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Post by JB Southpaw on Jun 6, 2016 9:12:35 GMT -5
Is it me, or does it seem like the overall quality of play has dropped? No real young dominant players…..what is up with Rosie? Is he going to call it a career? Well, I feel there are plenty of good players, but the teams are a little funky right now. Legit Good players (no order) who can win tournaments Jake Avatar Casey P. Phil Nick Hyden Tri Theo Trevor Crabb Taylor Crabb Tim Bomgren Mayer Pretty good players who can beat a team above once in a while (no order) but aren't quite in the above group. Slick Brad K Allen Brian Bomgren Ty Burik Jennings Kolinske Casebeer Drost loomis Veteran Bracket Fillers Olson Russ M. Ed McColloch Weaver Hudson McKenzie T. Rogers Roberts Up and comers R. McKibben M. McKibben Page Lorenz Currently, most of the top tier players are playing with other top tier players, which is how it should be. The issue IMO, is that few 2nd tier players aren't playing with other 2nd tier players (or above). There are teams that clearly have 1 better player, and one who is going to get every serve. the young guys are still figuring it out.
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Post by crawdaddy on Jun 6, 2016 9:14:24 GMT -5
Is it me, or does it seem like the overall quality of play has dropped? No real young dominant players…..what is up with Rosie? Is he going to call it a career? Well, the quality drops off when two of the top 3 teams aren't there, the 3rd top team pulls out, another top player has a sprained ankle and another has a bad back. Rosie has the bad back and he'll be back (no pun intended). That said, there are definitely some talent issues on the men's side. I like both of the Crabbs - but not together if they want to get to the next level. Billy Allen was swinging away in that finals as if there wasn't a block. I don't think you can win at the level those two want to get to if you don't have a more dominant net presence.
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Post by guest2 on Jun 6, 2016 9:16:09 GMT -5
The quality of play has plummeted. Like into the Return of Jedi tooth hole plummeted.
Kendra as the 1 seed? (East Coast forever but c'mon)
Gregg Weaver and Mark Burik in the semis? In the same year? Its not like a lot of good teams got upset either. 7th place used to be the province of the top teams that had a bad week, the Frohoff/Luyties or Nygaard/Blantons.
This week it was Burik/Toppel and Parra/Araiza. Thats exactly one full time pro. No real comers down there either unless you count Robbie Page.
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Post by guest2 on Jun 6, 2016 9:33:10 GMT -5
Is it me, or does it seem like the overall quality of play has dropped? No real young dominant players…..what is up with Rosie? Is he going to call it a career? Well, I feel there are plenty of good players, but the teams are a little funky right now. Legit Good players (no order) who can win tournaments Jake Avatar Casey P. Phil Nick Hyden Tri Theo Trevor Crabb Taylor Crabb Tim Bomgren Mayer I dont think Hyden or Tim belong there and if the tour were stronger Ryan and John would be borderline as well. Look back five years and you had Phil/Todd, Jake/Sean, Sean/Hyden, Fuerby/Lucena, plus Brad, Mayer, and a much stronger midcard. For example Grotowski/Dipierro were at their peak then. That team, if transported to 2016, would be making semis consistently. They were much better than the Bomgrens or Avery Drost are for example. In six tournaments that year the best they did was 7th.
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Post by JB Southpaw on Jun 6, 2016 11:12:00 GMT -5
Well, I feel there are plenty of good players, but the teams are a little funky right now. Legit Good players (no order) who can win tournaments Jake Avatar Casey P. Phil Nick Hyden Tri Theo Trevor Crabb Taylor Crabb Tim Bomgren Mayer I dont think Hyden or Tim belong there and if the tour were stronger Ryan and John would be borderline as well. Look back five years and you had Phil/Todd, Jake/Sean, Sean/Hyden, Fuerby/Lucena, plus Brad, Mayer, and a much stronger midcard. For example Grotowski/Dipierro were at their peak then. That team, if transported to 2016, would be making semis consistently. They were much better than the Bomgrens or Avery Drost are for example. In six tournaments that year the best they did was 7th. I 100% agree it's the mid teams, but more the TEAMS than the players. It seems like the Points standings have a lot to do with some teams (Slick/Ty, Klonskie/Loomis) Then you have Lorenz playing with Roberts, and Casebeer with Olson, 2 teams that aren't even. Steve & Mike were probably barley ahead of where the Bomgrens are right now, but I think Tim is the better player out of the 4. If Tim wanted to, this would be the summer to make a real jump. Ryan is def. top level. It always cycles, Karch, Lewis, AJ, Nygard, Lambo, Ack all retired about the same time. With Phil, Jake, Casey, Sean, Nick & John all probably done competing FIVBs, it will be interesting to see if any sub 25s come out and try to be beach pros. USAV has really stepped up their game supporting the athletes in this last 4 year cycle. If USAV supports the top 3 teams, you have the top 3 vets out there: Tri 27yo Theo 31 Ryan 32 Not sure who any of those 3 will play with. I'd love to hear GLM's thoughts on any current college players will try and make the move.
