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Post by ramo2653 on May 4, 2023 20:07:23 GMT -5
Agreed that Brandie is definitely the winner in this deal. But is Sophie really overhyped? I actually don't see too many people talking amazing things about her on here or anywhere. Maybe they do and I'm oblivious to it. I don't know. I definitely would take 5, maybe up to 8 US defenders over her (I know she is Canadian and it's not a comparison with any merit, just saying). As for MHP, I think she is a bit overhyped as well. Many of you put her in the Duda class, and she is not close in my opinion. I'd compare her to Mariafe. Still really good but definitely not carrying a team. Definitely the right choice for Brandie though I think both are overhyped. (I've been guilty of it in the past vis a vis MHP). Sophie got a ton of buzz off the WC 2nd, but it seems pretty clear now that that finish was a fluke. MHP seemed close to being the best defender in the world when she and Sara were going head to head with the ATeam on a weekly basis and often winning. But for whatever reason, she has never been consistent after that season. I am sure playing with two of the worst setters on tour contributes to that, but she goes from digging everything and playing strong offense to hitting everything out and barely touching anything. Before this weird recent run of Chughes, she was by far the most likely player to win 21-9, then lose 21-12 in the next game Part of me wonders if that 2019 season was a "height of superpowers" thing where she'd never get back to anywhere near that level skill wise, results might get there again, but just in how she played, maybe not.
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Post by dunninla3 on May 4, 2023 20:23:27 GMT -5
Maybe Heather Bansley un-retires š she played great in Tokyo. In the match in which they beat Slaes she played almost error free... She's a level above Sophie, and probably two levels above the person Pavan picked up.
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Post by guest2 on May 4, 2023 21:07:06 GMT -5
Maybe Heather Bansley un-retires š she played great in Tokyo. In the match in which they beat Slaes she played almost error free... She's a level above Sophie, and probably two levels above the person Pavan picked up. Bansley has been below average for her whole career. Not sure how she is a level above Sophie either. Not the biggest Sophie fan but, playing with the same partner: Player A: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 2 17ths and a fifth in a uber-important event Player B: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 1 25th, and a second in an uber-important event If Player A (Heather) is better than B(Sophie) it isn't reflected at all in the results. Also in the match where they were eliminated Heather hit .080 in the Olympics with only 7 digs
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Post by newbeach on May 4, 2023 21:07:52 GMT -5
Wish one of the twins would have decided to make a go with Pavan. One should have went with Pavan and the other with Bukovec. š Bukovec could pick up a partner to split blocking duties with. Assuming Pavan/McBain is permanent and Sophie is healthy I was just thinking about who Sophie should pick up next. She's got 980 points, so she's not getting back into an Elite 16 anytime soon, and there's not many other Canadians with even enough points to get them into a Challenger qualifier: Amanda Harnett (680 entry points). Hasn't played at all this year. Marie-Alex Belanger (640). Was recently playing with Molly McBain. Hasn't played a lot of beach. Won the Vancouver Open with Heather Bansley last year. This might be Sophie's best option if she wants to stay on defense. Megan/Nicole (530). Hard to see them splitting up now if they turned Pavan down. Darby Dunn/Olivia Furlan (450). They've played a couple Futures together this year and are signed up for a bunch more. Lea Monkhouse (400). She's played a couple events with Shanice Marcelle this year and is signed up with Ruby Sorra for some NORCECAs. Perhaps a split-blocking option for Sophie. There are a few other Canadians with less than 400 points but there would probably be a risk of not getting into Challenger events. Not sure it makes sense for Sophie to play Futures events. Bukovec would have to block if she played with Harnett. Belanger isnāt a big block either. If she were to split block, she would be better off going with Monkhouse, or Marcelle, both have experience playing split or defender. Wutunee puts up a bigger block. I like Dunn as an option for potentially split blocking. Curious how many points does McBain have? Doesnāt Bukovec and Pavan have the same amount of points and they are signed up for a Challenger? I like McBain as a defender. Probably the best fit for Pavan. Tia Miric would also be a good defender for her (but she is a former partner of Bukovecās - they won the U21 World Championships in 2014 together). š Bukovec should convince indoor blocker Maglio (who played beach in Hawaii) to switch to beach, but she hasnāt played beach since 2019 before going pro indoors.
