|
|
Post by Wahinevball1234 on Jan 26, 2015 12:26:25 GMT -5
I was recently watching a video of Hawaii women's volleyball when they were ranked number 2 in the nation in 2003. Obviously, Hawaii has not been that good in a while. I was wondering why that is. One would think it would be easy to get recruits to Hawaii, and why they have not been able to make it far in the NCAA tournament the last few years. Obviously, it is not a great for some kids, but there are definitely some top level recruits who want to go far away. Also, playing in the Stan Sheriff Center would be in and of itself a reason to play at Hawaii. Dave Shoji is a legendary coach, but the past few years he has not shown it as much. Every Hawaii team in the past few years has had their moments, like taking a set from Washington this year, or beating Texas a year ago, but they have not been able to win a national championship in years. With the Pac-12 and Big-12 conferences ruling women's collegiate will Wahine volleyball ever be good enough to contend for a national championship again?
|
|
|
|
Post by WahineFan44 on Jan 26, 2015 13:54:48 GMT -5
Hawaii does not get multiplie top recruits, in fact, they rarely get the cream of the crop. put this in perspective, penn state, texas, stanford, usc, Florida etc and soon to be wisconin, all have more top ten recruits on their CURRENT roster, than hawaii has ever had. Hawaii has only had croson and danielson.
When the top teams are getting the top recruits, it's hard to compete. Dave takes people like hartong, who was ranked in the fourties, Hewitt, who wasn't even ranked, and all these other receuits, and MAKES them into AA. Could you imagine the success Dave would have with texas or usc reveuits. He would have even more national championships.
|
|
|
|
Post by #skoskers on Jan 26, 2015 14:40:26 GMT -5
DISCLAIMER: I am a fan of Hawaii’s program, so please don’t find this post insulting or intended to be a crack on Hawaii or its legendary program. If I were a recruit, I’d consider the pros and cons of Hawaii, relative to other programs around the nation:
PROS
Developing under a standout coach like Shoji in a program filled with a rich tradition
Playing in front of thousands of dedicated fans every home match
Enjoying paradise all-year round
CONS
Spending so many hours in the sky flying across the Pacific to play teams; the distance from the continental U.S. to Hawaii may deter athletes who want their families to be within driving distance to see them play
Living in an expensive place; high prices (for food, real estate, utilities, gasoline) may be out of range for some college students
Playing in a conference that some would argue isn’t as competitive as the PAC or B1G, which can (fairly or unfairly) diminish a team’s accomplishments of an undefeated conference record
IMO, the pros of playing at Hawaii seem to be non-unique to Hawaii; that is, these benefits can be realized at other programs with storied traditions (PSU, Stanford, Nebraska, USC, Texas), fantastic coaches (PSU, Stanford, Nebraska, USC, Texas, Florida and many others), venues filled or mostly filled with fans (Nebraska, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin), and warm locations (Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA, Texas, Florida). The cons, however, seem more exclusive to Hawaii. There isn’t another top program that is in a less-than-stellar conference (with the exception of Texas, dependent on the pool of talent coming into the Big XII) or so far away from its closest in-conference rival.
Hawaii has put out fantastic athletes over the past two decades (Ah Mow-Santos, Bown, Willoughby, Danielson, and Hartong to name a few), and it has grown the sport that we all love in ways that have been or should be modeled at every school that’s serious about volleyball. I would love more than anything to see Hawaii ranked in the top 5 every year for their contributions to this sport.
|
|
|
|
Post by network155 on Jan 26, 2015 15:02:40 GMT -5
Past teams have had atleast 2 or 3 All-Americans that helped the Wahine to the National Semifinals and Final. The past couple seasons, Hartong hasn't had the support she needed to push Hawaii through. You look at Hawaii's last Final Four appearance in 2009, Kanani Danielson, Aneli Cubi-Otineru, Amber Kaufman, and Dani Mafua were instrumental in that Final Four run.
Willoughby, Kahumoku, Duggins led Hawaii to 3 Final Four Appearances in 2000, 2002, 2003, and they were All-Americans (on the same team).
To field a national title contender these days, you have to have players in place to do so. Hawaii hasn't had that in last couple years.
|
|
|
|
Post by gouci on Jan 26, 2015 15:04:42 GMT -5
When Hawaii was in the WAC making the NCAA tournament was automatic. Hawaii won the WAC title 16 straight years. When your team is guaranteed to be in the Big Dance every year fans have the luxury of only thinking about how far in the NCAA tournament their team will get.
Well Hawaii is no longer in the WAC and in the future making the NCAA tournament every year can no longer be taken for granted as automatic. In 2014 the Big West automatic bid went to Long Beach State, not Hawaii. In 2013 the Big West auto bid went to UC Santa Barbara, not Hawaii. Talk of can Hawaii win a national title this year will be replaced by talk of can Hawaii make the NCAA tournament first, via auto bid or at-large bid. Kinda like how CSUN fans were on pins and needles this season wondering if they would get an at-large bid as a bubble team. Specially after Shoji retires, the suspense for Hawaii fans will no longer be can they make the Final Four but the suspense will be can they make the NCAA tournament as a bubble team if they don't get the Big West automatic bid.
