Men's LAX Championship Weekend

[roywhite]

Another Memorial Day weekend, and another appearance by Duke's Men's lacrosse team in the National Semifinals.

Duke Meets with ESPN; Holds Final Practice (http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=25937&SPID=2027&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=207920660&DB_OEM_ID=4200)

Go, Duke!

[Kedsy]

I am attending the game tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have reason to want to attend the game Monday as well.

[buddy]

I'll be there. Should be different from torrid Baltimore. High expected to be in the 60s. Hopefully it doesn't cool off the team.

[chrishoke]

I'll be there in spirit. Cornell is the hottest team. I hope we can slow them down.

[MCFinARL]

I'll be there. Should be different from torrid Baltimore. High expected to be in the 60s. Hopefully it doesn't cool off the team.

Wish I could be there this time. Baltimore in 2010 was brutal but, of course, completely worth it. Foxboro is just a really inconvenient place to hold a lacrosse tournament; didn't go last year just because it was there. Philly is a great venue--the location is convenient, the parking situation is manageable, and if you stay the weekend there are a lot of good restaurants, whether you prefer greasy spoons or high end gourmet dining.

[devildeac]

Wish I could be there this time. Baltimore in 2010 was brutal but, of course, completely worth it. Foxboro is just a really inconvenient place to hold a lacrosse tournament; didn't go last year just because it was there. Philly is a great venue--the location is convenient, the parking situation is manageable, and if you stay the weekend there are a lot of good restaurants, whether you prefer greasy spoons or high end gourmet dining.

And, for those going to Philly, check out this place, a gratuitous plug for my cousin's husband's joint:

http://misconduct-tavern.com/beer.html

[devildeac]

And, for those going to Philly, check out this place, a gratuitous plug for my cousin's husband's joint:

http://misconduct-tavern.com/beer.html

And, after you've supported a member of the family;), here's another place:

http://www.monkscafe.com/

Good food and a beer selection that would be tought to beat anywhere in the country.

[devildeac]

I'll vouch for this establishment also:

http://www.jimssteaks.com/

[TKG]

I'll vouch for this establishment also:

http://www.jimssteaks.com/

I used to live near Jim's just off of South Street. Second devildeac's motion!

[matt1]

For those going to the game, of is actually a pretty nice day. The sun is out, and it is going up to 64. Monday will be in the 70s to near 80.

Have a great time in Philadelphia and Go Duke!

[burnspbesq]

The consensus of informed opinion is that Duke has a very uphill battle against a smokin-hot Cornell team. I'm not so sure about that.

Our strongest unit, our offensive mids, matches up against Cornell's weakest, its d-mids. If our guys dodge with their heads up, read slides and double-teams well, and move the ball efficiently, we will get a lot of open looks, and no one will ever mistake A.J. Fiore for Austin Kaut. If Cornell double-poles the midfield, either Matheis or Dionne, whoever gets the shorty, has to punish the Red.

Fowler vs. Tesoriero at the dot is a key matchup, maybe the key matchup. Pannell and Mock cant hurt us when they are standing at the midfield line watching the Duke offense operate.

There has been a lot written about how to defend against the Red attack. Duke is not a zone team. Duke has never been a gimmick-defense team. I continue to think, as I said earlier in the week, that the best strategy is make Pannell beat you all by himself. Be slow to slide and rely on Hipps or Lobb's athleticism to keep him more or less in check. If Pannell goes for 5 goals and no assists, and Mock is invisible, I would count that as a huge advantage for Duke.

[DukieInKansas]

Let's Go, Duke!

[Bob Green]

We sure do commit a lot of penalties pushing the opponents.

[CatDevil]

Score...that was AWESOME!

[Bob Green]

7-6 Duke at the half after a strong 2nd quarter performance. Lacrosse is an exciting sport. The goal by Dionne was amazing.

[burnspbesq]

So far, so good. Lobb is keeping Pannell more or less in check. Matheis doing some nice things against shortys. Turri solid. Brendan needs to get going.

[devildeac]

This is quite a run here from 7-6 at the half to 14-6 now in the 3rd. Pretty amazing.

