2025 Preseason Top 20 Lookahead

[Zack80]

aren't you cooter?

I was on fan lax and laxpower forums.

 

[wgdsr]

Obviously, I'm defending soon to be Terp player Spencer Ford.

Virginia's vets at attack scored 84 pts (Shellenberger) and 78 pts (Cormier), those are pretty lofty numbers.

I imagine that if you suggested that Ryan Duenkel (if healthy) or Kyle Colsey were likely to score more that 34 points, I would feel the odds were in your favor. (Millon scored 66 points, Duffy had 54 points (in 12 games), Nate Kabiri score 53 points, the 4th top 10 attackman Willem Firth scored 34 points this past season).

You do realize that this JRN19 on fanlax is not the sharpest tool in the shed and has a handful of other usernames.

defending him from whom? no offense, it sounds like you might also not be the sharpest tool in the shed here.

maybe you should go on fanlax and defend him to the poster that actually took a shot @ him? because i didn't say a word about him. and instead pulled a quote of mine over here and warned me to "watch out". get a hold of yourself. seriously.

 

[Zack80]

defending him from whom? no offense, it sounds like you might also not be the sharpest tool in the shed here.

maybe you should go on fanlax and defend him to the poster that actually took a shot @ him? because i didn't say a word about him. and instead pulled a quote of mine over here and warned me to "watch out". get a hold of yourself. seriously.

The post you quote is about Spencer Ford stepping into Maltz's place.
Then a flamer writes: "Did you see many BL games this season? You Giving to much credit in the IL rankings"
and you quote the flamer too, making it look like piling on.

 

[Zack80]

I was on fan lax and laxpower forums.

Now that I have answered your question. What are your username or usernames on fanlax?

 

[wgdsr]

The post you quote is about Spencer Ford stepping into Maltz's place.
Then a flamer writes: "Did you see many BL games this season? You Giving to much credit in the IL rankings"
and you quote the flamer too, making it look like piling on.

you misspelled "making me assume something that wasn't there".

even if you did want to pull a quote over from another site because you're afraid to post there, you could've engaged in a discussion like a normal person. try it next time.

 

[Zack80]

you misspelled "making me assume something that wasn't there".

even if you did want to pull a quote over from another site because you're afraid to post there, you could've engaged in a discussion like a normal person. try it next time.

I don't know that I am afraid of posting there, more that I wish to avoid the number of dumb arguments like this one that I tend to get involved with.

In the end, your original post was rather short-sighted as it is how the Terp's replace 4 of their top 6 scorers, and probably 6 of their top 8 scorers - players who were seniors and 5th years and had played with each other for several years - and not how they replace any particular one.

 

[wgdsr]

I don't know that I am afraid of posting there, more that I wish to avoid the number of dumb arguments like this one that I tend to get involved with.

In the end, your original post was rather short-sighted as it is how the Terp's replace 4 of their top 6 scorers, and probably 6 of their top 8 scorers - players who were seniors and 5th years and had played with each other for several years - and not how they replace any particular one.

the op who i was effectively replying to and about wasn't about however many guys need to be replaced. it was about replacing maltz. know that i won't be checking in to see if you approve of my posts, even when backing one of your terps. sheesh.

it's not at all surprising that you tend to get into dumb arguments.

 

[Zack80]

The Terps top attack recruit, Spencer Ford, is a tall, right-handed attackman known for his off ball skills and lax IQ, thus making the replacing of Maltz look the least interesting of the 4 starters on the offense (including J.Koras, Malever, and Siracusa) that the Terps need to replace.

 

[Zack80]

wgdsr, I see you went and spared with JRN on the Maryland on fanlax. That must have been fun. I sure you were impressed by him.

I totally agree with you that Tillman and his assistants will decide who plays next Spring when they get the players on the field. My projected starters for the Terps on offense are:
Attack: Erksa, Spanos, and 1 from the lefties - {Keegan, Bryce Ford or Johnny Gardiner}
1st Midfield: Spencer Ford, Thomas Gravino, Elijah Stobaugh
2nd Midfield: Zach Whittier, 2 from { Aiden Aitken, Noah Armitage, John Draley, the leftover lefty attackmen above, Luca Ward, Jack Schultz}

If D.Kelly is allowed to return, fit him in with the other lefty attackmen.

Gravino did appear to be red-shirting last season, so he didn't play.

 

[wgdsr]

wgdsr, I see you went and spared with JRN on the Maryland on fanlax. That must have been fun. I sure you were impressed by him.

