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Post by Vball818 on Nov 29, 2004 22:20:42 GMT -5
Kansas St will be in first round action against Cal State Northridge this Thursday night at USC. They are ranked #23 in the latest USA Today/CSTV poll. Any Wildcats fan in here? Who has seen them play, how good are they and who do you think are their best players to watch?
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Post by bigfan on Nov 29, 2004 22:27:37 GMT -5
Kansas St will be in first round action against Cal State Northridge this Thursday night at USC. They are ranked #23 in the latest USA Today/CSTV poll. Any Wildcats fan in here? Who has seen them play, how good are they and who do you think are their best players to watch? We have a crises of Biblical proportions on this board and you want to talk about Kansas St.? What about Hawai`i?
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Post by packitwithpurple on Nov 29, 2004 23:04:59 GMT -5
As the old saying goes -- "when they are good, they are VERY good, but when the are bad, they are horrid." It depends on which "team" shows up. If it is the "A" team, they could surprise a lot of people (like TAMU in 3 at Manhattan). If it is the "Z" team, they go 2 up on Texas Tech (near the bottom of the Big-12), and then manage to lose in 5!! Their setter and one of their left sides made the all Big-12 first team. Thier fresman libero was the libero of the year in the Big-12. In their last game against Missouri, all their big hitters were "on" at the same time -- not much Mizzou could do. They took Minnesota and Florida out to 5 on successive nights in a pre-season tournement. When they are hot, they have good serving and good blocking. When those two skills don't show up -- well. . . .
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Post by beachman on Nov 29, 2004 23:05:15 GMT -5
We have a crises of Biblical proportions on this board and you want to talk about Kansas St.? What about Hawai`i? LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL! That was pretty good! ;D
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Post by Cubicle No More ... on Nov 30, 2004 5:13:13 GMT -5
I was just wondering about this team, and this thread reminded me that they stretched Minnesota and Florida way early in the season.
On my bracket I have KSU and USC advancing. And now I'm thinking this might be one of the more competitive 2nd round matches. Both teams have produced up-and-down results this season, both capable of so much, yet also very capable of imploding. If both teams bring it, it should be good.
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Post by 2c on Nov 30, 2004 19:36:45 GMT -5
If KSU doesn't freeball the match away, they can hang with anyone. KSU does have the weapon that makes USC vulnerable if they meet up. KSU can serve pretty tough. With USC's setting challenges, a good serving night by KSU could result in a tough passing night by USC and therefore not a lot of great sets to USC's MBs.
Kaeo can usually keep USC in any match but it certainly opens the door for an upset.
Go Kats!
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Post by Vball818 on Nov 30, 2004 22:21:41 GMT -5
We have a crises of Biblical proportions on this board and you want to talk about Kansas St.? What about Hawai`i? Good lord, what was I thinking? I had the cojones to bring up the subject yesterday/last night asking about KSU while a riot i Volley Talk was about to boil over to the size of the citizens protesting in the very cold city of Kiev, Ukraine. How dare I bring up such a topic. Oh well. Yep, I wanna talk about the match-up between Cal State Northridge and Kansas St. Why not? I hope this is a good match between CSUN and KSU and I think CSUN is good enough to take them on. Is KSU in terms of talent, team balance and strength the same as CSUN's top Big West foes such as UCBS and LBSU? Go Matadors!
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Post by Vball818 on Nov 30, 2004 22:29:24 GMT -5
USC is hosting a Louisville regional.
Nothing was mentioned or I haven't seen anything about the seeds at this sub-regional but I have to assume these are the seedings:
1. USC 2. Kansas St 3. Cal State Northridge 4. College of Charleston
or
1. USC 2. CSUN 3. KSU 4. College of Charleston
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Post by 2c on Nov 30, 2004 23:05:27 GMT -5
USC is hosting a Louisville regional. Nothing was mentioned or I haven't seen anything about the seeds at this sub-regional but I have to assume these are the seedings: 1. USC 2. Kansas St 3. Cal State Northridge 4. College of Charleston or 1. USC 2. CSUN 3. KSU 4. College of Charleston They don't officially seed sub-regionals but KSU would be seeded above CSUN if they truly did. KSU could have been a hosting Top-16 team as easily as Mizzou. Talent-wise KSU has 1 strong OH, 1 strong MB, a pretty good Opp, an attacking setter, and a great libero. Their floor defense and blocking aren't the best. Serving is very good. Can be VERY good, can be pretty bad. Depends how you catch them. I'm guessing they handle CSUN pretty easily in 3 and take USC to 4 but bow out badly in the final game.
