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Post by mumvb on Feb 13, 2006 17:51:31 GMT -5
^It can be nice to be a full time student and a part time volleyball player though. I would say that the majority of MU's players in the past probably WOULDN'T have wanted to play on a varsity squad.
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Lew8ftln
Sophomore
Tweet? Follow team updates @oshkoshmvball or myself @bigfire8
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Post by Lew8ftln on Feb 13, 2006 18:18:13 GMT -5
Don't forget tho, a major following of talent in volleyball starts from kids that have the ability to learn at a younger age and develop through club---so I don't think I can agree w/ not having the money for goin to school (kids that get the most experience have had the opportunity to play club in h.s. which is hugely expensive). From my several years playing club ball, it seems reasons are pretty varied as to why worthy athletes don't follow through, however two major ones are grades, and attitude. Unless ur god w/ mizunos on, an NCAA coach won't put up w/ ur B.S. if ur lazy or have a big ego....but club coaches will because it's a more relaxed atmosphere. Sometimes it may just be a little burnout from hs ball and wanting to go play the sport to have fun again (definitely got burned out from baseball in hs that I didn't like it at the collegiate level).
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Post by CityTechLegend on Feb 14, 2006 11:51:34 GMT -5
Does anyone know how Arizona's CLub team is doing this this year. Heard they were sick. Tons of kids from Hawaii, a bunch from Cali and of course the locals. Are they going to be able to compete against the big midwest NIRSA's this year?....who can pass on the info?
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Post by tuggboat on Feb 14, 2006 14:08:04 GMT -5
Arizona's club team is, im sure good again this year....they always get their hands on that good west coast talent......as far as being able to compete with the top four teams is the nation from the midwest goes........im sure they will be able to compete and it will make for great volleyball
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Post by nellakwah21 on Feb 14, 2006 16:09:50 GMT -5
I'm sure Arizona will be good again, but I'm betting without their huge opposite they will be hard pressed to duplicate the success they had the past 5-6 years. I believe he was the last big banger from their championship years and I'm pretty sure he has graduated.
As far as having tons of Hawaii kids, never really heard of that, I just knew a lot of locals and Cali guys were there. Anyone familiar with that team know?
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Post by star035 on Feb 14, 2006 16:31:35 GMT -5
So arabface mentioned the "top four" in the midwest. Who would that be as things currently stand, and how would you rank them? Maybe:
Oshkosh Marquette Michigan State Illinois (with Lakeland lurking?)
All four (or five) would then be in the top eight or ten nationally, for sure.
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Lew8ftln
Sophomore
Tweet? Follow team updates @oshkoshmvball or myself @bigfire8
Posts: 163
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Post by Lew8ftln on Feb 14, 2006 19:36:52 GMT -5
I think that would be a pretty accurate shot of things, however it's still too early to decide Oshkosh as the actual top of that mountain---only 7 matches this far and have only played 2 decent matches against inconference LC and MU. This weekend should hopefully be a better indication after MW10 round robin....but here's my big beef: Why are we stuck in rankings for a month at a time??!! Last year Dayton was number one for what two months because they didn't see any competition the first month and that was how many #1 overall seeds at tournaments? So hopefully Sante at MSU will give us that #1 spot (course who knows) and for atleast 4 weeks we'll have the easiest path to the finals, including the biggest regular season tournament in Indiana
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Post by vballcoach on Feb 15, 2006 12:30:10 GMT -5
I know in Northern California there is a club league that includes teams like Cal, Davis, Cal Poly SLO etc... How do those teams stack up to the 'Top 5' listed on this post? www.nccvl.info
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Post by star035 on Feb 15, 2006 13:04:47 GMT -5
I know in Northern California there is a club league that includes teams like Cal, Davis, Cal Poly SLO etc... How do those teams stack up to the 'Top 5' listed on this post? www.nccvl.infoHistorically, it's fair to say the west coast teams (plus Arizona, Utah, and Colorado schools) were better than the top midwest club teams (plus Texas, Maryland, Va Tech, Penn State and a few others). But then we had last year, where four midwest teams (Marquette, Oshkosh, Lakeland, and Illinois) won the national quarterfinals over 'west coast' teams, creating an all midwest semi-final and then final. So now - who knows? I think everyone is eager to see this year's matchups. The midwest teams are just as strong (along with the tough Michigan State team). Some midwest teams will be out west in March, giving some early indication.