[arnie]

So far, so good. Lobb is keeping Pannell more or less in check. Matheis doing some nice things against shortys. Turri solid. Brendan needs to get going.

Quite a run. Compares to our bball run against Florida GC

[Bob Green]

Duke totally dominated the 3rd Quarter outscoring Cornell 7-1.

[wallyman]

We played a dominating third quarter. One to go. Turri really coming up big. Dionne goal one for Sports Center.

[MCFinARL]

Yikes!! This has been pretty awesome. A lot can happen in a quarter, though. Hope Fowler stays true to form and wins most of the 4th quarter faceoffs.

[_Gary]

Watch out, guys. You can't let off the gas just yet. 3 straight from Cornell. Yes, they need a lot more, but stranger things have happened.

[MCFinARL]

Watch out, guys. You can't let off the gas just yet. 3 straight from Cornell. Yes, they need a lot more, but stranger things have happened.

Yes, they have.

[DukieInKansas]

Let's go, Duke!

[_Gary]

Make that 4 straight. Not "ugh" time yet, but it's getting close. Duke's been very sloppy in this final quarter thus far.

[_Gary]

5 straight. Now it's time to say "UGH"!

[_Gary]

6 straight!!! Come on, guys!

[_Gary]

Whew! Big time score that was needed in the worst way.

[DukieInKansas]

Let's go, Duke!

[_Gary]

Wow, I can't believe we turned that ball over. One goal game with just under a minute left. If we lose this one it will be a HUGE collapse. We've got possession for this last 45 seconds so we should be able to advance. Fingers crossed.

[PDDuke85]

Can it ever be easy?:cool:

[Blue in the Face]

Possession might have been worth more than the goal there.

[DukieInKansas]

Insurance goal - now we need to win at the dot and finish this game.

[DukieInKansas]

Does this leave Pannell tied with Danowski or did he go ahead of him?

[Blue in the Face]

All's well that ends well. Wish it had been prettier, but it counts all the same.

[DukieInKansas]

Congratulations, Duke! Turri had a great game. (says the person with very little knowledge of the game.)

[Bob Green]

Does this leave Pannell tied with Danowski or did he go ahead of him?

Pannell went ahead. That was a tight finish!

[_Gary]

Pannell went ahead. That was a tight finish!

Yep. That was the only real bummer. But a championship on Monday will make up for that. :cool:

[wallyman]

Pannell went ahead. That was a tight finish!


Three tournament wins. Three classic games. By 1, 1 and 2.

[Billy Dat]

Man what a gut wrencher! Turri was huge. The turnovers and sloppy play in the 4th were tough to watch. Just enough face off wins for Fowler. On to Monday!

[Turtleboy]

What was that stuff about Pannell not being allowed on campus? Because he was a 5th year senior. Did anyone else catch that? I'm sure I have it wrong but something didn't seem right about that.

[MCFinARL]

Congratulations, Duke! Turri had a great game. (says the person with very little knowledge of the game.)

Compared to the "typical" Kyle Turri performance, and considering the general quality of the Cornell offense, this was, indeed, a great game for Turri. He said in an interview before the game that Dan Wigrizer had spent hours looking at film of Cornell shooters and helping him prepare for their tendencies--and that was time well spent, as Turri was especially effective at anticipating Pannell's moves.

Yowzah!! This was an adventure at times, but in the end an adventure of the best kind.

[MCFinARL]

What was that stuff about Pannell not being allowed on campus? Because he was a 5th year senior. Did anyone else catch that? I'm sure I have it wrong but something didn't seem right about that.

The Ivy League does not permit athletes to redshirt and stay in school 5 years; apparently they can only get one extra enrolled semester to complete school. So in order to be eligible to play, Pannell had to take a semester off and tinker with his schedule by picking up an extra major or minor so that it would take him 4 1/2 years to graduate.

[burnspbesq]

Lobb did his job, holding Pannell in check for three quarters. Connors the unsung hero; how many times did you see Mock with the ball in a dangerous position? Matheis made some nice plays against shortys. Turri was huge.