|
|
|
|
Post by fetchin on Jan 26, 2015 15:32:22 GMT -5
When Hawaii was in the WAC making the NCAA tournament was automatic. Hawaii won the WAC title 16 straight years. When your team is guaranteed to be in the Big Dance every year fans have the luxury of only thinking about how far in the NCAA tournament their team will get. Well Hawaii is no longer in the WAC and in the future making the NCAA tournament every year can no longer be taken for granted as automatic. In 2014 the Big West automatic bid went to Long Beach State, not Hawaii. In 2013 the Big West auto bid went to UC Santa Barbara, not Hawaii. Talk of can Hawaii win a national title this year will be replaced by talk of can Hawaii make the NCAA tournament first, via auto bid or at-large bid. Kinda like how CSUN fans were on pins and needles this season wondering if they would get an at-large bid as a bubble team. Specially after Shoji retires, the suspense for Hawaii fans will no longer be can they make the Final Four but the suspense will be can they make the NCAA tournament as a bubble team if they don't get the Big West automatic bid. Ehh, This was a down year for Hawaii, but with Norene Iosia coming in, they will be top 10 again soon and won't be worrying about being a "bubble team". |
|
|
|
Post by WahineFan44 on Jan 26, 2015 15:40:04 GMT -5
When Hawaii was in the WAC making the NCAA tournament was automatic. Hawaii won the WAC title 16 straight years. When your team is guaranteed to be in the Big Dance every year fans have the luxury of only thinking about how far in the NCAA tournament their team will get. Well Hawaii is no longer in the WAC and in the future making the NCAA tournament every year can no longer be taken for granted as automatic. In 2014 the Big West automatic bid went to Long Beach State, not Hawaii. In 2013 the Big West auto bid went to UC Santa Barbara, not Hawaii. Talk of can Hawaii win a national title this year will be replaced by talk of can Hawaii make the NCAA tournament first, via auto bid or at-large bid. Kinda like how CSUN fans were on pins and needles this season wondering if they would get an at-large bid as a bubble team. Specially after Shoji retires, the suspense for Hawaii fans will no longer be can they make the Final Four but the suspense will be can they make the NCAA tournament as a bubble team if they don't get the Big West automatic bid. With daves pre season schedules, they'll be in every year, unless there is a major collapse. You're underestimating them. They are poised to win the big west next year, and the year after that with norene at the helm. |
|
|
|
Post by austintatious on Jan 26, 2015 15:57:16 GMT -5
I think all the posts have legitimate points. I would highlight the part about traveling and parents not being able to see matches as frequently as if they were nearer. The OP mentioned not being able to drive to see DD play. I would expand that to include flying within the mainland. With frequent flyer miles parents can fly or drive to a majority of the games. Several trips per season to Hawaii is much less likely.
And the players have changed in the past decade also. Many do not know their VB history and are unaware of the storied UH history or Dave's impact on the game. They want what they see on TV and that is Stanford, TX, PSU, UCLA, etc. I would love to see Dave get the Bigs to return to the FF, no one deserves it more.
|
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Jan 26, 2015 16:09:21 GMT -5
I'm not convinced that it's easy to recruit to Hawaii. Travel is a big headache and I'm not sure the campus has academic facilities that you can brag about.
|
|
Kamali'i-7
Sophomore
I'm not ethnocentric.
Posts: 200 
|
Post by Kamali'i-7 on Jan 26, 2015 18:42:04 GMT -5
with heartfelt grief/guesstimates. Dave loves his family. the two boys went to Stanford. the BCS was invented. Shoji made peace with the overwhelming situation(s) and took a look out at the road ahead and said.. --- the chance for redemption comes this 2015. Kendra should be moved over to beach only and Hannah Rooks should be moved into a season of indoor's to compete with Higgins. Too bad that Taylor has to always be on the rightside also. It is that way and will remain. Work with it people!  |
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Jan 26, 2015 18:56:26 GMT -5
with heartfelt grief/guesstimates. Dave loves his family. the two boys went to Stanford. the BCS was invented. Shoji made peace with the overwhelming situation(s) and took a look out at the road ahead and said.. ...said what? |
|
|
|
Post by po'okela on Jan 26, 2015 19:30:40 GMT -5
someone had mentioned karch turning down the udub job and I wouldn't be surprised since he's only been with the national team for about a year. it would be interesting to see if he (karch) would be interested in taking over at hawaii when dave retires which I believe will be after the 2016 season. thinking out loud...
|
|
|
|
Post by ancksunamun on Jan 26, 2015 19:38:21 GMT -5
When Hawaii was in the WAC making the NCAA tournament was automatic. Hawaii won the WAC title 16 straight years. When your team is guaranteed to be in the Big Dance every year fans have the luxury of only thinking about how far in the NCAA tournament their team will get. Well Hawaii is no longer in the WAC and in the future making the NCAA tournament every year can no longer be taken for granted as automatic. In 2014 the Big West automatic bid went to Long Beach State, not Hawaii. In 2013 the Big West auto bid went to UC Santa Barbara, not Hawaii. Talk of can Hawaii win a national title this year will be replaced by talk of can Hawaii make the NCAA tournament first, via auto bid or at-large bid. Kinda like how CSUN fans were on pins and needles this season wondering if they would get an at-large bid as a bubble team. Specially after Shoji retires, the suspense for Hawaii fans will no longer be can they make the Final Four but the suspense will be can they make the NCAA tournament as a bubble team if they don't get the Big West automatic bid. If you were to have LBSU or CSUN or UCSB be the lone wolf (No travel partner for conference play) I bet you they would struggle to win matches too. Hawaii is has been relegated to being the only team WITHOUT A TRAVEL PARTNER which means OTHER teams only have to prepare for Hawaii while Hawaii has to prepare for 2 TEAMS. |
|
|
|
Post by fetchin on Jan 26, 2015 21:05:24 GMT -5
someone had mentioned karch turning down the udub job and I wouldn't be surprised since he's only been with the national team for about a year. it would be interesting to see if he (karch) would be interested in taking over at hawaii when dave retires which I believe will be after the 2016 season. thinking out loud... Umm nope, Karch will stay with the national team or coach in California ( USC) I don't think he would be a good fit at Hawaii at all. |
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Jan 26, 2015 21:16:46 GMT -5
Karch and Hawaii = disaster waiting to happen
|
|
