The Buckeyes should be pretty good this year. Detroit should outdo last season’s disappointing performance, but this Buckeyes team might be out of the question in terms of potential wins.
Ohio State
A nut with a body. And a lacrosse stick.
Feb. 7, 2015. 1 p.m. EST
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Detroit Preview. .pdf notes.
Ohio State Preview.
Live stats.
Tempo-Free Profile
The TempoFreeLax.com numbers displayed here are last year’s, on account of the “there is literally nothing yet from this year on either team” factor in play. Ohio State was a top-20 team last year, and did it against a top-10 most difficult slate. The ratings are adjusted for opposition, so against non-power teams, the Bucks may look a little more strong.
| Ohio State 2014 | |
|---|---|
| Pace | 60.29 (53) |
| Poss% | 49.88 (39) |
| Off. Eff. | 30.20 (41) |
| Def. Eff. | 24.76 (2) |
| Pyth% | 64.59 (20) |
Ohio State played pretty slowly and didn’t dominate the ball in the least, so their number of possessions – both for and against – was not particularly high (a clash of the styles when coming to Detroit, unless the Titans care to repeat last year’s ill-fated slowdown move).
The offensive output wasn’t great despite a couple elite pieces, so that was a disappointment. The Buckeyes should have done better, and whether it’s a statistical anomaly or something they screwed up last season, I expect improvement either way.
The defense was unbelievable, however. Even in 70-plus possession games against some of the most talented offensive teams in the country (Hopkins, Penn State, and Notre Dame, the only three games that fast all season) the Bucks didn’t give up more than 13 all season, and only a strange UMass loss could be considered a truly poor defensive effort.
Offense
Jesse King was one of the ECAC’s best players last year, and that should carry over to the Big Ten this year. The senior midfielder can dodge, feed, and score, and all manner of other Canadian-y things. Junior attack Carter Brown is a bit more finisher in the distribution of his points.
Senior midfielder Turner Evans is a little guy (5-9, 165), who is mostly a feeder. More of an attack-type skillset. So too with class- and linemate Reegan Comeault, another small middie. Junior attack Ryan Hunter is similar in size and point distribution, though that’s a bit more expected from the attack. Finally, senior midfielder David Planning – hey, that’s all six offensive starters returning – is another smaller feed-y type. the Buckeyes like to initiate offense from up top and let attackmen do the finishing more often than not.
Defense
Whereas the offense returns almost entirely intact, the Buckeyes’ D saw its peak last year. There were high preseason expectations for senior goalie Greg Dutton, but he was replaced by classmate Scott Spencer during the year… so the Buckeyes are basically starting from scratch (less than 80 total minutes among returning players) at the position.
All-Conference Close D Joe Meuer is gone, along with second-team all-league LSM Dominic Imbordino. Those are a couple big losses – Meurer was the conference defensive player of the year. Luke Howard started about half the Bucks’ games as a junior, but is not back this season.
However, there is returning talent in all-ECAC D-pole Robby Haus, and Chris Mahoney should be able to step into a bigger role, starting just under half the team’s games last year.
Special Teams
Ohio State was a poor faceoff team last year, but once freshman Jake Withers stepped into the specialist role, he showed enough to be on the all-league freshman team. With another year of experience (and not having to share reps with guys who won a combined 30% of draws), that should be even better. OSU also clears and rides very well, so any improvement in faceoffs could make them an elite possession team, pending how the clear curvives the loss of a great LSM.
Ohio State played clean lacrosse last year, but really struggled on the EMO while allowing opponents to convert a lot of their own attempts – that’s something rife for the Titans’ strengths to exploit.
Big Picture
This doesn’t look like a likely win for Detroit. They’ll have to play a great game (or be more improved than expected in a year’s time) in order to steal a win. However, what a win it would be. UDM is always looking for that big pelt in the non-conference segment of the season. It’s probably not super-relevant to their season goals though.
Detroit wants to make the NCAA Tournament, and what they do in the non-conference doesn’t have much of a tangible effect on that. Games like this are about preparing for league play and getting that “name” victory.
Predictions
Ohio State is pretty good, but they’re not invincible. Detroit is a question mark after an unexpected down season in 2014.
- Jason Weber frustrates his fellow Canadian Jesse King. King is used to things being easy, almost, but Weber is one of the best goalies he’ll see this year (even though he doesn’t get the recognition for it at times). That said, King’s gonna get got, but he’ll get his more than he gets got doe.
- The Detroit offense struggles a bit in its first game action without Alex Maini. I’m of the opinion that they can be improved despite the loss of last year’s primary ball-handler, but it’ll take some time to figure out where the offense is going to come from.
- The faceoff battle ends up being pretty even. The Titans won plenty of clamps last year, but didn’t have the wing play to earn wins. That’s the key to improving in that aspect this year.
I think this Detroit team will be a pretty good one, but they’ll take some time to develop into what they’re going to be. This game is a good early benchmark, but it’s about conference play in the MAAC. The more talented Ohio State wins, 13-8.
Share your predictions, discussion, etc. in the comments.