I totally agree with you that Tillman and his assistants will decide who plays next Spring when they get the players on the field. My projected starters for the Terps on offense are:
Attack: Erksa, Spanos, and 1 from the lefties - {Keegan, Bryce Ford or Johnny Gardiner}
1st Midfield: Spencer Ford, Thomas Gravino, Elijah Stobaugh
2nd Midfield: Zach Whittier, 2 from { Aiden Aitken, Noah Armitage, John Draley, the leftover lefty attackmen above, Luca Ward, Jack Schultz}

If D.Kelly is allowed to return, fit him in with the other lefty attackmen.

Gravino did appear to be red-shirting last season, so he didn't play.

i had almost forgotten on my calendar it was my annual "get into dumb arguments with terp fans" day.
i've found that 99.9% of lax fans are ultra sensitive to outsiders cutting on their team. which almost by definition includes myself.

when i see stuff that's inaccurate or unwarranted about players in any uniform by anonymous posters (all of us, really), sometimes i feel obliged to object. terps fans are special in that if an outsider defends their players from their own view, the view is what's sacrosanct.

probably should learn at some point to avoid it altogether when it comes to the red, black and yellow.

i don't know if any of those guys that didn't get much run can play or not. could be lots of reasons why they didn't, including redshirt. i'd assume the guys they're portalling in fit a profile adjustment they'd like to make. but they'll roll the ball out and see who wins.

 

[Zack80]

i don't know if any of those guys that didn't get much run can play or not. could be lots of reasons why they didn't, including redshirt. i'd assume the guys they're portalling in fit a profile adjustment they'd like to make. but they'll roll the ball out and see who wins.

The coaches don't really let us fans know this.
Stobaugh actually did play in 13 games last year, including all 4 NCAA tmt games. Sometimes it appeared to be just 1 run with the 2nd midfield. In general, it looked like Tillman was really trying to get him up to speed perhaps for next year - but Stobaugh didn't do much just 1 assist.

It is hard to know what the deal was with Gravino. He could have been injured - but seemed to be dressed when I saw him on the sidelines. The Terps did return 5 midfielders who had 18+ points in 2023, along with Siracusa who had 10 points from 2023. To go with this they returned all 3 starting attackmen and added Malever. Thus there didn't appear to be a lot of opportunity for new midfielders. So I tend to feel Gravino probably red-shirted, just like AJ Larkin and Stamos did the year before.

Aidan Aitken with 2 seasons of not playing is a question mark.

As far as the transfers. I tend to feel D.Kelly won't be returning and Malever has left, leaving the Terps with just 1 lefty attackman - freshman Johnny Gardiner. So it made sense for Tillman to go after a couple of left-handers : Bryce Ford and Keegan. Both played against relatively weak schedules last year and it is hard to know how they will do against the Terps' strong SOS.
It is actually sort of interesting that so far Tillman has brought in only 1 O midfielder, Noah Armitage, which given the number of midfielders the Terps have lost, actually tends to show that Tillman has some faith in the Terps young midfielders. (Of course, maybe he will bring in a couple of other midfield transfers before long.)
The 4th offensive transfer, Luca Ward, is a young player who is entering his sophomore year. He has a lot of speed. He could play this year or could be a player Tillman hopes to develop.

 

[rmtsu]

The coaches don't really let us fans know this.
Stobaugh actually did play in 13 games last year, including all 4 NCAA tmt games. Sometimes it appeared to be just 1 run with the 2nd midfield. In general, it looked like Tillman was really trying to get him up to speed perhaps for next year - but Stobaugh didn't do much just 1 assist.

It is hard to know what the deal was with Gravino. He could have been injured - but seemed to be dressed when I saw him on the sidelines. The Terps did return 5 midfielders who had 18+ points in 2023, along with Siracusa who had 10 points from 2023. To go with this they returned all 3 starting attackmen and added Malever. Thus there didn't appear to be a lot of opportunity for new midfielders. So I tend to feel Gravino probably red-shirted, just like AJ Larkin and Stamos did the year before.

Aidan Aitken with 2 seasons of not playing is a question mark.

As far as the transfers. I tend to feel D.Kelly won't be returning and Malever has left, leaving the Terps with just 1 lefty attackman - freshman Johnny Gardiner. So it made sense for Tillman to go after a couple of left-handers : Bryce Ford and Keegan. Both played against relatively weak schedules last year and it is hard to know how they will do against the Terps' strong SOS.
It is actually sort of interesting that so far Tillman has brought in only 1 O midfielder, Noah Armitage, which given the number of midfielders the Terps have lost, actually tends to show that Tillman has some faith in the Terps young midfielders. (Of course, maybe he will bring in a couple of other midfield transfers before long.)
The 4th offensive transfer, Luca Ward, is a young player who is entering his sophomore year. He has a lot of speed. He could play this year or could be a player Tillman hopes to develop.

