Minnesota Golden Gophers 2024

[gopherhim]

Oct 27, 2024 18:15:08 GMT -5 JT said:

Oct 27, 2024 18:06:22 GMT -5 gopherhim said:

I have enjoyed when Meredith Nelson-Uram has been paired with a student doing play-by-play for Minnesota's B1G+ matches. The student gets experience but there's someone there to deftly right the ship when D balls start getting called slides (she's done that lol). She's really great on the mic for someone who studied business and works at General Mills. So happy she's gotten some BTN matches now too!

Agreed. Nellie is a *great* color / analysis person, and good at gently correcting the less knowledgeable.

This has me thinking... since you're at the vast majority of home games, you don't see our home broadcasts/streams live with us plebes. Do you rewatch most home games even though you saw them in person? Or just the ones you could stomach seeing again? lol

[comet]

Oct 27, 2024 18:21:48 GMT -5 skolgophers said:

Kind of annoyed with posters saying fans shouldn’t be so quick to judge the play of the gophers after one or two sets. This team is soooo much better than sets 1 and 2 today and it should never have gone to 5. Did they turn things around? Yes, absolutely. But those first two sets were hard to watch as a fan. I’m still having a really hard time with the justification of keeping Wucherer in the backrow. She is clearly battling an injury and it has never been her strong suit. Acevedo has done the job just fine. Good? No. But better? Yes. Some head-scratching coaching decisions but they pulled out the win. Onward.

I came into the game thread at the end of set 2 and it was pretty jarring to read, not gonna lie. I get it, it was an emotional rollercoaster. The calls to fire Cook and his staff and saying all the things about the players were pretty harsh though. Also, I get it, you're all in the moment and the moment was rough.

Someone once told me (and it still sticks with me) that not every thought you have in your head needs to be said on here.  I'm not always great at it, but I do pause more before I post. Just something to consider. 

I'm proud of the Gophs for pulling this one out. They were in the weeds and were able to pull themselves out. It helps that tOSU kind of flopped but I like to think we had something to do with some of the flopping. tOSU has shown they can push ranked teams (see PSU) so it's not just us. That helps me a little.

[JT]

Oct 27, 2024 18:41:52 GMT -5 gopherhim said:

Oct 27, 2024 18:15:08 GMT -5 JT said:

Agreed. Nellie is a *great* color / analysis person, and good at gently correcting the less knowledgeable.

This has me thinking... since you're at the vast majority of home games, you don't see our home broadcasts/streams live with us plebes. Do you rewatch most home games even though you saw them in person? Or just the ones you could stomach seeing again? lol

I watch most of our home wins twice — once live, and once afterwards to confirm it.

[gopherhim]

I have been really impressed with Wucherer's blocking this year. The eye test has been telling me it has leveled up. Landfair's blocking stepped up last year as well I thought. Some credit is due to the coaching I'd say. The Hugh era had some strong blocking teams and I think Keegan Cook coaches blocking well too. In multiple interviews/pressers, Phoebe has given shoutouts to her pins for helping to set the block for her to get to. That's what my eye test is seeing—Wucherer lining up well with hitters to get the block herself or make it easier for Awoleye/Minatee to.

Hard to look at numbers to confirm the eye test since NCAA stats credit both blockers with block assists in a double block. International style stats assign to whoever actually blocked the ball. Phoebe blocks a lot of balls, but I think Mckenna has had her share.

2022 45 blocks in 71 sets (.63 bps blocking next to a carousel of Husemann, Davis, Gros, and Booth)
2023 34 blocks in 109 sets (.31 bps blocking next to Awoleye and Davis mostly)
2024 37 blocks 47 sets (.79 bps blocking next to Awoleye and Minatee mostly)

[eskerjaz]

Oct 27, 2024 19:18:51 GMT -5 gopherhim said:

I have been really impressed with Wucherer's blocking this year. The eye test has been telling me it has leveled up. Landfair's blocking stepped up last year as well I thought. Some credit is due to the coaching I'd say. The Hugh era had some strong blocking teams and I think Keegan Cook coaches blocking well too. In multiple interviews/pressers, Phoebe has given shoutouts to her pins for helping to set the block for her to get to. That's what my eye test is seeing—Wucherer lining up well with hitters to get the block herself or make it easier for Awoleye/Minatee to.

Hard to look at numbers to confirm the eye test since NCAA stats credit both blockers with block assists in a double block. International style stats assign to whoever actually blocked the ball. Phoebe blocks a lot of balls, but I think Mckenna has had her share.

2022 45 blocks in 71 sets (.63 bps blocking next to a carousel of Husemann, Davis, Gros, and Booth)
2023 34 blocks in 109 sets (.31 bps blocking next to Awoleye and Davis mostly)
2024 37 blocks 47 sets (.79 bps blocking next to Awoleye and Minatee mostly)

I feel seen with that comment. It's nice knowing where to close. Wuch places herself well. I say this as a voluntold middle who is usually paired with pins + setters who won't go up because they claim they "don't get blocks anyway" (my knees hate this, in particular). 

I can see that being a factor for keeping Wuch front row even through a struggle. 

Really impressive valley when bookended by the '22 and '24 stats.