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Post by dunninla3 on May 4, 2023 21:11:44 GMT -5
she played great in Tokyo. In the match in which they beat Slaes she played almost error free... She's a level above Sophie, and probably two levels above the person Pavan picked up. Bansley has been below average for her whole career. Not sure how she is a level above Sophie either. Not the biggest Sophie fan but, playing with the same partner: Player A: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 2 17ths and a fifth in a uber-important event Player B: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 1 25th, and a second in an uber-important event If Player A (Heather) is better than B(Sophie) it isn't reflected at all in the results. Also in the match where they were eliminated Heather hit .080 in the Olympics with only 7 digs there you go again... using facts.
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Post by ajm on May 4, 2023 21:45:18 GMT -5
she played great in Tokyo. In the match in which they beat Slaes she played almost error free... She's a level above Sophie, and probably two levels above the person Pavan picked up. Bansley has been below average for her whole career. Not sure how she is a level above Sophie either. Not the biggest Sophie fan but, playing with the same partner: Player A: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 2 17ths and a fifth in a uber-important event Player B: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 1 25th, and a second in an uber-important event If Player A (Heather) is better than B(Sophie) it isn't reflected at all in the results. Also in the match where they were eliminated Heather hit .080 in the Olympics with only 7 digs Odd that a ābelow averageā player would be voted FIVB Best Defensive Player of the year three times.
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Post by guest2 on May 4, 2023 21:49:44 GMT -5
Bansley has been below average for her whole career. Not sure how she is a level above Sophie either. Not the biggest Sophie fan but, playing with the same partner: Player A: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 2 17ths and a fifth in a uber-important event Player B: 3 fifth places, 2 ninths, 1 25th, and a second in an uber-important event If Player A (Heather) is better than B(Sophie) it isn't reflected at all in the results. Also in the match where they were eliminated Heather hit .080 in the Olympics with only 7 digs Odd that a ābelow averageā player would be voted FIVB Best Defensive Player of the year three times. Offense, setting and serving also matter. Brooke Sweat was a world class defender and a lousy player at the 4 star level for example.
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Post by ajm on May 4, 2023 21:58:24 GMT -5
Odd that a ābelow averageā player would be voted FIVB Best Defensive Player of the year three times. Offense, setting and serving also matter. Brooke Sweat was a world class defender and a lousy player at the 4 star level for example. How many times was Brooke Sweat voted FIVB Best Defensive Player?
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Post by guest2 on May 4, 2023 22:03:52 GMT -5
Offense, setting and serving also matter. Brooke Sweat was a world class defender and a lousy player at the 4 star level for example. How many times was Brooke Sweat voted FIVB Best Defensive Player? How many times did Heather go an entire game without hitting a ball out of bounds?
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Post by ajm on May 4, 2023 22:04:51 GMT -5
Assuming Pavan/McBain is permanent and Sophie is healthy I was just thinking about who Sophie should pick up next. She's got 980 points, so she's not getting back into an Elite 16 anytime soon, and there's not many other Canadians with even enough points to get them into a Challenger qualifier: Amanda Harnett (680 entry points). Hasn't played at all this year. Marie-Alex Belanger (640). Was recently playing with Molly McBain. Hasn't played a lot of beach. Won the Vancouver Open with Heather Bansley last year. This might be Sophie's best option if she wants to stay on defense. Megan/Nicole (530). Hard to see them splitting up now if they turned Pavan down. Darby Dunn/Olivia Furlan (450). They've played a couple Futures together this year and are signed up for a bunch more. Lea Monkhouse (400). She's played a couple events with Shanice Marcelle this year and is signed up with Ruby Sorra for some NORCECAs. Perhaps a split-blocking option for Sophie. There are a few other Canadians with less than 400 points but there would probably be a risk of not getting into Challenger events. Not sure it makes sense for Sophie to play Futures events. Bukovec would have to block if she played with Harnett. Belanger isnāt a big block either. If she were to split block, she would be better off going with Monkhouse, or Marcelle, both have experience playing split or defender. Wutunee puts up a bigger block. I like Dunn as an option for potentially split blocking. Curious how many points does McBain have? Doesnāt Bukovec and Pavan have the same amount of points and they are signed up for a Challenger? I like McBain as a defender. Probably the best fit for Pavan. Tia Miric would also be a good defender for her (but she is a former partner of Bukovecās - they won the U21 World Championships in 2014 together). š Bukovec should convince indoor blocker Maglio (who played beach in Hawaii) to switch to beach, but she hasnāt played beach since 2019. Pavan has more entry points than Sophie because of two strong finishes with MHP among her last four. Sophie isnāt even counting her World Champs silver anymore. McBain only has 350 points. Sheāll be in the Challenger qualifier with Pavan. Thatās a long drop for Sarah from Elite 16 main draw with Sophie.
