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Post by guest2 on May 5, 2023 1:00:06 GMT -5
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. I thought it was pretty clear that the "best defender" award referred to best at digging balls. It would be beyond ludicrous to think anyone regarded Bansley as the best player who was also a defender in those years.
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Post by ajm on May 5, 2023 7:42:11 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. Explain? Pavan seems to be the player who has been followed by drama her entire career.
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Post by ajm on May 5, 2023 7:46:47 GMT -5
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. So then you would also consider Brandie a “below average” player?
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Post by robvolei on May 5, 2023 9:02:34 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. Explain? Pavan seems to be the player who has been followed by drama her entire career. Sophie is a low iq player. She just does random dumb things and she passes out of system a lot. Chasing a bad pass, to set your partner is annoying af. Her setting isn't good, either.
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Post by moderndaycoach on May 5, 2023 9:40:16 GMT -5
Explain? Pavan seems to be the player who has been followed by drama her entire career. Sophie is a low iq player. She just does random dumb things and she passes out of system a lot. Chasing bad passers to set your partner is annoying af. Her setting isn't good, either. I had mentioned this to a friend offline, I was so high on the Wilkerson partnership and how well they played to start I thought more would come of it. But as we did see more it seems her volleyball IQ would just disappear in situations and makes really poor choices for someone who has been playing that long. Also like I have said with other never or non passers, it just doesn't happen very quickly. Either you are a natural passer or you develop the skill over tens of thousands of reps. Even setters hate chasing balls, the last thing a lifelong non setter wants is to be chasing.
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Post by beachcomber on May 5, 2023 9:57:31 GMT -5
Molly was an outstanding NCAA player as you can see from her bio. She didn't play much in 2022, some post-grad committments I think, but has since joined the Canadian National Next Gen team. She doesn't have much experience at levels above NCAA, but she is talented. Probably the brightest future of any defender/split blocker on the Next gen squad. I am curious to know if Sarah and Molly came together on their own or if Volleyball Canada suggested trying this partnership - and is this a one-off or a real long-term possibility? I don't think they would make Paris on points, but they could back-door a spot through a NORCECA Continental Cup. That said, Sophie might be able to do the same - depending on who she picks up. Maybe she should try Molly's old partner Leah Monkhouse.
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Post by robvolei on May 5, 2023 10:46:01 GMT -5
Sophie is a low iq player. She just does random dumb things and she passes out of system a lot. Chasing bad passers to set your partner is annoying af. Her setting isn't good, either. I had mentioned this to a friend offline, I was so high on the Wilkerson partnership and how well they played to start I thought more would come of it. But as we did see more it seems her volleyball IQ would just disappear in situations and makes really poor choices for someone who has been playing that long. Also like I have said with other never or non passers, it just doesn't happen very quickly. Either you are a natural passer or you develop the skill over tens of thousands of reps. Even setters hate chasing balls, the last thing a lifelong non setter wants is to be chasing. I think she gets caught up in the moment and doesn't think about her options when attacking. As for her passing, she just needs to drill passing every training session for as long as possible. Watching great players play could her improve her game iq and mentality.
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Post by haze on May 5, 2023 11:12:18 GMT -5
I don't think we see much of Pavan on the FIVB anymore (successfully speaking). There just isn't anyone in Canada's pipeline that can compliment her. Pavan needs someone who can hold her own side of the court. One of the twins would be her best match, and let's face it, Pavan with either one of the twins isn't even an elite 16 team IMHO.
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Post by houdini on May 5, 2023 11:19:01 GMT -5
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. So then you would also consider Brandie a “below average” player? I think Wilkerson is overrated. One dimensional with great flair as a pure blocker. BVB database has her with 7 AVP finals (two 1sts and five 2nds) out of 23 competitions. Very good. And NINE FIVB podium finishes out of 62 competitions. That's one podium in every seven events - and only ONE podium in the past four years. Certainly above average but not great - especially if you compare her attack stats and serves over time (including errors). For instance check out AVP 2022 and any of her FIVB individual competition stats. And on defense not much stats, but at Tokyo Heidrich (Mader) and Graudina led blockers with digs. avp.com/statistics/
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Post by haze on May 5, 2023 11:23:07 GMT -5
So then you would also consider Brandie a “below average” player? I think Wilkerson is overrated. One dimensional with great flair as a pure blocker. BVB database has her with 7 AVP finals (two 1sts and five 2nds) out of 23 competitions. Very good. And NINE FIVB podium finishes out of 62 competitions. That's one podium in every seven events - and only ONE podium in the past four years. Certainly above average but not great - especially if you compare her attack stats and serves over time (including errors). For instance check out AVP 2022 and any of her FIVB individual competition stats. avp.com/statistics/ I think it's a big find out test for her with MHP. There is no excuses. But I do expect that team to have some good results. I think Pavan is more impact (only because of her size). She's also the type of player that needs her partner to pull weight. A good example is the Bukovec pairing. I think Brandie and Bukovec are a much better team than Pavan and Bukovec simply because of the personality difference of Brandie and Pavan. It remains to be seen if Brandie/MHP can match Pavan and MHP.
