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Post by huskervbfan on Aug 7, 2007 21:57:45 GMT -5
It does seeme like some team makes their year by beating UT out of nowhere, it would be nice if some teams could do that to NU this season too, but not likely It certainly happened last season with Colorado so it is definitely not out of the question. With Texas relying on more underclassmen than Nebraska, seeing them drop an unexpected match would not be too surprising again this season either.
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Post by bearwatch on Aug 7, 2007 22:06:21 GMT -5
Baylor at nine is about right. Expecting to see the Bears any higher is a reach. Why would a 6-14 conference record warrant a high preseason conference ranking? Baylor's cream puff non conference schedule allowed them to finish above .500 last season but considering those wins were fluff and puff, It's nothing to be impressed with. Furthermore, they got SPANKED by CAL, the only top 25 non conference opponent they faced. Expecting to see Baylor on any volleyball radar blimp is like sitting in a boat in the middle of Loch Ness expecting Nessie to make an appearence. Ha, ha, ha, good one. Baylor finished 7th last year in the Big 12 and return a solid nucleus with great talent coming in. A&M finished 8th and KState 9th. How do they move ahead? What's your argument there? Nothing to do with Pre-season schedule or making fun of my team, what is your argument for these teams moving ahead when it was clear Baylor was moving up last season and these team were moving down. At least OverandUnder mentioned the weight of history in these polls, but you give nothing. Just a high and mighty "9th is about right". Mizzou losses a lot also, another team Baylor beat and I believe will do so 2 times this year.
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Post by bucky415 on Aug 8, 2007 0:27:18 GMT -5
I think the conference as a whole will be down this year, as the 3-9 teams don't have the kind of returning talent that they have had in recent years. Maybe some players will step up their games or some newcomers will make a mark quickly, but otherwise I see a really significant gap from 2-3 in the league this season. Nebraska and Texas will be really formidable, though, so the league isn't in that bad of shape. It also helps that ISU, Baylor, and OU have all made significant strides recently, so there is a lot of hope for a return to the strength throughout the league that we saw last year in the future.
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Post by vbdigger on Aug 8, 2007 7:13:06 GMT -5
First of all, I would definitely have to agree with the top 2 spots in the Big XII, but after that it could be WIDE open for spots 3-8. This could be a very interesting year in the Big XII and hopefully everyone stays healthy and final seedings aren't determined by which teams possibly lose out due to injuries. I'm also very happy to see this Conference finally realized that defense and passing is a huge part of a successful team. Most of the other conference's put a Libero or DS on their Pre-season and Post Season teams, so Congrats to Tatum Ailes for being selected to this team.
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Post by OverAndUnder on Aug 8, 2007 8:50:53 GMT -5
My problem with putting Baylor higher than 6th is that they have centered their game plan around Desiree Guillard-Young for four years, and there is no way of knowing how they will adjust to her graduation.
While I think Baylor has only a 20% chance of getting as high as 5th place, I am in definite agreement with Taylor Barnes being voted to the All-Conference team. As a setter she has very smooth consistent tempo and location, and as an all-around player is a threat both at the net and at the service line. If Baylor can recruit some more hitters for her to work with, and if she takes advantage of off-season workouts to tone up, she could appear on one of the All-American lists her junior/senior seasons.
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Post by southie on Aug 8, 2007 10:10:48 GMT -5
Yeah, I was thinking Baylor is way too low. Its going to be an alley fight from 2 on down. No disrespect to Texas but they have to show me how they play first. I can respect that......Texas is a perennial underachiever, if they play up to their potential they are hands down #2, poss #1, they could poss tie NU if they split their matches and beat everyone else How quickly everyone forgets that Texas lost two 2005 All-American middle blockers (Brandy Magee in first game, and Leticia Armstrong during the season), and still advanced to the Elite 8 in 2006 . . .
