|
Post by Phillytom on Aug 1, 2014 9:18:55 GMT -5
I think the preseason predictions in general rely too much on the talent on paper, on lineups. By nature they tend to undervalue the je ne sais quoi.
That leads me to ask questions like:
1) The Illinois group is talented, big and experienced. But they were talented, big and experienced last year too. I think there is something hard to quantify, but I sense a brittleness with this group of seniors. They just tend to come up short. There is definitely a scenario for it gelling this year, like it gelled for the PSU seniors last year.
2) Highly likely that the expectations for Wisconsin are unrealistic. Wisconsin needs to consider what happened to Illinois in 2012. This year will be different, and, given that last year was so amazing, different is likely to mean not as good. Not that Carlini isn't for real, but last year was that special year where everything just clicked. The biggest thing that will happen this year is B1G coaches will have spent a lot more effort preparing for Wisconsin and they WILL find vulnerabilities. (For clues, all they have to do is look at Russ Rose's game plan for the NCAA finals.) Last year the B10 coaches were having to convince their teams to take Wisky seriously. This year the players will be really looking forward to playing Carlini and trying to beat her.
3) PSU -- Yes, there are parallels to 2010 -- new talented hitters and an experienced backcourt, plus Micha Hancock. But.... 2010 ended with an unusual sequence of events that gave PSU a smooth runway to the NCAA finals. Highly unlikely we see that again. Really impossible to get any read on PSU until you see the freshmen begin to play against good opposition. The ceiling is high but the likelihood is that you don't replace game-changers like Slay and McClendon with freshmen.
4) Nebraska -- probably would be my favorite to win the league. Twins just ran out of gas last year, which happens to freshmen. (PSU fans need to be remember this late in the 2014 season) But the twins are superb. When Kadie is on I don't think there is an answer for her. It's counterintuitive but I think they will be better without Robo. This year the team revolves around the twins. Setter is a steadying force. Cook is just a superb coach of young players and he has a lot of young talent to work with. This could be their year.
5) Purdue -- permit me to be a little skeptical based on last year. Late in the league season, when you're supposed to be playing your best VB, This team got swept by PSU, then lost to Ohio State and NW (NW for the 2nd time in the season!), then got swept by Illinois -- all away matches. This group has to play better away from home. They have to get tougher. They beat Nebraska two matches combined 6-1 but I think there was something fluky going on there.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2014 9:38:50 GMT -5
I think the preseason predictions in general rely too much on the talent on paper, on lineups. By nature they tend to undervalue the je ne sais quoi. That leads me to ask questions like: 1) The Illinois group is talented, big and experienced. But they were talented, big and experienced last year too. I think there is something hard to quantify, but I sense a brittleness with this group of seniors. They just tend to come up short. There is definitely a scenario for it gelling this year, like it gelled for the PSU seniors last year. 2) Highly likely that the expectations for Wisconsin are unrealistic. Wisconsin needs to consider what happened to Illinois in 2012. This year will be different, and, given that last year was so amazing, different is likely to mean not as good. Not that Carlini isn't for real, but last year was that special year where everything just clicked. The biggest thing that will happen this year is B1G coaches will have spent a lot more effort preparing for Wisconsin and they WILL find vulnerabilities. (For clues, all they have to do is look at Russ Rose's game plan for the NCAA finals.) Last year the B10 coaches were having to convince their teams to take Wisky seriously. This year the players will be really looking forward to playing Carlini and trying to beat her. 3) PSU -- Yes, there are parallels to 2010 -- new talented hitters and an experienced backcourt, plus Micha Hancock. But.... 2010 ended with an unusual sequence of events that gave PSU a smooth runway to the NCAA finals. Highly unlikely we see that again. Really impossible to get any read on PSU until you see the freshmen begin to play against good opposition. The ceiling is high but the likelihood is that you don't replace game-changers like Slay and McClendon with freshmen. 4) Nebraska -- probably would be my favorite to win the league. Twins just ran out of gas last year, which happens to freshmen. (PSU fans need to be remember this late in the 2014 season) But the twins are superb. When Kadie is on I don't think there is an answer for her. It's counterintuitive but I think they will be better without Robo. This year the team revolves around the twins. Setter is a steadying force. Cook is just a superb coach of young players and he has a lot of young talent to work with. This could be their year. 5) Purdue -- permit me to be a little skeptical based on last year. Late in the league season, when you're supposed to be playing your best VB, This team got swept by PSU, then lost to Ohio State and NW (NW for the 2nd time in the season!), then got swept by Illinois -- all away matches. This group has to play better away from home. They have to get tougher. They beat Nebraska two matches combined 6-1 but I think there was something fluky going on there. What an absolute mess.
