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Post by bigfish3 on Oct 29, 2023 9:58:09 GMT -5
This was such a good win at a great time! Even when ILL was in the dumps, Tamas and clan were able to fight it out and get the team playing hard. This is mid year improvement!
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Post by vbkahuna on Oct 29, 2023 10:10:48 GMT -5
A couple of shoutouts while I'm here.
First, I see Mosher as starting to really feel it as a setter. Her maturation in reading defenses/blockers, disguising her sets, and feeding her hitters is progressing nicely. And her tempo is speeding up, with her hitters starting to adapt better. Location still needs work, but now instead of her struggling to find her hitters, I see all her hitters adjusting the quickness of their approach to HER preferred style and tempo ("fast and furious"). Bohm on the 31. Collins on the slide. And Terry on the bic and backsets on the right. It's great to see it developing in her first full year as a setter. She's really an extraordinary athlete.
Lastly, I want to note the contributions of exit237A on not only this Illini thread but across Volley Talk. You're truly a great contributor, with time volunteered in creating game threads and posting useful links, but even more so for your patient, even-handed attitude and comments. Thanks.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Oct 29, 2023 10:17:17 GMT -5
This was such a good win at a great time! Even when ILL was in the dumps, Tamas and clan were able to fight it out and get the team playing hard. This is mid year improvement! There is a popular saying "it's not how you start, it's how you finish!" Many positives in Illini's play vs. Purdue. I was particularly happy to see Jessica Nunge go for the hard kills with much success in the match!
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Post by exit237a on Oct 29, 2023 10:26:04 GMT -5
A couple of shoutouts while I'm here. First, I see Mosher as starting to really feel it as a setter. Her maturation in reading defenses/blockers, disguising her sets, and feeding her hitters is progressing nicely. And her tempo is speeding up, with her hitters starting to adapt better. Location still needs work, but now instead of her struggling to find her hitters, I see all her hitters adjusting the quickness of their approach to HER preferred style and tempo ("fast and furious"). Bohm on the 31. Collins on the slide. And Terry on the bic and backsets on the right. It's great to see it developing in her first full year as a setter. She's really an extraordinary athlete. Lastly, I want to note the contributions of exit237A on not only this Illini thread but across Volley Talk. You're truly a great contributor, with time volunteered in creating game threads and posting useful links, but even more so for your patient, even-handed attitude and comments. Thanks. Thanks so much for the kind words, vbkahuna- that really means a lot!
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Post by VolleyballFella on Oct 29, 2023 12:11:06 GMT -5
Well if we are going by that, how did Maryland lose 0-3 to Nebraska and beat Iowa yet they have moved up about 11 spots? You mentioned earlier that us beating Iowa and Michigan will actually hurt us. I recognize its dependent on teams around you in the ranking, but 11 spots is significant considering that according to the model after beating IU and Purdue we only moved up 12. If true, just another example of why RPI is flawed. I'm not a fan of RPI. Massey has Illinois #53 right now. Pablo and Massey is better, but RPI is what is used. Climbing the ranks in RPI gets much harder as you move up -- as there are a number of other teams ahead of Illinois that are doing just as good or better... and many of them do not have the scars of earlier losses that Illinois has. So, you don't just move up more spots because you beat better opponents than before and use logic based off how far a team moved up before. Doesn't work that way -- even with Pablo or Massey. The apparent move up for Maryland after playing Nebraska was likely because RPI highly accounts for your opponents records, and Nebraska's record GREATLY helped Maryland. Maryland was ranked so low with bad opponent records before that and it vastly improved their ranking. Once you get into the 80's in RPI and lower, it's much harder because teams have a lot of opponents with good records. Nebraska's record and RPI is obviously great, so it likely does/could help Illinois if IL loses that match. Wins against Iowa and Maryland will hurt (again because of their record and their opponents records).
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 29, 2023 12:40:25 GMT -5
A couple of shoutouts while I'm here. First, I see Mosher as starting to really feel it as a setter. Her maturation in reading defenses/blockers, disguising her sets, and feeding her hitters is progressing nicely. And her tempo is speeding up, with her hitters starting to adapt better. Location still needs work, but now instead of her struggling to find her hitters, I see all her hitters adjusting the quickness of their approach to HER preferred style and tempo ("fast and furious"). Bohm on the 31. Collins on the slide. And Terry on the bic and backsets on the right. It's great to see it developing in her first full year as a setter. She's really an extraordinary athlete. Lastly, I want to note the contributions of exit237A on not only this Illini thread but across Volley Talk. You're truly a great contributor, with time volunteered in creating game threads and posting useful links, but even more so for your patient, even-handed attitude and comments. Thanks. Thanks so much for the kind words, vbkahuna- that really means a lot! I second his words. Although sometimes we don’t agree, you always are respectful and the both of us bleed Orange & Blue- I-L-L
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 29, 2023 14:19:03 GMT -5
My brain hurts with RPI, KPI, Pablo & Massey. Two big wins doesn’t do much but when we play Neb & WISC ( if we lose) our RPI will go up? And beating Iowa & Maryland will drop out RPI? Make it make sense. We need to win out all the matches except WI & NEB and we have an outside shot at the tourney.
