|  Author | Topic: NCAA Finals: The matchup (Read 1,279 times) |
nomas
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|  | NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Thread Started on May 2, 2008, 10:56am » | |
So we are down to 2 teams. Let's look at the match up for this saturday:
Setter- Edge: Pepperdine
It's a tough call here, both are All-Americans and run very effecient offenses. PSU is 1st in the Country hitting .398 while Pepp trails them at 4th with .316. Both teams offenses sizzled last night in the semis as well. Murray currently is 2nd in the Nation in assits with Winder sitting in the 6th place.
But Winder holds the edge defensively with about 70 more digs and 11 more blocks (closer than one might think). Winder also has the more lethal serve owning 10 more aces.
Very close but with the height difference and already with a championship win I give the nod to the QB for Pepp.
OH- Edge: PSU
Obviously the big story here is Matt Anderson and at 6'10" with POY credentials he is a force to be reckoned with. His 538 kills are good for 2nd in the Nation per game. Plus he hits for a very high percentage (.394). His counterpart, Jay Stauffer, however only claims 65 kills (.175). But even with such low numbers they combined have more kills then Pepp's Schleppenbach and Riecks (610 total).
Although JD played unreal in the semis I still give the edge to Penn. But if the OHs for Pepp can keep it up they could turn the tide in this match.
Opp- Edge: Pepperdine
A no brainer here really. Yes Sweitzer has very nice numbers 321 kills, .303 hitting %, 35 aces, 90 digs, 71 blocks. But Paul Carroll is the no. 1 point scorer in college volleyball. And he is the reason the waves are contending. Without him they obviously were a much different team. In nearly 20 less games his numbers are great 462 kills, .401 %, 37 Aces, 97 digs, and 66 Blocks.
Middle- Edge: PSU
Again a fairly obvious advantage. Both Holt and Lipsitz earned All- American nods this season. They hit 1 and 3 in the country in hitting % (.555 and .499 respectively) Combined for 541 kills and Holts 121 blocks have him at 13th in D1.
Pepp's Middles (Hulse and Jaynes) don't take a lot of swings with just over 160 kills combined! But they do block well. And Hulse's 144 blocks are good enough for 6th place.
Libero- Edge: PSU
Del Valle is PSU's 5th All American and he showed some flashes of greatness last night. His 248 digs are good for 8th in NCAA. Well Grubbs was not as impressive, he made some key plays for Pepp (including a clutch cover that turned into a turning point vs LB).
Bench - Edge: Pepp
While neither team uses their bench very much. Matt McKee did get a good amount of PT during Carroll's absence. And he may be looked to come in if Riecks struggles.
Coach- Edge: Pepp
Marv Dunphy in his 24th year of a Hall of Fame coaching career gets the edge. He has won it all in the past and has some good asst in place. Scott Wong is in his 3rd year with the waves and it seems like Rod Wilde (former Badgers coach) has bolstered the staff as a late addition.
Pavlik in his 14th year is still searching for his first title as a coach and his assts. are fairly young (Dyer in his second seasons with PSU and McMillan in his inaugral year)
Outcome: Pepp in 5
Although 5 All Americans is very impressive I still think PSU will struggle with the hot Waves. Pepperdines middles could very well be the key to propel them to another title. What we do know is there will be plenty of swings for Carroll and Anderson the 1 and 2 point scores this season! Good luck to all. And hope the best team wins.
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matt4pres
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #1 on May 2, 2008, 11:57am » | |
May 2, 2008, 10:56am, nomas wrote:So we are down to 2 teams. Let's look at the match up for this saturday:
Setter- Edge: Pepperdine
It's a tough call here, both are All-Americans and run very effecient offenses. PSU is 1st in the Country hitting .398 while Pepp trails them at 4th with .316. Both teams offenses sizzled last night in the semis as well. Murray currently is 2nd in the Nation in assits with Winder sitting in the 6th place.
But Winder holds the edge defensively with about 70 more digs and 11 more blocks (closer than one might think). Winder also has the more lethal serve owning 10 more aces.
Very close but with the height difference and already with a championship win I give the nod to the QB for Pepp.
OH- Edge: PSU
Obviously the big story here is Matt Anderson and at 6'10" with POY credentials he is a force to be reckoned with. His 538 kills are good for 2nd in the Nation per game. Plus he hits for a very high percentage (.394). His counterpart, Jay Stauffer, however only claims 65 kills (.175). But even with such low numbers they combined have more kills then Pepp's Schleppenbach and Riecks (610 total).
Although JD played unreal in the semis I still give the edge to Penn. But if the OHs for Pepp can keep it up they could turn the tide in this match.
