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Post by tillie on Apr 29, 2017 20:34:39 GMT -5
I would question the theory that "tall" is the answer. We have had "tall" in the past and they played very infrequently. in 2014 we had two players who played regularly that were 6'4" and 6'3" all the rest were 6'2" and shorter. In 2013 Whitney and Slay were 6'5" or higher but Slay was a middle so Grant, Cortney and Deja were 6"2" or less. 2010 we had three players 6'5" or more again one a middle Wilson, Dorton and Deja held down the other outsides and were just 6'3'' or less.
ADAPTABILITY and QUICKNESS probably are of greater value.
Note of course that Stanford has REDWOODS and it will be interesting to see if they can do as well as those smaller players in that history. Nebraska this past year had but two hitter greater than
6'3"
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Post by bob2061 on May 1, 2017 0:11:41 GMT -5
I would question the theory that "tall" is the answer. We have had "tall" in the past and they played very infrequently. in 2014 we had two players who played regularly that were 6'4" and 6'3" all the rest were 6'2" and shorter. In 2013 Whitney and Slay were 6'5" or higher but Slay was a middle so Grant, Cortney and Deja were 6"2" or less. 2010 we had three players 6'5" or more again one a middle Wilson, Dorton and Deja held down the other outsides and were just 6'3'' or less. ADAPTABILITY and QUICKNESS probably are of greater value. Note of course that Stanford has REDWOODS and it will be interesting to see if they can do as well as those smaller players in that history. Nebraska this past year had but two hitter greater than 6'3" How did Stanford do this past season anyway? I seem to recall they closed out their season with a win. |
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Post by bob2061 on May 1, 2017 0:27:49 GMT -5
What's been missing to me is on-court leadership. Since Micha and Dom departed, it looks as if the team has been missing leadership from within. We can only hope that a leader has emerged from the carefully concealed cauldron of spring volleyball. Is this an obtuse way to say the coaches may have recruited players without enough leadership skills? BTW how many leaders do you need to be a great team? I just read where the PSU wrestling team has added still another wrestler with great leadership skills, Jarod Verkleeren. It seems ironic that PSU WVB needs them but can't find them while PSU Wrestling seems to find them everywhere they look. Go figure.  |
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Post by nyline on May 1, 2017 6:58:52 GMT -5
What's been missing to me is on-court leadership. Since Micha and Dom departed, it looks as if the team has been missing leadership from within. We can only hope that a leader has emerged from the carefully concealed cauldron of spring volleyball. Is this an obtuse way to say the coaches may have recruited players without enough leadership skills? BTW how many leaders do you need to be a great team? I just read where the PSU wrestling team has added still another wrestler with great leadership skills, Jarod Verkleeren. It seems ironic that PSU WVB needs them but can't find them while PSU Wrestling seems to find them everywhere they look. Go figure. You really should give that wrestling comparison a rest. Apples to oranges in so many ways (starting with the fact that Pennsylvania produces, year in and year out, something like 30% of the wrestling All Americans, whereas my guess would be that Pennsylvania has produced less than 5% of the volleyball All Americans; that wrestling can award partial scholarships with either no limit on head count or a very high limit, whereas Volleyball is limited to 12 total players on scholarship; that wrestling is an individual sport (with an aggregate team score) whereas volleyball is a team sport, period; and that there are probably no more than 15 schools seriously competing for the top talent in wrestling, whereas there are probably more than 50 schools that have a realistic chance of landing top talent in women's volleyball), and it's unnecessarily demeaning to the volleyball team and staff and their accomplishments. We get it. They haven't won an NCAA championship in . . . . two years. With some talent missed. Everyone gets that. Especially the staff and players. You seem to believe that they are oblivious to that. Or not sufficiently driven. Or have lost the ability to recruit. With that worldview, you appear to feel entitled to get snarky and snide. You certainly are entitled to your opinion, and to question . . . anything. But yes, I think your expectations are way out of wack, and also think your ability to discern the current state of affairs has a negative bias to it. Everything is not horrible. The team is poised for a very good season. Very good recruits are coming. And, to go back to the opening point, wrestling is not the measuring stick. Many Nebraska fans in 2015 were all gushy and "we're the new dynasty, Rolfzens, dynasty, recruiting, beach, Cook, Rolfzens," then after 2016, not so much. It's hard to maintain success for long periods of time, uninterrupted. But excellence, on the other hand, can be maintained. And I think Coach Rose and staff have done so. As has Coach Sanderson. They both are phenomenal coaches. We are lucky to have them. No need to draw misleading comparisons between them. You should give it a rest. IMHO. With the acknowledgement that you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. |
