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Post by widdledumpling on Dec 15, 2023 1:33:16 GMT -5
Halter said not on me Crawford! NO ON HALTER NEVER ON HALTER |
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Post by nellynel on Dec 15, 2023 1:37:36 GMT -5
How in the world did Texas beat Wisconsin with Skinner hitting zero? Come on Holiday, ask for help if you can’t read a stat sheet. Or if you can’t read in general. |
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Post by Kingsley on Dec 15, 2023 1:41:57 GMT -5
I was trying to recall sets in the semifinal round more lopsided than 25-13 in at least the 2008-present block, and I checked on a few.
- 15-2 was last year. Oof. I had almost repressed that one. And I was there.
- Washington had that dismal Final Four in Seattle against Penn State. One of those sets was also -13.
- Nothing beats the nutso 2012 national semifinal between Texas and Michigan. Texas won -11 in Set 1 and -12 in Set 4 to force a fifth.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Dec 15, 2023 1:42:22 GMT -5
Whoa.
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Post by slxpress on Dec 15, 2023 1:52:57 GMT -5
My hope for Sunday isn't this team or that team winning. What I hope is that that version of Texas shows up, and we get to see how Nebraska handles it. That is something I'd like to see. No idea who wins if that happens, but it'd be entertaining as hell. The biggest difference was the defense. I expected it to be really good before the year began, and it just hasn't been. But once the tournament came around the back row defense has been lights out. They still stepped it up to another level versus Wisconsin - especially covers - but it isn't the same kind of delta it is compared to the regular season. Outside of that, Texas has been a tough serving team. Even tougher as the season has winded down. Wisconsin has not been a great serve receive team. They know it. They rely scoring out of system. That happened some, but not nearly enough. Wenaas had a really good first set, which ended up making a huge difference in the match, but she still played pretty much like she has all year. The 4th set in particular looked very familiar to me. But O'Neal is deadly. Skinner is practically indefensible out of the back row, and has been all year. Phillips is decent as a sort of off speed pitch. The big thing in the 3rd and 4th sets is they locked in with Skinner's serve rotation and simply couldn't get out. Then the hole was too big to climb out of. I was very impressed with Texas' ability to win nearly all the long rallies. I felt like that was a big key. I enjoyed watching Wisconsin play all year. When at their best, I felt like they were the most complete team in the country. But they still had weaknesses, and unfortunately for Badger fans, Texas was able to successfully exploit them. And as awesome as both Franklin and Smrek are, and Booth, and many of the other players on the roster, I feel like Skinner and O'Neal are consistently the two best players on the court whoever the opponent is. Losses suck. Congrats to Wisconsin for another Final Four trip and ultimately a successful season, but it doesn't matter when the team falls short, it's still a huge bummer. As a Texas fan I look forward to facing one of the premier programs in college volleyball next year in non conference. Hopefully it's the beginning of a long series. |
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Post by slxpress on Dec 15, 2023 1:53:55 GMT -5
I was trying to recall sets in the semifinal round more lopsided than 25-13 in at least the 2008-present block, and I checked on a few. - 15-2 was last year. Oof. I had almost repressed that one. And I was there. - Washington had that dismal Final Four in Seattle against Penn State. One of those sets was also -13. - Nothing beats the nutso 2012 national semifinal between Texas and Michigan. Texas won -11 in Set 1 and -12 in Set 4 to force a fifth. At one point the set was at 17-4. |
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Post by VT Karen on Dec 15, 2023 1:56:59 GMT -5
How about those Longhorns?!
What a team effort to topple a Wisconsin team that really didn't want the smoke.
Congrats to the Badgers for a great season.
