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2022 Volleyball - Stacked as Hell

Js1

By Js1
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SL Xpress

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The only real upset in the entire tournament so far is Auburn beating Creighton in a sweep, and that's because Creighton lost their starting setter due to a concussion protocol after getting hit in the face in her last match, a 5 set barn burner in the conference tournament championship match where they defeated Marquette (UT's next foe). 

15 of the top 16 seeds advance. 

Louisville lost their first set against Purdue, but otherwise all the #1 seeds swept. Stanford's 3 sets were decisive, but not as brutal as the bludgeoning both Texas and Wisconsin gave their two foes to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. 

Texas went 7-0 this season against Sweet 16 participants (2-0 OSU, 1-0 Minnesota, 1-0 Stanford, 1-0 Houston, 2-0 Baylor). 

I'd love to see some upsets in the other brackets. Doesn't matter what they are, as long as it isn't us. Not sure how much I count a #3 seed over a #2 seed as an upset, though. 

Texas lost to Louisville in the Sweet 16 in Gregory in 2019, beat Penn State and Nebraska in Omaha in front of an empty arena in spring of 2021, then lost to Nebraska in the Elite Eight in Gregory in the fall of 2021. 

Sure would like to reverse this two game losing streak in regionals. 

Logan Eggleston is 70-4 in Gregory Gym in her career, and two of those losses came during regionals. 

If Texas beats Marquette, these will be the last two matches in Gregory for her career. 

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Js1

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38 minutes ago, smoky said:

Playing at lunchtime on a workday is a bummer.
 

Yeah we got a shitty slot. Corn gets the earliest time slot in the Louisville regional (11am). The Wisconsin regional has 3 eastern time zone teams (Florida, Pitt, PSU), so they should have swapped with Austin on time slots (2:30/5). Stanford got the late set of times 

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smoky

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Just seems like they could've followed the first and second round models and split regional semis between Thurs and Friday and regional finals on Sat/ Sunday. Or at least put us in the evening on LHN.

How many more viewers does a 2pm game on espn2 get vs the viewers of a primetime game on LHN?

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3 hours ago, smoky said:

Just seems like they could've followed the first and second round models and split regional semis between Thurs and Friday and regional finals on Sat/ Sunday. Or at least put us in the evening on LHN.

How many more viewers does a 2pm game on espn2 get vs the viewers of a primetime game on LHN?
 

 

What you are witnessing is a sport in a growth stage that almost certainly hasn’t reached its super sayan final form. 

Having ESPN+ televise all of the first two rounds is unprecedented. They even had a NFL type redzone format dedicated to switching between the various matches called The Fifth Set. The amount of coverage the sport received throughout the year on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU had never been seen. The BTN produced its highest numbers ever for volleyball, eclipsing everything other than football and men’s basketball. 

It was only last year that the NCAA instituted a day separation between the regional semis and the regional finals, because the NCAA didn’t want to budget for an extra day of lodging for the participants. That was groundbreaking. 

There’s a lot of room for improvement, but if the fan base continues to increase we’ll see what happens. 

One of my biggest problems with the sport from a casual viewer perspective is the huge difference between the best teams and the next tier. People love upsets, and instead what we’re seeing is a lot of opponents getting pile driven while not being even remotely competitive. These next two rounds SHOULD be super competitive for the most part. Especially the #2v3’s and then the regional finals between whoever makes it there. But to ensure adequate attendance the #1 seeds are granted home court through the regional finals, which weights things even heavier to their advantage. 

It is what it is. But I don’t think we’re at a point where ratings themselves matter for the sport nearly as much as exposure, and on that front there’s no question that ESPN2/ESPNU is better than LHN regardless of the time. 

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Js1

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4 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Must read:

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/35189651/ncaa-volleyball-tournament-texas-logan-eggleston-title

Absolutely must win this for Logan. Never forget this 17 year old from Tennessee who enrolled early at Texas when things looked very bleak after Sun left unexpectedly. And she’s been one of the best all around players to come through Texas 

Few players deserve a title more than Logan does 

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1 minute ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I think we definitely want Ohio State. Minnesota has a huge block and they have Landfair who can beat anybody when she's on. 

Based on how Minnesota looked early in the year, I'm surprised they aren't better than they are. 

They had 9 blocks against us back when we played them in the 3rd match of the season.  Texas had 8 of their own. 

We only hit .230 and still won the match - Minny hit .250.

8 aces, 8 SE for Texas. 6 aces, 19 SE for Minny.  That was a huge difference in the match.

This match was also before Caffey was playing (she didn't play in this match) and Skinner hit .000 (7-7-23). 

Both these teams have grown and gelled a lot. 

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8 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I think we definitely want Ohio State. Minnesota has a huge block and they have Landfair who can beat anybody when she's on. 

Based on how Minnesota looked early in the year, I'm surprised they aren't better than they are. 

Just watching today…I agree. 🤘

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Some quick thoughts on Marquette.

As far as quality of opponent, they're about the same level as Baylor. 

They don't have a particularly good block at 2 blocks per set, but Murray is decent defensively at 1.1 blocks per set.

