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Post by southie on Dec 10, 2017 16:02:51 GMT -5
Then why the eff are you and bball on this thread? bball finds every opportunity to knock Texas; and, you aren't far behind. If you are gonna spew stuff about Texas on here, I am gonna give it right back to you. No one asked you to post on this thread about Texas; your choice. I wasn’t spewing stuff about Texas, nor do I even post about them often so I have no clue where that claim is coming from. I actually respect the program a lot. However if I was a fan, I wouldn’t be haply with JE as my coach. I was simply stating my opinions, which I feel are pretty plausible. But they are just opinions. That’s all I was discussing. You’re the one who went all psycho and made this about Texas and Nebraska, because that’s so relevant to the discussion. I’ll be sure to ask you for permission before posting on threads moving forward though..didn’t know that was a requirement. Enjoy the offseason. Sure you were. You were making excuses that Elliott didn't outcoach and outprepare Cook and he clearly did; Nebraska couldn't stop a single one of Texas' hitters last December. And, then you took it upon yourself to defend bball; not sure why you felt the need to interject yourself when my reply was for bball, not you. But, you decided to stick your nose into it. Now you get to deal with the replies.
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Post by Stanlifornia on Dec 10, 2017 16:12:34 GMT -5
First time seeing Texas in person yesterday (at least this version of the team) and those hitting lines are impressive. Crank after crank. What I thought they lacked yesterday, aside from the passing woes, was a bona fide floor leader. Saw it from Chi at times, and YBG kind of gets there when she plays, but it was a very neither here nor there demeanor from everybody else. Texas folks, who do you project that to be next season? I think all of this pretty spot on. It seems like a lot of the girlsbthis year were too reserved to crank each other up, even after big plays. YBG could fill this roll playing full time. I often see setters provide that kind of team leadership, so maybe Shook can grow into with time. Out of everybody, I thought Shook looked the most listless out there in terms of communication/ leadership/ any sort of reinforcement. Deer in the headlights for the most part. I think passive players like that will be tough to get to go the other way emotionally. I feel like players defer to one of two emotions when they’re pushed: the walk in the park happy folks (Seliger-Swenson comes to mind) and the folks that get pissed/ mad / fire everybody up (Anae comes to mind here.) I think YBG and White can step up. I think YBG has done enough in her career to merit staying on the court as much as possible. I love her demeanor.
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szandana
Junior
"we have found the enemy and he is us."
Posts: 449
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Post by szandana on Dec 10, 2017 17:21:14 GMT -5
Unfortunately the 2017 came to an end short of everyone's expectations going in to the season. However, I think most knew the task was going to be daunting when the bracket was released as Stanford is tough tree to chop in Maples Pavilion and was a tough match-up for the team regardless. However, it wasn't all bad as Texas swept the Big XII and made yet another Regional final. Will definitely miss the seniors. Thanks for the great memories (and there were a lot of good ones!). Looking to 2018, Texas will be losing starters RS Ebony Nwanebu, MB Chiaka Ogbogu, L Cat McCoy. Also loses MB Mirta Baselovic. Have heard that DS Natalie Gilbert may be moving on with life. However all is not lost, Texas still has a pretty strong arsenal of players. Texas will definitely be a younger team than this past year but younger teams from multiple universities have performed well over the past few years. So by position Texas will have the following roster assuming no transfers. OH: Micaya White (RS Jr.) Lexi Sun (Spoh.)
RS: Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani (Sr.) S: Ashley Shook (Soph.) Riley Fisbeck (Jr.) Jhenna Gabriel (Fr.)
MB: Brionne Butler (RS Fr.) Morgan Johnson (Sr.) Blair Westerlund (RS So.) Orie Ogbaji (Jr.) Asjia O'Neal (Fr.)
DS/L: Autumn Rounsaville (Jr.) Claire Hahn (Jr.) Olivia Zelon (RS Fr.) Natalie Gilbert (? See above) Sydney Petersen (Fr.)
So major question marks going in to 2018:
Can anybody pass? On paper, the DS position is overall getting older and thus would likely improve. Who will win the Libero position is definitely a big question as Texas loses its all-time dig leader in Cat McCoy. Sydney Petersen coming in would seem to be the likely candidate but who knows. White made some progress in 2017, but needs to get better as does Sun.
Depth on the pins? Texas appears to be very thin on the pins in regard to depth. Does a MB slide to OH. Is there a transfer in the works? While the projected starters are stars, there currently is no one backing them up.
Can anyone serve? Texas really struggled with serving in 2017. White was the worse contributor with her jump serve. Will it improve or will it get ditched? Everyone really needs to work in this area to cut out the atrocious number of service errors.
Other thoughts: Setting surely improves. It has to, right?. Shook will have all Spring to really develop a connection with the hitters. If she doesn't, one would think Gabriel will push for playing time.
There is a log jam at MB. Something is bound to happen with the position. Either someone moves to OH or someone transfers out I would think. Also who grabs the open position. Would think it would Butler but O'Neal is also coming in. Maybe they both overtake Johnson.
