Loyola Game Thread... | Page 13 | Syracusefan.com

Loyola Game Thread...

I was watching on my phone so I missed some of those draws. Was Varello really taking most of them? You can't be serious

From what I saw both Phaup and Varello struggled in the second half.
 
He'll be 62 in August. A nice time to retire.

That's about when Roy Jr called it quits. Maybe John can find a hobby like art or something.
 
That's what I saw to. Phaup totally hit the wall late In the year, he hasnt looked the same since UNC. 2 new fogos coming in next year, need to open it up again.

Agreed. Thought Varello closed the gap late in the season as Phaup seemed to struggle.
 
Shot selection in the fourth quarter was poor. Trimboli not changing planes. Fernandez with the dumb shot on the face break.

6 turnovers as well. Half of which were Solomon in the Crease.
 
6 turnovers as well. Half of which were Solomon in the Crease.
Yep no field awareness from Solomon. Two penalties in a row but defense. Maybe this stuff is coaching but some of it is dumb actions from experienced players
 
Guess I'm glad I stopped watching, after those back to back penalties towards the end of third things didn't look good. Very disappointing, once again another game that they should have won and just gave away. At least they didn't wait until the last 5 minutes, they started a whole quarter early.

I know you want to have trust in your guys but as soon as it became apparent that Spencer was going to walk all over Mellen they should have switched things up. Spencer was going to get some points but he made it look too easy. And in the first half they paid too much attention to him and were caught ball watching. Sounds like the defense just wore out (again) in the fourth if they couldn't win a face off and couldn't take care of the ball.

Silly turnovers and poor shot selection are the best descriptions for the SU offense this year. They could definitely score on anyone but its almost like they had a hard time with basic fundamentals. How many low passes did we see today with guys having to go low and even drop to a knee to catch? Maybe take a page out of Danowskis book, get rid of fall scrimmages and spend it working on passing and shooting.

I'd have to imagine Deskos seat is hot right now. As much as people want change now, he'll probably be given next year to prove something before being shown the door.
 
Guess I'm glad I stopped watching, after those back to back penalties towards the end of third things didn't look good. Very disappointing, once again another game that they should have won and just gave away. At least they didn't wait until the last 5 minutes, they started a whole quarter early.

I know you want to have trust in your guys but as soon as it became apparent that Spencer was going to walk all over Mellen they should have switched things up. Spencer was going to get some points but he made it look too easy. And in the first half they paid too much attention to him and were caught ball watching. Sounds like the defense just wore out (again) in the fourth if they couldn't win a face off and couldn't take care of the ball.

Silly turnovers and poor shot selection are the best descriptions for the SU offense this year. They could definitely score on anyone but its almost like they had a hard time with basic fundamentals. How many low passes did we see today with guys having to go low and even drop to a knee to catch? Maybe take a page out of Danowskis book, get rid of fall scrimmages and spend it working on passing and shooting.

I'd have to imagine Deskos seat is hot right now. As much as people want change now, he'll probably be given next year to prove something before being shown the door.

In other words, we’ll be looking for a new coach next year.
 
In other words, we’ll be looking for a new coach next year.
I think we'll see a change on O and D before Desko goes. But if both coordinators leave, you should change the whole group and start fresh.

I know Donahue was going to leave last year but returned b/c his daughter did a 5th year. Maybe he finally steps down.

From other sources, Lelan want the Navy job and maybe this time he takes it.
 
I think we'll see a change on O and D before Desko goes. But if both coordinators leave, you should change the whole group and start fresh.

I know Donahue was going to leave last year but returned b/c his daughter did a 5th year. Maybe he finally steps down.

From other sources, Lelan want the Navy job and maybe this time he takes it.

I agree if you’re changing both coordinators then a clean sweep is better.

I’d be surprised if Lelan got the Navy job over other candidates with Maryland/DMV roots.
 
Tough loss. Loyola is a solid team. Another 4Q meltdown (like UVA and UNC 2). Inability to win FO, Mellen's struggles with Spencer all game and IMHO, I thought Porter seemed to have a lot of trouble seeing the ball today. Your goalie has to be able to make stops in crunch time. There's did ours didn't. I don't think anyone can feel really good about the trajectory of the program right now. It feels a lot to me like the end with PP. We have got to step it up.
 
