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Post by jsn112 on Sept 22, 2013 11:01:19 GMT -5
Those hitting stats...yikes. I feel like Birks has been hitting at a pretty low percentage all season so far, strange because she was really good last year. I come in piece. I mentioned last year that if I was an Illinois fan, this is one of the few areas I would be concerned about. But being an outsider, I was lambasted for pointing this out. Anyhow, I don't think you guys have any choice but to go with what you got. I am, however, more disappointed in Liz McMahon. What has happened to her? She was great in her freshman year. I was so envious that you guys got her instead of PSU. But now...? Not so much (for now anyway).
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Post by spikerthemovie on Sept 22, 2013 13:26:58 GMT -5
I am worried for Illinois. Those first four weeks of the B1G season are not going to be easy.
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Post by abscam on Sept 22, 2013 20:32:56 GMT -5
I don't think Illinois has enough or sufficiently diversified offense to beat the top teams. The middles don't really terminate, outsides are not consistent. Throw in a inexperienced setter. Cause for concern.
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Post by brucks on Sept 23, 2013 21:05:49 GMT -5
Our middles are hitting .344, .284 and .300 which all exceed our best outside hitters. Termination by our middles is not among our most serious problems.
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Post by david on Sept 24, 2013 0:05:28 GMT -5
Our middles are hitting .344, .284 and .300 which all exceed our best outside hitters. Termination by our middles is not among our most serious problems. I think if you follow great middles on great teams you'd like to see closer to .400- yes, that's All-American numbers. The next question, however, is whether your middles are being asked to carry much of a load. With Birks taking over 50 swings a match, I'd say there's need for improvement from the middles. Now, how much of this is caused by passing vs. setting vs. confidence in the middles, I don't know. But it's not inconsequential that we have two freshmen and an inexperienced sophomore at two MH and setter positions.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Sept 25, 2013 7:53:17 GMT -5
From observers and fans, there has been a carry-over concern from last year's team about the mental aspects of the game for this year's team.
Illinois coaches....any thought about bringing in a SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST to work with the team. I just read on Wikipedia that a University of Illinois professor, Coleman Griffith, was a pioneer in Sports Psychology in the 20's and 30's. Griffith has been called 'America's First Sports Psychologist'.
I think we could use him!
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Post by david on Sept 25, 2013 11:30:34 GMT -5
Mike White brought a sports psychologist to work with the Illinois football teams in the 80s, and I've heard over the years that different teams have used them, so I'm sure the idea has been considered.
Sometimes what a player really needs is 1000 more successful repetitions of a certain skill to build confidence, or an adjustment in strategy, or better defined roles.
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Post by rogero1 on Sept 25, 2013 12:06:18 GMT -5
John Speraw, former UC-Irvine men's coach brought in a sports psychologist, Andréa Becker, on board to help them win a national championship. This was back when David Kniffen was his assistant. He credits her as a huge part of why they won. I wonder if Illinois has anyone in their psych dept who can do the same for this team.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Sept 29, 2013 8:46:22 GMT -5
Perhaps it is time to throttle down my expectations for this year's Illini. The outlook seemed brighter Friday nite against an outmanned Iowa team, but yesterday's performance against a young Nebraska team may be more the reality of this season's team.
Catching a young, basically totally revamped Nebraska team at home the first week of the B1G season would seem to be an ideal time to defeat the Huskers. There seemed to be a ray of hope in the first set, but after that it was the Rolfzen twins' show. Better than advertised. These two will be the basis of exceptional Husker teams for the next 4 years. This Husker team will only get better.
I was glad to see the coaching staff insert freshman Strizak and Davis into the lineup. I wonder if freshman Staddick should not be given more playing time. My biggest disappointment came in Illinois' pass-reception struggles. Maybe Nebraska is a better serving team than it appeared to me, but Illinois looked like last year's team giving away points. And, my early season perception was that Illinois was much improved from last year in this area. I don't believe you have to be a volleyball guru to know if you cannot pass serve on a consistent basis, you should not be serve-receiving.
How much determination and fight (and volleyball skill) this Fighting Illini team has should totally be on display next weekend at MSU and Michigan. It is not so much about winning (well, that's not true), but most important how the Illini play the game.
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Post by david on Sept 29, 2013 12:01:17 GMT -5
I'd really like to see passer ratings for the Illini. Aces are obvious in the box score, but passes bounced outside the 10 foot line, taking the middles out of the offense, don't show up. Given all the sets to Birks out of system it sounds like they just aren't passing like they need to. Another thing that doesn't show up on the box score are tips given up. IMO, nothing will destroy a team more than giving up tips, because you get a team out of system and put them in a coffin corner with a double block and then they actually start scoring on a ... tip?
The last thing is serve errors. They totalled nine last night according to the box score, and what I'm wondering is when you have a RS like McMahon and a tall setter like Vilunias and tall outsides and middles (who strike me as fairly mobile) why you'd take them out of the equation with a serve error.
But, I guess the ability to serve tough without errors and ability to pass well are what separate the great teams from the not so great teams, and Nebraska's #12 ranking seems to have been confirmed along these lines last night.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Sept 29, 2013 12:47:00 GMT -5
I believe Nebraska is much better than a #12 seed. Illinois made them look like a top 4 or 5.
This match at Huff Hall was very reminiscent of last year's meeting at home. As was very much the case last year, Nebraska served Illinois into oblivion.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Sept 30, 2013 9:15:19 GMT -5
I wonder if Illinois should be subbing in more of their defensive specialists for their hitters to shore up pass-receiving and defensive woes.
Now I know very little about offensive and defensive strategies, and how a lot of subbing in a match, can cause problems if the team goes to a 5th set. I do know from watching the Illini that the coaches like to have a back row attacker available.
But, I wonder with this current roster of players, that perhaps the coaches need to adjust/customize their game strategies to fit the players, and not force poor pass receivers and defenders into the system that the coaches prefer.
I have always considered Purdue one of the top defensive teams in the B1G. Is it just me, or is it actually the case that the Boilers seem to utilize more defensive specialists than other B1G teams?
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Post by redbeard2008 on Sept 30, 2013 11:58:17 GMT -5
So, is the passing making it difficult to set the middles or are the middles not executing? Getting more than 3.21 kills/set from the top two middles would help stop defenses from setting up to just stop Birks and McMahon. UW's top two middles, for instance, are getting 3.74 kills/set. Increasing production from the middles would also improve productivity at the pins.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Sept 30, 2013 13:19:12 GMT -5
With Illinois it has been more than just not making GOOD passes to the setter (which seems to happen too often), but also shanking too many balls.
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Post by brucks on Sept 30, 2013 17:41:07 GMT -5
So, is the passing making it difficult to set the middles or are the middles not executing? Getting more than 3.21 kills/set from the top two middles would help stop defenses from setting up to just stop Birks and McMahon. UW's top two middles, for instance, are getting 3.74 kills/set. Increasing production from the middles would also improve productivity at the pins. Sets to our middles are too predictable. We only run quick sets to Dorn in the middle and only run slide plays to Mayers on the right side.
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