B1G matches 9 & 10 Gophers visit Oregon and Washington 10-17 and 10-18-25

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Another disappointing performance by the gophers. What’s going on with Hanson, 6 kills late in the fourth set. Another match with multiple sets hitting sub 100. They need to figure out how to ball on the floor.
 
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Figures, glad I didn't miss anything then.
Nipomo 56 said:
Another disappointing performance by the gophers. What’s going on with Hanson, 6 kills late in the fourth set. Another match with multiple sets hitting sub 100. They need to figure out how to ball on the floor.
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Watched the entire match last night. So many fans are hoping next season is a "healthy" season for the Gophers. KCook needs to get his ducks, no pun intended, in a row for next season starting with the upcoming portal. Start with an Experienced Graduate Libero that can pass. We wouldn't be in this situation, if we had two of them to start the season.

Also, I can now see the huge need for a backup Experienced Graduate setter next season. For what I have seen, we do not have that player in Georgia Lee. I think this could take some of the pressure off of Stella, when we really have nobody else who can go into a match in her place. Besides it could possibly be another learning curve for her on how to run an OOS offense and still put up consistent setting.

A roster of 18 please starting next season. Right now there are no guarantees our injured players will be able to pick up where they left off....I believe there is no such thing as a player back at 100%.

Oh how another Awoleye and Grote this season would have been wonderful and very welcoming.
 

You would hope for signs of improvement. 4-3 with a schedule where 7-0 would be a reasonable expectation. Even with the injuries they should be better than this.
 


4EverAGopher said:
Watched the entire match last night. So many fans are hoping next season is a "healthy" season for the Gophers. KCook needs to get his ducks, no pun intended, in a row for next season starting with the upcoming portal. Start with an Experienced Graduate Libero that can pass. We wouldn't be in this situation, if we had two of them to start the season.

Also, I can now see the huge need for a backup Experienced Graduate setter next season. For what I have seen, we do not have that player in Georgia Lee. I think this could take some of the pressure off of Stella, when we really have nobody else who can go into a match in her place. Besides it could possibly be another learning curve for her on how to run an OOS offense and still put up consistent setting.

A roster of 18 please starting next season. Right now there are no guarantees our injured players will be able to pick up where they left off....I believe there is no such thing as a player back at 100%.

Oh how another Awoleye and Grote this season would have been wonderful and very welcoming.
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I still disagree with this take. They don't need more players standing on the sidelines. They need the players they have to play better. If you think they need to be replaced, that's another discussion.

Seriously, talented players not seeing the floor is a recipe for problems.

They HAD depth this season. That hasn't been the issue.
 

Adding a graduate libero would give you 5 L/DS as you have another DS coming in next year (Kraft). Having a quality backup setter is important, we have 3 on the team now. I’m looking at this season as a growing opportunity for the freshmen and hopefully we will have a healthy season in 2026. I suspect that the gophers will be unranked come next week’s poll.
I wonder what all the other B1G teams would look like if they lost the equivalent of our 4 players. My guess is only Nebraska would maintain the same level of play.
 

It was an undeniable obstacle BUT this team has, in theory, more than capable backups for the players they lost. Their play, and regression, is not encouraging. They need to play better floor defense and stay aggressive with their attacks.

I am not, however, overlooking the impact of losing Zeynep and Alex's passing.

I am also seriously concerned about how this is affecting Stella's confidence. She is not setting at even near the level she was earlier in the season.

A loss to Washington may seal the deal for this season. This was the easier 1/3 of the schedule. After UW, they will probably be the underdog in their next 7 matches. We are seriously looking at a possible 4-11 or 5-10 record at that point.
 

And is a record like that really excusable, even with the injuries? The B1G is just not that good this year.
 



Have a team out there tonight just going through the motions. Should be over in 3. There are Freshman in the conference playing much better than our Freshman. Yes I would say it is concerning.
 

(R)uffda! said:
I still disagree with this take. They don't need more players standing on the sidelines. They need the players they have to play better. If you think they need to be replaced, that's another discussion.

Seriously, talented players not seeing the floor is a recipe for problems.

They HAD depth this season. That hasn't been the issue.
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Some times more of an issue with parents.
 

