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Post by bbg95 on Dec 28, 2021 22:00:26 GMT -5
I don't think Knudsen will do much to help with BYU's passing issues, though her addition probably at least means that Olmstead won't be faced with the prospect of playing either Dayton or Morgan Bower. Knudsen does seem to be a solid server (16 aces, 13 errors), and she averaged 3.28 d/s last season. I would hope that someone from the 2021 or 2022 classes or possibly another transfer will be able to make more of an impact on the passing game. I've really only seen her play in the matches against BYU. My memory is that BYU almost never served to her. I think BYU targeted mostly Cowell and to a lesser extent Baka. But BYU avoiding her in serve-receive is a good sign in terms of getting a player who is above replacement level relative to Reinert. Obviously, getting above replacement level passing relative to Reinert doesn't solve BYU's passing issues, but I'll take it. BYU could still end up with Dayton playing back row if one of the pins doesn't play six rotations. None of the returning pins have played back row much: + Livingston + Grimmer + Callahan + Stowell + One of the incoming OHs Olmstead has almost always used one six rotation pin (in 2019 when Robinson got benched, BYU didn't). I'm hoping a year behind Koerber was really good for Grimmer's six rotation development. Perhaps the VolleyMetrics stats are more favorable, but her .923 reception percentage doesn't inspire a lot of optimism for me. I hope I'm wrong. |
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Dec 28, 2021 22:15:55 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2021 22:15:55 GMT -5
I've really only seen her play in the matches against BYU. My memory is that BYU almost never served to her. I think BYU targeted mostly Cowell and to a lesser extent Baka. But BYU avoiding her in serve-receive is a good sign in terms of getting a player who is above replacement level relative to Reinert. Obviously, getting above replacement level passing relative to Reinert doesn't solve BYU's passing issues, but I'll take it. BYU could still end up with Dayton playing back row if one of the pins doesn't play six rotations. None of the returning pins have played back row much: + Livingston + Grimmer + Callahan + Stowell + One of the incoming OHs Olmstead has almost always used one six rotation pin (in 2019 when Robinson got benched, BYU didn't). I'm hoping a year behind Koerber was really good for Grimmer's six rotation development. Perhaps the VolleyMetrics stats are more favorable, but her .923 reception percentage doesn't inspire a lot of optimism for me. I hope I'm wrong. 47.1% of Knudsen's passes kept her offense in system this year. 47.4% for Madi Allen. In 2019 Lake was ~62%. |
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Post by bbg95 on Dec 28, 2021 22:21:10 GMT -5
Perhaps the VolleyMetrics stats are more favorable, but her .923 reception percentage doesn't inspire a lot of optimism for me. I hope I'm wrong. 47.1% of Knudsen's passes kept her offense in system this year. 47.4% for Madi Allen. In 2019 Lake was ~62%. Thanks. Do you happen to have the numbers for McComber and Reinert from this season? |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2021 22:23:46 GMT -5
47.1% of Knudsen's passes kept her offense in system this year. 47.4% for Madi Allen. In 2019 Lake was ~62%. Thanks. Do you happen to have the numbers for McComber and Reinert from this season? 45.5% for Reinert. 44.3% for McComber. |
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Post by bbg95 on Dec 28, 2021 23:31:28 GMT -5
Thanks. Do you happen to have the numbers for McComber and Reinert from this season? 45.5% for Reinert. 44.3% for McComber. Thanks again. |
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Post by bbg95 on Jan 3, 2022 15:10:25 GMT -5
It looks like Prior, Billeter and Eden Bower have already enrolled.
