BIG 10/BIG 12/ PAC 10 PREDICTS

[morkfromork]

TOP 5

BIG 10
PENN ST
MINN
PURDUE
OHIO ST
WISC

BIG 12
NU
TEXAS
BAYLOR
MISSOURI
TEXAS A&M

PAC 10
Stanford
UCLA
USC
WASHINGTON
CAL

[StanfordFan]

On PAC 10, I think pre-season ordering should be:

Stanford
USC
UCLA
WA
Cal
Oregon
AZ
ASU
OSU
WSU

I think UCLA will suffer for a good amount of time until they adjust to the loss of Meriwhether. She opened up their offense for them, and I'm not sure how well they'll adjust. Maybe Megan Schoen will be able to step in, but still a huge loss in Meriwhether.

I'm also curious how WA will adjust to loss of Thompson. I'm guessing hard. They've still got Morrison, and Collymore to step in for Sandell. Who's setting for them next year? Miyashiro or someone else?

[Deleted]

Why does WSU fall?

Why does Oregon stay in the middle of the PAC?

Back to the original post: I'll be very surprised if Wisky falls to #5 in the Big10. They should be better next year than they were this -- and they were Top Ten nationally. Even if that was overly generous, 5th seems unlikely.

[tsunami]

I would put Washington ahead of UCLA at this point.

Stanford, USC, Washington, UCLA, and Cal.

Only because of the big void Meriweather left behind. I don't think there will be another MB like Meriweather for a while at UCLA, she was a big contributor offensively for the Bruins.

Sather, Dali, Johnson, and All-American Nellie Spicer are definite starters...not really sure about the rest.

[cbrown1709]

Cal might not do as bad as everyone seems to think. Yes they replace Carter, but she really didn't have the best years after the promise she showed as a freshman. Their greatest loss is Davis. But they have some good ball control players and with a healthy Wiley and Orchard, they will be ok in the middle with Cutura, Pressey and Beck on the pins. Kathan may their answer to Davis.

[blastingsand]

tsunami said:

I would put Washington ahead of UCLA at this point.

Stanford, USC, Washington, UCLA, and Cal.

Only because of the big void Meriweather left behind. I don't think there will be another MB like Meriweather for a while at UCLA, she was a big contributor offensively for the Bruins.

Sather, Dali, Johnson, and All-American Nellie Spicer are definite starters...not really sure about the rest.

UCLA and Washington are probably equal toss ups. UCLA lost its best MB, OH and their libero, but so did Washington in 2005, yet the Huskies still did well in 2006. UCLA might be able to adjust as well.

[cbrown1709]

I would give the nod to UCLA only because they return a great quarterback in Spicer. Everything is up in the air without knowing how well the team will work with a new setter.

[baywatcher]

Everyone is discussing Pac 10, not the other conferences, which is fine by me as I know nothing of the others- Havve to go

Stanford
USC
Washington
UCLA
Cal
Arizona
ASU
Oregon
WSU
Oregon State

Stanford wons and returns almost everryone, although if Kline,man does not work out they will have issues at OH, but why would she not work out. USC returns just about everyone and has some players in their frosh class. Washington loses two players, but still has the great homecourt advantage and a year of experience for the remainder of their roster. If Collymore plays opposiite and shows up to her potential they could dominate. UCLA loses two All Americans and should fall off accordingly, meaning from third to fourth place, or tied for second to fourth. Cal will beat one or two of the teams ahead of them, but with a new setter will lose to a cople of teams below them, too. I look for Arizona to come back somewhat and Oregon to fall off a bit, as teams will target them and they have had losses, including the European transfer.

[standingroomonly1]

A typical start to a thread--and will probably be the middle and ending too. A thread is started and immediately the responses lean in the direction of the "western" teams. No wonder as the season approaches and actually gets underway the posts become more and more prevalent about some Big Ten player or team who is over rated or a team or coach who is an underachiever or something--reactions from western supporters who don't even see or necessarily follow other than Pac 10/Big 12 yet feel competent in passing speculation as fact based opinions.

[cbrown1709]

Who will be Wisconsin's other middle and other OH. I don't think the freshman Wack will make the impact that Dolgner did. But those are your only 2 worries. Simpson returns to run the team, with Reinke in the middle with Dolgner and Jeffers taking the spots of OH and RS. JWack returns in the back with Kuzma(freshman) can play backrow for anyone. Who do you guys feel will fill those 2 spots?

[wiscvball]

I'd agree that Wisc will finish higher than 5th... they should probably be the preseason #2 pick in the big ten. Carlini and Bladow are gone... Dykstra will probably step in for Bladow. She's a taller, longer MB than Bladow was, but just has much less experience. She'll be a junior next year (soph eligib), so hopefully she can step in and have a positive impact.

The O2 position will likely be filled by Caity DuPont or Salow... both saw time last year, but DuPont had the starting job when Carlini went down with injury and filled in pretty well. Some nice matches @ PSU, Purdue and Indiana (hitting over .300 in each).

My Standings:
PSU - look who they return, enough said.
Wisc - should be better than last year - Dolgner and Jeffers will carry a load offensively, but both have shown they can. Simpson should finally have all the confidence she needs to run the team beautifully.
Purdue - team will be one year older, which is nice, but can they find consistency setting?
Minnesota - loses a lot from 2006, but has a fantastic recruiting class and had a great middle and solid setter to build around. Could be better than 4th, could be as low as 5th... depends on how well they fill the many holes they will have at the beginning of the year.
OSU - Will be interesting to see how Meyer and Anna S react to double blocks all the time. Without Main there as a threat to dump every time, the buckeyes will be exposed as a pretty one dimensional offense.

[weeble]

No way Minnesota finishes as high as second. They have a great class coming in but the 4 seniors took up a ton of playing minutes. And 3 of their 4 passers need to be replaced.

[sweetspot]

Big Ten 2007

*The Big Ten will have 7 teams in the top 25 next year.

Penn State - Nobody is going to touch this team
Wisconsin- Dykstra will be the key
Purdue- Better back court play is a must
Michigan-Will be the surpise team in the conference and play the best defense
Ohio State- Freshman setter
Minnesota-Must replace four starters and all 75% of ball control
Ill-Will Kevin Hambly start putting his stamp on the program??
Michigan State- If they can get a transfer setter like last year could finish upper division
Northwestern- They are the same every year
Iowa-Will be better, but Big Ten is just too strong
Indiana- It could be another long fall in Bloomington
Indiana

[iknowiu]

IU will leave the bottom slots open for Michigan, Iowa, and Illinois.

[pedro el leon]

Some people on here really are underestimating Wazzu, I fully expect them to compete for a tourny spot(i.e. 1 through 6 or 7 in the pac10). That said I think Stanford will win the conference, USC/Washington will share second.

On the national level, Nebraska and Stanford will be 1 and 2 for the whole season unless someone on their teams royally f' up. PSU prolly a solid third and after that it's really up in the air. It will be an interesting year.