Lax: The 2021 Season

[Papa John]

Maryland fans never change - chanting “over rated”. Not sure why I am still watching.

Odd chant, given that they're the undefeated #1 seed and favored in the game... of course, MD fans have never really been the brightest sandwiches in the drawer...

[jimsumner]

Odd chant, given that they're the undefeated #1 seed and favored in the game... of course, MD fans have never really been the brightest sandwiches in the drawer...

I believe Maryland is the third seed. Duke was the second seed.

But "overrated" has always struck me as the most illogical cheer in sports. Why would one want to diminish the accomplishment of their team in pulling off an upset by suggesting the team they just beat wasn't that good to begin with? What am I missing?

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I believe Maryland is the third seed. Duke was the second seed.

But "overrated" has always struck me as the most illogical cheer in sports. Why would one want to diminish the accomplishment of their team in pulling off an upset by suggesting the team they just beat wasn't that good to begin with? What am I missing?

Totally agree. It is ignorant and low class. Which is why i thought it was typical of Maryland fans.

[YmoBeThere]

That was tough to watch, the team didn't play with purpose. As was noted earlier, lots to look forward to for next season.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Totally agree. It is ignorant and low class. Which is why i thought it was typical of Maryland fans.

Before you go throwing stones, the first time I'd ever heard the chant was in Cameron. Pretty sure it was Laettner led Duke vs Shaq led LSU.

On the way to being named college Player of the Year, O'Neal and LSU suffered their worst loss of the season, 88-70, to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, O'Neal was outplayed thoroughly by Duke center Christian Laettner (24 points, 11 rebounds), taunted by the Duke faithful and embarrassed in front of a national television audience.

And that POY got the "Overrated" chant.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs...057-story.html

[chrishoke]

Very sad ending to a fun year. That was hard to watch. Hats off to the Terps. They kicked our ever-loving butt in every way.

[YmoBeThere]

Before you go throwing stones, the first time I'd ever heard the chant was in Cameron. Pretty sure it was Laettner led Duke vs Shaq led LSU.


And that POY got the "Overrated" chant.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs...057-story.html

Yep, I was there that day. May or may not have joined in...

[JetpackJesus]

Before you go throwing stones, the first time I'd ever heard the chant was in Cameron. Pretty sure it was Laettner led Duke vs Shaq led LSU.


And that POY got the "Overrated" chant.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs...057-story.html

I think this one actually makes sense, though. That comes off as more like saying, "Our guy (arguably the greatest college player of all time) is better. We know it. Now you and everyone else knows it, too."

It makes less sense with teams because then you're effectively saying, "You can't be that good if you can't even beat a crappy team like ours!"

[Native]

It was a very good season by ordinary standards, but I must say this team never came close to living up to the "superteam" hype.

I agree, and I think there are a few reasons for this, tactical and otherwise:

1. Oddly one-dimensional offense. With as much offensive talent on the field at once as we could put out, we never seemed to really put together the tic-tac-toe kinds of quick passing plays that typically define high-output offenses in lacrosse. Many of our most successful sets usually involved a single player going to goal to score instead of making the third and fourth extra pass to get a wide-open shot.
2. I think we misused Sowers a bit this year. We actually had a fair bit of success today collapsing the defense when Sowers was playing in front of the crease rather than behind the cage. It was clear that John Tillman told his team to focus on shutting down Sowers, and they succeeded there. He commanded so much attention off-ball—hindsight is 20/20 but I wish we had used Sowers more this year as a decoy to make teams choose between guarding him or the guy who’s running with a wide-open path to the net.
3. The clearing game left a lot to be desired. I would have liked to see our defensemen advance the ball a bit more upfield on foot to force riding teams to make decisions. We tend to start making “over” passes horizontally too early in the clear which are easy pickings for competent riding teams. This comes down to coaching and we need to make sure we get this fixed in the offseason.
4. In general, I think that the COVID year really had an impact on team chemistry more than anything else. Remember—these guys couldn’t eat meals together, they couldn’t hang out on weekends together, or really get to know each other outside of the dorms until, like, March. In a year where so many of your leading players are fifth-year grad transfers, building that chemistry is crucial. Go back and watch the documentary on the 2014 team—those guys were best friends off the field. I didn’t necessarily get that vibe with this year’s team. It’s nobody’s fault; all the players were good teammates, but it feels like that extra bit of chemistry wasn’t there this season.

Oh, well. Onward and upward.

[JetpackJesus]

I agree, and I think there are a few reasons for this, tactical and otherwise:

1. Oddly one-dimensional offense. With as much offensive talent on the field at once as we could put out, we never seemed to really put together the tic-tac-toe kinds of quick passing plays that typically define high-output offenses in lacrosse. Many of our most successful sets usually involved a single player going to goal to score instead of making the third and fourth extra pass to get a wide-open shot.
2. I think we misused Sowers a bit this year. We actually had a fair bit of success today collapsing the defense when Sowers was playing in front of the crease rather than behind the cage. It was clear that John Tillman told his team to focus on shutting down Sowers, and they succeeded there. He commanded so much attention off-ball—hindsight is 20/20 but I wish we had used Sowers more this year as a decoy to make teams choose between guarding him or the guy who’s running with a wide-open path to the net.
3. The clearing game left a lot to be desired. I would have liked to see our defensemen advance the ball a bit more upfield on foot to force riding teams to make decisions. We tend to start making “over” passes horizontally too early in the clear which are easy pickings for competent riding teams. This comes down to coaching and we need to make sure we get this fixed in the offseason.
4. In general, I think that the COVID year really had an impact on team chemistry more than anything else. Remember—these guys couldn’t eat meals together, they couldn’t hang out on weekends together, or really get to know each other outside of the dorms until, like, March. In a year where so many of your leading players are fifth-year grad transfers, building that chemistry is crucial. Go back and watch the documentary on the 2014 team—those guys were best friends off the field. I didn’t necessarily get that vibe with this year’s team. It’s nobody’s fault; all the players were good teammates, but it feels like that extra bit of chemistry wasn’t there this season.

