No way to spin it the last two NCAA tourneys have been a disaster | Syracusefan.com

No way to spin it the last two NCAA tourneys have been a disaster

JeremyCuse

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First off I have to give kudos to the team for at least attempting that comeback. I thought Ben Williams, Galasso, Rice, and Wardwell played their guts out. I personally didn't have a great feeling going into this game, I had a feeling it was going to be close and I was deathly afraid of what we were going to get out of Wardwell and the defense.

I now some people like to throw around "heart breaking" and "devestating" when talking about losses but its hard not to use both of those words to describe what happened yesterday when you consider just how loaded that offense was. Staats, Rice, Donahue, and Galasso is the best 4 we have had since 08 at least and maybe since Mikey's senior year. Combine those guys with our best faceoff specialist in decades if not ever and you have what should have been at minimum a team that reached Memorial Day. For this team to not get to the final four last year or this year is tragic.

To me there are few things over the course of the season that contributed to this loss as well as some factors strictly from the game itself. I have tried to outline them below starting with yesterday speficially.

I thought Bobby Wardwell was pretty good yesterday, he had 14 saves and made several point blank stops. That said we needed him to have an unbelievable game ala the Bryant or Army goalie and thats just not his game. Wardwell had a good senior year but hes not the kind of goalie that can stand on his head and put up saves in the high teens. Not a knock against him as a lot of goalies cant do that but when the players in front of you aren't the best you need a superb goalie. I dont know if Warren Hill would have done better or worse but I still wonder what this season would have looked like if Hill had been the starter this year.

The second mid line was an absolute disaster yesterday and thats being kind. They didnt score a goal and I dont think they even had a point. I know Evans had 5 goals vs Marist but his performance yesterday was beyond brutal. Two god awful turnovers both of which led to Hopkins goals and on the second one he had 4 opportunities to scoop the ball and kept losing it, brutal. Not to be outdone Barber had a devestating turnover very late in the 4th when SU was trying to get the comeback into full swing. If your looking for one of the reasons we lost yesterday this unit unfortunately played a large role.

I like the fact that Lecky was being aggressive yesterday as Hopkins was crowding the crease for a large portion of the game especially when Rice or Donahue inititated from X. However, he took about 7 shots and not a single one was on cage or even close to it. He also had his contractually obligated dodge into the teeth of the Defense that of course resulted in a turnover. You have to think him graduating is addition by subtraction. His inconsistency killed this team with all of the attention paid to the attack he should have had number similiar to Galasso. Schoonmaker had two goals but much like Lecky he tended to dissappear for long stretches and even multiple games. Again as much as I liked Schoony his inconsistency makes him much less difficult to replace then Rice or Staats.

Defense was bad and I dont think that was a shock to anyone. Hopkins offensively is all about stick skills, ball movement, and lax IQ. They aren't overtly fast and not really physical. With our struggle against off ball movement all year it was a bad matchup from the get go made worse by the performance of the SSDM's and McDermott. I thought Mullins was OK not great but not bad, you wonder if the job of playing everyone's top end guy wore him down by the end of the year. Our short stick guys looked better the last few games but were a mess for a large portion of the game against JHU. From not getting on hands to missing umpteen groundballs it was tough to watch. The fact that slides were still an issue tells me have a talent or a coaching problem, both are concerning.

Thought offensively there wasn't that sense of urgency until mid way through the fourth quarter and even then if Lecky and Schoonie don't each take a terrible shot I think Syracuse probably would have come all the way back. Syracuse had a brutal strech from about the 8 and a half minute mark until the 3 minute mark where they had probably 4 or 5 possession and either took a bad shot or turned it over. If at 100% I thought Staats could have had a monster game ie 5 or 6 goals. JHU was packing things in when Rice or Donahue initiated from behind and Staats usually found himself on their third close defender who was way overmatched. Surprising we didn't try to attack more with him or look to get him the ball more. I have similar thoughts on Galasso, he had a great game but you got the feeling he didnt touch the ball enough. He did have Pellegrino on him but he was not 100% and SU was running him into the ground. Galasso had 3 goals I think but he could have easily doubled that. He looked like he was feeling it that game, shame he was only truly healthy for about 2 months of his 3 years here. Great player.

I am not one from blaming officials but its clear they were awful. From the missed helmet to helmet ( no way in hell thats missed if its the other way around) to the clock operator waiting 10 seconds on the goal at the end of the quarter, to the at least a half dozen pushes and other calls JHU got away with. Twice on clears Syracuse players were brought down to the ground and there wasn't a call. i think Syracuse drew one flag the entire game, thats unheard of in this type of game. Just an awful job by the officials. I know it doesnt mean much but Desko saying in his PC they "did a good job" was pure BS.

