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Post by oldmanvb on Sept 24, 2021 9:24:26 GMT -5
At the time of her decision to play for a 5th year she specifically referenced her admission into the speech pathology masters program. It appeared she waited until her admission into the program before she made her decision to return, and speech pathology is not a program one enters just to hang around for an additional year. If Tamas really wanted to help her he could have helped with her admission to the masters program and then helped pay for it with a 5th year athletic scholarship. Obviously I don’t know if that is the case, but would like to think so. Is the decision maker in the speech pathology masters program a volleyball fan? This is not an implication Cooney is not eminently qualified to enroll in the program. She is a B1G Distinguished Scholar and Academic All-B1G.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Sept 24, 2021 11:43:03 GMT -5
I don't know that I agree with this notpriddy (COIF) because she is currently in one of the best Speech Pathology graduate programs in the country. This program is 2-3 years so if she is just planning on dropping out to go pro, then that could be a possibility. But I just don't see her as that type. Who knows though, you may be right. Tamas' allegiance is to the University and to win games. Not to developing the potential of a future pro player. The comment about a college coach's purpose is to win games and not to develop the potential for a future pro player (or for a U.S. National Team player) has been a topic of contention among college coaches for many years. The answer probably is that a college coach has a responsibility to do both, and fans may see one being at odds with the other in some cases. Coaches should endeavor to improve every player whether it is only through training in practice since most players on a team will never see significant playing time in matches. I know Coach Hambly always hoped that Illini great Jocelyn Birks would play professionally overseas for her own personal benefit. While she was in college, Birks appeared to have plans only to become a school teacher. She was never a great passer. The whole Illini team passed terribly in their first tournament at Dayton the season after their national runner-up finish. I know because I was there for all the matches (Kelly Sheffield was the coach of Dayton). Michelle Bartsch and Colleen Ward (both great passers) had graduated and Birks became the go to OH for the next four years. Over those years Birks' passing greatly improved (and she did go on to play professionally in Germany). Of course, those who followed the Illini back then know Birks was also a very effective back row attacker. I did personally watch a match at Northwestern where Birks was aced several times in a row, and Hambly did not sub her out just for a rotation to stop Northwestern's run. If my 70 year-old memory serves me well, we lost the match to Northwestern. |
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Post by vbkahuna on Sept 25, 2021 9:28:59 GMT -5
Also Colorado got mopped by Wash St yesterday 3-0. I know people like to say we're missing Bruna and Ellie so it's tough. But would they really be doing any better than Nunge? Nunge has been impressive. Don't get why Cooney and Terry both play back row if they never set the back. Don't have better defenders on the bench? Go recruit some. So how are you feeling about going 5 against Colorado now? (FYI, they just beat #16 Utah 3-0 after Utah had beaten #6 Washington and then #3 Nebraska 3-2.) |
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Post by oldmanvb on Sept 25, 2021 9:37:30 GMT -5
If anyone wants to see an example of the importance of being able to run a back row attack in order to compete in the B1G, watch a replay of the Ohio State/Purdue match from Friday night, particularly how each team was able to generate offense from out of system passes, and with the opposite running a right side attack when the setter is in the front row, preventing the opposing team’s left side blocker from cheating to cover the middle. Also Iowa was able to stay in our match because Buzzerio was doing such a great job hitting from right back. I know Cleveland and Buzzerio are extraordinary hitters, but we have some of those ourselves.
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Post by jma22 on Sept 25, 2021 13:48:03 GMT -5
Has any info ever been given about Bruna’s injury? Is she expected to play at all this season?
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Post by exit237a on Sept 25, 2021 15:26:18 GMT -5
Has any info ever been given about Bruna’s injury? Is she expected to play at all this season? I don't recall ever hearing any specifics on the exact injury or the outlook, other than it's a shoulder (presumably her right shoulder). We heard she had surgery and was rehabbing it. She was doing some serving during pregame warmups the other day and I think that was new, so a possible indicator of progress. I've been wondering who the first pin hitter sub off the bench will be. During warmups, the only other player that takes swings on the pin is Brooke Mosher but it sounds like she's redshirting. Sarah Bingham passes with Gregus and Sakoda during serve-receive in warmups but maybe that's more a function of needing a third person in there than an indicator that she's the first pin off the bench. |
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Post by ilalum92 on Sept 26, 2021 1:51:41 GMT -5
Not much action in the match thread - can someone who watched the match give a recap??
