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Post by sIsam on Aug 29, 2004 5:44:18 GMT -5
RUS up 2-0 and 13-9 so it looks like bronze is going that way
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Post by sIsam on Aug 29, 2004 5:53:59 GMT -5
RUS takes bronze over the USA winning the third set 25-16
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Aug 29, 2004 21:31:30 GMT -5
If they gave a medal for most hits straight into the block, then Riley Salmon would win that going away.
Sheesh.
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Post by sistahsledge on Aug 29, 2004 22:02:02 GMT -5
They just showed the USA's captain, the most mature player on the team, shove the up ref's stand (while the ref was in it). That's about as classless as it gets. You almost can't blame NBC for not wanting to show much of this team. This whole "era" of USA men's volleyball can't end soon enough. It's been a rough 12 years. USA needs to overhaul the national team starting with the coach...and find some outside hitters who won't get blown off the court by the rest of the world.
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Aug 29, 2004 22:59:34 GMT -5
They just showed the USA's captain, the most mature player on the team, shove the up ref's stand (while the ref was in it). That's about as classless as it gets. You almost can't blame NBC for not wanting to show much of this team. This whole "era" of USA men's volleyball can't end soon enough. It's been a rough 12 years. USA needs to overhaul the national team starting with the coach...and find some outside hitters who won't get blown off the court by the rest of the world. I thought Barnett came into his own in this tournament, he looked better and better each match. Injuries have cost him valuable time in the past 4 years, let's hope he stays healthy. I think Priddy can still get better as well, but he needs a coach other than Beal to prosper. He's not the same guy I saw play at LMU - I'd like to see that guy come back. As bad as the situation is for Team USA at the OH position, it's even worse at MB. I see no legitimate candidates coming up through the collegiate ranks at all. None that are even close. There's some big, tall guys, but all of them are slow and total spazzes.
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Aug 29, 2004 23:27:43 GMT -5
They just showed the USA's captain, the most mature player on the team, shove the up ref's stand (while the ref was in it). That's about as classless as it gets. That situation pretty much sums up Ball's entire career with the National Team. He gets pissed off at the ref for what he feels was a bad call, even though the ball was clearly past the plane of the net and on the Russian side when Ball tried to set it. The smart play and the aggressive play (read: the RIGHT play) to make would have been for Ball to turn, square to the net, and joust it. The Russian MB went up late and hadn't penetrated before Ball touched the ball, Ball could have easily tooled him, or worst case scenario it would have been a held-ball replay. His decision-making in this situation pretty much showed what Ball has done his entire career, which is to shy away from making the aggressive play in critical situations. Instead, he tried to set a ball that was clearly going over, hoping for an interference call or hoping the set might be good enough for someone else on the team to put away. He did get the interference call, but it was against him. Then he gets mad and puts on a show for no reason. Typical. EDIT: The resulting set was so bad that even if the R1 didn't call Ball for being over, he could have easily called a double contact.
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Post by vballguy2001 on Aug 29, 2004 23:28:12 GMT -5
Honestly I am just glad that Lloy ball is through. Classless starts with him, and honestly ends with him. I thought he had a horrible match against Russia. It seemed like the russian block knew where he was going before he even set it. Lets just say that the difference between Italy and Brazil's setters and Ball are a world apart. To even compare him to those two is ridiculous.
I am looking forward to a new era, however the new era is without Ball. I think everyone else is good and just need some experience and teaching.
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Aug 29, 2004 23:34:51 GMT -5
I am looking forward to a new era, however the new era is without Ball. I think everyone else is good and just need some experience and teaching. I think you're gonna see a mass exodus from the team following these Olympics, even with the younger guys - who are probably eager to market themselves overseas and try to make some money. If Beal is still there when they gear up for Beijing 2008, many of them will probably not come back. Which is a shame, because this squad did show some promise towards the latter part of this tournament. Kinda funny inverse relationship going on though - as some other people like Barnett started emerging, Stanley's play got worse. Seems like Stanley played better when the burden of the offense was dumped on his shoulders. Either that or he got worn down as the tournament went on. I hope Stanley comes back, and I hope he hits the gym and conditioning harder. Right now it doesn't look like he can endure the rigors of a major international tournament start-to-finish.
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Post by Mac on Aug 30, 2004 0:38:37 GMT -5
Who do you all think are candidates for the next coach? and why?
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Aug 30, 2004 0:45:54 GMT -5
Who do you all think are candidates for the next coach? and why? I don't care as long as it is someone from outside the USA. The coaching philosophy in the USA is stagnant due to inbreeding and the good-old-boy network amongst the coaching fraternity. Seems as though all the men's coaches are offspring of either the Dunphy or McGown schools of coaching (which, come to think of it, are the same damn thing since Marv and Carl are as tight as two flies on a pile of dogpoop). In this case, the dogpoop is Beal. It's becoming ridiculous the sheer number of tag-alongs who accompany Beal and Team USA to the Olympics every four years. Dunphy was there scouting for them again, along with a bunch of the other usual suspects. Go get Julio Velasco, or Arie Sellinger, or freakin' go even ask Jose Guimares if he's ready to come back to the men's game after the performance of his Brazilian women at these Olympics. I'm sure all the MPSF/MIVA/EIVA coaches in the pipeline are waiting for Beal to step down so they can hold up their hands and go "MY TURN!"
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Post by hwy101 on Aug 30, 2004 2:34:26 GMT -5
Dunphy, McGown and Beal run the Gold Medal Squared Volleyball clinics which I heard are very popular and better than the CAP courses.
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Post by BigTenVball on Aug 30, 2004 9:14:27 GMT -5
Some other good official explain this to me. How did Ball NOT get at least a Yellow card for slamming the ref stand?!
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Aug 30, 2004 9:42:57 GMT -5
Some other good official explain this to me. How did Ball NOT get at least a Yellow card for slamming the ref stand?! It looked like the R1 had looked away from him by the time Ball shoved the stand. I agree completely, though. Should have been an automatic red, IMHO. Deduct a point at the start of G3.
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Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Aug 30, 2004 9:46:32 GMT -5
Dunphy, McGown and Beal run the Gold Medal Squared Volleyball clinics which I heard are very popular and better than the CAP courses. The 3 amigos of men's coaching in the U.S. have been spouting the same schpeel for 20+ years now. Meanwhile the men's international game has jumped light-years ahead of them.
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Post by VBbeast on Aug 30, 2004 10:05:24 GMT -5
I don't always agree with the things SOBB says but I have to concur with him on the state of coaching for USA men's volleyball.
We need some fresh blood in the system. It has always seemed to me that a good coaching staff is one that combines different approaches. We had 4 bodies in various coaching roles at the olympics (Beal, McGown, Dumphy, and Hugh) all of them are bringing the same damn thing to the table. I'm sure it makes for a very conflict free enviornment when everyone is saying yes to the same things and no to the same things, but just forget about inovation and change.
As to the future of the team... Face it with the big serving going on the bottom line is you need minimum 2 people on your team that can terminate consistently out of system from the outside. We periodically have 1 right now. Stanley can be one of those people, but we need another stick on left side to take some pressure off him.
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