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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2012 10:21:42 GMT -5
I'll tell you what PSU (and Lincoln) has: 20+ years of elite volleyball, a college town, a football team (well ...) and no pro sports dominating the news.
Mike made inroads, but Minnesota is at a disadvantage. Minnesota needs great athletes in state, maybe an international player or two, and to at least occasionally get a national top recruit to come here.
Success does breed success, but it's a slooooooow process. It doesn't help when the current head coach loses at least two years of recruiting, or, as I mentioned in the Oregon thread, when you are one of the top three choices for #1 recruits, you hold off offering to anyone else, and then you end up not getting that player.
The drop from Sarah Pavan to Dee Jackson (bless her) is head-spinning.
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Post by alpacaone on Dec 18, 2012 10:22:44 GMT -5
No doubt Wilhite et al. all had "oh no" feelings during the third set Elite8 match as they relized how competitive earning playing time will be.
I have no doubt Hugh knows where he would like to improve. I would be surprised if he picked up a player that he or his staff doesn't already have a strong connection to ie Hauer, Knudsen, White...
With the sport growing no doubt it will be harder and harder for the old guards to maintain dominance. Those most pushing the propaganda of dominance worry about this the most.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2012 10:25:33 GMT -5
I'd like to think so, but then you look at the players riding the bench at PSU, Texas, Stanford, USC, Nebraska, etc. and you wonder if they got that memo.
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Post by alpacaone on Dec 18, 2012 10:28:19 GMT -5
I didn't see the depth that keeps coming up for PSU Thursday when the AA went down.
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Post by pogoball on Dec 18, 2012 10:29:01 GMT -5
Penn State also has the added advantage of being by far the best program on the East Coast. Minnesota has other schools in its general area competing for athletes.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2012 10:30:15 GMT -5
By the way, if you think Minnesota could have gone 1-1 against the Texas team of November/December, I'm afraid your glasses are decidedly rose-tinted. You do realize that Iowa State beat Texas just a few weeks ago? If Iowa State can do it, why wouldn't Minnesota be able to? The NCAA champion is determined by one tournament. Sure, Minnesota might not be able to beat top 5 teams every week of the year, but as Michigan proved in this tournament (and was just a few points away from defeating this Texas team you think was invincible) anyone really is a national title contender once they're into the final few rounds of the tournament.
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Post by HeyHey on Dec 18, 2012 10:35:11 GMT -5
I didn't see the depth that keeps coming up for PSU Thursday when the AA went down. The depth was a setter that previously led the team to a national championship. She just hadn't had any reps this season.
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Post by Orpheus on Dec 18, 2012 10:47:45 GMT -5
By the way, if you think Minnesota could have gone 1-1 against the Texas team of November/December, I'm afraid your glasses are decidedly rose-tinted. You do realize that Iowa State beat Texas at Texas like just a few weeks ago? If Iowa State can do it, why wouldn't Minnesota be able to? The NCAA champion is determined by one tournament. Sure, Minnesota might not be able to beat top 5 teams every week of the year, but as Michigan proved in this tournament (and was just a few points away from defeating this Texas team you think was invincible) anyone really is a national title contender once they're into the final few rounds of the tournament. When the Gophers beat TX in match 1 of their 2 match series earlier this year, it was a legitimate bashing. Yes, that was a different TX team, but even the stat sheet revealed a very high standard of performance by Minnesota. The Gophers lead in every category with the exception of blocking where they pretty much tied the Longhorns. The next night, their performance dropped off considerably while the Longhorns stepped up. I'd be pretty optimistic about the future with Hugh at the helm, but I also want to agree with many of the points Ruffda's made. I also want to say Tori Dixon put on quite a show in Austin and is one of the better middles that gym has seen in recent history. She had some jaw-dropping slide attacks that stunned the entire student section into silence at times.
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Post by alpacaone on Dec 18, 2012 10:50:23 GMT -5
Where was Neb's depth; they ended the year 9-5 losing to Ohio St, Mich, Mich St, Mn, Oregon?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2012 10:50:36 GMT -5
By the way, if you think Minnesota could have gone 1-1 against the Texas team of November/December, I'm afraid your glasses are decidedly rose-tinted. You do realize that Iowa State beat Texas at Texas like just a few weeks ago? If Iowa State can do it, why wouldn't Minnesota be able to? The NCAA champion is determined by one tournament. Sure, Minnesota might not be able to beat top 5 teams every week of the year, but as Michigan proved in this tournament (and was just a few points away from defeating this Texas team you think was invincible) anyone really is a national title contender once they're into the final few rounds of the tournament. Remind me again when the last time it was that that happened? Maybe the ONLY time was 2004. Ironically it was Stanford, so that doesn't even count. Of course, there's more irony about 2004. But I won't rub that in. Can it happen? Sure. Will it (does it)? Extremely unlikely. The expression "lightning in a bottle" comes to mind, as well as something about snowballs in Hell. Hugh needs better recruits. Or else he's just hoping for chemistry/luck.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2012 10:54:49 GMT -5
Where was Nebs depth; they ended the year 9-5 losing to Ohio St, Mich, Mich St, Mn, Oregon? This is a legitimate point and something I am sure concerns Cook. Heck, I'd be willing to bet his starting 7 concerns him, in comparison to some of the other programs. The Rolfzens will probably help, but he's also back to local talent. Nebraska must wish they could snag a few of PSU, Texas, USC and Stanford's recruits.
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Post by alpacaone on Dec 18, 2012 11:36:04 GMT -5
I didn't see the depth that keeps coming up for PSU Thursday when the AA went down. The depth was a setter that previously led the team to a national championship. She just hadn't had any reps this season. I'm sorry, I thought depth means that a team has players that can fill in when they are called upon regardless?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2012 11:39:06 GMT -5
It's interesting that PSU's last two setters have been a DS/libero and a last-minute de-commit. You'd think top setters would be lining up to go there.
(I know they've had others that didn't pan out.)
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Post by chisovnik on Dec 18, 2012 13:00:20 GMT -5
Don't know if this means Robinson is heading home (likely) or to the University of Minnesota, but she is traveling North to the Midwest today. Would MN be interested in another OH? With Wittman, Santana, Willhite, and Hauer in the mix they may not see it as a need. A middle would be of interest, however. At least to me. They need someone who can play opposite.
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Post by gogophers on Dec 18, 2012 13:01:47 GMT -5
Minn has been consistently good but consistently lucky, too. The local club teams have turned out some blue chippers, and Minn has been bailed out by transfers. Maybe that luck continues next year, if rumors are to be believed.
As for getting better recruits, nobody recruits like Stanford, Texas, and PSU, and no one will in the foreseeable future. Minn, though, has been in that second tier of teams that recruit pretty well, though that's mostly because of the local recruits and the one-off success in snagging Tabi Love (at least temporarily).
But do you really need to recruit like Pennfordex to be a national contender? Sure, if you do, you are more likely to be a FF contender. But it seems like teams can go very far with 2 or 3 stars, e.g., 2011 Illinois, if they also have solid, better than average players in every position. Even this year, Minn had one of the top offenses in the country, and I wonder how good Minn would have been with a top libero in the back row, just that.
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