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Post by bbg95 on Oct 31, 2021 20:54:09 GMT -5
Maggie Mendelson had her Senior night. Fourth photo with poster shows schools she's considering (or considered at one time) as: Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Washington, Nebraska, and Oregon. https://www.instagram.com/p/CVqllJHF6Dm I'm not sure I would read much into that poster, one way or the other. Who knows if she even put it together herself? More importantly, someone in the comments asked her if she was committed anywhere, and she responded, "no. I’ve still got visits! Hoping to have a decision by Christmas." That's actually kind of interesting because I think a lot of people thought that since she reclassified, she already had one destination in mind. I'll admit that I was in that group, and I thought that Texas was the destination in question. That could still be the case, but more visits suggest that maybe it's not set in stone. |
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Post by horns1 on Nov 17, 2021 21:24:18 GMT -5
Article on Maggie Mendelson: www.usab.com/news-events/news/2021/11/maggie-mendelson-feature.aspxTo clarify, Mendelson primarily hopes to play volleyball in the Olympic Games. But she’d love to play both sports in college. (Her top four schools, by the way, are Nebraska, Washington, Texas and Minnesota.) And of course, if the timing works out, she’d love to play both sports for the United States in 2022. For basketball, that would be the FIBA U17 World Cup. For volleyball, possible events are the 2022 U18 NORCECA Championship and the 2022 U18 Pan Am Cup. |
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Post by rodbcantu on Nov 18, 2021 18:18:27 GMT -5
Texas should be her top choice considering we’ve produced the most amount of olympic worthy middles out of that final group - we’d be tied with Penn State with 2.
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Post by AmeriCanVBfan on Nov 18, 2021 18:46:07 GMT -5
Texas should be her top choice considering we’ve produced the most amount of olympic worthy middles out of that final group - we’d be tied with Penn State with 2. Or she could go with a coach that has direct connections to the Olympic program. I wonder HUGH that would be?  |
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Post by ay2013 on Nov 18, 2021 19:51:58 GMT -5
Texas should be her top choice considering we’ve produced the most amount of olympic worthy middles out of that final group - we’d be tied with Penn State with 2. It’s pretty laughable to think that TEXAS is the reason for that. Elite talent will manifest itself for the national team regardless of collegiate program. Texas is no better at developing middles than dozens of other programs just like Illinois is no better at developing setters than dozens of other programs. The only common theme among almost all Olympic roster hopefuls is that most were expected to be elite talent long before they even arrived to campus. The fact that Texas gets so many elite recruits is the only correlation here. In fact, given how many elite recruits come through the Texas program, it’s actually kind of surprising how few make the big time Olympic training rosters compared to programs like Penn State, Stanford, and Nebraska. |
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Post by vergyltantor on Nov 18, 2021 20:16:54 GMT -5
Texas should be her top choice considering we’ve produced the most amount of olympic worthy middles out of that final group - we’d be tied with Penn State with 2. Or she could go for the team on her list with the highest number recent Olympic players and coach, the most fans, academic All-Americans, National Championships, competitive conference, and social media interactions in a place that is within a 1 day driving distance of home. |
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Post by bbg95 on Nov 18, 2021 20:26:17 GMT -5
Texas should be her top choice considering we’ve produced the most amount of olympic worthy middles out of that final group - we’d be tied with Penn State with 2. Or she could go for the team on her list with the highest number recent Olympic players and coach, the most fans, academic All-Americans, National Championships, competitive conference, and social media interactions in a place that is within a 1 day driving distance of home. It's like a 13-hour drive from Lincoln to Ogden without stops. That's maybe technically drivable in one day, but I don't know many who would do that. |
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Post by vergyltantor on Nov 18, 2021 20:34:54 GMT -5
Or she could go for the team on her list with the highest number recent Olympic players and coach, the most fans, academic All-Americans, National Championships, competitive conference, and social media interactions in a place that is within a 1 day driving distance of home. It's like a 13-hour drive from Lincoln to Ogden without stops. That's maybe technically drivable in one day, but I don't know many who would do that. You are right, it is a long day, but I have done it several times. Ogden was my normal overnight stop when going to the Pacific Northwest. It is 75 mph interstate the whole distance and it skirts the west edge of Salt Lake. |
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Post by horns1 on Nov 18, 2021 20:41:56 GMT -5
Texas should be her top choice considering we’ve produced the most amount of olympic worthy middles out of that final group - we’d be tied with Penn State with 2. Or she could go with a coach that has direct connections to the Olympic program. I wonder HUGH that would be? Does Hugh even know how to identify and utilize MB talent anymore? This year's offense is like a donut offense . . .  |
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Post by AmeriCanVBfan on Nov 18, 2021 20:48:33 GMT -5
Or she could go with a coach that has direct connections to the Olympic program. I wonder HUGH that would be? Does Hugh even know how to identify and utilize MB talent anymore? This year's offense is like a donut offense . . . Yes yes, the Gophers have one dryspell season at middle and everything's calamity.   (tbh I did like that donut comment) |
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Post by gopherhim on Nov 18, 2021 21:01:36 GMT -5
I’m sure Hugh recruits many of the same elite middles that other top programs recruit. Mendelson is considering Minnesota after all, isn’t she? It’s just a matter of sealing the deal, as it is for any position.