Lexi Sun had an up and down freshman campaign. Will she steady out more next year? Its likely she will and hopefully will improve as passer which according to Coach Elliott was part of her struggles with hitting.
What will Texas's schedule look like? Obviously Elliott will want to try to make sure they have a high RPI. However, there is a fine line between scheduling to achieve this. Rumors have that the schedule could have more games against the higher rated teams. However, early season loses to those team could end up hurting in the end like this past season.
Regarding improved setting. What is most important to good setting and winning is staying in system. That means a good first touch!!! When your setter moves to chase a ball the team is out of system. A lot of folks just can't accept that it's true. Mr. Elliott worked with the setters before every game. First group on the floor. They worked a lot on a faster game at those times too. If anyone was paying attention it often did show up in the matches. Chi and Ashley got quite good at it together with the quick middle sets. Again, Ashley has the best stats of a Texas setter since a long long time excepting Hannah's championship year. Very even stats then. Give miss Shook a decent libero and she will settle in nicely. Take a look at past Texas freshman or even best of career stats. Ashley is a keeper. Tough position to come into with perpetual poor passing. Gabriel will push for playing time? Not as a primary setter. Sorry, miss Gabriel can't jump. Will never support a team again that has a short setter unless she can touch 10' from a standing jump and has a nice resume.
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Post by BeiBei on Dec 10, 2017 19:53:21 GMT -5
I thought that Erik Sullivan might make more of a difference on the ball control side of things given his background but apparently not the case or the players don't have the ability. Erik Sullivan is one of the most overrated US liberos ever I rejoiced when Erik Shoji finally unseated him. Huh? Shoji did not unseat him. Sullivan retired way earlier. Rick Lambourne was the one who took over and he was outstanding. I am surprised too that Sullivan is not making a Big difference in the passing or digging for Texas
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Post by txnut on Dec 10, 2017 20:02:20 GMT -5
Yes, scarily thin. One would think Texas doesn't roll in to '18 that thin on the pin. Maybe there will be a transfer in but that may be hard as there is no guarantee that they would get to play much. And then there is the absurd Lexi transfer rumor which makes no sense Texas is so thin. There is literally no one behind her pushing for playing time. Only way it would make sense would be if she were homesick.
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Post by southie on Dec 10, 2017 20:11:58 GMT -5
For those of us who follow recruiting, and keep up with future depth charts, it's been quite apparent that there could be only 3 pin hitters on the 2018 roster. Even in 2016, we only had three pin hitters (if you considered YBG an MB).
The most plausible situation, IMO, is to target a versatile international player who can swing from both pins; we were supposed to benefit in recruiting some possible Croatian players by having Mirta Baselovic on the roster the last 4 seasons, but that doesn't seem to have occurred.
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Post by txnut on Dec 10, 2017 20:57:25 GMT -5
For those of us who follow recruiting, and keep up with future depth charts, it's been quite apparent that there could be only 3 pin hitters on the 2018 roster. Even in 2016, we only had three pin hitters (if you considered YBG an MB). The most plausible situation, IMO, is to target a versatile international player who can swing from both pins; we were supposed to benefit in recruiting some possible Croatian players by having Mirta Baselovic on the roster the last 4 seasons, but that doesn't seem to have occurred. I know that we have seen it coming. Doesn't make it any less of a concern, for me anyway. At least in 2016 we could have moved YBG back to outside and lived with another middle playing if need be. If for some reason an OH can't play, it will be much more of a scramble having to move a MB out. Luckily the MBs on the roster are probably athletic enough to be decent out there even though not their natural position; however, I would prefer to have another true outside waiting in the wings. An international player would be great and wouldn't be a total surprise. I'm sure there is a plan and we just don't know what it is. Or maybe someone does....
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Post by southie on Dec 10, 2017 21:05:23 GMT -5
I'm with you, txnut. We desperately need another true pin hitter, especially if an injury were to occur. IMO, we have too many middles on the roster, and it's coming at the expense of other positions where depth is needed.
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Post by diggerdive on Dec 10, 2017 21:46:07 GMT -5
[/quote]Regarding improved setting. What is most important to good setting and winning is staying in system. That means a good first touch!!! When your setter moves to chase a ball the team is out of system. A lot of folks just can't accept that it's true. Mr. Elliott worked with the setters before every game. First group on the floor. They worked a lot on a faster game at those times too. If anyone was paying attention it often did show up in the matches. Chi and Ashley got quite good at it together with the quick middle sets.
Again, Ashley has the best stats of a Texas setter since a long long time excepting Hannah's championship year. Very even stats then. Give miss Shook a decent libero and she will settle in nicely. Take a look at past Texas freshman or even best of career stats. Ashley is a keeper. Tough position to come into with perpetual poor passing.
Gabriel will push for playing time? Not as a primary setter. Sorry, miss Gabriel can't jump. Will never support a team again that has a short setter unless she can touch 10' from a standing jump and has a nice resume. [/quote]
Truly this is not personal, just what I’m seeing from the stands - for whatever that’s worth. I’m sure Shook is an absolutely great person.