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Post by cmmhc4 on Aug 8, 2007 10:36:47 GMT -5
My problem with putting Baylor higher than 6th is that they have centered their game plan around Desiree Guillard-Young for four years, and there is no way of knowing how they will adjust to her graduation. Not to mention the loss of LeBlanc. It appears they're losing a lot for being such a young team. We'll see though... I thought they'd be a little higher and I'm sure if they live up to the hype (BearWatch), they'll do much better than this prediction.
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Post by BearClause on Aug 8, 2007 10:46:06 GMT -5
Baylor at nine is about right. Expecting to see the Bears any higher is a reach. Why would a 6-14 conference record warrant a high preseason conference ranking? Baylor's cream puff non conference schedule allowed them to finish above .500 last season but considering those wins were fluff and puff, It's nothing to be impressed with. Furthermore, they got SPANKED by CAL, the only top 25 non conference opponent they faced. Expecting to see Baylor on any volleyball radar blimp is like sitting in a boat in the middle of Loch Ness expecting Nessie to make an appearence. Ha, ha, ha, good one. Baylor finished 7th last year in the Big 12 and return a solid nucleus with great talent coming in. A&M finished 8th and KState 9th. How do they move ahead? What's your argument there? Nothing to do with Pre-season schedule or making fun of my team, what is your argument for these teams moving ahead when it was clear Baylor was moving up last season and these team were moving down. At least OverandUnder mentioned the weight of history in these polls, but you give nothing. Just a high and mighty "9th is about right". Mizzou losses a lot also, another team Baylor beat and I believe will do so 2 times this year. The skepticism is that they lost two very good four year starters, and that their conference competition has been recruiting instant impact players of the type that Baylor hasn't been able to land on a regular basis. Whether they regress or not will be interesting.
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Post by vbobsessed on Aug 8, 2007 12:19:04 GMT -5
Freshman or not, UT has a pretty big gap between themselves and whoever is #3. They do however always seem to drop a match or two that leaves you scratching your head. Last year UT lost to Cal Poly in 5, Penn State in 5, Oklahoma in 5, Nebraska in 5 & 3, Stanford in 4 and they were swept by Missouri. All of those teams made the tourney. Missouri scared the poop out of Stanford at Maples in the 2nd round. We (UT) should have beaten Cal Poly, Penn State, OU & Nebraska (at home), but I would not categorize any of those losses as head-scrathin'. Oh wait, never mind. The OU loss, at the time, made me scratch my head. OU's final ranking of 12, however, was not solely based on one win over UT. I will agree with you that, in previous years, UT's losses AND wins left me confused (2005 L@ISU, 2004 W@UF), but less so last year My problem with putting Baylor higher than 6th is that they have centered their game plan around Desiree Guillard-Young for four years, and there is no way of knowing how they will adjust to her graduation. While I think Baylor has only a 20% chance of getting as high as 5th place, I am in definite agreement with Taylor Barnes being voted to the All-Conference team. As a setter she has very smooth consistent tempo and location, and as an all-around player is a threat both at the net and at the service line. If Baylor can recruit some more hitters for her to work with, and if she takes advantage of off-season workouts to tone up, she could appear on one of the All-American lists her junior/senior seasons. OandU, I also agree with you that the loss of Guillard-Young & Leblanc are big for Baylor. The poll appears to take that into consideration, while ignoring the losses of Jessica Vander Kooi and Nicole Wilson. Both were all conference and go-to players for MU. Obviously the Big12 coaches are aware of Taylor Barnes' talents. She was able to distribute the ball very well to all of her hitters last year, especially the other freshmen. I continue to feel that great setting is key, and with 4 setters on the coaches' All-Preseason list, I am not the only one. But we disagree on how far up the ranks they can carry their respective teams. TAMU's rank confuses me. If the coaches felt that one of their inbound transfers was going to make a big difference, they should have voted one of them as Newcomer of the Year. And finally, congratulations to Tatum Ailes for being the first DS/L to ever be named to a Big12 Preseason list. She's a good one.
