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Post by HappyVolley on Aug 20, 2016 14:26:50 GMT -5
If the choices exclude those who can't be mentioned, I would have taken Hagglund. Our defense is so weak. Too bad Davis retired. Also, 3 setters was just unneccessary. USA also need really good OHs and OPPs. So I don't know...maybe Easy (if she wasn't injured) or Fawcett. There's a lot of new talent that we don't get to see on an international level too. But I prefer experience, which we now know team USA needed. And we need tall women!, like "Haneef-Park tall"! It'll be all about Molly Kreklow and Micha Hancock at setter. Uh-oh. You didn't include Cheesehead Jesus. You're going to have all the Badgers way up in your stuff. |
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trojansc
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Post by trojansc on Aug 20, 2016 14:27:06 GMT -5
If the choices exclude those who can't be mentioned, I would have taken Hagglund. Our defense is so weak. Too bad Davis retired. Also, 3 setters was just unneccessary. USA also need really good OHs and OPPs. So I don't know...maybe Easy (if she wasn't injured) or Fawcett. There's a lot of new talent that we don't get to see on an international level too. But I prefer experience, which we now know team USA needed. And we need tall women!, like "Haneef-Park tall"! Not to worry, Cat McCoy and Cassie Strickland are coming in next quad. It'll be all about Molly Kreklow and Micha Hancock at setter. Tori Dixon, Inky Ajanaku, Hannah Tapp and Taylor Sandbothe at middle blocker. Kelsey Robinson, Krista Vansant, Hayley Hodson and Mikaela Foecke/Alexis Sun at outside hitter. Lastly, Karsta Lowe and Ebony Nwanebu/Yaasmeen Bedhart-ghani at opposite.  Strickland is not ready for international volleyball as a Libero |
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Post by bucky415 on Aug 20, 2016 14:31:47 GMT -5
I am glad they at least got a medal. I hope it is a gold one in 2020 (and Carlini setting would be great).
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Post by vampiro on Aug 20, 2016 14:34:00 GMT -5
If the choices exclude those who can't be mentioned, I would have taken Hagglund. Our defense is so weak. Too bad Davis retired. Also, 3 setters was just unneccessary. USA also need really good OHs and OPPs. So I don't know...maybe Easy (if she wasn't injured) or Fawcett. There's a lot of new talent that we don't get to see on an international level too. But I prefer experience, which we now know team USA needed. And we need tall women!, like "Haneef-Park tall"! Not to worry, Cat McCoy and Cassie Strickland are coming in next quad. It'll be all about Molly Kreklow and Micha Hancock at setter. What's the reason for Kreklow not playing much this year anyway? |
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Post by BeachbytheBay on Aug 20, 2016 14:35:51 GMT -5
Great showing - they lost one match - yeah it was a critical match.
I think the worst part is that a gold medal match would have garnered more prime-time exposure for USA volleyball on TV - which would have been nice.
the 3rd place match is tough, the loser gets nothing and I suspect the gold medal match is somewhat less tight and players can just go for it knowing regardless they medal
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Post by preschooler on Aug 20, 2016 14:36:18 GMT -5
Difficult to play and win a match after such a close and disappointing loss, so although not the gold the USA women are to be congratulated on the Bronze medal. As to to Courtney Thompson she is a natural coach and if she chooses this route any team will be lucky to hire her.
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Post by Gilmoy on Aug 20, 2016 14:47:23 GMT -5
I don't blame us for not producing a Mihajlović and Bošković in the same generation. Serbia doesn't have a magical pipeline of those players, either. It could well be their golden generation, not repeatable (let's see in ~20 years). Cuba still hasn't replaced their one uber-outlier group. Even Russia and Brasil have hit troughs in their waveforms. USA's population is still less than 5% of the planet. Somebody will always have more individual talent than us. We'll contend on pipeline  and maybe some innovation. (USA has innovated successfully in vb before, and we'll keep doing that.) NCAA vs. int'l pro clubs is a far larger issue than just wvb. Broadly speaking, across many team sports (also including bb and soccer), the full pro club pyramid system (with youth academies, etc.) is a ruthless optimizer (or identifier) of talent. It can be wonderful for those few at the very top tier. It's brutal for vast numbers of everybody else. It's orthogonal to college, so you fit them together on your own, or don't. USA has chosen a different way to live, with college-age sports tied to college degrees. Diehard fans of every team sport complain that NCAA rules hold our players back compared to int'l pros of the same age, and that's surely true, and always will be. And the NCAA is fine with that, and that won't ever change. Innovate around it. All those college degrees has served us very well in the non-sports world, and I'm not sacrificing that for anything. Evidently, volleyball majors are hard to win (so we've won only one). I'm a little sad we lost again, but I tend to take a cycles-wide perspective and look for evolution of ideas. Is the fast-pin offense a legit innovation? Maybe the addition-by-subtraction approach to team harmony counts as one? I suspect it's too soon to tell. I'll watch the rest of Rio and the 2016/Fall NCAA seasons, and every USA woso and wvb event for the next couple of decades. Now I'm watching modern pentathlon, and we're at the unfamiliar-horse lottery portion. If the horse likes you, you're still in contention. If the horse thinks you're a big cat biting its spine, you score 0, and four years of work go piff. That's ... capriciously brutal. (Then you chase a skittish horse around the obstacle course, while the crowd politely applauds. Later, some Internet troll splices in the Benny Hill music.) You could spend the rest of your career bitterly wishing for that horse instead of this horse. Maybe that's what they lament on PentaTalk.com  |
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Post by guidomn on Aug 20, 2016 15:04:09 GMT -5
Congratulations you guys for medaling,playing against a very strong and unpredictable team like the Netherlands, Congrats for the girls keeping their chin up and winnin 3rd place, I am from brazil and I must say that any medal would be great for the brazilian girls since a lot of them are going to retire from the team, namely Sheilla Castro and Fabiana Claudino, the rest is still unsure, but those two were so important that their leaving feels like an end of a whole generation.