A few folks have repeatedly pointed to her stats as evidence of her competence. And that does tell one aspect - but what it doesn’t tell is that she is slow to release from the setter spot to get the ball. Hannah did the same thing her first year - and blame it on poor Texas serve receive, or overall less challenging serves in club play pre-division one- but she’s slow to release. (#2) while I appreciate her capacity for having steady emotions, it’s actually a bit of a drag. She has almost too little emotion- she seems too expressionless- it’s not a “deer in the headlights” look - I think a deer displays a scared look. She has a flat affect that doesn’t project leader, and a setter more than anyone on the court has to have keen sense for knowing the hitters - it’s almost a sixth sense. I don’t think she has that right now. (#3) her tempo is off and her location is off too much. What is “too much” exactly? I don’t know, I just know it is.
She might benefit from some leadership development and a lot of location set reps.
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Post by txnut on Dec 10, 2017 21:50:42 GMT -5
Mr. Elliott worked with the setters before every game. First group on the floor. They worked a lot on a faster game at those times too. If anyone was paying attention it often did show up in the matches. Chi and Ashley got quite good at it together with the quick middle sets. Again, Ashley has the best stats of a Texas setter since a long long time excepting Hannah's championship year. Very even stats then. Give miss Shook a decent libero and she will settle in nicely. Take a look at past Texas freshman or even best of career stats. Ashley is a keeper. Tough position to come into with perpetual poor passing. Gabriel will push for playing time? Not as a primary setter. Sorry, miss Gabriel can't jump. Will never support a team again that has a short setter unless she can touch 10' from a standing jump and has a nice resume. I think most Texas fans would say that Shook was okay. She had a very up and down season as one would expect from a true freshman. Sun also had some shaky matches but also had some terrific ones. Both are freshman that should make strides this off-season (especially getting stronger). Texas fans know that passing is an issue. That issue has been beat to death on here. However, there were still many times that Shook failed to set a good set with a great pass. Also some matches she barely set the ball above the net to the middles. Yet in other matches she was setting Texas to almost unfathomable hitting percentages. She has lots of room for improvement and I think she will improve. I think she needs to work on lateral agility as that seems to be an issue from what I've seen from her. I think most of the groaning is that she was a very highly rated recruit and so far hasn't looked like one, not that she has been terrible (most people claiming that are not Texas fans). I really don't know too much about Gabriel, but have heard that she is fairly decent at setting. The blocking aspect may be a different story. I just think she will create more competition which will push Shook to get better. I also think she needs to break out of her shell a bit and being a year older will likely help.
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Texas 2018
Dec 10, 2017 22:22:49 GMT -5
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Post by haze on Dec 10, 2017 22:22:49 GMT -5
Yes, scarily thin. One would think Texas doesn't roll in to '18 that thin on the pin. Maybe there will be a transfer in but that may be hard as there is no guarantee that they would get to play much. And then there is the absurd Lexi transfer rumor which makes no sense Texas is so thin. There is literally no one behind her pushing for playing time. Only way it would make sense would be if she were homesick. The Sun tranfer rumors have nothing to do with playing time or being pushed for playing time. Its going to be an interesting offseason for a number of top programs and impacting players transferring both in and out.
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Post by bball on Dec 10, 2017 22:40:57 GMT -5
Ive heard nothing about a possible transfer from Sun. It would be interesting if true.
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Texas 2018
Dec 10, 2017 23:33:32 GMT -5
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Post by vbgirls2 on Dec 10, 2017 23:33:32 GMT -5
Ogbaji needs to find a new home, don’t see her playing at Texas.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2017 0:12:59 GMT -5
I wonder how much time is spent at volleyball fundamentals at Texas? Austin is a beautiful fun city, I bet that is a huge draw for many/most of these girls along with a degree from a great school.
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Post by sultanofswat on Dec 11, 2017 0:26:00 GMT -5
For those of us who follow recruiting, and keep up with future depth charts, it's been quite apparent that there could be only 3 pin hitters on the 2018 roster. Even in 2016, we only had three pin hitters (if you considered YBG an MB). The most plausible situation, IMO, is to target a versatile international player who can swing from both pins; we were supposed to benefit in recruiting some possible Croatian players by having Mirta Baselovic on the roster the last 4 seasons, but that doesn't seem to have occurred. My guess- without adding a player (do they even have available money...and what transfer is really at a level that can help TX get to another Final Four?)- is that they use Yaasmeen as their backup left for Sun and White in the event one of them struggles or gets hurt. They'll train one of the middles as a right this spring and maybe even use O'Neal on the right to start. Khat Bell is someone that transitioned from the middle to the right quite well and if you're not looking for a ton of production from that spot (remember, it would be in an "emergency" type of situation), they'll be just fine with a transitioned/transitioning middle on the right. Just give her in-system only balls and let her be a physical block. Whoever that ends up being. I personally don't see the outside hitter depth as an issue in competition. Maybe moreso in practice. But that's where male practice players or maybe even Sullivan come in. There are a lot of programs that would love to have this "problem". They'll be just fine from a personnel standpoint.
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