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Post by cyberVBmidwest on May 8, 2009 17:07:15 GMT -5
PSU-I was pulling for you just so we wouldn't have to listen to the stupid USC band play again Saturday night. The band at a men's volleyball game-really? The band wasn't there last night (from what I could tell on TV) so will USC be flying in the band for Saturday???
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Post by memorybankrupt on May 8, 2009 17:09:44 GMT -5
I have to agree w/ many of the posters' accessment that losing Murray was a big deal. Goas is a very good setter but he is a freshman. And unfortunately for them, a few mistakes here and there, a few misconnections did mean a loss. I'm probably rubbing salt in the wounds by saying this but if you're going to annoint a freshman setter as an AA, it should have been Stork. Also I'm not sure if Anderson's return would have guaranteed Penn State a title. He likes a lot of fast in system sets. His success would have also been heavily dependant on his connection w/ the setter.
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Post by ucsdfan on May 8, 2009 17:40:12 GMT -5
wow, i haven't been called something the quality of "dirt bag" since, oh, sixth grade. Hey, I'm just grateful he managed to spell it correctly. Based on the random collection of words he's trying to pass off a sentence in most of his posts, I think we need to cheer him on in the small victories. Now as for the match, USC took a game to adjust to the court. I was hoping they wouldn't adapt so quickly, so that UCI would get to play PSU in the finals. UCI would have handled PSU even in their lethargic state. I'm just hoping that Speraw had them on cruise control last night to save some gas and surprises for Saturday. Like was pointed out in a previous post, Penn State does not look at all like last year's team in terms of confidence and a will to win. If nothing else, USC's domination of Penn State exposes the apologists that comprise the committee that selects AAs, much like 2006 when UCLA won the national championship without a single AA. There were some obvious choices in Vance, Carroll, Troy, Holt, Ammerman, and Bittner, but the remaining 14 spots and the placement of first versus second team could have been done many different ways and been about the same in terms of fairness. All I know for sure is that going 2-3 versus MPSF teams doesn't warrant five AAs.
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Post by lonewolf on May 9, 2009 14:08:35 GMT -5
PSU-I was pulling for you just so we wouldn't have to listen to the stupid USC band play again Saturday night. The band at a men's volleyball game-really? The band wasn't there last night (from what I could tell on TV) so will USC be flying in the band for Saturday??? I couldn't see them either, but I did hear what sounded like them playing from the times I've been near them at the women's finals
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Post by swingaway on May 9, 2009 16:20:55 GMT -5
PSU-I was pulling for you just so we wouldn't have to listen to the stupid USC band play again Saturday night. The band at a men's volleyball game-really? The band wasn't there last night (from what I could tell on TV) so will USC be flying in the band for Saturday??? The band was there and I'm sure will be again tonight. The events manager made them take down their USC banner though. Might not be the best facility but they are doing a great job of hosting. Been some good volleyball so far.
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Post by rookiefan on May 12, 2009 23:34:33 GMT -5
I have read the different comments on the PSU - USC game. USC had a great game but in my opinion USC didn't win PSU lost. People please look at the stats. They will give you an objective view of what happened. Sweitzer was nowhere in Provo. He stayed in State College. Only 7 kills, no blocks and he led PSU in kills for the season. Del Valle had an off game. In regards to Goas look at the stats. In losing PSU in four sets he had 60 assists compared to 62 of McGibben, 7 points compared to 5 of Riley and more blocks the Riley and PSU hitting percentage was .402, better than their annual average. He is and will be an All American. Just watch. He still has 3 more years. After the first set which the Nittany Lions won, PSU did not block. Also possibly due to the altitude PSU serving did not respond. My last comment, PSU coaching was not effective in a game where there is no tomorrow. If you have Sweitzer in an off game, bench him, put Will Price as an Opposite and bring in Jay Stauffer which has experience, a good serve, excellent passing and controls the game. PSU did not coach with options. In a Final Four you have to have options. Look at what John Speraw did with his middle blockers against USC. That is coaching!
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Post by ucsdfan on May 13, 2009 0:42:50 GMT -5
...in my opinion USC didn't win PSU lost. Also possibly due to the altitude PSU serving did not respond. If I'm not mistaken, both teams were serving from the same altitude. USC was hot at the time and the only thing that was going to stop them was the best team in the nation, UCI. PSU is not as good of a team as USC, which is why they lost. It wasn't about substitutions or altitude or anything else. It was simply a less talented team losing to a mroe talented team. Pavlik is a better coach than Ferguson by a significant margin, so you can't pull the mis-coached theory. Sometimes you just have to accept that your team is not as good as their opponent. PSU did not deserve five All Americans by any stretch of the imagination, but the committee is a bunch of apologists trying to appease the East Coast teams. So be happy with the individual awards and feel good that you were the sixth best team in the nation.
