Minnesota Golden Gophers 2024

[vonner]

Great weekend for the Gophers. Did what they needed to do. The competition steps up this week. Big opportunity. Take it.

[clob]

Yeah, totally agree. They made it out of Michigan intact. That's great.

I have a feeling that the Washington/Oregon games next weekend might be a bellwether for how the rest of the season may go...

[pavsec5row10]

Nov 3, 2024 18:09:15 GMT -5 comet said:

Next week will be a good test against Washington and Oregon.

I'm really glad we're playing them at home.

They really need both of these to be Wins if they want to get into the hosting picture. 

[volleysota]

Nov 3, 2024 20:07:54 GMT -5 gopherfan8 said:

Been thinking about the drop of Palabiyik from the start of the season to now. She seems to have been out of position a lot lately, and her numbers have dropped a good bit as well. Can’t remember which game but she had a seemingly low number of digs I almost thought the stats were wrong. Any thoughts/studies on this?

I plopped this into the game thread a little while ago

The question was asked if something is up with Z lately. I'm not sure if it's a Z issue or a scheme issue, but she has trouble getting to balls hit by the outside hitter that are more cut than cross (As in they're sharp crosses that are headed more toward the attack line than the back line). On those plays she's setting up to dig the deep cross and leaving that hard angle open. I saw it a lot in the first set, and there are other games where teams who could hit that saw success.



From what I saw, the block wasn't setting up to take away line, but to take away the cross. In that case, I'd expect Z to swing wide and take that hard angle away. By swing wide, I mean change her position to cover more of that angle closer to the line instead of hanging further back. I remember getting told to swing wide on defense a LOT at tournaments as a libero, a hard habit for me to break since I was used to covering deep cross.



Is it possible she's shading back more to cover our back row OH who are not the best defensively? Perhaps. I get the impression Z is weaker digging to her left than right, so it would make sense to have her swing wide and go to her right to get the dig on a deep cross if needed. Then again, it may be a system issue, where she's being told to cover that spot in the defense and the lack of results isn't necessarily her fault. Just some food for thought.

[gopherfan8]

Nov 3, 2024 20:27:27 GMT -5 volleysota said:

Nov 3, 2024 20:07:54 GMT -5 gopherfan8 said:

Been thinking about the drop of Palabiyik from the start of the season to now. She seems to have been out of position a lot lately, and her numbers have dropped a good bit as well. Can’t remember which game but she had a seemingly low number of digs I almost thought the stats were wrong. Any thoughts/studies on this?

I plopped this into the game thread a little while ago

The question was asked if something is up with Z lately. I'm not sure if it's a Z issue or a scheme issue, but she has trouble getting to balls hit by the outside hitter that are more cut than cross (As in they're sharp crosses that are headed more toward the attack line than the back line). On those plays she's setting up to dig the deep cross and leaving that hard angle open. I saw it a lot in the first set, and there are other games where teams who could hit that saw success.



From what I saw, the block wasn't setting up to take away line, but to take away the cross. In that case, I'd expect Z to swing wide and take that hard angle away. By swing wide, I mean change her position to cover more of that angle closer to the line instead of hanging further back. I remember getting told to swing wide on defense a LOT at tournaments as a libero, a hard habit for me to break since I was used to covering deep cross.



Is it possible she's shading back more to cover our back row OH who are not the best defensively? Perhaps. I get the impression Z is weaker digging to her left than right, so it would make sense to have her swing wide and go to her right to get the dig on a deep cross if needed. Then again, it may be a system issue, where she's being told to cover that spot in the defense and the lack of results isn't necessarily her fault. Just some food for thought.

good insights!!

[braceminn]

Nov 3, 2024 20:15:40 GMT -5 clob said:

Yeah, totally agree. They made it out of Michigan intact. That's great.

I have a feeling that the Washington/Oregon games next weekend might be a bellwether for how the rest of the season may go...

I hope we have a good crowd.

[BigDigEnergy]

Nov 3, 2024 21:37:39 GMT -5 braceminn said:

Nov 3, 2024 20:15:40 GMT -5 clob said:

Yeah, totally agree. They made it out of Michigan intact. That's great.

I have a feeling that the Washington/Oregon games next weekend might be a bellwether for how the rest of the season may go...

I hope we have a good crowd.

The Oregon match is already sold out. I think UDub one is pretty close to be sold out too. It will be a fun week!

