Harvard Gameday...

[JYCUSE12]

Is Donny Scott recovered from last years injury? He was a highly touted recruit. Maybe just getting back to game speed? Roha was seriously missed yesterday, he brings a lot to that offense as a shooter and dodger. Commands a lot of attention and opens the rest of the offense up. Mccarthy seems like a good dodger but seems to lack confidence.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Anderson was running on the 3rd mid line with Hottle and Cordes.

We haven't seen the 3rd line play since Vermont.

If Rhoa misses any time, maybe we'll see a reshuffling of the lines.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

NCAA rules (apply to all sports) ... You can take an injury redshirt if:

• You have a season ending injury
• You have played in no more than 30% of the regular season
• You are injured during the 1st half of the season.

14 regular season games.

14 x 30% = 4.2, rounded up to 5 games.

If Anderson is done for the season, he can take the year as a redshirt.

 

[kismet35]

It's very simple: Harvard played good lacrosse. And I’m pretty sure Garry said it himself – he won’t yell or get mad at the players. You could basically see this summed up with 2 minutes left in the game yesterday. During the man-up huddle, Joey was running the chat. Garry had no input; he was just nodding his head. Anyway, not sure you can really 'yell' at players at the Syracuse level, or any level anymore, to be honest. Coaches might be afraid players will pack their bags, enter the portal, complain to their parents, etc. (soft in my opinion, and something to do with the social media era).

I've been playing lacrosse since I could walk and it’s the only sport I follow, to be honest. I've had a lot of coaches over the years (from 6 years old through college). I played on a very good travel team from the Island, long before travel teams were a thing. Our coach was the man; I respected him, looked up to him, and aspired to play at the level of lacrosse he expected and played himself (I know the Cuse players feel the same way about Gate). He was brutally honest with us. I still remember when I was playing timidly at a tournament upstate. During a timeout, he grabbed me by my face mask (I’ll spare the expletives) and basically told me to man up and stared through my sole.

Take it or leave it, but I really don’t think you can coach like that anymore. It’s unfortunate because these players are so skilled and know the game. They do need to be humbled, though, and worked into the ground like in the good old days. Just my take – hurtful loss. Go Cuse!

 

[FloridaCuse]

Is Donny Scott recovered from last years injury? He was a highly touted recruit. Maybe just getting back to game speed? Roha was seriously missed yesterday, he brings a lot to that offense as a shooter and dodger. Commands a lot of attention and opens the rest of the offense up. Mccarthy seems like a good dodger but seems to lack confidence.

Donny Scott played last Summer with the Orangeville Northmen of the OJLL. With Joey & Trey. Played well.

 

[JYCUSE12]

NCAA rules (apply to all sports) ... You can take an injury redshirt if:

• You have a season ending injury
• You have played in no more than 30% of the regular season
• You are injured during the 1st half of the season.

14 regular season games.

14 x 30% = 4.2, rounded up to 5 games.

If Anderson is done for the season, he can take the year as a redshirt.

Ok appreciate it!

 

[JYCUSE12]

Donny Scott played last Summer with the Orangeville Northmen of the OJLL. With Joey & Trey. Played well.

That's right, maybe we will see more of him going forward

 

[OrangeinBoston]

"You can't just show up and expect to win." That's about as strong an indictment as one can hurl at one's team. That is, they mailed it in.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

"You can't just show up and expect to win." That's about as strong an indictment as one can hurl at one's team. That is, they mailed it in.

We showed up for the first 5 goals.

 

[FloridaCuse]

"You can't just show up and expect to win." That's about as strong an indictment as one can hurl at one's team. That is, they mailed it in.

Yes it is, and what did he do to prevent that from happening? Sounds like an indictment of himself as well, whether he meant it to be or not.

 

[FloridaCuse]

We showed up for the first 5 goals.

but then thought the game was already won.

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

NCAA rules (apply to all sports) ... You can take an injury redshirt if:

• You have a season ending injury
• You have played in no more than 30% of the regular season
• You are injured during the 1st half of the season.

14 regular season games.

14 x 30% = 4.2, rounded up to 5 games.

If Anderson is done for the season, he can take the year as a redshirt.

As I know you’re aware, injury documentation has to be submitted to the NCAA for approval. The fact that Anderson has suited up in full gear & gone through warmups at full speed the past 3 games (confirmed by friends who attend) would seemingly make an injury difficult to validate.

Birtwistle already redshirted his frosh year but would have a case for a 6th year next year if he’s done for the year. Watching him stretching on the sideline, I’m not so sure it wasn’t a cramp but did anyone see if he stayed on the sideline or ended up on crutches?

This could all become irrelevant if the NCAA approves “5 to play 5” following the house settlement in April. If that went into effect for 2026 as some insiders have hinted at, we could really luck out with our historic ‘22 class (the 1st & still only collection of 9 UA AAs) being the first class of seniors to gain the extra year. This would allow them all, including Fig, McCool, & Kuczynski who all redshirted, to play a 5th year before going out together.

After playing against 5th year COVID seniors like Pat Kav, Liam Entenmann, Dyson Williams, Zawada, Cormier, Shelly, Lasalla, etc. their first 2 years, I’d think many if not all would jump at the chance to be 22+ year old “grown men” for a 5th year & potentially earn a grad degree.

Kempney hasn’t played at all this year but has suited up each game. Possible developmental redshirt. It’s interesting that he’s often seen playing SSDM in practice photos but joins the offensive huddle during timeouts.

This is obviously lots of hypothetical & wishful thinking regarding a pending decision but I’d sign up for 2 more years for our ‘22s & 3 more for our ‘23s in a heartbeat.

