Poor Coaching or Poor Play vs. GT

[arbitragegls]

Watching the 'Cuse vs. GT game on ESPNU...and quite frankly this is the weakest 'Cuse team I have seen in a decade or more. Aside from not being able to hold the ball, 'Cuse has already turned over 14 times. Is this poor play or a condemnation of the 'Cuse coaching staff. This is not a game against Duke, or Hopkins, or Virginia...its GT for damn sakes...oh how the mighty have fallen.

What do you see as the reason for this poor play and just an okay season...do we come out of this next year?

 

[JeremyCuse]

Watching the 'Cuse vs. GT game on ESPNU...and quite frankly this is the weakest 'Cuse team I have seen in a decade or more. Aside from not being able to hold the ball, 'Cuse has already turned over 14 times. Is this poor play or a condemnation of the 'Cuse coaching staff. This is not a game against Duke, or Hopkins, or Virginia...its GT for damn sakes...oh how the mighty have fallen.

What do you see as the reason for this poor play and just an okay season...do we come out of this next year?

Combo of both, Gtown is playing a Zone and we look lost. What also hurts is this team only has a few offensive playmakers when SU usually has 5-6 at minimum. Maltz and Palasek have zero goals when they struggle so will the team because our Midfield is the worst I have seen in a decade. JoJo, Pratt, Barber, Lecky just flat out mediocore at best.

 

[clayman32]

This has got to be the worst Cuse team that I can remember. There really just isn't any offensive talent. Sloppy as hell. Terrible passes. Even when there is a decent pass, how many times have they just dropped it? Desko needs to do some serious recruiting. There are no elite players on this team. Maybe mcgill

 

[JeremyCuse]

This has got to be the worst Cuse team that I can remember. There really just isn't any offensive talent. Sloppy as hell. Terrible passes. Even when there is a decent pass, how many times have they just dropped it? Desko needs to do some serious recruiting. There are no elite players on this team. Maybe mcgill

Unless the young guys take a huge step next year or the guys we redshirted are ready to play I dont know how much better the offense will be next year. Defense will be good but Offense could struggle big time again, no one that can dodge and we turn the ball over at an alarming rate. Simple passess and catches become an adventure with this team.

 

[jr4750]

Maltz can't seem to catch, or at least he couldn't today. He also looks super slow. Kid is effective when someone else is doing the work, getting it to him. Palasek has been good lately, but also can make terrible TO's!

 

[creatorsgam]

Desko can't take face-offs. That is a huge problem. A program like Syracuse should have an average face-off specialist at worst. We have gotten worked-over at the X this season, and today's fourth quarter numbers were further proof.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Maltz can't seem to catch, or at least he couldn't today. He also looks super slow. Kid is effective when someone else is doing the work, getting it to him. Palasek has been good lately, but also can make terrible TO's!

Tough to blame Maltz or Palasek after the last few games but I agree Maltz seems to have little ability to creat his own shot and needs to be a little less feast or famine. The turnovers were again inexecusable just absolutely brutal to watch and besides Eilers who had a good game our mid field continues to be a joke.

 

[RoysRunts]

IMO When this stuff happens to a Team with this type of Talent it's Internal Stuff. Jealousy/Factions

 

[UrbanaOrange]

I think there is talent on this team, but a lot of them are not seeing the field enough as they should. That said, this not a real strong dodging team and it appears to be seriously hampering offensive. Lecky has some serious wheels, but it appears his lax IQ isn't great yet.

 

[UrbanaOrange]

The '07 team had more talent, but a worse record. I think this team needs a younger "hot shot" recruiter.

 

[tbonezone]

what i watched today was team that's not particularly skilled,not particularly speedy and evidently not very focused at the moment. and that's a bad mojo combo.

 

[ForCuseSake]

As much as people want to believe the game has grown nationally we're not pulling enough offensive talent from LI, Canada & MD. And most of the kids we're playing this year from CNY are mediocre WG talent.

Our midfield is the perfect example - it blows because we have athletes from OR, OH, MA & CT. CT lax isn't bad but I'd much rather have kids w/ immaculate stick skills & lax IQ from a hotbed than a 6'3 215 freight train who could catch & shoot against weak hs competition but can't cut it at the top DI level.

Recruit defensemen from non-traditional areas (eg Mullins); not offensive talent!

 

[RoysRunts]

* An overall record of 118-40 in 10 season at SU
* A postseason record of 23-5
* Five NCAA Championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009)
* Six straight trips to NCAA Championship Weekend from 1999-2004 and eight trips to the NCAA semifinals overall
* Six appearances in the NCAA title game
* A 10-4 record at championship weekend
* a 6-2 record in the NCAA semis and a 4-2 mark in NCAA title games
* Inducted into the Central New York Chapter of the Lacrosse Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1997
* 2008 USILA Division I Coach of the Year
* 2006 U.S. National Team Head Coach
* 2006 Letterwinner of Distinction
* Fastest active Division I head coach to reach 100 wins (133 games)

 

[PhatOrange]

Complete team meltdown Saturday. The defense was putrid, horrible.

