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Post by tomclen on Dec 4, 2022 22:06:38 GMT -5
The "gripes" in this thread aren't much about the coverage, it's the issue of scheduling all these matches on Thursday.
Who wanted that?
The players and coaches? The NCAA? The fans? The high school recruits who might be deciding among a few schools and want to watch these matches, but, well, it's a school day? The AVCA? Volleytalkers? Did Matt Ulmer want to play Nebraska at 8 a.m. pacific time? Fans at the four regionals who have to take a vacation day to attend?
Seems like the only group that benefits from this schedule are folks who can sit in front of the TV all day on a Thursday...and ESPN.
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Post by buckypete on Dec 4, 2022 23:32:10 GMT -5
The "gripes" in this thread aren't much about the coverage, it's the issue of scheduling all these matches on Thursday. Who wanted that? The players and coaches? The NCAA? The fans? The high school recruits who might be deciding among a few schools and want to watch these matches, but, well, it's a school day? The AVCA? Volleytalkers? Did Matt Ulmer want to play Nebraska at 8 a.m. pacific time? Fans at the four regionals who have to take a vacation day to attend? Seems like the only group that benefits from this schedule are folks who can sit in front of the TV all day on a Thursday...and ESPN. I know there was a lot of demand for a day off between the two rounds (Paul Sunderland said as much several times during The 5th Set), so either the Sweet 16 has to move back to Thursday or the Elite Eight has to slide onto Sunday.
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Post by JT on Dec 5, 2022 0:44:00 GMT -5
You can be both thankful for the improvement in coverage and dissatisfied with taking steps backwards. I'd argue that the round of 16 is as good as it gets for D1WVB. Cramming and overlapping all 8 of those top matches into one day - especially on the West Coast, where the first match is at 8 a.m. and only one match starts after 5 p.m. - is a step backwards. I think it's worse what they do for the 2nd round NCAA Tournament matches. Yesterday, there were like 6-7 matches all being played at once. That's terrible. About half of the sweet 16 field being played simultaneously. I would have rather had an 11am or 12pm ET match being played - but that's me personally! I do think a solution is to go to Thurs-Fri-Sat-Sun Regionals. Two Regionals are Thu/Sat and the others are Fri/Sun. Accomodates BYU who can often get there. It eliminates the need for early morning matches particularly since four are being played on Thurs/Fri and only two on Sat/Sun. It does mean the Fri/Sun teams get a day less of rest, but, given how you talk about cramming all of those 8 matches, I guess you would actually support some teams getting a day less of rest and others getting a day more of rest (which isn't a terrible opinion, I mean, it happens in NCAA basketball) It’s not that long ago that NO sub-regional was (nationally) aired… that NO regional match (semi or final) was aired, and that one of the two semi-final matches was broadcast, tape-delayed, on Friday, between the Thursday semi-finals, and the championship match. Yes, we can still be unsatisfied, but don’t forget what has been achieved, as well.
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Post by tomclen on Dec 5, 2022 5:49:35 GMT -5
Somehow, I missed this gem last week when the first round tournament matches were all relegated to ESPN+.
Good for Sheffield.
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Post by Wiswell on Dec 5, 2022 9:30:06 GMT -5
He unintentionally threw some shade at women's basketball there.
But seriously, boys basketball??
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bluepenquin
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Post by bluepenquin on Dec 5, 2022 10:11:45 GMT -5
Oregon winning first thing in the morning Is going to put me in a good mood for the rest of the day! Sucks for the Ducks that they got the last Round of 32 match on Saturday night, while Nebraska finished 24 hours earlier. And, now the Ducks get the 11 AM Eastern match in Louisville against the Huskers. I don't see this as being an advantage for Nebraska. I am guessing that Oregon and Nebraska will be flying out on Tuesday. They will have a Wednesday practice - there should be time to acclimate to the early time on Thursday - or at least have the same issues as Nebraska. Also, the extra day from play this weekend seems insignificant.
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Post by horns1 on Dec 5, 2022 10:53:47 GMT -5
Sucks for the Ducks that they got the last Round of 32 match on Saturday night, while Nebraska finished 24 hours earlier. And, now the Ducks get the 11 AM Eastern match in Louisville against the Huskers. I don't see this as being an advantage for Nebraska. I am guessing that Oregon and Nebraska will be flying out on Tuesday. They will have a Wednesday practice - there should be time to acclimate to the early time on Thursday - or at least have the same issues as Nebraska. Also, the extra day from play this weekend seems insignificant. I can agree with most of that. But, it's Oregon who has to adjust to a 3-hour time zone change. One hour adjustment for Nebraska. Might not matter at all. But, I'm sure we will hear about that reasoning/excuse if Oregon comes out flat and lethargic.
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Post by SayonaraTachikara on Dec 5, 2022 10:59:51 GMT -5
I don't see this as being an advantage for Nebraska. I am guessing that Oregon and Nebraska will be flying out on Tuesday. They will have a Wednesday practice - there should be time to acclimate to the early time on Thursday - or at least have the same issues as Nebraska. Also, the extra day from play this weekend seems insignificant. I can agree with most of that. But, it's Oregon who has to adjust to a 3-hour time zone change. One hour adjustment for Nebraska. Might not matter at all. But, I'm sure we will hear about that reasoning/excuse if Oregon comes out flat and lethargic. Nebraska and Oregon being relegated to the AM wave......teams should just channel their club volleyball days.