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Post by Vball818 on Nov 30, 2004 23:17:16 GMT -5
They don't officially seed sub-regionals but KSU would be seeded above CSUN if they truly did. KSU could have been a hosting Top-16 team as easily as Mizzou. Talent-wise KSU has 1 strong OH, 1 strong MB, a pretty good Opp, an attacking setter, and a great libero. Their floor defense and blocking aren't the best. Serving is very good. Can be VERY good, can be pretty bad. Depends how you catch them. I'm guessing they handle CSUN pretty easily in 3 and take USC to 4 but bow out badly in the final game. The reason I brought it up is because Nevada's coach, Devin Scruggs mentioned that where they are playing they are number two behind number one Nebraska so I just assumed it's that way at all sub-regionals. Looks like CSUN will have a lot on their hands again. CSUN's top two hitters JEN RYAN and HEATHER FOBIAN have got to put the ball down or hit smart and when those two are on CSUN gets in a groove. For the other OH to get in the game the DS and libero has to pass well for Nadine to set low and fast out to DELANEY who beats the block and has a sharp cross-court hit. The middle blockers aren't dominating but they are very good at touching the ball and keeping the ball playable on their side of the court. Several times in the matches I've seen they've done that and CSUN was able to go in a good transisiton from defense to offense. CSUN doesn't run many plays but they plays they do in transition works very well for them. Nadine does a great job of setting Jen on the left or all the way to the right side for a very long step out/slide set which Jen likes to hit. This ought to be tight slug fest...hope CSUN ends up being the winner. Go Matadors!
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Post by 2c on Dec 1, 2004 0:41:19 GMT -5
The reason I brought it up is because Nevada's coach, Devin Scruggs mentioned that where they are playing they are number two behind number one Nebraska so I just assumed it's that way at all sub-regionals. Maybe based on RPI but WichitaState is higher than Nevada in most every other rankings available.
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Post by Vball818 on Dec 2, 2004 0:01:31 GMT -5
At 5 PM(PST) Kansas St and Cal State Northridge will be battling it out at Lyon Center.
How many CSUN fans will be going? I know it's a work day(lucky me I am through at 3 PM and will be working nearby Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown area) and you don't want to deal with the traffic, but c'mon forget about that for just one day. Get off the couch and let's go cheer for CSUN! We should be lucky that we don't have to travel far to see our team play - at least we don't have to go up to the Bay Area or way out to Georgia.
Come on out Matador fans! Let's pack the SC gym with red, white and black. Let's outnumber the purple Wildcats. CSUNAlumn, you planning on going? See ya tomorrow!
Go Matadors!
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Post by csunalumn on Dec 2, 2004 12:42:38 GMT -5
yeah I'll be there cheering CSUN on to victory!! GO MATS
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Post by Gwangipal on Dec 2, 2004 13:15:38 GMT -5
(I posted this in the upsets section first, but should more appropriately go here. God only knows what KSU and CSUN teams will show up. I saw KSU destroy Mizzou, but that late Baylor away match...):
Kansas State versus CSUN is not about which conference is better. The Big 12 is. And UCI beating Missouri in an "upset" last year doesn't show that the Big West was better then either. It's just two teams out of two conferences.
KSU is the favorite, but what makes this match a strong upset possibily is that the Wildcats are such a different road team this season from their home stands performances. I think their hitting differential home and away in the Big 12 is something like -.146, which is real big. The percentage of games lost away in the Big 12 is just one fewer than they've won.
The early season performances of both teams at Colorado was miserable, and CSUN had the better hitting percentage (while CU hit better against CSUN).
So, do we get the Wildcats who lost two of their three last away matches (and escaped with a 3-2 win at Baylor, which was the only thing close to a win the Bears had in their last five home matches) and were 6-4 over their last 10 matches, OR do we get a devastating team with four Big 12 all stars?
And with CSUN, will we see the team that beat Pacific by a similar score to their Stanford match the night before and beat Long Beach, or will we watch the team that struggled with SMU at home and lost at home to Cal Poly and CSU Fullerton late in the season?
I think KSU could beat CSUN 7 of 10, but K-State does not typically play well on the road and CSUN wins more on the road than they lose (against generally weaker competition than KSU's).
But if KSU goes mental on the road and CSUN plays as they did at Long Beach and Pacific...
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Post by Vball818 on Dec 2, 2004 15:22:32 GMT -5
yeah I'll be there cheering CSUN on to victory!! GO MATS A couple of associates who work in downtown l.a., CSUNalumn and I - well that may be six or eight of us along with the moms/dads/bf/gf, classmates and maybe just maybe the spirit squad minus the pep band, might be around 45-50 CSUN fans today. Not bad. Hope we can drown out the Wildcats. Let's win Matadors!
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