At Minnesota, Mendelson could play with arguably the other two players on the U18 USA team that had the biggest impact in Mexico this year: Wucherer and Choboy. From what I’ve read on here and through other research, the WBB team has their best ever recruiting class coming in next year too. I’m sure there are more reasons than Hugh’s connections to USA volleyball that have her looking at Minnesota.
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Post by horns1 on Nov 18, 2021 21:16:23 GMT -5
Texas should be her top choice considering we’ve produced the most amount of olympic worthy middles out of that final group - we’d be tied with Penn State with 2. It’s pretty laughable to think that TEXAS is the reason for that. Elite talent will manifest itself for the national team regardless of collegiate program. Texas is no better at developing middles than dozens of other programs just like Illinois is no better at developing setters than dozens of other programs. The only common theme among almost all Olympic roster hopefuls is that most were expected to be elite talent long before they even arrived to campus. The fact that Texas gets so many elite recruits is the only correlation here. In fact, given how many elite recruits come through the Texas program, it’s actually kind of surprising how few make the big time Olympic training rosters compared to programs like Penn State, Stanford, and Nebraska. Not that i'm surprised with YOUR mindset, but I guess no one should get credit for "developing" any of their top recruits; but, should get blamed if they don't develop to an All-American level. At Texas, we all know that Middle Blockers just arrive at Texas and are automatically named All-Americans based on magic and dumb luck. Getting to an Olympic level goes way beyond the effort and commitment a player gives in college.
Whether you like it or not, other than Penn State, nobody else holds a candle to the number of elite All-American middle blockers who spent their careers at Texas in the Jerritt Elliott era: Bethany Howden, Leticia Armstrong, Brandee Magee, Lauren Paolini, Rachael Adams, Molly McCage, Chiaka Obogu, Khat Bell, Brionne Butler, Asjia O'Neal
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Post by horns1 on Nov 18, 2021 21:18:46 GMT -5
Does Hugh even know how to identify and utilize MB talent anymore? This year's offense is like a donut offense . . . Yes yes, the Gophers have one dryspell season at middle and everything's calamity. (tbh I did like that donut comment) Hey, Texas ran a donut offense the year Chiaka Ogbogu sat out unexpectedly; luckily, Texas "developed" Yaazie Bedart-Ghani into a more than serviceable middle blocker half-way through the season and was still able to make it to the national championship match. |
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Post by horns1 on Nov 18, 2021 21:26:25 GMT -5
To be clear, none of us know what Mendelson's most important criteria are for selecting a college.
She apparently will be selecting from 4 schools whose volleyball programs have all made at least one Final Four appearance recently. Who'd have thought that Nebraska would be the volleyball program with longest drought without a Final Four appearance?
I think she could start for any of the four basketball programs as a true freshman. But, in volleyball, Texas would be the least likely place where she would be a starter in 2022. But, the way things are trending right now and in the immediate future, Texas has the strongest combination of both programs, and she'd probably enjoy the best combined success in the post-season at Texas.
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Post by ay2013 on Nov 18, 2021 21:28:45 GMT -5
It’s pretty laughable to think that TEXAS is the reason for that. Elite talent will manifest itself for the national team regardless of collegiate program. Texas is no better at developing middles than dozens of other programs just like Illinois is no better at developing setters than dozens of other programs. The only common theme among almost all Olympic roster hopefuls is that most were expected to be elite talent long before they even arrived to campus. The fact that Texas gets so many elite recruits is the only correlation here. In fact, given how many elite recruits come through the Texas program, it’s actually kind of surprising how few make the big time Olympic training rosters compared to programs like Penn State, Stanford, and Nebraska. Not that i'm surprised with YOUR mindset, but I guess no one should get credit for "developing" any of their top recruits; but, should get blamed if they don't develop to an All-American level. At Texas, we all know that Middle Blockers just arrive at Texas and are automatically named All-Americans based on magic and dumb luck. Getting to an Olympic level goes way beyond the effort and commitment a player gives in college.
Whether you like it or not, other than Penn State, nobody else holds a candle to the number of elite All-American middle blockers who spent their careers at Texas in the Jerritt Elliott era: Bethany Howden, Leticia Armstrong, Brandee Magee, Lauren Paolini, Rachael Adams, Molly McCage, Chiaka Obogu, Khat Bell, Brionne Butler, Asjia O'Neal The only thing that is unsurprising is your complete distortion of what I said. I said elite talent will manifest itself for the National Team. Of course Texas can get credit for developing Ogbogu, but that’s different than saying that it’s because of a Texas that Ogbogu is on the national team. She would probably still have made her way to the national team even if she went to USC, or Stanford, or Wisconsin, or Minnesota etc. there is nothing special about her to going to Texas for why she’s doing so well just like there was nothing special about Poulter going to Illinois, or Thompson going to Cincinnati, or Hill going to Pepperdine, or Drew’s going to Purdue etc. Plenty of programs can develop talent, there is nothing unique or special about Texas in this regard, period. As for all the players you mentioned (and there are more), again, the only common thread is they were elite recruits before even arriving to Texas. How many of them were Olympians? |
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