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Post by HOLIDAY on Dec 6, 2021 7:58:50 GMT -5
Both teams are peeking at the perfect time. I know they’re definitely peeking at each other right now trying to find some weaknesses on film Don’t be a Karen Karen |
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Post by rjaege on Dec 6, 2021 8:03:21 GMT -5
These teams know each other well. No surprises. Both teams will be well prepared. Both teams will be motivated. Will playing in their first NCAA tournament impact the NE freshman? Maybe, but 3 of 4 have international tournament experience. NE strength is in their serving and floor defense, if that continues to excel they are tough to beat, but it is young team, including back row defense and servers.
Typical tough BIG match-up. I don't put $$$ on the outcome of those.
Note: After the last NE match vs Florida State, Coach Cook spent an abnormal amount of time addressing his team. Assistant Jaylen Reyes had to fill in for him for the post-game radio interview. All parties fully engaged.
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Post by vbkahuna on Dec 6, 2021 8:53:02 GMT -5
True that. And some times luck enters the equation as well - where one team gets a lucky bounce off the twine that just drops over the net for a critical ace, whereas another team hits a serve that misses the line by a micrometer for a service error. Close matches are determined by a handful of critical points. The difference between a successful shot or a hitting error is extremely small. Even for a shot hit many feet out or into the net - the difference between the position of the hand to the ball may be less than an inch. How do you determine who's the best team when Nebraska sweeps Purdue, Purdue sweeps Wisconsin, and Wisconsin sweeps Nebraska? Trying to determine who's the best team based on past performances is a rather futile pursuit. What matters is how the match/game plays out on the court/field. Yall seem to be discounting how well Illinois played way too much. The match was tied after 2 sets and it was even. Illinois played slightly better in 1, Kentucky in 2. Kentucky wasn’t flat or playing their worst game of the year. For 3-4 Illinois refused to let the ball hit the floor, hit very hard without spraying the ball out of bounds, served extremely tough, all things they haven’t been able to do consistently all year. That’s why UK played so bad in 3-4, it wasn’t because of a high number of service errors or unforced hitting errors. Sometimes you just run into a buzz saw. Kentucky was mentally deflated in 3-4 because they couldn’t put the ball down and couldn’t keep it up in the air on their side. They went from winning a set and looking like they would impose themselves on Illinois to being completed deflated in a few minutes. Does Kentucky win 6-8 times out of 10, sure I can buy that. Texas ran into a buzz saw last year against UK, Texas played really well, Kentucky just played a little better. Sometimes it happens. I also asked if Grome’s size worries UK fans and the answer was no. She was a complete liability on the block and Illinois went after her every time she was on the front row. You hit the nail on the head. For the first time this year, Illinois could really FEEL how good they could be and they went into hyperdrive. And you could tell they knew it too. The underdog that became the overdog. That's what was so shocking to everyone who saw it. There's a big difference between a good, scrappy team that just gets hot enough to squeak out a surprising win, and one with enough serious weapons to beat the best teams badly. And Illinois definitely has serious weapons. They are one of the two best serving teams in the country (along with Nebraska). They have front row size, power, and blocking mobility. Their back row play and overall team defense has improved significantly in the last few weeks. And, not insignificantly, they have an excellent young coaching staff with National Team and pro experience that has been doing a great job of game planning and guiding them. What they have lacked to date is consistency, and most importantly, confidence. They got totally juiced with confidence against Kentucky. The big question is can they sustain it. We're about to find out. |
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Post by aardvark on Dec 6, 2021 9:36:02 GMT -5
There's a big difference between a good, scrappy team that just gets hot enough to squeak out a surprising win, and one with enough serious weapons to beat the best teams badly. And Illinois definitely has serious weapons. They are one of the two best serving teams in the country (along with Nebraska). They have front row size, power, and blocking mobility. Their back row play and overall team defense has improved significantly in the last few weeks. And, not insignificantly, they have an excellent young coaching staff with National Team and pro experience that has been doing a great job of game planning and guiding them. So you're saying the 11 losses they have marked on their record is a typo? I'm not surprised. The B1G can't even accurately count how many teams exist in their league. How can they be then expected to list a credible number of wins and losses for their members? |
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Post by big10+4 fan on Dec 6, 2021 10:03:45 GMT -5