[Turtleboy]

The Ivy League does not permit athletes to redshirt and stay in school 5 years; apparently they can only get one extra enrolled semester to complete school. So in order to be eligible to play, Pannell had to take a semester off and tinker with his schedule by picking up an extra major or minor so that it would take him 4 1/2 years to graduate.Thanks.

[Billy Dat]

Compared to the "typical" Kyle Turri performance, and considering the general quality of the Cornell offense, this was, indeed, a great game for Turri. He said in an interview before the game that Dan Wigrizer had spent hours looking at film of Cornell shooters and helping him prepare for their tendencies--and that was time well spent, as Turri was especially effective at anticipating Pannell's moves.

Turri also benefited from some good bounces that bolstered his confidence. There were 2-3 shots that glanced off his knee or thigh on their way through the 5 hole that died an inch or two in front of the goal line. Whatever.


Lobb did his job, holding Pannell in check for three quarters. Connors the unsung hero; how many times did you see Mock with the ball in a dangerous position? Matheis made some nice plays against shortys. Turri was huge.

Good point about Mock. Aside from the fast break goal and that fast break feed he made to Pannell, he was basically silent.

The Cornell D during Duke's big run was non-existent. How many clean looks were our shooters able to wind up and blast? Crazy game.

[DST Fan]

The consensus of informed opinion is that Duke has a very uphill battle against a smokin-hot Cornell team. I'm not so sure about that.

Our strongest unit, our offensive mids, matches up against Cornell's weakest, its d-mids. If our guys dodge with their heads up, read slides and double-teams well, and move the ball efficiently, we will get a lot of open looks, and no one will ever mistake A.J. Fiore for Austin Kaut. If Cornell double-poles the midfield, either Matheis or Dionne, whoever gets the shorty, has to punish the Red.

Fowler vs. Tesoriero at the dot is a key matchup, maybe the key matchup. Pannell and Mock cant hurt us when they are standing at the midfield line watching the Duke offense operate.

There has been a lot written about how to defend against the Red attack. Duke is not a zone team. Duke has never been a gimmick-defense team. I continue to think, as I said earlier in the week, that the best strategy is make Pannell beat you all by himself. Be slow to slide and rely on Hipps or Lobb's athleticism to keep him more or less in check. If Pannell goes for 5 goals and no assists, and Mock is invisible, I would count that as a huge advantage for Duke.


Based on this post, I think you may be in line for Quint's job.

[burnspbesq]

Gameplan: bring crucifixes, garlic, and silver bullets.

[burnspbesq]

Based on this post, I think you may be in line for Quint's job.

Nah. I've got a face for radio.

[g-money]

Thanks to the magic of Tivo I was able to see both games today. They did not disappoint.

Hopefully the Blue Devils will welcome the Orangemen to the ACC with a thumping on Monday. Let's go Duke!

[greybeard]

Duke's offense was surreal. For the most part, either Wide open shots from at most 15 yards, many from dead on to the goal with a wide path. The others were passes that, having read Cornell's defense, were to guys wide open in front of the net. Props to an amazing display.

I was at the game, was surprised that Duke played Pannell man up very rarely with help. Pannell turned his left ankle or foot a little past midway in the first half and he looked a shadow of himself until Cornell made its run with ten to go. Then Pannell went all out at high speed the rest of the way.

Duke was special and outplayed my guys in every facit of the game. A big part of why Moch was such a none factor was that Pannell spent very little time after that turned ankle playing from behind the net. When he did, and came out with an edge, his usual ability to chose amazing ways to get the ball on net in amazing places was just not there.

Number 77 did a great job but I think if Pannell ESs on his game, Duke would have been forced to slide one or even two to stop him, Pannell would have scored a couple of more and Mock would have gotten off. Duke still would have won. I don't know that I have seen a team get such good looks on offense seemingly at will

Duke deserves the Championship and I'd love to see them get it. If Syracuse wins, 22ight take the Twarrtpn (ugh spelling) from Pannell. I couldn't be made if he did. Great player (Syracuse did win, right). If not, I still am in for Duke. But, it will not be easy

[Bob Green]

Pannell turned his left ankle or foot a little past midway in the first half and he looked a shadow of himself until Cornell made its run with ten to go. Then Pannell went all out at high speed the rest of the way.

