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Post by hammer on Dec 10, 2023 15:27:42 GMT -5
Not their middle blockers. No one at the level of the great legacy of middles that Stanford has had: Kim Oden Bev Oden Barb Ifejika Foluke Akinradewo Carly Wopat Inky Ajanaku Tami Alade While they both got moved to opposite, I'd add Fitz and Lutz to this list. Both were 2x All-American as Middles and both went on to be 2x All American as Opposites. If Fitz stayed at MB I would have had her on the above list. Lutz, not so sure, because she had issues closing the block like Francis. But from what I recall (without checking stats) her offensive prowess was better (and more consistent) than what Francis has been providing.
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Post by hammer on Dec 10, 2023 15:38:27 GMT -5
I can't find it now, but I saw someone post yesterday again about "Hambly hasn't won a championship with his own players" (e.g., he only won with the team he inherited from Dunning). I don't know how many times I heard the same thing about Dunning, until 2016. It's not easy putting together a championship caliber team, even at Stanford. Also, championships (and multiple FF appearances) usually come in bunches dependent upon great recruiting classes. Six of Stanford's nine NCAA championships came in two four year windows, 1994-1997, and 2016-2019. There is also the three year window, 2006-2008, when Stanford finished as the NCAA runner-up in each of those years.
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Post by hammer on Dec 10, 2023 16:01:23 GMT -5
Things to note: Francis has not lived up to her recruiting hype. She’s tall but her slide is awkward, and she’s too slow at closing the block. I know she’s suffered some injures so I’ll cut her some slack there, but she’s simply not the elite MB we need. They need to stop forcing the slide and only set her in front of the setter. Baird truly regressed as the season went along. I don’t get the point of having all these pins if you aren’t going to use them. Kurt or Blyashov could’ve made a difference. We may never know This team plays with 0 passion. Rubin was the only one showing emotion out there. We are so lucky to have her. Thank you to the 2019 class. Lots to be proud of you regardless of the outcome last night. I want to be excited for the future, but I don’t think I can unless we have easy access to the portal like the rest. Depending on what 'easy access to the portal' means to you, Stanford will never lower their academic standards for volleyball recruits / transfers. Would it be nice to have some high-achieving grad students (or undergrad, but I find it less likely) with remaining eligibility be able to transfer into the program directly? Absolutely, though I won't hold my breath. The probability is just slightly above zero to obtain an undergrad transfer. While it is theoretically possible, Admissions makes it huge mountain to climb. A grad transfer, as we have seen with Gates, is a possibility, but Hambly isn't really pursuing them because he knows they have to be accepted into a Stanford Graduate Program. Gates just fell into his lap as she called him and asked if she could play on the team after being accepted into the Statistics Grad Program.
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Post by baytree on Dec 10, 2023 16:25:07 GMT -5
I can't find it now, but I saw someone post yesterday again about "Hambly hasn't won a championship with his own players" (e.g., he only won with the team he inherited from Dunning). I don't know how many times I heard the same thing about Dunning, until 2016. It's not easy putting together a championship caliber team, even at Stanford. I thought that person must be trolling. Even if you count Kipp and Vicini as Hambly's recruits (I don't), he's had two years since they won the natty. No reasonable person would expect anyone to win the year they couldn't practice bc of COVID and IMO no reasonable person would expect them to win in 2021 after not being able to practice together in spring 2020 - 2021 so he's only had a reasonable opportunity in 2022 and 2023 (and we made the Elite Eight both seasons). If you suggest that someone's coaching is suspect bc they haven't won a natty in the last two years, you aren't even trying to be fair.
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Post by dokterrudi on Dec 10, 2023 16:31:32 GMT -5
Things to note: Francis has not lived up to her recruiting hype. She’s tall but her slide is awkward, and she’s too slow at closing the block. I know she’s suffered some injures so I’ll cut her some slack there, but she’s simply not the elite MB we need. They need to stop forcing the slide and only set her in front of the setter. Baird truly regressed as the season went along. I don’t get the point of having all these pins if you aren’t going to use them. Kurt or Blyashov could’ve made a difference. We may never know This team plays with 0 passion. Rubin was the only one showing emotion out there. We are so lucky to have her. Thank you to the 2019 class. Lots to be proud of you regardless of the outcome last night. I want to be excited for the future, but I don’t think I can unless we have easy access to the portal like the rest. All true, however, Miner had all season to get good at setting Francis but last night the middle was still hitting into the net because the sets were to low.
