Kansas 2024

[buttery]

Oct 31, 2024 10:27:30 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Kenzie Dean came into the match - I think the 4th set? She had 1 attack. Who did she come in for and possible reason - seemed curious in such a close set and match.

On the plus side - Kansas did outscore Texas Tech by 14 points last night - even though this match could have very easily gone 5 sets.

And - last year they got outscored and lost to Texas Tech. Just looked back at that 5 set loss to Texas Tech last year. Reagan Cooper did Reagen Cooper things in that match (hit .444). Elnady had 14 kills - but didn't play one of the sets. Kansas beat TTU 25-14 in the 2nd set to take a 2-0 lead and then lost it after that (somewhat similar to last night with a large 1st set win). Brynn Williams was fantastic last night - not so much 1 year ago.

I watched the match and believe that is a mistake. Swanson went in for Bien at the end of the 4th. I replayed the match just now and looked to see if maybe Bechard put in Dean/Swanson to start the set so that he could put Bien/Elnady where he wanted (they almost never do this, but figured that was where I could’ve missed it), but this wasn’t the case.

[bluepenquin]

Nov 1, 2024 17:18:50 GMT -5 buttery said:

Oct 31, 2024 10:27:30 GMT -5 bluepenquin said:

Kenzie Dean came into the match - I think the 4th set? She had 1 attack. Who did she come in for and possible reason - seemed curious in such a close set and match.

On the plus side - Kansas did outscore Texas Tech by 14 points last night - even though this match could have very easily gone 5 sets.

And - last year they got outscored and lost to Texas Tech. Just looked back at that 5 set loss to Texas Tech last year. Reagan Cooper did Reagen Cooper things in that match (hit .444). Elnady had 14 kills - but didn't play one of the sets. Kansas beat TTU 25-14 in the 2nd set to take a 2-0 lead and then lost it after that (somewhat similar to last night with a large 1st set win). Brynn Williams was fantastic last night - not so much 1 year ago.

I watched the match and believe that is a mistake. Swanson went in for Bien at the end of the 4th. I replayed the match just now and looked to see if maybe Bechard put in Dean/Swanson to start the set so that he could put Bien/Elnady where he wanted (they almost never do this, but figured that was where I could’ve missed it), but this wasn’t the case.

I followed loosely from statcast - and it showed Dean coming in the middle of the 4th set.  I did watch the last two sets while doing something else the next morning and didn't notice her coming in.

Mistake sounds correct.  

[buttery]

Easy win for Kansas over WVU. We need to stop getting injured at the net - Davis came down on a WVU foot in set 1 - she looks fine though and I think they just left her out for precautionary reasons and there was no reason to come in. Schneider played well at RS.

Swanson mostly played front row for Bien and hit well today, and Elnady seems back to her form at the beginning of the year and has stepped it up defensively as she recorded a double-double. It’s been really nice to have Swanson as an option as I’m sure that defensive scouting report looks different compared to Bien/Elnady and opponents have no idea who they can be facing in any given set, or even any given rotation.

McCarthy gets the nod again at DS in set 2 and 3 over McGehe and I thought she generally played and passed pretty well. The depth of this team has really showed in this monotonous first 2/3 of Big 12 play.

[bluepenquin]

Here are some thoughts on where I think Kansas is after the disappointing sweep in the state of Arizona this week.

Kansas Pablo rating was #10 going into the week. Arizona State is a very good team (Pablo thinks a bit better than Kansas) - and Kansas scored 4 less points on the road. This would not be inconsistent with where Pablo had Kansas ranked. Arizona is more problematic - a 5-set loss to the #43 scoring 4 less points. Watching that match - I just believe that was a very good performance by Arizona (and a great one by Wilson). I am just not sure that what we thought of Kansas before should be different than now after losing 2 straight.

The concern - there has been a noticeable reduction in the production coming from MB. Onabanjo really hasn't been the same since her injury against Kansas State. Her having to be helped off the court in the 5th set on Friday - where the video really didn't show anything unusual on her landing - followed by her returning back to the court later in the set - makes me think she is playing through pain and is the cause for a reduction in production (pure speculation). And the Patacek. She is getting stuffed block on the slide at a very high rate. It makes me think that teams have seen something on tape - that obviously wasn't there when she first started playing (again pure speculation). If so - she and Kansas will need to make an adjustment. For me - I would like to see less slides and more quicks in the middle (like the Aiona kill in that 5th set). Also run play sets off the slide with Davis running a 2. Back in the day - Kansas would run a slide with Jarmac while Albers stayed on the right side - having two attackers on the backside of the setter and making it more difficult to block.

