Duke Men's Lacrosse 2023

[burnspbesq]

Jacksonville was ranked 17th before today's game. I think they were overrated based on what I saw today and their previous loss to Hop. It's going to be hard for their RPI to look good at the end of the season with their reshuffled league.

We need to win 3/5 from Penn, UVA, Syracuse, ND, and St. Joe's on the road with this loss.

Jax’ loss to Hop will have less of an adverse effect on Duke’s RPI now that Hop has beaten number three Georgetown. Number two Maryland also lost, to Loyola, which should probably be added to your list of games we need to win.

[Dukegrid]

Certainly makes Friday against Denver a must win.

Another surprising L and it is going to get late early for Dino.

I think last year's NCAA selection represents a shift in thinking for the committee.

Simply playing an ACC schedule is no longer enough.

[MCFinARL]

Check the calendar, and breathe.

That said, there were some potentially worrisome aspects to today’s game.

(1) We didn’t adjust well when Jax inverted against our shorties in the second half.

(2) We didn’t adjust well to the way the game was being called. You can’t play big-boy lacrosse when the officials are officiating a U-12 game.

(3) unforced turnovers in Q4 of a one-goal game.

(4) we didn’t do a good job of punishing the Jax defense for sliding aggressively.

Next play.

These are all fixable. But I am also concerned about the deja vu all over again feeling of losing a game in which Duke once had a 5-goal lead. Consistency through all four quarters, including starting slow and losing focus late, was an issue last year and looks like it may be an issue again this year.

Also, maybe someone who had better video than I did (i.e., better than terrible) can let me know whether I was seeing this correctly. The Jax goalie did get a lot of saves--but it also looked to me like our shooters were repeatedly shooting high, and mostly to the goalie's right. He seemed to get into a rhythm stopping those shots. Maybe other angles would have worked better?

[burnspbesq]

The craziness continues. Hop opens the season with wins over Jax and Georgetown, and somehow contrives to lose to the Cheats.

In this week’s polls, Duke women hold steady at 11 while the men drop to 16.

Tomorrow’s women’s game at Davidson is, AFAICT, a video-free zone. Live stats only.

[burnspbesq]

ICYMI, the former Duke players who are first-year head coaches split their debuts. Brad Ross’ Bryant beat Providence, 15-14, while Justin Turri’s St. John’s lost to Manhattan, 9-5.

[burnspbesq]

Friday happy hour lacrosse at Koskinen today, Duke men vs. Denver, and it gets the ESPN treatment. Cotter and Quint have the call on the U at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. It’s Coach Tierney’s final visit to Koskinen as head coach of the Pioneers, and his close friendship with Coach Danowski is well documented, so there will be plenty of emotion on both sidelines.

Duke needs to execute better, on both ends, than it did in last week’s loss to Jax. I suspect that defensive slide packages were a focal point of this week’s practices, because one of the key takeaways from last week is that except for Jake Caputo, none of our shorties do well—at least not yet—when left on an island. I suspect that at some point we’ll see McAdorey and Schelling swap roles; for everything he brings to the table, I don’t think Andrew is best used at X.

[BigWayne]

Friday happy hour lacrosse at Koskinen today, Duke men vs. Denver, and it gets the ESPN treatment. Cotter and Quint have the call on the U at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. It’s Coach Tierney’s final visit to Koskinen as head coach of the Pioneers, and his close friendship with Coach Danowski is well documented, so there will be plenty of emotion on both sidelines.

Duke needs to execute better, on both ends, than it did in last week’s loss to Jax. I suspect that defensive slide packages were a focal point of this week’s practices, because one of the key takeaways from last week is that except for Jake Caputo, none of our shorties do well—at least not yet—when left on an island. I suspect that at some point we’ll see McAdorey and Schelling swap roles; for everything he brings to the table, I don’t think Andrew is best used at X.

Thanks for the ESPN mention. Have it scheduled to record. 1PM for me.

[burnspbesq]

4-1 Duke after one. Duke getting early offense off transition. Bonafede with a big save on man-down with Helm in the box (man-down unit remains perfect on the season).

[burnspbesq]

6-4 Duke at the half. Denver’s defense is good, and Stathakis is handling Naso on faceoffs.

Catlett gets one shift on midfield, and scores.

[TKG]

QK mentioned on the ESPNU broadcast that Duke needs to run the offense through O’Neill more . Seems like a good observation.

[burnspbesq]

Denver starts Q3 on a 5-1 run fueled by two man-up goals after two horrible penalty calls. Duke bounces back late to tie it at nine.

Duke starts Q4 man-up for a minute with no faceoff.

[burnspbesq]

11-11 with under four to go.

[burnspbesq]

Duke will be man-up for 52 seconds to start overtime. No faceoff.

[chrishoke]

The best thing you can say about this team is they are mediocre.

[burnspbesq]

O’Neill’s fourth of the day wins it for Duke, 14-13 in OT.

Heck of a game.

[sagegrouse]

Winner! What were you saying?

[bigperm13]

Brennan O’Neill sure isn’t mediocre. Happy with the win.

[burnspbesq]

The best thing you can say about this team is they are mediocre.

Nonsense. Denver’s defense is really good, and Duke got 14. After being dominated early, Naso won the ones that really mattered. Brennan dominated when needed.

Some folks need to manage their expectations.

[chrishoke]

B.O. is incredible. He was invisible for most of the game. Denver and Jacksonville are not good teams.

[Nepos]

Thought they looked better than the last game. Like the bball team, they need to cut down on the unforced turnovers.