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Post by exit237a on Oct 29, 2023 14:39:47 GMT -5
Thanks so much for the kind words, vbkahuna- that really means a lot! I second his words. Although sometimes we don’t agree, you always are respectful and the both of us bleed Orange & Blue- I-L-L I-N-I! Thanks, alum! We can always agree on our support of the Illini : )
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Post by oldmanvb on Oct 29, 2023 18:34:41 GMT -5
Apparently I am one of the clowns who was unhappy with the coaching early in the year, and I am willing to acknowledge the huge strides made in the past month. After watching the last few matches, it appears the coaching staff has addressed most if not all of the issues about which we complained. From my perspective, the biggest difference has been mental toughness. We were 0-5 in 5 set matches last year and lost our first 3 5 set matches this year. We have now won 4 5 set matches in a row this year and have simply looked tougher at the end of matches, with the probable exception of tOSU. Toughness is #1 a coaching issue. Passing is better, Mosher is looking to the middle, Nunge and Burbage are taking good rips. We still tip too much, but mentally we are in more of an attack mode. This team is not the same as the beginning of the season, and the coaches need to be given credit. Long way to go with passing and defense, but a lot of progress has been made. Would love to get do-overs with WSU, Okl, ND, USC, UCF and tOSU.
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Post by photos1 on Oct 29, 2023 18:56:37 GMT -5
Apparently I am one of the clowns who was unhappy with the coaching early in the year, and I am willing to acknowledge the huge strides made in the past month. After watching the last few matches, it appears the coaching staff has addressed most if not all of the issues about which we complained. From my perspective, the biggest difference has been mental toughness. We were 0-5 in 5 set matches last year and lost our first 3 5 set matches this year. We have now won 4 5 set matches in a row this year and have simply looked tougher at the end of matches, with the probable exception of tOSU. Toughness is #1 a coaching issue. Passing is better, Mosher is looking to the middle, Nunge and Burbage are taking good rips. We still tip too much, but mentally we are in more of an attack mode. This team is not the same as the beginning of the season, and the coaches need to be given credit. Long way to go with passing and defense, but a lot of progress has been made. Would love to get do-overs with WSU, Okl, ND, USC, UCF and tOSU. I never thought the problem was the “coaching” per se, I just thought the roster was not capable… Tamas continues to verify he’s an elite coach, but coaching also includes recruiting a roster… I don’t think Tamas’ goal at Illinois is to surprise people with improvement… Recruiting just has to pick up… I imagine they could go 6-2 from here on out in the conference…. (13-7) would that get them in?
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Post by VolleyballFella on Oct 29, 2023 18:59:32 GMT -5
My brain hurts with RPI, KPI, Pablo & Massey. Two big wins doesn’t do much but when we play Neb & WISC ( if we lose) our RPI will go up? And beating Iowa & Maryland will drop out RPI? Make it make sense. We need to win out all the matches except WI & NEB and we have an outside shot at the tourney. With the RPI, Illinois DEFINITELY needs to win out all matches and AT LEAST one of the WI and NEB matches to have a good chance at the tourney. Not beating WI or NEB may not be enough. Winning all but those 2 still puts the RPI pretty low and just having a good record in the B1G is not that great this year. So, yes an outside chance at the tourney if winning all but WI and NEB, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Depends on a number of things and if IL gets help.
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Post by exit237a on Oct 29, 2023 20:00:24 GMT -5
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 29, 2023 21:11:21 GMT -5
My brain hurts with RPI, KPI, Pablo & Massey. Two big wins doesn’t do much but when we play Neb & WISC ( if we lose) our RPI will go up? And beating Iowa & Maryland will drop out RPI? Make it make sense. We need to win out all the matches except WI & NEB and we have an outside shot at the tourney. With the RPI, Illinois DEFINITELY needs to win out all matches and AT LEAST one of the WI and NEB matches to have a good chance at the tourney. Not beating WI or NEB may not be enough. Winning all but those 2 still puts the RPI pretty low and just having a good record in the B1G is not that great this year. So, yes an outside chance at the tourney if winning all but WI and NEB, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Depends on a number of things and if IL gets help. The selection criteria is including KPI this year too. They listed the 6 criteria when they reversed the current Top 10 during the ORE v WASH match. And if Tamas gets to plead his case, maybe a hot run at the end of the season with a fully healthy roster will sway the committee. Obv, this is all dependent on us keeping this win streak going.
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Post by photos1 on Oct 29, 2023 21:22:32 GMT -5
With the RPI, Illinois DEFINITELY needs to win out all matches and AT LEAST one of the WI and NEB matches to have a good chance at the tourney. Not beating WI or NEB may not be enough. Winning all but those 2 still puts the RPI pretty low and just having a good record in the B1G is not that great this year. So, yes an outside chance at the tourney if winning all but WI and NEB, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Depends on a number of things and if IL gets help. The selection criteria is including KPI this year too. They listed the 6 criteria when they reversed the current Top 10 during the ORE v WASH match. And if Tamas gets to plead his case, maybe a hot run at the end of the season with a fully healthy roster will sway the committee. Obv, this is all dependent on us keeping this win streak going. I believe it is quite easy, 8 matches remaining, Illinois should go 6-2, if they do, they should be in.
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Post by oldmanvb on Oct 29, 2023 22:53:12 GMT -5
Against tOSU our middles took 14 swings in 4 sets, 4 kills, 2 errors. Against Indiana they took 41 swings in 5 sets, 22 kills, 6 errors. Against Purdue 32 swings in 4 sets, 15 kills, 3 errors. I assume someone has pointed this out to Mosher, Collins and Bohm.
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