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Post by rookiefan on May 13, 2009 9:08:56 GMT -5
Mr UCSDfan. First of all let me clarify. I'm not a PSU fan, I'm a Volleyball fan. My respects in regards to your comments on the altitude. It affects both teams, you are correct.
In regards to talent and the All American issue, I disagree. The stats are there. The All Americans were selected by a representative of each of the conferences and a NCAA rep. If you're not happy with the selections, write them not me.
In regards to coaching this year, the best coach was John Speraw. I'm not saying that Pavlik is a bad coach. He was the Coach of the Year last year. What I'm saying is that he had options and did not use them and decided to use the strategy that had brought him there. PSU beat USC in the first game of the season. In that game Troy was playing as an outside hitter. During the season they changed him to opposite and look at the results.
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Post by volleyballer4life on May 13, 2009 12:01:17 GMT -5
Mr UCSDfan. First of all let me clarify. I'm not a PSU fan, I'm a Volleyball fan. My respects in regards to your comments on the altitude. It affects both teams, you are correct. In regards to talent and the All American issue, I disagree. The stats are there. The All Americans were selected by a representative of each of the conferences and a NCAA rep. If you're not happy with the selections, write them not me. In regards to coaching this year, the best coach was John Speraw. I'm not saying that Pavlik is a bad coach. He was the Coach of the Year last year. What I'm saying is that he had options and did not use them and decided to use the strategy that had brought him there. PSU beat USC in the first game of the season. In that game Troy was playing as an outside hitter. During the season they changed him to opposite and look at the results. I don't believe that UCSD is complaining about the selections - he's simply saying it's a bit misleading when showing how "talented" PSU is. Statistics don't tell the whole story, and before you cry bias, I actually would put PSU as one of my favorite teams. The All-American award is an INDIVIDUAL award, picked by a committee who, although reputable, are using those statistics to make their opinionated decisions on who should be All-Americans. As someone who saw quite a few Penn State games this season, I would agree with UCSD's assessment, 5 was a bit much IN MY OPINION. Even if you don't want to believe that, the bottom line is this game relies so much on chemistry, the team with more individual talent may not be better than a team that gels together more efficiently. When I saw PSU play Long Beach, they clearly had more firepower and individual talent, but Long Beach clearly had a better system and ended up taking it in 5. Watching the last few games - Did PSU have more decorated players than USC? This is not arguable, of course. However, USC had been on fire, and they seemed to be more balanced in their gameplan than PSU, who as someone mentioned earlier, had their leading attacker only muster up 7 kills for the match... Just my thoughts on it. I beleive that this year as a whole for Penn State was a transition year whether they liked to admit it or not... going from a senior leader in Murray to a first-year starter in Goas, replacing the co-Player of the Year with a first-year former opposite moving to outside... the fact that they played as well as they did was commendable. They'll be hurting losing Sweitzer and Holt, but hopefully the growth of the other players will help them make another strong run next year.
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Post by ucsdfan on May 13, 2009 13:12:26 GMT -5
Just my thoughts on it. I beleive that this year as a whole for Penn State was a transition year whether they liked to admit it or not... going from a senior leader in Murray to a first-year starter in Goas, replacing the co-Player of the Year with a first-year former opposite moving to outside... the fact that they played as well as they did was commendable. They'll be hurting losing Sweitzer and Holt, but hopefully the growth of the other players will help them make another strong run next year. That's it right there. The biggest difference I saw comes back to Murray. He knew his hitters inside and out. He set a smart game and took advantage of having stud MBs and Anderson in the backrow half the time. He ran bics to perfection. Murray was underrated in terms of how important he was to the success of that team. Taking nothing away from Matt Anderson who will be one of the best players in the world not too long from now, Murray was the difference maker. Lipsitz, Saunders, and Stauffer (sp?) benefited greatly from Murray's court sense and ability to play the fast game. Adjusting to Goas maybe wasn't recognized as a problem, because their schedule was such that they weren't challenged that often. But in games where they played top ten teams, Goas didn't look good (granted, I'm basing it off of two games on the road against MPSF teams). Holt is a talented player who adjusted well this year. But the rest of the chemistry just wasn't right. Replacing Holt will be hard to do. Next year may also prove to be a bit of a transition year, although not as rough as this year.
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Post by ciscokeed on May 14, 2009 8:56:31 GMT -5
The statistics of the Penn State team are skewed by the level of competition- as are the MPS teams. You can amass huge stats against less talented opponents, and your hitting percentage and kills per game will drop against better teams...Difficult for committees to make choices, but stats don't always tell the story.
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