Notre Dame Gameday...

[UrbanaOrange]

I'd like a new offensive coordinator.

I'd like a new AD

I'd like Gait to not publicly blame a lack of talent as his excuse.

Not necessarily on the fire Gait train (yet lol)

Things should get better in the coming years, but I do feel Cuse has a way of making things incredibly difficult with its decision making processes.

Pat March is one of the best offensive minds in the game. He is also an elite recruiter. Princeton is reaping the benefits of that now and we will be in the near future.

Agree with you about the AD!

 

[PhatOrange]

Hearsay is several trips back n forth over course of long day due to assortment of weather delays, couple of deboardings due to mechanical issues and then hrs at night waiting for another plane stuck in another state . ND arrival 1- 2 am. Sounds more draining mentally than physical , may have factored some but not the reason Cuse lost so badly. Credit ND sharp play .

That's a huge issue though and would be a major contributing reason why the team looked like they were sleep walking.

Just have to burn this one and move on.

 

[Cuse All-In]

Pat March is one of the best offensive minds in the game. He is also an elite recruiter. Princeton is reaping the benefits of that now and we will be in the near future.

Agree with you about the AD!

Don't know where you get your information - maybe March's mother. March may have had legitimate success recruiting for Princeton and now Cuse, but one of the best offensive minds is not the case. Reliable sources close to the program would strongly disagree and point to the underperformance and inconsistencies of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 offenses. The game plans and lack of adjustments last year were exemplified by the pathetic effort against Georgetown in the playoffs. Sowers no doubt made him look better than he was at Princeton. I fully expect him to be gone after this season.

 

[OrangWest]

Slusher has a few years of eligibility. If March can bring him over, he can stay.

 

[CrazyPeople]

Slusher has a few years of eligibility. If March can bring him over, he can stay.

He couldn't get Sowers to come and he "guided" him to 80+ pt seasons for three years...

 

[DoctahLexus]

Don't know where you get your information - maybe March's mother. March may have had legitimate success recruiting for Princeton and now Cuse, but one of the best offensive minds is not the case. Reliable sources close to the program would strongly disagree and point to the underperformance and inconsistencies of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 offenses. The game plans and lack of adjustments last year were exemplified by the pathetic effort against Georgetown in the playoffs. Sowers no doubt made him look better than he was at Princeton. I fully expect him to be gone after this season.

I still like how the O looks when we are able to get a defense in motion. Duke has weaker ssdms than ND and when we had their D on the carousel the ball was flying around quickly to get a dodge against a defender on the other side of the field against a rotating off balance defender. The sets were solid when able to dodge and exploit a weakness. Even got quite a few compliments out of Matt Ward, who praised our ball movement in comparison to Duke's. You have to have the horses to generate separation in the first place. We have about 1.5 guys who can do that consistently and our main guy was playing middie before this year. UNC and Hop offense going through similar ruts. They have one maybe two guys that can rotate a D so if they aren't getting it done the whole thing grinds to a halt. Tierney's offense no longer the team oriented machine it once was, not because his OC or strategy sucks now, but because the guys needed to generate the rotation on which the offense thrives are just not there.

Our top 6 on O is pathetic. Our middie group was already in deep trouble with Dordevic moving to attack and now Quinn and Cook are hurt and Buttermore is hobbled and slower. We have young guys who are hurt too. Berkman and Seebold generate nearly nothing off the dodge. I truly don't think there is a magician OC out there who comes in and makes this group of guys look elite. Everyone is still way to eager to fire guys just getting started.

 

[CuseNHouse]

With the injuries of an already compromised roster, it is what it is. While there have been flashes, this team is performing as many predicted prior the start of the season. A game like Duke draws us into magical thinking, but these moments are aberrations. Next year should begin to turn the tide.

