dude2112
Junior
2023 Men's Fantasy League Champion
Posts: 453
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Post by dude2112 on Aug 18, 2021 13:38:02 GMT -5
I think you can put in OCVC as number 2 with Rowan and Sheveland. Also a dark horse could be AZ Fear because of Rama and Werner both moving down from a loaded 18s team last year. I can definitely see AZ Fear compete with top 18s teams this year, Rama's addition really helps with their lack of a second consistent outside. It would be surprising if Rama moved to Aspire. is Rama considering a move to aspire?
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Post by bzzt on Aug 18, 2021 14:33:06 GMT -5
I can definitely see AZ Fear compete with top 18s teams this year, Rama's addition really helps with their lack of a second consistent outside. It would be surprising if Rama moved to Aspire. is Rama considering a move to aspire? From what I heard he is considering it
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Post by zerotempo on Aug 18, 2021 17:41:24 GMT -5
My pick has to B2B still, they choked BJNC. They were the heavy favorites going into it and nobody honestly expected any else to come close to them. They choked and thats it. Hersh in the MB1 position makes them clear favorites to take the 18Open title, and with there MB2 being also huge and exponentially better, I don’t see why they WOULDN’T be the favorites. Klein is great, but he isn’t going to beat B2B with how Surf is right now. Unless Rowan and Klein somehow team up, I don’t see B2B being in an unfavorable match up. However B2B and Surf seem to be the favorites with B2B favored. They have one hell of a line up Hersh, Duross, Snoey, Wagner? And there new setter, Brouliette, who seems to be great for them with good size (6’4?) and there libero has always been solid. Oh and the 2nd middle who puts up quite the block I think you’re writing surf off too quickly. They will definitely figure their stuff out I believe and hypothetically could be adding more people ( just saying hypothetically, I haven’t heard anything about it tho). Surf has the best middle in 18s in my opinion in Ryan Vena. B2B is missing a dynamic setter. Most of all I was watching B2B at JOs and they tip the ball about 50% of the time, not even kidding. Their setter is subpar making their decent pin hitters less dangerous. OCVC will be good with Cheveland and Heffner with Rowan.
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Post by bzzt on Aug 18, 2021 22:32:41 GMT -5
My pick has to B2B still, they choked BJNC. They were the heavy favorites going into it and nobody honestly expected any else to come close to them. They choked and thats it. Hersh in the MB1 position makes them clear favorites to take the 18Open title, and with there MB2 being also huge and exponentially better, I don’t see why they WOULDN’T be the favorites. Klein is great, but he isn’t going to beat B2B with how Surf is right now. Unless Rowan and Klein somehow team up, I don’t see B2B being in an unfavorable match up. However B2B and Surf seem to be the favorites with B2B favored. They have one hell of a line up Hersh, Duross, Snoey, Wagner? And there new setter, Brouliette, who seems to be great for them with good size (6’4?) and there libero has always been solid. Oh and the 2nd middle who puts up quite the block I think you’re writing surf off too quickly. They will definitely figure their stuff out I believe and hypothetically could be adding more people ( just saying hypothetically, I haven’t heard anything about it tho). Surf has the best middle in 18s in my opinion in Ryan Vena. B2B is missing a dynamic setter. Most of all I was watching B2B at JOs and they tip the ball about 50% of the time, not even kidding. Their setter is subpar making their decent pin hitters less dangerous. OCVC will be good with Cheveland and Heffner with Rowan. Especially the 3rd set against 352, they were tipping a lot especially their two outsides. Duross and Snoey were tipping 75 percent in the last 5 points of the set.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2021 23:17:07 GMT -5
I think you’re writing surf off too quickly. They will definitely figure their stuff out I believe and hypothetically could be adding more people ( just saying hypothetically, I haven’t heard anything about it tho). Surf has the best middle in 18s in my opinion in Ryan Vena. B2B is missing a dynamic setter. Most of all I was watching B2B at JOs and they tip the ball about 50% of the time, not even kidding. Their setter is subpar making their decent pin hitters less dangerous. OCVC will be good with Cheveland and Heffner with Rowan. Especially the 3rd set against 352, they were tipping a lot especially their two outsides. Duross and Snoey were tipping 75 percent in the last 5 points of the set. there setter is definitely there “weakest” but i would consider them favorites, I was told that there new setter, that was his first year setting and you could tell. But he still offers solid blocking, which B2B accels in. I’d argue thays there strongest upside
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Post by olderthandirt on Aug 19, 2021 20:49:00 GMT -5
Might seem a little early but club season is right around the corner and I thought I might start this thread off. Here my opinion on the current position 18s is in right now: 1. Both SAS and 352 will not compete for a medal next year at JOs. They are not physical enough 2. Should be a battle between B2B and MB Surf, maybe throw Rockstar and OCVC in there somewhere 3. USC and UCLA have the strongest recruiting classes by far 4. This could shape out to be the highest level of competition we've seen in a couple (2) years. Please feel free to disagree with me OCVC is likely adding Callahan Hefner. I don’t understand the hype; watched their match vs AZ Fear.
