How does Albany get back?

[AlbanyFan2018]

4 minutes ago, HOF2013 said:

Don't disagree at all.  I just think it caused more problems than we think, not JUST the loss of all the FOs,  but mentally with the kids too.

I think you nailed it. I would say it was more of a security blanket for the staff than the players. The coaches knew we could start or stop a run. It just stressed things in a way that no one was ready for IMO despite having all summer and fall to figure out how to move forward.

[HOF2013]

2 hours ago, dslyank said:

Obviously losing TD was/is big; but there was/is much more to the poor season than that. For instance, about 65 All-Americans (1st, sec, third & honorable mention) just named. NOT one UA player. Tehoka went from #1 recruit in the country to not even honorable. Team went from final 4 to nowhere. Are we just not getting the talent anymore or are players not playing to their potential??? Are the coaches not recruiting well or just not coaching well??? I DON'T KNOW! May be just unlucky this year, ball NOT bouncing our way, may be just normal college down cycle, may be UA was just a marked team this year & everyone just gave us their best game. Whatever the reason/s, hopeful Scott and staff get it turned around quickly.

Incoming class "looks" strong. Recruiting videos posted by HOF {thanks Hof}, were awesome. But like someone said in another thread, don't ALL recruit videos look amazing? Anyhow lets hope the recruits are as good as they LOOK.

We lost 6 All-Americans including TD.  hard to overcome that BUT him leaving certainly hurt big time.  Even with OFF woes, more possessions means less possessions for the other team, and likely more goals for us and less for them.  That is why I conservatively said 3 more per game for us and 3 LESS per game for the other teams.  Could be a normal down cycle with all of the guys we lost.  That alone probably caused or added to the disorganized Off.   Just saying TD was like an unforced loss.  As I have said a LOT on the FB threads, I always TRY to be as positive as I can be [I probably owe a few Lax players an apology after the season!!!].  I agree all recruiting videos should be good - some kids just have better small skills that go unnoticed by many.

[HOF2013]

1 hour ago, nysteve661 said:

Should be a cycle thing I hope.  In 2007 they were 15-3 with Merrick Thomson, Brett Queener, Frank Resataris with an NCAA win over  Loyola and OT loss to Cornell.  Then they went 8-8, 7-7, 5-11, 5-10, 5-11, overall 30-47 till the Thompson's arrived so we could be in that down cycle for a bit.  Fields replaced Lyle as the beast but Tehoka did not replace Fields as yet or if ever.  Truly does come down to recruiting and can Marr get that stud to come here.  Then the pieces fall into place where that stud makes everyone better even if they have just average talent.

May be a couple coming in.  I suggest watching the videos and wait for your thoughts.

[HOF2013]

6 minutes ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

Lot of good thoughts and questions.

I do think we have a lot of talent, not as good as in recent years, but to me it was the inability to find and stick with the right complementary players. For example, I never understood the attack of Laffin, Casey, and Patterson. Then we started the season with our traditional two way middie system, scrapped it for a bit, and then went back to it.

This is making excuses, but it just was a messed up year. Starting with injuries, the ball just took weird bounces, and what not. We have to get more athletic in the middle of the field if we stick with the two way system. There are not a lot of guys who can play elite offense and defense and the ACC gets most of those guys.

yeah I was a little pissed about some of the attack combinations when others seem to be working.  Trying not to make excuses either.  Losing TD just added to what otherwise still might have been a down year.

[HOF2013]

Love this kind of discussion!  Good job by all of you guys!  WISH the FB threads would be the same.  They always deteriorate into constant attacks on the coaching staff, AD and anybody else involved in athletics.

[UA1882]

5 hours ago, HOF2013 said:

Love this kind of discussion!  Good job by all of you guys!  WISH the FB threads would be the same.  They always deteriorate into constant attacks on the coaching staff, AD and anybody else involved in athletics.

I watched probably 10 of the 14 games, however I dont post in this section much because I really dont know enough about the sport. (I know the basics, that's about it). With that being said the above statement is again why you live in your own world of sunshine and rainbows. 

Let's review two coaches:

Coach 1 (Marr) : 2014-present 

76 wins / 32 loses: 70+ percent win percentage- 5 conference titles, including 1 final four. 

Coach 2 (Gattuso) : 2014-present 

24 wins / 32 loses: 42 percent win Percentage- best conference finish was 6th. 

Coach Marr has earned a down season or two and anyone who says anything else is a moron. He is one of the best coaches in the country . 

Now imagine he leaves and the next coach has a 42 percent winning percentage over 5 years. People would not be happy and would be looking for answers. (Well except for you). 

 

Edited May 13, 2019 by UA1882

[HOF2013]

16 hours ago, UA1882 said:

I watched probably 10 of the 14 games, however I dont post in this section much because I really dont know enough about the sport. (I know the basics, that's about it). With that being said the above statement is again why you live in your own world of sunshine and rainbows. 

Let's review two coaches:

Coach 1 (Marr) : 2014-present 

76 wins / 32 loses: 70+ percent win percentage- 5 conference titles, including 1 final four. 

