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Post by sportsdude on Sept 21, 2010 16:16:28 GMT -5
Looks like Marshall finally has it together! They had two nice (upset) wins this weekend and look ready to go!
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Post by wearem2010 on Sept 21, 2010 20:34:17 GMT -5
Rice beats Houston 3-0 (25 - 23, 21, 20).
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Post by pancake83 on Sept 22, 2010 0:16:39 GMT -5
anyone else intrigued by the 'new' conference scheduling from CUSA this year? back to back matches against the same opponent right off the bat for each school - I guess it saves them some $, but very odd to me...
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Post by karellen on Sept 22, 2010 8:41:55 GMT -5
Conference eliminated conference tournament and went to a (nearly) double round-robin format. Conference schedule is now 20 matches (true double round-robin would be 22). Automatic bid to NCAAs goes to regular season champ.
Move was made for a couple of reasons --1) Financial - a couple of weekends of traveling to one city and not travelling to conference tournament helps. 2) Competitive balance - west side of league has been considerably stronger over the last several years. West side has been playing each other twice and beating each other up while east side only had to come over for one match against each west side school. No offense to So. Miss and their championship last year, but they got Tulsa, Rice, SMU and Houston only once and at home. Do they sweep those 4 teams on the road?? 3) I have been told by a coach or two in the league that this was dome to mimic the other major conferneces who do not have tournaments. The league is trying to up their profile and felt as though a confernece hurt the top teams from an RPI and selestion standpoint.
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Post by wearem2010 on Sept 22, 2010 16:45:48 GMT -5
Karellen. Do you think that this move will help more C-USA teams make the NCAA tournament? How many teams do you think will make it this year? I'm thinking two possibly three.
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Post by karellen on Sept 23, 2010 8:30:50 GMT -5
Again, the coach I talked said the hope is this will help come selection time. The thinking is that some deserving teams in the past have not gotten in. For example - Tulsa gets hot and wins tournament in 2007 after finishing 4th in the league and they were only team to get in tournament. Tulane that year was #1 in the region, had an RPI of about 33, but lost in the semi-finals. Last year Tulsa was playing very well, beats Tulane twice (including semi-final of tournament) and Rice twice in the last 3 or 4 weeks of the season. Tulsa loses the championship to Rice and Tulane gets the at-large bid.
The thinking is that the tournament hurts because of those types of loses as well as creates RPI issues because the top team in the league gets no benefit from beating the #10 team in the early rounds.
Time will tell if they are right. Personally, I am a fan of conference tournaments, but I understand that coach's, and league's, logic.
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Post by wearem2010 on Sept 23, 2010 19:37:03 GMT -5
Marshall beats UCF 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 26-24).
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Post by vbfanvbfan on Sept 23, 2010 19:44:46 GMT -5
Not surprised. Also, I would not be surprised if UCF will be looking for a new coach after this season.
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Post by karellen on Sept 24, 2010 7:26:05 GMT -5
players not playing could have something to do with team "punishment" perhaps. Weaker hitter could be for better ball control in an effort to help the offense. Second setter could be your opinion and his is different.
Is it safe to assume you are talking about UCF?
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Post by wearem2010 on Sept 24, 2010 9:55:50 GMT -5
Don't know much about this team, but I follow the conference closely. Did a little research and I have 3 questions: Why does coach not play the number one player for hitting percentage in the Conference? Why does coach continue to use the second setter when he has a proven setter? Why does coach continue to play hitter with a consistent negative hitting percentage? I'm no coach, but I would love it if someone could shed some light. I listened to the coach's video and now it seems they have had the lead up to 20 points in 10 of the last 12 sets that they lost! What is going on here? Why not just play your 7 best players? preseason's over. For not knowing much about the team, you sure do know a lot about the team.
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Post by sportsdude on Sept 24, 2010 10:00:30 GMT -5
Actually all I know is stats......for every player in C-USA actually. I know I need to get a life...lol
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Post by endlesssummer on Sept 24, 2010 10:34:57 GMT -5
Why does coach continue to use the second setter when he has a proven setter? UCF does primarily play their starting setter, Rachel Vukson (transfer from Tulsa). Is your question, why does back-up setter Marie Reiterova gets any playing time?
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Post by noreaster on Sept 24, 2010 10:44:45 GMT -5
Not surprised. Also, I would not be surprised if UCF will be looking for a new coach after this season. UCF let the previous coach wither on the vine for years. You think not resurrecting a program from the dead in 3 seasons is some sort of indictment of his coaching ability? They get their setter from JJVA in January. They have 13 underclassman, 2 juniors and no seniors, and nearly everybody is playing right now. With the exception of Chattanooga, they've beaten everybody they are supposed to beat, and with two more sideouts in game 3, they'd have beaten UTC in a rout. You hate to say its not about this season, but with a team this young, playing that many players, I can't imagine this season is about this season for UCF.
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Post by vbfanvbfan on Sept 24, 2010 11:03:30 GMT -5
I think UCF have capacity to develop into top 50 programs in Nation... They had 2 bad years with new coach, and having third one like that would be deadly for UCF coach. I think he knows that and that is why he scheduled "nobody" in pre-season. And he still lost 4 matches I think. Due respect to Chattanooga, Jacksonville State and Belmont, but you need to beat those teams. Also, friend who is in coaching told me that Vukson transfer to UCF just showed to all coaches in conference what kind of person is UCF coach.
Anyway, I believe it will be couple of coaching changes after this season in C-USA, and Todd should be one of those...
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Post by coach10 on Sept 24, 2010 11:21:54 GMT -5
I personally assisted Rachel Vukson with her transfer and know firsthand that there were three coaches in the conference who wanted to recruit her. This is not a negative reflection on Todd Dagenais.
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