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dude2112
Junior
2023 Men's Fantasy League Champion
Posts: 453
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Post by dude2112 on Aug 19, 2021 21:09:41 GMT -5
OCVC is likely adding Callahan Hefner. I don’t understand the hype; watched their match vs AZ Fear. don't understand the hype for who? B2B?
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chico
Freshman
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Post by chico on Aug 20, 2021 8:32:27 GMT -5
I could see SPVB being another dark horse especially because most of the players on that team would have experience playing up. Midwest can definitely place well in Gold with MVC, Adversity, and MOD.
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Post by midwestvball1 on Aug 20, 2021 10:51:01 GMT -5
I could see SPVB being another dark horse especially because most of the players on that team would have experience playing up. Midwest can definitely place well in Gold with MVC, Adversity, and MOD. This is a hard No. SPVB will return their setter (Powell) who was injured, libero, and Utility player in Fedmasu, who only say action because Schuele had to set at the end of the season. They lost all their firepower at the pins. Absolutely, no current pins in the program from the 17s or 16s can attack/serve/pass to beat the above mentioned teams earlier in the thread. Good luck to Powell to find a go-to-hitter. Maybe they will bring in a transfer like Omene to pick up the slack. Hence, SPVB going to AAU is no big pull compared to the SoCal Cup teams. MVC will be solid. MOD, Adversity, HPSTL will all be a step behind.
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Post by zerotempo on Aug 22, 2021 0:41:47 GMT -5
I could see SPVB being another dark horse especially because most of the players on that team would have experience playing up. Midwest can definitely place well in Gold with MVC, Adversity, and MOD. This is a hard No. SPVB will return their setter (Powell) who was injured, libero, and Utility player in Fedmasu, who only say action because Schuele had to set at the end of the season. They lost all their firepower at the pins. Absolutely, no current pins in the program from the 17s or 16s can attack/serve/pass to beat the above mentioned teams earlier in the thread. Good luck to Powell to find a go-to-hitter. Maybe they will bring in a transfer like Omene to pick up the slack. Hence, SPVB going to AAU is no big pull compared to the SoCal Cup teams. MVC will be solid. MOD, Adversity, HPSTL will all be a step behind. Still hard to see any of these teams comparing to Surf or B2B
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Post by vballking123 on Aug 22, 2021 19:27:28 GMT -5
I know Vanguard 18's lost a lot but they are returning the libero and I heard they have some good players coming in.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2021 14:22:02 GMT -5
Especially the 3rd set against 352, they were tipping a lot especially their two outsides. Duross and Snoey were tipping 75 percent in the last 5 points of the set. there setter is definitely there “weakest” but i would consider them favorites, I was told that there new setter, that was his first year setting and you could tell. But he still offers solid blocking, which B2B accels in. I’d argue thays there strongest upside In my mind it is easily B2B, unless they choke like they did against 352. I feel like I is also important to remember, B2B choked a 15-13 third set in an important playoff game, MB Surf choked against a Milwaukee team that didn't even medal, and didn't even get a set on them. There is no question that B2B choked, but so did Surf, and plenty of other teams, so there is always a high margin of unpredictability at the higher level matches. That being said, I think B2B has the highest chance of winning compared to any other team. Snoey and Duross are easily the most physical pair of outsides on any roster, and although there is no doubt that Klein is going to have a massive impact, I don't think Loncar is going to be able to hold up his end. Additionally, in matches with such dominant offensive outsides, strong right side blockers are key, and I think Wagner is just about the top blocker in the country. I'm excited to see what Klein can do against such an imposing blocker. Beyond that, I think the middles and their ability to effectively block will be another key part of the matchup, and B2B wins in that category as well. I can see the argument for Vena being one, if not the number one, of the top offensive middles in the country. While Sprague can find him well in a decent amount of situations, I think that the middles' primary jobs will be blocking