|
|
|
Post by GrowingTheGame14 on Aug 1, 2014 10:13:10 GMT -5
I think the preseason predictions in general rely too much on the talent on paper, on lineups. By nature they tend to undervalue the je ne sais quoi. That leads me to ask questions like: 1) The Illinois group is talented, big and experienced. But they were talented, big and experienced last year too. I think there is something hard to quantify, but I sense a brittleness with this group of seniors. They just tend to come up short. There is definitely a scenario for it gelling this year, like it gelled for the PSU seniors last year. 2) Highly likely that the expectations for Wisconsin are unrealistic. Wisconsin needs to consider what happened to Illinois in 2012. This year will be different, and, given that last year was so amazing, different is likely to mean not as good. Not that Carlini isn't for real, but last year was that special year where everything just clicked. The biggest thing that will happen this year is B1G coaches will have spent a lot more effort preparing for Wisconsin and they WILL find vulnerabilities. (For clues, all they have to do is look at Russ Rose's game plan for the NCAA finals.) Last year the B10 coaches were having to convince their teams to take Wisky seriously. This year the players will be really looking forward to playing Carlini and trying to beat her. 3) PSU -- Yes, there are parallels to 2010 -- new talented hitters and an experienced backcourt, plus Micha Hancock. But.... 2010 ended with an unusual sequence of events that gave PSU a smooth runway to the NCAA finals. Highly unlikely we see that again. Really impossible to get any read on PSU until you see the freshmen begin to play against good opposition. The ceiling is high but the likelihood is that you don't replace game-changers like Slay and McClendon with freshmen. 4) Nebraska -- probably would be my favorite to win the league. Twins just ran out of gas last year, which happens to freshmen. (PSU fans need to be remember this late in the 2014 season) But the twins are superb. When Kadie is on I don't think there is an answer for her. It's counterintuitive but I think they will be better without Robo. This year the team revolves around the twins. Setter is a steadying force. Cook is just a superb coach of young players and he has a lot of young talent to work with. This could be their year. 5) Purdue -- permit me to be a little skeptical based on last year. Late in the league season, when you're supposed to be playing your best VB, This team got swept by PSU, then lost to Ohio State and NW (NW for the 2nd time in the season!), then got swept by Illinois -- all away matches. This group has to play better away from home. They have to get tougher. They beat Nebraska two matches combined 6-1 but I think there was something fluky going on there. Purdue will have either a tremendous season or a rough one. I am more looking at 2015 with that team. After Stahl and Danielle have a season under their belts in the conference I believe that will be a huge help. Though it will be tough losing both Nichol and Jones next year. I am interested to see what the freshmen class does this season and next. I believe the talent is there for a run next year with Drews, Neill, and Epenessa will be seniors, Faye will be a junior, and then Stahl and Cuttino will be sophomores. Should be an interesting two years for Shondell.
|
|
|
Post by dorothymantooth on Aug 1, 2014 10:20:09 GMT -5
I think the preseason predictions in general rely too much on the talent on paper, on lineups. By nature they tend to undervalue the je ne sais quoi. That leads me to ask questions like: 1) The Illinois group is talented, big and experienced. But they were talented, big and experienced last year too. I think there is something hard to quantify, but I sense a brittleness with this group of seniors. They just tend to come up short. There is definitely a scenario for it gelling this year, like it gelled for the PSU seniors last year. 2) Highly likely that the expectations for Wisconsin are unrealistic. Wisconsin needs to consider what happened to Illinois in 2012. This year will be different, and, given that last year was so amazing, different is likely to mean not as good. Not that Carlini isn't for real, but last year was that special year where everything just clicked. The biggest thing that will happen this year is B1G coaches will have spent a lot more effort preparing for Wisconsin and they WILL find vulnerabilities. (For clues, all they have to do is look at Russ Rose's game plan for the NCAA finals.) Last year the B10 coaches were having to convince their teams to take Wisky seriously. This year the players will be really looking forward to playing Carlini and trying to beat her. 3) PSU -- Yes, there are parallels to 2010 -- new talented hitters and an experienced backcourt, plus Micha Hancock. But.... 2010 ended with an unusual sequence of events that gave PSU a smooth runway to the NCAA finals. Highly unlikely we see that again. Really impossible to get any read on PSU until you see the freshmen begin to play against good opposition. The ceiling is high but the likelihood is that you don't replace game-changers like Slay and McClendon with freshmen. 4) Nebraska -- probably would be my favorite to win the league. Twins just ran out of gas last year, which happens to freshmen. (PSU fans need to be remember this late in the 2014 season) But the twins are superb. When Kadie is on I don't think there is an answer for her. It's counterintuitive but I think they will be better without Robo. This year the team revolves around the twins. Setter is a steadying force. Cook is just a superb coach of young players and he has a lot of young talent to work with. This could be their year. 5) Purdue -- permit me to be a little skeptical based on last year. Late in the league season, when you're supposed to be playing your best VB, This team got swept by PSU, then lost to Ohio State and NW (NW for the 2nd time in the season!), then got swept by Illinois -- all away matches. This group has to play better away from home. They have to get tougher. They beat Nebraska two matches combined 6-1 but I think there was something fluky going on there. pre-season predictions are always about talent on paper, there is nothing else to go on.
