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Post by 5280volleyball on Nov 27, 2016 21:59:44 GMT -5
UNLV and not Illinois? Pfft. I don't know how UNLV gets an RPI of 33. But that's why they're in. They borrowed some of Russ Rose's committee photos. That's actually a good call as to who got your spot.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2016 22:14:32 GMT -5
So disappointing. We need left side pin hitters, people who can terminate. Our offense was as fast-paced and middle oriented as our passing and defense permitted. Last year when we were criticizing Birks we didn't give her credit for her ability to put the ball away, frequently with out of system sets. We should have appreciated her more. As for recruiting Illinois, I couldn't agree more. Next year we will have three players from Illinois. Donnelly, from Springfield, a walk-on ds, and an outside hitter who will probably never see the court as an outside hitter. While I am a big Hambly fan, he has to recruit Illinois, and he has to find some terminators. It doesn't seem like there's a rhyme or reason to the personnel he recruits. Land Poulter and want to go fast but recruit pins that are more high ball hitters. It's like they just try to recruit based off PVB rankings with no regard to strategic fit. I think they did try to find athletes that complement Poulter. It's a symptom of coaching staff instability and it translates to slow development. Recruiting choices can be a head scratcher, but again I think Kevin has a plan for their development but just has not executed in that plan. Not blaming the athletes. I think we just got stuck and weren't able to try anything new. Tough non conference matches, various injuries, etc. Here's to hoping the 2017 edition has more variety and we step out of the comfort zone a bit. This is the spring for Jason, Erin, and Kevin to work their magic. I know they can.
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Post by formerplaya on Nov 27, 2016 22:19:30 GMT -5
losing to Missouri State, Colorado, Stanford, and Oregon in that stretch early didn't help. They scheduled good teams...if they had won one of those matches or one more in the B1G, they get in. I think it came down to Colorado State beat Baylor, and Illinois didn't have anything to counter that. They lost 3 of those matches in 5 close sets. If I recall correctly, that was when Hambly was attempting to use both OH in all 6 rotations. Passing and defense were both a disaster early on. Hitting was also very error prone. All of these areas improved but not enough to counteract these early losses. From Scott Richey, News-Gazette: "Hambly saw Arkansas as a potential NCAA tournament team. The Razorbacks instead have dealt with injuries — including one that sidelined its top player all season — and gone 9-20 and rank 163rd in RPI. Omaha won the Summit League last season, but the Mavericks followed that up with an 8-22 record and the No. 264 RPI ranking. “Those guys have hurt us, but we’ve also hurt ourselves because we didn’t get enough wins,” Hambly said.
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Post by jcvball22 on Nov 27, 2016 22:26:17 GMT -5
I would guess that a big part of it was also going 3-7 in their final 10 matches, which is a criteria the committee considers. They were neck-and-neck with several other bubble teams, but that was the big difference.
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Post by Northern lights on Nov 27, 2016 22:29:33 GMT -5
I was surprised they did not pick Illinois. The committee obviously bumped up each BIG team, due to strength of conference. MSU, Michigan and Penn State all moved up to host teams. Given this and that Illinois finished ahead of Purdue in the BIG, I thought they would get selected.
This hurts the program, and probably recruiting a bit.
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Post by 5280volleyball on Nov 27, 2016 22:33:48 GMT -5
losing to Missouri State, Colorado, Stanford, and Oregon in that stretch early didn't help. They scheduled good teams...if they had won one of those matches or one more in the B1G, they get in. I think it came down to Colorado State beat Baylor, and Illinois didn't have anything to counter that. They lost 3 of those matches in 5 close sets. If I recall correctly, that was when Hambly was attempting to use both OH in all 6 rotations. Passing and defense were both a disaster early on. Hitting was also very error prone. All of these areas improved but not enough to counteract these early losses. I saw the match vs Colorado....they had Welsh in the back for Quade. They were horrible that night....Poulter was the best player on the floor by far, which is why it went 5. They need some better pins to take advantage of her.
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Post by alt on Nov 27, 2016 22:39:25 GMT -5
They lost 3 of those matches in 5 close sets. If I recall correctly, that was when Hambly was attempting to use both OH in all 6 rotations. Passing and defense were both a disaster early on. Hitting was also very error prone. All of these areas improved but not enough to counteract these early losses. I saw the match vs Colorado....they had Welsh in the back for Quade. They were horrible that night....Poulter was the best player on the floor by far, which is why it went 5. They need some better pins to take advantage of her. Hopefully their #15 recruit Kylie Deberg gets them going somewhere.
