Back to rankings...it seems to be the general consensus that Crush is the #1 2020 team by a fairly wide margin until proven otherwise.
My question: WHY are they so much better? Would be interesting to get a few opinions on what makes them so good. Anything that other teams could learn from? My top reasons...
1. The way they play (style of play). They are almost never the biggest, fastest or strongest team on the field. But they move the ball really, really well. High lacrosse IQ, unselfish play, most goals are assisted, and great off-ball movement. This is much tougher to defend than the typical middie isolation dodge followed by a 10-yard rip that you see from lots of 2020 teams. 2. They've been playing together so long. The core group of kids have obviously been playing together a long time, and it shows. They anticipate what teammates are going to do and have great team chemistry. This feeds their style of play. 3. They work harder. I have heard that they practice much more than the typical 2x per week during tournament season that you see from many clubs. But not sure if that's true. I'm sure it doesn't hurt to be around the likes of Rabil and Pannell and the NY Lizards, and see how hard they work. 4. Concentration of talent on Long Island. LI has 2 elite teams, where Baltimore metro area has at least 5 (Looneys, Crabs, FAC, Hawks, Team 91 MD Force). Would the Baltimore area produce a comparably dominant team if they concentrated that talent to only 2 teams? Not sure.
Other thoughts?
Opinion but I'm surely widely shared PoV - they have the two best attackman by a wide margin, and the "big lefty" has been dominant since they were 10 years old. If you took those two kids and put them on any other high quality team then that would be the new best team. They are very strong at all other positions but those two are clear difference makers.