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Post by vball778 on Sept 26, 2021 7:38:16 GMT -5
I caught about the last half of the match. The poor passing is starting to make matches unwatchable for me. Not to mention that the BTN+ coverage should warrant refunds for any subscriber (what was going on with that BTN+ replay effect?!).
All in all, great that we got 2 B1G wins in the first weekend. I have serious concerns for the rest of conference play though.
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Post by vbkahuna on Sept 26, 2021 7:56:48 GMT -5
Not much action in the match thread - can someone who watched the match give a recap?? Here you go. The Illini came out with their characteristic slow start and let the first set slip away, 23-25 after leading 19-17. They won the next two easily by the score of 25-17. Lost the 4th, then dominated the 5th, 15-9. Northwestern has some serious weapons. Their OHs, Temi Thomas-Ailara and Lesiak are both excellent. Temi has a rocket arm, and Lesiak has both power and crafty shots. The Illini did an overall very good job of blocking them which forced Temi in particular into hitting errors. For the Illini, I thought Cooney and Collins in particular had great matches. Perhaps their best this year. Cooney had 16 kills and hit .536. And Collins had 16 kills and hit a spectacular .636. Collins and Brown have finally started clicking on the slide this season and Collins is now a serious offensive threat for the Illini. Raina had a season-high 19 kills, also adding 5 aces and 5 blocks. She still is struggling somewhat with hitting errors, but IMO when this girl finally hits her stride (at 6'3" maybe even 6'4") she has unlimited potential (All-American, USWNT). The Illini blocking (12.5) was excellent at controlling the Northwestern attack by the OHs. Kyla Swanson had 8 and appears to be developing into our quickest and most effective blocker. She and Cooney appear to have developed into an instinctive blocking tandem. Raina also contributed 5. The Illini have the size on the front row to be a serious blocking threat to ANY team in the country IMO. Lastly, the serve receive and passing in general continues to be spotty and inconsistent. This is the one major limiting factor to how far this team can go, and it's why they can drop games one minute and crush them the next. One additional factor I see is that the team overall seems much quicker this season, so their court coverage and defense are keeping them in points more often than before. The Illini have the weapons to compete. If they can develop the passing consistency to get the ball to those weapons faster and cleaner they'll be more than just "dangerous" to the top teams. |
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Post by oldmanvb on Sept 26, 2021 8:27:13 GMT -5
Hopefully something at B1G+ will turn their production around. Halfway through the 4th set my screen went dark except for “B1G OTT”, whatever that means. Between the bouncy camera work, the irritating B1G logo spinning during play and the blank screen for the end of the match it was an irritating experience.
Which team shows for the next 4 matches? The one who beat Purdue in the spring and won the 5th set last night and against Iowa or the one who lost the 4th set to both Iowa and Northwestern?
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Post by ted_heise on Sept 26, 2021 9:55:25 GMT -5
Not much action in the match thread - can someone who watched the match give a recap?? Here you go. The Illini came out with their characteristic slow start and let the first set slip away, 23-25 after leading 19-17. They won the next two easily by the score of 25-17. Lost the 4th, then dominated the 5th, 15-9. Northwestern has some serious weapons. Their OHs, Temi Thomas-Ailara and Lesiak are both excellent. Temi has a rocket arm, and Lesiak has both power and crafty shots. The Illini did an overall very good job of blocking them which forced Temi in particular into hitting errors.[snip] Not shotty craft?  Seriously though, thanks for the report. I have tickets to be at Huff when the Huskers roll into town, and it sounds like they will have their hands full with the Illini! |
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Post by jgoodson on Sept 26, 2021 10:58:55 GMT -5
Re the Northwestern match and BTN+. The play-by-play announcer had been on before and I thought he did a very good job. He was prepared and professional. The analyst added no value. He did not appear to be prepared. The replay graphic glitches were annoying but they were not a usual occurrence. In the past BTN+ has had all student announcer crews where both of the announcers were ill prepared and knew next to nothing about vball. I am happy that BTN+, at least for Illinois matches (so far), has improved the announcing. I am not sure if that is the case for all Big Ten schools. Before Illinois played Washington, I watched part of the Ohio State \Washington match and there were no announcers and no score shown. The no score part was annoying. I could hear the PA.
