PLL Quarterfinals Review

KASEY BURST

For the first time this year I finally had a chance to watch some professional lacrosse on TV. Here are my thoughts on each team and how they performed.

The Boston Cannons

Uniforms:

Grade - A

There is something about the Cannons look that I just love. I normally don’t love the matte grey look for helmets but, I think with this color scheme they seem to pull it off. With colors that resemble that of the New England Patriots, I really appreciate the geographical continuity. It’s an understated detail, but the city of Pittsburgh is my favorite example. Though I am not a Pittsburgh sports fan, I do for some reason love that all big 4 of their sports teams share the black/yellow gold color combo. I like that unified look. The cannons solid navy uniform with white and subtle red as an accent really gives them a classic good look. I very much favor a classic look over one that is too busy or overly modern. Less is always more, for me anyway. The big font on the “Cannons” really completes the classic look. It’s a great look, but actually my second favorite from the weekend.

Performance:

Grade - C-

For as good as they looked, the Cannon’s play fell way short in comparison. For a team that was repeatedly heralded as one that could potentially go “all the way,” to say they looked pedestrian out there is putting it kindly. Defensively, they had a solid effort. Anytime you can hold a team to under double digits you are doing something right. But Carolina is also the lowest scoring team in the league, so knowing that takes away from what could be normally seen as an impressive defensive effort. Offensively, Boston was underwhelming. To produce 4 goals in a playoff game is a letdown, plain and simple. And not to take credit from Carolina’s defensive play, but Boston never found any sort of flow. They settled for poor shots often from their midfield. They didn’t really get deep into their progressions. And their attack was stagnant. Holman didn’t have the ball in his stick nearly enough in my opinion. And Asher Nolting, one of my favorite players, wasn’t dominating his matchups as he normally does. Those 2 needed to get going to have success and they were too complacent, in my opinion.

The Denver Outlaws

Uniforms:

Grade – A+

I love the outlaws uniforms. I don’t know, maybe I am partial to the OG MLL teams, but they have a more classic look. I think the Outlaws have the best logo in the league. The light orange on white looks so clean, it reminds me of the old school Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And I like their glossy silver helmets. Again, it’s more of a classic look to me. It kind of reminds me of the cowboys how the silver helmets don’t quite match the rest of the main colors of the uniform, but somehow ties it all together. They silver lids, combined with a clean set of all white uniforms with Orange accents, just looked incredible. My favorite uniforms so far.

Performance:

Grade – B+

I like the Outlaws. I thought the Outlaws played a great game. I gave them a B+ because even though they came up 1 goal short to the 4 seed Whipsnakes, the Whips are still a juggernaut. They are the closest thing to the NE Patriots in this young fledgling league. There hasn’t been a more successful team in the first 5 years of the league, and they have a very strong team culture that works. With that said, the Outlaws played well enough on both sides of the ball to win that game, they just made some “rookie” mistakes at the end which is the mark of a less experienced team. But I think they will be a contender next season. I think once they get more chemistry, they might have the scariest offense. They have guys like the “MonSTARS” on O like in the old Space Jam movie! With guys like Brennan O’Niell, Logan Wisnaukas and Graham Bundy, they are matchup nightmares. I love their D. I love their young players like Cross Ferrara and Luke Wierman. But my favorite player is Sam Handley. He is so big, and so dynamic with the ball. I was a fan of his ever since he was at Penn. You can tell he has a basketball type skill set when watching him play. His footwork is great, and I think he can be an absolute cheat code for this team going forward.

