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Post by gogophers on Nov 4, 2015 9:32:31 GMT -5
If you think that hitting percentage differential (offensive minus defensive) is a pretty good guide to how teams stack up, PSU's in conference differential is about 20 points higher than anyone else's. Minn, Neb, Wis, and Purdue are all about the same. I'm speaking of in-conference stats only. I'm glad to see the Gophers doing so well, but the team hitting percentage, even with SSS as good as she has been, is still kind of so-so. What's improved greatly for Minn is opponent's hitting percentage.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2015 10:26:32 GMT -5
The Gopher offense is much better, because of SSS and a healthy Santana. But, to me, the biggest difference from last year is the level of defense being played, as well as the quality of the ball control. Night and day.
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Post by ugopher on Nov 4, 2015 10:26:20 GMT -5
If you think that hitting percentage differential (offensive minus defensive) is a pretty good guide to how teams stack up, PSU's in conference differential is about 20 points higher than anyone else's. Minn, Neb, Wis, and Purdue are all about the same. I'm speaking of in-conference stats only. I'm glad to see the Gophers doing so well, but the team hitting percentage, even with SSS as good as she has been, is still kind of so-so. What's improved greatly for Minn is opponent's hitting percentage. I think what skews MN's hitting percentage as well as the opponents hitting percentage is the number of attempts by each. In conference play, in playing in 47 sets (2nd most in the B1G) MN has more total attempts than any other team; 89 more attempts than the next closest, Ohio State who has played in 2 more sets. But, the number of their errors is in the middle of the pack and they only have 14 more errors than the lowest team (Penn State in 46 sets and Wisconsin in 44 sets). What does this mean? I don't know but it would appear that MN is content to keep a ball in play and trust their defense to keep rallies going vs. trying to terminate every shot. Eliminate errors and trust your defense. And, has had more attempts against them than any other team, 170 more than the next closest which is Nebraska. And, has more errors hit against them than any other team (stands to reason given the more attempts). Again, defense to me is the key. There have been many matches where the front row will block a shot which doesn't result in a point but rather forces the other side to scramble to keep the ball alive and send the ball over again. If you feel you have a strong defense and trust it, hitting percentage may not be as important as eliminating your hitting errors.
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Post by MTC on Nov 4, 2015 11:11:18 GMT -5
Good question, it really is a team effort this year.
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Post by spikerthemovie on Nov 4, 2015 11:52:25 GMT -5
If you think that hitting percentage differential (offensive minus defensive) is a pretty good guide to how teams stack up, PSU's in conference differential is about 20 points higher than anyone else's. Minn, Neb, Wis, and Purdue are all about the same. I'm speaking of in-conference stats only. I'm glad to see the Gophers doing so well, but the team hitting percentage, even with SSS as good as she has been, is still kind of so-so. What's improved greatly for Minn is opponent's hitting percentage. I think what skews MN's hitting percentage as well as the opponents hitting percentage is the number of attempts by each. In conference play, in playing in 47 sets (2nd most in the B1G) MN has more total attempts than any other team; 89 more attempts than the next closest, Ohio State who has played in 2 more sets. But, the number of their errors is in the middle of the pack and they only have 14 more errors than the lowest team (Penn State in 46 sets and Wisconsin in 44 sets). What does this mean? I don't know but it would appear that MN is content to keep a ball in play and trust their defense to keep rallies going vs. trying to terminate every shot. Eliminate errors and trust your defense. And, has had more attempts against them than any other team, 170 more than the next closest which is Nebraska. And, has more errors hit against them than any other team (stands to reason given the more attempts). Again, defense to me is the key. There have been many matches where the front row will block a shot which doesn't result in a point but rather forces the other side to scramble to keep the ball alive and send the ball over again. If you feel you have a strong defense and trust it, hitting percentage may not be as important as eliminating your hitting errors. That's been the case I have tried to make a couple times for Wilhite, albeit on offense. She doesn't hit as hard a ball or put it down as often as most Gopher fans would like but she's very low-error and she gives the Gophers additional chances to win points, even if what that means is that she's sending the ball over so the other team can make a mistake.
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Post by ugopher on Nov 4, 2015 11:57:50 GMT -5
When checking out B1G stats, I noticed that Rutgers is now averaging 185 fans/match. Up from 180 a couple of weeks ago. Progress!
