Requiem for a Season: Detroit Titans 2016

Remember the happy times. Joel Matthews game-winner from 2012.

UDM certainly didn’t have a banner year, finishing with just a 2-10 record and missing out on the MAAC playoffs. The NCAA’s inexplicable vendetta against TFL and good statistical analysis in lacrosse continues, so the opponent-adjusted data shall remain a mystery, but per the LaxPower numbers, the Titans were the No. 61 team nationally, the worst (in absolute terms and percentile-wise, given the growth of Division-1) since 2010.

So: this was a step back – the first year of the post-Shayne Adams era was an adjustment – but not necessarily one that has to persist. Detroit had consistently been one of the top four teams in the league, with five straight MAAC tournament appearances, and the gap isn’t large to get back there.

Here’s their statistical profile for the season:

UDM was poor in the possession game, poor on offense, and mediocre on defense. Not going to win a ton of games that way.

What Went Well

Detroit was exceptional in fourth quarters, at least as it compares to the rest of the game. they were outscored 89-45 in quarters 1-3, and nearly drew even in the fourth over the course of the year, outscored just 29-28. Almost a third of their shots on the year and well more than a third of their shots on goal also came in the fourth. There are caveats, of course: they were often down by so much that opponents let off the gas (and emptied the bench) to close the game, and only one of those fourth quarter explosions turned into a victory. Still, the never-say-die attitude can pay off in the long run, as long as the team makes incremental improvement.

Jason Weber’s save percentage declined for the second straight year, ending at .541 (after an outstanding .642 as a freshman and .589 last year), but was still enough to finish in the top 20 nationally. With a more consistent defense in front of him, he has a chance to bounce back up as a senior next spring.

Ben Gjokaj earned the starting gig on faceoffs about halfway through the year, and turned the Titans from a very poor team at the dot into a pretty good one. His arrival didn’t come quickly enough for the season-long stats to reflect a good faceoff team, but by the end of the year, that was the case for UDM. Wing play was important to that – he only had 23 GBs on 74 faceoff wins for the season – but it appears the Titans have something to build on there.

Although the offense wasn’t good this year, the Titans have found a comfort in running it through Mark Anstead, which is a building block for more consistency (and quality) going forward. He was more a scorer than assist guy last year, and the opposite was true this year. A well-rounded attackman through two years at Detroit, the trajectory should continue upwards.

Even though they finished on the negative end in the faceoff game, Detroit was one ground ball short of even for the season. If you eliminate FO play, they picked up 198 ground ball to opponents’ 175. Margins like that can help teams make up for other areas in which they don’t stack up to the opposition.

There were some bad results this year, and obviously just a pair of wins. However, there were some good results in the losses. UDM fell to Mercer, Bellarmine, and Siena by a single goal, and NCAA Tournament participants Marquette and Air Force by just a pair. A moral victory is also known as a loss, but that does demonstrate that Detroit wasn’t far from having a much better season, and even incremental improvement could flip some of those results.

Room For Improvement

If I told you turnovers were a problem for a Detroit squad, would you believe me? Of course you would, because it seems to be the case every year. UDM committed 193 in 344 possessions, so 56% of their opportunities with the ball ended with a giveaway. It’s the one thing that is consistent across the seasons, and if the Titans can take more care of the ball (only 84 of those turnovers were forced by opponents), a mini-leap forward awaits.

Other than Anstead’s contributions (and there were a handful of other nice offensive performers) the offense was very, very bad. Without the schedule-adjusted TFL numbers, it’s tough to say just how bad, but playing in the MAAC and against three SoCon teams in the non-conference doesn’t exactly represent a murderer’s row. The turnovers were a big part of the struggles there, but so was poor shooting. We’ve seen some volume-shooters for UDM in the past – and of course with the nature of backup in lacrosse, that’s not always a bad thing – and there was some of that this year, as well. Getting the ball past the goalie is the point, and UDM didn’t do that enough, and too often didn’t even give it a chance.

One thing that has been a problem in the past is a penalty-prone squad, and it wasn’t this year, with the Titans committing only 33 infractions all season. However, when they did go man-down, it was bad. Opponents converted at .467 on their EMO opportunities, sixth-worst in the nation. With a very good goalie, that probably speaks to a need for improvement from the field players.

For a program that (rightfully) takes pride in its city, Detroit probably had its worst performances at home. It could just be a sample size issue – only four home games, compared to six on the road and two neutral-site – but the culture of the program is designed to capitalize on that pride. This needs to be manifested in the results next year.

The Distant Future

This was a relatively young team this year, which means few key losses to graduation. Many of those losses, however, come on defense. Jordan Yono and Paul Bitetti will be tough to replace. Treading water on defense will be a win. Fortunately, there are some key contributors (LSM Austin Polson-McCannon, D Will Kane, and of course Weber) who have a chance to take a step forward and achieve that goal.

Detroit loses second-leading scorer Andy Hebden (a full-time attackman after spending most of his career in the midfield), but returns eight of the top nine scorers on the season. A year of adjusting to life without Shayne Adams was a struggle, but probably sets the Titans up to make big strides on offense. Just the normal growth that comes with maturity and experience of players should see a boost there.

UDM also found an answer on faceoffs with Gjokaj over the course of the year, which should help in the possession game if he can maintain (or improve) form. That’s not a guarantee, but a good specialist is a good specialist. Junior Greg Marzec Freshman Mike Sforza showed some good things at times, and can be nice secondary options. They’re more self-win guys, whereas wing play is key for Gjokaj (though he won more GBs himself as the year went on).

Until Detroit isn’t the type of team that turns it over a bunch, there will always be questions about recruiting strategy. Good athletes come from the state of Michigan, no doubt, but have the stick skills been part of the problem. That some of the Titans’ best players over the years have come from hotbeds – Bitetti, Anstead, Shayne Adams from Long Island, DC, and Ontario, respectively – may speak to that. You can win with players from Michigan, but a sloppy style of play may be the tradeoff until the game continues to improve at the high school level within our borders.

This was a (very) down year for Detroit, but there’s plenty of reason for optimism going forward despite it. If the team plays to its potential next spring, this will look like a blip, rather than the program falling off.