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Post by vball778 on Apr 14, 2021 18:52:59 GMT -5
I've been pretty outspoken about my lack of approval for Kuper's play, but I will admit that she proved me wrong this season. Did her overtly flashy style of play get to me at times? absolutely. But I do think that she deserved a place on one of the All-B1G teams. Yep! 1st place and HM all-region maaaay be a stretch to me, but these things are voted on and maybe she got on each team by 1 additional vote for all we know. All in all, she proved me wrong this season so kudos to her.
That said, I too am skeptical of little Barnes coming in and taking the libero jersey. She does not play her high school season for some reason (this was pre-covid too) and plays for Adversity which has not exactly been a volleyball powerhouse club since the early 2000s. I'm sure she is still a baller, but it will definitely take a lot to steal Kuper's spot.
Realistically, I think our starting line-up in the Fall will look a lot like what we left off with against Purdue, which we should be excited about! We have room for improvement in the middle with developing our slide attack and could stand to build a stronger back row attack presence. However, if that is our starting 8/9 going ino the Fall, I'm enthused by our potential to land in the top half of the B1G and crack the top 25. Cooney coming back is huge and really fills a void that Ellie's injury has created.
Not so sure we are going to have a ton of luck in the transfer department. As much as I love and bleed Orange and Blue, it is not typically high up on a top tier recruit's transfer list when many other top 10 programs are looking for voids to be filled as well. I hope that our successes in other areas of the athletic department (i.e. Men's Basketball's success) will sell the Illinois brand a bit more, as I know many athletes look for schools that will allow them to play, give them a great education, and give them a great student-athlete community to be a part of that is successful in and out of the gym.
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Post by oldmanvb on Apr 14, 2021 21:01:58 GMT -5
It is tough to evaluate back row play. How much court is being covered or how quickly a player gets to a ball is not easily quantified. My daughter played with a libero who appeared to make one spectacular play after another. in reality, she was slow and was late to most of the spectacular plays. A quicker player would have made the plays look ordinary. Similarly, in service receive the more court you have to cover the more passing mistakes you are going to make. When one of our six rotation players had to be hidden in service receive Kuper picked up extra court. My subjective eye-balling told me Kuper greatly improved over the year. Our improved passing after Ohio State was largely due to her improved court coverage. She earned her post-season awards. I would be shocked if she is not our libero for the next two years. OBrien going to Texas may prove to be a long term positive for us.
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Post by illinifan818 on Apr 15, 2021 13:27:11 GMT -5
I'm starting to wonder if Kuper will keep the Libero jersey. I know she made strides this season, but I think there is a lot of hype around Barnes coming in... I find it funny how that Kuper just made 1st team in the toughest conference and some people think a freshman is going to come in and perform like her right off the bat. All I'm saying is that the coaching staff doesn't even take the time to list Kuper as a 'L' on the roster. It just says DS, whereas every other back row player they've had, including the incoming ones in the press release, lists them as 'L/DS'. And we all know that if O'Brien was here, Kuper wouldn't have seen the L jersey at all... |
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Post by illinifan818 on Apr 15, 2021 13:28:48 GMT -5
I'm starting to wonder if Kuper will keep the Libero jersey. I know she made strides this season, but I think there is a lot of hype around Barnes coming in... I find it funny how that Kuper just made 1st team in the toughest conference and some people think a freshman is going to come in and perform like her right off the bat. Plus, I'll admit Kuper played well this year. But I'm pretty sure it was a shock to most people she got 1st Team. And how much credit are we giving to the people who voted for the teams when they left Raina Terry off the all-freshman team. One could say she was a superstar this year the way she developed for the Illini. |
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Post by justahick on Apr 15, 2021 13:32:21 GMT -5
I find it funny how that Kuper just made 1st team in the toughest conference and some people think a freshman is going to come in and perform like her right off the bat. All I'm saying is that the coaching staff doesn't even take the time to list Kuper as a 'L' on the roster. It just says DS, whereas every other back row player they've had, including the incoming ones in the press release, lists them as 'L/DS'. And we all know that if O'Brien was here, Kuper wouldn't have seen the L jersey at all... You're overthinking things - some work study kid in the SID's office probably hit the wrong key. Coaches are NOT putting that much thought into the roster on the website. |
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Post by oldmanvb on Apr 15, 2021 15:44:18 GMT -5
Could someone can get one of the coaches responsible for websites to explain to me the difference between middle blockers and middle hitters. At least on the Illini website roster all of our middles are blockers. Maybe that explains why we got so little offense from our middles.
