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Post by beavis on Oct 21, 2019 23:11:53 GMT -5
OK, so I have been thinking about this for awhile (as I am sure many of you have), and I have come up with my new #1 US Women's team when April retires. Why not Alix and Karissa? After watching her closely for the past few years (and then watching her set in the finals of the recent 4x4 tourney), I think that she would really compliment Alix well. Karissa is one of the smartest players out there, and her sideout ability, setting and attitude are really strong. I realize that she has never really long-term partnered with a true big and exclusively played defense, but she and Alix are roughly the same age, and it seems as though she is really good at anticipating shots and so could perhaps blossom into a high level defender. Am I crazy? Wait, don't answer that - just tell me your thoughts!
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Post by johnbar on Oct 22, 2019 0:05:30 GMT -5
Not crazy. I thought there was a bigger age difference, but Klineman is only about 15 months older than Cook. You know they played together at Stanford (indoor) for two years, right?
OTOH, is Cook really the best Klineman can do? Not sure about that. She is a very good setter and defender.
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Post by pepperclove on Oct 22, 2019 0:18:10 GMT -5
I think Cook is a bit underrated, and I agree she would make a good defender, but Alix will have her pick of the American defenders when April retires. I’d like to see Cook get some more FIVB experience in the meantime.
Random related thought - does anyone else think Hughes should have called Cook as a temporary partner while Summer was out? I would have been curious to see how they would have done together. Obviously Brandie was a great pickup for the AVP events they played, but Hughes could have tried to win CQ matches with Cook to prevent other teams from getting main draw points.
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Post by gobruins on Oct 22, 2019 5:15:04 GMT -5
OK, so I have been thinking about this for awhile (as I am sure many of you have), and I have come up with my new #1 US Women's team when April retires. Why not Alix and Karissa? After watching her closely for the past few years (and then watching her set in the finals of the recent 4x4 tourney), I think that she would really compliment Alix well. Karissa is one of the smartest players out there, and her sideout ability, setting and attitude are really strong. I realize that she has never really long-term partnered with a true big and exclusively played defense, but she and Alix are roughly the same age, and it seems as though she is really good at anticipating shots and so could perhaps blossom into a high level defender. Am I crazy? Wait, don't answer that - just tell me your thoughts! Who was the guy who was pushing Brian Cook as the next great men's player? Beginning to wonder if the Cook family is running a great PR campaign.
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Post by guest2 on Oct 22, 2019 5:23:06 GMT -5
There will be a gold rush for Alix if/when April retires but its hard to see what advantages Cook has over any of the other contenders. (Flint, Sponcil, Hughes, Stockman are the most likely names)
Of those five (adding Cook for argument's sake)
Cook is the second oldest (Stockman is older, Betsi is a year younger, Saras are much younger)
Cook has the fewest international points (Alix would need to play Qs and CQs for the better part of a year)
Cook is the weakest defender (Both Saras have the potential to be top 5 defenders in the world, Cook doesnt have that kind of potential)
Cook is probably the slowest and the Saras are in another league in terms of quickness. Speed should be a key quality when Alix makes her decision because as Alix' block continues to improve, a waterbug defender would create a scoring juggernaut ala MHPavs
In terms of the strengths offered above for Cook:
Sponcil is the best setter of the bunch - until refs enforce a reasonable standard anyway. I dont see Cook as any better than the others in this category, certainly not enough that Alix, who doesn't need a great set anyway, would make a decision based on it.
Cook sides out better than Sponcil, but hard to say she is better than the other three in this respect, and I would put her 3rd or 4th on this list with less room to improve. Also her record against international class teams is very poor so it remains to be seen if she can get the ball down against the type of teams she will play more often on the FIVB. (It decreased as the season went on but teams were serving her plenty even while she played with a comparatively weak partner.)
Strong cases can be made for Hughes, Sponcil and Flint and some argument for Stockman as Alix's next partner, but Cook doesnt seem to have much in the way of advantages over any of them.
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Post by beavis on Oct 22, 2019 9:37:45 GMT -5
All good points! I forgot that they were partners at Stanford, Johnbar! I know this was a reach, but the many times I have actually watched her play in person during the past few years, and no matter which partner she has been with, she just seems to have that hard to quantify quality about her which settles her teammate down and allows her to make the really smart play. If not Alix (which I realize is unlikely given all of the defensive talent out there), I sure hope she can find a true big to pair with so that we can see what she is capable of!
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Post by dunninla3 on Oct 23, 2019 16:10:22 GMT -5
Cook unfortunately is a little like Trevor ... a Tweener. Decent block, decent set, OK on defense, great in transition and very good and smart sideout.
Alix doesn't need a Tweener. She needs a quick pure defender with good sideout. That is actually where April fails to be the best match for Alix... April's defense and setting are below average. It's getting to the point in the game, given the way the rules are enforced, where a bump setter is a liability.
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