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Post by gnu2vball on Dec 14, 2015 20:59:32 GMT -5
Penn State has had a couple of big and talented classes (5 to 6 athletes in a class) which may hurt recruiting. 20016 and 2017 for example. If you recruit a whole starting lineup of studs in one season playing time limitations may be a turn off for future recruits. good im sick of penn state I respect that, but nobody's making you look--the thread's content is self-explanatory.
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Post by jagdpanther on Dec 14, 2015 21:08:50 GMT -5
Going to be a rough year again next year. Recruits aren't quite panning out the way they were expected to. If we can fix the back row we'll be good, but not great. This year was all about a bad back row and a young setter not capable of handling poorer passing. Next year will likely be about marginal back row defense and poor hitting.
I don't think this was a 2011 kind of year with a return to the Final Four next year. It'll probably be the beginning of a few so-so or downright poor years (by PSU's standards) before, hopefully, things pick back up.
It's, unfortunately for PSU fans, time for other Big 10 teams to shine.
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Post by doug on Dec 14, 2015 21:23:57 GMT -5
Count Russ Rose and Penn State out at your own peril. There is a reason he is the most successful coach ever.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 21:26:03 GMT -5
Count Russ Rose and Penn State out at your own peril. There is a reason he is the most successful coach ever. True, but any sports team dominance lasts for only so long. And they have been at the top for A LONG TIME.
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Post by Phillytom on Dec 14, 2015 21:51:27 GMT -5
It's, unfortunately for PSU fans, time for other Big 10 teams to shine. And that is the other big part of this. In the past, PSU could probably drop off a little and still be competing for B1G titles because there was so much distance between them and the rest of the conference. But not now. Programs like Minnesota and Illinois are super hungry, recruiting like gangbusters, well coached. It was just a few years ago Russ Rose could look across the net and see relatively few players he would rather have on his roster. But now there are superb players as good as, and often better than, what PSU has, on half a dozen rosters in this conference. The B1G is just really really good. I think PSU is going to experience some short term pain until they can find at least one more top tier OH. But if they can manage that, plus be better at setter and libero, they could be in the thick of it in the B1G because the coaching at PSU is still state of the art. I'm guessing that will not take place in 2016 but maybe by 2017.... In the meantime, PSU fans shouldn't live in the past. Enjoy the great competition and great players in the B1G.
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Post by doug on Dec 14, 2015 22:20:06 GMT -5
What they are apparently missing going forward is that big RS terminator they have had for years - Blair Brown, Ariel Scott, Aiyana Whitney.
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Post by huskersrule95 on Dec 14, 2015 22:27:28 GMT -5
Count Russ Rose and Penn State out at your own peril. There is a reason he is the most successful coach ever. True, but any sports team dominance lasts for only so long. And they have been at the top for A LONG TIME. Don't like Russ Rose but never count him or Penn St out. He has built a dynasty there
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 22:39:19 GMT -5
Graduating: Whitney, Courtney, K. Pierce, Caraway Returning (with playing time this season): Frantti, Washington, Weiskircher, Lee, Thalen, Holcomb, Rivera, L. Pierce, Reed, Krause, Muller Incoming: Kendall White (L), several DSs, and Emily Demure (RS, OH, S) Some big questions for next season for PSU. Will the team find a strong 6-rotation player to replace Courtney, who RR often said (predominantly earlier in the season) was the team's top all-around player)? Will pin hitting become a relative weakness for the team? How much growth can the 2014 freshmen see in the offseason? Is this season more like 2011 (also a loss in the regional semis before 3 final fours & 2 national titles) or 2000 (the first of 7 consecutive years without a final four appearance)? The 2000 and later teams were affected by Russ Rose's recruiting philosophy. When the NCAA switched to rally scoring in 2000, he admitted that he failed to change his recruiting views. He continued going after players which were good in the sideout scoring system for years. Much later he realized that he needed players who were more suited to the rally scoring system. I think Frantti has the best chance of filling the void left by M. Courtney, although there are not many M. Courtney's in the country. I don't think PSU will ever suffer from lack of good pin hitters. I feel someone will step up from the current bench players and take over Whitney's job. My main concern is with passing and moving to a faster offense. Quick sets are key to winning in the post-season, so as not to give the block time to setup on your hitters. Also, PSU needs to improve their serving. It seemed anemic for most of the year.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 22:42:26 GMT -5
I would bet that some very good players around the country who are seeking a higher level of playing and more exposure are making phone calls and emails to probe transfer possibilities to school like PSU, who clearly has needs and scholarships to offer. In addition to this thought and Russ having a contract extention, I wouldn't think that PSU will be as far down as some of you seem to think......for long. Yeah, there is way too much pessimism in the posts I've read thus far. Hitting is not the problem, passing and serving are more important.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 22:48:13 GMT -5
... - Next year will be interesting...I actually liken it more to 2010, and I think the bigger rebuilding year could be 2015 (more like 2011)...a lot of great backcourt players and a great setter return next year, so it's about them putting the freshmen in a great position to score. I hope the team can be strong enough to hover around 8-10 in the national rankings...we'll see. But in 2015 with a new setter, that's where I get more nervous. The player with the most pressure next year will be Courtney, like it was on Blair Brown in 2010.
