Fast Takes with FastBreak: Cleveland vs Detroit

By: David Banas and Emma Meo

Sixty Seconds….to What? 

Sixty seconds can be an eternity … or merely a blink of an eye. 

Both the Detroit Innovators and the Cleveland Riff have seen their fortunes fade with two very different sixty seconds. For the Motor City side, sixty seconds of offense was all it took for the Charlotte Aviators to drop 13 goals in transition play across the first two games before a perfunctory Game Three blowout. In all three of the Riff’s games against the Carolinas side, the Riff were decisively outplayed in the first 60 seconds, with Charlotte’s dominance ensuring the result was never in doubt. What will the next sixty seconds hold for these teams?

This meeting will be the closest in skill level for the Toledo Derby in recent memory, one of the league’s oldest, if maligned, derbies. Both sides come into this bout being 0-3 on the season with losses against the Aviators, and while those numbers are more indicative of the Carolinas side’s dominance, Detroit and Cleveland still have much for which to play. Indeed, with the prospect of a divisional crown gone and decisively resting on Charlotte’s brow, this matchup is of supreme importance to both teams' East Conference and MLQ Champs aspirations. The loser of this series matches up against a scrappy Washington side that was a goal away from taking games off perennial powerhouse programs the New York Titans and the Boston Forge. Losing the matchup against Washington means instant elimination from East Champs and from MLQ Champs.

Here are the four pressing questions coming into this Saturday’s game.

Beating:

Detroit will again be without USNT beater Rei Brodeur. Only one beater from both teams escaped their respective meetings with the Aviators with a non-negative plus-minus. David Banas Jr. had a flat 0 with seven goals scored for and seven against across 16 shifts. 

While both sides struggled against the veteran Charlotte beating corps, the Innovators came out slightly less bruised with the top five Detroit beaters averaging at least 1.323 dodgeballs or better. For the Riff, no beater besides CWRU’s Ashley Chow came close to those numbers, with Chow recording a rate of 1.226 alongside a team-leading seven stops. Which team can win the battle for dodgeball control decisively and open up looks on each other’s hoop zones?

Along with Chow, Cleveland is bringing a pretty solid beater lineup, starting with the return of Rae Barnes, who led the team last season with 12 beater stops. There are also some important names like Adam Thompson who have been face to face against Detroit’s beaters in the past. We’ve also seen Cleveland’s beater depth expand in recent years, as this was one of their struggles. Going into Saturday, this beater matchup might be a lot closer than one might think.

Shots shots shots shots shots shots!

Both teams have made their names on their shooting in recent years. Last season’s goal leader Joe Lombardi, as well as Fiona Gaffney, Delaney Lindberg, Jackson Neofes and Titus Chan for the Riff love to let loose from range. 

Similarly for Detroit, Rob Butler, Gwen Pratt, Jackson Massey and newcomer Jon Jackson all have been known to uncork a shot from midrange when the opportunity presents itself or when the defense is not respecting them. In the hoops-zone-heavy meta that is the state of Quadball, whose hoop zone can remain intact long enough to deny each other their favored scoring method?

If both teams love anything, it’s their goal scorer. This year, there is a pretty solid rotation of chasers who will be able to bring the score up for Cleveland in times of need. Something that Detroit loves to do is to be aggressive with the ball. During their game against Charlotte, chasers were not afraid to step-up and make sure to pass to their teammates. This could be something that we see again against Cleveland, and if that were the case then Cleveland will also have to make sure that they are matching Detroit’s sureness of the ball.

Seeking:

Of all the elements at play during this matchup, seeking is the single largest question mark coming into the series. The two teams have mustered a mere solitary catch in their six games against Charlotte, the lone pull coming from recent MSU graduate Jackson Massey in Game One. 

With big man and flag runner extraordinaire Derek Parker running the series, even more questions are raised for how each coaching staff will want to address the proverbial elephant in the room that is Parker’s flag-running skill set on Saturday afternoon.

For Cleveland, we saw a little bit of their seeker work through Delaney Lindberg and Varun Krishna. Both Pitt players who have a track record of contributing to their teams catch percentage. Even during their most recent game, Cleveland was able to hold their ground and not let Charlotte catch. While neither teams were able to catch against Charlotte, that doesn’t mean that we won’t be seeing some potential catches here. If Cleveland really wants this, they are going to have to establish dominance through their beaters and not letting Massey have their way with catching. With Cleveland’s beater line for this game, viewers will want to keep an eye on the flag runner during this game.

Transition:

Transition play. These two words elicit two very different responses in both teams. For the Innovators, transition play was their death knell against the Aviators despite Charlotte not making that strategy a secret. Indeed, the past two seasons have seen transition play be Detroit’s Achilles heel in contrast to the 313’s slower, more methodical, patient offense. That patient offense has paid dividends in the lack of unforced errors resulting in turnovers but has also cost them on their ensuing opponents' offenses. 

For Cleveland, transition play is where they thrive. Indeed, all the separate notes that make up the Riff’s melody this year have thrived on transition play. Whether it was the more senior Apollos’ core, the nascent regional powerhouse CWRU, or the established Pitt cadre, all three programs have found great success in pushing the pace. Who can enforce their game pace upon the other?

Detroit’s all about pushing the pace, which is something that Cleveland needs to keep up with the score. From the Riff’s performance against Charlotte, they were not falling too far behind. The concerns over a brand new roster may have subsided, but Cleveland has to think ahead, just like the speed of Detroit. 

The question is thus: which team can show that their 0-3 performance against Charlotte was merely a fluke and avoid an instant elimination series against Washington at East Conference Champs this Saturday afternoon in Cleveland?