Post Purdue: Q&A w/Talking Head
Oct 21, 2017 17:19:38 GMT -5
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Post by nyline on Oct 21, 2017 17:19:38 GMT -5
We've posted a Purdue Recap, and a Q&A with Talking Head. Click Here for the full post.
Here's an excerpt:
DigNittany: First things first: Purdue tried to pull a switcheroo on Penn State, moving Cuttino and Atkinson from their regular spots. Your thoughts about those moves?
Talking Head: I understand them. When you’re playing against the #1-ranked team, sometimes you’ve got to throw that team for a loop, and especially a team like Penn State that’s been playing so well the past couple of weekends. I think that was the mindset. But it could have just been about matchups. Purdue can put up a very formidable block with Cuttino in the middle, and we saw that a few times in the match. In terms of how it may have affected Penn State, they’ve seen Purdue play all season long, and do certain things, and then all of sudden the match starts and what you’ve been expecting isn’t what’s happening. It can energize the team that does it — in this case, Purdue — and it can also hamper the production of the opposing team — in this case, Penn State.
But there were a lot of factors at play: Purdue was playing at home and they were moving well. I didn’t think Penn State was playing poorly. In fact I thought both teams were playing solid side-out/side-out volleyball. Both teams were going really hard and diving all over the court. I thought the level of play for both teams was pretty darn high. But when things settled down, you started to see the cracks in Purdue’s game — some of which may have been created by those changes — with players not being totally familiar with where they were supposed to be, and where their teammates would be at any given moment. Someone having to take an out-of-system crack at a ball when they’re not really ready. Indecision creeping in now and then. I think all of that started to affect their ability to transition — certainly from the later part of game 1, through game 2 and into the early part of game 3. It was clearly evident in game 4.
Here's an excerpt:
DigNittany: First things first: Purdue tried to pull a switcheroo on Penn State, moving Cuttino and Atkinson from their regular spots. Your thoughts about those moves?
Talking Head: I understand them. When you’re playing against the #1-ranked team, sometimes you’ve got to throw that team for a loop, and especially a team like Penn State that’s been playing so well the past couple of weekends. I think that was the mindset. But it could have just been about matchups. Purdue can put up a very formidable block with Cuttino in the middle, and we saw that a few times in the match. In terms of how it may have affected Penn State, they’ve seen Purdue play all season long, and do certain things, and then all of sudden the match starts and what you’ve been expecting isn’t what’s happening. It can energize the team that does it — in this case, Purdue — and it can also hamper the production of the opposing team — in this case, Penn State.
But there were a lot of factors at play: Purdue was playing at home and they were moving well. I didn’t think Penn State was playing poorly. In fact I thought both teams were playing solid side-out/side-out volleyball. Both teams were going really hard and diving all over the court. I thought the level of play for both teams was pretty darn high. But when things settled down, you started to see the cracks in Purdue’s game — some of which may have been created by those changes — with players not being totally familiar with where they were supposed to be, and where their teammates would be at any given moment. Someone having to take an out-of-system crack at a ball when they’re not really ready. Indecision creeping in now and then. I think all of that started to affect their ability to transition — certainly from the later part of game 1, through game 2 and into the early part of game 3. It was clearly evident in game 4.
