Brodie’s Boys Propel UNC Over Furman

I’ve watched lots of lacrosse film over the years…

...but I’m realizing it’s not nearly enough.

One of my best buddies, Ben Bloom, is the linebacker coach for the Dallas Cowboys. During the season, he watches 40 to 60 hours of film a week!

(Talked to him last week about his “film watching” process... got some good tips.)

I bet Belichick is watching film right now…

Football coaches watch tons of film for a variety of reasons…

• to recognize trends
• identify holes
• evaluate talent
• scout opponents

Watching film is kinda like playing golf (a big passion of mine)… you need to constantly be honing your skills.  And once you stop, those skills get rusty.

I want to watch lacrosse better… and evaluate situations faster...

So, this season I’m gonna watch more lacrosse.

And guess what??

The “capturing and editing” system is in place baby!

So, I nestled into my desk chair last week and dove into the North Carolina / Furman game.  (The box score listed it as a one goal game… although at times, I kept checking to see if I read it wrong… Furman didn’t make their run to late in 2nd half.)  

Here’s the link to Episode 1 of BTB Lax Film Study.

I pulled about 30 clips from the game… added commentary… and experimented with annotations...

Let me know what you think (email is best)...

North Carolina has two studs from the Hill Academy - Chris Cloutier and Tanner Cook.

(The Hill Academy is in Ontario, Canada.  Brodie Merrill started the school and it’s an absolute factory for lacrosse talent.  Reilly O’Conner is an assistant there as well.  I coached him for a year when I was at Georgetown.  Great kid and player.)

I can’t believe Cloutier hasn’t graduated yet!  Seems like he’s been around forever.  He’s the same cat that had a million points in UNC’s championship run in 2016.

Cloutier had 5 goals and an assist against Furman.  The guy is just a beast.  So tenacious.  

Cook had 5 goals as well...

Furman’s defense didn’t respect Cook.  They guarded him with a short stick and were late to slide to him.

He’s 6’3” and 205 lb.  He’s scoring a lot this year.  You gotta slide early to him.  Simple as that...

Cloutier’s goal to tie was absurd.  Just scroll to the end of Episode 1 to see it…

So Brodie’s boys pitched in 11 points for the afternoon.  Not too shabby!

North Carolina is loaded offensively.  They’re a little shaky at the face-off and in net.  Luke Millican, a freshman from Dallas Jesuit, played almost the entire game in net.  He got pulled late.  It’ll be interesting to see who starts this weekend for them.

I love UNC's man-up.  It’s gotta be one of the top units in the country.

Furman showed good grit on their comeback.  They actually took the lead late in game but couldn't hang on.  Tough to do against good teams...

Stay tuned for the Duke / Denver breakdown comin' later this week.