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Post by bruinsgold on Nov 11, 2020 15:19:31 GMT -5
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Post by bruinsgold on Nov 11, 2020 15:20:38 GMT -5
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Post by zlionsfan on Nov 19, 2020 15:55:07 GMT -5
Not too far into today's scrimmage, and Shondell's already touched on the discussion here from the summer about MB and Cleveland - sounds like, at this point, Cleveland will stay at OPP as long as one of the freshmen middles steps up; if necessary, Cleveland will move back to MB and one of the sophs will start at OPP. Trammell, I think, is the one freshman MB he's mentioned most so far. Myers has missed time with shin splints, she's 100% now but not dressed for the scrimmage.
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Post by exit237a on Nov 19, 2020 15:58:42 GMT -5
Not too far into today's scrimmage, and Shondell's already touched on the discussion here from the summer about MB and Cleveland - sounds like, at this point, Cleveland will stay at OPP as long as one of the freshmen middles steps up; if necessary, Cleveland will move back to MB and one of the sophs will start at OPP. Trammell, I think, is the one freshman MB he's mentioned most so far. Myers has missed time with shin splints, she's 100% now but not dressed for the scrimmage. You mentioned scrimmage- are they playing right now and if so, is it being streamed? |
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Post by zlionsfan on Nov 19, 2020 16:05:04 GMT -5
Not too far into today's scrimmage, and Shondell's already touched on the discussion here from the summer about MB and Cleveland - sounds like, at this point, Cleveland will stay at OPP as long as one of the freshmen middles steps up; if necessary, Cleveland will move back to MB and one of the sophs will start at OPP. Trammell, I think, is the one freshman MB he's mentioned most so far. Myers has missed time with shin splints, she's 100% now but not dressed for the scrimmage. You mentioned scrimmage- are they playing right now and if so, is it being streamed? Yes, but it's a private stream, sent out to STH and family only I think. It's too bad, we have all this down time and it'd be great to get VB on the air for everyone to watch. |
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Post by exit237a on Nov 19, 2020 16:09:58 GMT -5
You mentioned scrimmage- are they playing right now and if so, is it being streamed? Yes, but it's a private stream, sent out to STH and family only I think. It's too bad, we have all this down time and it'd be great to get VB on the air for everyone to watch. Right on- thanks for the scoop. You'll have to enjoy it for the rest of us! |
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Post by zlionsfan on Nov 19, 2020 16:19:54 GMT -5
First match in the books - they're playing two today. 13 players suited up - Hornung (close contact), Torrance (quarantine ending, I think - she is in Holloway and coaching), Newton (unspecified injury) and Myers are out, with Nichol filling in as a welcome throwback to my first years as a Purdue VB fan.
Kind of hard to see everything since there's a fixed camera, but Shondell has been doing PBP, which is really, really helpful. They've been working a lot on aiming high hands and avoiding hitting errors; still have a ways to go on that. Serves haven't been great but some of that is from players new to the role (Koch, I think, is one of the players who's serving now and didn't last year).
Shondell also mentioned that they have not had their first team together as a unit yet, which makes sense since there aren't any matches coming (yet). Plus right now, they're missing their top libero and OH anyway.
Renner looks like she's doing well enough, which is good since you know. Otec has been playing well, not sure but the best one on the court might be Nichol, lol. I'm looking forward to watching her in Athletes Unlimited in February - I got into the softball stuff late but it was still really neat, and I think it's a format that would work really well for VB. It'll be nice to see Sherridan as well, don't think there are any other former Boilers (yet) who are in.
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Post by zlionsfan on Nov 19, 2020 16:20:40 GMT -5
oh - he also mentioned they are working on having the setters be more of the offense, but also not dumping the ball directly into a defender.
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Post by bruinsgold on Nov 19, 2020 16:30:18 GMT -5
oh - he also mentioned they are working on having the setters be more of the offense, but also not dumping the ball directly into a defender. Thank you for sharing all this great info! |
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Post by ay2013 on Nov 19, 2020 16:36:38 GMT -5
whoever doesn’t win the conference between PSU, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Minnesota and then Purdue and Michigan. That’s it No dice for OSU? If there is no non-conference play and the high likelihood of unbalanced schedules, I think the Big 10 getting more than 5 at large teams seems like a high bar to meet, in particular, if it's for a bid for a team that hasn't had a winning season in over 3 years. |
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Post by big10+4 fan on Nov 19, 2020 16:42:36 GMT -5
During Nebraska's scrimmage a week ago Cook was doing play by play and mentioned how Purdue coaches thought this might be one of their best teams ever.