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Post by guest2 on Jun 6, 2016 11:27:44 GMT -5
I wonder whether all those guys retire from FIVB? I imagine the travel has to be a bother, but where is Phil going to find another job where he makes 400k a year?
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Post by butteryhands on Jun 6, 2016 11:30:30 GMT -5
Tim could definitely make the jump if he ever decided to be a defender with a big blocker. But it won't ever happen. Obvious and understandable loyalty to his brother. I will stick by my opinion on Avery. Look at the teams in front of them to get to the semis. Probably the easiest run in years. Not their fault and they can't control that. But it is the truth. Not a single top tier team in their way.
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Post by butteryhands on Jun 6, 2016 11:31:53 GMT -5
I wonder whether all those guys retire from FIVB? I imagine the travel has to be a bother, but where is Phil going to find another job where he makes 400k a year? Good point. I'm guessing he doesn't do quite that well but point taken. Especially if he gets the opportunity to sign on for some additional years with a couple of big sponsors in which he is obligated to play a certain number of events.
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Post by JB Southpaw on Jun 6, 2016 11:41:50 GMT -5
I wonder whether all those guys retire from FIVB? I imagine the travel has to be a bother, but where is Phil going to find another job where he makes 400k a year? He's going to be a pro gamer...where the real money is. IMO, I don't think Phil likes playing that much anymore. I think he'd be happy blending in somewhere. All of those guys have kids now. Nick's wife is coaching at FSU... I can see Jake, Casey and John rolling into coaching pretty easy. If any of the teams medal, they'll prob do 1 year victory lap. They'll still play the AVP too.
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Post by vb2202 on Jun 6, 2016 12:00:53 GMT -5
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Post by chicory on Jun 6, 2016 13:26:16 GMT -5
This all reminds me of the arguments of current Warriors vs 95-96 Bulls. They never played against each other so we will never know who is better. (With the exception of Phil, guy is obviously next-level)
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Post by guest2 on Jun 6, 2016 13:38:22 GMT -5
This all reminds me of the arguments of current Warriors vs 95-96 Bulls. They never played against each other so we will never know who is better. (With the exception of Phil, guy is obviously next-level) A lot of these guys are the same, except back then they were younger and playing with better partners
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Post by bigskinny22 on Jun 7, 2016 10:57:30 GMT -5
Any of these top US teams playing in Seattle should be playing deep into the tourney on Sunday. That means leaving Seattle at the earliest late Sunday night which would realisticly get you into Hamburg on Tuesday. If you leave Seattle in the evening, you get to Europe by mid-day the next day. Having never tried to get to Hamburg, I don't know the exact travel times. There are direct flights to Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris. Maybe other places in Europe too, but I'm not certain. Allen and Brunner made it happen and won the qualifier. Hats off to them!
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Post by butteryhands on Jun 7, 2016 11:02:59 GMT -5
I've always wished Tim B would play with Tri and do a similar thing to Samoilov/Smedins. Occasional split blocking depending on the match up. That would be a fun team. But just fantasy volley lineup obviously. I'm thinking John Mayer possibly if he thinks Tri is an upgrade over Ryan for next year. But maybe Hyden will keep playing.
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Post by donnyb on Jun 7, 2016 11:12:23 GMT -5
Hyden might get Tri one more year but Tri would have to pick someone up after that to start working on 2020. Not sure John Mayer is the answer even tho I like him a lot.
What about like theo or Ryan and Tri? Problem is there's no elite defenders coming up.
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