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Post by nellakwah21 on Apr 3, 2006 9:50:26 GMT -5
^^^yeah Lakeland was beaten by Wisconsin Madison because they were just hitting balls out and just not playing "volleyball". I was standing around and heard a couple of the Wisonsin guys state that "those guys are better than us, respect this win and them." too bad they lost right after LC. Illinois had trouble seeing as their middle Febreez.. wasnt there due to injury. No one said Lakeland isn't better than Madison. "Just hitting balls out" is an excuse for losing. They lost, big deal. Good teams do that sometimes. Just don't make excuses for them. I don't think I'll hear any of the guys from Oshkosh make excuses either. They didn't bring it one match, now they probably know they can't coast. Fabrizius is a big loss for Illinois, but their other middle is more than capable. He would start on every club team this year. Hopefully Fabs is better by Salt Lake though. Their trouble sometimes is finding consistency in their offense, and although Deeke is sick, maybe using their front row a little more often would help. Just ask them.
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Post by VballKing03 on Apr 3, 2006 10:16:48 GMT -5
Teams were up and down all weekend. Wisconsin beat Lakeland sure, but lost to Northern Illinois and Illinois State. Ohio Northern(D2) beat Notre Dame in pool play and same with Oshkosh beating MSU in pool play. either way this makes rankings hard for the committee that has to decide them. Oshkosh shouldn't lose there number one spot just becuase of one loss all season. IF anything that loss might haev made them more focused for the national tournament
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Post by star035 on Apr 3, 2006 11:30:22 GMT -5
Bottom line, yeah, I agree that doing any rankings is really hard. I'd forgotten about Oshkosh's pool play win over MSU. Other questions - is UW-Whitewater as good as the Indiana tournament or was Vegas a truer showing? How much to penalize Lakeland for their loss to Wisconsin, given an otherwise fine season? Is Illinois really good, or just good enough? Where do you slot Notre Dame? Can Marquette peak for nationals, or is their game not quite there? All that, and a lot of uncertainty of matching up the east, midwest, and west (and south!). Either way, teams will have to step up and win to advance at nationals.
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Post by scmb19 on Apr 4, 2006 1:47:20 GMT -5
I've come to the conclusion that the rankings don't really matter anymore. Each and every team has had up and downs and beaten just about everyone. There will be no way to tell who will win nationals because of the tournaments these past few weeks. Seeding at nationals will have little if any meaning at all. The winner will be whoever can step up for that game. I'm looking forward to lots of upsets and a chaotic tourney.
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Post by jdouglasst on Apr 4, 2006 2:10:43 GMT -5
I don't think you can really say that. Oshkosh and Lakeland have pretty much been going through everyone. It's Oshkosh's first loss of the season. Lakeland only loss to Oshkosh and Marquette and recently just Oshkosh. As everyone should know it is hard to stay focused when you are beating everyone like Oshkosh was. Or if you are Lakeland where it was pretty much a given that you are going to be in the finals. If they don't screw up the rankings for nationals I think Lakeland and Oshkosh both had a huge wake up call and will pick it up for nationals. I personally think they both will be in the finals unless they lose it.
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Post by mumvb on Apr 4, 2006 11:47:24 GMT -5
^Yeah... I'm gonna have to disagree. Remember how boring the MU v. UWO game was. That's not the matchup everyone wants in the final. I hope that precautions will be taken to avoid this.