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Post by centralpennvbfan on May 1, 2017 13:06:34 GMT -5
We need to stop responding to Bobby the blogger... He is a PSU VB hater with clearly an agenda to attack the coaching staff.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2017 17:14:46 GMT -5
We need to stop responding to Bobby the blogger... He is a PSU VB hater with clearly an agenda to attack the coaching staff. Respond or don't? I'm not sure what's best. I don't think we want to create an echo chamber. Bob certainly seems to have some issues with the coaching staff. I'm not sure what drives decisions among elite high school volleyballers. How many variables are there? Which variables are most important to each athlete? I'm sure they're not the same. Maybe someone should petition the National Science Foundation to get funding in order to survey the top-rated recruits over the past few years? |
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Post by elliotberton on May 1, 2017 18:03:30 GMT -5
If leadership is the issue, I am even more confused. I recall coach lauding Haleigh Washington's fire and leadership when she was a Freshman, yet now in her final year, she is not a Captain. I also felt like Kendall White showed a lot of confidence and poise last year. Yet this year 3 new Captains. Of course leadership does not always come from a Captain.
I suppose what we mean by "leadership" in tight matches is the player who can be counted on to perform at a high level when things get tough. From last year, Simone Lee tried to be that player, with mixed success. She literally swung her arm off in some matches. The others, who confusingly had prior success, were not able to perform well in crunch time. So, what happened to Ali Frantti and Washington? I end up wondering if it is the quality of the setting more than some innate leadership deficiency. As evidence, I point to the fact that we saw two players alternating at Setter. Since we know coach prefers to pick one and stick with her, I gather that he was not satisfied with either.
Anyway, I reiterate that such issues are complex and outside of my understanding. I have to believe that our coaches can help the players to get better, and believe in themselves. That is their job, and again, Coach Rose has had huge success. I don't think that is unduly or inappropriately optimistic.
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Post by nyline on May 1, 2017 18:58:16 GMT -5
If leadership is the issue, I am even more confused. I recall coach lauding Haleigh Washington's fire and leadership when she was a Freshman, yet now in her final year, she is not a Captain. I also felt like Kendall White showed a lot of confidence and poise last year. Yet this year 3 new Captains. Of course leadership does not always come from a Captain. I suppose what we mean by "leadership" in tight matches is the player who can be counted on to perform at a high level when things get tough. From last year, Simone Lee tried to be that player, with mixed success. She literally swung her arm off in some matches. The others, who confusingly had prior success, were not able to perform well in crunch time. So, what happened to Ali Frantti and Washington? I end up wondering if it is the quality of the setting more than some innate leadership deficiency. As evidence, I point to the fact that we saw two players alternating at Setter. Since we know coach prefers to pick one and stick with her, I gather that he was not satisfied with either. Anyway, I reiterate that such issues are complex and outside of my understanding. I have to believe that our coaches can help the players to get better, and believe in themselves. That is their job, and again, Coach Rose has had huge success. I don't think that is unduly or inappropriately optimistic. I asked a former player who I happened to run into at a match last season, what she thought was the issue. She started by saying she wasn't close to the team, and hadn't seen them alot, so she was really speculating. But from what little she had seen, she thought it might be a lack of "connectedness." Asked what she meant by that, she said something about a mix of communication, anticipation, teamwork. I think leadership was in there somewhere too. It was over my pay grade. |
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2017 19:28:22 GMT -5
I've given connectedness some thought. In terms of communication, anticipating, and teamwork I think "connectedness" is an excellent term. It's having Lacey Fuller diving to the right place at the right time to dig a tip--it's not creating a donut hole in the middle of the court that all but says, "please tip here." It's having Ariel Scott swooping it to make a crushing kill that ends a rally. It's having players like Megan Courtney leading the team in solo blocks because she "knew" where to be. It's a team that seems to function like six fingers of the same hand--that just seems to do the right thing. It's having a player who continually got criticized for being slow being an excellent student of the game so that she knew where to be to make key blocks--like Katie Slay. For being so slow she sure got a lotta blocks and I think her study of her opponents was as or more important than her height. It's having setters who were hyper competitive--you could see they loved sticking it to their opponents--watch Carp against Texas in 2010 or Micha against Wisconsin's setter in the 2014 B1G opener. It's a team that's organic--that seems to function as if it's of one mind.