in this matchup. With such powerful outsides, it's important to put up solid blocks and expect plenty of 1 or 2 digs that don't allow the middles to be run offensively. With this in mind, I think both B2B middles beat Vena blocking wise, although his offense is at a higher level. Hersh has the size and speed and is more effective at getting out to block and putting up bigger blocks. The same can be said for middle #2, Thomas, in my opinion, because his speed is comparable with that of Vena but the size of his block is much bigger. While the B2B setter might be lacking what Sprague has, I think the sheer attacking and blocking power of the rest of their lineup outweighs this; there is not one hole in the rest of the B2B lineup, they're the closest thing to a superteam we've seen in a long time. As for both team's back row, there libbers are similar in my opinion, both very solid. The passing might be slightly better at Surf, but not enough to make a difference. My money is on B2B, easily, although an upset is well within the realm of possibility.
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Post by zerotempo on Aug 23, 2021 18:48:40 GMT -5
there setter is definitely there “weakest” but i would consider them favorites, I was told that there new setter, that was his first year setting and you could tell. But he still offers solid blocking, which B2B accels in. I’d argue thays there strongest upside In my mind it is easily B2B, unless they choke like they did against 352. I feel like I is also important to remember, B2B choked a 15-13 third set in an important playoff game, MB Surf choked against a Milwaukee team that didn't even medal, and didn't even get a set on them. There is no question that B2B choked, but so did Surf, and plenty of other teams, so there is always a high margin of unpredictability at the higher level matches. That being said, I think B2B has the highest chance of winning compared to any other team. Snoey and Duross are easily the most physical pair of outsides on any roster, and although there is no doubt that Klein is going to have a massive impact, I don't think Loncar is going to be able to hold up his end. Additionally, in matches with such dominant offensive outsides, strong right side blockers are key, and I think Wagner is just about the top blocker in the country. I'm excited to see what Klein can do against such an imposing blocker. Beyond that, I think the middles and their ability to effectively block will be another key part of the matchup, and B2B wins in that category as well. I can see the argument for Vena being one, if not the number one, of the top offensive middles in the country. While Sprague can find him well in a decent amount of situations, I think that the middles' primary jobs will be blocking in this matchup. With such powerful outsides, it's important to put up solid blocks and expect plenty of 1 or 2 digs that don't allow the middles to be run offensively. With this in mind, I think both B2B middles beat Vena blocking wise, although his offense is at a higher level. Hersh has the size and speed and is more effective at getting out to block and putting up bigger blocks. The same can be said for middle #2, Thomas, in my opinion, because his speed is comparable with that of Vena but the size of his block is much bigger. While the B2B setter might be lacking what Sprague has, I think the sheer attacking and blocking power of the rest of their lineup outweighs this; there is not one hole in the rest of the B2B lineup, they're the closest thing to a superteam we've seen in a long time. As for both team's back row, there libbers are similar in my opinion, both very solid. The passing might be slightly better at Surf, but not enough to make a difference. My money is on B2B, easily, although an upset is well within the realm of possibility. I can agree mostly but I think that Surf will match, if not surpass, B2B on the outside power just because of the hitting mentality the B2B pins have. Snoey and Duross have a huge problem with shot selection. I can agree that throwing in a tip every once in a while is a good idea but at the higher levels of play, tipping 30-60 percent of the time won't (and didn't) work against a scrappy Surf team with their libero Bakos. Honestly, I think that B2B might be a little overrated just in terms of them as a team; yes, they are probably the most physical team in USA but I'd like to remind everyone that defense wins championships and as of right now I think that Surf has serve receive and defense on lock. B2B on the other hand has a good libero; however, both Snoey and Duross are very shaky passers. Again don't get me wrong I agree mostly with your points. Wagner is a beast.