Nobody on this team plays smart - not offensively, not defensively. Dumb mistake after dumb mistakes.

Very dissappointed with the breakdowns on defense. Kids look clueless about slides and are getting caught in between.

I'd bet anything that right now OCC would beat Syracuse.

 

[RoysRunts]

"I'd bet anything that right now OCC would beat Syracuse". Ask Matt Pratt how easy it ifs top adjust to D-1

 

[dollarbill44]

* An overall record of 118-40 in 10 season at SU
* A postseason record of 23-5
* Five NCAA Championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009)
* Six straight trips to NCAA Championship Weekend from 1999-2004 and eight trips to the NCAA semifinals overall
* Six appearances in the NCAA title game
* A 10-4 record at championship weekend
* a 6-2 record in the NCAA semis and a 4-2 mark in NCAA title games
* Inducted into the Central New York Chapter of the Lacrosse Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1997
* 2008 USILA Division I Coach of the Year
* 2006 U.S. National Team Head Coach
* 2006 Letterwinner of Distinction
* Fastest active Division I head coach to reach 100 wins (133 games)

Are you making the point that the coaches have no part in this year's problems? I think it is a tough argument to make. This is year 3 of getting killed on face-offs and an inability to regularly score against a zone defense. I have no idea what the answer(s) is, but something is clearly wrong. I don't like the trend the program appears to be on.

 

[PhatOrange]

"I'd bet anything that right now OCC would beat Syracuse". Ask Matt Pratt how easy it ifs top adjust to D-1

Ask Matt Pratt why? Matt Pratt is one player and he's not that good. Desko erred in recruiting him. Maybe I should ask Jeremy Thompson or Reggie Thorpe or Cody Jamieson how easy it is to adjust to D1.

OCC as a team is formidable and they have some Indians this year and a Canadian kid that are just tearing it up. Not sure if the Canadian is an Indian or not.

The freshman Randy Staats from 6 Nations has 102 points.

So maybe OCC is an exageration but I wouldn't feel comfortable playing them. Could LeMoyne take down Syracuse right now? I'm telling you, it'd be a tight game.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Complete team meltdown Saturday. The defense was putrid, horrible.

Nobody on this team plays smart - not offensively, not defensively. Dumb mistake after dumb mistakes.

Very dissappointed with the breakdowns on defense. Kids look clueless about slides and are getting caught in between.

I'd bet anything that right now OCC would beat Syracuse.

The most disheartening is the dumb plays. I cant tell you how many turnovers we had Saturday that could have been avoided, guys trying to go behind the back in traffic or make homerun passes/plays and turning it over. Tim Desko was horrendous with the ball on Saturday he had at least 6 turnovers by himself and the same for Morasco. Its beyond frustrating watching these guys when there out there playing so called "street ball".

 

[OrangeXtreme]

SU had 22 turnovers.

Georgetown had 23.

 

[JeremyCuse]

SU had 22 turnovers.

Georgetown had 23.

The fact Gtown had 23 doesnt make our 22 ok especially when we lost by more then one goal. That game was a disaster.

 

[PhatOrange]

The fact Gtown had 23 doesnt make our 22 ok especially when we lost by more then one goal. That game was a disaster.

Exactly and half of our turnsover were unforced and just bad decisions. (Like the two passes over the cage that the goalie picked off )...We finish that game with 10/12 to's and I'm sure the outcome is different.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Exactly and half of our turnsover were unforced and just bad decisions. (Like the two passes over the cage that the goalie picked off )...We finish that game with 10/12 to's and I'm sure the outcome is different.

I dont think I have ever seen an SU team turn the ball over as much as this team does and whats infuriating is 75% of them are unforced. You wonder if these guys are tired or somethign because the passes were so bad I cant imagine what they were thinking. Those two passes by Desko right to the goalie were mind boggling.

 

[PhatOrange]

I dont think I have ever seen an SU team turn the ball over as much as this team does and whats infuriating is 75% of them are unforced. You wonder if these guys are tired or somethign because the passes were so bad I cant imagine what they were thinking. Those two passes by Desko right to the goalie were mind boggling.

What drives me insane is that we can’t even throw sharp crisp passes around the perimeter. You watch, we can hardly ever throw the ball around the perimeter where all 6 guys barely have to move to catch the pass. Guys have to bend over, squat down, take a bounce, pass to the wrong hand. It’s fundamental stuff at this level and we can’t even do that simple thing. Sloppy.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

At least they're trying to run set plays.