Pogo

Ditto. Which is why I'm so surprised she stayed. It's also why I got so disillusioned this year. Carlson just never seemed like an upgrade. Agreed on that as well. I'll be just as surprised if she stays. That said, if Ella, Devin, and Emma are the foundation next year, then I am ALL IN!!

That is shocking! Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but there's only one plausible reason I think she stays. Carlson is about to leave because nobody likes her. That would explain the complete lack of cohesion this team has displayed all season. It still wouldn't explain why JE chose her over Ella, but I guess he made a decision and stuck with it. Still surprising Ella didn't say "peace out. I'm not dealing with this." I just can't picture both of them here next year.

Agree that Swindle is gone. As someone up thread said, Devin *should* have been the primary OPP this year and we should have taken an experienced MB from the portal in order to redshirt Ames. Wouldn't shock me if Devin leaves as well. I thought she would leave after last season.

Or worse, TCU wins a few more and we get sent to Ft. Worth so Parra can kick the crap out of us.

Something or someone seems to have become a cancer in this locker room. Don't know who or what it is, but this team is not getting better in the next few weeks. Devin and Ella will put their names in the portal on day 1, and I can't blame them. @Slick16 is right on about the setter position. There's a reason JE stopped recruiting short setters. Then he takes one out of the portal and benches Ella. If Carlson were setting better, that's one thing, but she's not. Then she just got abused blocking the pin yesterday. I don't get it.

This should be a perfectly acceptable course of action. We did it last year with Swindle. They will have fewer growing pains with only 1 setter. Hopefully, that will be the case going forward. If it's that obvious to us, it has to be to JE as well.

Also team Swindle. Carlson needs to be a significant offensive upgrade from Ella in order to make up for the defensive liability, but she just isn't. She panicked in the 5th set and only set Madi while their defense was ready every time. Then UM's pins hit over like her block wasn't even there.

Fair point. I'm sure while we were all screaming to bench Wenaas, Devin was giving side-eye to whichever coach happened to look her way.

Devin should know she's in line to take over at Opposite. If she leaves, it shouldn't be for lack of expected future playing time, right?

Make me an offer at this point.

$650 is a couple hundred cheaper than I've seen on any other site. Passes are in hand. I'm in Austin.

Dammit, it took me too long to have something to update in this thread! After Waxahachie, I started off in Rowlett doing the wrong thing for 4 games and was 80 pins out of the cut. Switched balls, got deep and started hooking it. Wound up missing the cut by about 10 pins. 🤬 Almost the same thing happened in Beaumont in November. Started with 240, then lost it and missed some spares. Made a change and came back the last 2 games to miss by about 10 again. 🤬 🤬 Next was Odessa in January. I thought my spare game had gotten better, but I was wrong. Missed about 8 in that 8 games to miss the cut again by 30ish. 🤬🤬🤬 Totally changed how I hold my spare ball when I got home. Then, I decided to go to Colorado to see an old UT roommate and bowl a regional up there. Glad I did. Started 252-290. LFG! It was up and down after that, but finished +168 to be 3rd after qualifying (behind only Tom Hess and Tish Johnson). Slipped a little to 5th the next 6 games Sunday morning because I didn't put enough surface on the purple hammer. Didn't make that mistake twice. After the 3rd round, I finished in the 3-seed for the stepladder. Shot a clean 225, but lost to a 229 because he strung more strikes. The 4th place $1000 check barely covered my expenses, but I didn't go for the money. Don't know if I'll bowl another regional before the summer, but the National PBA50 tour starts in Vegas the first week of June with the USBC Senior Masters. I'm taking the wife to that one. Should be fun.

I knew she was from a small private school, but didn't realize Crownover was a walk-on. I still hope we get another SKT from the portal and let Swindle learn for a year.

Does Swindle seem that much of a shoe-in for the job over Crownover, assuming no transfer? But I definitely agree that we should be looking in the portal for an experienced setter.

I don't think it's negligible at all. Skinner and KU abusing Jhenna's block is one of the main reasons we lost in 2020. It's no coincidence a 6ft SKT shows up a month later.