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Post by sweetspot on Oct 20, 2007 22:43:20 GMT -5
College Boy needs to go to class. He was way off on Minnesota sweeping on the road. Anybody who know anything about volleyball would have known that the Gophers are struggling big time and Northwestern and Michigan State are playing for their tournament lives. To top that off... Ohio State winning at Wisconsin. You must have been doing a little too much partying on Thursday night. I will give the boy who goes to college props for picking the correct winners of the Michigan/IU and MIchigan Purdue.
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Post by tacotico on Oct 21, 2007 0:10:08 GMT -5
I have seen every Illinois match this year at Huff Hall as well as road trips to Michigan State and Northwestern. I believe the Big Ten is stronger than a year ago. Minnesota and Ohio State are not as good as a year ago. Penn State is better. Wisconsin is playing as well as any team since Livingston last blocked a ball, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, and Illinois are all better. Northwestern must be OK, they just smoked Minnesota. Iowa has everybody from a year ago, plus a couple of good freshmen. Overall, the league is better, I think the four-game slump of Minnesota has Ruffda thinking a little negatively. Keep in mind that Northwestern, who was pretty darn good a year ago, returned all but one front-liner and picked up 2-3 upper tier freshmen who are playing. I am eager to see if the middle of the pack continues to close the gap on the two-headed monster in the second half of the league season.
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Post by Gorf on Oct 21, 2007 3:44:11 GMT -5
Minor pet peve time: It would be much easier to deal with a 4 game slump that a 4 match slump.  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2007 4:40:39 GMT -5
Even easier if it wasn't a FIVE-match slump.
But I don't think that's influencing me so much. I feel like the top teams, other than PSU and Wisconsin THIS year, are falling to the level of the bottom teams more than the bottom teams are rising. Obviously, it's a combo platter, but I feel it's much more of the former.
Where you really see this is in inter-conference play. Conference play isn't going to tell us much about the relative strength of the Big10.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2007 4:43:18 GMT -5
I'll tell you what, however. I'd feel a lot better if someone could convince me that the Big10 _is_ much, much better than in past years.
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Post by The Bofa on the Sofa on Oct 21, 2007 8:19:18 GMT -5
Even easier if it wasn't a FIVE-match slump. But I don't think that's influencing me so much. I feel like the top teams, other than PSU and Wisconsin THIS year, are falling to the level of the bottom teams more than the bottom teams are rising. Obviously, it's a combo platter, but I feel it's much more of the former. . Not as much as you think. All indications are that the bottom of the Big Ten is higher than it has been in the past. The bottom teams are not in the 110 - 120 range like they always have been before, and are more like 70 - 80. True, the 3 - 5 teams aren't to their usual levels, however. But the bottom is certainly up. The only also-ran is Iowa, and they have the ability to shake things up a lot, and aren't near as bad as they have been in years past. |
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Post by runninrebel44 on Oct 21, 2007 9:35:08 GMT -5
I think this is the first year that the league is actually up. In recent years, we hoped it was, but couldn't tell with all of the inner-conference play. I think this is the first year where that is actually true. With all the parity, it may seem hard to tell, but the league is definitely up this year. You tell me a time when teams were actually a little afraid to travel to Bloomington. When was the last time you had teams taking the top dog to five? How about the "middle of the league" plausibly including eight teams? The league is up. None of the teams Minnesota just lost to are bad teams.The only truly bad loss in the conference is Iowa, and even they may be one of the better dead last teams in a while. Should shape up the second half of the season pretty well.
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Post by BoilerUp! on Oct 21, 2007 11:25:42 GMT -5
Out of all the teams that have (had) injuries, I think Iowa is suffering the most. They started out the year well. I really think the big ten is getting lots of talent, and there is real parity except for Penn State.
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Post by redrooster on Oct 21, 2007 23:11:23 GMT -5
I really wonder about Iowa. In spite of their clainms, they have not gotten the best Iowa players, with the exception of Becky Walters, whose career may be in doubt, unfortunately. They have had a short roster for years, and everyone who could use a redshirt year is forced to play. They are still not getting the best Iowa players. Watched UNI and Creighton play this weekend, and having watched Bys play for Drake, it's clear that lots of other Iowa girls that could be playing for UI are playing or on the bench for these "lesser" teams. Everyone else in the Big 10 seem to be improving faster than Iowa--why can't this program turn around?
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Post by smiley on Oct 21, 2007 23:33:37 GMT -5
The first thing they need to do is get out of Carver. It's a great BB arena but an AWFUL place for VB. A recruit coming into this large arena and see a small crowd look even smaller with all the empty space. Surely somewhere on the Iowa campus there's a more VB friendly facility.
Then get a coach who can recruit. And get some good asisistant's.
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Post by vbally on Oct 23, 2007 14:44:23 GMT -5
Iowa is working very hard and the program is in good shape. It takes a while to get it going and it's a tough conference.
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Post by The Bofa on the Sofa on Oct 23, 2007 14:57:34 GMT -5
Iowa is working very hard and the program is in good shape. It takes a while to get it going and it's a tough conference. How long has the new coach been at Indiana? The year before Shondell got to Purdue, they were 2 - 18 in the conference and 12 -21 overall. They went 7-13 in the conference in his first year, and made the NCAA tournament the next year. Michigan St was 10-10 last year, and 5-15 the year before. I don't remember when George arrived. Notice that Indiana and Purdue were in exactly the same position as Iowa when they go their new coaches. Both were competing with Iowa for the bottom of the conference. The program at Iowa may be progressing, but the claim that "it takes a while to get going" in the Big Ten is tough to support. |
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Post by BoilerUp! on Oct 23, 2007 17:24:00 GMT -5
I think Iowa started off the year great.
You may think you are going to have a stellar year, but players get injured.
You not only have to recruit well, you have to have depth.
Minnesota - Jones getting hurt really affected the team
Iowa - 2 star players were injured early in Big Ten play
Purdue - expecting to start Gray and Jacques had to regroup
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