[JT]

Thursday's match thread:
Minnesota vs Washington | Thu, Nov 07 - 7:00pm CT (5:00pm PT) | BTN+

[volleysota]

I know it's not exactly Gopher related, but if any of you still get on the court, there is a coed tourney next weekend in the Twin Cities that can take a couple more teams. It's the Pumpkin Spice Volley and it takes place November 9th and 10th (Yes it means you'd miss the Oregon game, but hey maybe they'll have it on at the tourney?)

www.facebook.com/events/493373636876356

Tangential Gopher volleyball connection: Looking at the rosters, it appears there may be one former Gopher (and one former Hawkeye) playing, as well as a couple of players on Gophers club teams... So it is still on topic barely!

[douglass9]

Some interesting reports on our future recruits on future of Minnesota volley talk.

volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/75349/future-minnesota?page=138

[comet]

Our current RPI is 27. We have 2 Top 25 wins, and 4 Top 50 wins.

It would be great if we could pick up one more Top 25 win (Oregon, Nebraska, or Wisconsin). Oregon is our best bet.

If we beat Oregon, Washington, and Illinois we'd add 3 more Top 50 wins.

+1 more if Michigan can stay in the Top 50 (they are #50 right now 🤞).

Will we host if we stay where we are in RPI or will someone else grab that spot? Like someone else mentioned, this weekend could be a big upgrade to our RPI if we can pull off two wins.

Oregon has a really tough road trip with @ Nebraska on Thursday then @ Minnesota on Saturday. Will travel fatigue be a factor? Will Oregon get beat down at Nebraska and come out swinging against us? Or will Oregon get the upset and not have as much left in the tank?

[mnsports255]

This is the by far the most important week the rest of the season (pre-NCAAs) for the Gophers. For all intents and purposes I’m chalking @wisconsin and @nebraska as losses. Just being realistic here. Home vs Michigan and @ Illinois are the other 2 important games remaining on the calendar but they take place on separate weeks.

So for this weekend:

2 wins- Strong likelihood to get a seed + host, and, maybe move into position to contend for a 3 seed

1 win- Status doesn’t change much. Still have an ok chance to host

Skunked- Forget about hosting / grabbing a top 4 regional seed

[photos1]

Nov 4, 2024 12:48:58 GMT -5 comet said:

Our current RPI is 27. We have 2 Top 25 wins, and 4 Top 50 wins.

It would be great if we could pick up one more Top 25 win (Oregon, Nebraska, or Wisconsin). Oregon is our best bet.

If we beat Oregon, Washington, and Illinois we'd add 3 more Top 50 wins.

+1 more if Michigan can stay in the Top 50 (they are #50 right now 🤞).

Will we host if we stay where we are in RPI or will someone else grab that spot? Like someone else mentioned, this weekend could be a big upgrade to our RPI if we can pull off two wins.

Oregon has a really tough road trip with @ Nebraska on Thursday then @ Minnesota on Saturday. Will travel fatigue be a factor? Will Oregon get beat down at Nebraska and come out swinging against us? Or will Oregon get the upset and not have as much left in the tank?

Nebraska is planning on traveling to Oregon this Thursday. . . So I doubt Oregon will be travel tired going into the match… 🏐

[comet]

Nov 4, 2024 13:00:41 GMT -5 photos1 said:

Nov 4, 2024 12:48:58 GMT -5 comet said:

Our current RPI is 27. We have 2 Top 25 wins, and 4 Top 50 wins.

It would be great if we could pick up one more Top 25 win (Oregon, Nebraska, or Wisconsin). Oregon is our best bet.

If we beat Oregon, Washington, and Illinois we'd add 3 more Top 50 wins.

+1 more if Michigan can stay in the Top 50 (they are #50 right now 🤞).

Will we host if we stay where we are in RPI or will someone else grab that spot? Like someone else mentioned, this weekend could be a big upgrade to our RPI if we can pull off two wins.

Oregon has a really tough road trip with @ Nebraska on Thursday then @ Minnesota on Saturday. Will travel fatigue be a factor? Will Oregon get beat down at Nebraska and come out swinging against us? Or will Oregon get the upset and not have as much left in the tank?

Nebraska is planning on traveling to Oregon this Thursday. . . So I doubt Oregon will be travel tired going into the match… 🏐

thanks for the correction, I must have read that wrong.

[douglass9]

As of the 2024 season, 346 of the 364 Division I member institutions sponsor women's volleyball. A lot more than I thought. So to be a top 16 and host makes you a very good team. Our standard is much higher and to struggle to make the 16 feels like a disappointment. Last year we struggled to make the tournament. So this year is a little improvement. Not only should we win this week, but also we should beat Wisconsin again. If we are a top 16 we need to play like it. I'm not sure we are. Wouldn't surprise me if we get Creighton again.