Requiem For a Season: Detroit Titans 2011

Photo by Jim Davenport

With a loss in last week’s MAAC Championship Game, the book closed on the most successful season in the (short) history of the University of Detroit lacrosse program. The Titans won 6 games, double the number of victories in program history prior to this season. They also won a regular-season conference championship, and were 1 game away from playing in their first NCAA Tournament.

There were ups and downs all year, as there are in any season, but how many of those weak points can be improved for next year? How many are going to be persistent problems? What’s the prognosis for the 2012 Titans? It’s hard to say without first breaking down the 2011 team.

Let’s take a look at their statistical profile:

The Titans were actually more efficient than their opponents this season, but lost a lot of games on the margins. They had significantly fewer possessions than opponents, through both worse clearing and plenty of struggles at the faceoff X.

We’ll start with faceoffs. This area of the game could be to blame in a couple Titan losses. UDM kept games against Lehigh (a 9-13 loss), Mount St. Mary’s (an 8-12 loss) and Marist (13-14 loss) close, all despite being abused on faceoffs. Of course, they also had a couple games with very good faceoff performances, but those were the exception, not the norm. UDM finished with a moribund .409 season-long success rate on draws.

Detroit also had a bit of trouble in the clear/ride game, with a .723 successful clear rate, to their opponents’ .807. Part of that could be youth, part could be on account of schedule strength, but either way, those numbers have to be closer to each other (or, optimistically switched) if the Titans want to go from a squad with a losing record to one that can challenge for an at-large Tournament bid.

Of course, despite the struggles in the possession game, Detroit still had an efficiency number significantly better than that of their opponents. That means when they did get possession, they were pretty good at finishing. The half-field defense was also a strong point, as the Titans caused turnovers on 29.5% of opponent possessions, among the best marks in the country. There seems to be more room for offensive improvement than there does in defensive improvement, at least from a perspective of settled play.

What Went Well

Shayne Adams, despite no real national (or rather, international, I guess, for the Canadian) recruiting accolades, was one of the best freshmen in the country. He poured in 35 goals this season, nearly double the next-closest Titan. He showed off the technical stickwork that you’d expect out of a Canadian, and can only get better. There are plenty of sample size and scientific method issues to talk about here, but the Titans upset Siena on the road with Adams in the lineup, and were crushed at a neutral site without him.

Also on offense, Saline native Scott Harris and New Yorker Alex Maini were 20+ point scorers. There’s definitely a solid nucleus of offensive players to build a team around.

As mentioned above, half-field defense was a strength. The Titans led the nation in turnovers caused per game (though they weren’t quite tops on a per-possession basis, as they actually played a pretty fast brand of lacrosse this season). Sophomore LSM Jordan Houtby was among the nation’s leaders individually in forcing TOs.

Room For Improvement

As mentioned above, perhaps the biggest weakness this season for Detroit was on faceoffs. The team as a whole won just .409 of faceoffs taken, giving away 66 possessions on the year on faceoffs alone. The Titans were 54th out of 60 ranked teams in Division-1 lacrosse. Brandon Davenport was the most successful titan with a .441 win percentage, but he’s going to have to do much better next year, or UDM will need to look for other options.

The Titans were also a pretty penalty-prone team, giving up 90 EMO opportunities to the opposition while only earning 79 of their own. A part of that is simply aggressive play – Houtby and Jason McDonald were #1 and #3 respectively in caused turnovers, and also far ahead of the field in penalties committed – but at the same time, it’s possible to play aggressive defense without fouling the other team. Jamie Hebden, for example, was second on the team in caused turnovers, but nearly as penalized as the pair of players surrounding him.

Team offensive play was also a weak point at times. It’s partially a matter of style, to be fair, but opponents assisted on .622 of goals, while the Titans only assisted on .436 of their own tallies. With a young team, hopefully they can build chemistry together in coming years.

The Distant Future

Going forward, there’s a darn good chance that the Titans continue to improve, maybe not to the nationally-competitive level, but definitely building toward that. Part of the reason for that? They are one heck of a young team. Though Tim Shoemaker was a key player this season – he was the second-string LSM and also a team captain – he was the only senior on the squad. Every other Titan (aside from fellow senior Matt Gregson, who was removed from the squad mid-season) will return next year.

Some of the most important players on the team (Adams, Houtby, Hebden, and Goalie AJ Levell, among others), are all sophomores or younger, and can be expected to show some serious improvement going into next year.

The Titans also add some pretty good players to the squad next year. In addition to a strong recruiting class, two of 2010’s most productive offensive players, Joel Matthews and Tyler Staruch, sat out the 2011 season to focus on academics. If they got their work done in the classroom and can rejoin the squad for 2012, it could be a big offensive boost.

It’s way too early to start making predictions for the 2012 season, but at this point it certainly looks like the Titans will be even better next year than they were in 2011. As the young team continues to grow up, special things could be in store for the future down on 6 Mile.