I’ve been meaning to start a separate thread on the impacts of a possible “5-for-5” decision but decided to just post it here. Mods, feel free to move.

 

[ForCuseSake]

gary has to wipe that smile off his face...i know his whole thing is unflappable cool as a cucumber which is fine but would it kill him to show a little anger or something...makes it seem like he doesn't care or see the urgency in the situation...he is who he is but i find it off-putting in a situation like this

finally watched the replay...i dont have much to add beyond what was said already...heroic effort by mullen and thompson in defeat...rhoa's injury better not be serious because without him they have little speed or dodging on offense...but to me the bigger issue was the defensive performance. harvard scored on almost half their possessions...cant blame it all on mccool

they will regroup and be better but has to be a wake up call...outside of notre dame and maryland, maybe cornell, it still feels like anyone's ballgame...

I miss Desko’s varying shades of red/purple when someone made a poor decision or boneheaded play.

Gary, taking every laid back page out of Slugger’s book ain’t gonna work in this era.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Birtwistle already redshirted his frosh year but would have a case for a 6th year next year if he’s done for the year. Watching him stretching on the sideline, I’m not so sure it wasn’t a cramp but did anyone see if he stayed on the sideline or ended up on crutches?

He couldn't put any weight on it and had to be helped off. He also smashed his helmet on the ground right after he fell.

Couldn't see from the TV broadcast what happened on the sidelines.

Hope for the best. Expect the worst.

 

[FloridaCuse]

I miss Desko’s varying shades of red/purple when someone made a poor decision or boneheaded play.

Gary, taking every laid back page out of Slugger’s book ain’t gonna work in this era.

Was Slugger always so laid back? I thought the relationship with his players was such that they'd do what he wanted them to do.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

He couldn't put any weight on it and had to be helped off. He also smashed his helmet on the ground right after he fell.

Couldn't see from the TV broadcast what happened on the sidelines.

Hope for the best. Expect the worst.

Looked like a non contact injury which is normally not promising.

 

[cuselaxss26]

As someone who tore his acl,mcl twice all in same knee. Each time i knew it wasn’t good n did n expressed exactly as birt did. If it wasn’t season ending injury i would totally be shocked. But if watch that play carefully either his knee or achilles went tho looked for like knee. Both no good.

Not just the recovery time n rehab. But mentally is very hard to get back to where you were. I used to be able to plant n spin n no lie do tucker dordavic stuff. After any time i tried tho was fully recover mentally i couldn’t. Would always slow down to much before plant or spin never at speed used to. Plus strangely hardest thing to lean after ur leg is in mobilizer for months. Walking down the dam steps kid you not. Forgot how to bend it going down steps n fell many times. Had to take each step at time n tell myself bend before.

Wish best for birt n hope he had a healthy recovery either way good or bad injury.

 

[ForCuseSake]

Was Slugger always so laid back? I thought the relationship with his players was such that they'd do what he wanted them to do.

He had a massive talent advantage against most of his competitors.

I think it allowed him to encourage that glorious, free-flowing, run n gun style that was the hallmark of SU lacrosse.

Much easier to do in that era.

Then Bill Tierney helped kick off the specialization/over-coached era we’ve been stuck in.

I much prefer free flowing up & down play for the overall health of the sport.

It’s become too much like football for me - over-coached with bigger, faster, players dominating.

Stick skills used to be a much bigger differentiator but current stick regulations have made it less so.

 

[cuselaxss26]

On positive note as feel isn’t much going on.

This time last year just bout was kinda same results. First couple games blew teams out to lose heart breaker to maryland n army(tho utah was on between those games). So have to loses back to back one being heartbreaker n we now play utah. So kinda same thing as last year, n time to get better. Just wasn’t very assuring after that game.

 

[DoctahLexus]

One other positive is that I thought Hottle played a good game. Looked tough to stay with off the dodge and was even drawing a long pole matchup at times on the first line. Had some good looks out of the two man game and had a very nice assist to Thomson. Think he will be a quality replacement for Birtwistle on the second line, assuming Rhoa is back and Birtwistle is out for extended time. Think that second line would be more balanced with him on it. He provides more dodging power to go along with McCarthy.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[JeremyCuse]

One other positive is that I thought Hottle played a good game. Looked tough to stay with off the dodge and was even drawing a long pole matchup at times on the first line. Had some good looks out of the two man game and had a very nice assist to Thomson. Think he will be a quality replacement for Birtwistle on the second line, assuming Rhoa is back and Birtwistle is out for extended time. Think that second line would be more balanced with him on it. He provides more dodging power to go along with McCarthy.

Agreed on Hottle, shows promise but I think you nailed it he would be better off on the 2nd line for now. HE had two great looks in the 2 man game that unfortunately he didn't put on cage, gotta be able to capitalize.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Agreed on Hottle, shows promise but I think you nailed it he would be better off on the 2nd line for now. HE had two great looks in the 2 man game that unfortunately he didn't put on cage, gotta be able to capitalize.

If Rhoa can't go, and Hottle replaces Birt on Mid 2, who gets the call up for Mid 1?

 

[JeremyCuse]

If Rhoa can't go, and Hottle replaces Birt on Mid 2, who gets the call up for Mid 1?

Good question. No easy answer there unfortunately. Personally I'd go with Anderson, yes it's right into the fire but it's not like SU is overwhelmed with options right now. Another interesting option could be to bump Deere and let him play sort of that Crease role while Thomson floats around and essentially plays midfield. Deere clearly is not as comfortable playing mid as he is attack, I'd almost consider moving him to attack and Finn back to the 1st mid line.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

All good suggestions. But, the first priority is to get them to play like their hair is on fire.