A few other notes:
Give some credit to Ben Williams the kid was once again a superstar. kid was 22 of 34 from the X (.642 win %) and won 11 of 13 in the fourth. I mean honestly what more can you ask of him? He took every single faceoff and again had little help from the wings. He did more then enough to give SU the win especially when you consider he was 8-15 at half. I know some people are frustrated he didnt win that last draw and I have to admit he has struggled this year in must win situations ie ND and UNC but after all he has done this year I cannot blame him in anway. If you look at the last draw he actually won the clamp and went to rake it forward when the ball popped out, he was looking for it to scoop and go.

You have to wonder if Staats was able to play at 100% and if Syracuse had a consistent shooter what the ceiling would have been for this team. The lack of an outside shooter to take some of the pressure of the attack hasn't been there all year. Could McGinley have been that guy? Walters? One of the middies currently redshirting? Obviously we will never know but you wonder if not trying to bring in a shooter or develop one besides Dejoe would have made the difference especially with the defense being so fundamentally flawed.

Two things that are sort of intertwined that I was wondering about after the loss: Syracuse is becoming to comfortable getting down early and (often late) then trying to make a miraculous comeback down the stretch. While Syracuse has certainly made a name for themselves the last 5-6 years for some incredible comebacks ie Cornell 2009, Duke 2014, Yale and Denver 2013, ND 2014, ND 2015. You start to wonder if that ability has led to the team subsonsciously not going to that extra gear regardless of score and time knowing that they will find a way. Sunday's game was a perfect example, Syracuse didnt seem to have that urgency until about 5 minues left in fourth when suddenly the entire team especially the offense raised their play to a new height. Where was that play to start the fourth or better yet where was at Noon? Secondly I wonder if Desko's overly calm demeaner and lack of emotion can sometimes back fire. I certainly dont expect him to become Petro and scream the entire game but a little emotion on the sidelines especially in this type of game would have been nice. A senior team like this isnt going to push the panic button if Desko starts letting them know its time to have sense of urgency. Was dissapointed we didnt see Syracuse come out on fire to start the second half with so many seniors on both sides of the ball.

Lastly let me just touch on the Desko situation. I have never been a fire Desko guy and I am certainly not there after this game. That said a pattern is developing here that in my mind is more then just a cause for concern. 5 of the last 6 years Syracuse has lost in the 1st or 2nd round and if it wasn't for the 2013 way overachieving it would look a lot worse. I am not going to sit here and say that I have the answers because I don't but its concerning to me that the last two years Desko has indicated in his PC that they prepared for what they saw and was dissapointed by how we reacted ( last year Bryants zone this year Hopkins big little game). This means A. We don't have the talent or B. Were not game planning appropriately and its a coaching issue. Either way as I noted its cause for alarm. This team was loaded at the X and an offense and to not even reach the final four especially after last years debacle is extremely concerning and dissapointing. I wonder if a shake up at the coordinator position may be necessary. I assume that would be Rogers but I don't think Desko is making that move unless it comes from the very top and thats not happening right now. The other thing that concerns me is that some people are to quick to explain away the last few years and call anyone looking for changes crazy. While I dont think Desko or the staff should change at this point I also don't want this program turning into Princeton. Syracuse Lax is the Kentucky bball of Lacrosse expectations are through the roof. If the school and the administration really want that to remain the case moving forward there could be some tough choices/decisions coming sooner rather then later.

I will have a seperate post looking back on the season and I will also have a post via Ottos Grove looking forward to next year and what the team could look like.
 
One other point I forgot to make was the fact that despite SU having the second ranked scoring offense this year you wonder if it slightly underachieved when you consider the talent on the roster. With basically an All American attack cross the board, Nicky Galasso at Middie and Ben Williams winning nearly 70% of the draws it seems SU could have easily averaged another 2 or 3 goals or even challenged Albany despite the huge disparity in strength of schedule.

The lack of an outside shooter(s) and the inconsistency at midfield probably cost this team a chance to be one of the best offenses of all time. The fact that this team scored 15 goals despite having what I think most SU fans would consider an off game offensively and pretty much a wasted 3rd quarter shows the potential of that offense.

I also wonder if Syracuse needs to work on shot location and angles going into next season. To many times this year it seemed Syracuse ran up against a goalie who was "standing on his head" maybe not for the whole game but certainly for long stretches.
 
First off I have to give kudos to the team for at least attempting that comeback. I thought Ben Williams, Galasso, Rice, and Wardwell played their guts out. I personally didn't have a great feeling going into this game, I had a feeling it was going to be close and I was deathly afraid of what we were going to get out of Wardwell and the defense.