Yes Gravino did redshirt, was given the first option to do so and was happy with it, with Covid and some kids getting an extra year made sense to do so with the returning Midfielders as you pointed out. Was the scout team 1st option so got a lot of experience against the 1st Team Defense, this was good as Gravino wasn't always as aggressive even in HS looking for his shots as some kids were despite the success he has had and stats he put up. This gave him the opportunity to be forced to be more aggressive against good players in practice through the season. Another thing, next year when the season starts it is my understanding that in his second season he will still be the youngest player on the team, even the incoming freshman.

 

[wgdsr]

Yes Gravino did redshirt, was given the first option to do so and was happy with it, with Covid and some kids getting an extra year made sense to do so with the returning Midfielders as you pointed out. Was the scout team 1st option so got a lot of experience against the 1st Team Defense, this was good as Gravino wasn't always as aggressive even in HS looking for his shots as some kids were despite the success he has had and stats he put up. This gave him the opportunity to be forced to be more aggressive against good players in practice through the season. Another thing, next year when the season starts it is my understanding that in his second season he will still be the youngest player on the team, even the incoming freshman.

not quite, there'll be a number of incoming freshmen who are younger. he is young enough, and playing well enough, to have made the training squad for u20.

 

[rmtsu]

not quite, there'll be a number of incoming freshmen who are younger. he is young enough, and playing well enough, to have made the training squad for u20.

You are right, I was going on what I had heard and without knowing for sure I should have said will still be one of the younger players on the team, which is why I think it was a good decision to redshirt especially given the Covid situation and the extra year some of the players got. Good to see Jake Spallina made it also. the more competition they get against good players the better.

 

[Zack80]

Yes Gravino did redshirt, was given the first option to do so and was happy with it, with Covid and some kids getting an extra year made sense to do so with the returning Midfielders as you pointed out. Was the scout team 1st option so got a lot of experience against the 1st Team Defense, this was good as Gravino wasn't always as aggressive even in HS looking for his shots as some kids were despite the success he has had and stats he put up. This gave him the opportunity to be forced to be more aggressive against good players in practice through the season. Another thing, next year when the season starts it is my understanding that in his second season he will still be the youngest player on the team, even the incoming freshman.

Thanks for the report on Gravino.

Since my previous post that Terps added another midfield transfer, Jack Dowd from Salisbury. and it does appear that Daniel Kelly is returning.

 

[Powellfan]

Guessing this means he will not return to UVA.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Guessing this means he will not return to UVA.

Correct, he's not coming back.

 

[Powellfan]

I like Colgate and Albany being a bit higher. Should be interesting to see how this list unfolds -

 

[JeremyCuse]

I like Colgate and Albany being a bit higher. Should be interesting to see how this list unfolds -

Both should again be good. Colgate brings back pretty much everyone save Miniscus. Albany bring back a lot to but they do lose Piseno which is enormous and Hogg as the article outlined. I think Albany should be pretty good again but defensively they are a major question mark without Piseno

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Zack80]

I would probably put OSU a little higher, maybe like #15. OSU did have trouble scoring last year, but they do bring back their top 5 scorers,, I believe. These 5 scored from 24pt to 30pts, and give OSU a nice group to build on.

A lot of the top scorers have moved on in the Big Ten like: Angelus, Degnon, Knobloch, Scott, TJ Malone, Boehm, Malever, Maltz, J.Koras, ...

 

[CuseAlum87]

I would probably put OSU a little higher, maybe like #15. OSU did have trouble scoring last year, but they do bring back their top 5 scorers,, I believe. These 5 scored from 24pt to 30pts, and give OSU a nice group to build on.

A lot of the top scorers have moved on in the Big Ten like: Angelus, Degnon, Knobloch, Scott, TJ Malone, Boehm, Malever, Maltz, J.Koras, ...

the Big10 is going to be very interesting this year with all those scorers moving on (same can be said for some ACC schools as well).

 

[DMVCuseLax]

How much longer does OSU stay with coaching staff? Pretty mediocre results considering the investment they have made.

 

[wgdsr]

How much longer does OSU stay with coaching staff? Pretty mediocre results considering the investment they have made.

they pay pretty well and seem to reinforce or stress winning as an athletic department.

investment, their new $25 million digs were privately funded, but those guys are i'm sure taken care of plenty by the department. i'm convinced myers has pictures of somebody.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

they pay pretty well and seem to reinforce or stress winning as an athletic department.

investment, their new $25 million digs were privately funded, but those guys are i'm sure taken care of plenty by the department. i'm convinced myers has pictures of somebody.

He has something. Lol