Put simply, you know it when you see it.
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Post by centralpennvbfan on May 2, 2017 9:40:46 GMT -5
I am looking forward to seeing the freshmen and transfer players blend within the returners this summer and fall. I am hoping they have the same impact the seniors had when they were freshmen on the direction and success of the team. Are any of the new players going to Brasil?
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Post by nyline on May 2, 2017 12:24:18 GMT -5
I am looking forward to seeing the freshmen and transfer players blend within the returners this summer and fall. I am hoping they have the same impact the seniors had when they were freshmen on the direction and success of the team. Are any of the new players going to Brasil? Don't know. I assume they must be enrolled, so that could be one limiting factor if any of them aren't. Don't know if the NCAA imposes other restrictions. |
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Post by traveler on May 2, 2017 17:15:31 GMT -5
I've given connectedness some thought. In terms of communication, anticipating, and teamwork I think "connectedness" is an excellent term. It's having Lacey Fuller diving to the right place at the right time to dig a tip--it's not creating a donut hole in the middle of the court that all but says, "please tip here." It's having Ariel Scott swooping it to make a crushing kill that ends a rally. It's having players like Megan Courtney leading the team in solo blocks because she "knew" where to be. It's a team that seems to function like six fingers of the same hand--that just seems to do the right thing. It's having a player who continually got criticized for being slow being an excellent student of the game so that she knew where to be to make key blocks--like Katie Slay. For being so slow she sure got a lotta blocks and I think her study of her opponents was as or more important than her height. It's having setters who were hyper competitive--you could see they loved sticking it to their opponents--watch Carp against Texas in 2010 or Micha against Wisconsin's setter in the 2014 B1G opener. It's a team that's organic--that seems to function as if it's of one mind. Put simply, you know it when you see it.
You've said it all, Bud! |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 18:15:09 GMT -5
I've given connectedness some thought. In terms of communication, anticipating, and teamwork I think "connectedness" is an excellent term. It's having Lacey Fuller diving to the right place at the right time to dig a tip--it's not creating a donut hole in the middle of the court that all but says, "please tip here." It's having Ariel Scott swooping it to make a crushing kill that ends a rally. It's having players like Megan Courtney leading the team in solo blocks because she "knew" where to be. It's a team that seems to function like six fingers of the same hand--
You've said it all, Bud!OK. I was stretching anatomy a bit. Remember, I was trying to convey "connectedness." How would you have done it?  |
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Post by nyline on May 2, 2017 18:40:37 GMT -5
"...six fingers of one hand."
You've said it all, Bud! OK. I was stretching anatomy a bit. Remember, I was trying to convey "connectedness." How would you have done it? Five fingers plus the libero finger with the different colored nail? |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 19:10:26 GMT -5
OK. I was stretching anatomy a bit. Remember, I was trying to convey "connectedness." How would you have done it? Five fingers plus the libero finger with the different colored nail? So, what about the on-court team when the libero finger (with the different-colored nail) is on the bench? Does your slacker staff bust your unmentionables like this? |
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