I now some people like to throw around "heart breaking" and "devestating" when talking about losses but its hard not to use both of those words to describe what happened yesterday when you consider just how loaded that offense was. Staats, Rice, Donahue, and Galasso is the best 4 we have had since 08 at least and maybe since Mikey's senior year. Combine those guys with our best faceoff specialist in decades if not ever and you have what should have been at minimum a team that reached Memorial Day. For this team to not get to the final four last year or this year is tragic.

To me there are few things over the course of the season that contributed to this loss as well as some factors strictly from the game itself. I have tried to outline them below starting with yesterday speficially.

I thought Bobby Wardwell was pretty good yesterday, he had 14 saves and made several point blank stops. That said we needed him to have an unbelievable game ala the Bryant or Army goalie and thats just not his game. Wardwell had a good senior year but hes not the kind of goalie that can stand on his head and put up saves in the high teens. Not a knock against him as a lot of goalies cant do that but when the players in front of you aren't the best you need a superb goalie. I dont know if Warren Hill would have done better or worse but I still wonder what this season would have looked like if Hill had been the starter this year.

The second mid line was an absolute disaster yesterday and thats being kind. They didnt score a goal and I dont think they even had a point. I know Evans had 5 goals vs Marist but his performance yesterday was beyond brutal. Two god awful turnovers both of which led to Hopkins goals and on the second one he had 4 opportunities to scoop the ball and kept losing it, brutal. Not to be outdone Barber had a devestating turnover very late in the 4th when SU was trying to get the comeback into full swing. If your looking for one of the reasons we lost yesterday this unit unfortunately played a large role.

I like the fact that Lecky was being aggressive yesterday as Hopkins was crowding the crease for a large portion of the game especially when Rice or Donahue inititated from X. However, he took about 7 shots and not a single one was on cage or even close to it. He also had his contractually obligated dodge into the teeth of the Defense that of course resulted in a turnover. You have to think him graduating is addition by subtraction. His inconsistency killed this team with all of the attention paid to the attack he should have had number similiar to Galasso. Schoonmaker had two goals but much like Lecky he tended to dissappear for long stretches and even multiple games. Again as much as I liked Schoony his inconsistency makes him much less difficult to replace then Rice or Staats.

Defense was bad and I dont think that was a shock to anyone. Hopkins offensively is all about stick skills, ball movement, and lax IQ. They aren't overtly fast and not really physical. With our struggle against off ball movement all year it was a bad matchup from the get go made worse by the performance of the SSDM's and McDermott. I thought Mullins was OK not great but not bad, you wonder if the job of playing everyone's top end guy wore him down by the end of the year. Our short stick guys looked better the last few games but were a mess for a large portion of the game against JHU. From not getting on hands to missing umpteen groundballs it was tough to watch. The fact that slides were still an issue tells me have a talent or a coaching problem, both are concerning.

Thought offensively there wasn't that sense of urgency until mid way through the fourth quarter and even then if Lecky and Schoonie don't each take a terrible shot I think Syracuse probably would have come all the way back. Syracuse had a brutal strech from about the 8 and a half minute mark until the 3 minute mark where they had probably 4 or 5 possession and either took a bad shot or turned it over. If at 100% I thought Staats could have had a monster game ie 5 or 6 goals. JHU was packing things in when Rice or Donahue initiated from behind and Staats usually found himself on their third close defender who was way overmatched. Surprising we didn't try to attack more with him or look to get him the ball more. I have similar thoughts on Galasso, he had a great game but you got the feeling he didnt touch the ball enough. He did have Pellegrino on him but he was not 100% and SU was running him into the ground. Galasso had 3 goals I think but he could have easily doubled that. He looked like he was feeling it that game, shame he was only truly healthy for about 2 months of his 3 years here. Great player.

I am not one from blaming officials but its clear they were awful. From the missed helmet to helmet ( no way in hell thats missed if its the other way around) to the clock operator waiting 10 seconds on the goal at the end of the quarter, to the at least a half dozen pushes and other calls JHU got away with. Twice on clears Syracuse players were brought down to the ground and there wasn't a call. i think Syracuse drew one flag the entire game, thats unheard of in this type of game. Just an awful job by the officials. I know it doesnt mean much but Desko saying in his PC they "did a good job" was pure BS.

A few other notes:
Give some credit to Ben Williams the kid was once again a superstar. kid was 22 of 34 from the X (.642 win %) and won 11 of 13 in the fourth. I mean honestly what more can you ask of him? He took every single faceoff and again had little help from the wings. He did more then enough to give SU the win especially when you consider he was 8-15 at half. I know some people are frustrated he didnt win that last draw and I have to admit he has struggled this year in must win situations ie ND and UNC but after all he has done this year I cannot blame him in anway. If you look at the last draw he actually won the clamp and went to rake it forward when the ball popped out, he was looking for it to scoop and go.