I didn't notice any injury to Pannell watching on HDTV. The ESPN commentators didn't mention any injury to Pannell. This Ithaca Journal game recap doesn't comment about any injury to Pannell:

http://www.ithacajournal.com/article/20130525/SPORTS03/305250056/Pannell-makes-history-Cornell-lacrosse-rally-falls-short-against-Duke?nclick_check=1

[burnspbesq]

I didn't notice any injury to Pannell watching on HDTV. The ESPN commentators didn't mention any injury to Pannell. This Ithaca Journal game recap doesn't comment about any injury to Pannell:

http://www.ithacajournal.com/article/20130525/SPORTS03/305250056/Pannell-makes-history-Cornell-lacrosse-rally-falls-short-against-Duke?nclick_check=1

There was one play early in the second quarter where Pannell was slow to get up after going down on a question-mark dodge to his left hand. Eamonn mentioned it in his call of the game. You couldn't see what happened, because the camera swung to follow the shot. I assumed he had just gotten popped on the release, but it's possible that he tweaked an ankle. There are also quotes floating around where he alluded to being "banged up."

On an unrelated topic, congrats to Brendan Fowler. His 16-for-31 performance at the dot on Saturday gave him the single-season record for face off wins with 319, breaking the record of 315 established two weeks ago by Bryant's Kevin Massa. His 195 ground balls on the year places him second on the all-time list, behind Massa's insane total of 236 this season.

[TheTrain]

If I read correctly, an announced crowd of less than 29,000
Smallest crowd since 2002
Have to wonder how dissatisfied the NCAA planning committee is with this turnout

[sagegrouse]

I didn't notice any injury to Pannell watching on HDTV. The ESPN commentators didn't mention any injury to Pannell. This Ithaca Journal game recap doesn't comment about any injury to Pannell:

http://www.ithacajournal.com/article/20130525/SPORTS03/305250056/Pannell-makes-history-Cornell-lacrosse-rally-falls-short-against-Duke?nclick_check=1



Speaking of the ESPN "commentators:"

I am one who tends to scoff at DBR criticism of basketball announcers who are supposedly rooting against Duke. In some cases, we are hearing implications that just aren't there. In the second case, Duke usually wins -- often by a lot -- and the announcers are trying to retain viewers by emphasizing how well the losing team is doing.

Yesterday, holy cow! I watched the last quarter. Every single call for Duke was "totally underserved," and every call for Cornell was righteous justice against the evil Blue Devils. Am I the only one to feel this way?

sagegrouse

[uh_no]

If I read correctly, an announced crowd of less than 29,000
Smallest crowd since 2002
Have to wonder how dissatisfied the NCAA planning committee is with this turnout

awful weather in the northeast....wet, cold, windy......i wouldn't read much into it after that

[TruBlu]

Speaking of the ESPN "commentators:"

I am one who tends to scoff at DBR criticism of basketball announcers who are supposedly rooting against Duke. In some cases, we are hearing implications that just aren't there. In the second case, Duke usually wins -- often by a lot -- and the announcers are trying to retain viewers by emphasizing how well the losing team is doing.

Yesterday, holy cow! I watched the last quarter. Every single call for Duke was "totally underserved," and every call for Cornell was righteous justice against the evil Blue Devils. Am I the only one to feel this way?

sagegrouse

No, you are not alone. Since I am not familiar with the LAX rules, I wasn't sure if the announcers were justified in their "judgement". Would like to hear from a DBR expert on some of the announcers opinions.

[CDu]

If I read correctly, an announced crowd of less than 29,000
Smallest crowd since 2002
Have to wonder how dissatisfied the NCAA planning committee is with this turnout

There certainly weren't 29,000 in attendance for the Duke match. The place looked pretty empty. Perhaps that was the combined attendance for all matches on Saturday (including non-Divison 1)?

[MCFinARL]

No, you are not alone. Since I am not familiar with the LAX rules, I wasn't sure if the announcers were justified in their "judgement". Would like to hear from a DBR expert on some of the announcers opinions.

