You spent the better part of four months meticulously dissecting the 2012 college lacrosse season. You shouldn't stop now because cold turkey is a bad way to go through life, man. College Crosse is providing decompression snapshots of all 61 teams and their 2012 campaigns, mostly because everything needs a proper burial.
I. VITAL SIGNS
Team: Bobby Mo Colonials
2012 Record: 11-4 (5-0, NEC)
2012 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): -1.64 (46)
2011 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): -2.18 (56)
Winning Percentage Change from 2011: +13.33%
2012 Efficiency Margin: 1.09 (28)
Efficiency Margin Change from 2011: -4.11
II. "ATTA BOY!" FACT
- If you're not paying attention to Robert Morris you're probably wasting your existence. At the end of the season, the Colonials ranked fifth in the Fun Factor scale (which basically attempts to determine how exciting a lacrosse team is). The underlying metrics that build into the Fun Factor show Robert Morris as concentrated happiness in helmets and pads: the Colonials were fourth in the country in pace (total possessions per 60 minutes of play); the team rolled out an offense ranked sixth in adjusted offensive efficiency; only Bucknell shot the ball better as a team; no team shared the ball better than Robert Morris in 2012; and their offensive unit featured three players ranked in the top 100 in Total Offensive Value -- Kiel Matisz, Jake Hayes, and Dave Morton. The Colonials weren't afraid to run with anybody and thrived in frantic insanity. Drew McMinn is putting on a fireworks display in a nitroglycerin plant. Robert Morris is the good times, people.
III. "YOU'RE GROUNDED UNTIL YOU QUALIFY FOR THE AARP!" FACT
- The Colonials' defensive situation was face-punch bad in 2012, and a lot of that has to do with the goalie situation that Robert Morris had to deal with (in that there was a netminder situation). Drew McMinn rotated between three keepers last year -- Charles Ruppert, Dillon Pope, and Matt Bukovac -- and none of the three were all that good despite playing similar minutes. The trio combined for starts in all 15 of the Colonials' games yet held a combined save percentage of only 47.2. Only seven teams had a worse defensive shooting percentage than Robert Morris, and while the defense proper didn't exactly help this situation, the Colonials' lack of a ball stopper drove the team's overall defensive performance.
IV. MR. FIX-IT HAS A ONE-FIX ENGAGEMENT, AND IT'S . . .
- Frantic fleeing-from-the-police play can create some sloppiness, but Robert Morris needs to learn how to play quickly and still clear the ball effectively. Only 10 teams had a worse clearing rate than the Colonials in 2012 and these blown offensive opportunities were self-inflicted death for a team that rolled with the kind of offense that they possessed. An increase to the national average this year would have given Robert Morris nine more functional offensive chances at goal and, given the team's overall offensive efficiency, about three more goals on the board. This doesn't seem like a lot, but against teams like Denver and Colgate -- games in which Robert Morris cleared at or below 70 percent -- it can impact the momentum and outcome of the game.