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Post by ugopher on Dec 5, 2022 12:28:26 GMT -5
The "gripes" in this thread aren't much about the coverage, it's the issue of scheduling all these matches on Thursday. Who wanted that? The players and coaches? The NCAA? The fans? The high school recruits who might be deciding among a few schools and want to watch these matches, but, well, it's a school day? The AVCA? Volleytalkers? Did Matt Ulmer want to play Nebraska at 8 a.m. pacific time? Fans at the four regionals who have to take a vacation day to attend? Seems like the only group that benefits from this schedule are folks who can sit in front of the TV all day on a Thursday...and ESPN. I know there was a lot of demand for a day off between the two rounds (Paul Sunderland said as much several times during The 5th Set), so either the Sweet 16 has to move back to Thursday or the Elite Eight has to slide onto Sunday. A Thursday/Saturday and Friday/Sunday schedule would make sense. But, that would probably require to move the semis and finals to Friday/Sunday or Saturday/Monday. Wouldn't be opposed to this. But, I'm sure ESPN has men's basketball to cover on Saturday and the NFL on Sunday. It still is like ESPN is doing this so they can say they are televising all matches and don't care how inconvenient it is for some teams and fan bases. The coverage has been better but still has loads of room for improvement.
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Post by dodger on Dec 5, 2022 12:41:55 GMT -5
The "gripes" in this thread aren't much about the coverage, it's the issue of scheduling all these matches on Thursday. Who wanted that? The players and coaches? The NCAA? The fans? The high school recruits who might be deciding among a few schools and want to watch these matches, but, well, it's a school day? The AVCA? Volleytalkers? Did Matt Ulmer want to play Nebraska at 8 a.m. pacific time? Fans at the four regionals who have to take a vacation day to attend? Seems like the only group that benefits from this schedule are folks who can sit in front of the TV all day on a Thursday...and ESPN. The Coaches requested day between thus we have Thursday Saturday
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Post by vbman100 on Dec 5, 2022 21:52:57 GMT -5
Some of the broadcasts not sure the announcers knew what a volleyball was. Yeah, how does someone get the job to announce for the matches that were broadcast on ESPN+? Seriously. I would love to either do the play by play or analyst job for some opening round matches. If anyone has the connections please send me a message.
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Post by ay2013 on Dec 6, 2022 4:36:37 GMT -5
I don't mind ESPN having the rights, but regionals should be Thursday AND Friday (4 matches each day) and the 4 regional finals all played on Saturday. Between ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, most cable subscriptions have ESPN News, and the national ABC channel, there are enough channels to fit 4 volleyball matches each day for three days. I'd even be ok having them put some of the matches on ESPN+ if they can't find a time slot. I'd rather that and actually be able to WATCH the matches rather than being up at 8am on a Thursday just so all 8 matches can be played on the same day.
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trojansc
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Post by trojansc on Dec 6, 2022 4:50:12 GMT -5
I don't mind ESPN having the rights, but regionals should be Thursday AND Friday (4 matches each day) and the 4 regional finals all played on Saturday. Between ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, most cable subscriptions have ESPN News, and the national ABC channel, there are enough channels to fit 4 volleyball matches each day for three days. But coaches argued for a day off between Semis and Finals. This would never happen. What's wrong with putting the other 2 regional finals on Sunday?
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Post by ay2013 on Dec 6, 2022 4:50:48 GMT -5
I don't mind ESPN having the rights, but regionals should be Thursday AND Friday (4 matches each day) and the 4 regional finals all played on Saturday. Between ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, most cable subscriptions have ESPN News, and the national ABC channel, there are enough channels to fit 4 volleyball matches each day for three days. But coaches argued for a day off between Semis and Finals. This would never happen. What's wrong with putting the other 2 regional finals on Sunday? Sure, separate the regional finals too. I just don't see why we HAVE to have all the matches on the same day.
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Post by horns1 on Dec 6, 2022 8:30:49 GMT -5
I don't mind ESPN having the rights, but regionals should be Thursday AND Friday (4 matches each day) and the 4 regional finals all played on Saturday. Between ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, most cable subscriptions have ESPN News, and the national ABC channel, there are enough channels to fit 4 volleyball matches each day for three days. But coaches argued for a day off between Semis and Finals. This would never happen. What's wrong with putting the other 2 regional finals on Sunday? Viewership would be the worst on Sunday (of all days during the week) due to competing with NFL games. I'm confident ESPN isn't really airing volleyball for high ratings overall, though. If two of the regional finals would be played on Sunday, that's one less day (for two teams) to prepare for the national semi-finals on Thursday. Not sure what time you'd want these Sunday regional finals (morning, afternoon, or evening), but that could also impact the return travel (if they can't travel back home until Monday).
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