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Post by kk1971 on Dec 11, 2022 9:41:34 GMT -5
After the results of this past weekend, with both USD and Pitt wining their respective regionals despite not having home court advantage, the "cup-is-half-empty" crowd on BYU's future have to admit that they really were playing pretty well by the end of the year. If you watched the USD match, we were much better and in it the whole time. Just not good enough to close out over a clearly very good USD team. Ditto Pitt. JMU was, I thought, a decent team and BYU destroyed them. If anything, both USD and Pitt making it to the Final Four should put BYU's last two losses in better perspective.
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Post by marnvbc2 on Dec 16, 2022 16:20:44 GMT -5
If we were to get Hiapo, next year could be really solid in our backcourt. Hiapo at L, McComber and Miller as DS. I am not so sure that it is a good idea to change or think of changing DS's to L's and so forth. This was a rub with BYU this year and last season. McComber and Knudsen were not interchangeable at Libero. Madi Allen was not the primary libero on her club team and Heather thought she could teach her. Madi never felt comfortable and then pressure was put on her from coach and she hit the portal rather than go down a path she felt she couldn't do well. Now an OH that has been a 6 rotation player is something I have harped on for years. BYU missed on several player who were playing DS/L at the HS/club level but they never really looked at the athlete who plays other positions as a possibility. Hiapo is a combo. There are other combos out there. Good OH's for hs/club that simply aren't good enough for D-1. But they are certainly high enough quality athletes to learn back-row. So, I like this move but I am not comfortale with just Hiapo and Miller coming in. BYU needs 2 more girls. Looks like they got 1 from the portal! Look for more Hiapo's who are OH's or setters who really should be back row passers at the next level. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Dec 16, 2022 17:03:40 GMT -5
After the results of this past weekend, with both USD and Pitt wining their respective regionals despite not having home court advantage, the "cup-is-half-empty" crowd on BYU's future have to admit that they really were playing pretty well by the end of the year. If you watched the USD match, we were much better and in it the whole time. Just not good enough to close out over a clearly very good USD team. Ditto Pitt. JMU was, I thought, a decent team and BYU destroyed them. If anything, both USD and Pitt making it to the Final Four should put BYU's last two losses in better perspective. Oh I think the 4 losses to Pitt and USD were certainly to very good teams. I think BYU needs to realistically look at their roster, the strengths and weaknesses of the staff and do some things that will turn the tide. GT and OSU losses were also against good teams. It was the way that BYU got beat in some of those losses that made a case for concern. They weren't really in the matches from a competitive standpoint. Pacific was landmine! Pitt, for as good as they are, can't win it all with their line up because they have issues in their setting dept and at Libero. Fairbanks isn't a great setter from a location perspective but she is an offensive dynamo! Pitt has to have her offense. Lexis isn't an offensive threat at all (but her sister is a coach at Pitt) and many will argue with me over this statement, but I think that team played at the best level they could. They maxed out! The BYU system is better than Pitt's but you can't neglect the over all athletic ability of players like BYU does and think you can overcome a team like Pitt who has over-whelming athletic superiority compared to BYU. Pitt simply doesn't have the continuity that a 5-1 brings. If Whitney Bower were at Pitt and allowed to play a 5-1 Pitt would have beaten UL. UL beat Pitt because they run a 5-1 with great chemistry and have athletic ability that almost matches Pitt. Texas with their 5-1 and USD with their 5-1 are also better teams than Pitt. Pitt will lose Ennis, Gray, Starks and Buzzerio and that will really put a dent in their program. The odds of replacing all 4 with portal transfers of the same quality is remote. Dan needs to go to a 5-1 if he wants to win a championship because that program can get a prototype setter and they don't have one. I am not sure Dan sees things that way and he will beat his head against the wall. Wisc went to a 6-2 and Kelly must have thought that he was the reason for success in that program, but he didn't have the athletes and there is no excuse for winning a national championship and having a dominant setter for 4 years and not recruiting another one to be the heir apparent. I bet he changes his tune this offseason. Bri hitting the portal tells me that she isn't good enough to start (ever) at BYU. I am told Billetter and Decker aren't good enough either so don't look for them to be around long-term. |
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