The Carolina Chaos

Uniforms:

Grade – B+

I like these uniforms a lot. I think the Chaos has the right amount of modernity in their unis, but it doesn’t go overboard. The logo is cool but the uniform itself is still simple. I love their chrome red lids. They are the only team in the quarterfinals to embrace the shiny chrome look, and they pull it off. Their color red is my favorite shade of red as well. It’s hard to explain without me sounding like a total geek, but it is a ruby, sort of scarlet red that I find way more interesting and aesthetically pleasing than just a bright tomato-y red. On the white jersey with some black as a tertiary color really pops. I think their font suites them and is sleek. The one aspect I don’t like is the dark shadow on the numbers. It is confounding, and hard to see. I would like to see actually more white. White shorts could look good with their combos. Not that I don’t like the two-tone combo every once and a while, the red is so prominent on the helmet, it can quickly overpower the uniform. Just my opinion.

Performance:

Grade – B+

No doubt a great defensive performance. They had a great defensive game plan and executed it to perfection. They shut down a scary Boston attack line. I know I give the PLL a lot of shit about being Offense – centric (is that a term) and for not playing defense, etc. But as a former defenseman, I actually enjoyed watching the Chaos’s D. They did do some stuff I found a little cringy at times, but they were tough, physical, and dominated the hub. Their goalie is elite. I have been the harshest Blaze critic. Over the last few years, I have never been on the “Blaze Train.” I always felt he was overrated. He reminded me a lot of other goalies, like John Galloway, that just got hyped up because of their name, but deep down I never believed were the best actual ball stoppers. The more I watch Blaze play, he is changing my mind about his status. Liam Entenmann is still the best goalie I have seen in person, but Blaze to me might be the best in the league after what I saw this weekend. Not only that, but he is more than just a goalie. He is the complete leader. He is a winner. He is a competitor. He is the Tom Brady of his team. All that said, if they can’t find a way to score, their defense can only take them so far.

The Maryland Whipsnakes

Uniforms:

Grade -  B

I don’t know what it is about the Whipsnake’s uniforms but I’m just not all the way there on them, which is weird because I love the Maryland Terrapins uniforms. I think black and red is one of the hardest color combos, as previously stated, and with a little yellow piping as an accent, just a little bit, makes the whole thing really pop for me. And the Whips have the same exact color scheme and for some reason, it just doesn’t quite do it for me. The colors are great, and I love the matte black lids, but there might be a little too much black overall. I would like to see black lids, black shorts, and either white or red jersey tops. And I don’t love their logo. I don’t know what it is. It’s hard to explain. There’s something with the font on the letter M. It reminds me of comic book font for some reason. It looks like something from a marvel superhero universe, which doesn’t quite all tie in to the rest of the aesthetic. Also, I’ve never known what a whipsnake is and I still don’t.

Performance:

Grade – A

As far as everything else goes, the whips never fail to give a great performance. They often always execute on both sides of the ball. And like the NE Patriots (lot of patriots references today) they don’t always blow you away with the plays they make, but they just always seem to find a way to win. They have the experience, the coaching, and leadership to make a run deep in the playoffs. They play the best brand of team lacrosse and all buy into their roles on the team. It might not always be pretty, but it works. They have discovered the formula.

Overall:

Grade – eh…

I don’t want to come off as a critic, which I am running the risk of. My goal with these blogs isn’t to become a PLL critic, but I need to fill space this week and this was the low hanging fruit this past weekend. My goal is not to pick on the league, or come off as if I know everything, but I just feel obligated to give my honest assessment. And my assessment is that it these games are just not the most entertaining. The teams that won didn’t even act like they cared that much. There just didn’t seem like there was much excitement across the board. Like, this is a professional sport’s playoffs. Even the announcers were lack luster. Except for Ryan Boyle, who is great, no one sounds passionate about the magnitude of what is happening. When it comes to the PLL for me, I find myself having more questions about why they do things. Like why take 2 weeks off? I’m sure there is a good reason, and please if anyone knows, feel free to educate my ignorant behind in the comments. But here’s the thing, Lacrosse will never be football, no matter how much it wants to be. So here in DIII land we play 2 games a week, unlike DI.  We practice Monday/Tuesday, play Wednesday, practice Thursday/Friday, and play Saturday. It’s not always ideal. Guys are most definitely beat up and sore, but it’s doable. And that’s not even what I am suggesting. I’m just saying football takes a week in between games (sometimes less) and they are full on getting into repeat collisions over and over on the field. They need every minute of recovery time just to try and get back to 100 for the next game, which is almost futile. Lacrosse doesn’t need to stretch out a 10 game season. They could play more and have a longer season in terms of games in my opinion. And at the same time shorten it. Play more games a week, play more total games, and end it earlier. You take 2 weeks off in August, when there are literally next to no professional sports playing at this time, only to start playoffs right when college and pro football are starting up??? I don’t understand that.