Opp- Edge: Pepperdine
A no brainer here really. Yes Sweitzer has very nice numbers 321 kills, .303 hitting %, 35 aces, 90 digs, 71 blocks. But Paul Carroll is the no. 1 point scorer in college volleyball. And he is the reason the waves are contending. Without him they obviously were a much different team. In nearly 20 less games his numbers are great 462 kills, .401 %, 37 Aces, 97 digs, and 66 Blocks.
Middle- Edge: PSU
Again a fairly obvious advantage. Both Holt and Lipsitz earned All- American nods this season. They hit 1 and 3 in the country in hitting % (.555 and .499 respectively) Combined for 541 kills and Holts 121 blocks have him at 13th in D1.
Pepp's Middles (Hulse and Jaynes) don't take a lot of swings with just over 160 kills combined! But they do block well. And Hulse's 144 blocks are good enough for 6th place.
Libero- Edge: PSU
Del Valle is PSU's 5th All American and he showed some flashes of greatness last night. His 248 digs are good for 8th in NCAA. Well Grubbs was not as impressive, he made some key plays for Pepp (including a clutch cover that turned into a turning point vs LB).
Bench - Edge: Pepp
While neither team uses their bench very much. Matt McKee did get a good amount of PT during Carroll's absence. And he may be looked to come in if Riecks struggles.
Coach- Edge: Pepp
Marv Dunphy in his 24th year of a Hall of Fame coaching career gets the edge. He has won it all in the past and has some good asst in place. Scott Wong is in his 3rd year with the waves and it seems like Rod Wilde (former Badgers coach) has bolstered the staff as a late addition.
Pavlik in his 14th year is still searching for his first title as a coach and his assts. are fairly young (Dyer in his second seasons with PSU and McMillan in his inaugral year)
Outcome: Pepp in 5
Although 5 All Americans is very impressive I still think PSU will struggle with the hot Waves. Pepperdines middles could very well be the key to propel them to another title. What we do know is there will be plenty of swings for Carroll and Anderson the 1 and 2 point scores this season! Good luck to all. And hope the best team wins. |
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You know, you do not have very much credibility when you say that you would slightly give the edge in setting to Pepperdine. It is clear that you read statistics and nothing else. Are crazy!!! Winder is way better than then PSU setter. The only thing that the PSU setter is better than winder in, is being short.
P.S. It is really easy to get good stats when you are playing against George Mason and the weak east coast teams.
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1221pch
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #2 on May 2, 2008, 12:20pm » | |
May 2, 2008, 10:56am, nomas wrote:So we are down to 2 teams. Let's look at the match up for this saturday:
Libero- Edge: PSU
Del Valle is PSU's 5th All American and he showed some flashes of greatness last night. His 248 digs are good for 8th in NCAA. Well Grubbs was not as impressive, he made some key plays for Pepp (including a clutch cover that turned into a turning point vs LB).
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Yeah, but Grubbs is a better kicker!
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harveylipschitz
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #3 on May 2, 2008, 12:41pm » | |
amtt4pres, your credibility is much more questionable than nomas with comments like that. Did you even watch the first semi? Luke is faster, and more athletic than Winder is... how many balls did Winder run down and turn into gold? Recall the two balls Luke went around the pin and brought back in play for swings? One being a kill... Or the ball that he chased 30 feet off the court and brought it back for a perfect pipe and kill? You are foolish for trying to say that any setter in the NCAA eclipses Murray. Winder is a very good setter, maybe the best in the nation... but his style is very different than Lukes. Regardless they are comparable in their skill level.
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nomas
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #4 on May 2, 2008, 12:48pm » | |
"You know, you do not have very much credibility when you say that you would slightly give the edge in setting to Pepperdine. It is clear that you read statistics and nothing else."
Please don't insult me or my credibility because I didn't show obvious bias to your setter. I was merely trying to give impartial observations. Yes Winder's a 4 time AA. And was first team this year. But give props to Murray for running the fastest offense in the country and leading his team to a one loss season so far. And I'd say its close one guy is 1st team AA the other is 2nd team AA.
And don't knock Mason they have a legit team.
Thanks Harvey.
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eastcoastvb
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #5 on May 2, 2008, 1:15pm » | |
Pretty good breakdown of both teams. A couple of things to think about,
Will JD and Riecks play up to the level they set in the semis? Or will they flame out like Ulrich did last year?
The Carroll/Andersen matchup will be interesting when their rotations are matched up. Defensivley Andersen has great middle help with both Holt and Lipsitz. I have not watched Pepp enough to know if Carroll is good enough defensivley to stop Andersen.
Sorry for my spelling mistakes.
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future
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #6 on May 2, 2008, 1:18pm » | |
Well.....Here is my completely biased and emotional choice for 2008 NCAA Ringmaster for Men's Vball.
I dare not use analysis nor Stats.....because.....the are useless at this point. I think we all agree.
PSU over Pepperdine in 4 very hard physical games.
