The future for Washington

[ay2013]

Husky fans, prepare for a regional with those damn nittany lions. I see UW/PSU in the 4/5 spots.

[redbeard2008]

I'm thinking Texas, in the 3/6 spots.

[tomclen]

New post on Volleyblog Seattle by Jack Hamman.

The real fun comes when the committee seeds the top 8 teams for the four Regionals. The top team in the Pac-12 will go to San Diego. Texas will certainly be assigned to Austin. Minnesota is a near-lock for Des Moines. Which means either Washington or USC will probably head for Lexington.

It’s the next four seeds that make it interesting. Would the committee send either Penn State (24-4, 13-4) or Nebraska (23-4, 14-3) to the same regional as Washington? Penn State just lost back-to-back matches to Minnesota and Michigan (18-10, 8-9). The November 28 Penn State @ Nebraska match could hold a clue.

As of today, USC, Washington, Minnesota and Texas would be reasonable choices to reach the Final Four in Omaha, with Nebraska, Penn State and Stanford with reasonable shots to emerge. Last season, BYU went all the way to the Finals, and could again be a factor.

Read the full Volleyblog Seattle story HERE.

[ay2013]

Nov 19, 2015 22:01:25 GMT -5 tomclen said:

New post on Volleyblog Seattle by Jack Hamman.

The real fun comes when the committee seeds the top 8 teams for the four Regionals. The top team in the Pac-12 will go to San Diego. Texas will certainly be assigned to Austin. Minnesota is a near-lock for Des Moines. Which means either Washington or USC will probably head for Lexington.

It’s the next four seeds that make it interesting. Would the committee send either Penn State (24-4, 13-4) or Nebraska (23-4, 14-3) to the same regional as Washington? Penn State just lost back-to-back matches to Minnesota and Michigan (18-10, 8-9). The November 28 Penn State @ Nebraska match could hold a clue.

As of today, USC, Washington, Minnesota and Texas would be reasonable choices to reach the Final Four in Omaha, with Nebraska, Penn State and Stanford with reasonable shots to emerge. Last season, BYU went all the way to the Finals, and could again be a factor.

Read the full Volleyblog Seattle story HERE.

This is making A LOT of assumptions, the first being that UW will get the 4th seed, which, frankly, the only thing they have going from in terms of primary seeding criteria is OVERALL win/loss record and perhaps record of the last xxx games. They lose a lot of discussion battles when talking about overall SOS, wins against top 25 and top 50 RPI teams, non conference SOS etc. SOS and wins against top 25 and top 50 matter A LOT.

It also suggests that the committee cares where UW/PSU/Nebraska end up in a regional, and the only consistent we can apply to the committee is that they don't give two %*$#s about a particular team playing a different particular team in regards to regionals.

[redbeard2008]

Yeah, I think that Florida, Penn State, and Washington will not be top four seeds. What I'd like to see:

Des Moines:
1. Minnesota
8. Nebraska

San Diego:
2. USC
7. Penn State

Austin:
3. Texas
6. Florida

Lexington:
4. Wisconsin
5. Washington

[ay2013]

Nov 20, 2015 0:51:41 GMT -5 redbeard2008 said:

Yeah, I think that Florida, Penn State, and Washington will not be top four seeds. What I'd like to see:

Des Moines:
1. Minnesota
8. Nebraska

San Diego:
2. USC
7. Penn State

Austin:
3. Texas
6. Florida

Lexington:
4. Wisconsin
5. Washington

I think washington has a big chance to take the 4 seed. Wisconsin has alot of losses

[redbeard2008]

Nov 20, 2015 1:38:07 GMT -5 ay2013 said:

Nov 20, 2015 0:51:41 GMT -5 redbeard2008 said:

Yeah, I think that Florida, Penn State, and Washington will not be top four seeds. What I'd like to see:

Des Moines:
1. Minnesota
8. Nebraska

San Diego:
2. USC
7. Penn State

Austin:
3. Texas
6. Florida

Lexington:
4. Wisconsin
5. Washington

I think washington has a big chance to take the 4 seed. Wisconsin has alot of losses

Then Wisconsin would be #5, so same difference, other than their semifinal opponents (Kansas and Louisville?).

[tomclen]

Now that we know DeHoog won't be playing any more this season (Jack Hamman of Volleyblog Seattle confirms she had surgery IN THIS POST), how much does this change UW's changes in the tournament?

Having a 6'4" left-handed OH in the arsenal would make a huge difference (IMO) right now, both offensively and blocking.

I still like UW's chances for a deep run, but to not have her part of this run with Wade, Sybdeldon, Strickland and Beals is a major bummer.

Here's hoping her surgery was perfect and she's back to perfect health soon.

[dawgnerd]

Nov 21, 2015 9:59:20 GMT -5 tomclen said:

Now that we know DeHoog won't be playing any more this season (Jack Hamman of Volleyblog Seattle confirms she had surgery IN THIS POST), how much does this change UW's changes in the tournament?

Having a 6'4" left-handed OH in the arsenal would make a huge difference (IMO) right now, both offensively and blocking.

I still like UW's chances for a deep run, but to not have her part of this run with Wade, Sybdeldon, Strickland and Beals is a major bummer.

Here's hoping her surgery was perfect and she's back to perfect health soon.

It is clearly a significant, but not necessarily fatal loss. Certainly makes the hill to a NC steeper, particularly because this year's team has often succeeded by creatively mixing in a variety of contributions from the bench. Not having that big block and hard left hand hit available will limit that flexibility. More pressure on the rest of the team to hold up. For example, should Tanner need a break from her setter/opp double duty against a team with a dominant OH, it would be so much better to have DeHoog to sub in than Julye. Success will rely on players stepping up - as it regularly does - nothing new.