Lots of blame to go around from yesterdays loss to Loyola. The big ones that have stuck with me -

Defense - it was obvious from the start that Mellen was struggling to contain Spencer. Instead of trying a different matchup, trying zone, the Orange plan was instead to slide earlier to Spencer, playing right into their hands, as Spencer is, as evidence by being the ALL TIME LEADER IN ASSISTS a passer first. Give me a break. Given that Bomberry had better success against a "brute" style attackmen in Nanticoke, maybe give the biggest guy on defense a shot? Or something else, but don't under any circumstances, slide early to the guy. Plenty of blame needs to go to the coaching staff on that, but Mellen played as bad as one can. If he happened to be switched off of Spencer, he would panic and again, slide early to his preferred matchup leading to a wide open shot. Just bad all around. I think Mellen is great, but sometimes you have to realize when something isn't working.

Offense - how you go from scoring 9 goals in a half to only scoring three in the second is beyond me. But a big part of the reason why seemed to be the fact the offense stopped shooting low on Stover, and instead, like Kennedy and Trimboli did late, they went high on a tall goalie. Why go away from something that was working so well?

Mental breakdowns - of course the biggest reason for the loss I feel like belongs to the face-off unit, who were so good for 90 percent of the season, but just faded down the stretch. Heck, they were great in the first half of the game coming up with all the 50-50 balls, but then in the second half, they not only stopped winning the ball, but also gave the Greyhouds man-up opportunities. The Fernandez foul that gifted Loyola their 10th goal of the game was one of the worst I've seen.

I pride myself on having a positive outlook on the SU lacrosse program, but I think the days of expecting this coaching staff delivering a Final Four appearance, or a National Championship have passed. Right now is the program is the definition of treading water. My belief in Desko came down the fact that whatever he lost on the recruiting trail, he would make up for in his in-game abilities to coach players up to deliver on game days. But with the let-down against Colgate to start the year, and the failure to hold on against UNC, and UVA, and letting up in two straight Tournament games, not to mention the disaster that was the recruiting situation this off-season, makes me think it is finally time to walk away. I really think with a motivated, high energy coach SU could make its way back to winning National Titles. But that coach no longer appears to be Desko. No program is perfect, but this team was too talented to finish the way it did this year. It's foolish to think the Orange will go on to dominate the landscape again, but I think it's also foolish not to demand more. Hope things are turned around in a hurry.

At this point in time I don't think its worth it to shake up the staff - your asking a 62 year old to change up everything he knows in the hopes he hangs on for a few more years. Right now I think he's gotten comfortable, and that comfort has led to things coming to a standstill. It's time to jumpstart things.
 
Lots of blame to go around from yesterdays loss to Loyola. The big ones that have stuck with me -

Defense - it was obvious from the start that Mellen was struggling to contain Spencer. Instead of trying a different matchup, trying zone, the Orange plan was instead to slide earlier to Spencer, playing right into their hands, as Spencer is, as evidence by being the ALL TIME LEADER IN ASSISTS a passer first. Give me a break. Given that Bomberry had better success against a "brute" style attackmen in Nanticoke, maybe give the biggest guy on defense a shot? Or something else, but don't under any circumstances, slide early to the guy. Plenty of blame needs to go to the coaching staff on that, but Mellen played as bad as one can. If he happened to be switched off of Spencer, he would panic and again, slide early to his preferred matchup leading to a wide open shot. Just bad all around. I think Mellen is great, but sometimes you have to realize when something isn't working.

Offense - how you go from scoring 9 goals in a half to only scoring three in the second is beyond me. But a big part of the reason why seemed to be the fact the offense stopped shooting low on Stover, and instead, like Kennedy and Trimboli did late, they went high on a tall goalie. Why go away from something that was working so well?

Mental breakdowns - of course the biggest reason for the loss I feel like belongs to the face-off unit, who were so good for 90 percent of the season, but just faded down the stretch. Heck, they were great in the first half of the game coming up with all the 50-50 balls, but then in the second half, they not only stopped winning the ball, but also gave the Greyhouds man-up opportunities. The Fernandez foul that gifted Loyola their 10th goal of the game was one of the worst I've seen.

I pride myself on having a positive outlook on the SU lacrosse program, but I think the days of expecting this coaching staff delivering a Final Four appearance, or a National Championship have passed. Right now is the program is the definition of treading water. My belief in Desko came down the fact that whatever he lost on the recruiting trail, he would make up for in his in-game abilities to coach players up to deliver on game days. But with the let-down against Colgate to start the year, and the failure to hold on against UNC, and UVA, and letting up in two straight Tournament games, not to mention the disaster that was the recruiting situation this off-season, makes me think it is finally time to walk away. I really think with a motivated, high energy coach SU could make its way back to winning National Titles. But that coach no longer appears to be Desko. No program is perfect, but this team was too talented to finish the way it did this year. It's foolish to think the Orange will go on to dominate the landscape again, but I think it's also foolish not to demand more. Hope things are turned around in a hurry.

