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Post by bbk on Jan 29, 2019 10:53:04 GMT -5
Stanford clearly has less than a 50% chance of going undefeated. I don't know if they will be better than last year - but they look like the clear best team in the country and the added depth of their Freshman class makes the floor on this team extraordinarily high. I mean, they could probably lose Plummer for the season and still be the best team in the country. This notion that Stanford is going to miss Alade? Stanford is stacked - they are going to be great. But that is different than going undefeated - especially in the PAC or B1G. I think people underestimate the improvement of teams. The natural tendency is to look at the players lost to graduation and making the assumption that their replacement cannot possibly be better therefore the team will be worse. If this was really the case - then every team would be worse the following season and all the teams of today are worse than teams of yesterday and teams of tomorrow will be worse than teams of today - and this is illogical. Minnesota loses SSS - but there is a chance they are a better team this year. Nebraska loses Foecke - and it is very possible that Nebraska ends up better this year. I am not betting on this - but it is possible - and there is enough of these that there will some of these really good teams from last year that will be better next year. Statistically - I would guess that Stanford's odds of going undefeated are way south of 20%. Then I would shift the odds to 3-1 after that synopsis.
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Post by bigfan on Jan 29, 2019 12:38:00 GMT -5
Stanford will repeat as Champions. They will probably drop a couple of match's in 2019. Every match they play will be somebody's National Championship.
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Post by holidayhusker on Jan 29, 2019 12:47:31 GMT -5
Like Nebraska they seem to be slow starters and their own worst enemies at times.They sure have the talent to accomplish it however.
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Post by hammer on Jan 29, 2019 13:11:33 GMT -5
We haven't seen the schedule yet, which can determine whether "Run the Table" is in the Card. So far, best as I can tell, the 2019 schedule has Stanford @ Penn St to play both the Kitty Lions and Minny. The Nebraska match is an unknown as in another thread it was posted that a new tournament will start in 2020 involving RED, Stanford, Louisville, and KY. I don't know about the home and home with Texas either -- although Kevin said Stanford would like to schedule it, but don't know about Texas wanting to do it again. BYU probably owes us a return match at Maples, so that's another fairly tough match.
Regarding Stanford's talent level, I would agree that this is perhaps the most loaded team they will put on a gym floor to start a season in their history, assuming Kipp plays anywhere near the level she exhibited at the UA match.
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Jan 29, 2019 14:01:44 GMT -5
No.
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Post by staticb on Jan 29, 2019 14:22:55 GMT -5
It is way harder to be the hunted and stay on top a whole season. There's teams talented enough to beat them 5-10% of the time and it's not unthinkable that someone will.
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Post by wonderwarthog79 on Jan 29, 2019 15:20:23 GMT -5
Last year, I predicted they would lose six times, so I've forfeited all rights to say anything about this year. Nonetheless, I'll say no undefeated season. They have some tough early matches, and somebody in the PAC will nail them on the road. Alade is a big loss, and I'm always skeptical of the new players until I see them play.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Jan 29, 2019 15:30:10 GMT -5
"The field" is always a good bet!
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Post by saywhatnow on Jan 29, 2019 15:32:48 GMT -5
Stanford will repeat as Champions. They will probably drop a couple of match's in 2019. Every match they play will be somebody's National Championship. Truth...all it takes is an off night in the Pac-12 on the road...pooof, there goes your undefeated season.
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Post by bbk on Jan 29, 2019 15:37:40 GMT -5
"The field" is always a good bet! Agreed but many of the top 25 would be anywhere from 10-1 to 50 - 1. Those not mentioned would be extreme longshots and would be 30 -1
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Post by Cruz'n on Jan 29, 2019 16:26:51 GMT -5
Two biggest keys to Stanford winning it all next season:
1. Stay healthy
2. Stay fired up
Being undefeated adds more and more pressure as the season progresses. Losing to BYU was a good thing for the Card last year. Not being #1 much of the season relieved a lot of pressure, and increased the team's focus.
Same thing next year. If they lose a match early on, or even mid-season, it will take pressure off, and increase their chances of winning it all. I will still be rooting for running the table, but it will be tense tense tense down the stretch if that happens.
It was incredible what Penn State was able to do, not just in terms of matches, but also sets.
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Post by donut on Jan 29, 2019 17:31:56 GMT -5
Stanford clearly has less than a 50% chance of going undefeated. I don't know if they will be better than last year - but they look like the clear best team in the country and the added depth of their Freshman class makes the floor on this team extraordinarily high. I mean, they could probably lose Plummer for the season and still be the best team in the country. This notion that Stanford is going to miss Alade? Stanford is stacked - they are going to be great. But that is different than going undefeated - especially in the PAC or B1G. I think people underestimate the improvement of teams. The natural tendency is to look at the players lost to graduation and making the assumption that their replacement cannot possibly be better therefore the team will be worse. If this was really the case - then every team would be worse the following season and all the teams of today are worse than teams of yesterday and teams of tomorrow will be worse than teams of today - and this is illogical. Minnesota loses SSS - but there is a chance they are a better team this year. Nebraska loses Foecke - and it is very possible that Nebraska ends up better this year. I am not betting on this - but it is possible - and there is enough of these that there will some of these really good teams from last year that will be better next year. Statistically - I would guess that Stanford's odds of going undefeated are way south of 20%. I love and agree with all of this, except for the yellow, which is a streeeettttcchhhhh.
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Post by donut on Jan 29, 2019 17:39:58 GMT -5
Nebraska-their toughest competition in 2018 loses the best player in program history (Foecke) and one of the nation's top liberos. They have a strong recruiting class back and a young roster, but I don't think anyone expects them to hang with Stanford like they did last month.Pretty sure no one expected Nebraska to hang with Stanford in the Championship either. And Nebraska did, and then some.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2019 17:49:02 GMT -5
As good as they were in 2018, there weren't a lot of matches they played against top competition where I thought, "Wow! How do you beat this team?" the way you had with Penn State at its pinnacle, and even that PSU team had to pull one out of the fire against Nebraska. I actually would have slightly favored Minnesota in a title match if it had come to that, but Oregon was Minnesota's kryptonite. I have felt for the past 2+ years that Stanford was the best team, with the best player, and they still lost in 2017. Far from unbeatable.
They will be the best team in the country again, without question. Will be interesting to see how they work Kipp into the mix. Maybe you get some preseason struggles (relatively speaking) as you figure out your best lineup. Certainly any of Texas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, PSU or Nebraska could beat them on any given night. But, I don't think anyone can beat them if they play their best. Stanford's best will be better than everyone else's best.
Take the field on this one
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Post by hammer on Jan 29, 2019 21:16:06 GMT -5
I agree, very hard to go undefeated but I do believe that ... +will make it hard to avoid this ...
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