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Post by Gorf on May 15, 2007 18:54:26 GMT -5
Oh, one other thing. This coming year reminds me a bit of 2001. Nebraska and Long Beach were in the talks of being the best teams ever. LBSU with Weaver and Haneef. Nebraska coming off a national championship being back Metcalf and thought to take it again. This year, Nebraska coming off a NC and bringing back Houghtelling. Well, what happened? Logan was in her junior year with a super frosh coming in (Nnamani). They took over and swept both teams. Not saying it will happen again, but just reminds me of 2001 with Barboza being a junior and Klineman coming in. Though this year, we also have Foluke, Kehoe, Waller, and Ailes. I like our chances. Robin Lewis' return from injuries late in the regular season then outplaying the "all everything" setters from the other 3 teams at the 2001 Final Four was a critical / integral part of the Cardinal winning that champioinship. That combined with Logan Tom's amazing hitter coverage were the things of the 2001 Final Four that stood out the most to me - with Brian Gimmillaro's seeming "refusal" to make adjustments coming in relatively close to the other two. |
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Post by SakiBomb25 on May 15, 2007 20:21:14 GMT -5
The only thing I am saying about the Richards/Klineman debate is that freshman have a tendency to be inconistent on the big stage when the pressure is on. Kerri Walsh did not crack under pressure back in 1996; neither did Ogonna Nnamani in 2001 or the trio of Barbara Ifejika, Kristin Folkl, and Lisa Sharpley in 1994. I have never seen Klineman play, but from what I have heard, something tells me that she won't fall apart in the face of pressure either. I would say that the 1996 Stanford Cardinal was the best NCAA team. They had deadly offense, great passing, and awesome defense on all fronts. I think that Eileen Murphy was a bit better than Paula McNamee, not to mention a fully healthy, jump-serving Kerri Walsh, and thus the 1996 gets the nod. Nebraska will be scary, no doubt about - but I think their offense is more potent than their defense and they will go as far as their defense takes them. Nebraska, Stanford, Penn State, and Texas are my front-runners for the Final Four. |
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Post by holidayhusker on May 15, 2007 20:41:13 GMT -5
Barboza was a disaster in the two matches she played against Nebraska. Kind of harsh, no? I'd go with unBarboza-like. She was far from a disaster. Even when she's off, she's pretty damned good. In short, mediocre would be an awful day for her. Sorry...Key is right. Pavan has managed to get into Barboza's head in the last two match-ups they have played. Barboza, after being blocked could not get back on track. Intimidation. |
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Post by holidayhusker on May 15, 2007 20:45:01 GMT -5
Barboza was a disaster in the two matches she played against Nebraska. Kind of harsh, no? I'd go with unBarboza-like. She was far from a disaster. Even when she's off, she's pretty damned good. In short, mediocre would be an awful day for her. In both those matches didn't Barboza hit under .100. I would call that even worse than mediocre. |
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Post by mervynpumpkinhead on May 15, 2007 21:16:21 GMT -5
Kind of harsh, no? I'd go with unBarboza-like. She was far from a disaster. Even when she's off, she's pretty damned good. In short, mediocre would be an awful day for her. Sorry...Key is right. Pavan has managed to get into Barboza's head in the last two match-ups they have played. Barboza, after being blocked could not get back on track. Intimidation. I only saw Barboza v. Nebraska in the Final Four. I thought Kehoe did not do a very good job of putting the ball where Barboza could do something with it. I thought a lot of the sets were too far off. |
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Post by holidayhusker on May 15, 2007 21:24:54 GMT -5
Possibly. Were Kehoe's sets that poor in both matches?
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Post by mervynpumpkinhead on May 15, 2007 21:41:30 GMT -5
Like I said, only saw the finals.
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Post by Keystonekid on May 16, 2007 11:21:42 GMT -5
Not really harsh, she was a disaster. Also, you can go back to no less than ten posts where I have sung the praises of CB. She is one of the best 3-4 players in the country. However she had disastrous matches against Nebraska. I think she would admit that.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2007 11:26:55 GMT -5
Kind of harsh, no? I'd go with unBarboza-like. She was far from a disaster. Even when she's off, she's pretty damned good. In short, mediocre would be an awful day for her. In both those matches didn't Barboza hit under .100. I would call that even worse than mediocre. For who? And since when does hitting percentage = the complete story on how a player performed? |
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2007 11:30:18 GMT -5
Not really harsh, she was a disaster. Also, you can go back to no less than ten posts where I have sung the praises of CB. She is one of the best 3-4 players in the country. However she had disastrous matches against Nebraska. I think she would admit that. Again, way too harsh. Nebraska focused on shutting her down -- so much so that Waller and Richards were having, statistically, fantastic matches. You can't call CB a disaster without recognizing everything involved in that match. I don't need to check prior posts. I never accused you of ragging on Barboza's talents. |
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Post by Keystonekid on May 16, 2007 11:56:52 GMT -5
She underperformed, did not have anywhere near the type of match the Cardianl needed her to have.
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Post by Gorf on May 16, 2007 12:10:54 GMT -5
The only thing I am saying about the Richards/Klineman debate is that freshman have a tendency to be inconistent on the big stage when the pressure is on. Kerri Walsh did not crack under pressure back in 1996; neither did Ogonna Nnamani in 2001 or the trio of Barbara Ifejika, Kristin Folkl, and Lisa Sharpley in 1994. I have never seen Klineman play, but from what I have heard, something tells me that she won't fall apart in the face of pressure either. I would say that the 1996 Stanford Cardinal was the best NCAA team. They had deadly offense, great passing, and awesome defense on all fronts. I think that Eileen Murphy was a bit better than Paula McNamee, not to mention a fully healthy, jump-serving Kerri Walsh, and thus the 1996 gets the nod. Nebraska will be scary, no doubt about - but I think their offense is more potent than their defense and they will go as far as their defense takes them. Nebraska, Stanford, Penn State, and Texas are my front-runners for the Final Four. Nebraska's defense wasn't as good as their offense last year either - until the Gophers forced them to play their best defense of the season in the regional finals. The Huskers pretty much maintained the level of defense at the Final Four - especially when their "backs were against the wall" at times like they were in the regional final match. |
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Post by bigfan on May 16, 2007 12:24:45 GMT -5
Nebraska is in the conversation as one of the alltime great teams.
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Post by brybry2 on May 16, 2007 12:52:23 GMT -5
This Pavan-lead Huskers squad is definitely in contention to be one of the best NCAA teams of all time. However, they would have to win this year IMO. They were favored to win both in 2004 and 2005, but suffered heartbreaking losses - that's a big blemish on their status. Some of the all-time great teams like LBSU 98 and USC 2002/3 came through in the clutch and they faced incredibly strong competition.
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Post by OverAndUnder on May 16, 2007 14:30:33 GMT -5
In both those matches didn't Barboza hit under .100. I would call that even worse than mediocre. For who? And since when does hitting percentage = the complete story on how a player performed? True. For example, if Barboza's offensive performance against Nebraska was a "disaster", then Larson's offensive performance against UCLA in the semis was "Chernobyl". Yet, Nebraska would not have advanced over UCLA without Larson's 25 digs in that match. Similarly, as good as Foluke is, Stanford would not have scraped out a razor-thin victory over Texas in the Regional Final if it weren't for Barboza's blocking the slide - 4 solos, 3 assists - and her jump serving which she used to take Texas out of system at crucial points as well as racking up an ace on each of Texas' best passers (Engle, Acevedo, Jennings, Kisner). |
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