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Post by ajm on May 4, 2023 22:20:49 GMT -5
How many times was Brooke Sweat voted FIVB Best Defensive Player? How many times did Heather go an entire game without hitting a ball out of bounds? Haha, maybe you could keep track and start your own award, FIVB Fewest Games Without Hitting a Ball Out of Bounds Player of the Year!
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Post by newbeach on May 4, 2023 22:20:51 GMT -5
Bukovec would have to block if she played with Harnett. Belanger isnāt a big block either. If she were to split block, she would be better off going with Monkhouse, or Marcelle, both have experience playing split or defender. Wutunee puts up a bigger block. I like Dunn as an option for potentially split blocking. Curious how many points does McBain have? Doesnāt Bukovec and Pavan have the same amount of points and they are signed up for a Challenger? I like McBain as a defender. Probably the best fit for Pavan. Tia Miric would also be a good defender for her (but she is a former partner of Bukovecās - they won the U21 World Championships in 2014 together). š Bukovec should convince indoor blocker Maglio (who played beach in Hawaii) to switch to beach, but she hasnāt played beach since 2019. Pavan has more entry points than Sophie because of two strong finishes with MHP among her last four. Sophie isnāt even counting her World Champs silver anymore. McBain only has 350 points. Sheāll be in the Challenger qualifier with Pavan. Thatās a long drop for Sarah from Elite 16 main draw with Sophie. Itās the brave thing to do. Sarah still wants a chance to go to another Olympics. Bukovec wanted her chance too. Itās unfortunate (for their own aspirations) that they split. How many points do Pavan and McBain have together, and how many does Bukovec have (if you have this handy)?
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Post by ajm on May 4, 2023 23:25:42 GMT -5
Pavan has more entry points than Sophie because of two strong finishes with MHP among her last four. Sophie isnāt even counting her World Champs silver anymore. McBain only has 350 points. Sheāll be in the Challenger qualifier with Pavan. Thatās a long drop for Sarah from Elite 16 main draw with Sophie. Itās the brave thing to do. Sarah still wants a chance to go to another Olympics. Bukovec wanted her chance too. Itās unfortunate (for their own aspirations) that they split. How many points do Pavan and McBain have together, and how many does Bukovec have (if you have this handy)? Together Pavan/McBain have 1510 points. That's enough to get into a Challenger qualifier but probably not main draw. And not likely into an Elite 16 qualifier. Bukovec has 980 points by herself. When Pavan/Bukovec got together I joked here that they might implode, but I'm shocked that they (apparently) only lasted two events (three if you count PTF). They would've been nearly a lock to qualify for Paris. Now I'd say they're both long shots separately. Just having to start over six months into the cycle with fewer entry points is tough enough, and both seem to be downgrading their partners significantly. I guess we'll see what happens. Hopefully one or both of them will speak publicly soon about what's going on or what happened.
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Post by robvolei on May 4, 2023 23:59:46 GMT -5
Pavan/Bukovec should've stayed together but Bukovec looks very hard to play with, so the split is understandable from Pavan's point of view.
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Post by houdini on May 5, 2023 0:08:31 GMT -5
Offense, setting and serving also matter. Brooke Sweat was a world class defender and a lousy player at the 4 star level for example. How many times was Brooke Sweat voted FIVB Best Defensive Player? Brooke Sweat also AVP Best defender four times - and that included some of April Ross's defending years. But guest2 is absolutely right... the "best" should really be judged in a broader perspective. Example: Brandie is an excellent blocker but a terrible server, below average receiver and average on defense. Compare to all-around top players like Heidrich (now Mader) and Tina.
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