|
Post by southie on Aug 27, 2015 15:47:22 GMT -5
Not sold on Texas. Great athletes but no ball control or defense. We return the same passers and defensive players from last season, and they were good enough to reach the Final Four; no losses in that area.
|
|
|
Post by dorothymantooth on Aug 27, 2015 15:48:10 GMT -5
I don't see any team as an absolute lock. I see a few pretty likely.
|
|
|
Post by po'okela on Aug 27, 2015 15:50:10 GMT -5
Not sold on Texas. Great athletes but no ball control or defense. We return the same passers and defensive players from last season, and they were good enough to reach the Final Four; no losses in that area. I don't see anyone making up for eckerman's and bell's offensive production.
|
|
|
Post by dorothymantooth on Aug 27, 2015 15:51:23 GMT -5
Not sold on Texas. Great athletes but no ball control or defense. Every year Nebraska is predicted to go to the final four; they haven't been to a final four in 6 straight seasons. The final four being in Omaha is extra incentive for the Huskers but I'm not as convinced as others that they are a favorite. Stanford is interesting, this is the last shot for Bugg, Burgess and Howard but Ajanaku's absence is a big loss for the Cardinal. If pushed late in the tourney, I can see Stanford falling. Over the last few years, Penn State has shown that it can overcome the loss of key players. Sometimes winning is contagious, which seems to be the case with Penn State- they just find ways to win. I'd give them the best odds. You don't win 30 matches and get to FF with "NO" passing or ball control. It certainly isnt exceptional, but its good enough given their athletes.
|
|
|
Post by Disc808 on Aug 27, 2015 16:08:26 GMT -5
We return the same passers and defensive players from last season, and they were good enough to reach the Final Four; no losses in that area. I don't see anyone making up for eckerman's and bell's offensive production. I mean Nwanebu is going to be good. Who knows what kind of level she will be at. 2.38 kills isn't too much to ask from Ebony... Now the OH position is going to probably lack
|
|
|
Post by Barefoot In Kailua on Aug 27, 2015 16:08:50 GMT -5
Not sold on Texas. Great athletes but no ball control or defense. We return the same passers and defensive players from last season, and they were good enough to reach the Final Four; no losses in that area. But no gains either. Texas lucked out a bit in the tourney draw last year. UNC was Texas' only real challenge (no offense to ASU and CSU). Southie, I am a fan of the Longhorns but their ball control is pedestrian with Neal and McCoy as the best passers on the team.
|
|
|
Post by Barefoot In Kailua on Aug 27, 2015 16:10:31 GMT -5
Not sold on Texas. Great athletes but no ball control or defense. Every year Nebraska is predicted to go to the final four; they haven't been to a final four in 6 straight seasons. The final four being in Omaha is extra incentive for the Huskers but I'm not as convinced as others that they are a favorite. Stanford is interesting, this is the last shot for Bugg, Burgess and Howard but Ajanaku's absence is a big loss for the Cardinal. If pushed late in the tourney, I can see Stanford falling. Over the last few years, Penn State has shown that it can overcome the loss of key players. Sometimes winning is contagious, which seems to be the case with Penn State- they just find ways to win. I'd give them the best odds. You don't win 30 matches and get to FF with "NO" passing or ball control. It certainly isnt exceptional, but its good enough given their athletes. You can get to the final four by avoiding teams that can exploit your weakness, which is what Texas did last year. That said, they did beat a good Tar Heel team with an exceptional libero last year.
|
|
|
Post by gatorbob on Aug 27, 2015 16:12:23 GMT -5
Penn State, Texas, Nebraska, and Florida. Penn State a near lock.
|
|
|
Post by po'okela on Aug 27, 2015 16:16:37 GMT -5
I don't see anyone making up for eckerman's and bell's offensive production. I mean Nwanebu is going to be good. Who knows what kind of level she will be at. 2.38 kills isn't too much to ask from Ebony... Now the OH position is going to probably lack ur automatically predicting she'll be good and she'll be starting? if I were you I'd be worried about her chronic back injury which held her back in 2014. obviously it's not 100% since she didn't even participate in the scrimmage.
|
|
|
Post by badgerbreath on Aug 27, 2015 16:20:45 GMT -5
Penn State, Texas, Nebraska, and Florida. Penn State a near lock. PSU will play in east regional, and will probably not be a first seed because of low OOC RPI. Who is likely to be a number one seed that has to go through PSU in the east? I'm thinking Florida. That lowers the gators' chances significantly.
|
|
|
Post by dorothymantooth on Aug 27, 2015 16:25:01 GMT -5
You don't win 30 matches and get to FF with "NO" passing or ball control. It certainly isnt exceptional, but its good enough given their athletes. You can get to the final four by avoiding teams that can exploit your weakness, which is what Texas did last year. That said, they did beat a good Tar Heel team with an exceptional libero last year. But the knock on Texas is they never can pass or ball handle, yet only PSU is doing more winning then they are. Evidently they are avoiding teams that can exploit those weakness every year for the last 6-7 years.
|
|
|
Post by Disc808 on Aug 27, 2015 16:25:15 GMT -5
I mean Nwanebu is going to be good. Who knows what kind of level she will be at. 2.38 kills isn't too much to ask from Ebony... Now the OH position is going to probably lack ur automatically predicting she'll be good and she'll be starting? if I were you I'd be worried about her chronic back injury which held her back in 2014. obviously it's not 100% since she didn't even participate in the scrimmage. First of all I'm not even a Texas fan so I don't have to worry about Nwanebu or if she plays or not. Second of all her performance at USC was still more than 2.38 kills per set (Bell's statistic in her senior season) and the Big 12 is not as hard as the PAC 12. Of course she may not be as lights out or efficient as Bell or may not be healthy. Hence the reason I said who knows what level she will be at.
|
|
|
Post by dorothymantooth on Aug 27, 2015 16:26:48 GMT -5
Penn State, Texas, Nebraska, and Florida. Penn State a near lock. I don''t buy that at all. Stanford, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Florida St, UNC could knock at least 3 of those four teams off in a one-off situation, no question about it.
|
|
|
Post by po'okela on Aug 27, 2015 16:29:38 GMT -5
I'll reserve my predictions on hawaii until I see how they perform against florida.
|
|
|
Post by Disc808 on Aug 27, 2015 16:31:21 GMT -5
Penn State, Texas, Nebraska, and Florida. Penn State a near lock. I don't think anyone's a lock. The season hasn't even started yet and we don't know what's going to unfold.
|
|