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Post by newbeach on May 5, 2023 12:21:45 GMT -5
I don't think we see much of Pavan on the FIVB anymore (successfully speaking). There just isn't anyone in Canada's pipeline that can compliment her. Pavan needs someone who can hold her own side of the court. One of the twins would be her best match, and let's face it, Pavan with either one of the twins isn't even an elite 16 team IMHO. I agree that one of the twins would have been a decent option. Not sure they would be an Elite 16 team, but I think they would have had a chance to qualify for the Olympics. I don’t think the twins are too far off the current MHP. I think they could compete with a Cannon and Sponcil.
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Post by newbeach on May 5, 2023 12:26:34 GMT -5
Lots of people taking shots at all the Canadian players today. I didn’t realize people thought so little of them.
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Post by newbeach on May 5, 2023 12:37:09 GMT -5
It’s the brave thing to do. Sarah still wants a chance to go to another Olympics. Bukovec wanted her chance too. It’s 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. I don’t think either will be speaking out about the split anytime soon (I don’t think either want any negative publicity after their recent splits). I think both will want to secure a partner before making any announcements. Pavan is not locked in with McBain. She was looking by at a few players before picking up Sophie (mostly due to points). I am sure it will depends on results, but a younger player like McBain is less likely to have issues with Pavan. I don’t think she is outstanding but I think she is a god fit for Pavan in some ways and she should see growth as a player.
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Post by ajm on May 5, 2023 12:39:55 GMT -5
Explain? Pavan seems to be the player who has been followed by drama her entire career. Sophie is a low iq player. She just does random dumb things and she passes out of system a lot. Chasing a bad pass, to set your partner is annoying af. Her setting isn't good, either. I see. I thought by "hard to play with" you meant something like a difficult personality or something. I agree that Sophie isn't as good as Pavan's previous partners. Haven't seen much of McBain, is she any better or at least has the potential? At 36, you wouldn't think Pavan can afford to wait around forever for her partner to develop. When Mel broke up with her, Sarah claimed she was making a list of potential partners when Sophie suddenly fell into her lap (again, I'm not sure I completely buy that story), but I wonder if Pavan was considering McBain last fall. I would imagine Sarah and Sophie are both risking losing funding from Volleyball Canada if their results will not be as good separately as they would be together. Seems like this might be a decision they'll ultimately regret.
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Post by newbeach on May 5, 2023 12:54:10 GMT -5
I had mentioned this to a friend offline, I was so high on the Wilkerson partnership and how well they played to start I thought more would come of it. But as we did see more it seems her volleyball IQ would just disappear in situations and makes really poor choices for someone who has been playing that long. Also like I have said with other never or non passers, it just doesn't happen very quickly. Either you are a natural passer or you develop the skill over tens of thousands of reps. Even setters hate chasing balls, the last thing a lifelong non setter wants is to be chasing. I think she gets caught up in the moment and doesn't think about her options when attacking. As for her passing, she just needs to drill passing every training session for as long as possible. Watching great players play could her improve her game iq and mentality. Sophie has room to grow. She has only been defending for a short while and as mentioned above, the transition from blocker to defender doesn’t always happen quickly. She was without a partner for a couple of years prior to Brandie picking her up and was new to the elite FIVB level. If she wants to continue playing, there are a few split blocker options that she could pick up (Dunn, Ozee, Monkhouse, Marcelle, Belanger, Sorra…). She might have better success rather than playing strictly defence and there aren’t many viable blocker options atm. After 2024, Glagau, and indoor blockers Maglio and Veltman may be available.
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