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Post by rogero1 on Apr 16, 2021 7:42:05 GMT -5
Could someone can get one of the coaches responsible for websites to explain to me the difference between middle blockers and middle hitters. At least on the Illini website roster all of our middles are blockers. Maybe that explains why we got so little offense from our middles. The only difference is how the coaches view that position. Blockers indicates a defensive view while hitters indicates an offensive view. So, yes you are correct in why we get little offense from the middles. |
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Post by vbkahuna on Apr 16, 2021 8:52:34 GMT -5
Could someone can get one of the coaches responsible for websites to explain to me the difference between middle blockers and middle hitters. At least on the Illini website roster all of our middles are blockers. Maybe that explains why we got so little offense from our middles. The only difference is how the coaches view that position. Blockers indicates a defensive view while hitters indicates an offensive view. So, yes you are correct in why we get little offense from the middles. Actually the real reason that Illinois gets so little offense from its middles currently is because (1) their first touch passing has been sub-par for the last few years, and (2) their current middles can't run a decent slide. If the back row can't get the ball to the setter at the net, that severely limits any plays for the middles. And if the middles you have can't run the slide to vary where and at what speed they can attack, that further limits how often you can go to them. By comparison, in the Poulter-Bastianelli years, they not only had decent first touch passing, but Bastianelli was killer on the slide. They had everything needed for multiple-option middle attacks (good passing, great setting, killer middle). Having said that, Illinois' young middles, Collins and Hinton, aren't exactly chopped liver on offense. They actually have the best hitting averages on the team (.265 and .263), and they're getting better as they're getting more experienced. As the back row first touch passing improves, so will their middle attacks. In fact, in my opinion, the only thing keeping the Illini from the top tier of the B1G and regularly beating some of those teams is their passing, and particularly the first touch passing. |
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Post by northwoods on Apr 16, 2021 9:07:41 GMT -5
I'm starting to wonder if Kuper will keep the Libero jersey. I know she made strides this season, but I think there is a lot of hype around Barnes coming in... I find it funny how that Kuper just made 1st team in the toughest conference and some people think a freshman is going to come in and perform like her right off the bat. You have to recognize that a top SPRI Libero isn’t going to sit back on a team and DS for 2 years waiting for an upper classman to graduate. Those top players aren’t wired like that, especially if they were recruited with the promise of being the Libero. Barnes will have options if she can’t be the Libero at Illinois.... |
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Post by justahick on Apr 16, 2021 9:21:39 GMT -5
Could someone can get one of the coaches responsible for websites to explain to me the difference between middle blockers and middle hitters. At least on the Illini website roster all of our middles are blockers. Maybe that explains why we got so little offense from our middles. They are synonyms - on a roster, and in almost all conversations, they are used interchangeably. Supposedly, some coaches will use one or the other to emphasize to their team the primary focus (offense vs defense), but I think that's nonsense. These days, I just call them Middles. |
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vballfreak808
Hawaiian Ohana 
2020 All-VolleyTalk 1st Team, All-VolleyTalk 2nd Team (2023, 2022, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk HM (2021, 2019, 2018), 2017 Fantasy League 1st Runner-up, 2016 Fantasy League Champion
#GoBows
Posts: 13,616
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Post by vballfreak808 on Apr 16, 2021 12:13:51 GMT -5
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Post by exit237a on Apr 16, 2021 12:58:44 GMT -5
Ah, my phone won’t show tweets on VT- what have you got for us, vballfreak? |
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Post by illinifan818 on Apr 16, 2021 13:12:02 GMT -5
I find it funny how that Kuper just made 1st team in the toughest conference and some people think a freshman is going to come in and perform like her right off the bat. You have to recognize that a top SPRI Libero isn’t going to sit back on a team and DS for 2 years waiting for an upper classman to graduate. Those top players aren’t wired like that, especially if they were recruited with the promise of being the Libero. Barnes will have options if she can’t be the Libero at Illinois.... Gotta remember too that Kuper could come back for another year. Hence the 2 referenced above. Barnes may not want to wait a full 2 years to be the bro. Especially since she only gets 4 years. Unless the coaching staff plans to redshirt her. But with the much needed improvement in passing, I doubt they redshirt her... and if they try, she may not like it. Especially with playing time and limited number of scholarships, politics always plays a factor. And to think Barnes does have a connection to Wisco. You never know what type of %*$# Kelly might try and pull. I'm sure the coaching staff have had conversations with Kuper and Barnes about it. Also Eske, who I assume would want to be the bro, even though maybe everyone knows she isn't quite on that level... Just interesting to see how it plays out. |
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vballfreak808
Hawaiian Ohana
2020 All-VolleyTalk 1st Team, All-VolleyTalk 2nd Team (2023, 2022, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk HM (2021, 2019, 2018), 2017 Fantasy League 1st Runner-up, 2016 Fantasy League Champion
#GoBows
Posts: 13,616
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Post by vballfreak808 on Apr 16, 2021 13:17:31 GMT -5
Ah, my phone won’t show tweets on VT- what have you got for us, vballfreak? Cooney’s confirmation on her return! |
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Post by exit237a on Apr 16, 2021 13:45:27 GMT -5
Ah, my phone won’t show tweets on VT- what have you got for us, vballfreak? Cooney’s confirmation on her return! Awesome! So good to see that in writing. Thanks for the good news! |
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