|
Post by stanfordvb on Feb 4, 2023 15:57:04 GMT -5
Who do we think will be the top 4 teams next season? Based on confirmed transfers and incoming class, I’d say: Wisconsin, Texas, Nebraska, Stanford. Honorable mentions: Penn State, Pittsburg, Oregon, Louisville. Is it August yet?! I know everyone is hot on Stanford next season, but I have thoughts. And they are these: sometimes returning all/most starters isn’t ideal. Especially if the problem for the team was never raw talent to begin with. If one of those freshman isn’t an emotional leader, it’s going to be same story/same cast I’m afraid. My T4 is Wisconsin, Nebraska, Texas, Penn State. eh, they kinda blew an elite 8 match and really could've easily been to the FF. they improved a ton over the course of the year and are now another year more experienced. and majority of the time, returning most starters is ideal. they have an entire spring where they dont have to work on new pieces and integrating new talent / changing things. while maybe not as fun or stimulating for the coaches, its a definite advantage. they may not have an outward emotional leader, but it certainly doesn't look like they have team chemistry issues which are very different things. they had a pretty damn good season without one while dealing with injuries, a new 6-ro passing freshman, and a streaky OH
|
|
|
Post by moondog4444 on Feb 5, 2023 2:18:09 GMT -5
So, the Big 12 conference football schedules for 2023 were released yesterday. Central Florida, Houston, Cincinnati, and BYU now part of the conference schedule. Have to admit I haven't been paying attention to what this means for Big 12 volleyball for 2023. Are we going to follow the SEC's conference pre-COVID scheduling model since they also have 14 members (well, 13 since Vandy doesn't play volleyball, but neither does Okie State)? Was this already decided/discussed and I just missed it? Guess we won't be playing everyone home and away. any word on the beach volleyball schedule
|
|
|
Post by dl3ww on Feb 5, 2023 14:46:09 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by hookem24 on Feb 6, 2023 3:20:13 GMT -5
I know everyone is hot on Stanford next season, but I have thoughts. And they are these: sometimes returning all/most starters isn’t ideal. Especially if the problem for the team was never raw talent to begin with. If one of those freshman isn’t an emotional leader, it’s going to be same story/same cast I’m afraid. My T4 is Wisconsin, Nebraska, Texas, Penn State. I don’t know. They seemed pretty stacked from a returning starter perspective to me. Setting looks great with Miner. Kipp will be the preseason player of the year favorite, IMO. Rubin is decent as a terminal hitter but outstanding as a 6 rotation pin, IMO. I loved how she developed over the course of the year. I’d rather have her right now than Wenaas, for example. Baird is hard for me to fall in love with. When she’s on she’s terrific, but she’s not always on. Their middle play suffered without Francis out there. I love their libero. They’re one of the better serving teams in the country. They lost to what I considered the 2nd best team at the end of the year in San Diego. Stanford’s biggest issue to me is they can’t really bring in transfers, which limits their personnel improvement from year to year compared to other elite programs. But I think they’re going to come out of the gate at a higher level than anyone else, and then we’ll see if everyone can catch up. I’m also not completely sold on our Longhorns, yet. Setting is a question mark for me. I don’t think the middle, left pin, libero, or serving will be as good. Having said that, I’m very excited to see this team go after it. I think they have all kinds of room for improvement over the course of the season. With Wisconsin, o know they did great in the B1G with their transition to the 6-2. I have to eat crow, because I didn’t think there was any chance Sheffield would remain committed to it, but he did, and now he’s trotting it out again. But I much prefer the 5-1 for consistencies sake, the ability to have some flexibility with subs in extended sets, and allowing the server to be ultra aggressive at the net in her 3 front row rotations. I hope we never have to go the 6-2 route. Just not a fan. Nebraska is Nebraska. You know Cook wants the taste of that Sweet Sixteen washed from his mouth. Let’s see him try another first timer setter for the second year in a row and see if this works out better. They have a ridiculous amount of young uber talented players on that roster. It’s going to be interesting to me who wins the competition for playing time. That practice gym is going to be intense. Not sure how I feel about Penn State yet, other than KSC has proven to me she knows how to sell her program. To me this coming year looks a lot more interesting competition wise than this last one, where Texas seemed to build a juggernaut in the offseason, and sure enough, that’s how it turned out. I don’t see the same disparity on paper I did last year in the preseason. But we still have the May portal, so we’ll see if there are any drastic changes. I agree with mostly everything except for your thoughts about Texas — I believe the middle & serving will be just as good (or better). With Asjia coming back, Marianna ready to go after a redshirt season, and a veteran Bella Bergmark as well, we will be totally fine. Not that Kayla wasn’t amazing, but she was not outstanding in her blocking or attacking — came in strides and came in clutch, but I don’t think we are lacking at the MB position.
|
|
|
Post by moondog4444 on Feb 6, 2023 5:42:17 GMT -5
By the end of the year, we will be a fine-tuned operating force. Elliott and staff will make sure of that.