At this point in time I don't think its worth it to shake up the staff - your asking a 62 year old to change up everything he knows in the hopes he hangs on for a few more years. Right now I think he's gotten comfortable, and that comfort has led to things coming to a standstill. It's time to jumpstart things.
Rarely do I disagree with you, but I think you overestimate the talent on this team. They are a good group, but lack what for me is the obvious necessity shown by the very best teams this year and in the past few years: No Spencer, Bernhardt, Sowers, Aitken, Conrad, Wisnauskas, and on and on, players who can pull a team which is playing in a lull to outdo themselves and win games that are beginning to look lost. A Powell or Leveille who can will a team to win. As good a team as Army is, beautifully coached, tough, disciplined and determined, the cadets have not won and will not win an NC without a stud. And there are none on the way at SU.
 
Rarely do I disagree with you, but I think you overestimate the talent on this team. They are a good group, but lack what for me is the obvious necessity shown by the very best teams this year and in the past few years: No Spencer, Bernhardt, Sowers, Aitken, Conrad, Wisnauskas, and on and on, players who can pull a team which is playing in a lull to outdo themselves and win games that are beginning to look lost. A Powell or Leveille who can will a team to win. As good a team as Army is, beautifully coached, tough, disciplined and determined, the cadets have not won and will not win an NC without a stud. And there are none on the way at SU.

Syracuses offense is light years better then Armys but ur point is spot on. SU doesnt have an elite scorer on the team especially at attack ala Spencer Bernhardt the PSU guys, Kraus, etc etc. When things got sticky, Loyola went to Spencer and we committed 6 turnovers and had Solomon get called for numerous crease violations
 
Was Leveille our last true “elite” player? Would Kevin Rice be considered one? They’re few and far between. Dordevic still has the potential to be one.
 
Was Leveille our last true “elite” player? Would Kevin Rice be considered one? They’re few and far between. Dordevic still has the potential to be one.

Staats when he was healthy
 
Rarely do I disagree with you, but I think you overestimate the talent on this team. They are a good group, but lack what for me is the obvious necessity shown by the very best teams this year and in the past few years: No Spencer, Bernhardt, Sowers, Aitken, Conrad, Wisnauskas, and on and on, players who can pull a team which is playing in a lull to outdo themselves and win games that are beginning to look lost. A Powell or Leveille who can will a team to win. As good a team as Army is, beautifully coached, tough, disciplined and determined, the cadets have not won and will not win an NC without a stud. And there are none on the way at SU.

You are certainly not wrong about missing the "great" talent on this team, it's been missing for a while now. It's especially disconcerting considering we seem to be in the "golden age" of attackmen and SU goes another year without placing an attackman on the All American list. Even BU has a first-teamer. Funny that you mention Army, I think Nichtern is the closest thing to a stud either Army or SU have.

On the flip side, I do think the Syracuse midfield next year could be very special. Curry has the potential to be a 20-20 player and if Dordevic is fully healed he might join him on that list. Buttermore and Trimboli could combine for 50 goals or more and Lipka is an amazing glue guy. The big question is can the attack balance out the field. To me that's the biggest question mark heading into next season.
 
Lots of blame to go around from yesterdays loss to Loyola. The big ones that have stuck with me -

Defense - it was obvious from the start that Mellen was struggling to contain Spencer. Instead of trying a different matchup, trying zone, the Orange plan was instead to slide earlier to Spencer, playing right into their hands, as Spencer is, as evidence by being the ALL TIME LEADER IN ASSISTS a passer first. Give me a break. Given that Bomberry had better success against a "brute" style attackmen in Nanticoke, maybe give the biggest guy on defense a shot? Or something else, but don't under any circumstances, slide early to the guy. Plenty of blame needs to go to the coaching staff on that, but Mellen played as bad as one can. If he happened to be switched off of Spencer, he would panic and again, slide early to his preferred matchup leading to a wide open shot. Just bad all around. I think Mellen is great, but sometimes you have to realize when something isn't working.

Offense - how you go from scoring 9 goals in a half to only scoring three in the second is beyond me. But a big part of the reason why seemed to be the fact the offense stopped shooting low on Stover, and instead, like Kennedy and Trimboli did late, they went high on a tall goalie. Why go away from something that was working so well?