These teams know each other well. No surprises. Both teams will be well prepared. Both teams will be motivated. Will playing in their first NCAA tournament impact the NE freshman? Maybe, but 3 of 4 have international tournament experience. NE strength is in their serving and floor defense, if that continues to excel they are tough to beat, but it is young team, including back row defense and servers. Typical tough BIG match-up. I don't put $$$ on the outcome of those. Note: After the last NE match vs Florida State, Coach Cook spent an abnormal amount of time addressing his team. Assistant Jaylen Reyes had to fill in for him for the post-game radio interview. All parties fully engaged. NCAA doesn't allow head coaches to talk to radio media in post season. |
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Post by azsker on Dec 6, 2021 10:43:21 GMT -5
yea this is a good point. Kentucky was the same way (just a round earlier) two sophomore pins, a freshman libero, and freshman setter who were wildly talented but were obviously starting to feel the pressure and we know how that went. Of course If Batenhorst goes bad it could set up a very dramatic and epic come off the bench situation for Sun. Wouldn’t that be something? I mean, I don't think it would be something. They've done it how many times this season, it's almost expected that neither completes an entire match. Lol I also don't think it's going to be a surprise to see Sun playing more this match anyways if Batenhorst can't keep her blocking effective. Sun is a phenomenal blocker. Illinois takes big rips. They're going to need some touches on the block to slow them down, because Kentucky couldn't do that at all. |
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Post by photos1 on Dec 6, 2021 10:52:57 GMT -5
These teams know each other well. No surprises. Both teams will be well prepared. Both teams will be motivated. Will playing in their first NCAA tournament impact the NE freshman? Maybe, but 3 of 4 have international tournament experience. NE strength is in their serving and floor defense, if that continues to excel they are tough to beat, but it is young team, including back row defense and servers. Typical tough BIG match-up. I don't put $$$ on the outcome of those. Note: After the last NE match vs Florida State, Coach Cook spent an abnormal amount of time addressing his team. Assistant Jaylen Reyes had to fill in for him for the post-game radio interview. All parties fully engaged. Sorry, but no. By NCAA rules, the head coach can not do a radio interview post match. The head coach is limited to the media availability provided by those warm and fuzzy creatures at the NCAA. |
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Post by hornshouse23 on Dec 6, 2021 10:57:37 GMT -5
There's a big difference between a good, scrappy team that just gets hot enough to squeak out a surprising win, and one with enough serious weapons to beat the best teams badly. And Illinois definitely has serious weapons. They are one of the two best serving teams in the country (along with Nebraska). They have front row size, power, and blocking mobility. Their back row play and overall team defense has improved significantly in the last few weeks. And, not insignificantly, they have an excellent young coaching staff with National Team and pro experience that has been doing a great job of game planning and guiding them. So you're saying the 11 losses they have marked on their record is a typo? I'm not surprised. The B1G can't even accurately count how many teams exist in their league. How can they be then expected to list a credible number of wins and losses for their members? You thought you did something with this comment here? |
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Post by hornshouse23 on Dec 6, 2021 10:58:09 GMT -5
Of course If Batenhorst goes bad it could set up a very dramatic and epic come off the bench situation for Sun. Wouldn’t that be something? I mean, I don't think it would be something. They've done it how many times this season, it's almost expected that neither completes an entire match. Lol I also don't think it's going to be a surprise to see Sun playing more this match anyways if Batenhorst can't keep her blocking effective. Sun is a phenomenal blocker. Illinois takes big rips. They're going to need some touches on the block to slow them down, because Kentucky couldn't do that at all. I agree, eventually they’ll need Lexi’s block. Whether she starts or not. |
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Post by azsker on Dec 6, 2021 10:58:15 GMT -5
Yall seem to be discounting how well Illinois played way too much. The match was tied after 2 sets and it was even. Illinois played slightly better in 1, Kentucky in 2. Kentucky wasn’t flat or playing their worst game of the year. For 3-4 Illinois refused to let the ball hit the floor, hit very hard without spraying the ball out of bounds, served extremely tough, all things they haven’t been able to do consistently all year. That’s why UK played so bad in 3-4, it wasn’t because of a high number of service errors or unforced hitting errors. Sometimes you just run into a buzz saw. Kentucky was mentally deflated in 3-4 because they couldn’t put the ball down and couldn’t keep it up in the air on their side. They went from winning a set and looking like they would impose themselves on Illinois to being completed deflated in a few minutes. Does Kentucky win 6-8 times out of 10, sure I can buy that. Texas ran into a buzz saw last year