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Post by ajm on Mar 25, 2024 12:57:15 GMT -5
Another strong result for the Bello brothers. Last fall people were discrediting them and Bud/Evans for good results at "weak challengers" meanwhile both teams make semis again at what could be considered one of the most important challenge events of the qualification period. It is really too bad the Cuban guys aren't able to participate in more events. They play so well for the amount of time they've played world tour events. The Cubans have seven finishes and are signed up for the next four events. Their average finish is a decent 591 points. If they play those events and then do one more in May or June, they’ll be in a pretty good spot to make it to Paris on points.
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Post by burnabyjo on Mar 25, 2024 13:06:11 GMT -5
Another strong result for the Bello brothers. Last fall people were discrediting them and Bud/Evans for good results at "weak challengers" meanwhile both teams make semis again at what could be considered one of the most important challenge events of the qualification period. It is really too bad the Cuban guys aren't able to participate in more events. They play so well for the amount of time they've played world tour events. The Cubans have seven finishes and are signed up for the next four events. Their average finish is a decent 591 points. If they play those events and then do one more in May or June, they’ll be in a pretty good spot to make it to Paris on points. not at all what I was saying but yes you are right on that. I am just saying they have played very limited amount of events overall. Last year only playing in events in Mexico and Brazil. Also norceca and pan am games. It would be nice to see them playing the European and Asian events as well, I don't know what their deal is with the Cuban federation but I can't imagine it is an easy situation getting support and earning money.
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Post by ajm on Mar 25, 2024 14:19:56 GMT -5
The Cubans have seven finishes and are signed up for the next four events. Their average finish is a decent 591 points. If they play those events and then do one more in May or June, they’ll be in a pretty good spot to make it to Paris on points. not at all what I was saying but yes you are right on that. I am just saying they have played very limited amount of events overall. Last year only playing in events in Mexico and Brazil. Also norceca and pan am games. It would be nice to see them playing the European and Asian events as well, I don't know what their deal is with the Cuban federation but I can't imagine it is an easy situation getting support and earning money. Yes I agree with that. If they regularly trained with and competed against the best teams I think they’d be a consistent podium contender at the Elite 16 level. They still might get there as it is even with their limited schedule. They are signed up for the Xiamen Challenger next month, so maybe that’s a sign their federation is going to let them travel more this year.
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Post by guest2 on Mar 25, 2024 15:08:36 GMT -5
Eric Wurts would like a word with all 3 of them Only vid I found when I searched his name. He's quick and athletic. Also very hairy. His nickname was the Rocket Squirrel. I think he was originally from CA but one of the best players on the east coast for 20 or more years it seemed like
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Post by burnabyjo on Mar 25, 2024 15:26:20 GMT -5
not at all what I was saying but yes you are right on that. I am just saying they have played very limited amount of events overall. Last year only playing in events in Mexico and Brazil. Also norceca and pan am games. It would be nice to see them playing the European and Asian events as well, I don't know what their deal is with the Cuban federation but I can't imagine it is an easy situation getting support and earning money. Yes I agree with that. If they regularly trained with and competed against the best teams I think they’d be a consistent podium contender at the Elite 16 level. They still might get there as it is even with their limited schedule. They are signed up for the Xiamen Challenger next month, so maybe that’s a sign their federation is going to let them travel more this year. agree with you on that one, they are very tough to stop. Even at world champs they were doing well but somehow the wheels fell off against Rossi/Lupo in playoffs. I wonder if they were unable to handle the pressure of a bigger event? I didn't previously consider that they were trying to qualify by points, but they will have just enough events meet the criteria. I expected that they were just doing the bare minimum and would try to qualify through the norceca route. I heard that they don't exactly see the prize money. Definitely very complicated playing for Cuban national team. Like how things have worked with their talented indoor players for a long time.
