, as it often does in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. Shaffer and Scott will presumably gets lots of reps with the second unit early in the week, and get a chance to prove that they can step up. It's also possible that Zenker could be moved up to the second midfield from his current spot at d-mid, with Rhodes stepping into that role. My fantasy is that Haus runs first midfield with Jones and Class, and Walsh becomes the stabilizing influence for Cohan and Bruckner, but I'm not holding my breath waiting to see that.

We'll know soon enough.

On a positive note, the ESPNU broadcasters indicated yesterday that Luke Duprey was available to play. With one more week to recover, perhaps he will be back next weekend for at least limited playing time.

I'm a little concerned about the goalkeeping-- 4 saves on 15 shots on goal against Hopkins does not seem like a formula for a National Championship. However, I thought Turri looked good and made a couple of critical plays, so I am guessing we may see both goalkeepers next weekend.