Natalia wasnt that good on the olympics as she was during the pro-league here, and BTW a Pro-League does NOT guarantee you sucess and better players like someone said here, it might help, but not that much.
I just wanted to share with you all that I also dont understand why KK took #$%$# 3 setters! why?? Thompson played a for Rio de Janeiro team in the pro-league here in brazil just to stay in the bench for way over half of the competition, at the last games she wasnt even a starter, a young girl here calld Roberta Ratzke took her place as a setter and she was doing such a better job than Thompson that fans started to ask themselves why bring Thompson at all.
Brazilians are putting the blame on Zé Roberto for being stupid lol, well he kinda was, against Chine he didnt do anything, ANYTHING to change the team, Thaisa was injured and not at her best and sheplayd most of the game, meanwhile Juciely in great form, on the bench... Dani Lins was underpressure and performing below her abilities just like Glass was for the USA. Also, why the hell didnt Ze Roberto put Jaqueline to play more? She is brillian, even at 31 years old, she shold be a starter, Natalia wasnt prepared for the olmpics it seems, but anyways, CHINA played very very well, Zhu Ting killed us, Lan Ping constant substitution confused us, and they totally deserved to win. Serbia is my second favorite two, Mihajlovic played for a while in brazilian-pro-lague too, which helped her a lot to improve. Boskovic isonly 19 and is already a monster, think ofthe way she served when it was 14-13 in the last set, that was a crazy risky serve!!!
But actually I think China will get the Gold...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 16:16:20 GMT -5
One of the main reasons he took 3 setters is that there wasn't really another player who could have helped them. Yes, he could have taken 3 opposites, but that's overkill, imo. A 4th middle? Might have been nice if they had someone who could really help. So that leaves you with another OH. I just don't know who that would have been.
They didn't lose the gold because of the 12th player on the roster. They lost it because they were outplayed at the end of g5 against Serbia. It happens. There are two teams on the court and the rest of the world is GOOD. Not having Foluke sure didn't help. Take the top offensive weapon (and blocker) off any other top team and tell me they win gold. They don't. Not easily anyhow.
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Post by kc8413 on Aug 20, 2016 16:31:59 GMT -5
As predicted, players are grateful for the bronze medal when some of the players were complaining about the silver in 2012. Doesn't add up. I wonder what the next quad motto is...
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Post by kc8413 on Aug 20, 2016 16:37:16 GMT -5
I think cultivating a good team atmosphere is important, but I also think it's important to NOT devalue and denigrate former teammates. Karma sucks. I hope the next quad not only continues to create a good team environment, but also learn how to appreciate the contributions that many USA volleyball players have given to the program. I followed USA volleyball since the 2004 Athens Olympics. Sure these girls loved hanging out with each other outside of volleyball, but no NEED to bring down all the other players in the past.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 16:46:40 GMT -5
I don't blame us for not producing a Mihajlović and Bošković in the same generation. Serbia doesn't have a magical pipeline of those players, either. It could well be their golden generation, not repeatable (let's see in ~20 years). Cuba still hasn't replaced their one uber-outlier group. Even Russia and Brasil have hit troughs in their waveforms. NCAA vs. int'l pro clubs is a far larger issue than just wvb. Foreign countries are also likely to more quickly develop younger talent, which can pay off greatly in the long run. Boskovic already has a ton of experience and is 18? The USA would never do this. (Tom, the youngest ever to be on an Olympic team was 19) And at 18, 19 consistently playing the best in the world pays off for those Elite few. Look at Ebony's form at 18... if she was in Netherlands or Serbia would she had been on the national team playing against equal or better quality opponents? I think so. |
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Post by vampiro on Aug 20, 2016 17:04:23 GMT -5
One of the main reasons he took 3 setters is that there wasn't really another player who could have helped them. Yes, he could have taken 3 opposites, but that's overkill, imo. A 4th middle? Might have been nice if they had someone who could really help. So that leaves you with another OH. I just don't know who that would have been. They didn't lose the gold because of the 12th player on the roster. They lost it because they were outplayed at the end of g5 against Serbia. It happens. There are two teams on the court and the rest of the world is GOOD. Not having Foluke sure didn't help. Take the top offensive weapon (and blocker) off any other top team and tell me they win gold. They don't. Not easily anyhow. What a bunch of baloney. You think 3 setters is fine but 3 OPPs is overkill??? Surely, there were players that could've helped the team but you don't want to admit it. And no, they didn't lose for being outplayed. Serbia is good but not THAT good. USA lost because they choked. Because they are a bunch of newbies who got scared of the pressure. The finish line was right there. Foluke is a MB. She's not supposed to be the top scorer and attacker. The team shouldn't crumble because she's injured. Did Italy men go down in flames when Birarelli got hurt? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 17:12:40 GMT -5
Thompson wasn't on the team to set. Surprise! She didn't set.
Yes, 3 setters is overkill. But what you want from your 12th player is someone who can contribute in some way, not someone who is there to sit on the bench.
"They choked." That's all you can offer to this conversation and you talk about MY baloney? What you refuse to acknowledge is that there are other teams who play this game at a very high level. You refuse to acknowledge that the USA is not in a position to dominate. And THEN you accuse them of choking, after they lose their top offensive weapon (and blocker), in a match they lost 13-15 in the 5th. You accuse them of choking because they are not USA basketball.
Whatever.
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Post by volleyguy on Aug 20, 2016 17:21:29 GMT -5
My ode to Karch:
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and maybe some innovation. (USA has innovated successfully in vb before, and we'll keep doing that.)