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Post by zlionsfan on Nov 19, 2020 17:29:39 GMT -5
If there is no non-conference play and the high likelihood of unbalanced schedules, I think the Big 10 getting more than 5 at large teams seems like a high bar to meet, in particular, if it's for a bid for a team that hasn't had a winning season in over 3 years. Especially with only 16 at-large selections. The 16 spots cut were all at-large teams ... while it's quite likely that at least one conference will not end up sending a team (if MBB is any guide), I'd expect most of the smaller conferences to send someone, and the teams who will miss out would mostly be the middle-of-the-pack power-conference teams. One-eighth of the field from the Big Tenteen is certainly possible, but what's already been mentioned here and other places - and also by Shondell in post-scrimmage comments - is that the conference will be really tough this season. If several of last year's NCAA teams don't make it, asking OSU to jump all of them is probably too much in 2020/1. |
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Post by zlionsfan on Nov 19, 2020 17:43:58 GMT -5
Didn't get to see as much of the second match, I got distracted by work (boo), but I did stay on to hear all the post-match comments. Some things that Shondell mentioned, with my personal thoughts added:
- Trammell, Chinn, and the setters stood out, might have been a couple of others too; some players needed some more work, but that's understandable
- Renner needs time to build rapport with her hitters, she's just now at 100% and hasn't been at full practice speed yet so that will come with time and practice
- They're a bit concerned about how ready to go the players will be when they return from winter break (last practice is Tues 11/24, they'll be back not long before season opens 1/22), and if they'll be healthy/strong/in match shape, since it's easier to manage that in WL than individually
- Purdue's "bubble" has been pretty good but not perfect, as you can tell by the absence of Torrance and Hornung
- Holloway still slated to have only family members in attendance - my personal thought is that there is no chance that will change in two months, Holloway's HVAC system is probably older than me (in theory it's not that old but it's also not designed for this)
- Regular season will be 22 matches, conference only, multiple matches at one site rather than the semi-traveling-partner setup in previous years, e.g. two matches at Wisconsin rather than at PSU one night and Rutgers the next
- Travel will likely be by bus due to cost constraints - my personal thought is that the schedule would likely adjust for that, maybe Purdue doesn't play RU/Maryland or maybe even PSU
- Shondell is open to whatever kind of timing is necessary to get as many matches on TV as possible, if that means, say, 1 and 3:30 because basketball is on at 6 and 8:30 then he'll do that, it's important to keep VB on (he mentioned it was the third most popular sport on BTN behind FB and MBB) to continue to grow the sport
- He has not yet discussed a fifth year with the seniors (Newton and Otec) yet, it's likely Purdue would try to keep some of them - to me, that was interestingly phrased because those two are the only ones whose eligibility would run out aside from the COVID bonus year, but Shondell is very diplomatic and probably chose his words for a reason
If everyone is ready to go in January, I wouldn't be surprised to see Trammell at MB with Johnson and Cleveland staying at OPP. The one question mark might be if Myers can continue to rest and recover, since if she continued to have problems, that would leave the Boilers with just one bench MB, but I guess you can make the same argument for sliding, say, Ellis to MB if needed as for sliding Cleveland back to MB, except Ellis isn't starting and Cleveland is so that's more of a point for shifting an OH to MB, especially one with MB experience in high school.
Of course with the way things have gone, who knows who'll be healthy in January and how many matches will get played? There's a long way to go, in more ways than one.
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Post by zlionsfan on Nov 19, 2020 17:46:51 GMT -5
During Nebraska's scrimmage a week ago Cook was doing play by play and mentioned how Purdue coaches thought this might be one of their best teams ever. That would have been great to listen to as well. I know Purdue recorded this scrimmage - all this stuff should be up on BTN. I would absolutely watch each team's scrimmage with coaches providing PBP.
I don't doubt Cook for a moment, and I suspect we won't hear those words directly from Shondell himself, who might say that they have a lot of potential, etc., but I can see him not actually talking about best-ever publicly. I was actually thinking along the same lines, and what a shame it was (for more teams as well of course) that the Boilers would be losing just two players (obvs excellent middles) and adding another solid recruiting class, only to not be able to play a full season.
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Post by bruinsgold on Nov 19, 2020 18:05:24 GMT -5
If Cleveland has to go to the middle, I'm not completely against it. She clearly can hit well in front of the setter, has a great slide, and is the best blocker. She's also capable of hitting from either pin, so if she's M2, we have her for more options than just running a slide.
I just don't want to lose her back row play. She was very useful in that one rotation just before Newton goes to the back row, providing an extra bailout option if the other team is camped out on Newton and we can't get a good ball to the middle.
But you can't argue having the best 7 starters to help us get an At Large bid.
Glad Chinn is stepping up. Last year, our of the 3 freshmen, I thought she showed the most potential to develop all around. Really happy to hear Koch is serving. That class is going to be so good by Junior/Senior year.
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