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BadgerHorn

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Everything posted by BadgerHorn

  1. The Weds 20 Mar event in Austin with HCU includes Washington as well.
  2. https://beachpackagingdesign.com/boxvox/bread-loaf-lunch-box
  3. Thanks for posting. Props to Molly for taking on that level of competition. I think USC has four players with at least AVP main draw experience, not to mention the string of national championships. Looking forward to the beach schedule release.
  4. Loving every point. Only downside are the reviews and service errors.
  5. https://texassports.com/news/2023/12/14/intersport-fox-sports-announce-major-annual-volleyball-showcase-beginning-labor-day-weekend-2024.aspx Looks like a fun Labor Day weekend. Texas, Wisconsin, Stanford, Minnesota playing in Milwaukee.
  6. I haven't seen it explicitly mentioned, so I just assumed she was working through something minor. I believe she had foot/ankle injuries in HS. Hopefully this is not a continuation of that as she has a lot of potential... personally I think she has some potential in beach with her measurables, hands, and blocking, but that's a different topic. Main thing that would have concerned me about her inability to jump set is that, now, when she does jump, it's an indication that a dump is probably coming. I guess it's quick and rare enough that defenses haven't been able to or felt the need to spy that correlation. They say the other advantage of jump setting is you can contact the ball higher and, therefore, reduce the flight time of the ball - especially, by percentage, in the middle of the court. Her height mitigates a good deal of whatever is missed there. And personally, I think that part of jump setting is overblown. To me, the threat of an attack is 10x more impactful than any time savings you might get.
  7. Only way this matchup could be better for me is if it occurred one round later. Really excited to see these teams go at it. I regret that I haven't been able to watch either team as much as I would have liked this year, so take that into account with my below quick assessment: Captain obvious: Wisconsin has a ton of height this year and their front leads the way. They also have what I'll call a sneaky good back end - not pulling the end of season awards, but a bunch of talent right below that All-conference level. I see this as a 55 UW / 45 UT match. We've been saying all year that this UT team has flaws, but they also have high end ability / volatility that can easily push them past what might be a better team on paper. Franklin is NPOY good (and Madi may not be far behind her), but Madi has the ability to take over a set and carry a team in ways Franklin doesn't - or at least has not had to. I kind of want to see if Madi can OT Smrek. Asjia vs Booth should be a fun matchup. My keys for a UT victory: - Captain obvious again: you need Madi to have a big match. Captain less obvious: that doesn't necessarily mean a 20 kill outing. It may mean 1) drawing UW's defensive attention to open up opportunities for Asjia, Molly, Jenna 2) getting critical kills / sideouts from the back row 3) stepping up the back row serve receive / defense - Ella is going to need to be on point to keep the Wisconsin blocks moving/guessing (I'm looking at you Asjia) and to put her hitters in position to maximize efficiency. - To me, UW's TTA is analogous to Wenaas in that her performance in a 50/50 type matchup can tell you which way the tide will turn. Keep an eye on these two. - UW's serve receive can be shaky at times. Akana/Halter/Barnes may be able to sneak a few points this way. I think the folks upthread did a good job of explaining why NCAA WVB tends to be chalky. Two other considerations: - Due to highly lucrative pro FB and MBB careers, there's a stronger incentive for higher end talent to move around to maximize exposure, creating more parity. - Specifically for volleyball, the scoring system tempers the amount of upsets/volatility. In basketball, if a lower seed gets really hot and puts up a 25-5 run or something, you need to overcome all of that delta the rest of the game. In volleyball, if a team has an awful set and loses 25-8, aside from the mental impact, there's no difference in that and losing the set 25-23. Just run it back the next set.
  8. Kevin Mar officiating?
  9. Looks like the Surly server ate my initial reply. I'll try again A few other schools have their schedules out as well. I ran a search on the internets for “2024 beach volleyball schedule“, went school by school, and was able to cobble together the little bit below. I hope Coach Stein appreciates the effort we are putting in to support the team. It looks like we will be headed back to Long Beach State for their tournament March 15–16. That tournament includes Pepperdine, Nebraska, CSUN, and ASU. HCU at UT Wed 20 Mar Gulf Shores 3-5 May to bring home some hardware. Looking forward to the release of our full schedule. Hopefully a few events worth traveling for.
  10. PSA, I've been looking for this '47 hat for a while. It's been available in other schools' colors on other sites. Finally back at Co-op in the right colors. https://www.universitycoop.com/State-of-Texas-Base-Runner-Cap?quantity=1&custcol_coop_coloroption_gm=6
  11. https://avp.com/wp-content/uploads/AVP-Announces-Professional-Beach-Volleyball-League_111323.pdf I'm struggling to understand 1) how the league format will work 2) what the draw is 3) why they published this via pdf instead of a web page. Seems to me like they are following the path NASCAR took in trying to force a league and playoff format into a sport that did not need it. The Heritage Series sounds promising, though they are extremely vague. Would be interesting if they included some 9x9 court dimension for 2v2, 4v4, coed teams, mixing partners. Lots of opportunities to explore - I just hope they don't get gimmicky in their pursuit of growth.
