bluepenquin
Hall of Fame
4-Time VolleyTalk Poster of the Year (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk 1st Team (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016) All-VolleyTalk 2nd Team 2023
Posts: 13,303 
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Post by bluepenquin on May 7, 2024 9:56:25 GMT -5
My continued guess pre analysis estimation - Baylor, Kansas State, Iowa State, and TCU will be strong teams who should be thinking of making the tournament and if things go well challenging for the top of the conference.
I have absolutely no feel for Colorado, Utah, and Arizona since they are new to the conference.
UCF and Cincinnati are heading in the right direction. I know - UCF was really good just 2 years ago.
I suspect Houston is going to make a sizeable fall - just don't know if that is into the 2nd or 3rd tier of teams - I think probably closer to 3rd tier.
I am assuming that Texas Tech and West Virginia will be bad again.
Kansas, Arizona State, and BYU start in that 1st tier.
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Post by tristen on May 8, 2024 20:10:21 GMT -5
I agree Parra is a force, yet TCU has 0 votes. Peculiar š«£ TCU gotta learn how to pass and find someone who can hit outta the middle Yea their lebeiro was sub par last seasonā¦too many out of system plays cuz of bad serve recieve and passingā¦and they need more scoring out the middle i agreeā¦ |
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Post by houstonbear15 on May 8, 2024 21:23:22 GMT -5
I have my eyes on Iowa State to be a dark horse to win and potentially Colorado to be better than others think. I think TCU will be good, they have the pins to do it but unsure of their setter, bro and middles. I also think Baylor might struggle this year, I think people donāt want to acknowledge how good Carlson made all their hitters look. I think they finish in the 8ish range. Big 12 is going to be fun, a lot of people beating up on each other. People talked a lot about Baylor losing Carlson when it initially happened, but then they went out and got a very experienced setter in Jackie Barrett from Auburn. She actually may contribute to better blocking for Baylor this season which was a weakness for them last year. They also have one of the top 5 liberos in the nation, and I imagine BriseƱo remains solid in her senior year. McGhee and Bibinbe will be good offensive options, and Stowers will hopefully return as well. They have gone from one of the youngest teams in the conference to now having a lot of experience. Baylor should have high expectations for their season. |
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Post by dragon2owl on May 8, 2024 21:38:14 GMT -5
TCU gotta learn how to pass and find someone who can hit outta the middle Yea their lebeiro was sub par last seasonā¦too many out of system plays cuz of bad serve recieve and passingā¦and they need more scoring out the middle i agreeā¦ Alice Volpe (Riceās Genny Volpeās daughter) will be a freshman but I see her challenging for the starting libero position. |
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Post by VT Karen on May 22, 2024 19:42:26 GMT -5
I have my eyes on Iowa State to be a dark horse to win and potentially Colorado to be better than others think. I think TCU will be good, they have the pins to do it but unsure of their setter, bro and middles. I also think Baylor might struggle this year, I think people donāt want to acknowledge how good Carlson made all their hitters look. I think they finish in the 8ish range. Big 12 is going to be fun, a lot of people beating up on each other. People talked a lot about Baylor losing Carlson when it initially happened, but then they went out and got a very experienced setter in Jackie Barrett from Auburn. She actually may contribute to better blocking for Baylor this season which was a weakness for them last year. They also have one of the top 5 liberos in the nation, and I imagine BriseƱo remains solid in her senior year. McGhee and Bibinbe will be good offensive options, and Stowers will hopefully return as well. They have gone from one of the youngest teams in the conference to now having a lot of experience. Baylor should have high expectations for their season. I am all but ready for Ms. Bibinbe and the 2024 Bears! |
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Post by marnvbc2 on May 23, 2024 2:11:46 GMT -5
Teams will definitely beat up on each other in this league. No dominate teams. Seeing maybe 4 bids. The Big 12 definitely gets more than four bids. The Big 12 got seven last year. And the Pac-12 is dead, so their ~5 bids have to go somewhere. I would be surprised if the league didn't get at least 6 bids. |
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Post by marnvbc2 on May 23, 2024 2:15:37 GMT -5
I see the WVU coaching staff got on and voted for themselves haha How many key injuries would the Big 12 have to suffer across the board, before WV could realistically win the conference title? WV is not going to finish last or second to last. Jen is a really good coach, but she is best at recruiting. In 3 years they will be fighting for a top 3 finish in this league. Problem is that their pipeline is foreign and it takes 2 years to get going. |
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Post by ay2013 on May 23, 2024 21:23:43 GMT -5
Teams will definitely beat up on each other in this league. No dominate teams. Seeing maybe 4 bids. The Big 12 definitely gets more than four bids. The Big 12 got seven last year. And the Pac-12 is dead, so their ~5 bids have to go somewhere. I'm not sure about "definitely". More than likely, sure, but there are some question marks with this conference. I do agree with the general sentiment that there is just A LOT of parity in the conference. They'll be helped SOME that they have a 18 match conference schedule (compared to the Big 10's 20), but my gut tells me that the Big 10 through about team #13 is just insanely good this year and so far the non-conference isn't presenting any red flags that changes my view that the Big 10 could end the non-conference with a sizeable gap between them and the rest of the power 4 leagues in terms of win-loss (which they'll need to overcome the SEC scheduling shenanigans, which is just pure RPI manipulation). So far, the Big 12 has 12 matches against Big 10 teams and it's probably not unreasonable that they go 10-2 (or better), and half the conference as yet to release their full non-conference schedules. If I had a crystal ball, I'd say the Big 12 gets 4-6 bids this year. |
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Post by bbg95 on May 23, 2024 22:27:52 GMT -5