|
|
|
Post by hornshouse23 on Feb 6, 2023 7:36:12 GMT -5
I don’t know. They seemed pretty stacked from a returning starter perspective to me. Setting looks great with Miner. Kipp will be the preseason player of the year favorite, IMO. Rubin is decent as a terminal hitter but outstanding as a 6 rotation pin, IMO. I loved how she developed over the course of the year. I’d rather have her right now than Wenaas, for example. Baird is hard for me to fall in love with. When she’s on she’s terrific, but she’s not always on. Their middle play suffered without Francis out there. I love their libero. They’re one of the better serving teams in the country. They lost to what I considered the 2nd best team at the end of the year in San Diego. Stanford’s biggest issue to me is they can’t really bring in transfers, which limits their personnel improvement from year to year compared to other elite programs. But I think they’re going to come out of the gate at a higher level than anyone else, and then we’ll see if everyone can catch up. I’m also not completely sold on our Longhorns, yet. Setting is a question mark for me. I don’t think the middle, left pin, libero, or serving will be as good. Having said that, I’m very excited to see this team go after it. I think they have all kinds of room for improvement over the course of the season. With Wisconsin, o know they did great in the B1G with their transition to the 6-2. I have to eat crow, because I didn’t think there was any chance Sheffield would remain committed to it, but he did, and now he’s trotting it out again. But I much prefer the 5-1 for consistencies sake, the ability to have some flexibility with subs in extended sets, and allowing the server to be ultra aggressive at the net in her 3 front row rotations. I hope we never have to go the 6-2 route. Just not a fan. Nebraska is Nebraska. You know Cook wants the taste of that Sweet Sixteen washed from his mouth. Let’s see him try another first timer setter for the second year in a row and see if this works out better. They have a ridiculous amount of young uber talented players on that roster. It’s going to be interesting to me who wins the competition for playing time. That practice gym is going to be intense. Not sure how I feel about Penn State yet, other than KSC has proven to me she knows how to sell her program. To me this coming year looks a lot more interesting competition wise than this last one, where Texas seemed to build a juggernaut in the offseason, and sure enough, that’s how it turned out. I don’t see the same disparity on paper I did last year in the preseason. But we still have the May portal, so we’ll see if there are any drastic changes. I agree with mostly everything except for your thoughts about Texas — I believe the middle & serving will be just as good (or better). With Asjia coming back, Marianna ready to go after a redshirt season, and a veteran Bella Bergmark as well, we will be totally fine. Not that Kayla wasn’t amazing, but she was not outstanding in her blocking or attacking — came in strides and came in clutch, but I don’t think we are lacking at the MB position. Plus if ALL else fails in the middle, Molly could always find her way back there to shore things up.
|
|
|
Post by horns1 on Feb 6, 2023 8:23:34 GMT -5
Great to see Wenaas practicing with her new teammates.
|
|
|
Post by eyeroll2021 on Feb 6, 2023 10:19:20 GMT -5
I agree with mostly everything except for your thoughts about Texas — I believe the middle & serving will be just as good (or better). With Asjia coming back, Marianna ready to go after a redshirt season, and a veteran Bella Bergmark as well, we will be totally fine. Not that Kayla wasn’t amazing, but she was not outstanding in her blocking or attacking — came in strides and came in clutch, but I don’t think we are lacking at the MB position. Plus if ALL else fails in the middle, Molly could always find her way back there to shore things up. OMG stop trying to make Fetch happen
|
|
|
Post by hornshouse23 on Feb 6, 2023 10:20:19 GMT -5
Plus if ALL else fails in the middle, Molly could always find her way back there to shore things up. OMG stop trying to make Fetch happen Leave me alone!
|
|
|
Post by stanfordvb on Feb 6, 2023 12:49:45 GMT -5
I agree with mostly everything except for your thoughts about Texas — I believe the middle & serving will be just as good (or better). With Asjia coming back, Marianna ready to go after a redshirt season, and a veteran Bella Bergmark as well, we will be totally fine. Not that Kayla wasn’t amazing, but she was not outstanding in her blocking or attacking — came in strides and came in clutch, but I don’t think we are lacking at the MB position. Plus if ALL else fails in the middle, Molly could always find her way back there to shore things up. yea I think middle / lib and opp (if it's philips) are the safest bets on the texas roster rn imo. halter or barnes will make a very solid lib, Oneal and 3 other good options at MB, philips has proven herself at this point as a good opp. I know not saying OH may be surprising but it's mostly because ill be interested to see them out of system or hitting when swindle is not in a great spot. eggleston was one of the best ever at cleaning up out of system and getting kills in the toughest positions. she and fields those two years were a nightmare for opponents oos lol. skinner in system is as good as any OH, but she hasn't, imo, proven to be elite out of system yet. I think the two OHs, or at least skinners ability to score on broken plays is gonna be the big factor for texas, as well as swindle obviously
|
|
|
Post by hornshouse23 on Feb 6, 2023 13:51:53 GMT -5
Plus if ALL else fails in the middle, Molly could always find her way back there to shore things up. OMG stop trying to make Fetch happen I will die on the hill that Molly will start somewhere. Have you seen her bump set? If swindle isn’t cutting it, I’ll advocate for setter Molly do not test me.
|
|
|
Post by texashorns on Feb 7, 2023 8:55:02 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by mln59 on Feb 7, 2023 9:05:44 GMT -5
that seems like a ton of matches
|
|
|
Post by mln59 on Feb 7, 2023 9:25:15 GMT -5
is there going to be spring volleyball? or just beach?
|
|
|
Post by stevehorn on Feb 7, 2023 10:09:02 GMT -5
is there going to be spring volleyball? or just beach? I would assume there will be spring volleyball since the schedule ends in late March while most beach teams continue on in April with conference play. IIRC April is when we typically play spring games.
|
|