Mental breakdowns - of course the biggest reason for the loss I feel like belongs to the face-off unit, who were so good for 90 percent of the season, but just faded down the stretch. Heck, they were great in the first half of the game coming up with all the 50-50 balls, but then in the second half, they not only stopped winning the ball, but also gave the Greyhouds man-up opportunities. The Fernandez foul that gifted Loyola their 10th goal of the game was one of the worst I've seen.

I pride myself on having a positive outlook on the SU lacrosse program, but I think the days of expecting this coaching staff delivering a Final Four appearance, or a National Championship have passed. Right now is the program is the definition of treading water. My belief in Desko came down the fact that whatever he lost on the recruiting trail, he would make up for in his in-game abilities to coach players up to deliver on game days. But with the let-down against Colgate to start the year, and the failure to hold on against UNC, and UVA, and letting up in two straight Tournament games, not to mention the disaster that was the recruiting situation this off-season, makes me think it is finally time to walk away. I really think with a motivated, high energy coach SU could make its way back to winning National Titles. But that coach no longer appears to be Desko. No program is perfect, but this team was too talented to finish the way it did this year. It's foolish to think the Orange will go on to dominate the landscape again, but I think it's also foolish not to demand more. Hope things are turned around in a hurry.

At this point in time I don't think its worth it to shake up the staff - your asking a 62 year old to change up everything he knows in the hopes he hangs on for a few more years. Right now I think he's gotten comfortable, and that comfort has led to things coming to a standstill. It's time to jumpstart things.
I really like reading Powell but going to disagree that this is a great post. My apologies Powell, just see things
From what
3rd quarter
Phaup lose
Phaup lose (violation)
Varello lose
Phaup lose
Phaup lose
Varello lose (violation)

4th quarter
Varello lose
Phaup lose
Phaup win
Phaup lose
Phaup win
Phaup lose
Varello win

:(
More detail for those who didn't see game or couldn't watch the game closely. We were not winning clamp from the start , first half faceoffs were primarily longer fogo battles that turned into gb's that our wings won. Savio had initial control on some that were being dislodged by them. Desko saw this and was right to try alternating as we have two good fogos with varying strengths. After 1q , wings on both came little into play as fogo wins came off whistle or violations. . Savio finished with ten gbs with most in 2nd half that were quick and into space.

In 1q, Cuse won 6 of 7 , 4 -0 on wings, 2gb by Phaup, 1 by Savio.

In 2q, Loyola won 5 of 8, 1-2 on wings, 1gb by Loyola attackman, 2 gb by Savio, 1 by Phaup and 1 win off Loyola violation.

In 3q 0-6. 0-1 on wings, 2 use face-off violations and 3 Savio clean off whistle

in 4q, 3-4. all wins and losses by fogos. Wins playing down line on both sides


































In 3q, 0-6 off two fogo violations, 3 clean wins by Savio and one wing gb by Loyola. We started to play our wings down the line top stop breaks

4q faceoffs were 4-3 Loyola with all wins clean by fogos in space. Phaup 2 and Varello 1 held their won despite violations
 
You are certainly not wrong about missing the "great" talent on this team, it's been missing for a while now. It's especially disconcerting considering we seem to be in the "golden age" of attackmen and SU goes another year without placing an attackman on the All American list. Even BU has a first-teamer. Funny that you mention Army, I think Nichtern is the closest thing to a stud either Army or SU have.

On the flip side, I do think the Syracuse midfield next year could be very special. Curry has the potential to be a 20-20 player and if Dordevic is fully healed he might join him on that list. Buttermore and Trimboli could combine for 50 goals or more and Lipka is an amazing glue guy. The big question is can the attack balance out the field. To me that's the biggest question mark heading into next season.
Should be open competition for two spots without any predestined decisions. Surplus of middy talent allows us to drop 1 or even two down to attack if necessary. Several have experience at attack. Cuse could be a very athletic team next year
 
Lots of blame to go around from yesterdays loss to Loyola. The big ones that have stuck with me -

Defense - it was obvious from the start that Mellen was struggling to contain Spencer. Instead of trying a different matchup, trying zone, the Orange plan was instead to slide earlier to Spencer, playing right into their hands, as Spencer is, as evidence by being the ALL TIME LEADER IN ASSISTS a passer first. Give me a break. Given that Bomberry had better success against a "brute" style attackmen in Nanticoke, maybe give the biggest guy on defense a shot? Or something else, but don't under any circumstances, slide early to the guy. Plenty of blame needs to go to the coaching staff on that, but Mellen played as bad as one can. If he happened to be switched off of Spencer, he would panic and again, slide early to his preferred matchup leading to a wide open shot. Just bad all around. I think Mellen is great, but sometimes you have to realize when something isn't working.

