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Post by kevinmalone on Aug 16, 2023 21:55:13 GMT -5
I am hoping that Illinois finishes in the top half of the Big10 again. The conference is, I think, better when Illinois is playing well. I'd like Illinois to move up, but that is harder now and will probably get harder in the future. Why is the conference better when Illinois is playing well. The conference is better when everyone is playing well. The reality of it is that the Illini will be fighting to stay out the basement this year.with Rutgers, Iowa and NW.
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Post by bops68 on Aug 16, 2023 22:09:36 GMT -5
Tamas tried all kinds of lineups but nothing was really "great". Here is my breakdown.
Terry - she is great. She is the only legitimate weapon. She seemed very frustrated in the fourth set, even mad which ended up affecting her play. Can't blame her honestly she is way too talented to play on a team that lost to a mediocre EIU team. She won't be here next year if play continues like this and can't blame her.
Moser - solid. Love her athleticism for the position. Probably should have taken over the job last year with a struggling team. She did have a little Consistency issues with set heights at times.
Barry - quick, athletic, tenacious. Passed well. Dug well. Reminds me of crazy Kendall White from PSU! Lol. Which is a good thing.
Collins - solid but definitely doesn't have the explosion from before in my opinion.
Pan - very solid and good pickup.
Burbage - just not very good. Hit out too much. Got blocked too much from a much shorter team. she hits a lot flat footed like she isn't ready for an approach. We do set a quicker back set so you have to start your approach early. I don't know, looked like the end of last year.
Bingham - played opposite a little but don't think she was set? Played middle in fourth had a few blocks. Seemed more comfortable playing middle and is definitely the most mobile of the middles. Just didn't stand out.
Bohm - big. Not super athletic or quick. Struggled closing the block and penetrating on the block.
Dean - big. Not super athletic or quick. Same as Bohm really. Just seemed like the speed of the game was too much for her at this point anyway.
Stephenson - not very explosive. Funky arm swing. Had some nice coverage. At this point don't see her being an effective hitter in BT.
Backup Setters - limited action running 6-2. Pray Moser doesn't get hurt. Definitely not BT level.
Eastern isn't a great team and not big but give them credit they kept fighting. I will add they essentially seemed to play their starters the first three sets. The last set they played their entire B team. No layovers and their B team beat us and we had Moser, Terry, Pan, and Barry playing with Bingham, Dean, and Bohm.
We have no depth and don't seem overly athletic besides Moser, Terry, and Barry. Things can change but could be a long season.
But Recruiting. .. recruiting.... recruiting needs to improve
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Post by slxpress on Aug 16, 2023 22:39:09 GMT -5
But Recruiting. .. recruiting.... recruiting needs to improve Outside of a change in coaches, what can be done to improve recruiting? That's not exactly a quick fix, either.
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Post by bucky415 on Aug 17, 2023 4:33:03 GMT -5
Thanks for all the updates, pointillinois and bops68! Sounds like we need a couple of the girls to get healthy. I’m not sure yet if the opener at Northern will be televised but I’m planning to attend and will report back. I’ve also got a match thread drafted for it and may have to call on you guys for a lineup prediction since mine has been blown up by Taylor and Barnes out. Hopefully Caroline is back in action soon. In other troubling news, the Tom and Jerry's in DeKalb is listed as temporarily closed. I would still advise going to the one in Sycamore, but a lot further drive from the Convocation Center.
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Post by foss on Aug 17, 2023 7:34:02 GMT -5
But Recruiting. .. recruiting.... recruiting needs to improve Outside of a change in coaches, what can be done to improve recruiting? That's not exactly a quick fix, either. Before someone mentions a new v-ball arena and that Huff is "not up to standards". When we were "better", I heard that Huff was an advantage for the Illini with how close fans were to the court and how electric it was inside.
IMHO opinion, I wish the new paid coaching position had been used for someone who excelled in recruiting.
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Post by mosser on Aug 17, 2023 9:27:30 GMT -5
Your head coach in volleyball needs to be your best recruiter. In football and basketball you hear often how players commit because of an assistant coach. I feel it's so rarely the case in volleyball. Tamas is a good coach who just can't recruit. Once Raina leaves Tamas will be on the hot seat.
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Post by oldmanvb on Aug 17, 2023 9:39:46 GMT -5
I was too aggravated after last night to post anything. Much of what I’m going to say is covered by others.
Exhibition matches are to experiment and get players not likely to play during the regular season some playing time to reward efforts in practice or to prepare young players. There was a lot of experimenting and getting playing time for those not likely to see the court during the regular season.
