Now that we know its Bryant a few quick thoughts

[JeremyCuse]

I wasnt able to watch there game vs Siena yesterday but following the updates and reading a few breakdowns this morning a few things are apparent.

Bryant is very turnover prone. I dont have the exact numbers but it seems they turned it over quite a few times yesterday many of them being unforced. Bryant also committs a lot of man up penalties, Siena had at least 4 man up opportunities (I believe they were 1-4 or 1-5). They also appear to have little in the way of depth according to a Siena fan who watched the game (he is rooting for Bryant now so I think the opinion is not biased and he also mentioned how sloppy they looked). Bryant had 18 tunovers last year against Syracuse and based on the results of yesterdays game I would tend to think they are heading for a similar number Sunday.

As I mentioned in a lengthy post earlier in the week Bryant really relies heavily on two players - Massa there faceoff specialist and Waldt there goalie. If those two dont turn in good to great games Bryant isn't winning many games. They have some good O weapons in Dunster and a true frosh who won the NEC rookie of the year but they dont appear to have a star offensive player. (I supsect Mullins will draw Dunster). Waldt was apparently limping very badly by the end of the Siena game yesterday and was clearly injured. I do expect him to start and play the whole game but obviously the injury is something to keep in mind.

Pressler is a really good coach so I assume he will have some tricks up his sleeve but yesterdays game was a great scouting opp for Desko and the staff. I expect Bryant to play a lot of zone sunday. They played a 3-3 Zone last year and I suspect we will see some of that plus some other variations. The Waldt kid is a pretty good goalie so were going to need our shooters to mix up angles and shot locations.

A few things I will be watching closely on Sunday.
Daddio and vs Massa battle - Im not expecting Chris to go 50%+ against Massa but after his unbelievable turnaround from earlier this year I am expecting Syracuse to at least be somewhat competitive at the X. One thing Daddio absolutely has to do is not allow Massa to get into long streaks. As good as he was against Duke a couple of weeks ago Fowler was still able to reel of like 12 straight from late in teh second through the third quarter. We cant afford to give up a streak like that in the playoffs. Even if Massa reels off 3 or 4 straight we need to come back and grab one or two. Also going to be imperative that Daddio tries to scrum it up the best he can even if Massa gets on a streak. Allow it to become a wing battle that even if we lose will result in the D being able to set up. We cant allow fast break opportunities from the X that ND and Duke got at the ACC tourney. This should be the most interesting matchup of the night. I have confidence in Daddio but I have to admit that I am worried that Massa will get in his head and reel off a huge streak of wins.

Syracuse D vs Bryant O - Lost in last years semi close game with Bryant was the fact that the Syracuse D played a great game. They gave up 7 goals the entire game and completely blanked Bryant in the 4th quarter and really much of the game after the 1st quarter. While this years D is clearly not on the level of last years team there is still plenty of talent and even if Bryant pulls in another massive faceoff win total I think we should be able to keep them in check. Stamina and depth should play a key role here especially if Bryant wins a large amount of faceoffs. Also going to need to above average games from Lamo and Bobby. Lamo played pretty well last year against bryant so I am hopeful of a repeat, really hoping for a good D effort overall.

Syracuse role players on O vs the Bryant D - Its clear Bryant has a good and a really good goalie. That said they dont have nearly enough personnel or depth to mach up defensively with Syracuse. I expect them to play a lot of zone and play close attendtion to the Staats, Rice, Donahue, and Lecky. This should creat a lot of opportunities for guys like Loy, Ward, Galasso, Derek Maltz. These guys need to finish there opportunities which with good ball movement should be abundant. When Syracuse gets goal production from there midfield its almost unbeatable which was on display last Saturday vs Colgate. Syracuse simply has to many scorers to play close attention to everyone, when the midfield starts scoring teams can't play as close attention to Staats and Rice and Donahue and that opens them up to do there damage. I am looking for Syracuse to be efficient on offense especially with the potential for Bryant to play stall ball and make it take it with Massa. If Bryant plays a lot of zone and Syracuse seems a bit flustered I hope Desko looks ot Dejoe and Walters to mix things up a bit, let those two start ringing from deep and open things up a bit.

Intangibles - Pressler is a good coach but having played Bryant last year and being able to watch them play an elimination game against Siena yesterday I give the edge to Desko on this one. I anticipate Desko is coming up with some plans of attack as well as some contigency plans if Massa and or Waldt start to dominate. Man up offense - Need to capitalize here, Bryant commits a ton of penalties and I suspect at least 4 or 5 flags on them Sunday. Need Syracuse to be 50% at worst on the man up.