Offense - how you go from scoring 9 goals in a half to only scoring three in the second is beyond me. But a big part of the reason why seemed to be the fact the offense stopped shooting low on Stover, and instead, like Kennedy and Trimboli did late, they went high on a tall goalie. Why go away from something that was working so well?

Mental breakdowns - of course the biggest reason for the loss I feel like belongs to the face-off unit, who were so good for 90 percent of the season, but just faded down the stretch. Heck, they were great in the first half of the game coming up with all the 50-50 balls, but then in the second half, they not only stopped winning the ball, but also gave the Greyhouds man-up opportunities. The Fernandez foul that gifted Loyola their 10th goal of the game was one of the worst I've seen.

I pride myself on having a positive outlook on the SU lacrosse program, but I think the days of expecting this coaching staff delivering a Final Four appearance, or a National Championship have passed. Right now is the program is the definition of treading water. My belief in Desko came down the fact that whatever he lost on the recruiting trail, he would make up for in his in-game abilities to coach players up to deliver on game days. But with the let-down against Colgate to start the year, and the failure to hold on against UNC, and UVA, and letting up in two straight Tournament games, not to mention the disaster that was the recruiting situation this off-season, makes me think it is finally time to walk away. I really think with a motivated, high energy coach SU could make its way back to winning National Titles. But that coach no longer appears to be Desko. No program is perfect, but this team was too talented to finish the way it did this year. It's foolish to think the Orange will go on to dominate the landscape again, but I think it's also foolish not to demand more. Hope things are turned around in a hurry.

At this point in time I don't think its worth it to shake up the staff - your asking a 62 year old to change up everything he knows in the hopes he hangs on for a few more years. Right now I think he's gotten comfortable, and that comfort has led to things coming to a standstill. It's time to jumpstart things.

Excellent post, you should have started a new thread with this one.

I thought Mellen gave it his all but it was clear the height difference between he and Spencer was just way to much. I know some people wanted Bomberry to give it a go on him but thats changing one problem (height) for a whole other one (speed). I thought SU should have bumped down Kennedy, he is the only guy who has the body size and coverage ability to remotely match up with a guy like Spencer. Didn't expect him to suddenly lock him down but I think it might have been worth it. Defensively overall we were all over the map. 1st quarter was brutal with Spencer doing pretty much whatever he wanted and leaving Scanlan wide open. Then from the start of the second quarter until about 2 min left in the third the D pretty much locked down giving up 3 total goals over pretty much 2 quarters and really made life hard for Loyola. Then we gave up back to back man up goals on two ridiculous penalties when we had Loyola on the ropes and then everything just collapsed. Amazing how everyone including Porter just completely fell apart in the 4th quarter, it felt like someone called timeout with about 2 min to go in the third quarter and subbed in Siena or Canisius while we took the rest of the game off. Beyond disappointing.

Your last three points/paragraphs are the most concerning. As I noted above the just complete breakdown in the 4th quarter of every aspect -offense, defense, Goalie, faceoffs etc is something that is so un SU like that its hard to fathom that it happened not just this game but against UNC and to a lesser extent UVA. Phaup and Varello especially seemed to just totally lose it during that stretch which makes almost no sense when they had been battling at least to 50.50 for 2+ quarters and Savio was taking every single draw. Clearly Phaup tired down the stretch of the season or some hole in his game got exposed but its just bizarre to see two FOGO's just suddenly start getting crushed like that at the X three quarters into the game. The wing guys as well seemed to either be out of gas or just lacking the same energy as they were winning or out-hustling Loyola's wing unit the entire first half but didn't seem to have that same energy or ability in the second especially during that 8 or 9 straight losing streak. Desko noted in the PC that the team was in such great shape but based on the multiple 4 th quarter collapses not sure that's accurate.
You are certainly not wrong about missing the "great" talent on this team, it's been missing for a while now. It's especially disconcerting considering we seem to be in the "golden age" of attackmen and SU goes another year without placing an attackman on the All American list. Even BU has a first-teamer. Funny that you mention Army, I think Nichtern is the closest thing to a stud either Army or SU have.