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Post by robtearle on Dec 15, 2023 2:02:30 GMT -5
My hope for Sunday isn't this team or that team winning. What I hope is that that version of Texas shows up, and we get to see how Nebraska handles it. That is something I'd like to see. No idea who wins if that happens, but it'd be entertaining as hell. The biggest difference was the defense. I expected it to be really good before the year began, and it just hasn't been. But once the tournament came around the back row defense has been lights out. They still stepped it up to another level versus Wisconsin - especially covers - but it isn't the same kind of delta it is compared to the regular season. Outside of that, Texas has been a tough serving team. Even tougher as the season has winded down. Wisconsin has not been a great serve receive team. They know it. They rely scoring out of system. That happened some, but not nearly enough. Wenaas had a really good first set, which ended up making a huge difference in the match, but she still played pretty much like she has all year. The 4th set in particular looked very familiar to me. But O'Neal is deadly. Skinner is practically indefensible out of the back row, and has been all year. Phillips is decent as a sort of off speed pitch. The big thing in the 3rd and 4th sets is they locked in with Skinner's serve rotation and simply couldn't get out. Then the hole was too big to climb out of. I was very impressed with Texas' ability to win nearly all the long rallies. I felt like that was a big key. I enjoyed watching Wisconsin play all year. When at their best, I felt like they were the most complete team in the country. But they still had weaknesses, and unfortunately for Badger fans, Texas was able to successfully exploit them. And as awesome as both Franklin and Smrek are, and Booth, and many of the other players on the roster, I feel like Skinner and O'Neal are consistently the two best players on the court whoever the opponent is. Losses suck. Congrats to Wisconsin for another Final Four trip and ultimately a successful season, but it doesn't matter when the team falls short, it's still a huge bummer. As a Texas fan I look forward to facing one of the premier programs in college volleyball next year in non conference. Hopefully it's the beginning of a long series. Texas was great tonight. Spectacular. But one more point the wrong way vs Tennessee and Texas disappointingly bombed out in the round of 16. We treat the tournament as this definitive thing, and it is really quite capricious and haphazard. (And that goes for Wisconsin and 2021, too. One more point at the end of the second set, and Nebraska wins that championship.) |
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Post by VT Karen on Dec 15, 2023 2:10:22 GMT -5
Halter played one of the best recent games I've seen from a libero in the final four. She looked so locked in and effortless at times.
Her platform was sturdy and the angles she chose on serve receive and floor defense were perfect! The Longhorn back row is secure with her.
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Post by rtael on Dec 15, 2023 2:36:06 GMT -5
God Dayum, Tejas! I weren't expecting that, even after Stanford. Skinner was phenomenal, and even when she was a bit a cool in the first two sets Wenaas and Phillips were there.
Nebraska better watch out, this is what HOT looks like.
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Post by vbcoltrane on Dec 15, 2023 2:50:01 GMT -5
The biggest difference was the defense. I expected it to be really good before the year began, and it just hasn't been. But once the tournament came around the back row defense has been lights out. They still stepped it up to another level versus Wisconsin - especially covers - but it isn't the same kind of delta it is compared to the regular season. Outside of that, Texas has been a tough serving team. Even tougher as the season has winded down. Wisconsin has not been a great serve receive team. They know it. They rely scoring out of system. That happened some, but not nearly enough. Wenaas had a really good first set, which ended up making a huge difference in the match, but she still played pretty much like she has all year. The 4th set in particular looked very familiar to me. But O'Neal is deadly. Skinner is practically indefensible out of the back row, and has been all year. Phillips is decent as a sort of off speed pitch. The big thing in the 3rd and 4th sets is they locked in with Skinner's serve rotation and simply couldn't get out. Then the hole was too big to climb out of. I was very impressed with Texas' ability to win nearly all the long rallies. I felt like that was a big key. I enjoyed watching Wisconsin play all year. When at their best, I felt like they were the most complete team in the country. But they still had weaknesses, and unfortunately for Badger fans, Texas was able to successfully exploit them. And as awesome as both Franklin and Smrek are, and Booth, and many of the other players on the roster, I feel like Skinner and O'Neal are consistently the two best players on the court whoever the opponent is. Losses suck. Congrats to Wisconsin for another Final Four trip and ultimately a successful season, but it doesn't matter when the team falls short, it's still a huge bummer. As a Texas fan I look forward to facing one of the premier programs in college volleyball next year in non conference. Hopefully it's the beginning of a long series. Texas was great tonight. Spectacular. But one more point the wrong way vs Tennessee and Texas disappointingly bombed out in the round of 16. We treat the tournament as this definitive thing, and it is really quite capricious and haphazard.
(And that goes for Wisconsin and 2021, too. One more point at the end of the second set, and Nebraska wins that championship.) The tournament is an incredibly definitive thing, but sometimes not the definitive thing people want it to be. The tournament (obviously) definitively determines the tournament champion, which is an amazing and much-sought-after achievement. That's it. That's what it's for; that's what it does. The trophies say "tournament champion" not "best overall team 2023." The tournament doesn't definitively determine which team is "best overall" - though on many occasions the "best overall" and tournament champion have been the same. People seem to get so stressed or frustrated by this dichotomy, especially if they feel their team is better overall than the tournament champion. But that's an unavoidable situation in light of a single elimination format - it's bound to happen intermittently.