|
|
bluepenquin
Hall of Fame
4-Time VolleyTalk Poster of the Year (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk 1st Team (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016)
Posts: 12,440
|
Post by bluepenquin on Aug 2, 2014 7:20:17 GMT -5
2) Highly likely that the expectations for Wisconsin are unrealistic. Wisconsin needs to consider what happened to Illinois in 2012. This year will be different, and, given that last year was so amazing, different is likely to mean not as good. Not that Carlini isn't for real, but last year was that special year where everything just clicked. The biggest thing that will happen this year is B1G coaches will have spent a lot more effort preparing for Wisconsin and they WILL find vulnerabilities. (For clues, all they have to do is look at Russ Rose's game plan for the NCAA finals.) Last year the B10 coaches were having to convince their teams to take Wisky seriously. This year the players will be really looking forward to playing Carlini and trying to beat her. Wisconsin faced Penn State 3 times last year - and lost all three. Here are the scores from those 3 matches.
10/12: 22-25, 17-25, 21-25 11/15: 22-25, 25-27, 16-25 12/21: 19-25, 24-26, 25-20, 23-25
Three matches don't prove anything, but the score from the NCAA finals don't suggest that Rose finally discovered the key to unlocking Carlini and Wisconsin.
|
|
|
Post by spikerthemovie on Aug 2, 2014 8:04:28 GMT -5
2) Highly likely that the expectations for Wisconsin are unrealistic. Wisconsin needs to consider what happened to Illinois in 2012. This year will be different, and, given that last year was so amazing, different is likely to mean not as good. Not that Carlini isn't for real, but last year was that special year where everything just clicked. The biggest thing that will happen this year is B1G coaches will have spent a lot more effort preparing for Wisconsin and they WILL find vulnerabilities. (For clues, all they have to do is look at Russ Rose's game plan for the NCAA finals.) Last year the B10 coaches were having to convince their teams to take Wisky seriously. This year the players will be really looking forward to playing Carlini and trying to beat her. Wisconsin faced Penn State 3 times last year - and lost all three. Here are the scores from those 3 matches.
10/12: 22-25, 17-25, 21-25 11/15: 22-25, 25-27, 16-25 12/21: 19-25, 24-26, 25-20, 23-25
Three matches don't prove anything, but the score from the NCAA finals don't suggest that Rose finally discovered the key to unlocking Carlini and Wisconsin.
...and a quick look at Wisconsin's other B1G matches last year reveals other teams in the league had spent some time figuring them out, too.
|
|
|
Post by akbar on Aug 2, 2014 8:14:07 GMT -5
2) Highly likely that the expectations for Wisconsin are unrealistic. Wisconsin needs to consider what happened to Illinois in 2012. This year will be different, and, given that last year was so amazing, different is likely to mean not as good. Not that Carlini isn't for real, but last year was that special year where everything just clicked. The biggest thing that will happen this year is B1G coaches will have spent a lot more effort preparing for Wisconsin and they WILL find vulnerabilities. (For clues, all they have to do is look at Russ Rose's game plan for the NCAA finals.) Last year the B10 coaches were having to convince their teams to take Wisky seriously. This year the players will be really looking forward to playing Carlini and trying to beat her. Wisconsin faced Penn State 3 times last year - and lost all three. Here are the scores from those 3 matches.
10/12: 22-25, 17-25, 21-25 11/15: 22-25, 25-27, 16-25 12/21: 19-25, 24-26, 25-20, 23-25
Three matches don't prove anything, but the score from the NCAA finals don't suggest that Rose finally discovered the key to unlocking Carlini and Wisconsin.
I think it has been well documented by many posters, Dot, Pelc and Philly, etc. That Wisconsin will not sneak up on anyone this year and that there will be an extra asterisk next to them on every B1G's schedule. Furthermore that the expectations will have changed significantly for that program and it remains to be seen if the team and coaches can deal with that. This year is seems to be the year of backups, replacements and newbies as it seems that a lot of Veterans that were heavily relied upon have graduated throughout the league. In no order top 5 most likely will be: MSU, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska and PSU. Minnesota will be a sleeper that will upset a few of those above.
|
|