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Post by leftcoaster71 on Dec 10, 2023 16:33:10 GMT -5
While they both got moved to opposite, I'd add Fitz and Lutz to this list. Both were 2x All-American as Middles and both went on to be 2x All American as Opposites. If Fitz stayed at MB I would have had her on the above list. Lutz, not so sure, because she had issues closing the block like Francis. But from what I recall (without checking stats) her offensive prowess was better (and more consistent) than what Francis has been providing. I went back and checked because I remember Lutz's numbers being pretty high. yEAR SP MP K K/S E TA 2014 120 34 304 2.53 50 576 0.441 2015 104 28 335 3.22 72 678 0.388
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Post by liberosetter101 on Dec 10, 2023 16:33:14 GMT -5
Disappointing loss, for sure. Rubin was the only player who really impressed me. Tons of heat for a slightly undersized OH, great vision and awareness, plus bringing fire to a team that badly needed it. We all know how talented Kipp is, but it didn't seem like she got enough chances. You've got to ride your star at this level, and it seemed like the passing was there. Kipp also didn't look to be at her best - maybe the wrist was a factor? - but I definitely wanted more attempts for her. Oglivie is good, but I can't help the (probably unfair) comparison to Hentz. Hentz would have dug some - or all - of those cross-court swings from Texas, and Oglivie wasn't close on any of them. The most memorable digs in the match came from Pringle in that one point. Speaking of good, I thought Sami Francis was supposed to be good? No blocking presence at all and no offensive presence at all. The lack of blocks was a problem throughout the match. I'm not sure how much of this to put on Miner, or Hambly, but definitely felt like this team underachieved slightly - and I'm worried that if any of the current freshman was the answer, she would have beaten out Baird. Francis is simply just not athletic enough. She’s tall but like you mentioned, no power on her hits and too slow to close the block. Looking at Cresse from Louisville (who is also 6’6) and the difference is night and day. Or Booth from Wisconsin We don’t have elite middles
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Post by baytree on Dec 10, 2023 16:34:19 GMT -5
Things to note: Francis has not lived up to her recruiting hype. She’s tall but her slide is awkward, and she’s too slow at closing the block. I know she’s suffered some injures so I’ll cut her some slack there, but she’s simply not the elite MB we need. They need to stop forcing the slide and only set her in front of the setter. Baird truly regressed as the season went along. I don’t get the point of having all these pins if you aren’t going to use them. Kurt or Blyashov could’ve made a difference. We may never know This team plays with 0 passion. Rubin was the only one showing emotion out there. We are so lucky to have her. Thank you to the 2019 class. Lots to be proud of you regardless of the outcome last night. I want to be excited for the future, but I don’t think I can unless we have easy access to the portal like the rest. Depending on what 'easy access to the portal' means to you, Stanford will never lower their academic standards for volleyball recruits / transfers. Would it be nice to have some high-achieving grad students (or undergrad, but I find it less likely) with remaining eligibility be able to transfer into the program directly? Absolutely, though I won't hold my breath. I don't want them to lower their academic standards but I wish they'd allow more transfers, generally as well as for athletes. I know that would mean that they'd admit fewer students as frosh, making it even harder to get into Stanford, but they used to have more transfers than they do now and it didn't seem to hurt Stanford's reputation.
I don't want them to waive the requirement that all undergrads must complete at least two years at Stanford either, though I think requiring students to complete two years worth of credits is fairly common at universities.
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Post by dokterrudi on Dec 10, 2023 16:36:01 GMT -5
Disappointing loss, for sure. Rubin was the only player who really impressed me. Tons of heat for a slightly undersized OH, great vision and awareness, plus bringing fire to a team that badly needed it. We all know how talented Kipp is, but it didn't seem like she got enough chances. You've got to ride your star at this level, and it seemed like the passing was there. Kipp also didn't look to be at her best - maybe the wrist was a factor? - but I definitely wanted more attempts for her. Oglivie is good, but I can't help the (probably unfair) comparison to Hentz. Hentz would have dug some - or all - of those cross-court swings from Texas, and Oglivie wasn't close on any of them. The most memorable digs in the match came from Pringle in that one point. Speaking of good, I thought Sami Francis was supposed to be good? No blocking presence at all and no offensive presence at all. The lack of blocks was a problem throughout the match. I'm not sure how much of this to put on Miner, or Hambly, but definitely felt like this team underachieved slightly - and I'm worried that if any of the current freshman was the answer, she would have beaten out Baird. Oglive doesn’t have the first step that Morgan has. I do think a much higher emphasis needs to be placed on floor defense.
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Post by FTLOG on Dec 10, 2023 16:43:52 GMT -5
Will be interesting next year to see how DS's are used. Having Kipp play all six rotations was great, but next year I wonder if a DS will play in the backrow for Harvey (after she serves). And I wonder if the other OH, probably Blayshov at this point, also might get DS'd here and there if her backrow play suffers. Of course this also calls into question the quality of our DS's. The top teams always seem to have the best DS's in the country.
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Post by widdledumpling on Dec 10, 2023 16:48:03 GMT -5
I can't find it now, but I saw someone post yesterday again about "Hambly hasn't won a championship with his own players" (e.g., he only won with the team he inherited from Dunning). I don't know how many times I heard the same thing about Dunning, until 2016. It's not easy putting together a championship caliber team, even at Stanford. If you suggest that someone's coaching is suspect bc they haven't won a natty in the last two years, you aren't even trying to be fair. Welcome to VT logic
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Post by baytree on Dec 10, 2023 16:49:27 GMT -5
Love Stanford but the reality is we will never be able to complete against teams who have an advantage to the transfer portal Proud of our girls either way! The Stanford legacy is over and I’m okay with it <3 Thank you Kipp for the memories! This has nothing to do with the portal. Of course we can compete. Heck, we lost in the regional final to the #5 Pablo team. We lost because a Texas team that had passed poorly all year all of the sudden was able to stay in system. It just happens sometimes.... Overall, Texas passed poorly last night too. Our passing was much better than theirs and Skinner had half (24/50) of their kills. Halter was great, tho.