[pavsec5row10]

Updated Serving Stats through today's match: 

Player	ATT	Pts Won	Pts Lost	Pct	Ace	SE	K	HE	Blk	Opp K	Opp E
Chloe Ng	27	18	9	.667	3	4	8	0	1	5	6
Alex Acevedo	253	138	115	.545	16	14	62	14	28	86	31
Lydia Grote	244	122	122	.500	19	29	64	20	16	73	23
Melani Shaffmaster	297	142	155	.478	20	23	60	15	35	117	26
Julia Hanson	250	119	131	.476	20	26	54	21	16	85	28
Elise McGhie	168	76	92	.452	9	5	28	13	15	74	24
Zeynep Palabiyik	262	114	148	.435	9	18	51	20	27	113	23
Skylar Gray	58	24	34	.414	7	11	6	1	4	24	5
Mckenna Wucherer	49	20	29	.408	5	16	7	0	1	13	8
Kate Thibault	23	9	14	.391	0	6	2	1	3	8	3
Lauren Crowl	59	17	42	.288	5	5	6	5	1	32	5
Calissa Minatee	18	4	14	.222	1	4	0	3	0	7	3
TOTALS	1,708	803	905	.470	114	161	348	113	147	637	185

[ndodge]

Oct 27, 2024 14:47:45 GMT -5 sptimes2 said:

Wow, what a resilient win today! Thru 2 sets, I saw very little sign of life, and was resolved that we were going to take the loss. OSU is a hard team to figure out - I was worried about this match, based upon recent history with them as well as their near upsets of PSU and was it Purdue?

Side note - why is it so hard to get announcers who know the game? Arguably, you're not going to have many casual viewers on B1G+, and we were subjected to announcers who don't really know the game or terminology. They lauded Keegan for his defensive adjustment of rotating Phoebe in to the front row. I watched the rest of the match on mute.

I’d be fine if they had a student announcer doing play by play if they would pair them with say a former player. It’s usually the second guy droning on that makes me hit mute.

[jeepers]

Oct 28, 2024 0:46:33 GMT -5 ndodge said:

Oct 27, 2024 14:47:45 GMT -5 sptimes2 said:

Wow, what a resilient win today! Thru 2 sets, I saw very little sign of life, and was resolved that we were going to take the loss. OSU is a hard team to figure out - I was worried about this match, based upon recent history with them as well as their near upsets of PSU and was it Purdue?

Side note - why is it so hard to get announcers who know the game? Arguably, you're not going to have many casual viewers on B1G+, and we were subjected to announcers who don't really know the game or terminology. They lauded Keegan for his defensive adjustment of rotating Phoebe in to the front row. I watched the rest of the match on mute.

I’d be fine if they had a student announcer doing play by play if they would pair them with say a former player. It’s usually the second guy droning on that makes me hit mute.

The bigger problem I have is that all announcers now feel the need to fill every second of air time with their nonsense. This isn't a student problem, ESPN seems to have lead the charge here over the last 20 years. That's why we end up hearing about coffee orders during a volleyball match.

If there's nothing to say, don't say anything!

[pckeys]

Emily Ehman drives me crazy with her nonstop motormouth approach to color commentary, Being a former player, she knows the game but her constant chatter just drives me up a wall.
Regarding this match, not surprising to see the Buckeyes start fast and then fade out in the latter stages of the game. Looked similar to their performance against Penn State. This felt like a trap game, glad the Gophers were able to come back and get the win,

[comet]

This could be a tricky week with MSU and Michigan. MSU has not had a good season but just upset USC last week. Haven't watched them so not sure their level of play, maybe USC just had a bad night.

Michigan is going to be looking for a big win this week playing both PSU and us. I'm hoping they pull out the upset against PSU so they won't feel the extra drive against us.😉

I feel another 5-setter coming up...

[douglass9]

I remember a Michigan softball announcer calling a player out stealing when it was the front half of a double play attempt.

If there's nothing to say, don't say anything! At all levels. Just shut up.

[JT]

Oct 28, 2024 5:15:32 GMT -5 jeepers said:

Oct 28, 2024 0:46:33 GMT -5 ndodge said:

I’d be fine if they had a student announcer doing play by play if they would pair them with say a former player. It’s usually the second guy droning on that makes me hit mute.

The bigger problem I have is that all announcers now feel the need to fill every second of air time with their nonsense. This isn't a student problem, ESPN seems to have lead the charge here over the last 20 years. That's why we end up hearing about coffee orders during a volleyball match.

If there's nothing to say, don't say anything!

Watched a Tommies match (vs ORU) on the Summit League network. Older guy announcing (loooong ago former student), who went into a long, involved story about traveling with the MBB(!) team back in the late 80s, and dealing with getting out to a restaurant in upstate NY during a huge snowstorm (which is how he found out he likes sushi, btw).
It took a set and a half to tell the tale!

[BigDigEnergy]

Hanson got her first Big Ten Player of the Week award! So well deserved. The last Gophers won this award was Landfair on Nov 28th 2022.

http://instagram.com/p/DBrcO4VSDIP

[comet]

Oct 28, 2024 14:02:08 GMT -5 BigDigEnergy said:

Hanson got her first Big Ten Player of the Week award! So well deserved. The last Gophers won this award was Landfair on Nov 28th 2022.

http://instagram.com/p/DBrcO4VSDIP

Wow! That's a long drought. Way to go Julia!!

[gopherhim]

Woohoo! Sky’s the limit (and maybe not even that)

Also, random but I love that whoever runs the Instagram page for the UMN Volley Squad (the ball kids at home games) often comments on volleyball posts that aren’t even about the Gophers. We love our volleyball here in Minnesota!