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Post by Freeman on Nov 4, 2015 12:00:43 GMT -5
When checking out B1G stats, I noticed that Rutgers is now averaging 185 fans/match. Up from 180 a couple of weeks ago. Progress! That accounts for the additional staff needed to monitor leaks in the roof.
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Post by tclenpsu1 on Nov 4, 2015 12:02:20 GMT -5
When checking out B1G stats, I noticed that Rutgers is now averaging 185 fans/match. Up from 180 a couple of weeks ago. Progress! They will pack 200 in that gym when PSU go there on Friday, it's a rivalry thing LOL
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Post by hulahoops on Nov 4, 2015 12:44:08 GMT -5
Surely not to Lacey's level, but quite better than T. Krause, who was the main DS earlier. They don't play the same defensive position. Pierce plays defense primarily in the 6 spot, and Krause plays in the 1 spot. Totally different.
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Post by akbar on Nov 4, 2015 12:52:18 GMT -5
Surely not to Lacey's level, but quite better than T. Krause, who was the main DS earlier. They don't play the same defensive position. Pierce plays defense primarily in the 6 spot, and Krause plays in the 1 spot. Totally different. Furthermore Lacey never passed and played exclusively out of the 5. Different positions, angles and responsibilities.
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Post by whowasthat on Nov 4, 2015 12:53:18 GMT -5
Surely not to Lacey's level, but quite better than T. Krause, who was the main DS earlier. They don't play the same defensive position. Pierce plays defense primarily in the 6 spot, and Krause plays in the 1 spot. Totally different. Even if they switch the spots, I still think Kendall's defensive skill and range is better than Taylor's, imo
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Post by akbar on Nov 4, 2015 13:05:53 GMT -5
They don't play the same defensive position. Pierce plays defense primarily in the 6 spot, and Krause plays in the 1 spot. Totally different. Even if they switch the spots, I still think Kendall's defensive skill and range is better than Taylor's, imo Ok, but what happens if Ali or Megan goes south? Who can come in and play the 6 and pass? Megan didnt look that great in the last OSU match and as Coach said looked disinterested in making some plays and passing. There is a push-pull effect and not all the DS's let alone hitters are equally interchangeable.
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Post by whowasthat on Nov 4, 2015 13:15:14 GMT -5
Even if they switch the spots, I still think Kendall's defensive skill and range is better than Taylor's, imo Ok, but what happens if Ali or Megan goes south? Who can come in and play the 6 and pass? Megan didnt look that great in the last OSU match and as Coach said looked disinterested in making some plays and passing. There is a push-pull effect and not all the DS's let alone hitters are equally interchangeable. Coach Rose will do what he needs to do under different situations and I'll trust him to do the best for his team. It was only my opinion about how I would rather see Kendall more and Taylor less for the overall defensive purposes.
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Post by gogophers on Nov 4, 2015 15:17:09 GMT -5
The Gopher offense is much better, because of SSS and a healthy Santana. But, to me, the biggest difference from last year is the level of defense being played, as well as the quality of the ball control. Night and day. Better compared to when? If you mean last year, there's no doubt about that. If you mean 2012 or 2013, there's doubt. The team in each of those years had four genuine offensive threats (Dixon, Wittman, Santana, and Harms (2012)/Nora in her breakout year (2013). Ball control sure helps, but the 2012 team, which no one would no one would mistake for an elite ball control team, still managed a hitting percentage almost 50 points higher than the 2015 team. It is the case, I must say, that the Big10 numbers aren't consistent year after year. 2012 was one of those years like in baseball where home run production jumps for some reason, with lots of high hitting percentages and the inevitable corollary, high opponent's hitting percentages. It's interesting to me that the PSU differential has dropped about 100 points this year compared with last year--and still PSU has the best differential in the conference.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2015 15:59:45 GMT -5
As a PSU fan, I hope they are 3-0 leading up to the Penn State match. MC is back (and hopefully stays healthy) and it should be a great match. Assuming the teams don't lose before then (or even if Minny drops one), that game is setting up to be the de-facto Big Ten Championship game. At a minimum, the winner would be a heavy favorite to either win or tie for the title. You would think BTN or another network would pick it up. Any chance of that? Agreed. This is going to determine who wins the Big10 and for Penn State will determine if they deserve the #1 ranking. I imagine the match will be available to watch, at least covered by BTN+. And I know for sure it will be available on YouTube the following day, as all Penn State matches are this year.
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