JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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First off, HUGE win Saturday. In back to back must win games Syracuse has come up big despite gettign embarrased again at the X. The win now pushes SU to 4-2 on the season and gives them a whole week of practice time (next game is Sunday) on a full field for Duke. In the bigger picture the win was huge for multiple reasons. It Syracuse a win over a previously undefeated team on the road. Even though JHU has its own gauntlet of game coming up this win assures Syracuse a top 20 win and gives them much needed breathing room.
That being said we still have a long way to go. The X play was as bad as we had feared and looking ahead it doesnt get much easier at all. We all know about Fowler and Duke so no need to rehash that nightmare, after that ND's faceoff guy trounced UVA yesterday and while UNC is missing there top guy, there frosh replacement actually outdid Fowler on Sat (I know great news). Cornell also remains undefeated after beating Yale. With our record at 4-2 we need three more win to lock in .500 which with our SOS would almost guarantee a tourney invite. I know based on our #1 pre-season ranking we were all hoping for better then just getting in but with the faceoff issues what they are and our schedule its going to be tough. We still have Colgate, Hobart and Bingo on the schedule. That should be 3 wins but I caution to put all as a lock, Colgate is 6-1 and Bingo has a good guy at the X and for Hobart the syracuse game is there superbowl world series nba finals all rolled into one. If Syracuse can hold serve there and go 1-1 over the next two games we would be looking at 8 wins and thats not counting games against Cornell and UNC.
So where do we go from here? To me the two biggest issues remain clearing (still a total adventure) and obviously the X (an absolute nightmare). Not sure if Woody or someone else connected can comment on Paduda's health but I cant imagine for the life of me why in the world he hasn't gotten a turn unless hes still injured. Ditto for Demarco, I know hes a true frosh and only 5'4 but he had .910 win % last year in highschool and is an all-american, how could he possibly do worse? I do want to defend Daddio for a second as bad as he has been he is getting absolutely ZERO help from the wings. Daddio was able to scrum it up a few time but our wing guys are either as slow as me or have zero idea how to play the wings on a faceoff because they ARE NEVER NEAR THE BALL EVER. McCartney needs to get off the wing, hes a great D player but man whenever hes out there hes never close to the ball, I cant remember the last time he grabbed a GB on a faceoff. Ditto for the short stick guys we keep running out there. On one draw I saw Saturday the ball finally got hit back and our wing player was nearly at the box line, where the hell was he going?
Give me two guys who play without abandon our there, my votes are for Firman and Lecky, those two fly around like there shorts are on fire, let them battle, Lecky has been grabbing GB's this year like I have never seen before, let he and Firman give it a shot. I know Desko will trot Daddio out there Sunday but I really wish we woudl give someone else a shot, Fowler is already in Daddio's head and its going to be a bloodbath, really hope we burn Demarco's shirt and role with him.
That being said we still have a long way to go. The X play was as bad as we had feared and looking ahead it doesnt get much easier at all. We all know about Fowler and Duke so no need to rehash that nightmare, after that ND's faceoff guy trounced UVA yesterday and while UNC is missing there top guy, there frosh replacement actually outdid Fowler on Sat (I know great news). Cornell also remains undefeated after beating Yale. With our record at 4-2 we need three more win to lock in .500 which with our SOS would almost guarantee a tourney invite. I know based on our #1 pre-season ranking we were all hoping for better then just getting in but with the faceoff issues what they are and our schedule its going to be tough. We still have Colgate, Hobart and Bingo on the schedule. That should be 3 wins but I caution to put all as a lock, Colgate is 6-1 and Bingo has a good guy at the X and for Hobart the syracuse game is there superbowl world series nba finals all rolled into one. If Syracuse can hold serve there and go 1-1 over the next two games we would be looking at 8 wins and thats not counting games against Cornell and UNC.
So where do we go from here? To me the two biggest issues remain clearing (still a total adventure) and obviously the X (an absolute nightmare). Not sure if Woody or someone else connected can comment on Paduda's health but I cant imagine for the life of me why in the world he hasn't gotten a turn unless hes still injured. Ditto for Demarco, I know hes a true frosh and only 5'4 but he had .910 win % last year in highschool and is an all-american, how could he possibly do worse? I do want to defend Daddio for a second as bad as he has been he is getting absolutely ZERO help from the wings. Daddio was able to scrum it up a few time but our wing guys are either as slow as me or have zero idea how to play the wings on a faceoff because they ARE NEVER NEAR THE BALL EVER. McCartney needs to get off the wing, hes a great D player but man whenever hes out there hes never close to the ball, I cant remember the last time he grabbed a GB on a faceoff. Ditto for the short stick guys we keep running out there. On one draw I saw Saturday the ball finally got hit back and our wing player was nearly at the box line, where the hell was he going?
Give me two guys who play without abandon our there, my votes are for Firman and Lecky, those two fly around like there shorts are on fire, let them battle, Lecky has been grabbing GB's this year like I have never seen before, let he and Firman give it a shot. I know Desko will trot Daddio out there Sunday but I really wish we woudl give someone else a shot, Fowler is already in Daddio's head and its going to be a bloodbath, really hope we burn Demarco's shirt and role with him.
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