... As I've watched this tournament, this eerily prophetic post (from 2013) has been bouncing around in my mind. I've wanted to bring it up to give kudos to lionsfan , but I didn't want to bump a 2-year old thread. I feel like this is the appropriate place to mention it... or blame lionsfan for jinxing this years team! With the loss of Hancock, Grant, and Gonzalez, it was inevitable that this year's team was going to take a step back. My expectations were always low for this year, no doubt, with a new libero and setter (arguably the 2 most important positions on the court). The question is whether this team will get better next year and in 2017? I feel they will. The PSU program breeds success from one generation to the next and Russ knows how to get the best out of the players he has.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 22:52:17 GMT -5
Was this year tough? How many of the 300 plus teams in the land would have loved to have had their "tough" year. They are competing against an impossible standard. Lowest finish ever for a PSU team in the Big Ten. Swept several times during the regular season. Losses to Michigan and Northwestern. Yeah, this year is tough. Nobody expects PSU to produce the 2008 team every year or even every ten years, but this was a bad year for Penn State. Aside from the relatively bad results on the court, there is not much on the bench or in the recruiting pipeline. Do we really expect Gorrell, Novakovic, Demure, Reed and Lee to be the stuff Big Ten champions and FF teams are made of? I don't. Look at the improvement which Minnesota had just by bringing in a good setter. They went from not making the tourney last year to being a #2 seed in the final four. I firmly believe that shoring up one weak link in the chain can make a world of difference. We suffered in the back row, so the new libero may help immensely. As for setter, after one full year for Weiskircher and Rivera, I believe they will both be better next year.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 22:57:19 GMT -5
That they set for themselves. Are you really suggesting that Rose has the same standards as those other "300 plus" teams for what defines a tough season? I'm suggesting (which I though my post clearly stated) that the standard set by doing something never before done and most likely never to be repeated is an impossible standard, a point that seemed pretty clear when I said "they are competing against an impossible standard" The standard for PSU teams and their coach if you are asking, is that each team has the responsibility to become the best team they can be. Sometimes that looks like winning titles, sometimes it does not. I don't believe this team met that standard, but had it, I don't believe they win it all anyway. As a very famous and successful Big ten volleyball coach from the state of Pennsylvania once told me "everything has an expiration date" After a 3rd round loss in the tourney this year, it’s easy to focus only on the lack of success, and lose sight of the larger life-goal: excellence. As Joe Paterno put it:
There are many people, particularly in sports, who think that success and excellence are the same thing. They are not the same thing. Excellence is something that is lasting and dependable and largely within a person’s control. In contrast, success is perishable and is often outside our control. If you strive for excellence, you will probably be successful eventually. People who put excellence in the first place have the patience to end up with success. An additional burden for the victim of the success mentality is that he is threatened by the success of others and he resents real excellence. In contrast, the person that is fascinated by quality is excited when he sees it in others.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 23:00:26 GMT -5
That expiration date comes a lot quicker if you don't keep up in recruiting. I though Salima was supposed to be one of the best recruiters out there. Time for her to earn her money and her Associate Head Coach title. Having an expiration date can go both ways. Losing or under achieving can have an expiration date too. Recruiting was down in 2015, IMO, because PSU did not have the scholarships to give. The NCAA only allows each program 12 volleyball scholarships to give out.
Also, I'll repost what Badgerbill said earlier, which makes a lot of sense.Penn State has had a couple of big and talented classes (5 to 6 athletes in a class) which may hurt recruiting (2016 and 2017 for example). If you recruit a whole starting lineup of studs in one season playing time limitations may be a turn off for future recruits.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 23:04:30 GMT -5
Which pin-hitter will play all 6 rotations? I'm assuming that Frantti will continue to play all 6 rotations in 2016, as she did in 2015. We'll have to wait and see who else can step up.
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Post by MTC on Dec 14, 2015 23:44:32 GMT -5
Next year there will be a couple of scary teams in the BIG 10 not named Penn state Actually, there be three teams fighting for the Big Ten title not named PSU.
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