They are my BIG TRUCK 50-1 odds Kentucky Derby winners. BTW I hope the derby doesn't interfere with the game.....think it is set for 6pmET.
Most importantly PSU and PEPP are the best two teams this year and in my humble opinion that is hard to deny.
Now lets all drop a piece of fruit in our beer and sing Kum Ba Yah!!!!
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luvb9
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #7 on May 2, 2008, 2:49pm » | |
Wow...I am overwhelmed by everyone climbing on the Pepp band wagon. I have followed Pepp most of the year, and thought they had enough, Winder/Carroll, to beat anyone on a given night, but best team this year??? I would never be so bold and or confident in that claim and I am a Pepp & Carroll fan.
They are playing their best at the right time, and I for one am crossing my fingers that they can put one more match together that even comes close to last night. No one was going to beat them last night, no one. I have only seen one other team, Penn State, handle LBSU like that this year.
Pepp may wind up being the champion this year, but from Jan. 18th to April 24th no one would have claimed Pepp to be the best, 2nd best, 3rd best, (you get the point) team in the country.
A month ago, Pepp was squeaking out wins against Pacific as well as losing to USC and Hawaii. That said, as UCLA showed everyone 2 years ago, you only have to be the best team for a week or two to end the year as the champions.
PSU vs. Pepp
All the pressure will be on PSU. They are 29-1, and many would consider their year a huge dissapointment if they do not walk out of Bren with 1st place hardware. They did not play particularly well against OSU, and really struggled passing wise. However, PSU is tired of playing mediocre teams, they seem to be able to raise their level at will, and I think will be looking forward to testing themselves against a red hot Pepperdine team.
PSU has a lot of ways to beat teams, but the key to their success will be whether or not PSUs middles can stay involved throughout the match, to take pressure off of Anderson. This will be the biggest and probably the best block he has faced all year.
PSU in 4...
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luvb9
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #8 on May 2, 2008, 3:00pm » | |
A neat little aside...12 of the 14 players from these two teams will be back next year. Winder and Murray are the only two players that will not be back next year.
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vb
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #9 on May 2, 2008, 3:40pm » | |
Max Lipsitz and his insane blocking won the PSU-OSU game. What a clinic!
IF....the PSU blocking is as good or better they will win in 4.
Pepp uses a limited offense (really only 3 hitters), PSU has very intelligent players, thus they will figure out the offense very quickly. Looks like another banner is coming to Rec Hall.
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luvb9
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #10 on May 2, 2008, 4:04pm » | |
Anyone that thought the OSU vs. PSU match was at the same level as Pepp and LBSU is living in a fantasy world. OSU played their hearts out, but they simply do not have enough talent to even be compared to LBSU or Pepp. If Pepp plays at 80% of what they did last night, PSU will be facing the best team they have faced all year in terms of skill and talent.
That said Pepp was figured out 5 months ago. They have 3 attackers, that is it. The question is can PSU stop their OHs, and can Anderson and Sweitzer fair better than Lotman and Bitner did against the Pepp wall.
LBSU had solid doubles and triples on Pepp most of the night. If Pepp hits like they did last night tomorrow, they will win in 3 again.
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Keystonekid
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #11 on May 2, 2008, 4:10pm » | |
Luvb. If Pepp plays at 80% they will get blown out of they gym.
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alby
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #12 on May 2, 2008, 7:51pm » | |
in short:
1) Carroll and Anderson are both great players. Their offense is a wash.
2) If Pepp's outsides can hit +.450 and +.750 like they did last night.... they have a good shot. However, they failed to do anything like that all season to date. Can it be repeated?
3) If Penn St. sets middle every ball they will win! Pepp's middles are decent blockers because they are big, but the MPSF was absolutely weak in the middle this year. No MPSF teams are prepared for this middle combination. Some may have played against them a few times (ex. LB earlier), but there isn't anyone in Pepp's gym that can prepare Pepp's middles for PSU. Set middle = NCAA champs.
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DenMark
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #13 on May 2, 2008, 9:33pm » | |
May 2, 2008, 7:51pm, alby wrote:in short:
3) If Penn St. sets middle every ball they will win! Pepp's middles are decent blockers because they are big, but the MPSF was absolutely weak in the middle this year. No MPSF teams are prepared for this middle combination. Some may have played against them a few times (ex. LB earlier), but there isn't anyone in Pepp's gym that can prepare Pepp's middles for PSU. Set middle = NCAA champs. |
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I was at the semis and PSU had serve receive problems against OSU. If the passing is inconsistent, the middles won't be as effective and "set middle = NCAA champs" won't happen. Overall, Pepp served better than OSU with their variety of serves that even Long Beach could not pass consistently.
Pepp should keep serving Anderson who broke down on serve receive against OSU. I also agree that the level of play between the two semifinal matches is not close. Esp. the first set of Pepp-LB, was definitely much better in all aspects than any of the sets that PSU and OSU played.