Coach 2 (Gattuso) : 2014-present 

24 wins / 32 loses: 42 percent win Percentage- best conference finish was 6th. 

Coach Marr has earned a down season or two and anyone who says anything else is a moron. He is one of the best coaches in the country . 

Now imagine he leaves and the next coach has a 42 percent winning percentage over 5 years. People would not be happy and would be looking for answers. (Well except for you). 

 

I should have added personal attacks by a few folks who try to intimidate!  Never works but................

19 years vs 6.  Look at Coach Marrs first 12 years>> quoting nysteve  ""In 2007 they were 15-3 with Merrick Thomson, Brett Queener, Frank Resataris with an NCAA win over Loyola and OT loss to Cornell.  Then they went 8-8, 7-7, 5-11, 5-10, 5-11, overall 30-47 till the Thompson's arrived so we could be in that down cycle for a bit.""  Better if you DO know something about what you speak!!!  Go tell your buddies, especially Eli!

Coach Marr's first 12 years the team was 95 - 90.  That included three 10 win seasons and the 15 win season in 2007.  The 7 years from 2006-2102 the team was  53 and 55, That INCLUDES the 15 -3 season.  

Edited May 14, 2019 by HOF2013

[UA1882]

You make a good point but my question for you (and every other lacrosse fan):

If over the next 4 years coach Marr wins 42 percent of his games, finishes in the bottom half of the league each year and does not make 1 NCAA tournament,  is everything ok (sunshine and rainbows) ? 

My guess is No. There would be a problem that needs to be fixed.  Something would need to change. Same with football or any other sport . 

My guess is that the lacrosse team will be much improved next year. With the inflex of talent you guy talk about and a better faceoff man. 

The above question was not rhetorical but of course hypothetical. I would love to hear from the active lacrosse members of this board.  Is 42 percent winning (Over the next 4 years ) acceptable to you or would you think there are major issues?

Edited May 14, 2019 by UA1882

[jimbo]

For all of the success in recent years, I think a couple of things are true.  Last year was as perfect a storm as we could have hoped for. The Thompson Year’s were great, but when it came down to crunch time the less than stellar defense and weak FO proved our undoing.  As I mentioned before, last year was the perfect storm of an Uber talented scoring and assist machine in Fields, an all time great FO man in TD, some decent senior defense and middies, a young stud in Tehoka and a rising star who took advantage of the attention paid to CF and TN....Patterson.  That’s a rare combo for an AE team and allowed UA to advance further.  The other fact remains that while UA is able to occasionally pick off a generational talent like Lyle or Connor, the bigger and more established programs continue to stock up on 4 and 5 star recruits.  That talent and depth is so hard to overcome for an AE team, regardless of coaching and the great players Marr has recruited. Teams in most sports can catch lightning in a bottle and win it all, but it may be too much for us to think we can climb to the top against these giants of MLax on a regular basis.  Not being negative here....just realistic I think. 

[AlbanyFan2018]

9 hours ago, UA1882 said:

You make a good point but my question for you (and every other lacrosse fan):

If over the next 4 years coach Marr wins 42 percent of his games, finishes in the bottom half of the league each year and does not make 1 NCAA tournament,  is everything ok (sunshine and rainbows) ? 

My guess is No. There would be a problem that needs to be fixed.  Something would need to change. Same with football or any other sport . 

My guess is that the lacrosse team will be much improved next year. With the inflex of talent you guy talk about and a better faceoff man. 

The above question was not rhetorical but of course hypothetical. I would love to hear from the active lacrosse members of this board.  Is 42 percent winning (Over the next 4 years ) acceptable to you or would you think there are major issues?

Given the success over the last five plus years, anything less than not qualifying for the NCAA's should be considered as falling short, but it is going to get harder and harder to do that as teh rest of the AE catches up or has caught up, and our ability to schedule and beat teams which would give us an at large resume.

Towson this year is a good role model for UA. They made the final four I want to say two years ago, fell off last year, and were a sixth seed this year and would have received an at large big if they hadn't won the CAA. Academically Towson and UA are probably more academically similar in terms of overall profile, both are in lacrosse hotbeds. Having been to both campuses several times I might give Towson a slight overall nod in terms of the whole package but it is close.

We've just about flogged the pony to death about what did or didn't happen this year, and I still don't know the whys and why nots. Overall I think it was a perfect storm of events from a vastly new staff, major hits to graduation, injuries in the fall, and it never came together.

I'm worried about our facilities on a national level, but not so much within the AE. I think i mentioned this in a very old recruiting topic, but UA has to do a better job of selling its academic strengths. In recent years Coach Marr really delegated a lot of the recruiting to his assistants. I think Maloney will be great on the recruiting trail, but with an overall younger staff he'll need to get more engaged. We have a very good rising senior class which I think will lead the way during the off season.

