Kansas 2023

[buttery]

Guess I’ll just have to be ok with Bien DSing for Cooper? 😵‍💫. I wouldn’t say Elnady’s serve receive has been particularly convincing.

[basil]

Aug 25, 2023 15:28:07 GMT -5 buttery said:

Guess I’ll just have to be ok with Bien DSing for Cooper? 😵‍💫. I wouldn’t say Elnady’s serve receive has been particularly convincing.

with the way Bien was hitting last year...it might be worth it

[friendlybanter]

Bien has to be hurt at least slightly. She is too valuable to not be playing all the time. KU’s passing without Bien OR Farris is hard to watch. They are passing with two Elnady and freshman Burns. Not a recipe for success.

[buttery]

Aug 25, 2023 15:58:57 GMT -5 friendlybanter said:

Bien has to be hurt at least slightly. She is too valuable to not be playing all the time. KU’s passing without Bien OR Farris is hard to watch. They are passing with two Elnady and freshman Burns. Not a recipe for success.

To be fair Burn’s has looked very very solid. But yes totally agree that even from a ball control perspective, having Bien in all rotations is ideal.

It’d be pretty bold of Bechard to front row sub a former All-American HM and a consistent call-up to USAV youth training teams.

Anyway, they looked good - middles seem to have fit right in and Turner is running a good show.

[bluepenquin]

Very good start - team looked great.

Concern: health of Dalton is a huge deal. They do not have a backup setter option that I am aware of. I hope she is back soon. Looks like Farris also hurt - I like Farris, but I don't see this as critical. Burns is a legit libero.

Elnady - obviously a great game, just looking at the numbers. But her total all-around game allows KU to play Bien as a DS. Cooper is just going to be more terminal on the front row. Some concern with Davis on the RS - they really need to get big production from the RS.

This has the potential to be the best floor defense I have ever seen from Kansas. Burns looks like she is very good. Bien becomes an elite DS - and I wouldn't undersell that value. She is essentially Annika Albrecht - maybe more valuable. She is a threat to hit from the back row, she can continue to play the front row if they get into a substitution crunch or if they need a change of pace with Cooper - and with her and Burns in the back row - the floor defense is outstanding.

I figured Myers would be good, but I am pleasantly surprised at how good Onabanjo is.

Turner is so good on the back row with her defense - along with running the offense.

There is some real potential here. Need to terminate with this passing.

[bluepenquin]

Frustrating not being able to watch the game against Omaha (subscription required). Looks like Kansas won easily - -16,-21,-13

Reagan Cooper got off to a poor start - a couple of hitting errors - as Kansas fell behind early in the 1st set. Kansas took control and easily won the set. Cooper went off in the 2nd and 3rd sets and ended the match with 14 kills (.522). Davis with 10 kills at .391. Good to see Davis with this kind of production (she led the team in that 1st set). Kansas got little from the middles - only 4 attempts for Myers on the match (it looks like Kansas emptied the bench some in the 3rd set). Not having seen the match it is hard to tell, but that few of attempts out of the middle makes me fear that the serve receive wasn't as good as last night?

Team hit .333, so cannot complain about that.

[Steve vb]

Aug 26, 2023 20:52:09 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Frustrating not being able to watch the game against Omaha (subscription required). Looks like Kansas won easily - -16,-21,-13

Reagan Cooper got off to a poor start - a couple of hitting errors - as Kansas fell behind early in the 1st set. Kansas took control and easily won the set. Cooper went off in the 2nd and 3rd sets and ended the match with 14 kills (.522). Davis with 10 kills at .391. Good to see Davis with this kind of production (she led the team in that 1st set). Kansas got little from the middles - only 4 attempts for Myers on the match (it looks like Kansas emptied the bench some in the 3rd set). Not having seen the match it is hard to tell, but that few of attempts out of the middle makes me fear that the serve receive wasn't as good as last night?

Team hit .333, so cannot complain about that.

I was at the match. Good crowd of 2,092, including a group of about 50 Jayhawk fans.  Bien again only played as a DS.  

Each of the three sets was even at about 10 points each, then KU pulled away after that in sets 1 and 3. Set 2 was fairly close to the end.  In my opinion, the two things that impressed me most about KU were serving and KU's RS.  Omaha really struggled handling both. 

Omaha is currently a work in progress geting its libero and setter positions settled.

[bucky415]

Aug 26, 2023 23:34:43 GMT -5 Steve vb said:

Aug 26, 2023 20:52:09 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Frustrating not being able to watch the game against Omaha (subscription required). Looks like Kansas won easily - -16,-21,-13

Reagan Cooper got off to a poor start - a couple of hitting errors - as Kansas fell behind early in the 1st set. Kansas took control and easily won the set. Cooper went off in the 2nd and 3rd sets and ended the match with 14 kills (.522). Davis with 10 kills at .391. Good to see Davis with this kind of production (she led the team in that 1st set). Kansas got little from the middles - only 4 attempts for Myers on the match (it looks like Kansas emptied the bench some in the 3rd set). Not having seen the match it is hard to tell, but that few of attempts out of the middle makes me fear that the serve receive wasn't as good as last night?

Team hit .333, so cannot complain about that.

I was at the match. Good crowd of 2,092, including a group of about 50 Jayhawk fans.  Bien again only played as a DS.  

Each of the three sets was even at about 10 points each, then KU pulled away after that in sets 1 and 3. Set 2 was fairly close to the end.  In my opinion, the two things that impressed me most about KU were serving and KU's RS.  Omaha really struggled handling both. 

