2015 NCAA TOURNAMENT THREAD

[Jump4Joy]

Sweeper???
What decade is this?

[Nutmeg]

Sweeper???
What decade is this?

[KICKIN95]

Sweeper???
What decade is this?

The decade that the Duhawks have been to 10 Sweet 16's, 8 Elite 8's and 5 Final 4's.  Drop the Mic....

[Dubuquer]

Was at the Loras/Wheaton game in person, here are my thoughts:

First half felt like Wheaton had an extra man on the field and Loras was chasing. Wheaton connected the ball beautiful and danced around the Loras midfield. With that being said, Loras still really had the only two chances in the first half.

Second half, the swarm was in full effect. Loras started to win 50/50's and began flying at Wheaton's back line. Loras scored a well crafted header off a set piece and it felt like the game was about to be wrapped up. Then Hollingsworth decided to take the whole Duhawk's team on by himself and set up Golz for his last name. Wheaton had another chance with the Hollingsworth, Borge, Golz combo but it sailed wide. Loras had a couple good opportunities but came up short.

Overtime went mostly to the Duhawks. Mike Gordon found himself on a break away in the final minutes and was stuffed. But this lead to the eventual goal off the corner.

Overall takeaways, Wheaton was the much more talented possession team.  Could connect 8 1-2's in a row, but couldn't get a real good look on goal. Loras played their typical kick-ball game, but it exposed the weary back line of Wheaton. The combination of speed and playing direct was the eventual collapse of Wheaton. I do think that this Wheaton team was not quite the same as last years, but still have some true ballers on their team. I think Hollingsworth is one of the best in D3 soccer. This Loras team doesn't have a Cavers/Figura/Pizzello, but they have a bunch of players that have stepped up collectively. I would wager the bet that either of the 2012/2013 Loras teams would beat this team however.

I'm pretty amazed at what this Loras team has done this year.  I thought that after Cavers and Figura graduated they'd have a major dropoff but then Pizzello stepped up huge last year.  Then he graduated and nobody has, in my mind, filled that void this season but collectively the team has surprised.  They don't have a dominating player but they've got 10+ guys who are capable of individual brilliance at any moment, a solid keeper, and a bench full of players who can come on and put in 10-20 minutes at a time with very minimal drop in quality.  And they play hard and with an energy and pace that few teams are used to facing.  It ain't pretty, but it is effective.  I wonder what this team would be like if they had someone like Cavers who could calm things down and pull strings in the midfield. 

And about Hollingsworth... When Loras played the Thunder earlier this season I was underwhelmed by Hollingsworth but today was a different story.  He was the dominant figure in the game all over the field and I was very impressed. I could see him getting plenty of post-season accolades again.

[Dubuquer]

Also, with regard to Loras' use of the sweeper.  When you've got someone as good as Figura back there a few years ago or someone as smart as Koenig now you can play just about any formation and be successful.  Koenig doesn't stand out but he's got close to a 4.0 GPA, plays intelligently and doesn't make (many) mistakes.

[Krazy Legz]

A great story that some may not know of about Loras. Justin Giacotto who is part French, only had one goal coming into the tournament. He has scored in three straight games for the Duhawks(had the winner in overtime today) and played lock down defense.

Looking forward to Kansas City in two weeks! GO DUHAWKS!!

[firstplaceloser]

Sweeper???
What decade is this?

The decade that the Duhawks have been to 10 Sweet 16's, 8 Elite 8's and 5 Final 4's.  Drop the Mic....

hopefully they can get that championship game on that list this year. (picks mic back up)...

[Shooter McGavin]

Sweeper???
What decade is this?

The decade that the Duhawks have been to 10 Sweet 16's, 8 Elite 8's and 5 Final 4's.  Drop the Mic....

hopefully they can get that championship game on that list this year. (picks mic back up)...

You read my mind 1stplaceloser!!! *picks mic back up and slowly walks away with tail between legs* HA!

Should be a great final 4 though. All these teams have a real shot at winning it.

[KICKIN95]

Sweeper???
What decade is this?

The decade that the Duhawks have been to 10 Sweet 16's, 8 Elite 8's and 5 Final 4's.  Drop the Mic....

hopefully they can get that championship game on that list this year. (picks mic back up)...