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Post by gobears on Feb 15, 2006 13:49:39 GMT -5
Some info will come from the west this weekend. Just saw the teams coming to Davis for the Far Westerns tourney. In addition to a number of the nccvl teams, club teams from UCI, UCLA, Ore St, UCSD, Westmont.... Also a couple of Davis alum teams....one of which cleaned up in early Dec. If the Davis alum teams get beat now, then we know the young west coast clubs have learned something since then. Fresno is still staying by themselves, and only playing nccvl teams, so until they have seen everyone....nobody really knows. Fresno lost to UCSC and to Santa Clara last week. First weekend of March, the mini tourney for nccvl teams at Santa Clara. All league teams play each other over two days. Then we might have a decent sense of what's happening...
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Post by muoh61010 on Feb 15, 2006 16:29:21 GMT -5
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Post by tuggboat on Feb 16, 2006 14:25:52 GMT -5
Im real curious to see how things will turn out at the MW10 tourney.......sounds like there gonna be a lot of great matchups all weekend. As far as the ranking goes for the midwest top four teams, i would have to say that MU and UWO will be battling back and forth all season between 1st and 2nd, Lakeland I believe will fall out of the top 5, Illinois will most likely take over 3rd and the 4th spot will be up in the for a really good Big Ten Conference team to take......
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Post by nellakwah21 on Feb 16, 2006 15:23:29 GMT -5
I agree about their being good matchups all day....but Illinois won't take the 3rd spot in the midwest. As much as I like their team, Michigan State deserves 3rd for winning the Big Ten and going 9-0 in one weekend. Illinois would be 4th for now, until they finally play to their potential.
Hopefully the MW10 qualifier runs on time and we won't be there till 9 at night.
Based on my early observations, I'll divide the better MIVA teams into tiers. Based on how the teams are playing now, but also where I can see them at the end of the season.
1st tier: Oshkosh, Marquette, Illinois, Michigan State -These teams all have something most teams in club don't have, 1 and most likely 2 big skilled middles. They're skilled at each position i.e. outsides, setters, passing,etc. but these teams go far in every tournament because the MBs open the whole court for their team, as well as change the opposing OH's swing/confidence.
2nd Tier: Lakeland, Dayton, Illinois State, Illinois-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Ohio Northern, Ohio State, Minnesota -These following teams are very good, but have at least 1 important weakness that keep them from the top, whether its experience(LC), passing (ISU), or height (UIC). They can upset the top teams, but it will take them playing very sharp volleyball. They'll be as good as they develop this semester.
3rd Tier: Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Purdue, UW-Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Ohio U, Indiana, Iowa -These teams can give people a match, but look to be very inconsistent sometimes. The potential is there on each team, but these teams have large gaps in their rotation.
These are the teams I could think of. Don't mean to piss anyone off, its just one man's observation of the vball I've seen so far.
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Lew8ftln
Sophomore
Tweet? Follow team updates @oshkoshmvball or myself @bigfire8
Posts: 163
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Post by Lew8ftln on Feb 16, 2006 16:06:26 GMT -5
I can agree w/ nellakwah for the most part, but my experience tells me to not allow Lakeland to fly under the radar anymore. They are prolly gonna be the most disciplined (defensively especially) team in the country this year and that will take them far. Their serving is better than Marquette's and their passing is pretty decent considering the new additions. They are a very emotionally driven team which can make them play immensely better, however at times it can hinder them as well and keep them from getting out of runs. In short this team has to be considered top tier, as they would beat every team in the second tier.....but they definitely would be categorized as a tier one team for completely different reason than the others, cuz u hit it on the head w/ the middle dominance.
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Post by midwestguy on Feb 16, 2006 17:06:15 GMT -5
I dont understand why everyone is putting michigan state so high, they beat illinois twice last year and then didnt do anything at mivas or nationals. what is special about them this year?
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