All in all this should be a game Syracuse wins comfortably. Bryant has some impressive wins including Albany and Drexel but overall its clear Syracuse is the better team. Bryant struggled to beat a terrible providence team 6-5 and was dominated by Brown late in the year and only a big 4th quarter comeback made it a two goal game. Even against Siena they were mostly outplayed, Siena was 1 for 4 or 5 on the man up and hit at least 7 pipes. As long as Daddio and the D dont completely fall apart I like Syracuse 14-6.

 

[Orangello]

I watched the 3rd and 4th quarters of yesterdays game. Their goalie was limping very badly and played a fairly poor game IMHO. Siena never forced the ball inside like we do and almost all of their shots were from 15-20 yds out where the Bryant goalie had a good view of the ball. Even so, they only lost by 1 and had a clear shot at tying the game on the last possession but the guy took a bad shot.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I watched the 3rd and 4th quarters of yesterdays game. Their goalie was limping very badly and played a fairly poor game IMHO. Siena never forced the ball inside like we do and almost all of their shots were from 15-20 yds out where the Bryant goalie had a good view of the ball. Even so, they only lost by 1 and had a clear shot at tying the game on the last possession but the guy took a bad shot.

Thanks for posting that, good to get some thoughts from someone who watched it. Interesting that Siena never went inside, was Bryant playing a zone? How did Bryants offense look to you? Anything stand out?

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Great analysis. I did watch the Bryant vs Sienna game yesterday. Having seen that game, I'm astonished that Bryant beat Albany. Both Bryant & Sienna looked more like glorified H.S. teams than the iron SU has been playing in the ACC. As you say, barring a meltdown by Daddio, I see the result to be more like the Colgate game.

Here, let me give special kudos to Daddio - I never in my wildest dreams thought that somehow he would figure out the X half-way through his senior season but, there you go. So, I think he will be competitive against Massa.

Regarding the Bryant goalie's injury, to me it looked like a fairly serious issue. Whenever he got into a certain position, he would react noticeably as if he was experiencing sudden, seering pain. How is that going to work?

 

[JeremyCuse]

Great analysis. I did watch the Bryant vs Sienna game yesterday. Having seen that game, I'm astonished that Bryant beat Albany. Both Bryant & Sienna looked more like glorified H.S. teams than the iron SU has been playing in the ACC. As you say, barring a meltdown by Daddio, I see the result to be more like the Colgate game.

Here, let me give special kudos to Daddio - I never in my wildest dreams thought that somehow he would figure out the X half-way through his senior season but, there you go. So, I think he will be competitive against Massa.

Regarding the Bryant goalie's injury, to me it looked like a fairly serious issue. Whenever he got into a certain position, he would react noticeably as if he was experiencing sudden, seering pain. How is that going to work?

Interesting thoughts, agree with you on Hobart beating Albany but keep in mind Albany also lost to Canisius, they were jeckyle and hyde all season.

Even with a meltdown by Daddio it would still take a lot of factors for Bryant to win. The Syracuse D would have to have a very bad game allowing multiple goals late in the timer on or on fast break situations and the offense would have to struggle as well with Waldt standing on his head with at least 15+ saves.

I think the goalie clearly has an injury but with 3+ days off I fully suspect he will start and play the whole game unless the injury is much worse then we know. I think the leg injury may have been related to him taking a shot there, perhaps a deep bruise or something?

Curious if you could expand your thoughts on Bryant and how bad they looked. Did anything specifically stand out to you?

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Interesting thoughts, agree with you on Hobart beating Albany but keep in mind Albany also lost to Canisius, they were jeckyle and hyde all season.

Even with a meltdown by Daddio it would still take a lot of factors for Bryant to win. The Syracuse D would have to have a very bad game allowing multiple goals late in the timer on or on fast break situations and the offense would have to struggle as well with Waldt standing on his head with at least 15+ saves.

I think the goalie clearly has an injury but with 3+ days off I fully suspect he will start and play the whole game unless the injury is much worse then we know. I think the leg injury may have been related to him taking a shot there, perhaps a deep bruise or something?

Curious if you could expand your thoughts on Bryant and how bad they looked. Did anything specifically stand out to you?

Obviously, I'm not the team doctor, but to me, it looked like he might have torn a knee ligament. He was reacting to a very sharp pain somewhere.

Simultaneously, I was watching the two best teams in DI lax here in Massachusetts going at it, and I thought the level of play was not too dissimilar. Massa wasn't dominant, although he had good stretches. Bryant didn't take particularly good care of the ball. Their shooting was suspect. And, they let Sienna, a not very good Sienna, hang around till the end.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Obviously, I'm not the team doctor, but to me, it looked like he might have torn a knee ligament. He was reacting to a very sharp pain somewhere.

Simultaneously, I was watching the two best teams in DI lax here in Massachusetts going at it, and I thought the level of play was not too dissimilar. Massa wasn't dominant, although he had good stretches. Bryant didn't take particularly good care of the ball. Their shooting was suspect. And, they let Sienna, a not very good Sienna, hang around till the end.