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Post by beachcoach on Mar 25, 2024 18:03:15 GMT -5
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Post by COVAlove on Mar 25, 2024 22:01:52 GMT -5
Yes I agree with that. If they regularly trained with and competed against the best teams I think they’d be a consistent podium contender at the Elite 16 level. They still might get there as it is even with their limited schedule. They are signed up for the Xiamen Challenger next month, so maybe that’s a sign their federation is going to let them travel more this year. agree with you on that one, they are very tough to stop. Even at world champs they were doing well but somehow the wheels fell off against Rossi/Lupo in playoffs. I wonder if they were unable to handle the pressure of a bigger event? I didn't previously consider that they were trying to qualify by points, but they will have just enough events meet the criteria. I expected that they were just doing the bare minimum and would try to qualify through the norceca route. I heard that they don't exactly see the prize money. Definitely very complicated playing for Cuban national team. Like how things have worked with their talented indoor players for a long time. Cubans stock is still steadily climbing. It’s all mainly tied to Noslen’s development. I haven’t caught him live in a while but watched a lot of this team over the last 2-3 years. Alayo is a relative constant with his block and big swings, and Noslen’s development defensively is the growth focus for these guys. They are a blast to watch.
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Post by houdini on Mar 26, 2024 1:15:30 GMT -5
Only vid I found when I searched his name. He's quick and athletic. Also very hairy. His nickname was the Rocket Squirrel. I think he was originally from CA but one of the best players on the east coast for 20 or more years it seemed like East Coast NYC Erik Pavels (later Rutgers indoor coach) was pretty good too - with average partners. His daughter Melanie later played at FSU.
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Post by acrossthepond on Mar 26, 2024 4:19:02 GMT -5
agree with you on that one, they are very tough to stop. Even at world champs they were doing well but somehow the wheels fell off against Rossi/Lupo in playoffs. I wonder if they were unable to handle the pressure of a bigger event? I didn't previously consider that they were trying to qualify by points, but they will have just enough events meet the criteria. I expected that they were just doing the bare minimum and would try to qualify through the norceca route. I heard that they don't exactly see the prize money. Definitely very complicated playing for Cuban national team. Like how things have worked with their talented indoor players for a long time. Cubans stock is still steadily climbing. It’s all mainly tied to Noslen’s development. I haven’t caught him live in a while but watched a lot of this team over the last 2-3 years. Alayo is a relative constant with his block and big swings, and Noslen’s development defensively is the growth focus for these guys. They are a blast to watch. They are still a bit inconsistent and they have not much wiggle room. Their average points are a bit inflated with their NORCECA title and could easily drop a bit if they finish with a couple of 9th placed finishes at Challengers (can happen quickly with a bad draw)
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Post by guest2 on Mar 26, 2024 4:37:44 GMT -5
Cubans stock is still steadily climbing. It’s all mainly tied to Noslen’s development. I haven’t caught him live in a while but watched a lot of this team over the last 2-3 years. Alayo is a relative constant with his block and big swings, and Noslen’s development defensively is the growth focus for these guys. They are a blast to watch. They are still a bit inconsistent and they have not much wiggle room. Their average points are a bit inflated with their NORCECA title and could easily drop a bit if they finish with a couple of 9th placed finishes at Challengers (can happen quickly with a bad draw) I'm usually the wet blanket so Ill play my role. The Cuba hype is way out of proportion to what they have done. Its hard to judge because they basically took all of last summer off, but in the events they played in 23 and this one, they are probably about .500 versus Challenge level teams. When they win it looks great, but even this year they got beat in 2 by a lousy Austrian team, beaten by the Bellos and were spanked by Evandro. Thats 1 weak, 1 above average, and 1 very good Challenge team. In their last two FIVB events last year, they were 4-5 with two of the wins coming against non-pros, so really 2-5. All of the 5 losses were to Challenge teams. Go back further its more of the same.