against UK, Texas played really well, Kentucky just played a little better. Sometimes it happens. I also asked if Grome’s size worries UK fans and the answer was no. She was a complete liability on the block and Illinois went after her every time she was on the front row. You hit the nail on the head. For the first time this year, Illinois could really FEEL how good they could be and they went into hyperdrive. And you could tell they knew it too. The underdog that became the overdog. That's what was so shocking to everyone who saw it. There's a big difference between a good, scrappy team that just gets hot enough to squeak out a surprising win, and one with enough serious weapons to beat the best teams badly. And Illinois definitely has serious weapons. They are one of the two best serving teams in the country (along with Nebraska). They have front row size, power, and blocking mobility. Their back row play and overall team defense has improved significantly in the last few weeks. And, not insignificantly, they have an excellent young coaching staff with National Team and pro experience that has been doing a great job of game planning and guiding them. What they have lacked to date is consistency, and most importantly, confidence. They got totally juiced with confidence against Kentucky. The big question is can they sustain it. We're about to find out. While I do agree with a lot of your points, I don't agree that they finally could feel how good they were. Illinois has always been good, and they should know that. Players that don't think their good don't take rips like they do. They play conservative. This team has beaten Penn State and Purdue this season, and going in to their match with Kentucky many thought it was a toss-up. I sure did because their serving is aggressive and their hitters take big rips-it's just undisciplined at times and setting can be off. You're right though-consistency has definitely been an issue, but the Illinois team we saw last weekend, we've seen many times this season. I honestly wasn't shocked. Their schedule prepared them for that. They had a 6 game stretch this season that had 2 games with Wisconsin, 2 games with Purdue and Nebraska, and another 5 game stretch that had Penn State, Nebraska (the 2nd game), Minnesota and Ohio State as 4 of the 5. I mean, that's a seriously difficult schedule in general, but to have all of those games consecutively? My god. A game with Kentucky didn't phase them, I'm sure. They were ready. They've played and challenged some of the best, and have even come out on top a couple times. I'm confident they'll do the same with Nebraska, just hope they don't get the same result, obviously. |
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Post by Resident Bitchy Canadian Fan on Dec 6, 2021 11:43:26 GMT -5
I definitely am not taking the Illini lightly, but even if Terry is swinging like she did on Saturday, I think Nebraska will be better prepared since they will actually be able to make a game plan around how she was swinging against Kentucky. Her high hands shot will be more of an issue, but she went cross court way more.
For many of Terry’s cross court rips, the Kentucky block was too wide and at times was a bit early. I think Nebraska *should* make the proper adjustments on their block to prepare for that shot. As for when she was ripping high hands, hopefully Krause will be lined up with her more often than Hames to put pressure on Terry.
Our serving as well has been tougher than it has been all season the last few weeks, so hopefully that will wear down the Illini serve receive as the match goes on and create some unforced errors on offense for them. Anyways, if Illinois plays like they did against Kentucky, Nebraska will have to have a good game plan for Terry and keep up their strong defensive play, which is something that Kentucky didn’t do great in on Saturday.
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Post by JT on Dec 6, 2021 12:24:43 GMT -5
That piqued me, too.  Only one can reach the peak. 🥴 Is there one in Peking? |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2021 13:00:54 GMT -5
Only one can reach the peak. 🥴 Is there one in Peking? Good luck, Peking Duck. |
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Post by greatlakesvballer on Dec 6, 2021 14:08:35 GMT -5
Let the Reign of Terror continue in Austin! (oops, this is Illinois orange, BTW)
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Post by rjaege on Dec 6, 2021 15:47:43 GMT -5
These teams know each other well. No surprises. Both teams will be well prepared. Both teams will be motivated. Will playing in their first NCAA tournament impact the NE freshman? Maybe, but 3 of 4 have international tournament experience. NE strength is in their serving and floor defense, if that continues to excel they are tough to beat, but it is young team, including back row defense and servers. Typical tough BIG match-up. I don't put $$$ on the outcome of those. Note: After the last NE match vs Florida State, Coach Cook spent an abnormal amount of time addressing his team. Assistant Jaylen Reyes had to fill in for him for the post-game radio interview. All parties fully engaged. NCAA doesn't allow head coaches to talk to radio media in post season. Thank you. I never knew that, but then there is a lot I don't know. Another NCAA rule that makes complete sense to me ... not....LOL |
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