Thanks for the thoughts, did you see anything that caused the injury to Waldt? Was it on a shot or just happen out of nowhere? If he has a torn knee ligament I dont see him playing Sunday.

Sounds like Bryant's flaws from last year ie ball control, shooting etc is still a major issue.

 

[Halfmooncuse]

I wasnt able to watch there game vs Siena yesterday but following the updates and reading a few breakdowns this morning a few things are apparent.

Bryant is very turnover prone. I dont have the exact numbers but it seems they turned it over quite a few times yesterday many of them being unforced. Bryant also committs a lot of man up penalties, Siena had at least 4 man up opportunities (I believe they were 1-4 or 1-5). They also appear to have little in the way of depth according to a Siena fan who watched the game (he is rooting for Bryant now so I think the opinion is not biased and he also mentioned how sloppy they looked). Bryant had 18 tunovers last year against Syracuse and based on the results of yesterdays game I would tend to think they are heading for a similar number Sunday.

As I mentioned in a lengthy post earlier in the week Bryant really relies heavily on two players - Massa there faceoff specialist and Waldt there goalie. If those two dont turn in good to great games Bryant isn't winning many games. They have some good O weapons in Dunster and a true frosh who won the NEC rookie of the year but they dont appear to have a star offensive player. (I supsect Mullins will draw Dunster). Waldt was apparently limping very badly by the end of the Siena game yesterday and was clearly injured. I do expect him to start and play the whole game but obviously the injury is something to keep in mind.

Pressler is a really good coach so I assume he will have some tricks up his sleeve but yesterdays game was a great scouting opp for Desko and the staff. I expect Bryant to play a lot of zone sunday. They played a 3-3 Zone last year and I suspect we will see some of that plus some other variations. The Waldt kid is a pretty good goalie so were going to need our shooters to mix up angles and shot locations.

A few things I will be watching closely on Sunday.
Daddio and vs Massa battle - Im not expecting Chris to go 50%+ against Massa but after his unbelievable turnaround from earlier this year I am expecting Syracuse to at least be somewhat competitive at the X. One thing Daddio absolutely has to do is not allow Massa to get into long streaks. As good as he was against Duke a couple of weeks ago Fowler was still able to reel of like 12 straight from late in teh second through the third quarter. We cant afford to give up a streak like that in the playoffs. Even if Massa reels off 3 or 4 straight we need to come back and grab one or two. Also going to be imperative that Daddio tries to scrum it up the best he can even if Massa gets on a streak. Allow it to become a wing battle that even if we lose will result in the D being able to set up. We cant allow fast break opportunities from the X that ND and Duke got at the ACC tourney. This should be the most interesting matchup of the night. I have confidence in Daddio but I have to admit that I am worried that Massa will get in his head and reel off a huge streak of wins.

Syracuse D vs Bryant O - Lost in last years semi close game with Bryant was the fact that the Syracuse D played a great game. They gave up 7 goals the entire game and completely blanked Bryant in the 4th quarter and really much of the game after the 1st quarter. While this years D is clearly not on the level of last years team there is still plenty of talent and even if Bryant pulls in another massive faceoff win total I think we should be able to keep them in check. Stamina and depth should play a key role here especially if Bryant wins a large amount of faceoffs. Also going to need to above average games from Lamo and Bobby. Lamo played pretty well last year against bryant so I am hopeful of a repeat, really hoping for a good D effort overall.

Syracuse role players on O vs the Bryant D - Its clear Bryant has a good and a really good goalie. That said they dont have nearly enough personnel or depth to mach up defensively with Syracuse. I expect them to play a lot of zone and play close attendtion to the Staats, Rice, Donahue, and Lecky. This should creat a lot of opportunities for guys like Loy, Ward, Galasso, Derek Maltz. These guys need to finish there opportunities which with good ball movement should be abundant. When Syracuse gets goal production from there midfield its almost unbeatable which was on display last Saturday vs Colgate. Syracuse simply has to many scorers to play close attention to everyone, when the midfield starts scoring teams can't play as close attention to Staats and Rice and Donahue and that opens them up to do there damage. I am looking for Syracuse to be efficient on offense especially with the potential for Bryant to play stall ball and make it take it with Massa. If Bryant plays a lot of zone and Syracuse seems a bit flustered I hope Desko looks ot Dejoe and Walters to mix things up a bit, let those two start ringing from deep and open things up a bit.

Intangibles - Pressler is a good coach but having played Bryant last year and being able to watch them play an elimination game against Siena yesterday I give the edge to Desko on this one. I anticipate Desko is coming up with some plans of attack as well as some contigency plans if Massa and or Waldt start to dominate. Man up offense - Need to capitalize here, Bryant commits a ton of penalties and I suspect at least 4 or 5 flags on them Sunday. Need Syracuse to be 50% at worst on the man up.