Oh, well. Onward and upward.

This applies even more to the basketball team, and I feel like the point is underappreciated, maybe not here, but just in general.

[roywhite]

Very sad ending to a fun year. That was hard to watch. Hats off to the Terps. They kicked our ever-loving butt in every way.

Yeah, a bit reminiscent of the 2018-19 hoops team. Having star players and some great highlights did not translate into a National Championship.

[Native]

Inside Lacrosse with another good recap of what we saw today.

[Bluedog]

At least UNCheat also lost... doesn’t change our outcome, but I do take some solace that we won’t have to deal with a Tar Heel championship.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

Yeah, a bit reminiscent of the 2018-19 hoops team. Having star players and some great highlights did not translate into a National Championship.

You have to win the games to be the champions.

[heyman25]

That was an Arse kicking. Maryland shut Duke down.I am no lacrosse expert,but Duke was completely outplayed.Duke was not mentally prepared for todays Beatdown.

[heyman25]

I can’t say anything positive about this game. Embarrassing really. It looks like we didn’t even prepare. Like Duke football, no adjustment was ever made.

This was one of the worst performances by a Final 4 Duke team since the UNLV beatdown in basketball in '91.It was embarrassing. If you can't be mentally ready for a Semnifinal game you are going to lose.

[MCFinARL]

I agree, and I think there are a few reasons for this, tactical and otherwise:

1. Oddly one-dimensional offense. With as much offensive talent on the field at once as we could put out, we never seemed to really put together the tic-tac-toe kinds of quick passing plays that typically define high-output offenses in lacrosse. Many of our most successful sets usually involved a single player going to goal to score instead of making the third and fourth extra pass to get a wide-open shot.
2. I think we misused Sowers a bit this year. We actually had a fair bit of success today collapsing the defense when Sowers was playing in front of the crease rather than behind the cage. It was clear that John Tillman told his team to focus on shutting down Sowers, and they succeeded there. He commanded so much attention off-ball—hindsight is 20/20 but I wish we had used Sowers more this year as a decoy to make teams choose between guarding him or the guy who’s running with a wide-open path to the net.
3. The clearing game left a lot to be desired. I would have liked to see our defensemen advance the ball a bit more upfield on foot to force riding teams to make decisions. We tend to start making “over” passes horizontally too early in the clear which are easy pickings for competent riding teams. This comes down to coaching and we need to make sure we get this fixed in the offseason.
4. In general, I think that the COVID year really had an impact on team chemistry more than anything else. Remember—these guys couldn’t eat meals together, they couldn’t hang out on weekends together, or really get to know each other outside of the dorms until, like, March. In a year where so many of your leading players are fifth-year grad transfers, building that chemistry is crucial. Go back and watch the documentary on the 2014 team—those guys were best friends off the field. I didn’t necessarily get that vibe with this year’s team. It’s nobody’s fault; all the players were good teammates, but it feels like that extra bit of chemistry wasn’t there this season.

Oh, well. Onward and upward.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Having, say, Ned Crotty as the quarterback/point guard at X worked well--but for whatever reason--and your point about chemistry may have something to do with it, as well as the fact that Sowers is a lot shorter than Crotty--having Sowers there didn't end up generating a lot of opportunities for true team offense. Instead, everything came down to one-on-one offense, by Sowers or someone else.

The clearing game was oddly ineffective all year--often there were three or even four passes between goalie and defensemen before there was even an effort to get the ball into the other half of the field--and after that, some sketchy passes would result in turnovers or, at best, a defense that had time to get in position before the Duke offense set up. In general, passing was not especially crisp or reliable this year. Chemistry for sure could have something to do with this, but it's hard not to wonder if the coaches failed to focus on some of these fundamentals--clearing game, role of wings on the faceoff, offensive sets (since we seemed to rely so heavily on half-field offense, it would have been nice to have a broader range of set plays to work with)--hard to know how much of this resulted from COVID, but everyone had to deal with COVID this year, and every other team still playing this weekend looked better coached at the X's and O's level, with more ideas for how to respond to their opponents' games, than Duke did.

Disappointing--I knew, after all the overtime victories, that Duke was living on borrowed time, but I never expected to be so totally outclassed. Oh, well.

[heyman25]

Good quote from Michael Malone Denver Nuggets HC.Feel this can apply to Duke today. "There's no silver linings when you get your I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. kicked in a playoff game," the coach said. "I can't believe we're actually talking about playing hard in a playoff game. That should be a given."

[budwom]

Danowski acknowledged before the game that the talent just didn't come together...I'm sure it wasn't for a lack of trying. I agree completely with Native's assessment, our offense was too much one on one, too little passing.

I knew we were doomed when ESPN kept showing the graphic, apropos to secondary scorers, of "complimentary" players.

[TywinBlue]

This was one of the worst performances by a Final 4 Duke team since the UNLV beatdown in basketball in '91.It was embarrassing. If you can't be mentally ready for a Semnifinal game you are going to lose.

I love Coach D, he has been a 3X National Champion for us;

But the camera kept showing him on the sidelines looking bewildered.

Hats off to the Merlin coach for outfoxing him.