Before last night I did not understand the size of the gap between our top four or five players and the rest of the team, particularly at the pin positions. Both Stephenson and Bingham need to get stronger. Stephenson did some good things blocking and playing defense. Someone noted one of her thumbs was heavily bandaged which may have impacted her play.
Pan and Barry generally played well. Their passing is not where it needs to be but it is certainly better than we had last year. Between the two Pan is a better passer and Barry is a better defender. It was striking how much better EIUs passing was than our passing. I don’t know why Barnes was not dressed. Hopefully it is very short term. We need all three DSs. More on that in a moment.
DeBerg was in street clothes and stood with her teammates during the match. She was animated and will obviously be a good teammate. The team desperately needs her but I would be pleasantly surprised if she is able to contribute this year even if she is cleared for practice. Sitting in a hospital bed for much of the summer cannot be good for her physical condition. Obviously, her long term health is more important than playing volleyball.
I don’t understand why Burbage is not a more effective hitter. She has the tools. Most of her hitting errors went long. High hands in the B1G may help that problem. Good hitters look to hit to the last three feet of the court. Her hits were three feet too long. That is a fixable problem. If we are going to have any success it has to be fixed.
Most of our problem last night, in my view, was we were served off the court. Particularly Terry. She was dug by some very good EIU back row defense and it appeared to frustrate her. As the match went on her passing regressed. The more she struggled the more she was targeted. Subbing a DS for even a few points when she was in the back row to help her get composed would have made a huge difference.
Last night one DS played libero and one subbed for the opposite. In the first set May played DS, something I do not expect to see in the regular season. If Barnes had played we could have subbed for an OH. Without her we had receiving problems. They did their best to hide Burbage when she was back row, even going to a two person receive for some rotations. A third competent DS is critical to our success. I suspect Burbage playing back row detracted from her overall game, even impacting her hitting.
Bohm is a competent middle. While there were times she struggled closing the block I think she will get there. She was effective hitting in front of Moser, I do not recall her hitting any balls behind Moser other than one when she hit right side in serve receive and was blocked.
I think Bingham ends up playing opposite, although she could end up in the middle if Bohm struggles with closing the block. If Bingham ends up in the middle and Burbage plays left pin I don’t think we have anyone to play opposite. Running a 6-2 to solve the opposite problem is not a solution as the negatives of our alternate setters far outweigh the benefits of Moser hitting.
Our two freshmen setters are clearly practice players. Pray Moser does not get hurt.
This has been therapeutic. Thanks for letting me rant. As a glass half full guy I think if some things fall into place there is still a good chance we can finish in the top half of the B1G and the tournament. I suspect we will not see any of last night’s lineups when real play starts. At least I hope not.
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Post by oldmanvb on Aug 17, 2023 9:44:01 GMT -5
I forgot to mention Collins. Her play was solid, including a nice dig when she was in the back row to serve. Her hitting was very effective and Moser made more use of her than we have seen in the past. She has to stay healthy in order for us to have any success this year.
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Post by northwoods on Aug 17, 2023 10:32:47 GMT -5
Your head coach in volleyball needs to be your best recruiter. In football and basketball you hear often how players commit because of an assistant coach. I feel it's so rarely the case in volleyball. Tamas is a good coach who just can't recruit. Once Raina leaves Tamas will be on the hot seat. You could theorize that he didn’t bring in a strong (unaffiliated) assistant, knowing that his seat was warming up substantially. Why hire a viable replacement or at least logical interim head coach…
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Post by exit237a on Aug 17, 2023 10:49:24 GMT -5
Thanks for all the updates, pointillinois and bops68! Sounds like we need a couple of the girls to get healthy. I’m not sure yet if the opener at Northern will be televised but I’m planning to attend and will report back. I’ve also got a match thread drafted for it and may have to call on you guys for a lineup prediction since mine has been blown up by Taylor and Barnes out. Hopefully Caroline is back in action soon. In other troubling news, the Tom and Jerry's in DeKalb is listed as temporarily closed. I would still advise going to the one in Sycamore, but a lot further drive from the Convocation Center. Thanks for the sycamore recommendation, Bucky! That’ll be generally on the way as I’ll be coming from the northeast. I trust your food recommendations as both Milwaukee ones you gave me a couple years ago were great. Think it was a Greek place and a burger joint. Another first week Illinois volleyball road trip, that was : )
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Post by oldmanvb on Aug 17, 2023 10:50:48 GMT -5
Two things. Krista was brought in to recruit. I think our next two classes (both of which need an OH) are an upgrade from our last several.