You read my mind 1stplaceloser!!! *picks mic back up and slowly walks away with tail between legs* HA!

Should be a great final 4 though. All these teams have a real shot at winning it.

So basically without winning a National Championship you have accomplished nothing, is that what it takes now? Being undeniably one of the best teams in DIII for the last 10 years isn't credit worthy? 
Tough crowd!

[firstplaceloser]

Sweeper???
What decade is this?

The decade that the Duhawks have been to 10 Sweet 16's, 8 Elite 8's and 5 Final 4's.  Drop the Mic....

you take things to heart too much Kickin. we don't need history lessons on your duhawks you have done that enough this past season.
hopefully they can get that championship game on that list this year. (picks mic back up)...

You read my mind 1stplaceloser!!! *picks mic back up and slowly walks away with tail between legs* HA!

Should be a great final 4 though. All these teams have a real shot at winning it.

So basically without winning a National Championship you have accomplished nothing, is that what it takes now? Being undeniably one of the best teams in DIII for the last 10 years isn't credit worthy? 
Tough crowd!

[Cheesehead Henry]

Nobody doubts Loras' domination in the last 10 years Kickin....sheesh. Just remember, there are still two games left in their season. Making it as far as they do consistently is no doubt impressive, nobody said it wasn't. But until they hoist that trophy in the air and bring it back to Dubuque, getting that far won't mean as much. They're the team that almost made it. The team that was almost good enough, but couldn't get over that hump.

[PaulNewman]

I'm going to take up for my Loras friend here.

Most of us are very aware of how hard it is to make even one Final Four, let alone win one.  I'm amazed at how teams can have stellar seasons and yet the focus invariably is on how they failed or didn't "win it all."  There's some luck that plays into many of these games where one bounce of the ball or one scrum off a corner in OT or whatever decides an outcome.  Did Haverford have a failed season?

Over the last decade, Loras consistently has had stellar seasons year after year.  For me, they clearly have been the #2 program in the country over the past decade.  You can perhaps make a case for OWU.  Perhaps a case for Amherst.  But no program outside of Messiah has made more Final Fours in the last 7-8 years.

I find the sentiment of "that's nice but let us know when you when a title" more than a little ridiculous.

[lastguyoffthebench]

Last 10 years

Messiah
OWU
Calvin
Loras
Wheaton
Oneonta St
Williams/Amherst/Middlebury
Trinity
MSU/Rutgers-Camden
SLU/Stevens Tech

[firstplaceloser]

no body is taking away from the success loras has had. I just decided to have a little fun and make a joke.

[KnightFalcon]

The sweeper has to commit to be effective. So when you penetrate on the wing, he has to come towards the ball. A cross takes him out of the play along with all the other defenders on the strong side

You assume the sweeper commits late.  A good sweeper commits earlier, and is right there to challenge should his outside back get beaten.  Also, you can put your target right up to the sweeper, but a good experienced sweeper will be pulling the offside trap all day long and totally disrupt the target's runs.  Once you've got the target looking to stay onside instead of making his runs, you've won much of the battle already.  Also there is nothing stopping the sweeper from simply walking the target right back up to the stopper.  There are all kinds of tactics that a sweeper can use to control a deep target - no problem.

I think you do what Messiah has done to the Loras sweeper - make him irrelevant. Figura - who I have great respect for - was made irrelevant when they played in 2012. Against teams that play more direct, the deep sweeper is very effective as they can just sit back and clear the ball all day while frustrating the opponent. And I would guess those are the vast majority of teams that Loras plays during the regular season and hence why they play that way - allows them to pile up a bunch of wins.  However, a strong possession team like Messiah played in front of him all day. So their strongest defender was pretty much left taking GKs and free kicks from the back. Those long, booming kicks he kept making were easily defended and played right to Messiah's strength. Carter Robbins just kept trapping the ball and re-starting the Messiah attack back up field. Loras seemed to think the long ball was the way to play as the game progressed but all that did was keep the ball away from Cavers. Hey - the deep sweeper will win a lot of games against teams playing direct - and Loras has certainly taken advantage of that over the past 10 years - but against the right team, it can be made ineffective. Now, is Calvin ... or Amherst or Oneonta the type of team to be able to do it? We will see in a couple weeks.