I appreciate that BTN is a trail blazer and there are going to be glitches along the way. For me, it is a lot easier to deal with glitches in the context that I have seen tangible improvement in the product over time.
I also appreciate that BTN+ has been able to continue on during the pandemic. I have been curious as to what the numbers have been for sign ups during the pandemic. I wonder if they have shown a spike that some other streaming services have shown during the pandemic. I hope that the flow of dollars to BTN+ increases with time and that these increases result in ongoing improvements in the product.
I did not sign up for the FLoSports matches. I did not know enough about the product to feel comfortable signing up. To those that did, do you have anything to report on your experience? I did sign up for the ESPN+ matches as I have signed up for that product before and my experience was positive.
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Post by ilalum92 on Sept 26, 2021 14:09:41 GMT -5
Not much action in the match thread - can someone who watched the match give a recap?? Here you go. The Illini came out with their characteristic slow start and let the first set slip away, 23-25 after leading 19-17. They won the next two easily by the score of 25-17. Lost the 4th, then dominated the 5th, 15-9. Northwestern has some serious weapons. Their OHs, Temi Thomas-Ailara and Lesiak are both excellent. Temi has a rocket arm, and Lesiak has both power and crafty shots. The Illini did an overall very good job of blocking them which forced Temi in particular into hitting errors. For the Illini, I thought Cooney and Collins in particular had great matches. Perhaps their best this year. Cooney had 16 kills and hit .536. And Collins had 16 kills and hit a spectacular .636. Collins and Brown have finally started clicking on the slide this season and Collins is now a serious offensive threat for the Illini. Raina had a season-high 19 kills, also adding 5 aces and 5 blocks. She still is struggling somewhat with hitting errors, but IMO when this girl finally hits her stride (at 6'3" maybe even 6'4") she has unlimited potential (All-American, USWNT). The Illini blocking (12.5) was excellent at controlling the Northwestern attack by the OHs. Kyla Swanson had 8 and appears to be developing into our quickest and most effective blocker. She and Cooney appear to have developed into an instinctive blocking tandem. Raina also contributed 5. The Illini have the size on the front row to be a serious blocking threat to ANY team in the country IMO. Lastly, the serve receive and passing in general continues to be spotty and inconsistent. This is the one major limiting factor to how far this team can go, and it's why they can drop games one minute and crush them the next. One additional factor I see is that the team overall seems much quicker this season, so their court coverage and defense are keeping them in points more often than before. The Illini have the weapons to compete. If they can develop the passing consistency to get the ball to those weapons faster and cleaner they'll be more than just "dangerous" to the top teams. Thanks for re-cap. NU isnt a bad team with TTA , the middle transfer from BYU and their 6’3 setter Grasso. Nice core to work with. Ive been really impressed with Collins this year. She has worked her butt off to become a BIG 10 caliber MB. I credit coaches Reed /Jen and her hard work. Im waiting for it all to click with Raina this year and she turns into an unstoppable OH. She seems a big tentative on some swings. Love to see her develop a hard line and high hands shot. She is easily 6’4” maybe 6’5” . When she stands next to Cooney/Swanson she looks taller. I love our serving and blocking. If we could nail the first contact we could make some noise and surprise some people. |
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Post by ilalum92 on Sept 26, 2021 14:10:46 GMT -5
Collins numbers the last two matches might get her a BIG 10 offensive player of the week!!
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Post by oldmanvb on Sept 26, 2021 15:19:13 GMT -5
After complaining about the production of the B1G+ broadcast I want to balance it with observing how good the play by play announcer performed. He was prepared, descriptive and interesting. The commentator not so much. The play by play guy was light years ahead of the announcers in prior years. Hope he does more of their games.
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