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jan 6, 2022 1:30:01 GMT -5
Part 3 in writing about the BYU signees for volleyball, this time on Eden Bower. I won't write as much as I think she is better known by most here. I REALLY like her game. She has great size and frame, hits a very heavy ball, jumps very well, and well, is a Bower. So intense, a great athlete, is well trained, and is going to be great. I personally believe she is underappreciated by Prepvolleyball at 54. Remember that she lost a year due to recovery from surgery, and so her great last year wasn't preceded by as much development time as it should have been. Some on here have criticized her back row game, and I find this misguided because of this missed year. I think she is making up for missed time and will be a starting OH at BYU sooner rather that later and will be awfully good. My opinion, based on my belief that Eden is going to be really good, is that Heather bringing on Nataly too speaks highly of Nataly and her abilities, because I think it would have been easy to say that we already had our OH for this year. It is also part of the reason why I think Billeter ends up as a primarily back row player. Some Youtube highlights of Eden: I don't know that she is good enough yet to take court time next year. Livingston I think is a starter barring injury. I then think its a 4 person race to see who gets the swings at the other OH position between Stowell, Callahan, Bower and Moravec. Those are 4 awfully good outsides and will be creating a pretty competitive environment in practice. Its not improbable that at least one of those who get left behind then enter the transfer portal, because possibly the best of our young outsides comes in the following year. First world problem for BYU. I'd like to echo Zazu's sentiments about how nice it is that you're writing these breakdowns. I look forward to the next one on Kate Prior. Out of curiosity, are you planning to write about Claire Little, Silina Dimuni and Mia Lee now as well, or will you wait until they are officially signed next year? Just coming across these posts as club has started in earnest here in SoCal. Eden didn't generate much interest from many big D-1's during her fresh-soph years except, BYU. I think it was her knee issue that sidelined her, literally. But she certainly has a D-1 body and can hit a pretty heavy ball, she struggles to play defense and s/r is a major liability. People can blame her time off or whatever, but saying that she can play 6 rotations at a high level is wishful thinking at this point. Maybe she gets there in the future, but she was targeted the entire Durango Classic despite beating an Assumption team (which got beat by multiple teams). Mountainview (Utah) beat her Skyview team and MV appears to have played for the state championship in 5A (Utah). That same MV team has Mia Lee, the BYU recruit. BYU will have a log jam at OH with 6-7 girls competing for 1 spot in 2022. Bower, IMO doesn't have the odds in her favor unless Olmstead just promotes based on last name (which I doubt). The one issue that some on this board say is a positive for Bower is her jumping. I have no idea where that information came from. She is a medium jumper at best and she struggles to block. The Hive Club 16 team just destroyed the Idaho Crush 18 team that Eden was on. She had to block the Harvey girls, Mendelson and contain the back row hitting ability of the Hive team. It didn't go well, but the Idaho Crush team had mostly 17 aged girls and Eden's age forced them to play up. Not a good result for them in any qualifying tourney. They never beat the Hive team or any of the Club V 17 teams out of UTah, the whole season. I am not proclaiming Eden as over-rated but I am also realistic that she isn't a starting OH caliber player at BYU this next year or in 2023. Looking for a legit 6 rotation OH for BYU. Until they find 2 of them or another Koerber plus a 6 rotation OH they won't be playing past the sweet 16. Can Callahan or Stowell do it? Part 3 in writing about the BYU signees for volleyball, this time on Eden Bower. I won't write as much as I think she is better known by most here. I REALLY like her game. She has great size and frame, hits a very heavy ball, jumps very well, and well, is a Bower. So intense, a great athlete, is well trained, and is going to be great. I personally believe she is underappreciated by Prepvolleyball at 54. Remember that she lost a year due to recovery from surgery, and so her great last year wasn't preceded by as much development time as it should have been. Some on here have criticized her back row game, and I find this misguided because of this missed year. I think she is making up for missed time and will be a starting OH at BYU sooner rather that later and will be awfully good. My opinion, based on my belief that Eden is going