Keeping It Hot, 5/22

*The weather forecasts for the Boston area: Saturday, 66 degrees and cloudy; Monday, 74 and cloudy.

*Earlier, I referenced why Maryland and Navy reminded me of a quote from a high school football coach in Valdosta. Ga. The late Valdosta coach Nick Hyder went 249-36-2 and won seven state titles in the 1970s and 1980s despite having only a handful of players who played Division I, including Dana Brinson (Nebraska) and Beau Laskey (Navy).

He was asked once what was his secret. His answer: "I treat every year like it's next year."

I remember Dave Cottle walking onto the field before the season opener at Georgetown. "I'm starting three freshmen on attack," he told an onlooker. No one else would do something like that, he was told. Cottle smiled. "No one else is dumb enough."

Maryland stayed with the freshmen all year, and those freshman had ups and downs. But the consensus in the PB (press box) after the quarterfinals was that Maryland would be very hard to keep away from Foxborough, Mass., next year.

Meantime, Navy Coach Richie Meade said something similar after losing to Hopkins last week. He said the way to beat the Hopkins defense is with diagonal passes, but that Navy didn't have the personnel to execute those passes this year. "In a couple years, maybe we will," he said.

On offense this year there were times when the Midshipmen had one senior, four sophomores and a freshman among its six offensive players. (This happened when freshman Andy Warner played for senior Greg Clement.)

For a team with a history of good defenses, there is a chance Navy's offense will be very tough in the coming years.

Anyway, here's a look at what others are saying this morning.

*The Baltimore Sun has a look at how Hopkins went from 3-5 to a berth in the national semifinals.

*The Washington Times has an interesting story on the presence of gambling lines on lacrosse games in Las Vegas.

*Check back in a little while for a post on the games-within-the-game for Hopkins-Duke.

By Christian Swezey |  May 22, 2008; 9:38 AM ET
Previous: Champions League Final, Lacrosse Angle | Next: Games Within the Game, Hopkins-Duke

The comments to this entry are closed.