All in all this should be a game Syracuse wins comfortably. Bryant has some impressive wins including Albany and Drexel but overall its clear Syracuse is the better team. Bryant struggled to beat a terrible providence team 6-5 and was dominated by Brown late in the year and only a big 4th quarter comeback made it a two goal game. Even against Siena they were mostly outplayed, Siena was 1 for 4 or 5 on the man up and hit at least 7 pipes. As long as Daddio and the D dont completely fall apart I like Syracuse 14-6.

Wow I thought this was a Hoops recruit!

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Thanks for the thoughts, did you see anything that caused the injury to Waldt? Was it on a shot or just happen out of nowhere? If he has a torn knee ligament I dont see him playing Sunday.

Sounds like Bryant's flaws from last year ie ball control, shooting etc is still a major issue.

I believe he was moving to make a save. Re Sunday, the injury happened I believe in the 3rd quarter, and Pressler left him in to finish the game.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I believe he was moving to make a save. Re Sunday, the injury happened I believe in the 3rd quarter, and Pressler left him in to finish the game.

Inside Lacrosse has an article up about the game and your correct he injured himself making a save in the 2nd quarter I beleive which resulted in the injury. Thought it was interesting that Pressler made a comment about how he was looking forward to playing Syracuse because of Bryant's OOC success (beating Drexel, Albany, Siena and Bucknell) and the fact that they still have Massa and Waldt. Seemed oddly confident about the match up.

 

[Orangello]

Bryant definately played a zone defense but Siena kept everything outside and kept allowing their attacks to be pushed out instead of getting the ball inside to the slider/cutter. In fairness, their passing was not very good and that was part of the problem. They turned it over a number of times on passes. I thought the goalie may have pulled a groin muscle and was obviously in a lot of pain/discomfort.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Bryant definately played a zone defense but Siena kept everything outside and kept allowing their attacks to be pushed out instead of getting the ball inside to the slider/cutter. In fairness, their passing was not very good and that was part of the problem. They turned it over a number of times on passes. I thought the goalie may have pulled a groin muscle and was obviously in a lot of pain/discomfort.

Thanks for the thoughts. What were your thoughts on the Bryant O versus the Siena D? Anything stand out in your mind. Also in regards to the Bryant zone did it seem susceptible to inside passes and cuts that Syracuse can run? thanks

 

[Orangello]

Thanks for the thoughts. What were your thoughts on the Bryant O versus the Siena D? Anything stand out in your mind. Also in regards to the Bryant zone did it seem susceptible to inside passes and cuts that Syracuse can run? thanks

I think their D is very susceptible to runs/cuts. If I'm Desko, I'm sending Staats, Maltz and Donahue every chance I get with Rice dishing it out. We are a much better passing team than Siena. Also, I think we can create some serious mismatches as most of their defenders were fairly small. They are not going to be able to move our guys out of the way like they did with Siena. Run our O through Rice and let em rip. They also are not a great clearing team so I think there's an opportunity to create some turnovers here and score on transitions.

There O is fairly vanila. They had one guy playing on the left side who had a pretty good shot. They almost always look to rotate to the top of the key and let it rip from 15-20yds out. It is going to be critical for our short stick defenders to not let these guys get open like Siena did. Again I think physically, they are going to have a tough time with our big guys like Mullins, Young, Firman and Harris. We really need to be physical on Sunday. That is a major advantage here and needs to be utilized. Also, they are pretty sloppy with the ball and if we pressure them, I think we'll see a fair number of turnovers.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I think their D is very susceptible to runs/cuts. If I'm Desko, I'm sending Staats, Maltz and Donahue every chance I get with Rice dishing it out. We are a much better passing team than Siena. Also, I think we can create some serious mismatches as most of their defenders were fairly small. They are not going to be able to move our guys out of the way like they did with Siena. Run our O through Rice and let em rip. They also are not a great clearing team so I think there's an opportunity to create some turnovers here and score on transitions.

There O is fairly vanila. They had one guy playing on the left side who had a pretty good shot. They almost always look to rotate to the top of the key and let it rip from 15-20yds out. It is going to be critical for our short stick defenders to not let these guys get open like Siena did. Again I think physically, they are going to have a tough time with our big guys like Mullins, Young, Firman and Harris. We really need to be physical on Sunday. That is a major advantage here and needs to be utilized. Also, they are pretty sloppy with the ball and if we pressure them, I think we'll see a fair number of turnovers.

Great recap thanks

 

[Orangello]

BTW, I think Massa was exactly 50% yesterday. The Siena guy did a nice job. A lot of them wound up being wild ground ball scrums so if our wings play well, this could be very interesting.