As for RPI. Futures is still in the #10-11 range (while actual RPI has slipped to #16). This is with Kansas losing one more match. Their RPI SOS will continue to improve with their remaining matches. It would be nice (important) for Kansas to take care of their business this week against TCU and Baylor.

[buttery]

Figured I’d find an excuse to dig this thread up from Page 11.

Cook and Hayhurst signed a couple weeks ago. While I’m obviously not interested in this season or this team winding down any time soon, makes me think about way-too-early 2025 line-up predictions.

S: Dalton
OH: Swanson
OH: Nelson?
M: Burgess
M: Ptacek (I need Kelly Sheffield to not get ideas of bringing her back home)
L: Burns (I also need Dave Shondell to not get ideas of bringing her back home)
OPP: Hayhurst?

I think the question marked positions are the ones (barring transfers) I’m not 100% confident about. I think Nelson should be going six-rotations, but the only thing that gives me pause is she really hasn’t gotten hardly any front row sets at all this year. Come to think of it though - she will absolutely need to play six-rotations unless we plan on adding a transfer as we’ll need a DS for the opposite presumably and Swanson.

I would think an opposite transfer is a high priority for KU this winter as I’m just not sure if Schneider/Hayhurst will be quite ready at the level we’ll need them to be at, especially with two unseasoned outsides or there will be no balance.

From a DS perspective, I’m interested if McGehe comes back and uses her final redshirt year (can’t imagine she would’ve been willing to do that freshman year if we weren’t gonna use her in 2025). IMO that solves the opposite DS (assuming we don’t get a six-rotation one), and McCarthy/Devers/Kirsch will be battling for a SS position and DS for Swanson. Whoever is the best passer I would imagine gets the spot.

I do think it’s her final year this year per an IG post, but theoretically Elnady could come back lol.

[buttery]

Talking tournament stuff - I think I’ll just call it and say that if Missouri isn’t getting a sub-regional host; they’re coming to Lawrence, even if they probably should be more of a 5 seed (or what would really upset me is if we got bumped to a 4 and therefore got a host matchup if we advanced to the Round of 16). This, of course, assumes we go 2-1 in our last 3 games and beat BYU especially at home. We need to not be losing to a battered Iowa State even if it is in Ames.

The 11 seed would be ideal as we’d avoid Nebraska and Pittsburgh regional. It’s still shocking to me that Kentucky and Texas can have that many losses and stay so high in the RPI. Oregon and Purdue seem like punitively tough second round opponents.

Now, if Creighton does get a 1 seed, send me to that region because as we’ve seen the last 10+ years, neither Kansas or Creighton can defend their home court in a head-to-head matchup.

[bluepenquin]

Nov 22, 2024 16:10:04 GMT -5 buttery said:

Figured I’d find an excuse to dig this thread up from Page 11.

Cook and Hayhurst signed a couple weeks ago. While I’m obviously not interested in this season or this team winding down any time soon, makes me think about way-too-early 2025 line-up predictions.

S: Dalton
OH: Swanson
OH: Nelson?
M: Burgess
M: Ptacek (I need Kelly Sheffield to not get ideas of bringing her back home)
L: Burns (I also need Dave Shondell to not get ideas of bringing her back home)
OPP: Hayhurst?

I think the question marked positions are the ones (barring transfers) I’m not 100% confident about. I think Nelson should be going six-rotations, but the only thing that gives me pause is she really hasn’t gotten hardly any front row sets at all this year. Come to think of it though - she will absolutely need to play six-rotations unless we plan on adding a transfer as we’ll need a DS for the opposite presumably and Swanson.

I would think an opposite transfer is a high priority for KU this winter as I’m just not sure if Schneider/Hayhurst will be quite ready at the level we’ll need them to be at, especially with two unseasoned outsides or there will be no balance.

From a DS perspective, I’m interested if McGehe comes back and uses her final redshirt year (can’t imagine she would’ve been willing to do that freshman year if we weren’t gonna use her in 2025). IMO that solves the opposite DS (assuming we don’t get a six-rotation one), and McCarthy/Devers/Kirsch will be battling for a SS position and DS for Swanson. Whoever is the best passer I would imagine gets the spot.

I do think it’s her final year this year per an IG post, but theoretically Elnady could come back lol.

I would put a VERY high probability that there will be pin transfer in this offseason.  Most likely a RS.

[bluepenquin]

Sneaky big RPI game today for Kansas. Wichita State needs to beat USF in order to get inside the top 75 - which is necessary for Kansas to get the scheduling bonus. It probably will not make a difference in their final seed - but it could.