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Post by overonone on Mar 26, 2024 9:17:11 GMT -5
They are still a bit inconsistent and they have not much wiggle room. Their average points are a bit inflated with their NORCECA title and could easily drop a bit if they finish with a couple of 9th placed finishes at Challengers (can happen quickly with a bad draw) I'm usually the wet blanket so Ill play my role. The Cuba hype is way out of proportion to what they have done. Its hard to judge because they basically took all of last summer off, but in the events they played in 23 and this one, they are probably about .500 versus Challenge level teams. When they win it looks great, but even this year they got beat in 2 by a lousy Austrian team, beaten by the Bellos and were spanked by Evandro. Thats 1 weak, 1 above average, and 1 very good Challenge team. In their last two FIVB events last year, they were 4-5 with two of the wins coming against non-pros, so really 2-5. All of the 5 losses were to Challenge teams. Go back further its more of the same. Guest2, have you considered changing your handle to “wet blanket”? 😀 Actually, I think “voice of reason” would be more suitable.
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Post by swift on Mar 26, 2024 10:55:32 GMT -5
Now I'm a bit confused because I just realized that the two Cubans who almost won a medal at the olympic games in Rio were two different players, right? But the blocker was smaller than the defender too and the defender was also a tall, lanky guy who hit crazy angles. Funny that both these teams are/look so similar.
anyway, back to topic. The Cubans can be a dangerous team but like guest2 pointed out they definitely don't always play as well as they did in Recife. Which was also just a challenger.
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Post by ajm on Mar 26, 2024 11:47:16 GMT -5
Now I'm a bit confused because I just realized that the two Cubans who almost won a medal at the olympic games in Rio were two different players, right? But the blocker was smaller than the defender too and the defender was also a tall, lanky guy who hit crazy angles. Funny that both these teams are/look so similar. anyway, back to topic. The Cubans can be a dangerous team but like guest2 pointed out they definitely don't always play as well as they did in Recife. Which was also just a challenger. I believe I read that one of them is the brother of one of the Cubans who impressed at the Rio Olympics.
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Post by burnabyjo on Mar 26, 2024 12:06:21 GMT -5
They are still a bit inconsistent and they have not much wiggle room. Their average points are a bit inflated with their NORCECA title and could easily drop a bit if they finish with a couple of 9th placed finishes at Challengers (can happen quickly with a bad draw) I'm usually the wet blanket so Ill play my role. The Cuba hype is way out of proportion to what they have done. Its hard to judge because they basically took all of last summer off, but in the events they played in 23 and this one, they are probably about .500 versus Challenge level teams. When they win it looks great, but even this year they got beat in 2 by a lousy Austrian team, beaten by the Bellos and were spanked by Evandro. Thats 1 weak, 1 above average, and 1 very good Challenge team. In their last two FIVB events last year, they were 4-5 with two of the wins coming against non-pros, so really 2-5. All of the 5 losses were to Challenge teams. Go back further its more of the same. To take the opposite side, it was likely their first time playing in Asia, besides a long trip they took to Russia last year. First tournament of the year where they got beat in 2 by "Lousy Austrian team" who is actually Swiss Krattiger/Breer. We don't know what their preparation or travel looked like going to Doha for that qualifier but I would think nothing about playing for the Cuban federation is easy. Also, if you simply select their worst events and ignore their best results you could make almost any team look far better or worse than they truly are. Spanked by Evandro sure, but the best server in the world for nearly a decade was crushing every team with his serve? Let me select some of their nice results. At Tlaxcala WCH they beat Perusic/Schweiner who won the event just a few days later. At the Pan am games they beat Andre/George (good team or no?) in pool play, took Smith/Webber for an educational beatdown in the semis, then lost to Andre/George 13-15 in the final. At Itapema challenger last year and only their second event on world tour aside from WCH they beat Crabb/Sander, Pedophile/Immers and then Renato/Vitor before finishing 4th. Also good enough to take a set from Stoya/Leshukov in Russian tour last September. Lost it 21-16 7-21 8-15 ouch... I recall you saying similar stuff about the Bellos last fall after their challenger success, so I expect more solid results from this Cuban team. Maybe not next event in Saquarema, but it could be later in the year. Let's see how they do!
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Post by mrknuckle on Mar 26, 2024 13:33:04 GMT -5
I wonder if there has ever been a team as short as the Bellos, that has had reasonable success on the world stage? They are certainly great players. I remember Bruno and Pedro was the best in the world for a short while. Pedro is not short but even then he was very small for a blocker.
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