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Post by Northern lights on Nov 27, 2016 22:40:05 GMT -5
I find it's the lack of a consistent middle threat that hurts Illinois, at least every time I watch them play. Lots of high moon balls outside. Just wasting Poulter to me.
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Post by alt on Nov 27, 2016 22:50:13 GMT -5
I find it's the lack of a consistent middle threat that hurts Illinois, at least every time I watch them play. Lots of high moon balls outside. Just wasting Poulter to me. As of late the middles really did pick up. Stadick had 226 kills compared to Naya's 255. The thing that is missing is a terminal true six rotation hitter. Strizak was not a six ration hitter. They just made her stay back there. They didnt even use her most of the time for backrow attacks. Hambly needs to get more creative with plays. It just looks so simple out there or they arent scouting well enough or watching tape.
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Post by big10vb on Nov 27, 2016 22:51:51 GMT -5
I find it's the lack of a consistent middle threat that hurts Illinois, at least every time I watch them play. Lots of high moon balls outside. Just wasting Poulter to me. Bastianelli is very good. Illinois needs another big, quick, athletic middle. Is there a possible incoming recruit that will fulfill this criteria? From the times I watched them, I also saw the need for a consistent right side attack and block. The coaches now have time to start contemplating next season. Are any of the recruits starting early?
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Post by big10vb on Nov 27, 2016 22:58:18 GMT -5
What would Illinois RPI be if they had not played Arkansas and Omaha?
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Post by alt on Nov 27, 2016 23:02:11 GMT -5
I find it's the lack of a consistent middle threat that hurts Illinois, at least every time I watch them play. Lots of high moon balls outside. Just wasting Poulter to me. Bastianelli is very good. Illinois needs another big, quick, athletic middle. Is there a possible incoming recruit that will fulfill this criteria? From the times I watched them, I also saw the need for a consistent right side attack and block. The coaches now have time to start contemplating next season. Are any of the recruits starting early? Tyanna Omazic comes in she's ranked 51 from prepvolleyball. Do not think she will be better than stadick. She looks around 6'1. Young team next year we really need a transfer senior OH.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2016 23:03:44 GMT -5
I find it's the lack of a consistent middle threat that hurts Illinois, at least every time I watch them play. Lots of high moon balls outside. Just wasting Poulter to me. Bastianelli is very good. Illinois needs another big, quick, athletic middle. Is there a possible incoming recruit that will fulfill this criteria? From the times I watched them, I also saw the need for a consistent right side attack and block. The coaches now have time to start contemplating next season. Are any of the recruits starting early? Bastianelli is a very good blocker, but she doesn't do much offensively compared to other Big Ten middles. She's leading the entire nation in blocking by a substantial margin but she may not be looked at as an All-American due her lack of offensive production. Hopefully they can bring out more in her offensively next season.
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Post by alt on Nov 27, 2016 23:08:26 GMT -5
Bastianelli is very good. Illinois needs another big, quick, athletic middle. Is there a possible incoming recruit that will fulfill this criteria? From the times I watched them, I also saw the need for a consistent right side attack and block. The coaches now have time to start contemplating next season. Are any of the recruits starting early? Bastianelli is a very good blocker, but she doesn't do much offensively compared to other Big Ten middles. She's leading the entire nation in blocking by a substantial margin but she may not be looked at as an All-American due her lack of offensive production. Hopefully they can bring out more in her offensively next season. I think it's primarily serve receive is just horrible for Illinois. She does not get as many chances. She's hitting at a good percentage.
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Post by brucks on Nov 27, 2016 23:23:37 GMT -5
Bastianelli is very good. Illinois needs another big, quick, athletic middle. Is there a possible incoming recruit that will fulfill this criteria? From the times I watched them, I also saw the need for a consistent right side attack and block. The coaches now have time to start contemplating next season. Are any of the recruits starting early? Tyanna Omazic comes in she's ranked 51 from prepvolleyball. Do not think she will be better than stadick. She looks around 6'1. Young team next year we really need a transfer senior OH. I liked the little bit that I saw of Hranicka this year. Felt that she should have gotten more minutes when Stadick had that club on her hand.
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