You have to wonder if Staats was able to play at 100% and if Syracuse had a consistent shooter what the ceiling would have been for this team. The lack of an outside shooter to take some of the pressure of the attack hasn't been there all year. Could McGinley have been that guy? Walters? One of the middies currently redshirting? Obviously we will never know but you wonder if not trying to bring in a shooter or develop one besides Dejoe would have made the difference especially with the defense being so fundamentally flawed.

Two things that are sort of intertwined that I was wondering about after the loss: Syracuse is becoming to comfortable getting down early and (often late) then trying to make a miraculous comeback down the stretch. While Syracuse has certainly made a name for themselves the last 5-6 years for some incredible comebacks ie Cornell 2009, Duke 2014, Yale and Denver 2013, ND 2014, ND 2015. You start to wonder if that ability has led to the team subsonsciously not going to that extra gear regardless of score and time knowing that they will find a way. Sunday's game was a perfect example, Syracuse didnt seem to have that urgency until about 5 minues left in fourth when suddenly the entire team especially the offense raised their play to a new height. Where was that play to start the fourth or better yet where was at Noon? Secondly I wonder if Desko's overly calm demeaner and lack of emotion can sometimes back fire. I certainly dont expect him to become Petro and scream the entire game but a little emotion on the sidelines especially in this type of game would have been nice. A senior team like this isnt going to push the panic button if Desko starts letting them know its time to have sense of urgency. Was dissapointed we didnt see Syracuse come out on fire to start the second half with so many seniors on both sides of the ball.

Lastly let me just touch on the Desko situation. I have never been a fire Desko guy and I am certainly not there after this game. That said a pattern is developing here that in my mind is more then just a cause for concern. 5 of the last 6 years Syracuse has lost in the 1st or 2nd round and if it wasn't for the 2013 way overachieving it would look a lot worse. I am not going to sit here and say that I have the answers because I don't but its concerning to me that the last two years Desko has indicated in his PC that they prepared for what they saw and was dissapointed by how we reacted ( last year Bryants zone this year Hopkins big little game). This means A. We don't have the talent or B. Were not game planning appropriately and its a coaching issue. Either way as I noted its cause for alarm. This team was loaded at the X and an offense and to not even reach the final four especially after last years debacle is extremely concerning and dissapointing. I wonder if a shake up at the coordinator position may be necessary. I assume that would be Rogers but I don't think Desko is making that move unless it comes from the very top and thats not happening right now. The other thing that concerns me is that some people are to quick to explain away the last few years and call anyone looking for changes crazy. While I dont think Desko or the staff should change at this point I also don't want this program turning into Princeton. Syracuse Lax is the Kentucky bball of Lacrosse expectations are through the roof. If the school and the administration really want that to remain the case moving forward there could be some tough choices/decisions coming sooner rather then later.

I will have a seperate post looking back on the season and I will also have a post via Ottos Grove looking forward to next year and what the team could look like.

Great post Jeremy. I watch all of our lacrosse games on tv but still have a lot to learn about the game, so very interesting to read your insight. My dad is an Iowa grad and I've always compared Syracuse lacrosse to Iowa wrestling. Dan Gable was one of the best coaches ever in any sports imho, but Iowa hasn't won the wrestling since 2010, similar to our drought in lacrosse. They also have a storied alum as their current coach in Tom Brands. When you've set that kind of standard those two programs have, expectations are high and the natives can get restless pretty quickly.
 
Well said analysis. I definitely concur with your thoughts that Staats should have been more of a focal point yesterday. JHU was intentionally playing away from Mullins and McCartney. I think we almost could have done the same thing, using Rice and Donahue a bit as decoys. However, I realize how tough it is to take the ball out of Rice stick. Kid was simply a gamer and will be missed big time. Dylan is definitely one of the best pure shooters I have ever seen, and I really hope we can find a QB to get him the ball next year.

It's very tough to lose when we had a team like this. Defense was flawed as you said, but could definitely have made it through with a strong offensive game and Williams winning F/O's. I would have loved another crack at ND, and I would have liked our chances against Maryland too.

It does seem a bit that we have to jump start something in the program. Too may years in a row of great regular seasons and flameouts in the playoffs, minus 2013. Desko is a bit JB like. He has something that has worked for a long time and probably is not gonna change up too much during his remaining time.

I look forward to your 2016 analysis.
 

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