Not a huge fan of their floor defense or their passing (passing is specifically the first hit receiving a serve - digs are the first contact during rallies). Although they can be good in streaks.

They do have a go to left pin in Audrey Hamilton, a transfer from Notre Dame who played in Gregory last year when the Domers cames to Austin. She plays 6 rotations. So does Reitsma, their other left pin, which means they don't use a DS for the left pin on any of the 6 rotations and always have a back row hitter.

Serving isn't nearly as good as Georgia's, who were one of the best servers in the country. Or Baylor's for that matter.

Their big strength is their setter, Yadhira Anchante, who I think could be the best setter in the country. Like Rice's Carli Graham, she doesn't get enough acclaim, but she brings a great block, she's really good on 2nd contact attacks, she's very good defensively, she's an outstanding server, but most importantly, her sets are butter, in or out of system. She's amazing, frankly. I'd take her over pretty much anyone in the country, including SKT, who I think is one of the best 6 or so servers in the country. 

In large part because of Anchante, they are incredibly balanced. They have arguably the most balanced attack in the country, with 4 attackers averaging between 2.1 and 2.6 kills per set, with Hamilton the one outlier as their go to attacker at 3.5. In system, the attack can easily come from middle, right, left, or back row. Or even from the setter herself, who averages a kill per set. 

The key - as usual in volleyball - will be who wins the serve/reception battle. Georgia was simply served out of the gym. It's not just about aces. It's about what that first contact looks like. If the first contact gets shanked even a little bit, it means the other team won't have an optimal attack, which gives the advantage to the serving team, when they are usually at a disadvantage. 

Same thing the other way. If Texas' first contact gets the ball to SKT within the 3 meter line, Texas is extremely terminal because of how much talent the Longhorns have. 

That said, Anchante is way better than SKT setting out of system. SKT is outstanding in system, but she's not as quick as other setters and frankly isn't as good when she has to move a lot to make her sets. 

I fully expect a 3 set sweep, but Marquette is a very capable team. Baylor challenged Texas considerably in the 3-1 win in Austin recently. That set score doesn't reflect the difficulties the Bears presented, as Texas had to come from behind in 2 of those sets really late. Honestly we're beyond the time to be proud. I'm okay with winning a 5th 20-18 if that's what it takes to get a win. Survive and advance. But I'd prefer a quick 3 set victory so that the players keep their confidence high and rest for what will be an extremely challenging regional final. 

I hope this is helpful in familiarizing you with the upcoming opponent. Apologies for not getting this out sooner. 

 

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It's amazing to me how much transfers/portal have transformed college sports. Volleyball is no different.

Ohio State is one of only two programs left in the tournament with no transfers on their roster, along with Stanford (Ohio State tried to bring in multiple highly rated outside hitters, including Madisen Skinner, but struck out on all of them). 

Minnesota has a number of transfers on their roster, but they don't make the same kind of impact they do on other teams in the sweet 16. Their secondary middles (freshman Carter Booth is their primary middle) Arica Davis and Naya Gros are about the only significant ones, and only one of them play in any particular rotation, since they play exactly the same position. 

But Marquette has both Anchante (Iowa Western CC) and Hamilton (Notre Dame). Nearly every other team remaining is counting on transfers to either be the star of their team in some regard, or at least made a huge contribution to their level of play. 

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This is my favorite day of volleyball. I think all of these matches have the capability of being compelling. The two going on right now had the best chance, in my opinion, but all of them have potential.

But Oregon-Nebraska now at 27 all, is killing me. 

Just now, Js1 said:

This is wild and I think Nebraska is out of subs

Hahahahahahahahaha! Take that "I'm going to run a 6-2" John Cook. Please blow this because of it.

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Just now, Rickylovesweed said:

They have a lot of weapons  and with Landfair they can beat anyone but for whatever reason this team is missing something.

You basically summed up the Hutch McCutcheon era.  10 years with all the talent he's had come through and they've only made 3 Final Fours

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2 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Minnesota is a weird team. They have a lot of weapons  and with Landfair they can beat anyone but for whatever reason this team is missing something. 

Also, it doesn't help that this outside hitter for Ohio State is playing the match of her life. 

 

Londot did the same thing against Nebraska.

At her best she's the best right side hitter in the country, along with Stanford's Kipp.

At her worst she's the opponent's most valuable player. 

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1 minute ago, SL Xpress said:

Londot did the same thing against Nebraska.

At her best she's the best right side hitter in the country, along with Stanford's Kipp.

At her worst she's the opponent's most valuable player. 

I also really really like OSU’s setter 

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2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I also really really like OSU’s setter 

I do, too, kind of. But a HUGE reason for OSU having issues in those last 4 matches was her setting. She specialized in trap sets during that run. In her defense a lot of it was the defense without Murr on the floor, but it was still really really bad.

But she earned Big 10 setter of the year. 

I like SKT over her, to be honest. 

Oh, and Gonzalez and Moore are fine as secondary OH hitters for a top 10 team. The fact they don't have someone better over there is their achilles heel. For example, Marquette's Audrey Hamilton would be better than either of them. There are at least 20 outside hitters I'd take over them. At least. 

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