Also, what is about lacrosse and hogging holiday weekends? We already have memorial day, and that’s enough. Now instead of playing on Saturday or Sunday, we decide to play on Labor Day Monday? Literally the last weekend of “summer” and that’s when we think we are going to gain more viewership? People are going to take advantage of the long weekend. Families are away or traveling. Unless you’re a loser like me with nothing else going on, you’re probably not thinking about the PLL playoffs during your last long weekend of the summer.

Finally, it’s just the game play for me that is frustrating. Teams are remarkably conservative. And this is not an indictment on the players or the coaches, but the rules. 32 second shot clock off a faceoff is brutal. 52 seconds is just too short, after more thought and observation. There is no opportunity for transition and the game is actually brutally slow. Teams hold the ball, allow their middies to sub on, get a good matchup to dodge, and they will iso their man and produce a low quality shot. That’s all they have time for. Off- the end line, there will be a big/little or two man game with attack that will try to get a shot. If they don’t they will hold the ball, while subbing their midfield to prevent transition, and throw the ball into the corner. The other team will clear and settle for the same 6v6 opportunity. I think the shot clock actually hurts the PLL. I think they thought the shot clock would lead to more possessions, which would lead to more goals, which would lead to a faster game, but it’s clear the opposite is happening. I don’t have to play elite defense if I know I only have to play about 30 seconds of it after clears and subs. And offenses don’t get great looks. There’s not enough time to. They don’t get the defense sliding and rotating. There isn’t enough opportunity to exploit a true slide/recovery, attack the backside, produce another slide/recovery, get the matchups mixed up, create some defensive confusion, and exploit some approaches. There literally isn’t enough opportunity. But that was the big takeaway. These games are unbelievably slow paced. Between everything I just said about settling for 6v6 ball, and the fact that there are so many stoppages. Coaches have 6 timeouts between the two teams in an already short game, and all the challenges that take place, the stoppages are constant. And as long as you have the ball, you can call a timeout anywhere, which I just don’t care for. Seems cheeky in a way to not have to get it to at least one side.

People are going to say that I am just a hater. The sad thing is that is not true. As a fan, and a person that is very involved and active as a lacrosse field purist, I want nothing more than to see the PLL succeed. I want to be old with my kids and their kids watching games the same way I would the NFL. But somethings need to change I think. We try to bastardize the game so much, that it doesn’t always matter how good the players are, but it’s the product at the end of the day that matters. That’s why I like March madness as opposed to the NBA. I don’t care that they can’t shoot as well as Steph Curry, I care that they play way harder for the entirety of the game and don’t take plays off. Its evident. When you play 20 games vs 82 that’s what you’re going to get. You don’t get a 7 game series, you get 1 game. Now I’m spiraling off course. But hopefully you get my point. It’s the final product that matters most, and this product just isn’t as good as college lacrosse. Which is a shame. The best part about this weekend I thought was the Stars and Stripes Classic with active duty Navy Seals vs Green Berets. If anyone caught that game, tell me those guys didn’t play with more passion. Once again, product is what fans care about. I don’t mean to be harsh. I support the players, because they are the faces of the league. The coaches coach hard, and the players play hard. There’s just something else I think that is keeping this league from being all that it can be.

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KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.

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