If Pepp plays the final close to their semifinal level, good luck to PSU and hope they will be able to elevate their game to match Pepp's. The set PSU lost to OSU exposed their weaknesses in terms of serve receive, service errors, non-smart hitting and digging except their libero who kept the points alive for much of the game. JD Schlep's overall excellent play was the difference-maker for Pepp. He had some amazing digs and passes that matched Del Valle's.
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beenthere
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| | Re: NCAA Finals: The matchup
« Reply #14 on May 2, 2008, 10:17pm » | |
May 2, 2008, 11:57am, matt4pres wrote:
May 2, 2008, 10:56am, nomas wrote:So we are down to 2 teams. Let's look at the match up for this saturday:
Setter- Edge: Pepperdine
It's a tough call here, both are All-Americans and run very effecient offenses. PSU is 1st in the Country hitting .398 while Pepp trails them at 4th with .316. Both teams offenses sizzled last night in the semis as well. Murray currently is 2nd in the Nation in assits with Winder sitting in the 6th place.
But Winder holds the edge defensively with about 70 more digs and 11 more blocks (closer than one might think). Winder also has the more lethal serve owning 10 more aces.
Very close but with the height difference and already with a championship win I give the nod to the QB for Pepp.
OH- Edge: PSU
Obviously the big story here is Matt Anderson and at 6'10" with POY credentials he is a force to be reckoned with. His 538 kills are good for 2nd in the Nation per game. Plus he hits for a very high percentage (.394). His counterpart, Jay Stauffer, however only claims 65 kills (.175). But even with such low numbers they combined have more kills then Pepp's Schleppenbach and Riecks (610 total).
Although JD played unreal in the semis I still give the edge to Penn. But if the OHs for Pepp can keep it up they could turn the tide in this match.
Opp- Edge: Pepperdine
A no brainer here really. Yes Sweitzer has very nice numbers 321 kills, .303 hitting %, 35 aces, 90 digs, 71 blocks. But Paul Carroll is the no. 1 point scorer in college volleyball. And he is the reason the waves are contending. Without him they obviously were a much different team. In nearly 20 less games his numbers are great 462 kills, .401 %, 37 Aces, 97 digs, and 66 Blocks.
Middle- Edge: PSU
Again a fairly obvious advantage. Both Holt and Lipsitz earned All- American nods this season. They hit 1 and 3 in the country in hitting % (.555 and .499 respectively) Combined for 541 kills and Holts 121 blocks have him at 13th in D1.
Pepp's Middles (Hulse and Jaynes) don't take a lot of swings with just over 160 kills combined! But they do block well. And Hulse's 144 blocks are good enough for 6th place.
Libero- Edge: PSU
Del Valle is PSU's 5th All American and he showed some flashes of greatness last night. His 248 digs are good for 8th in NCAA. Well Grubbs was not as impressive, he made some key plays for Pepp (including a clutch cover that turned into a turning point vs LB).
Bench - Edge: Pepp
While neither team uses their bench very much. Matt McKee did get a good amount of PT during Carroll's absence. And he may be looked to come in if Riecks struggles.
Coach- Edge: Pepp
Marv Dunphy in his 24th year of a Hall of Fame coaching career gets the edge. He has won it all in the past and has some good asst in place. Scott Wong is in his 3rd year with the waves and it seems like Rod Wilde (former Badgers coach) has bolstered the staff as a late addition.
Pavlik in his 14th year is still searching for his first title as a coach and his assts. are fairly young (Dyer in his second seasons with PSU and McMillan in his inaugral year)
Outcome: Pepp in 5
Although 5 All Americans is very impressive I still think PSU will struggle with the hot Waves. Pepperdines middles could very well be the key to propel them to another title. What we do know is there will be plenty of swings for Carroll and Anderson the 1 and 2 point scores this season! Good luck to all. And hope the best team wins. |
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You know, you do not have very much credibility when you say that you would slightly give the edge in setting to Pepperdine. It is clear that you read statistics and nothing else. Are crazy!!! Winder is way better than then PSU setter. The only thing that the PSU setter is better than winder in, is being short.
P.S. It is really easy to get good stats when you are playing against George Mason and the weak east coast teams. |
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You talk about credibility, certain West Coast teams had a chance against PSU and failed. George Mason was the only school who defeated them and it's to bad that PEPP is playing in the finals against PSU because both schools are well respected and have classy volleyball programs.
Height as a setter is a plus but also knowing your players, your opposition and playing good transition ball is more important and I don't think height is one of those requirements. This tournament has to expand to 6 or 8 teams so that more East and Midwest schools can finally show what they have on the national stage.
Even though I like Marv and PEPP, I think PSU is going to crush them in 4 games.
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