On the flip side, I do think the Syracuse midfield next year could be very special. Curry has the potential to be a 20-20 player and if Dordevic is fully healed he might join him on that list. Buttermore and Trimboli could combine for 50 goals or more and Lipka is an amazing glue guy. The big question is can the attack balance out the field. To me that's the biggest question mark heading into next season.

I think Dordevic should be moved to attack the second he is cleared to practice, makes way to much sense not to.
 
I pride myself on having a positive outlook on the SU lacrosse program, but I think the days of expecting this coaching staff delivering a Final Four appearance, or a National Championship have passed. Right now is the program is the definition of treading water. My belief in Desko came down the fact that whatever he lost on the recruiting trail, he would make up for in his in-game abilities to coach players up to deliver on game days. But with the let-down against Colgate to start the year, and the failure to hold on against UNC, and UVA, and letting up in two straight Tournament games, not to mention the disaster that was the recruiting situation this off-season, makes me think it is finally time to walk away. I really think with a motivated, high energy coach SU could make its way back to winning National Titles. But that coach no longer appears to be Desko. No program is perfect, but this team was too talented to finish the way it did this year. It's foolish to think the Orange will go on to dominate the landscape again, but I think it's also foolish not to demand more. Hope things are turned around in a hurry.

At this point in time I don't think its worth it to shake up the staff - your asking a 62 year old to change up everything he knows in the hopes he hangs on for a few more years. Right now I think he's gotten comfortable, and that comfort has led to things coming to a standstill. It's time to jumpstart things.

Your points about Desko are to me is most concerning right now. Were in a bad pattern of things trending negatively or at least historically away from SU. It went from final fours and championship games to first round upsets as the much higher seed to dissapointing quarter final losses to now barely making the tournament and blowing late leads in back to back years. I can understand a lot of people coming to Desko's defense as he is a great coach with a history most of us couldn't dream of achieving here. That said the results or lack thereof speak for themsevles. The 6 decommits this past year half of whom were top 20/30 guys, inability to recruit an elite level scoring attackmen since probably Donahue (who we backed into on a transfer) or Nims, an inconsitent FOGO situation outside of Ben Williams 2+ years until he got hurt as a Senior, continued issues with slow starts and constantly having to make a miraculous comeback etc etc etc. Now the new development is this 4th quarter collapse syndrome up 3+ goals that SU almost never had an issue with in its heyday and we had 3 such games this season alone not counting last years 1st round game against Cornell. In most years it would have been SU that the "Spencer" type player, or at least by far the best offensive player on the field. It's been to many years since we could say that against our peer school opponents, you probably have to go back to the days of Cody Jameson or maybe Rice as a Senior.

I have never been a Fire Desko guy but whenever people start using the excuses of tuition costs or parity, or the weather, or academics or other factors to keep a coach whose underperforming that is almost always a sign that its time for a change. Personally to me the entire program feels stale as I noted a few years ago. There seems to be no urgency or emotion from the coaching staff side. The players in the post game PC were clearly devastated you could see how much it hurt. Desko looked like he was thinking about his summer plans or where he was going to eat for dinner once the press conference ended. I know Desko's not an emotional guy and I don't expect him to be Petro up there but the lackadasical shoulder shrug response to everything is infuriating when the team keeps burning out early in the tournament.

Do I think the college is going to fire Desko, I doubt it. Do I think a staff shakeup could happen, possible I guess. Do I want Desko replaced., I could make a case either way. The bottomline is SU hasn't won a title in what will now be 11 years once next season starts. Over that time SU has 1 yes 1 final four appearance. It has lost more times in the 1st round of the tournament then it has made final four appearances, that is a damning statement for a program like Syracuse. I like John Desko and as I noted on Sat he's a hall of famer but at what point does the admin look at the results and the ongoing issues of the "premier D1 program in the Nation" and realize we have a problem here.
 
You are certainly not wrong about missing the "great" talent on this team, it's been missing for a while now. It's especially disconcerting considering we seem to be in the "golden age" of attackmen and SU goes another year without placing an attackman on the All American list. Even BU has a first-teamer. Funny that you mention Army, I think Nichtern is the closest thing to a stud either Army or SU have.

On the flip side, I do think the Syracuse midfield next year could be very special. Curry has the potential to be a 20-20 player and if Dordevic is fully healed he might join him on that list. Buttermore and Trimboli could combine for 50 goals or more and Lipka is an amazing glue guy. The big question is can the attack balance out the field. To me that's the biggest question mark heading into next season.
Here's hoping.
 

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