There were a couple of calls late in the game that were questionable and favored Duke--but I didn't think they were egregious. I watched the replay of the ball that the refs said touched a Cornell stick before going out of bounds a few times and still couldn't tell whether it did or not.

And there were a couple of calls--and non-calls--earlier in the game that were questionable and favored Cornell, at least one of which, but maybe not all of which, I remember the commentators noting. At the end of the game, of course, the "story" for the commentators was the big Cornell comeback, and they also were flogging the Rob Pannell story, so you can see how they might end up putting a lot of emphasis on questionable calls that went against Cornell.

In general, I'm not sure there is an anti-Duke bias among lacrosse commentators (with the possible exception of the great gray NY Times, which loves to find any opportunity to dis Duke, and whose story today emphasized Duke almost booting away a big lead against "unseeded" Cornell (the team absolutely every media person predicted would win the whole tournament) rather than Duke doing such a good job of limiting Cornell and getting an unexpected big lead in the first place), and in fact everyone in the lacrosse media seems to love John Danowski to death. But there has been, maybe, a tendency to overlook or underestimate Duke this season--which is okay with me, because I think it is helping the team to be the underdog.

[MCFinARL]

There certainly weren't 29,000 in attendance for the Duke match. The place looked pretty empty. Perhaps that was the combined attendance for all matches on Saturday (including non-Divison 1)?

I don't think there were any non-Division 1 matches on Saturday; their semis, I think, were earlier, and their finals are today.

Generally speaking, Syracuse is the best drawing team in men's lacrosse, because their fans travel well. So there were probably more fans at the second game. And Duke, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to draw as well as other ACC teams like Maryland and Virginia.

The figures may have been based on tickets sold, rather than people who show up, as well--and there are a lot of folks who buy tickets well ahead, and then when their team (Hopkins, say, or Maryland or Notre Dame) doesn't make the final four they put them on Stub Hub, where they may or may not resell. So if they are counting by sold tickets rather than bodies coming through the turnstiles the numbers would probably be higher than the actual attendance.

[TheTrain]

Honestly looked like 15-20K there

[greybeard]

I didn't notice any injury to Pannell watching on HDTV. The ESPN commentators didn't mention any injury to Pannell. This Ithaca Journal game recap doesn't comment about any injury to Pannell:

http://www.ithacajournal.com/article/20130525/SPORTS03/305250056/Pannell-makes-history-Cornell-lacrosse-rally-falls-short-against-Duke?nclick_check=1

U will see clearly that Pannell grabbed his lower left leg immediately after he came out to tithe outside right from behind and went up for an over-head shot that went flying around 5 feet over the net. He stayed bent over grasping his legs for 10-15 seconds and thereafter rarely played from behind. When he did, and had a little space on 77 or.13, his left hand shots were right at the goalie, mostly square in the chest. Panels inside scoring is always without pace, but rather unique releases and placement. He had one of those until the last ten minutes.

Pannell during play stoppages and half time repeatedly would plant th big toe of his left foot (actually host all the toes) on the ground tucked under on the top side and bring his heal up. It didn't seem a stretch but rather just a flexion

Pannell did not participate in warm ups during half time. Didn't touch a ball even once. He walked straight to the bench and sat until the team huddled

He rarely even occupied the ball behind the net in the second half. The few times he did u saw nothing resembling the highest scoring player in NCAA history. The last 10 minutes, especially after Cornell scored a couple, Purnell was a blur

The championship that he and 13 other seniors had been on the team that gave away a championship to Syraacuse (actually the other 13 were not on that team, Permell Went Faster, Harder than I've ever seen.

I was sitting exactly mid field, row 27 and saw what I saw. If Pannell pllayed away from the goal as often as he did and was not hurt, DeLuca should be shot. If Pannell had such horrible placement on shots that comprise the core of his scoring and assist game, especially with no slides, he CHOKED badly.

I don't think either of those things are true.

As for the silence about the possibility of Pannell's having sprained/strained the ankle/foot on the foot he had broken previously:

1. Did they mention anything about Pannell's having spent most the entire game outside his game, away from going from behind the nt and back and again to read the defense and then go.