4EverAGopher said:
Have a team out there tonight just going through the motions. Should be over in 3. There are Freshman in the conference playing much better than our Freshman. Yes I would say it is concerning.
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Nice bounce back win after rough first set. Blocking and defense much improved.
 

Washington's about face was as remarkable as Minnesota's. Huskies couldn't do anything wrong in g1, then they just kept making errors. Seemed like the Gophers' confidence kicked in once UW started giving them some points.

Helps when they pass well enough to feed the middle.

Strange team right now. Next 7 matches remain a gauntlet however.
 



Never expected the turnaround but happy to see it happened. Hanson and Myers had one of their better matches and so did GILK. Speaking of the latter she was on her game pretty much throughout the entire match. She certainly has the RIGHT ATTITUDE!
 
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Ruffda -

Since KCook has become our HC we have a roster that has players not seeing playing time at all or extremely very little. There are four on this roster this season. When we have situations arise such as a match like vs Oregon and nothing is going our way, we just cannot turn it around.

Here's my point, if we had other players other than these 4 (I'm not talking about the 4 injured) maybe we could have seen a win Friday night or at least a better effort. I don't understand a roster carrying players that really don't contribute at all or very little to a team throughout the season(s). This season we are down to basically 8 players capable of playing a match. This is more or less leaving a team unable to have a BAD NIGHT or we will more than likely lose. Talk about the pressure this entire team is under.
 

4EverAGopher said:
Ruffda -

Since KCook has become our HC we have a roster that has players not seeing playing time at all or extremely very little. There are four on this roster this season. When we have situations arise such as a match like vs Oregon and nothing is going our way, we just cannot turn it around.

Here's my point, if we had other players other than these 4 (I'm not talking about the 4 injured) maybe we could have seen a win Friday night or at least a better effort. I don't understand a roster carrying players that really don't contribute at all or very little to a team throughout the season(s). This season we are down to basically 8 players capable of playing a match. This is more or less leaving a team unable to have a BAD NIGHT or we will more than likely lose. Talk about the pressure this entire team is under.
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Hugh did the same thing when he was coaching, so this isn’t something that is unique to KC. There are only 2 which haven’t played (Olivia and Ng). Crowl and Lee are in the substitution rotation. Having players that don’t see the court or field is common for all sports.
 

In my mind all players should be able to CONTRIBUTE at some point or another. If they are being DEVELOPED in their strengths, a coach should be using that to his advantage. Nobody saw this situation we are in coming. I dont't know, but if this is really really really helping us then by all means continue with the double sub.

As a fan I don't understand Ng's position with this program nor the non-development of a R-Sr (Crowl). Both Olivia and Lee are very very limited too. So if a coaching staff knows this why aren't they building up the roster to it's max of 18, with the hope that they do have players that develop and contribute, while they are in this program?
 

Roster building is not that easy. What libero or DS is going to want to transfer in and have to beat out Palabiyak or Thibault. A top flight setter is not going to want to come in and sit behind Stella. Cook was able to bring in a middle in Myers because we had a clear need for one. I'd have loved a transfer hitter however if you're looking at your top three being Hanson, Wucherer, and Acevedo thats no a huge area of need. Nobody has a roster of 18 top notch players. Good players are not going to be excited to come into, or stay in, a program where they're buried on the bench. Some players who look like solid prospects just don't work out (see Sydney Schichels). If you add back even a couple of the injured players our depth starts to look pretty good.
 

I’ve heard that Crowl is usually the top RS in practice but it’s not translating to kills on the court. Not sure what the status of Olivia is and I agree with your observation of Ng.
 

But here's what I still don't understand about your point 4Ever. You are advocating for them to have EVEN MORE players than they had before the injuries. Again, they HAD depth. You cannot have quality depth to account for losing all those starters. You can't run an efficient program where you are three and four deep at every position. It's tough enough to be able to go two deep.

Just as an example, they had Hanson, Wucherer, Acevedo and Kinney (plus Gilk) as outsides. Yes, they ended up needing them all. But is it really realistic to expect them to have had even more quality OHs available?

You can make an argument about the quality of the players on the roster but I just don't get an argument about the quantity.
 

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