to be really good, is that Heather bringing on Nataly too speaks highly of Nataly and her abilities, because I think it would have been easy to say that we already had our OH for this year. It is also part of the reason why I think Billeter ends up as a primarily back row player. Some Youtube highlights of Eden: I don't know that she is good enough yet to take court time next year. Livingston I think is a starter barring injury. I then think its a 4 person race to see who gets the swings at the other OH position between Stowell, Callahan, Bower and Moravec. Those are 4 awfully good outsides and will be creating a pretty competitive environment in practice. Its not improbable that at least one of those who get left behind then enter the transfer portal, because possibly the best of our young outsides comes in the following year. First world problem for BYU. This is the first film I’ve seen of Eden. Her front row play reminds me a bit of Kayla Lund from Pitt- an absolute hammer and smart with some good angles but not much of a jumper by the looks of it |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jan 6, 2022 1:48:23 GMT -5
The previous post were just some of my personal takeaways from the games that have happened  you don't have to agree, they're just opinions/thoughts. Some stats: In the Utah match Bower had 5 digs and Utah's setter Jankiewicz had 4 (5 more assists for Jankiewicz). Allen had 0 assists and Utah's libero Ramirez had 5. Pitt setters also had 4 more digs and 9 more assists in that game, with their libero getting one more assist than Allen. Not trying to be mean or put down this team at all...I am a BYU fan, love watching them play and think they can beat Purdue. Just pointing out the importance of good passing because BYU's offence has not been the weak link here. You're totally right, every team is better in system...I just think Bower is especially good and can really set a fantastic game if the passes are there. Yes, I only looked at the last 2 matches BYU has played against quality out-of-conference opponents. I found the most recent Utah match to be a better measure of where BYU is at this point in the season than their match in pre-season, and the only other opponent who fit the criteria was Pitt in the pre-season. Hope that clears things up! Again, just my personal takeaways/opinions based on the stats. Fair enough. Thanks for elaborating. I prefer to look at season-long trends regarding players (e.g. Bower is averaging 2.82 d/s, and Allen is averaging 1.21 a/s) rather than one or two matches because the sample size is much larger, as anyone can have one or two huge performances or off matches. Jankiewicz didn't play the same number of sets as Bower did in the first BYU/UTAH match so I agree with no using it for a comparison like smartcookie said. Without being too mean to the WCC, even the most ardent BYU fan has to understand that playing 7 bad WCC programs twice a year gives BYU increased stats and more wins than if they had to play better teams. The B12 move will help BYU become a better program but they won't win as many matches or as many awards for players or coaches. |
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Post by bbg95 on Jan 6, 2022 1:57:23 GMT -5
Fair enough. Thanks for elaborating. I prefer to look at season-long trends regarding players (e.g. Bower is averaging 2.82 d/s, and Allen is averaging 1.21 a/s) rather than one or two matches because the sample size is much larger, as anyone can have one or two huge performances or off matches. Jankiewicz didn't play the same number of sets as Bower did in the first BYU/UTAH match so I agree with no using it for a comparison like smartcookie said. Without being too mean to the WCC, even the most ardent BYU fan has to understand that playing 7 bad WCC programs twice a year gives BYU increased stats and more wins than if they had to play better teams. The B12 move will help BYU become a better program but they won't win as many matches or as many awards for players or coaches. Eh, I guess we'll see. I think with Texas departing, BYU will probably be either the best or second-best Big 12 team most seasons, along with Baylor. The Big 12 is a better conference due to not having hardly any truly terrible teams, but it's not exactly the Big Ten either, especially without Texas. I do agree that moving to the Big 12 will significantly benefit BYU, whether it be for RPI purposes or for recruiting. The WCC was great for BYU over the last decade, especially compared to the alternatives of the Mountain West or the WAC (the original proposed home for BYU's other sports). But it's time to move on. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jan 6, 2022 2:01:46 GMT -5