2. Did they mention how perplexing that was given that Duke was not sliding to help.

3. Did they mention the grimace and then holding his lower left leg for at least several seconds

4. Did they mention how Pannell's usual money placements on his money shots were lobs right to the goalie

Seven points and no limp counts against injury.

His play, the constant flexions of the left foot, his sitting thru halftime warm ups, his deployment against a non-help defense a d the contrast in his play down the stretch point the other way

In the end, as I've said, I do not think any of this matters. Duke played an unreal offensive game, outplayed Cornell in the face off and ground all game and allowed Cornell very few Good offensive chances. Well done. Duke earned the win.

I should point out that Maryland started with much the same strategy against Cornell, Cornel had pretty much the same score through the first quarter, and then Pannell went to work from behind the net. Maryland was forced to slide, and they were toast. Duke was not Maryland but. injury or no, Pannell was not Pannell

[burnspbesq]

It's not at all "perplexing" that Duke was slow to slide to Pannell. Duke put Lobb on an island against Stanwick in the regular season game against Virginia last year, and it worked far beyond anyone's expectations. I called that one early in the week, and more than one media pundit mentioned it as a possible strategy in pre-game prognostications.

[burnspbesq]

U will see clearly that Pannell grabbed his lower left leg immediately after he came out to tithe outside right from behind and went up for an over-head shot that went flying around 5 feet over the net. He stayed bent over grasping his legs for 10-15 seconds and thereafter rarely played from behind. When he did, and had a little space on 77 or.13, his left hand shots were right at the goalie, mostly square in the chest. Panels inside scoring is always without pace, but rather unique releases and placement. He had one of those until the last ten minutes.

Pannell during play stoppages and half time repeatedly would plant th big toe of his left foot (actually host all the toes) on the ground tucked under on the top side and bring his heal up. It didn't seem a stretch but rather just a flexion

Pannell did not participate in warm ups during half time. Didn't touch a ball even once. He walked straight to the bench and sat until the team huddled

He rarely even occupied the ball behind the net in the second half. The few times he did u saw nothing resembling the highest scoring player in NCAA history. The last 10 minutes, especially after Cornell scored a couple, Purnell was a blur

The championship that he and 13 other seniors had been on the team that gave away a championship to Syraacuse (actually the other 13 were not on that team, Permell Went Faster, Harder than I've ever seen.

I was sitting exactly mid field, row 27 and saw what I saw. If Pannell pllayed away from the goal as often as he did and was not hurt, DeLuca should be shot. If Pannell had such horrible placement on shots that comprise the core of his scoring and assist game, especially with no slides, he CHOKED badly.

I don't think either of those things are true.

As for the silence about the possibility of Pannell's having sprained/strained the ankle/foot on the foot he had broken previously:

1. Did they mention anything about Pannell's having spent most the entire game outside his game, away from going from behind the nt and back and again to read the defense and then go.

2. Did they mention how perplexing that was given that Duke was not sliding to help.

3. Did they mention the grimace and then holding his lower left leg for at least several seconds

4. Did they mention how Pannell's usual money placements on his money shots were lobs right to the goalie

Seven points and no limp counts against injury.

His play, the constant flexions of the left foot, his sitting thru halftime warm ups, his deployment against a non-help defense a d the contrast in his play down the stretch point the other way

In the end, as I've said, I do not think any of this matters. Duke played an unreal offensive game, outplayed Cornell in the face off and ground all game and allowed Cornell very few Good offensive chances. Well done. Duke earned the win.

I should point out that Maryland started with much the same strategy against Cornell, Cornel had pretty much the same score through the first quarter, and then Pannell went to work from behind the net. Maryland was forced to slide, and they were toast. Duke was not Maryland but. injury or no, Pannell was not Pannell

There were a couple of mentions in post-game stories about extra film study that Kyle and Wiggy put in during the week, and at one point Eamonn mentioned that Kyle was going down early when Pannell got to GLE. They saw something on film and put it to good use. In the fourth quarter Pannell went high twice to score, so he eventually figured it out. Good players make those kinds of adjustments.

