"...So to your point, like, we had some kids that were here for those three years where we only lost two games … And I have the perspective of , 'Hey, there were some years where we definitely had some ups and downs and the seasons were much more challenging and we definitely took a few more lumps.'..."
Ben Dickson
The Maryland men's lacrosse team is back in the Final Four.
While that has come to be the standard in College Park under 14-year head coach John Tillman, this year was a bit different. The Terps were just 8-5 heading into Selection Sunday and did not win either the Big Ten Tournament or regular-season title, but – with strong metrics – ultimately made the tournament as the No. 7 national seed.
The Terps made light work of Princeton in the first round with a 16-8 win on May 11, their second over the Tigers this season, and stormed back to beat Duke, 14-11, in the quarterfinals. Maryland was down 5-1 in the opening quarter and 9-6 late in the third quarter before ending the game on an 8-2 run.
Maryland men's lacrosse stuns Duke in comeback win, 14-11, as John Tillman's NCAA Tournament magic continues
Maryland will face No. 6 Virginia at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Philadelphia in the Final Four. The Terps and the Cavaliers have had plenty of recent tournament matchups, including Maryland's quarterfinal blowout en route to the 2022 national title and Virginia's 17-16 win in an instant-classic 2021 championship game.
Tillman joined Kevin Sheehan on "The Kevin Sheehan Show" on The Team 980 in Washington D.C. onTuesday to discuss this year's team and all of his success.
Tillman spoke about why this group made the Final Four despite doubts, bracketology, bus problems and much more.
ON WHY THEY ARE IN THE FINAL FOUR WHEN MOST PEOPLE EXPECTED OTHERWISE
"Well, we've been very inconsistent in fairness to everybody. We've – if you want to argue either side, we've given plenty of ammo. We've looked very good at times. I think at the end of the year, we obviously know the metrics that the committee looks at, and we play a really tough schedule. It was a top-five schedule. I think we had three top-nine wins, which was third, I think only Notre Dame and Syracuse had more, so we had some really good wins. But we had some bad performances. We had some games where we did not play well. So I can see why people could take either side there, in fairness to everybody. When we played really well, we've looked great, but we've had some moments where we have not looked good. The hope was as we go through the season we keep learning, you keep growing, you try to improve.
"So when people kind of look at a game, they kind of define who you are – good or bad. And I think as coaches, we always look and go, 'Well, what did we do well? And then what didn't we do well? And what can we get better at?' And then you go back to work, and then you try to look at those things where you fell short, and then really address those things because teams will see those things on film. You talk to your players, and you try to get a better sense of where they're at and things that we can do to help them. So we've done definitely some different things. We shook up the lineup. We are doing some different things, certainly on the offensive end. We changed some of our routines. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't, but certainly aren't afraid to try to put the guys in a better spot, and there's no reason if things aren't working just to stay with them for the sake of staying with them. We just felt like we have a good group, and when we do play well, we can play with anybody. But yeah, when things aren't good,we've looked very vulnerable."
ON IF THERE WAS ANGST PRIOR TO THE SELECTION OF THE FIELD
"I've been doing this a long time, and there are some people that are pretty good when it comes to that and you kind of know, just, you know the metrics that the committee is looking at. You certainly feel a whole lot better when you can just win your conference tournament, you just do. But losing in the semifinal, obviously, that doesn't give you a great feeling, certainly the way we lost was not great. And then, but then looking at the metrics, they really look at big wins, strength of schedule, and RPI, and RPI has kind of been the biggest one. And I'm not saying that necessarily I feel like RPI should be the best one, but because it is used and it is really looked at and utilized in a very heavy way, you just kind of looked at the metrics, and we were seventh in the RPI and we were fifth in strength of schedule and we had three top nine wins. So looking at kind of the at-large bids, you kind of looked and you kind of were able to say like, alright, some of the teams like a Denver or Syracuse, their resume looked stronger. It just did. Their RPI was stronger. They did have some big wins.
"But then, when you got to us, I did feel like we had a pretty good case because after us, there were people that had maybe a below-a-top-20 loss, and that is not something we had. All of our losses were two really good teams. I think all of our losses were to teams in the top like 14 in the RPI, and other teams had maybe a loss to somebody 20 or below. But our RPI was still better. We had more good wins. But yeah, to your point, it's not a great feeling leaving it up to somebody else. But we do play a good schedule because there's other ways to get in, and you want to play a great schedule because it does – it challenges you. The kids love playing those games. They're fun games to play, but you do really learn a lot about yourself."
ON PATRICK STEVENS’ BRACKETOLOGY
"He does, and he's one of the very best. … He is excellent. He's a guy that – he'll come to games and certainly I'll see him after games in the press conference. And it's like a yearly ritual, we'll start talking about things and then we'll start talking about the brackets and bracketology and things like that. And Patrick is usually as close, if not closer than anybody else, when it comes to it. He just kind of knows. Again, it's pretty – they talk about what the metrics are and what they look at. So there's a website that is updated almost every 15 minutes as games come in, so you're able to kind of look at the RPI and it's – I wouldn't say it's 100% what the NCAA uses, but it's pretty darn close. So you kind of have a sense of where you are. But yeah, like at the end of the day, when you leave it up to somebody else, it's just not a great feeling."
ON NOT COACHING MANY TEAMS THAT HAVE COME IN AS THE UNDERDOG, IF IT WORKED TO THEIR ADVANTAGE
"Well, it's funny. In 2011, we got to the championship game, we were unseeded. And in 2012, the same. So, it was kind of interesting. But then, we've had some other teams, especially recently – and that's what most people remember – we've been a little bit higher. So we've kind of done it a number of different ways. And I think it was – those were things we had to talk about to our team because in '20 we were off to a good start, I think we were 5-1 before COVID shut things down. And then in '21, we lost one game. In '22, we didn't lose a game. So to your point, like, we had some kids that were here for those three years where we only lost two games … And I have the perspective of , 'Hey, there were some years where we definitely had some ups and downs and the seasons were much more challenging and we definitely took a few more lumps.' So it wasn't, for me, a whole lot different.
