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Post by gogophers on Sept 19, 2014 21:44:45 GMT -5
Duquesne, Toledo, and one of the satellite Indiana universities. Yeah, that will get the Gophers ready and prepared for the Big 10 schedule, or at least the Maryland-Rutgers part of it. Final 2013 Pablo rankings of Minn's pre-conference opponents: 126, 36, 67, 191, 259, 78, 82, 36, 104, 130, 121. Ave: 112. Seriously, has Minn. ever had such a lackluster set of pre-conference foes? What's the point of scheduling like this? Just to ensure a .500 or better record? Might as well stay home, have the starters play the "B" team, and save on the expense. I suppose that with a lineup that features 3 players that saw significant playing time last year, a sophomore transfer setter, a middle who rarely saw the court, and 2 freshmen in the back row, MN should have scheduled Texas, Florida, Stanford, and USC during non conference so that they could enter the Bug Ten season below. 500 and had the confidence of the younger players crushed. Yep, that sounds like a better plan. If you want to disagree with my position, fine; but you ought to at least state that position fairly. Neither I nor anyone else suggested that Minn. should have loaded up the schedule with four top 10 teams, if that was even possible. It isn't as though the only alternative to playing 0-10 Toledo on the final weekend before conference play was turning the Diet Coke Classic into the Final Four Redux. (Four losses, if the matches you suggested did turn into losses, in 11 or 12 games wouldn't have ensured a below .500 record at the start of the season, either, but never mind the math.) As for the supposedly delicate sensibilities of the younger players: if the transfer setter (who isn't a freshman) is playing, it's because she beat out Schau, who played a lot in the latter half of last season. She's that good. If senior Bohl isn't playing back row, it's because the freshmen beat her out of playing time. True, Paige Tapp didn't see much playing time last year. But she trained for a year and got herself onto one of the junior national training teams, where I'm sure see encountered a rather high level of competition. C'mon. The Gophers aren't the volleyball version of the Bad News Bears. And I can only wonder how it serves to lift the Gophers' confidence to struggle to (just) beat the likes of Boston College. It sure didn't do much for my confidence in the teams' prospects. Or, for that matter, even to have little trouble running poor Toledo's record from 0-10 to 0-11. Year after year, we see the Indiana and Iowas of the volleyball world schedule a soft pre-conference lineup and enter the conference with decidedly winning records, only to get swatted down when it's time, as it is after only 4 short weeks, for conference play. Fat lot of good their confidence building wins over clearly lesser teams does them.
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Post by ugopher on Sept 19, 2014 22:23:45 GMT -5
First order of priority is to qualify for the tournament. Illinois last year scheduled tough in the non-conference and barely qualified.
Second is to then hopefully schedule teams which will allow you to identify the team you have. If the Gophers had Dixon and Wittman back, they may have scheduled tougher. However, when losing your top middle, your top outside, and your setter, you may not want to schedule as tough.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 22:36:10 GMT -5
It's a little misleading is it not to trumpet Schau and Bohl being beaten out by frosh? Neither of those players had/has proven that they can start at this level. So I'm going to have to call that argument a miss.
I certainly don't think their confidence is overly delicate. These are highly rated players. But I think it is a valid point that it doesn't hurt for them to gain additional confidence to start their careers. Did Boston College hurt that confidence? Well, maybe. But what's your point there? They needed to worry that they'd struggle against lower level teams? That only reinforces our argument.
You are right. The Gophers could have scheduled tougher and it's POSSIBLE that they could suffer the same fate as Indiana and Iowa in past years. The only problem with that is that Minnesota is not Indiana or Iowa. It's apples to oranges.
I think one more top 25 team would have been the way to go. It's not optimal, but I don't think it's necessarily the huge problem you do. We shall see, of course. I'm more concerned with how tough their B1G schedule is to start. It doesn't take much to derail a season. We will also see if this team is up to that challenge.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 22:37:44 GMT -5
Toledo was 1-10. Just saying.
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Post by alpacaone on Sept 19, 2014 22:39:36 GMT -5
Didn't they schedule barely better last year; if I remember their big win was Duke, and big loss to Kentucky. I think I remember them 3-0 over Louisville.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 12:27:41 GMT -5
Something you don't see every day. In the Gophers 25-11 opening game win over IPFW, Sarah Wilhite was 8 for 8.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 12:35:40 GMT -5
She's now 10 for 10.
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Post by mnsports255 on Sept 20, 2014 12:37:14 GMT -5
Sarah Wilhite now with 11 KILLS IN 11 ATTEMPTS midway through the 2nd set. Wow!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 12:38:45 GMT -5
Made it to 11 for 11 before an error.
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Post by spikerthemovie on Sept 20, 2014 13:14:52 GMT -5
-11, -14, -23 Gophers win
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 16:24:09 GMT -5
1 reception error today, too. So THREE for the weekend.
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Post by craftylefty on Sept 20, 2014 17:25:20 GMT -5
1 reception error today, too. So THREE for the weekend. Excellent. This is what I like to hear.
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Post by vbcoltrane on Sept 20, 2014 17:52:18 GMT -5
Yeah, the schedule is really underwhelming. Gophers used to have really strong non-conference with one or two marquee matchups with Top 10 teams and then additional matches with Top 25 teams or strong teams, even if not ranked.
I don't think it has to be THAT tough every year. But, this year an a couple more Top 10-35 teams would have been nice.
I do think it's good simply to win, no matter the competition. And, weaker teams do allow a team to experiment and allows more players to get experience.
On the other hand, playing stronger teams is necessary to really be tested and have something to gauge yourself against. I know MN will get good competition in BIG play, but I think it's good to see it out of conference as well.
I hate the BIG with 14 teams and uneven scheduling (i know it was a slight problem before, but even more so now).
My solution 7 team divisions - play the other six teams in your division twice (12 matches), play all teams in the other division once (7 matches). 19 matches total. Division winners play a single 20th match for conference championship.
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Post by mnsports255 on Sept 20, 2014 18:15:44 GMT -5
I think if before the season someone told us the Gophers would be 10-1 heading into B1G play, we'd all probably take that result.
What has me enthused heading into Wednesday is the fact that Wilhite looks like one of the more dangerous OHs in the B1G, Goehner has been nothing but solid since becoming the libero, and Handley has this offense rolling, and really hasn't had any hitches in her game yet. The Tapps are also blocking at a high level. On the concerning side, Daly Santana will continue to be a big question (even though she leads the Big Ten in K/S) because of her inefficency. I'm wanting more from her at the service line as well. (I really worry about our team's serving as a whole) I also don't think Nora has been playing up to the level that she's capable of.
I still hope that Minnesota proves that while they lost some big players, they are still a top team in the B1G who opponents have to respect.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 18:21:16 GMT -5
My biggest concern is the lack of swings from the middles. I don't think they can win consistently in the B1G without more attacks (and good results would be nice) from the middle.
But what do I know. Maybe this will work.
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