Here's hoping her surgery was perfect and she's back to perfect health soon. Absolutely!

[redbeard2008]

Here's for continued development of Bailey as a hitter and blocker. She's shown flashes of being one of UW's best hitters and a good blocker, but hasn't been consistent. Cook has called her UW's "most skilled" player. Julye is an excellent pinch hitter, often coming in for just one rotation to get a good swing on the ball, and give Tanner or Schwan/Scambray a breather.

Ultimately, passing and serving are key.

Time and again, Oregon’s serve receive struggles gave their setters few options, allowing Washington’s blockers to load on Duck pin hitters.

“Oregon was using a two-person serve receive,” said Cook. “We told our servers to find the seam.”

[...]

As Washington’s passing improved, its pin hitters faced more and more solo block attempts, and Scambray did a great job tooling outside hands.

Even so, Oregon was in position to win the crucial third set, but threw it away with three consecutive service errors, allowing Washington to escape with a 29-27 win.

[alwayslearning]

Nov 21, 2015 10:40:31 GMT -5 dawgnerd said:

Nov 21, 2015 9:59:20 GMT -5 tomclen said:

Now that we know DeHoog won't be playing any more this season (Jack Hamman of Volleyblog Seattle confirms she had surgery IN THIS POST), how much does this change UW's changes in the tournament?

Having a 6'4" left-handed OH in the arsenal would make a huge difference (IMO) right now, both offensively and blocking.

I still like UW's chances for a deep run, but to not have her part of this run with Wade, Sybdeldon, Strickland and Beals is a major bummer.

Here's hoping her surgery was perfect and she's back to perfect health soon.

It is clearly a significant, but not necessarily fatal loss. Certainly makes the hill to a NC steeper, particularly because this year's team has often succeeded by creatively mixing in a variety of contributions from the bench. Not having that big block and hard left hand hit available will limit that flexibility. More pressure on the rest of the team to hold up. For example, should Tanner need a break from her setter/opp double duty against a team with a dominant OH, it would be so much better to have DeHoog to sub in than Julye. Success will rely on players stepping up - as it regularly does - nothing new.

Here's hoping her surgery was perfect and she's back to perfect health soon. Absolutely!

I feel badly for Carly -- she was having a great season, especially the weeks leading up to her injury. The injury must have presented the doctors with some ambiguity -- it's seems weird to me that they waited this long to do surgery.

I agree with dawgnerd this is unfortunate and makes it more difficult to win close games in the tourney, but shouldn't be fatal. DeHoog's injury has had the unintended consequence of putting Tanner into action in the front row, and Bailey has responded well for the most part. It comes down to consistency. Will we see the Tanner who was UW's best player against USC in the biggest match of the season? Or the Tanner who struggled to terminate last night (she had lots of company in that department) and hit .143? If we see the latter, do we see more of Julye?

At some point in the tournament, the Huskies will face a team that combines a really good block with really good defense and one or more of the OHs will likely struggle. Last night was a preview. It could be Hawaii in Seattle. It could be Wisconsin, Nebraska, or Minnesota in Lexington or Des Moines. Regardless, Julye could play a pivotal role in one of those matches, assuming Cook has enough confidence in her to sub her in for more than "pinch hitting" for a play or two. In the remaining matches in this Pac 12 season, I'd like to see more of Julye. She can be a critical part of UW's overall balance.

[tomclen]

Has anyone ever viewed the Utah live-stream?

I see there is no Pac-12 network coverage for Wednesday's 4 p.m. (Seattle time) match at Utah, just the Utah live stream.

Is it going to be worth watching? Or one of those high, fixed-position camera angles with no audio or score? Or, worse, one of those refresh-rate, constant-buffering, freeze-frame specials!

[redbeard2008]

Washington Volleyball POY: Shayne McPherson

She led the Lancers to a 29-2 record and the Class 3A state championship this past season. McPherson tallied 300 kills, 262 digs and 93 service aces while posting a kill percentage of .475. The MVP of the Class 3A state tournament and the Player of the Year in the Seamount Conference, she was a 2015 Honorable Mention Under Armour All-American selection by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

“Shayne McPherson doesn’t have the size of some others, but she is totally dynamic and her defense is amazing,” said Tawnya Brewer, head coach of Burlington-Edison High. “Hands down, she is the best all-around player. Her serve absolutely killed us.”

Let's see, 5'7", outside hitter, great defender, killer serve. Recruited as a libero. Sounds a lot like...

[vllybll09]

www.gohuskies.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30200&ATCLID=210571189

Interesting tidbit about Strickland and also how well the team has limited OPP hitting percentage.

Strickland recently broke the UW record for career sets played, as she has now appeared in 453 sets. Her 1,520 career digs are fourth in school history and her 148 aces are second in school history. In her second season as the Husky libero, the senior upped her digs per set to 4.33 from 3.96 last year. Her passing helped limit UW to just 75 reception errors, fewest in the Pac-12, and her defense helped the Dawgs hold opponents to a .146 attack percentage, lowest for any team in the Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, or ACC.

[alwayslearning]

I have no inside knowledge whatsoever, but I'm speculating that this post (from "Shadowfax") in the Coaches Seeking Transfers thread might (I emphasize "might") be from someone on the UW coaching staff:

"Pac 12 team looking for MB transfer. Scholarship available for 1-2 years. Must be academically sound and prepared to start in Pac 12."

UW is obviously looking thin at MB next year, even assuming Jones plays middle. And one would think the Huskies would be an extraordinarily interesting and attractive team for an experienced, talented middle looking to transfer.