AlbanyFan2018

We switched to a zone early in the 3rd quarter and it seemed like UMASS didn't even adjust to that. Rather than passing to get the zone moving they tried to dodge into it. But that was a good switch or it would have been much worse, and Heller really stepped up his game today.

UMass really can't figure out the zone - seems to be our best option on defense.

You know a lot. It is painfully obvious.

I've been biting my tongue for awhile. I don't know what is going on, but the defense in particular while they have decent one on one skill, the overall lacrosse IQ just isn't there.

Gash has left his man twice for easy goals, Pepe leaving his man for a goal, and a bad turnover.

I hear you, but I think I am being realistic. LCC isn’t a good team and not for a ton of penalties from them last night this could have gone the other way. We’ve been hearing the young team comment for the last several years.

I would love to flat out be wrong!! But looking at the schedule, and what we have seen so far there looks like two for certain wins against Siena, and NJIT, and two probable wins against UMass Lowell and Bingo. Although Bingo had a pretty good game yesterday. Bingo beat Lafayette who beat Drexel so that is no gimmie. I've been following lacrosse for a long time, and Lafayette hadn't won a game in forever so to lose to a team who lost to them is not a good sign. UMass and UMBC are probably toss ups and right now we would be heavy underdogs against Cuse, Yale, Penn, and Maryland, and underdogs against Vermont and Stony Brook. Seems like six wins is the best scenario outcome. If I were Vegas I would put the over/under at around five wins.

I don't see us dropping the game to Siena under any circumstance, but our defensive efficiency has to improve or this is going be a 3-4 win season at best.

I watched it. We wasted a big possession advantage, too many poor shots from a couple of guys, and the combination of defense and goalie play not good.

Going to be a very long season, especially when we seem to found a very solid FOGO who had another very good game and still lost. I hope someone presses Scott on the use of players and what is going on with the defensive scheme/goalie situation. I think the save percentage was about 30% and to give up 14 goals with the possession advantage we had is got going to get it done.

Darn, missed the show this morning. Thanks for the update!

I'm not one to question goalie play, especially with bad camera angles. Also, one of the things I learned along the way is that our defense will play to give up certain shots that the goalie is expected to save so a lot of times as fans, if we don't know the plan, it is hard to make heads or tails of save percentage numbers. That being said a sub 40% save rate with twenty five turnovers isn't going to beat anyone, even the guys down the road. With Yunker not playing for whatever reason the offense currently doesn't have a quarterback which is pretty much what Coach Marr told us, and it isn't clear to me that we have a guy who can break down a defense so it is going to rely upon really crisp ball movement, possession advantage, pushing transition, and causing havoc around the field. The good news is against a decent Cornell face off unit, we won more than we lost without great wing play. Our FOGO won the ball a lot. No knock on Heller, but I would have bet money Ramos was going to start at goalie if for no other reason he is quick out of the net and can help push the ball. I wish I knew what was going on there, and don't know if Ramos is hurt again or if in the coaches opinion Heller is better at stopping the ball. As far as highly touted players not living up to the recruiting press all I can add is that the coaching staff IMHO doesn't have a great track record of player development. We had several guys who slipped through the cracks, and then the Thompson's who were generational talents, but I just haven't seen many guys get a lot bigger, faster, and stronger. There has also been a current trend of moving on to different guys IMO. Now that could be to failures in recruiting. I don't know, but I just see a lot of spaghetti. As many of us have been moaning, how do you not figure out your team DNA in the fall and early pre-season?

I wish I could shed some more light on it, but was just able to rewatch with a good internet connection and it just looked like a team with no identity that didn't play well. I had no particular insights, but ever since the final four loss, and TD leaving it has been a team in search for something.

I am probably going to share a very unpopular hot take as well and say I agree with you. Scott probably has earned employment for life, but the loyalty to former players in terms of coaches has to end, and you need a staff that pushes you as a coach and the program forward. I will give them the benefit of the doubt of 2-3 games to see the improvement, but this is the same story since after the final four. I just don't know how a staff decided five days before the first game of the season to ditch the offensive philosophy? What is gong on in fall ball and the time between getting the guys back on campus until now? How does the team not come back in shape? I just haven't seen the sort of player development you see at other top tier programs. The conditions looked pretty miserable, but that was a pretty pathetic showing. Cornell hadn't played a game in about two years and doubled us up.

Did Yunker play? I was on an airplane stream so the picture wasn't great, but I don't think I saw him on field. Hope he isn't injured.

Really was a bad showing. It will be interesting to see the final stats, but to lose a game by eight, and could have been worse where we had the better FOGO on the day. The team wasn't ready to play. When I heard that they were run hard on Monday to get ready for this weeks game and then that they changed from two way middies to not this week just shows me that the program at the moment is in trouble. We'll see what the improvement looks like from game one to game three, but that was really disappointing.

Heller had some nice saves in the 2nd quarter to keep it close and Endres is giving us extra opportunities

Kind of what I was saying pre game and what I expected. For the last 2-3 years feels like they are just throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping to see something stick. I don't understand the player development and personnel decisions after the final four run.

I read that and what bothered me was not the change, but the fact that it took them until a week before the first game to realize we don't have there personnel to run a two way middle system. Almost no one does it in D1 lacrosse, because there are very few players who are truly elite at both, and even if you are it is hard to be at your best playing both ways in a game like lacrosse. Guys like McClancy and Osika were rare breeds, and I applaud Scotty for making the change, but this should have been figured out in the fall not during the week of the first game. This leads me to other concerns I have had for several years, but that is for another time. Go Danes!

He definitely lowered the bar and talked about a lot of very young players at attack and moving Hogg back to being just a one way offensive player versus playing two way middie. Sounded to me like he is banking on going very young on offense, and hoping to round into form by the time the AE schedule rolls around. I didn't see either scrimmage but based upon the report I got from the Brown scrimmage the offense was not very good and struggled after the first quarter FWIW.

Sounded like Coach Marr is lowering the expectation bar. Once again when asked about the offense and no mention of Yunker. No idea if he is hurt or just buried on the depth chart. He talked about the team not being in great shape and they were run hard at practice today, on a Monday of game week?? One of the things that changed 4-5 years ago, I don't remember, but the team went away from a run test. I heard various reasons and why, but that was not a positive interview, and sounds like it could be a tough year.

No reports from Brown beyond what I was told by a Brown parent, that Albany came out fast and then the offense sputtered the rest of the way. Similar to the defense. He didn't know our roster to know who was playing when and how much so that color isn't very useful.

Thanks for all the updates. I don't know the status of Ramos, but I would have bet the ranch he would be the starter. He is still on the roster, but who knows if he is one of the guys who is injured. Curious to hear Yunker not mentioned. I got a quick report from Brown today from a friend who was there. Sounded like Danes got off to a fast start and then the offense went into hibernation the rest of the day. No idea who played and how much such take that with a grain of salt. Colgate lost a heartbreaker to a decent High Point team so that is a decent point of reference.

Little update that was just passed on to me - The scrimmage against Brown is now there next week. So today will be the only opportunity to see them play before the season kicks off.

Confirmed the scrimmage is here at Affirm at 4pm this Saturday and Brown next Saturday supposedly in Affirm and will check back on the start time.