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Post by mountaintop on Aug 23, 2021 18:59:32 GMT -5
MB Surf will be much better with the addition of Dillon Klein next year. They can finally move their OH2 Mick Bakos from this past year back to the Libero spot where he dominates. Everything will fall into place for them and I have a really hard time believing a team can overthrow them.
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Post by kwkfl on Aug 23, 2021 22:26:45 GMT -5
In my mind it is easily B2B, unless they choke like they did against 352. I feel like I is also important to remember, B2B choked a 15-13 third set in an important playoff game, MB Surf choked against a Milwaukee team that didn't even medal, and didn't even get a set on them. There is no question that B2B choked, but so did Surf, and plenty of other teams, so there is always a high margin of unpredictability at the higher level matches. That being said, I think B2B has the highest chance of winning compared to any other team. Snoey and Duross are easily the most physical pair of outsides on any roster, and although there is no doubt that Klein is going to have a massive impact, I don't think Loncar is going to be able to hold up his end. Additionally, in matches with such dominant offensive outsides, strong right side blockers are key, and I think Wagner is just about the top blocker in the country. I'm excited to see what Klein can do against such an imposing blocker. Beyond that, I think the middles and their ability to effectively block will be another key part of the matchup, and B2B wins in that category as well. I can see the argument for Vena being one, if not the number one, of the top offensive middles in the country. While Sprague can find him well in a decent amount of situations, I think that the middles' primary jobs will be blocking in this matchup. With such powerful outsides, it's important to put up solid blocks and expect plenty of 1 or 2 digs that don't allow the middles to be run offensively. With this in mind, I think both B2B middles beat Vena blocking wise, although his offense is at a higher level. Hersh has the size and speed and is more effective at getting out to block and putting up bigger blocks. The same can be said for middle #2, Thomas, in my opinion, because his speed is comparable with that of Vena but the size of his block is much bigger. While the B2B setter might be lacking what Sprague has, I think the sheer attacking and blocking power of the rest of their lineup outweighs this; there is not one hole in the rest of the B2B lineup, they're the closest thing to a superteam we've seen in a long time. As for both team's back row, there libbers are similar in my opinion, both very solid. The passing might be slightly better at Surf, but not enough to make a difference. My money is on B2B, easily, although an upset is well within the realm of possibility. I can agree mostly but I think that Surf will match, if not surpass, B2B on the outside power just because of the hitting mentality the B2B pins have. Snoey and Duross have a huge problem with shot selection. I can agree that throwing in a tip every once in a while is a good idea but at the higher levels of play, tipping 30-60 percent of the time won't (and didn't) work against a scrappy Surf team with their libero Bakos. Honestly, I think that B2B might be a little overrated just in terms of them as a team; yes, they are probably the most physical team in USA but I'd like to remind everyone that defense wins championships and as of right now I think that Surf has serve receive and defense on lock. B2B on the other hand has a good libero; however, both Snoey and Duross are very shaky passers. Again don't get me wrong I agree mostly with your points. Wagner is a beast. Still not sure why all we can ever talk about is B2B and Surf. While they are both very good teams and probably in top 5 not sure why we always say they are the best and then they choke. They got beat! If they were really the best they would have won. You have to win when the pressure is on. Give credit to the teams that beat them and beat them when it mattered. 352 and MVC beat them and beat them when it mattered. Both teams were very very good. Not sure how you count them out. As well as OCVC. another really great team. There are other teams out there besides B2B and Surf.
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