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Post by MarqVB11 on Apr 4, 2006 11:47:50 GMT -5
You might be getting a little ahead of yourself. Unless you've seen Arizona this year and/or Cal Poly who seems to have emerged as the the premier NCCVL team, how can you say right now that it will be a Oshkosh/Lakeland final? If it was a Midwest only tournament you can't even say it will be a Lakeland/Oshkosh final, as evidenced by MIVAs. It can be a wake up call for both of those teams, but I'm gonna stick to my guns saying that Lakeland isn't as dominant a team as a #2 national ranking would suggest. Oshkosh can take that loss and run with what they learned from it. Before you make anymore suggestions that Lakeland/Oshkosh is a lock for the final, think back to Cal last year. They were a dominant #1 team for most of the season and got matched up with Illinois who underacheived for their talent level all year until they exploded at Nationals. Club Nationals isn't as wild as the NCAA bball tournament by far, but there are upsets and things you wouldn't expect. I'm more with scmb19...rankings don't matter that much. They determine seeds of course, but if you're not as good as your seed, it will catch up to you; if you're better than your seed, that will also show through in the end.
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Post by 5ftbouncer on Apr 4, 2006 12:11:19 GMT -5
it sucks being ranked number one because you can't do any better. You either hold your seed or lose it. I think it takes a lot of pressure off of Oshkosh losing finally and now they dont have the pressure of having an undefeated season. Now they can step it up and try not to lose AGAIN and same with Lakeland losing to Wisconsin. Eventhough they lost to Wisconsin Madison doesn't mean they suck; good teams lose sometimes because if anyone saw that game, you would have seen Wisconsin playing their best game all year passin nails and digging all of Lakelands hits. A loss is a loss and should not be taken as anything more.
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Post by vbgymrat on Apr 4, 2006 12:24:08 GMT -5
The best thing about all of this is that everyone is looking at UWO and Lakeland only and not giving the props to Zona, MSU, or Cal Poly who all have the talent and heart and have proven themselves time and time again, but because the UWO loss was made to look like a fluke no one gives these three teams a bit of respect. I talked to a few of the MSU guys and they all personally felt that Zona has a stronger team and won't crack. The funny thing was that this was after they lost in pool play to UWO, and they even said that Zona's fan base is another boost for them, in big moments during the match. I am not saying that these three teams are no.1 but I am saying that with regards to a final match I would consider them as well. You can even include Illinois too if and when they get their middle back.
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Post by jdouglasst on Apr 4, 2006 12:35:58 GMT -5
Well with what everyone is saying about all these teams the playoffs should be real exciting. That is if the top seeds hold their seeds at nationals and don't force 2 good teams to play before the playoffs. Another thing I think should be brought up is what's up with Notre Dame. They beat Illinois twice and Marquette this past weekend. I also heard that they think they play in the worst conference (MIdwest 10). A conference that has Oshkosh, Lakeland and Marquette.
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Post by 5ftbouncer on Apr 4, 2006 12:40:06 GMT -5
Notre Dame doesn't look like a dominant team at first, but come out in the end and surprise teams. When Illinois lost the first time they were just caught REALLY off guard, but the second time, wtf? Not that it should be an excuse but Illinois was missing their big middle; and Deeke, I heard, was a little under the weather.
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Post by MarqVB11 on Apr 4, 2006 12:49:30 GMT -5
IF Notre Dame thinks Midwest10 is the worst conference (and I don't know how they could truly believe this), they did a good job of a-not winning either the regular season or tournament of the conference b-not knowing anything about other conferences. Example, MIVA alone has the Great Midwest conference...check how the top 4 teams of that conference did at MIVAs.
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Post by nellakwah21 on Apr 4, 2006 15:01:33 GMT -5
I don't know if ND really thinks they play in the worst conference, but if they do, I find that really disturbing. Like MarqVB said, check out the other conferences. Especially the GMMVC. We played one of their teams from the "top" Pool A in the 1st round Gold, and I think they might finish dead last in MW10.
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Post by beatyoudown on Apr 4, 2006 15:45:43 GMT -5
^^^^ I dont know about that the bottom rung of the midwest 10 are not that good. You're talking Ball State, UWM and Iowa State here. Not to good of volleyball played.
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Post by nellakwah21 on Apr 4, 2006 16:50:23 GMT -5
Yeah...you're probably right. It would be better to say that they wouldn't finish as high if they played in another conference in MIVA.
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