 

[Cuse All-In]

I still like how the O looks when we are able to get a defense in motion. Duke has weaker ssdms than ND and when we had their D on the carousel the ball was flying around quickly to get a dodge against a defender on the other side of the field against a rotating off balance defender. The sets were solid when able to dodge and exploit a weakness. Even got quite a few compliments out of Matt Ward, who praised our ball movement in comparison to Duke's. You have to have the horses to generate separation in the first place. We have about 1.5 guys who can do that consistently and our main guy was playing middie before this year. UNC and Hop offense going through similar ruts. They have one maybe two guys that can rotate a D so if they aren't getting it done the whole thing grinds to a halt. Tierney's offense no longer the team oriented machine it once was, not because his OC or strategy sucks now, but because the guys needed to generate the rotation on which the offense thrives are just not there.

Our top 6 on O is pathetic. Our middie group was already in deep trouble with Dordevic moving to attack and now Quinn and Cook are hurt and Buttermore is hobbled and slower. We have young guys who are hurt too. Berkman and Seebold generate nearly nothing off the dodge. I truly don't think there is a magician OC out there who comes in and makes this group of guys look elite. Everyone is still way to eager to fire guys just getting started.

All valid points. Injuries have been brutal this year. Having said that, I still found last year's offense was inconsistent when we had Rehfuss, Hiltz and Scanlan with the all-world midfield. If March continues in the position, next year's team should leave March no excuses with a healthy Hiltz, Spallina, Dordevic etc. Just my opinion - I think Hiltz will be the best player on the team for the next few years.

 

[Cuse69]

All valid points. Injuries have been brutal this year. Having said that, I still found last year's offense was inconsistent when we had Rehfuss, Hiltz and Scanlan with the all-world midfield. If March continues in the position, next year's team should leave March no excuses with a healthy Hiltz, Spallina, Dordevic etc. Just my opinion - I think Hiltz will be the best player on the team for the next few years.

I've been unimpressed with March especially as he came heralded as the next big thing. Does anyone know if ADJW is the catalyst for March staying on staff or if gait wanted him?

 

[DoctahLexus]

All valid points. Injuries have been brutal this year. Having said that, I still found last year's offense was inconsistent when we had Rehfuss, Hiltz and Scanlan with the all-world midfield. If March continues in the position, next year's team should leave March no excuses with a healthy Hiltz, Spallina, Dordevic etc. Just my opinion - I think Hiltz will be the best player on the team for the next few years.

Inconsistent yes, but clearly capable of producing, and not nearly as unbearable to watch due to stagnation. They moved the ball well.

I’ve said this a few times before now, but what we are seeing now could also be attributed to replacing the entire scanlan rehfuss Hiltz attack line, the last one unexpectedly. Maybe about equal to this current line up in terms of dodging but they could pass a ton better, like miles better. I have a zillion memories of phenomenal skip passes by all three of them. Dordevic is maybe a better dodger but rehfuss was a true QB attack who had been doing it since 2018 and had a fantastic year. Losing all three is a huge dent in the O

 

[Cuse All-In]

Inconsistent yes, but clearly capable of producing, and not nearly as unbearable to watch due to stagnation. They moved the ball well.

I’ve said this a few times before now, but what we are seeing now could also be attributed to replacing the entire scanlan rehfuss Hiltz attack line, the last one unexpectedly. Maybe about equal to this current line up in terms of dodging but they could pass a ton better, like miles better. I have a zillion memories of phenomenal skip passes by all three of them. Dordevic is maybe a better dodger but rehfuss was a true QB attack who had been doing it since 2018 and had a fantastic year. Losing all three is a huge dent in the O

You make very valid points. There was real chemistry and excellence from Hiltz and Rehfuss in particular. How much of that was March's doing is up for debate and I respect your opinion.

Let's hope that the ND game was an unfortunate outlier and we will see more efforts like the Duke game.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Powellfan]

I still like how the O looks when we are able to get a defense in motion. Duke has weaker ssdms than ND and when we had their D on the carousel the ball was flying around quickly to get a dodge against a defender on the other side of the field against a rotating off balance defender. The sets were solid when able to dodge and exploit a weakness. Even got quite a few compliments out of Matt Ward, who praised our ball movement in comparison to Duke's. You have to have the horses to generate separation in the first place. We have about 1.5 guys who can do that consistently and our main guy was playing middie before this year. UNC and Hop offense going through similar ruts. They have one maybe two guys that can rotate a D so if they aren't getting it done the whole thing grinds to a halt. Tierney's offense no longer the team oriented machine it once was, not because his OC or strategy sucks now, but because the guys needed to generate the rotation on which the offense thrives are just not there.