I think possibly hardcore fans get frustrated if they think their team is "better overall" but doesn't win the tournament because casual fans and observers really don't care (just throwing theories out there). The tournament winner is what gets attention and the great seasons of non-winning teams don't get the same attention. Maybe on a hardcore fan site like VT, but not many other places.
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Post by slxpress on Dec 15, 2023 3:02:54 GMT -5
Texas was great tonight. Spectacular. But one more point the wrong way vs Tennessee and Texas disappointingly bombed out in the round of 16. We treat the tournament as this definitive thing, and it is really quite capricious and haphazard.
(And that goes for Wisconsin and 2021, too. One more point at the end of the second set, and Nebraska wins that championship.) The tournament is an incredibly definitive thing, but sometimes not the definitive thing people want it to be. The tournament (obviously) definitively determines the tournament champion, which is an amazing and much-sought-after achievement. That's it. That's what it's for; that's what it does. The trophies say "tournament champion" not "best overall team 2023." The tournament doesn't definitively determine which team is "best overall" - though on many occasions the "best overall" and tournament champion have been the same. People seem to get so stressed or frustrated by this dichotomy, especially if they feel their team is better overall than the tournament champion. But that's an unavoidable situation in light of a single elimination format - it's bound to happen intermittently.
I think possibly hardcore fans get frustrated if they think their team is "better overall" but doesn't win the tournament because casual fans and observers really don't care (just throwing theories out there). The tournament winner is what gets attention and the great seasons of non-winning teams don't get the same attention. Maybe on a hardcore fan site like VT, but not many other places.
I haven't noticed fans caring that much if their team was the best overall team if they didn't win the championship. That sounds stupid. |
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Post by vbcoltrane on Dec 15, 2023 3:09:49 GMT -5
The tournament is an incredibly definitive thing, but sometimes not the definitive thing people want it to be. The tournament (obviously) definitively determines the tournament champion, which is an amazing and much-sought-after achievement. That's it. That's what it's for; that's what it does. The trophies say "tournament champion" not "best overall team 2023." The tournament doesn't definitively determine which team is "best overall" - though on many occasions the "best overall" and tournament champion have been the same. People seem to get so stressed or frustrated by this dichotomy, especially if they feel their team is better overall than the tournament champion. But that's an unavoidable situation in light of a single elimination format - it's bound to happen intermittently.
I think possibly hardcore fans get frustrated if they think their team is "better overall" but doesn't win the tournament because casual fans and observers really don't care (just throwing theories out there). The tournament winner is what gets attention and the great seasons of non-winning teams don't get the same attention. Maybe on a hardcore fan site like VT, but not many other places.
I haven't noticed fans caring that much if their team was the best overall team if they didn't win the championship. That sounds stupid. I certainly wouldn't but I do see some hand wringing and pontificating after the tournament in some years (not all by any means, but occasionally) where people feel the need to stress that "Team A was 'better' than Team B, even if Team B won the tournament." Maybe it's just a natural reaction to disappointment.
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Post by JJVb on Dec 15, 2023 3:26:15 GMT -5
The only lead that Texas will have just occured. Up 1-0.  Oh you are trying to call my BS huh. Someone already did that at 3-2 in the first, and I said my post didn't age well lol |
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Post by rtael on Dec 15, 2023 3:41:09 GMT -5
The tournament is an incredibly definitive thing, but sometimes not the definitive thing people want it to be. The tournament (obviously) definitively determines the tournament champion, which is an amazing and much-sought-after achievement. That's it. That's what it's for; that's what it does. The trophies say "tournament champion" not "best overall team 2023." The tournament doesn't definitively determine which team is "best overall" - though on many occasions the "best overall" and tournament champion have been the same. People seem to get so stressed or frustrated by this dichotomy, especially if they feel their team is better overall than the tournament champion. But that's an unavoidable situation in light of a single elimination format - it's bound to happen intermittently.
I think possibly hardcore fans get frustrated if they think their team is "better overall" but doesn't win the tournament because casual fans and observers really don't care (just throwing theories out there). The tournament winner is what gets attention and the great seasons of non-winning teams don't get the same attention. Maybe on a hardcore fan site like VT, but not many other places.
I haven't noticed fans caring that much if their team was the best overall team if they didn't win the championship. That sounds stupid. Lemming. |
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