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Post by mobuff on Aug 8, 2007 15:30:57 GMT -5
It was announced today that CU's Amber Sutherland will redshirt this upcoming season. She had surgery (possibly shoulder) after last season, and it looks like she may need more time to recover. Mallori Gibson is solid on the outside, and it will come down to Kelsey Loop or newcomer Kirsten Wicks for that final spot. Loop got in a lot of swings this past spring. Let's hope that built up her confidence. It's going to be a rough year for CU with only senior on the roster. I hope they can rally around each other and beat expectations.
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Post by The Bofa on the Sofa on Aug 8, 2007 15:49:11 GMT -5
TAMU's rank confuses me. If the coaches felt that one of their inbound transfers was going to make a big difference, they should have voted one of them as Newcomer of the Year. Nah, its just that everyone expects that the Russian player at KSU to be HUGE. She's good. Very good. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see her listed. I wasn't sure how many Big 12 coaches knew much about her. Not being as good as her is not a knock to anyone. That's just how good she is expected to be.
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Post by bearwatch on Aug 8, 2007 21:30:51 GMT -5
Ha, ha, ha, good one. Baylor finished 7th last year in the Big 12 and return a solid nucleus with great talent coming in. A&M finished 8th and KState 9th. How do they move ahead? What's your argument there? Nothing to do with Pre-season schedule or making fun of my team, what is your argument for these teams moving ahead when it was clear Baylor was moving up last season and these team were moving down. At least OverandUnder mentioned the weight of history in these polls, but you give nothing. Just a high and mighty "9th is about right". Mizzou losses a lot also, another team Baylor beat and I believe will do so 2 times this year. The skepticism is that they lost two very good four year starters, and that their conference competition has been recruiting instant impact players of the type that Baylor hasn't been able to land on a regular basis. Whether they regress or not will be interesting. Yes, they did lose 2 very good seniors but the conference teams 2-8 have all lost even more. Not sure what you're talking about landing impact players. Baylors last 2 classes were ranked 16th and 30th including this years impact player Haley Thomas 1st team All-American and top Kill/block player in Junior College. I thought she would win the newcomer award. I think the fact that G-Young was 6-5 and had some big blocking stats made people think she was the go to player but the facts are she wasn't very good under pressure and was a very inconsistant player. I thought the freshmen Breyfogle was much better and made a bigger impact. Just going to have to go out there and show them that we are for real... Can't wait to see the looks on the other Big 12 coaches face when they come into the Ferrell Center and get smoked...
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Post by bearwatch on Aug 8, 2007 21:31:29 GMT -5
I know, I'm boasting again. Go ahead and slam me:)
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Post by Tex_VB_Fan on Aug 8, 2007 21:53:53 GMT -5
The skepticism is that they lost two very good four year starters, and that their conference competition has been recruiting instant impact players of the type that Baylor hasn't been able to land on a regular basis. Whether they regress or not will be interesting. Yes, they did lose 2 very good seniors but the conference teams 2-8 have all lost even more. Not sure what you're talking about landing impact players. Baylors last 2 classes were ranked 16th and 30th including this years impact player Haley Thomas 1st team All-American and top Kill/block player in Junior College. I thought she would win the newcomer award. I think the fact that G-Young was 6-5 and had some big blocking stats made people think she was the go to player but the facts are she wasn't very good under pressure and was a very inconsistant player. I thought the freshmen Breyfogle was much better and made a bigger impact. Just going to have to go out there and show them that we are for real... Can't wait to see the looks on the other Big 12 coaches face when they come into the Ferrell Center and get smoked... See you in November bearwatch. Shall I bring the zig zags? ;D
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Post by Revellowski on Aug 9, 2007 1:02:20 GMT -5
I for one would love to see Baylor have a great year. For some reason I have always been a fan of that team. Who was the player several years ago that was just a stud outside for them. Stevie something? Hmmmm, crappy memory, but I remember her being really athletic.
I'm hoping for Baylor and Iowa State to finish in the top half this year. Of course, I never get tired of having my Huskers take the top spot each season but I'd like more competition top to bottom.
Is anyone else surprised that Oklahoma was picked so low? I'm too lazy to see if anyone else brought this up. I know they lost some good players but from 2nd in the Big 12 to that big of a drop?
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