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Post by eastcoastbias on Sept 11, 2007 23:18:14 GMT -5
I have a very hard time seeing either team take down the Women of Troy. I'd give OSU the best chance, noting much against Purdue, just I think they still need to grow (experience and chemistry-wise, not stature, they're huge already.) But The OSU will have what some see as an overrated #4 on their floor with thier very own fans, sleeping in their very own beds, and so on. Either way, I look for a lot of great volleyball in Columbus this weekend.
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Post by mango on Sept 11, 2007 23:24:46 GMT -5
USC over OSU 20, 22, 26
USC over Purdue 21, 23, 18
I consulted my magical eight ball.
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Post by jgrout on Sept 11, 2007 23:46:13 GMT -5
I remember a few years ago #1USC came into Huff with a 56 match winning streak. It was supposed to be 3-0 USC. Needless to say it didn't turn out that way. That's why you play the games. Since the Women of Troy weren't even close to their 2003 NCAA champion form in the 2004 pre-season, that's hardly relevant. How about PSU over Stanford in five? I was at Burnham for that match and watched Stanford gag away Game 1 to the Nittany Lions, blowing something like five game points. The moral of the story... the teams that blew those pre-season matches were in the Final Four and the teams they lost to were not.
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Post by crazyvbfan on Sept 12, 2007 0:00:35 GMT -5
I really like the Pac 10 / Big 10 match ups....what would happen if the bottom dwellers from each league played each other ? i think this would be more interesting
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Post by bucky415 on Sept 12, 2007 0:30:46 GMT -5
Although I think they probably will win both matches this weekend, I don't think the Women of Troy are as scary of a matchup as Nebraska, Stanford, or Penn State this season. The problem is that Ohio State and Purdue aren't where they would like to be at this point either, so they probably won't be able to beat USC.
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Post by Ye Olde Dawg on Sept 12, 2007 2:20:33 GMT -5
I really like the Pac-10 - Big Ten meeting, and I think it should be what this one was designed as: pick two teams from the upper middle range in each conference and let them play. Last year three of the teams were in the Sweet 16; if this matchup had occurred last year, the teams would have been pretty well matched.
The trouble is, OSU and Purdue are struggling this preseason, while USC is in good form and Oregon seems to be improving over last year. If Pablo is to be believed (which is always a question only three weeks into the season), the Big Ten teams are over-matched; they'll have trouble getting a win, even on OSU's home court.
But even if the matchups aren't perfect, it's still a match between teams in two strong conferences that frankly don't play each other enough. And I want to see how these matches come out.
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Post by The Bofa on the Sofa on Sept 12, 2007 8:02:14 GMT -5
There is talk of trying to set up a "Big Ten/Pac Ten Challenge" series, kind of like the Big Ten/ACC challenge in basketball. However, it takes coordination, and has to be handled at the conference level, as opposed to individual teams taking the initiative like was done here.
However, I agree, good for Stone and staff for setting this up, and special thanks to the Pac Ten teams for agreeing to come. It's good for the sport.
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Post by sweetspot on Sept 12, 2007 12:59:18 GMT -5
How is Oregon beating everyone so badly this year. They have not lost a game this year. It think they are something like 30-0 in games. That is pretty incredible. Can Oregon crack the top 4 in the PAC 10 this year?
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Post by bucky415 on Sept 12, 2007 13:06:27 GMT -5
I just hope that Nike doesn't make ugly volleyball uniforms for the Ducks to match the football ones. Did you see the ones they used at Michigan on saturday? Gray letters for the names on the back, so you can't read them. Kind of defeats the purpose, no?
I doubt the Big Ten will be working on getting a challenge going. They are probably spending all their resources on trying to stave off the loss of a ton of money on the Albatross TV network. It serves them right.
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Post by jgrout on Sept 12, 2007 13:10:58 GMT -5
How is Oregon beating everyone so badly this year. They have not lost a game this year. It think they are something like 30-0 in games. That is pretty incredible. Can Oregon crack the top 4 in the PAC 10 this year? Oregon needed to carbo-load their pre-season to survive the Pac-10 marathon (and make the NCAA tournament) with no more than a few decent home wins against the middle of the Pac-10. So far, so good...
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Post by BearClause on Sept 12, 2007 13:18:22 GMT -5
How is Oregon beating everyone so badly this year. They have not lost a game this year. It think they are something like 30-0 in games. That is pretty incredible. Can Oregon crack the top 4 in the PAC 10 this year? I don't believe so. They haven't played any top 25 competition, or even any teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season. That's not to say they couldn't beat some of those upper-tier Pac-10 teams, but I don't think they could do so regularly. They shocked Cal last season, but that was an incredibly putrid showing by the Bears.
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Post by BearClause on Sept 12, 2007 13:22:26 GMT -5
I just hope that Nike doesn't make ugly volleyball uniforms for the Ducks to match the football ones. Did you see the ones they used at Michigan on saturday? Gray letters for the names on the back, so you can't read them. Kind of defeats the purpose, no? Solid color long sleeves. Oregon football uniforms are hideous with their fake "steel plate" motif. I guess that's what Phil Knight likes.
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Post by Ye Olde Dawg on Sept 12, 2007 13:29:11 GMT -5
How is Oregon beating everyone so badly this year. They have not lost a game this year. It think they are something like 30-0 in games. That is pretty incredible. Can Oregon crack the top 4 in the PAC 10 this year? Oregon needed to carbo-load their pre-season to survive the Pac-10 marathon (and make the NCAA tournament) with no more than a few decent home wins against the middle of the Pac-10. So far, so good... Either that or they're using UW's theory of preseason scheduling: lots of teams that... uh... allow you to work on things on your side of the net. Yeah, that's it. Oregon did sweep Baylor and Kansas. OSU and Purdue may be their toughest opponents yet. If they can sweep this tournament as well, then yes, they might be in the top half of the Pac-10.
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Post by BearClause on Sept 12, 2007 13:41:14 GMT -5
Oregon needed to carbo-load their pre-season to survive the Pac-10 marathon (and make the NCAA tournament) with no more than a few decent home wins against the middle of the Pac-10. So far, so good... Either that or they're using UW's theory of preseason scheduling: lots of teams that... uh... allow you to work on things on your side of the net. Yeah, that's it. Oregon did sweep Baylor and Kansas. OSU and Purdue may be their toughest opponents yet. If they can sweep this tournament as well, then yes, they might be in the top half of the Pac-10. With all due respect to the Baylor fans out there, they're a pretender this season. Kansas came off a losing season last year. I'm not saying Oregon doesn't have the potential to be tough, but I don't think that schedule was much of a challenge.
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Post by hammer on Sept 12, 2007 14:28:32 GMT -5
How is Oregon beating everyone so badly this year. They have not lost a game this year. It think they are something like 30-0 in games. That is pretty incredible. Can Oregon crack the top 4 in the PAC 10 this year? Is the Pope Polish?
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