CONT.
"But what I had to do was kind of make sure we talked to our guys like, 'Listen, this is the norm. Like you normally don't go like three years only losing two games, like it just – most teams don't do that, and they don't do it consistently.' It's just too much parity. It's so many great teams, and so many really good players and coaches that you're gonna lose some games. But it's really about, again, learning, growing and proving – and then really just trying to play your best lacrosse at the end of the year. And again, having such a good schedule and playing all these teams, it forces you every day to work hard, to prepare, make sure you're buttoned up, make sure that you kind of get a sense of how people are attacking you or what they're doing defensively against you. So every week, you constantly need to prepare. I think it does get you ready for the postseason."
ON WHAT HIS BEST COACHING JOB WAS, WHERE THIS YEAR RANKS
"I'm the last guy that's really going to talk about, like you know what I mean …"
Do you have a season that comes to mind?– "I always feel like if the kids continue to work hard and we grow and they improve and we can gel, I always tell our guys, they're kind of like – the downside for them is I feel like I see what our kids can be, and I always think that they can do almost anything they want if they put their mind to it. And that's just like, unfortunately for our guys, like, I just see so much potential in all of you guys. I feel like if you fully commit to just about anything, you can be successful. And I feel like that's what people who really care about people, they see that. They see the potential, not what they are, but what they could be. And then it's a matter of, can you help them get there? Can you get them to like, do the routine and do it over and over again and commit to a process where that will happen, but also help them get there. And some people are willing to do it for a little bit. Some people do it and as soon as it gets hard, they go like kind of veer off. But you hope that part of this whole journey is for them to realize that to be really good at anything, it's a lot of work. You face a lot of challenges. There's always adversity. It's never easy. But it's all about what's next. When you fall down, you get up. It's all about sticking together. It's about learning to handle adversity and challenges. I mean, our bus broke down on the way … the guys didn't flinch. Like we just figured it out. Like, they didn't worry about it, and they kind of laughed it off. And like, we just kept moving forward. So I just feel like, that to me is teaching and coaching is always trying to believe like what they can be. And you know what, like to me, you're just not limiting them."
ON WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE BUS BROKE DOWN TRAVELING TO THE QUARTERFINAL GAME
"We had two buses. One is more the defensive guys, one's more the offensive guys and I was on the offensive bus. So we were in front. And I was on the phone and I got a call from our equipment manager, Timmy Ahner, and I couldn't take it. So our assistant Michael Phipps called him and he was like – because I was on the phone – and he goes, 'Coach, sounds like the other bus is having issues.' So they had to pull over. They didn't know what was wrong, but they had just passed the GW bridge. So they're on the Cross Bronx, which anybody that's driven to New York, that is not like a great place to break down. It's a very busy road. So we had to kind of figure out like, could the bus keep going? We were supposed to practice at one o'clock that day at Chaminade High School. So like, could we move practice? How were they going to get there? Could we send our bus back, drop us at the hotel and go back and get them and the traffic coming the other way was not good. So that didn't look like a good option. We talked to our people about sending another bus in College Park, but that was going to take a long time, so called our administrators and talked to some people and just told the guys, let's try to see if we can just get Ubers and grab all our stuff and put them in Ubers. And that's what they did.
CONT.
"So they all got to the hotel. It was an interesting experience. But again, just another great experience for the guys in terms of what their life is going to be like, right? How many times do we go to work and things didn't go the way we planned or things go haywire and you have to figure it out. Like you have to adapt, you've got to kind of figure out a way to get done what you need to get done and you can't worry about why did that happen, or it shouldn't have happened. It's like, OK, it happened. So how are we going to deal with this and still keep moving forward? And as I told them, you're gonna have bigger challenges than a bus going down and getting in an Uber. Like that's, that's not hard, but you got to be adaptable. Because people that can pivot, we all learned that in COVID, are the people that are going to be truly successful because stuff will always come up, and if you can just keep moving forward, man, that is a skill that will serve you well."
ON VIRGINIA, THE LOSS TO THEM EARLIER IN THE YEAR
"Yeah, obviously Lars [Tiffany] does a great, great job with that program. They're uber-talented. I think they have a number of like the number one recruits that came out that year on that team. So really talented, very experienced, very athletic. They are good everywhere. They have a great offense, some of the best players in the country. They're very slick. They're a group that they're a little unconventional in the way they play at times. They're great in transition, but they do a really good job. When you lose the ball and you have to go from from offense to defense, they do a really good job like trapping on some of your offensive guys or faceoff people and then playing either reduced numbers, like a five on five, or taking those guys and utilizing them as picks and allowing really talented players to try to get some leverage, which poses some problems. And then when they reduce the number, sometimes they can pull them out, which really allows them to have more space to operate and you're playing with less people. So that is sometimes a challenge. We did not do a great job in some of those situations the first time.
CONT.
"So when we talk today, we certainly were kind of reviewing some things that were good and bad from last week, but we also started talking about Virginia and some things that they did. So we started talking about that. Defensively, they're really long. They have really long, athletic defensem*n that are hard to get away from. They're very disruptive. They're great at knocking down passes, super physical, they 10-man ride you, sometimes a little differently even within the game, so you have to be prepared for that. So, and they're obviously a great ground ball team. So they're just a really solid team. Obviously, they've won a couple national championships here in the last few years and they're always loaded and they have a great tradition. So tons of respect from us and certainly know we got to play really well on Saturday to win."