Our top 6 on O is pathetic. Our middie group was already in deep trouble with Dordevic moving to attack and now Quinn and Cook are hurt and Buttermore is hobbled and slower. We have young guys who are hurt too. Berkman and Seebold generate nearly nothing off the dodge. I truly don't think there is a magician OC out there who comes in and makes this group of guys look elite. Everyone is still way to eager to fire guys just getting started.

You make some excellent points here. The top line stats don't look too off from last year. The team is scoring 13 goals a game, same as last year, and the number of assists are about the same as well - about seven. But that doesn't really tell the full story. When looking at the top six assisters from last year to this - the top line players were doing a much better job of sharing the ball. I looked at top six to get rid of the "noise". The top six last year accounted for 85 assists, about 6.5 per game. This year's top six (Dordevic, Curry, Berkman, Cordes and Seebold) are much worse at 4.6. If they played a 13 game schedule like last years team did, they would put up just 60. Far below last years leaders (Rhefuss, Hiltz, Curry, Scanlan, Dordevic and Seebold).

That of course has an effect on other things as well. The old adage is that a shot coming off a pass is much harder for a goalie to stop, and this years top assisters are shooting just 28% as a unit. Last years top 6 shot the ball at 34%. The 2022 unit, if they shot that percentage would have scored 110 goals so far this season, instead of the 93 they actually have.

I think the talk of March getting run out of town really isn't fair. This years team has been frustrating, but they lost their best player before the season even started. I have to imagine that the #2 recruit in the country who March pried away from Denver was due to have a very big impact on this year's team. I was expecting him to lead the team in points.

Last year's unit wasn't great, but they also had a serious possession discrepancy. It's frustrating since Phaup has made great strides this year and yet the offense has clearly digressed. This years team is getting a lot more chances. They would produce 475 shots in a 13 game schedule. Last years team shot the ball just 408 times. That's a big difference. I think March has shown that he CAN produce good offenses, you just have to dig a little bit more into the numbers. And you have to factor in the other aspects of the game.

 

[DoctahLexus]

You make some excellent points here. The top line stats don't look too off from last year. The team is scoring 13 goals a game, same as last year, and the number of assists are about the same as well - about seven. But that doesn't really tell the full story. When looking at the top six assisters from last year to this - the top line players were doing a much better job of sharing the ball. I looked at top six to get rid of the "noise". The top six last year accounted for 85 assists, about 6.5 per game. This year's top six (Dordevic, Curry, Berkman, Cordes and Seebold) are much worse at 4.6. If they played a 13 game schedule like last years team did, they would put up just 60. Far below last years leaders (Rhefuss, Hiltz, Curry, Scanlan, Dordevic and Seebold).

That of course has an effect on other things as well. The old adage is that a shot coming off a pass is much harder for a goalie to stop, and this years top assisters are shooting just 28% as a unit. Last years top 6 shot the ball at 34%. The 2022 unit, if they shot that percentage would have scored 110 goals so far this season, instead of the 93 they actually have.

I think the talk of March getting run out of town really isn't fair. This years team has been frustrating, but they lost their best player before the season even started. I have to imagine that the #2 recruit in the country who March pried away from Denver was due to have a very big impact on this year's team. I was expecting him to lead the team in points.

Last year's unit wasn't great, but they also had a serious possession discrepancy. It's frustrating since Phaup has made great strides this year and yet the offense has clearly digressed. This years team is getting a lot more chances. They would produce 475 shots in a 13 game schedule. Last years team shot the ball just 408 times. That's a big difference. I think March has shown that he CAN produce good offenses, you just have to dig a little bit more into the numbers. And you have to factor in the other aspects of the game.

Totally agree and those are useful stats on shot totals/assist averages

 

[OrangeXtreme]

This is my shocked face...