Their blocking was much better than ours and caused a lot of uncharacteristic attack errors for Stanford.
Passing stats Stanford Rubin - 2.53 (73.3%) 15 attempts Oglivie - 2.25 (64.3%) 14 attempts Baird - 2.20 (59.6%) 52 attempts
Texas Akana - 1.83 (25.0%) 12 attempts Barnes - 1.89 (44.4%) 9 attempts Halter - 2.50 (75%) - 16 attempts Skinner - 2.19 (62.5%) - 16 attempts Wenaas - 1.56 (37.5%) - 16 attempts
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Post by FTLOG on Dec 10, 2023 17:43:14 GMT -5
This has nothing to do with the portal. Of course we can compete. Heck, we lost in the regional final to the #5 Pablo team. We lost because a Texas team that had passed poorly all year all of the sudden was able to stay in system. It just happens sometimes.... Overall, Texas passed poorly last night too. Our passing was much better than theirs and Skinner had half (24/50) of their kills. Halter was great, tho. Their blocking was much better than ours and caused a lot of uncharacteristic attack errors for Stanford.
Passing stats Stanford Rubin - 2.53 (73.3%) 15 attempts Oglivie - 2.25 (64.3%) 14 attempts Baird - 2.20 (59.6%) 52 attempts
Texas Akana - 1.83 (25.0%) 12 attempts Barnes - 1.89 (44.4%) 9 attempts Halter - 2.50 (75%) - 16 attempts Skinner - 2.19 (62.5%) - 16 attempts Wenaas - 1.56 (37.5%) - 16 attempts
waitwaitwaitwaitwait. They got Texas into that much passing difficulty and Texas still hit .350 or whatever it was?? omfg... Now we know what it was like for other teams to play against Plummer. Also, say what you want about Baird, but passing 2.2 on 52(!) attempts is pretty good. EDIT: Also Also, if you'd told me those would be the passing stats for the match, I'd have said Stanford wins, maybe in a sweep.
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Post by tnp101 on Dec 10, 2023 18:15:00 GMT -5
Overall, Texas passed poorly last night too. Our passing was much better than theirs and Skinner had half (24/50) of their kills. Halter was great, tho. Their blocking was much better than ours and caused a lot of uncharacteristic attack errors for Stanford.
Passing stats Stanford Rubin - 2.53 (73.3%) 15 attempts Oglivie - 2.25 (64.3%) 14 attempts Baird - 2.20 (59.6%) 52 attempts
Texas Akana - 1.83 (25.0%) 12 attempts Barnes - 1.89 (44.4%) 9 attempts Halter - 2.50 (75%) - 16 attempts Skinner - 2.19 (62.5%) - 16 attempts Wenaas - 1.56 (37.5%) - 16 attempts
waitwaitwaitwaitwait. They got Texas into that much passing difficulty and Texas still hit .350 or whatever it was?? omfg... Now we know what it was like for other teams to play against Plummer. Also, say what you want about Baird, but passing 2.2 on 52(!) attempts is pretty good. EDIT: Also Also, if you'd told me those would be the passing stats for the match, I'd have said Stanford wins, maybe in a sweep. They sided out much better than us. We shot ourselves in the feet with poor shot selections setting choices, poor stretch of defenses, serving out, etc. I didn"t even want to get into it. AT 22-22 in the 4th set we should have caught them and got to the 5th set toss-up battle.
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Post by hammer on Dec 10, 2023 19:20:30 GMT -5
This has nothing to do with the portal. Of course we can compete. Heck, we lost in the regional final to the #5 Pablo team. We lost because a Texas team that had passed poorly all year all of the sudden was able to stay in system. It just happens sometimes.... Overall, Texas passed poorly last night too. Our passing was much better than theirs and Skinner had half (24/50) of their kills. Halter was great, tho. Their blocking was much better than ours and caused a lot of uncharacteristic attack errors for Stanford.
Passing stats Stanford Rubin - 2.53 (73.3%) 15 attempts Oglivie - 2.25 (64.3%) 14 attempts Baird - 2.20 (59.6%) 52 attempts
Texas Akana - 1.83 (25.0%) 12 attempts Barnes - 1.89 (44.4%) 9 attempts Halter - 2.50 (75%) - 16 attempts Skinner - 2.19 (62.5%) - 16 attempts Wenaas - 1.56 (37.5%) - 16 attempts
It would be nice to have a breakdown by each set. As I recall Texas passed at a pretty high level in set one, while Stanford struggled somewhat. In set two Texas' passing went downhill, and Stanford's improved, or that's my perception. In sets three and four the quality of the passing seemed about the same with Texas' possibly worse, but not that much worse than the Card.
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