[HOF2013]

3 hours ago, jimbo said:

For all of the success in recent years, I think a couple of things are true.  Last year was as perfect a storm as we could have hoped for. The Thompson Year’s were great, but when it came down to crunch time the less than stellar defense and weak FO proved our undoing.  As I mentioned before, last year was the perfect storm of an Uber talented scoring and assist machine in Fields, an all time great FO man in TD, some decent senior defense and middies, a young stud in Tehoka and a rising star who took advantage of the attention paid to CF and TN....Patterson.  That’s a rare combo for an AE team and allowed UA to advance further.  The other fact remains that while UA is able to occasionally pick off a generational talent like Lyle or Connor, the bigger and more established programs continue to stock up on 4 and 5 star recruits.  That talent and depth is so hard to overcome for an AE team, regardless of coaching and the great players Marr has recruited. Teams in most sports can catch lightning in a bottle and win it all, but it may be too much for us to think we can climb to the top against these giants of MLax on a regular basis.  Not being negative here....just realistic I think. 

Yep agree Jimbo.  We have talked periodically about the lack of 4 and 5 star recruits.  We had 4 or so last year and only 2 in the 2019 class and 1 so far in 2020.  It has to affect the success of the program going forward.   Some kids come in highly rated and recruited [Tehoka for example] and don't succeed as expected.  He was great with Connor but not this year when he had to be 'the guy'.  Some kids just don't have the make-up for that OR just get frustrated going forward.   Fan2018 mentioned him not being at Fall Ball - that pretty obviously to many of us, made a HUGE difference this year.  Will he still be around for next year.  Coach Marr is talking like he will be.  If he is, he will learn from this year.  That will be a benefit for the team.

Edited May 14, 2019 by HOF2013

[HOF2013]

4 hours ago, jimbo said:

 

 

13 hours ago, UA1882 said:

You make a good point but my question for you (and every other lacrosse fan):

If over the next 4 years coach Marr wins 42 percent of his games, finishes in the bottom half of the league each year and does not make 1 NCAA tournament,  is everything ok (sunshine and rainbows) ? 

My guess is No. There would be a problem that needs to be fixed.  Something would need to change. Same with football or any other sport . 

My guess is that the lacrosse team will be much improved next year. With the inflex of talent you guy talk about and a better faceoff man. 

The above question was not rhetorical but of course hypothetical. I would love to hear from the active lacrosse members of this board.  Is 42 percent winning (Over the next 4 years ) acceptable to you or would you think there are major issues?

Can't disagree with this.  Success next year will depend a lot on Tehoka, Jacob, Davis and this year's freshman - and OF COURSe faceoff.

If you read the post on Marr's record you will see we have had runs like that.  I think it has to do with the AE as much as anything.  The league is not respected across D I lacrosse, except for UA most teams play nobodies or play one game against top 15 teams.  That makes it difficult to get and keep those top, top recruits.  TD is an example.   Fan2018 pointed out that the staff, MUST promote our academics better.  We have some Outstanding top 10 and top 25 programs, especially graduate programs.   FB coach Nesselt is one who does a GREAT job of promoting academics.

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by HOF2013

[AlbanyFan2018]

We had two top 100 recruits this year, one five star - unfortunately neither of them made an impact. Arguably the two best freshmen were not ranked or mentioned by anyone coming into UA. I am very optimistic that our two, touted 2018 recruits will be pan out and make an impact, and the two who showed the most promise will continue to improve.

[HOF2013]

3 hours ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

Given the success over the last five plus years, anything less than not qualifying for the NCAA's should be considered as falling short, but it is going to get harder and harder to do that as teh rest of the AE catches up or has caught up, and our ability to schedule and beat teams which would give us an at large resume.

Towson this year is a good role model for UA. They made the final four I want to say two years ago, fell off last year, and were a sixth seed this year and would have received an at large big if they hadn't won the CAA. Academically Towson and UA are probably more academically similar in terms of overall profile, both are in lacrosse hotbeds. Having been to both campuses several times I might give Towson a slight overall nod in terms of the whole package but it is close.

We've just about flogged the pony to death about what did or didn't happen this year, and I still don't know the whys and why nots. Overall I think it was a perfect storm of events from a vastly new staff, major hits to graduation, injuries in the fall, and it never came together.

I'm worried about our facilities on a national level, but not so much within the AE. I think i mentioned this in a very old recruiting topic, but UA has to do a better job of selling its academic strengths. In recent years Coach Marr really delegated a lot of the recruiting to his assistants. I think Maloney will be great on the recruiting trail, but with an overall younger staff he'll need to get more engaged. We have a very good rising senior class which I think will lead the way during the off season.

The last paragraph is right on.  I think Coach Marr realizes this too.  At least I hope he does.  If the hints at summer weight lifting and training give us any insight I think the self reflecting he and staff have to be doing will lead to this.  AT LEASt we all hope it will.

[HOF2013]

2 minutes ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

We had two top 100 recruits this year, one five star - unfortunately neither of them made an impact. Arguably the two best freshmen were not ranked or mentioned by anyone coming into UA. I am very optimistic that our two, touted 2018 recruits will be pan out and make an impact, and the two who showed the most promise will continue to improve.

My bad.  That's right 2.  Those are two of the ones I HOPE will be given a chance to step up next year and run with it.  They need a little weight and strength too.