Second, there are complaints we did not hire a recruiter for our recently created 3d coach. I am pretty certain the 3d coach cannot recruit off campus. That is certainly the case with the extra basketball coaches recently added.
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Post by Friday on Aug 17, 2023 11:18:08 GMT -5
Two things. Krista was brought in to recruit. I think our next two classes (both of which need an OH) are an upgrade from our last several. Second, there are complaints we did not hire a recruiter for our recently created 3d coach. I am pretty certain the 3d coach cannot recruit off campus. That is certainly the case with the extra basketball coaches recently added. 3rd coach can recruit off campus
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Post by gurnee50 on Aug 17, 2023 11:32:43 GMT -5
Reading all these posts - what a disappointment. We’ve all been mentioning the need for depth at the OH position. Barry playing OH? We must be desperate. This falls on the coaching staff for not recruiting or hitting the portal strong enough. We need bodies. Getting out recruited by schools we should never get out recruited by. If have a terrible season, no way Raina comes back for a Covid year. Losing to EIU is appalling. Losing to EIU and hiring your wife to be a paid assistant coach is appalling. So the Tamas' are cashing two paychecks while losing to EIU? The optics are terrible. Didn't bother to add any depth in the offseason through the transfer portal when everyone on this board were screaming for him to do something. And Huff Hall has nothing to do with recruiting. Humbly brought in great players with the same gym. And Illinois had the best basketball arena in the country in the 1960's and it led to absolutely nothing on the recruiting front for two decades. It's all about the head coach in college athletics. Volleyball has taken a back seat to women's basketball on campus right now, and rightfully so.
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Post by ilalum92 on Aug 17, 2023 12:59:46 GMT -5
Reading all these posts - what a disappointment. We’ve all been mentioning the need for depth at the OH position. Barry playing OH? We must be desperate. This falls on the coaching staff for not recruiting or hitting the portal strong enough. We need bodies. Getting out recruited by schools we should never get out recruited by. If have a terrible season, no way Raina comes back for a Covid year. Losing to EIU is appalling. Losing to EIU and hiring your wife to be a paid assistant coach is appalling. So the Tamas' are cashing two paychecks while losing to EIU? The optics are terrible. Didn't bother to add any depth in the offseason through the transfer portal when everyone on this board were screaming for him to do something. And Huff Hall has nothing to do with recruiting. Humbly brought in great players with the same gym. And Illinois had the best basketball arena in the country in the 1960's and it led to absolutely nothing on the recruiting front for two decades. It's all about the head coach in college athletics. Volleyball has taken a back seat to women's basketball on campus right now, and rightfully so. Ill disagree with hiring Jen. If you were a MB in high school, one would think you would want to learn from one of the best to put on a USA Jersey. I wasnt a fan of Hambly as a coach but he could sure recruit with the same facility as we have now. We nee some BIG 10 ability players instead of always hopeful diamonds in the rough or projects.
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Post by knapplc on Aug 17, 2023 13:00:08 GMT -5
Losing to EIU and hiring your wife to be a paid assistant coach is appalling. So the Tamas' are cashing two paychecks while losing to EIU? The optics are terrible. Didn't bother to add any depth in the offseason through the transfer portal when everyone on this board were screaming for him to do something. And Huff Hall has nothing to do with recruiting. Humbly brought in great players with the same gym. And Illinois had the best basketball arena in the country in the 1960's and it led to absolutely nothing on the recruiting front for two decades. It's all about the head coach in college athletics. Volleyball has taken a back seat to women's basketball on campus right now, and rightfully so. Is this just frustration? Because you were singing a very different tune five years ago... Having had both of my kids play Big Ten sports (field hockey and football), I know there are many, many ways for a student to attend college and play sports without an athletic scholarship or without using their own money. Nothing untoward unless you are a scared/insecure Big Ten fan that realizes the "Illinois pipeline" of the state's best volleyball players to out-of-state schools may be coming to a close. The reaction to the ascendancy of Illini volleyball under Tamas on this message board from some fans of other Big Ten schools reminds me of the reaction to Illini football and basketball in the 80's. As soon as we started winning, the lazy elites of the conference (Bo Schembechler/Bobby Knight) complained about our programs because they couldn't come into Illinois and pick off the state's best players year after year. And of course "Saint" Bo was the AD at Michigan when the biggest cheating scandal in the history of college sports (The "Fab Five" getting $900k in cash from Ed Martin) took place. Bobby Knight regularly physically abused his players and staff and degraded women much to the delight of Hoosierville. Tamas is here and the rest of the Big Ten better get used to it.
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