  12. But, remember, horns down would have been fine for an opponent
  13. Double post
  14. FIFY
  15. Yep, just saw that email. I got to three AVP events and one UT Beach event this year. Looking forward to seeing both schedules next year. Still some FIVB activity coming and I'm expecting a fair amount of partner swapping the next several months.
  16. 🐜🏔️! Bug Mountain!
  17. Ran into Phil last night where he was sitting in the entrance of a restaurant waiting for a table. Apparently not enough Olympic and World Tour medals to skip the line. Watching Drost and Phil split block on a few occasions: insert "bold strategy, Cotton" gif In this world of taller and longer on the guys side, it's fun to watch someone like Nuss scramble around, anticipate the right spot on defense at a nearly uncanny rate, and place shots with precision and creativity. I'm going to play a bit of Ian Boyd by proposing a position switch. I think Julia Scoles has a ton of potential as a defender if she can piece it together. It may be her mannerisms and I know she's a very active blocker, but she always looks exhausted... you can't be tired in your mid 20s right? Hughes and Cheng are clearly messing around with injecting option elements into the offense, but haven't fully bought in. Not sure that's necessary for the women's game. Unfortunately no Sponcil/Cannon, but that wasn't really news. Curious to see what happens with Harward/Kolinske over the coming months with Klineman and FIVB. HH/KK got smoked in the second set against the Canadians. Didn't see it, so not sure what happened there. Agree on Brandi's hair. Not sure how she did it - probably an extra 5 lbs to carry around. Not sure if they showed it on TV and about 95% of the fans in the stands missed it. Theo had a nice play and, for whatever reason, Trevor didn't give him a high five as he was turned to the ball boy to get the ball to serve. Theo followed him for a few steps to give him a high five and when he realized Trevor wasn't going to turn around, he just gave him an air high five to his back and jogged back to the net. Gotta love Theo. Still no concrete news about a championship.
  18. Does he really want enlightenment on which schools were entertaining or seriously negotiating moves to other conferences in the past 5-10 yrs? I'll save him the trouble - pretty much every D1 AD not in the SEC or B10. UT and OU gave the B12 3-4 years of runway on the transition. I think the other schools Vertigo listed gave one year, if that.
  19. Re: the Yormark comments "Sports wagering has become a serious problem that threatens the well-being of the student-athlete and the integrity of college sports." College Sports Betting – NCAA Official Statement. Athletes are suspended or banned for betting because it calls into question the integrity of the game. You don't need to show the player influenced the game one way or the other - simply identifying the plausibility of inappropriate influence seems to be sufficient. Considering the connection between conference leadership and the management of officiating, these comments seem to fall within the same spirit of the sports betting rationale.
  20. What about kids at heart with salt/pepper hair and a few areas of their game that they need Stein to diagnose and correct?
  21. I don't know about the boots or hat, but I hope they got rid of the wide white stripe on the back of the jerseys.
  22. The AVP events page still shows the championship being Sept 22-23. The web page with the details still says the location is TBD. I just noticed that details page now says: "New Dates to Be Announced". I'm pretty sure this page used to reflect the 9/22-23 dates.
  23. Some of my MBO observations: Trevor got a yellow for slapping the net... with Taylor lobbying the ref to give him the card. The fans laughed. The Taylors and Tri/Chaim are trying to sprinkle in option offense, but they all look at least a year behind Benesh/Partain in that dept. Not sure if it was the rain packed sand or confidence or what, but Taylor Sander was uncorking a few serves Sunday in the second championship set like I hadn't seen from him since the AVP Championships indoor in Phoenix last year - granted, I don't watch every AVP/FIVB event. The pace is obvious, but he also adds that dangerous lateral break that some of the indoor guys have. It's not just a 12-6 curve - it looks like more of a slider with lateral break too. Thank God I'm not receiving those. Sponcil was out there walking around Fri I think. Curious to see what she and Cannon do at Chicago and for any other FIVB events. Lots of talk (no idea how legitimate it is) about her joining forces with Klineman. Zana was swinging harder than I've seen in the past. My forecast: the next six or so months is going to be chaotic for pairings on the women's side below Cheng/Hughes and Kloth/Nuss. You can sense there are numerous teams that are either unhappy or just ok with one another or losing out on the Olympic race and you need that one domino to fall before you have half a dozen new teams (but the same names) in the main draws. There are a few guys I could see parting ways too, but seems like more stability on the men's side right now. I'd love to see Scoles take some time to work out as a defender. Obvious problem is: where do you find a good enough (presumably American) big who will work with her? Kolinske? Maybe pick up Cannon for a year? Split block with Kraft? Try to lure a Klineman/KWJ? Talked to a few people about the championship location. A few people who probably would know either didn't say anything or they sincerely didn't know what's going on. The fan rumor mill is basically "assuming the bankruptcy/sale doesn't deep six the 'TBD Championship', the odds are on it being held in Vegas".
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