It looks like Prior, Billeter and Eden Bower have already enrolled. Prior is a player! I look for her to move into the lineup as a soph - Sr. Bower is a large ? and I am really hoping that Billeter can settle in on the back row. BYU passing and S/R needs big help in on court performance but also in the recruiting arena. Olmstead seems to have a problem in evaluating talent in passing, setting and backrow ability. I just don't get it. The departure of Zayna is particularly troubling. With the large # of wipeout 3-0 sweeps this season, Olmstead couldn't find a set for Zayna to play in? It would have been healthy for Bower, the program and Zayna. But, nope. Enter the transfer portal and continue with Bower's lack of high level blocking that was exposed against Weber St, Pitt and Purdue. BYU should have run a 6-2 all year. That is a coaching landmine. |
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Post by bbg95 on Jan 6, 2022 2:05:34 GMT -5
It looks like Prior, Billeter and Eden Bower have already enrolled. Prior is a player! I look for her to move into the lineup as a soph - Sr. Bower is a large ? and I am really hoping that Billeter can settle in on the back row. BYU passing and S/R needs big help in on court performance but also in the recruiting arena. Olmstead seems to have a problem in evaluating talent in passing, setting and backrow ability. I just don't get it. The departure of Zayna is particularly troubling. With the large # of wipeout 3-0 sweeps this season, Olmstead couldn't find a set for Zayna to play in? It would have been healthy for Bower, the program and Zayna. But, nope. Enter the transfer portal and continue with Bower's lack of high level blocking that was exposed against Weber St, Pitt and Purdue. BYU should have run a 6-2 all year. That is a coaching landmine. Why is the departure of Meyer "troubling"? She wasn't going to play for two more seasons (and even then, she still would have had to compete with Damuni). This isn't 2010. Players in that situation tend to transfer. Running a 6-2 last year would have been a comically bad idea. BYU's problem this season wasn't blocking, it was passing. And even then, they still had an extremely high hitting percentage in large part due to their setter. I genuinely don't understand the obsession some people have with 6-2s. It's like having two quarterbacks in football--it very rarely is the ideal solution. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jan 6, 2022 2:14:17 GMT -5
Losing Meyer is no bueno. She has more upside than Bower (don’t attack me Bower stans, she’s great) It’s just sad the way the timing worked out. Also interesting that Claire Little went from being the #9 overall recruit to the #34 (or close to there) recruit in the updated top 150 rankings for the 2023 class. Obviously rankings change, but I’m curious what led to that big of a drop. Has her progression slowed while others have excelled more recently? Does anyone have more info on her? I don't see it as accurate. In my opinion, she's easily in the top 20. One of only two players committed as an 8th grader. Maybe she suffered from her team last year not getting an open bid, shrug. This year she on a stacked 17s team, we'll see how that works out. Silver - I agree with you on Meyer. Big loss! I don't want to start a conspiracy but Meyer should have seen the floor this year and I think people would have been surprised at her abilities. But, I can say that it probably would have caused a tsunami in the Bower house. 25 plus matches were 3-0 sweeps. Olmstead couldn't work in Meyer at all ..... ever? The first stuff block of Meyer on the varsity floor would have made people sit up and take notice. I am not saying that Olmstead doesn't have enough humility .... but she didn't do what the Pitt coach did with his senior setter at the end of the year and in the NCAA tourney. That kind of mindset of winning regardless of who gets the credit may be why Pitt stayed ahead of BYU. Just very disappointed that Meyer, who most college coaches consider to have higher upside than Bower, didn't get a sniff of playing time and now she is gone. BYU had better pull a rabbit out of a hat for a backup setter next year. Who is left? |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jan 6, 2022 2:26:52 GMT -5