[matt1]

Bad news: UNC wins WLAX title, 13-12 in 3OT. I do not care what the sport is, I do not want UNC winning. There is only one way to make it up: winning tomorrow.

[greybeard]

Pannell, after he grabbed his left leg as I have described (that had to have been on the tube) in fact beat Lobb going around the goal left somewhere around Two to Four times and delivered looping shots dead straight into the goalies net chest high.

Every team for the last three seasons Pannell played spent tons of time watching extra film on this kid. I do not believe he ever has had a worse game.

Maryland had a very formidable long stick shadowing Pannell and playing without help and Pannell tore him apart.

The kid from UVa was an assist guy almost exclusively his last 2 years. Very different than stopping a score first guy who, every team has been trying without success for four years, a guy who is the highest scorer in LAX history. These talking heads for real attributed Pannell's extremely poor play during most of the game to extra film study?

Did any of them say word one about the things I mentioned above. Did any of you guys?

I take it that Lobb will watch plenty of film on Syracuse's no. 22. We'll see if Duke without slides can take him out of his game.

Pannell managed to get to the spots he is deadly from and was throwing fluff. He stopped himself.

By the way, I seem to recall that the kid from UVa was playing on a bad wheel for a good part of that season, and played by far his best LAX down the stretch when those brothers who were play stoppers were taken out of play. I could well be wrong about this but I don't think so.

What we can agree upon was that Pannell was less than underpressive, that he spent most of his time out front without the ball in his stick, that he grabbed for his left ankle after having elevated for a turn around shot that wound up ridiculously off target, and that he put up fluff when he tried to play his normal game briefly thereafter and the guy who took over the key behind the goal position did next to nothing.

I want to know why those genius announcers have yet to mention that Syracuse's coach just happens to own the last four minutes in close final four games. Must be he watches extra film.

[Des Esseintes]

Pannell, after he grabbed his left leg as I have described (that had to have been on the tube) in fact beat Lobb going around the goal left somewhere around Two to Four times and delivered looping shots dead straight into the goalies net chest high.

Every team for the last three seasons Pannell played spent tons of time watching extra film on this kid. I do not believe he ever has had a worse game.

Maryland had a very formidable long stick shadowing Pannell and playing without help and Pannell tore him apart.

The kid from UVa was an assist guy almost exclusively his last 2 years. Very different than stopping a score first guy who, every team has been trying without success for four years, a guy who is the highest scorer in LAX history. These talking heads for real attributed Pannell's extremely poor play during most of the game to extra film study?

Did any of them say word one about the things I mentioned above. Did any of you guys?

I take it that Lobb will watch plenty of film on Syracuse's no. 22. We'll see if Duke without slides can take him out of his game.

Pannell managed to get to the spots he is deadly from and was throwing fluff. He stopped himself.

By the way, I seem to recall that the kid from UVa was playing on a bad wheel for a good part of that season, and played by far his best LAX down the stretch when those brothers who were play stoppers were taken out of play. I could well be wrong about this but I don't think so.

What we can agree upon was that Pannell was less than underpressive, that he spent most of his time out front without the ball in his stick, that he grabbed for his left ankle after having elevated for a turn around shot that wound up ridiculously off target, and that he put up fluff when he tried to play his normal game briefly thereafter and the guy who took over the key behind the goal position did next to nothing.

I want to know why those genius announcers have yet to mention that Syracuse's coach just happens to own the last four minutes in close final four games. Must be he watches extra film.

To suggest the opponent could have an effect on Rob Pannell's production is to blaspheme. As with Ademola Okulaja, the only man in the universe who can beat Rob Pannell is Rob Pannell.

[burnspbesq]

Bad news: UNC wins WLAX title, 13-12 in 3OT. I do not care what the sport is, I do not want UNC winning. There is only one way to make it up: winning tomorrow.

You would have preferred that Maryland win?

We may have to agree to disagree as to which is the lesser of two evils.

[sagegrouse]

You would have preferred that Maryland win?

We may have to agree to disagree as to which is the lesser of two evils.

Let's agree that the lesser of two evils is still... well... evil. -- sagegrouse