I like the way Maryland lacrosse coach John Tillman is downplaying the Terps' 14-7 win against North Carolina in the quarterfinals as they prepare for Johns Hopkins Saturday.
The Tar Heels go soft in the postseason every year, even though it appeared that might be different in 2015. But it wasn't. No offense to Maryland, but when the Terps put up 14 goals in a game, that's a miracle.
So no, Tillman hasn't been jumping up and down this week because he thinks Maryland just knocked off Goliath.
"I think it's kind of a catch-22 with a game like that," Tillman said. "You want to build on that confidence, but also realize that what happened last week, happened last week. We realize that every week is its own entity and we have to realize we can't focus on what happened. We have to get ready for a really talented opponent (Johns Hopkins). One that -- much like North Carolina -- is very talented in a lot of different ways, so we are hopefully going to keep building momentum and realize that there is more work to be done.
"We know that we can do better. We are playing arguably the hottest team in the country right now and if you watch them on film, they are really dangerous. So we need to work on some things and look at things that we could do better."
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I understand Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala getting emotional after his team knocked off Syracuse Sunday, but he needs to lighten up on how everybody was writing off his goalie, defensive midfielders and his team earlier in the season.
The fact is they weren't very good and reporters and other media members were accurate in what they were reporting. Writing them off? Not in this day, not in this sport. There is too much balance out there and everyone knew the Blue Jays had a shot at making the NCAA tournament if they won the Big Ten Conference championship.
Lighten up, big fella.
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Duke midfielder Myles Jones wasn't as dominant in the 2015 postseason as he was in 2014. Jones might have been struggling with injury and he also might he been listening to all the hype about himself during the year.
Most importantly, he had to carry this team, unlike a year ago when opponents slid hard to attackman Jordan Wolf. Jones also had attackman-midfielder Christian Walsh who could break down defenses and throw great passes.
Chemistry is very important in running the Blue Devils' offense.
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I admire Syracuse coach John Desko for complimenting the officials who did his game Sunday at the Naval Academy. I wouldn't have been so kind.
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The Terps haven't won a national championship since 1975, even though former Maryland coaches Dick Edell and Dave Cottle were in the final four three times since then.
And now Tillman has them back in the final four, Maryland's fourth in five years. The Terps need to stop sniffing around the title and get it done.