gosh, having reviewing my post - you're right. The interesting thing, I'm a MD fan! I was pretty disappointed with the way the team played at the end of the year - I was not impressed with the last 3 games. The guy that I think is really good is the freshman - Stephen King. I like Garey, too. Dela Russo (sp) plays nicely, but not in the pro ranks. Lancos is an enigma - he seems to have a lot of talent, but doesn't seem to apply himself and improve. His passing is erratic.
Knave, I hope you have your notebook and player lists ready. I expect the same excellent coverage (by Monday) for this weekend's combine that you provided last year. Although with technology costs coming down, maybe I should expect pictures and video as well ...
Ben, Put GK O'Hara, George Mason, and defender Gargan, Georgetown, on your watch list. I don't think they'll be drafted, but if they show well, I'm guessing DCUnited calls them in for a tryout.
Got to see all of the WVU men's home games this year, so I'm very familiar with Aaron Pitchkolan (and Pat Carroll, for that matter; he played left back for us this year and did a cracking good job). Pitch won a lower division national title at the University of Tampa as a freshman; when their coaches came to WVU, so did he. Those coaches have a connection with the CRapids, btw, so I wouldn't be surprised if he goes there. He played forward and midfield as a sophomore and junior, but was convinced this summer that defender would be the position he had the best shot at making the pros in. He was rock-solid in the center of the defense this year, and is very good in both the air and with the ball at his feet. He can push forward into the attack very well, too, especially on set pieces (he scored the OT winners against both Marshall and Pittsburgh this year off of set pieces). I'd love to see him in the Black and Red next year. Everyone needs their Kevin Ara, so he'll be mine. Read about him here: http://msnsportsnet.com/page.cfm?sport=msoccer&show=7164
I think I need to weight-in on the UMD players here since I'm guessing I've seen more of them that anyone on this board over their careers. Abe Thompson will be drafted in the top 6-8 picks regardless of who goes P-40. He has overcome injury problems that dogged him the past two seasons, seasons in which was still one of the better attacking players in the country. Abe is not just a scorer, he is by far the best soccer player on the UMD team, he makes everyone else better, he doesn't just play the game he thinks the game. You can laugh now if you like but remember I told you here that he has a very good chance to be the ROY in 2005 for MLS. Attackers tend to get lots of credit and he is the most MLS ready attacking player in the draft. Dom Mediate will be taken in the second round because as they say you can't teach speed. He is a bit inconsistent but as an attacking player it only takes a few seconds of brilliance over 90 minutes to change the game and he's a game breaker. He's wiil be taken fairly high based on potential and that wonderful thing we can't describe called upside. Ian Rodway is a hardnosed, high workrate player that every team needs to pressure the ball and be disruptive to the other team. Unfortunately for Ian there are lots of players that do what he does but that are also a little better with the ball. He a good kid and an honest worker that will make somebody's developmental roster, likely to go in the four round. Noah Palmer spent his last three seasons at UMD playing behind some very strong defenses and set records for shutouts and GAA against the best teams in the country. On the few occasions Noah needed to come up big he came up little costing UMD a potential national championship or two. I don't think he is a pro prospect and is unlikely to be drafted even in the new second developmental player draft. Now understand I am very bias toward UMD players but I believe I can still see the truth regarding their abilities. We will find out soon enough.
Van Sicklen can play the outside well. Coach Rohrman saw him as a outside mid but couldn't play him there because of the talent(or lack there of) at the UW. Another good pick would be Antouman Jallow out of UW Milwaekee. 60 goals in his 4 years. Horizon League Confrence player of the year. He is one of the better forwards coming out this year.
Knave, is this because you dont have a camera? or dont have a way of posting the said video? or is there some rule against bringing a camera to these events? I'd be willing to set up a torrent or something similar if we can get video footage of the events. maybe some drills or scrimmages....
I would think his future lies as a defensive midfielder rather than as a defender. There aren't many college defenders who are as good on the ball - especially on dead balls - as him. I can't believe you'd rip Mediate if you're a Terp fan, though...
I agree with you on Della Russo's passing ability. As far as Dom is concerned, it's my opinion not as a fan but as an impartial observer trying to provide a balanced, rational assessment of the player's potential impact in MLS. I'm still a terp fan. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. This year I only saw the last 3 games - so perhaps the players played differently earlier in the year. Last year, I saw many more games. My opinion is based upon what I saw. I think that he has talent and could win ROY given his age, maturity, experience against the other draftees. But would you trade up to get him, I wouldn't. I don't dispute your assessment of Dom's speed (or that he'll be taken in 2nd round). I question his desire. Without desire "upside" is not very likely. If he only has a few seconds of brilliance in the college, do you expect that will carry over in the pros or would you want someone who is a constant threat in college? Given this, as a DCU fan, I hope that they don't take him. Perhaps. Buete was better in college than Ian has been - will Ian be more successful as a pro? I don't think so.
Could DCU possibly not make any picks in the Superdraft? Reading the Superdraft article up at mlsnet.com it provides the following list of picks and conditional picks; So as it stands now, we have two picks Round 1 #12 (#12 overall) and Round 4 #12 (#48 overall), however the conditional picks complicate things. Metros could take our 1st round pick and either use it themselves or give it to Dallas to fulfill their obligation to them (you have to think that they'll take our pick, whether or not they use it or send it to Dallas is less sure, though I have a feeling they'd want to use it). In addition, we're supposed to be owed Colorado's 2nd round pick, but Colorado also owes Chicago either a 2nd or 3rd round pick and their 3rd and 4th round picks to SJ. Since Colorado at the moment only has one pick each in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds, they cannot possilibly fulfill all of those obligations as it stands now. Would they be forced to trade for another pick or will they put off fulfilling one of those obligations until next year (it would have to be a higher pick than is owed this year). So after all that, assuming Metros take our first rounder and Colorado send us their 2nd round pick we would have pick 2nd Round #9 (#19 overall) and 4th Round #12 (#48 overall). We also owe SJ a 3rd or 4th round pick so there goes #48. The other part of the Moreno acquisition also states that we owe (at our discretion) either a top 30 pick this year or a top 20 pick next year. So the only sure-fire pick we have is 2nd Round #9 (#19 overall) which we could conceivably not get from Colorado if we let them slide until next year, or we might even send it to the Metros and be done with our obligations to them for Jaime. Realistically, without making any trades I think we will have one 2nd round pick this year and that is it. Cherno
Re: Could DCU possibly not make any picks in the Superdraft? Sorry, I missed that Colorado does have another 2nd round pick, so I guess we get 2nd Round #4 (#16 overall) as our one and only pick. Cherno