Prior is a player! I look for her to move into the lineup as a soph - Sr. Bower is a large ? and I am really hoping that Billeter can settle in on the back row. BYU passing and S/R needs big help in on court performance but also in the recruiting arena. Olmstead seems to have a problem in evaluating talent in passing, setting and backrow ability. I just don't get it. The departure of Zayna is particularly troubling. With the large # of wipeout 3-0 sweeps this season, Olmstead couldn't find a set for Zayna to play in? It would have been healthy for Bower, the program and Zayna. But, nope. Enter the transfer portal and continue with Bower's lack of high level blocking that was exposed against Weber St, Pitt and Purdue. BYU should have run a 6-2 all year. That is a coaching landmine. Why is the departure of Meyer "troubling"? She wasn't going to play for two more seasons (and even then, she still would have had to compete with Damuni). This isn't 2010. Players in that situation tend to transfer. Running a 6-2 last year would have been a comically bad idea. BYU's problem this season wasn't blocking, it was passing. And even then, they still had an extremely high hitting percentage in large part due to their setter. I genuinely don't understand the obsession some people have with 6-2s. It's like having two quarterbacks in football--it very rarely is the ideal solution. Hey I don't love 6-2's either, but Pitt ran one all over BYU and they hadn't realized their mistake of not playing their freshman setter Fairbanks who was rated below Meyer. Fairbanks came on to the court one time at the end of the season against Louisville and never came off the court again. Would Olmstead do something like that? I doubt it. It shows a certain level of humility in a head coach. Meyer won multiple N/C's and she is a blocking phenom. But the questions are these: Could Grimmer block better than Bower? Could Grimmer get more kills than Bower on the front row? Is the WCC competition allowing Olmstead a false sense of security in using a 5'6" setter and then when BYU plays the big boys the tables are mysteriously turned on BYU? I don't blame Meyer of transferring at all. I blame Olmstead for not ever finding any playing time for her. Now look at the setting situation at BYU. What are they going to do. Call Alex Bower up from the minor leagues to graduate HS 2 years early? |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jan 6, 2022 2:32:54 GMT -5
I don't think Knudsen will do much to help with BYU's passing issues, though her addition probably at least means that Olmstead won't be faced with the prospect of playing either Dayton or Morgan Bower. Knudsen does seem to be a solid server (16 aces, 13 errors), and she averaged 3.28 d/s last season. I would hope that someone from the 2021 or 2022 classes or possibly another transfer will be able to make more of an impact on the passing game. Sadly, I agree with your assessment of Knudsen and the passing game. BYU has had zero success the last 4 years in recruiting passers (exception Allen). Washout after washout and so they went to the transfer portal to nab girls that were already somewhat proven by other coaches. This appears to be working better as a strategy for them but it is a stop gap measure at best that should be used to fill in a hole here and there ..... not staff a back row by itself. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on Jan 6, 2022 2:48:17 GMT -5
Prior is a player! I look for her to move into the lineup as a soph - Sr. Bower is a large ? and I am really hoping that Billeter can settle in on the back row. BYU passing and S/R needs big help in on court performance but also in the recruiting arena. Olmstead seems to have a problem in evaluating talent in passing, setting and backrow ability. I just don't get it. The departure of Zayna is particularly troubling. With the large # of wipeout 3-0 sweeps this season, Olmstead couldn't find a set for Zayna to play in? It would have been healthy for Bower, the program and Zayna. But, nope. Enter the transfer portal and continue with Bower's lack of high level blocking that was exposed against Weber St, Pitt and Purdue. BYU should have run a 6-2 all year. That is a coaching landmine. Why is the departure of Meyer "troubling"? She wasn't going to play for two more seasons (and even then, she still would have had to compete with Damuni). This isn't 2010. Players in that situation tend to transfer. Running a 6-2 last year would have been a comically bad idea. BYU's problem this season wasn't blocking, it was passing. And even then, they still had an extremely high hitting percentage in large part due to their setter. I genuinely don't understand the obsession some people have with 6-2s. It's like having two quarterbacks in football--it very rarely is the ideal solution. The Damuni girl is a great athlete but not even in the same orbit as Meyer. She is also a 2023. Damuni as a 5-1 setter is extremely limited and she doesnt have the ball placement of Bower (even in HS). Damuni is on the BYU team because of her dad's position at BYU. Her club team has a bunch of highly touted players but the coaches (college too) all say that Damuni is the second best setter on that team. She also runs a 6-2 in club and has for years. I think she ran a 5-1 in school ball, but she consistently lost to better setters and didn't repeat as the MVP of the state is what I was told. Might be wrong on that. |
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you don't have to agree, they're just opinions/thoughts. 