The Big 12 definitely gets more than four bids. The Big 12 got seven last year. And the Pac-12 is dead, so their ~5 bids have to go somewhere. I'm not sure about "definitely". More than likely, sure, but there are some question marks with this conference. I do agree with the general sentiment that there is just A LOT of parity in the conference. They'll be helped SOME that they have a 18 match conference schedule (compared to the Big 10's 20), but my gut tells me that the Big 10 through about team #13 is just insanely good this year and so far the non-conference isn't presenting any red flags that changes my view that the Big 10 could end the non-conference with a sizeable gap between them and the rest of the power 4 leagues in terms of win-loss (which they'll need to overcome the SEC scheduling shenanigans, which is just pure RPI manipulation). So far, the Big 12 has 12 matches against Big 10 teams and it's probably not unreasonable that they go 10-2 (or better), and half the conference as yet to release their full non-conference schedules. If I had a crystal ball, I'd say the Big 12 gets 4-6 bids this year. I don't think there are 13 "insanely good" teams in the Big Ten. As for the Big 12, anything is possible, but four seems quite unlikely. |
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Post by ay2013 on May 23, 2024 23:21:26 GMT -5
I'm not sure about "definitely". More than likely, sure, but there are some question marks with this conference. I do agree with the general sentiment that there is just A LOT of parity in the conference. They'll be helped SOME that they have a 18 match conference schedule (compared to the Big 10's 20), but my gut tells me that the Big 10 through about team #13 is just insanely good this year and so far the non-conference isn't presenting any red flags that changes my view that the Big 10 could end the non-conference with a sizeable gap between them and the rest of the power 4 leagues in terms of win-loss (which they'll need to overcome the SEC scheduling shenanigans, which is just pure RPI manipulation). So far, the Big 12 has 12 matches against Big 10 teams and it's probably not unreasonable that the Big 12 teams go 10-2 (or better), and half the conference as yet to release their full non-conference schedules. If I had a crystal ball, I'd say the Big 12 gets 4-6 bids this year. I don't think there are 13 "insanely good" teams in the Big Ten. As for the Big 12, anything is possible, but four seems quite unlikely. I agree 4 is on the "unlikely" side, but thats more to do with RPI math than it is quality of team. I'll change "insanely good" to "insanely deep". I see at least 11 teams in the Big 10 with the talent/experience/upside to beat ANY team in the Big 12, any team in the SEC other than Texas and Florida, and any team in the ACC other than Pitt, Louisville, and Stanford next year. Nebraska, Wisconsin, Purdue, Penn State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, Washington, USC - I just don't see any returning team from the Big 12 where that matchup wouldn't at least be 50/50. UCLA and MSU are no slouches and may surprise some people too...I'd say a conference going 11+ teams deep where the odds are about 50/50 winning against no worst than the 3rd best team in any other conference as insanely good/deep. |
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Post by pointexas on Jun 3, 2024 7:50:32 GMT -5
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Post by redcardš on Jun 3, 2024 17:06:49 GMT -5
Itās funny/odd to see OU on the pre-con schedule!
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Post by kimdc on Jun 10, 2024 11:45:32 GMT -5
BYU has a huge home court advantage. Elevation will sink the southern teams. Elevation's effects are exaggerated by teams in higher elevations and media members who don't know the difference. I have talked to people who have played in higher elevations (specifically Utah) on a professional level. From what I have been repeatedly told, the effects don't actually kick in until a few days after radically changing altitude. In the case of college sports, you don't spend enough time there for it to matter in the vast majority of cases. Getting in late and leaving shortly after competing is the best option. Besides, most altitude difficulties don't start until about 1,600 meters above sea level. True altitude sickness doesn't start until well over 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) according to the CDC. The Provo/SLC area is about 1,300 meters above. Tucson is probably the highest elevation in the southern cities. It sits at about 800 meters and is very closely surrounded by mountains reaching about 1,400 meters. It's not that big of a deal to go up to the mountains even for me, and I'm an out-of-shape grandmother. |
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Post by VolleyballFella on Jun 10, 2024 12:07:42 GMT -5
BYU has a huge home court advantage. Elevation will sink the southern teams. Elevation's effects are exaggerated by teams in higher elevations and media members who don't know the difference. I have talked to people who have played in higher elevations (specifically Utah) on a professional level. From what I have been repeatedly told, the effects don't actually kick in until a few days after radically changing altitude. In the case of college sports, you don't spend enough time there for it to matter in the vast majority of cases. Getting in late and leaving shortly after competing is the best option. Besides, most altitude difficulties don't start until about 1,600 meters above sea level. True altitude sickness doesn't start until well over 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) according to the CDC. The Provo/SLC area is about 1,300 meters above. Tucson is probably the highest elevation in the southern cities. It sits at about 800 meters and is very closely surrounded by mountains reaching about 1,400 meters. It's not that big of a deal to go up to the mountains even for me, and I'm an out-of-shape grandmother. I agree that altitude has very little difference in anything to do with volleyball performance OR how the ball travels. BUT just FYI... CU is above the 1600 meters you mention (the highest in the BIG 12). Not sure why Colorado isn't even mentioned here. |
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Post by VolleyballFella on Jun 10, 2024 12:17:24 GMT -5
 Pretty decent non-conference schedule here for Colorado. There are quite a few BIG 10, SEC, and ACC opponents that could have a lot of upside on RPI. |
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