Omaha is currently a work in progress geting its libero and setter positions settled.

I hope Bien is back to playing front row soon, but a good win for KU given that!

[bluepenquin]

Seeing what little evidence there is to be had.

Looks like Farris was dressed yesterday. I assume she was not available to play - probably an injury, but it would appear that she is close to very close to returning. Once back to 100% - I am not convinced that she gets the job over Burns. Also, her injury could be part of the calculous for Bien as a DS? Regardless of who is the Libero, it will increase the depth and be good for the team.

It doesn't look like Dalton is as close. Pictures show her not dressed (at least not in street clothes) and with something below her knee. I hope she becomes available soon.

As long as KU is running a 5-1 (and obviously with only 1 setter right now that is the only choice) - it makes sense that Bien isn't playing the front row. Elnady is good enough to play the back row and Cooper is very good at terminating on the front row. Once Dalton gets back - I would like to see Cooper move to the RS. Farris returning could free up Bien for the front row (but I wouldn't count on this) - What ends up happening will be a mystery for now - as they are playing w/o 2 players that were being counted on for this season.

[buttery]

I too think the Dalton injury and forcing a 5-1 might be the reason we’re seeing Cooper front row and Bien back row. May just be getting her some kind of reps? It’s a nice problem to have - Kansas hasn’t had OH depth like this since maybe Rigdon/Burse/Montero (when she was healthy). It is scary though having one true setter - I can’t imagine who sets if Turner gets injured…McGehe?

Anyway, knowing Bechard, he’s not afraid to pull strings and I imagine we’ll see Bien hitting at some point this year in the front row. For now, the depth in KU “littles” is maybe historically deep. I vote Burns keeping the libero jersey - she looks as athletic on defense as Kirsch with much better serve receive. I’ve really appreciated Farris’s improvement over her 4-5 year tenure, but when the ceiling is higher with Burns. Having Bien and Kirsch as DS is something a lot of top 25 teams would envy and McGeHe/Schultz/McCarthy have shown to be solid too.

As usual, we don’t have any elite terminators, but it seems the name of the game will be to out ball control teams and this year I feel like that could actually be the case. I’m excited for the Purdue game - I imagine Horejsi will be rocking and there is legitimate potential to go 2-0 this next weekend. Could make hosting in the first and second round of NCAAs a possibility.

[Jayhawks18]

So… are none of KU home matches streamed/available on ESPN+ like previous years? Every other big 12 school has there games listed on ESPN besides KU.

[bluepenquin]

Aug 28, 2023 23:34:56 GMT -5 Jayhawks18 said:

So… are none of KU home matches streamed/available on ESPN+ like previous years? Every other big 12 school has there games listed on ESPN besides KU.

Gosh - I hope they are.  I see none of the matches on their website show a TV link - and their first match didn't have a link until the day before.  Maybe there is some delay here?

If this isn't on TV, then I assume shame on the University for not making this happen.  The contract with ESPN is the same (as far as I know).

[bluepenquin]

Aug 28, 2023 23:34:56 GMT -5 Jayhawks18 said:

So… are none of KU home matches streamed/available on ESPN+ like previous years? Every other big 12 school has there games listed on ESPN besides KU.

No link yet, but the Kansas Website added this morning the XII NOW/ESPN+ logo for each of their nonconference home games.

I am thinking the game will be on ESPN+ - but this still has me concerned that there is *some* chance it will not be televised.

[buttery]

Watched the Texas/Minnesota game last night and boy am I glad KU has a gaggle of DSs. Minnesota has essentially zero?

[bluepenquin]

Such a frustrating loss last night to Purdue. Kansas outscored Purdue and lost - a theme that is carrying over from last season and needs to stop.

Kansas had 16 more kills and 7 more digs - they hit for a higher % despite having more attacking errors (more blocks from Purdue).

I felt that KU got away from going to the middle and relied too much on their pins as the match moved along. Mykayla Myers only had 7 attempts (5 kills) - that cannot happen. London Davis after a fast start in the 1st set ended the game hitting only .200.

This is certainly a different type of team - one with great depth on the pins, and players that can terminate across the net. The floor defense is mostly outstanding - but they need to figure out a solution for however plays the back row for Davis. To me - it is much more fun to watch a team that is going to outhit and out dig the opponent. The team that wins the serve receive. If Kansas does this - they will be good and they will win.

Some things I found interesting from the game:

Reagan Burns is flat out a star. Pepperdine and Omaha avoided serving to her in the 1st two matches - only 13 attempts in 6 sets. Last night Purdue went after Burns 29 times - and she was outstanding. I think her floor defense is very good. I will try not to overstate this - she is farther along than Cassie Wait was as a freshman. We will see if she ends up being as good, but I have a ton of optimism in her.

% of Serve Receive last night:

Burns 31%
Elnady 22%
Bien 17%
Kirsch/Schultz 16%
Other 13%

That other is a very high % - Purdue did a good job of getting the ball on 'Other' - like Cooper, Onabanjo, Davis. Last night was a departure in the opponent going after Burns - Kirsch had been the biggest opponent target thus far. Bien isn't getting the targets she was getting last year - but I think a lot of that had to do with targeting her when she was in the front row.

IMO - if Farris isn't available, I would consider moving Cooper to the RS and let Burns, Bien, and Elnady do all the passing.