2017 Volleyball

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Baylor and Kentucky are fake seeds from weak conferences. Iowa State I can buy simply due to proximity to north central volleyball recruiting base.

Baylor already gone, Kentucky will lose to BYU. Done deal
 


USC up next. As the saying goes in in the PAC, you can't spell suck without USC.
 


And USC's losses were (date, team and score):

9/12 Northern Iowa: 1-3
9/2 Kentucky 1-3
9/14 Maryland 0-3
10/6 Arizona 0-3
10/15 Stanford 1-3
10/20 Colorado 0-3
10/27 Washington 2-3
11/15 Stanford 0-3
11/25 UCLA 0-3
 



Ignatius L Hoops said:
And USC's losses were (date, team and score):

9/12 Northern Iowa: 1-3
9/2 Kentucky 1-3
9/14 Maryland 0-3
10/6 Arizona 0-3
10/15 Stanford 1-3
10/20 Colorado 0-3
10/27 Washington 2-3
11/15 Stanford 0-3
11/25 UCLA 0-3
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Would like to think that Minnesota will take care of USC.


Then a big ol' dish of Gator. That will be fun to watch ... I hope! Good luck to the gals!!!
 

If the Gophers play with the intensity and drive they showed in sets 3 and 4 against UNI, they can beat anybody. Beginning about the middle of set 3, they showed a relentless killer instinct for about the first time all season.

I felt that after the 10-minute break following set 2 it was obvious: UNI wasn't going to give them the match; neither Hugh nor the crowd was going to win it for them; the players had to take over the match and dominate it themselves, which is exactly what they did. Hope they keep it up.
 

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5:00 game on Friday.
 



Just ordered my tickets for the 2018 final four. Gopher Point holders can order starting today. General public can order them next Thursday. I will be going regardless, but sure hope the Gophers are in it.
 

dlw4gophers said:
Just ordered my tickets for the 2018 final four. Gopher Point holders can order starting today. General public can order them next Thursday. I will be going regardless, but sure hope the Gophers are in it.
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Thanks for the reminder. The day was slipping by.
 


http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/ar...samedy-hoping-right-home-gainesville-regional
Pat Borzi:


Samedy has been the best of the five freshmen coach Hugh McCutcheon worked into the Gophers lineup this season, making All-Big Ten while leading the conference with 4.14 kills per set in the regular season. She and Wisconsin's Dana Rettke were the only unanimous selections to the Big Ten All-Freshman team.

A six-position player, the 6-foot-2 Samedy contributed nine kills, nine digs and five assisted blocks to the Gophers' attack on Saturday night. Libero Dalianliz Rosado leads the Gophers with 507 digs through the first two NCAA tournament rounds, but Samedy's 326 rank second on her team and 12th in the conference.

Florida recruited Samedy, but the Gators weren't among her finalists -- it came down to Minnesota, Penn State, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Ohio State. Samedy said she sought a change of scenery from her home state....


...But the Gophers hit a rough patch late in the season, losing three of their final six Big Ten matches to Purdue, Illinois and No. 1 Penn State. McCutcheon made one significant lineup change going into the NCAA tournament, replacing inconsistent freshman outside hitter Jasmyn Martin with sophomore Brittany McLean -- a bold move considering that McLean played nine sets in two seasons at Minnesota. In essence, McCutcheon replaced one player with no NCAA experience with another, albeit one with more time in the program.

McCutcheon used McLean for two sets each in the Illinois and Penn State losses. Against the Nittany Lions, McLean had four kills and four digs while Martin hit -.182 with one kill and three attack errors. Entrusted with a larger role last weekend, McLean posted 13 kills against North Dakota in the first round -- three more than she had her entire career -- and nine more against Northern Iowa.

"She's earned it," McCutcheon said. "Every day we keep track of performance. Our gym is a meritocracy. The players that are playing at the level to earn the job earn it. That doesn't mean we have short hooks or anything. Brittany over time, certainly over the last six weeks, has played really good volleyball. She came in [against Penn State] and did a really nice job, and we felt very comfortable starting her.
 



The dreaded "I just wanted to get out of [insert home state]".

Something that Minnesota will no doubt battle forever, as very talented Minnesota players parlay their talents into a change scenery.
 

Tucker said:
Interesting to read a quote like this every once in a while.
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That's the way it should be. This is big-time college volleyball in one of the best programs in the best overall conference. If players aren't performing, they need to and should be replaced in the lineup.

With Adanna Rollins coming in next year, the outside hitters will have to perform at an even higher level just to see the court, which should help the team's performance.
 

In his not-overstated way and intellectual way, Hugh seems to expect excellence. That's a refreshing change from MN nice.
 

Goes back to earlier posts I made on this subject.

- Hart and McClean are Soph and were 1st team AAs in high school/club
- Martin and Kleinman are Fr and were 2nd team AAs in high school/club
- Ziemann a Fr and was New Zealand national team
- Rollins coming next year 1st team AA in high school/club


There is just no way possible you're going to keep all these girls happy and getting significant court time. Players ultimately want to play, even over riding the bench on a high level team, I think.
 

http://www.startribune.com/can-goph...nal-four-using-an-all-18-mentality/462612113/

StarTrib:


This is not the same Gophers volleyball team that made the Final Four the past two seasons.

Maybe that’s an obvious statement, considering National Player of the Year Sarah Wilhite and the dominant middle blocking duo of sisters Hannah and Paige Tapp graduated last spring. But that statement is not a slight to this incarnation of the Gophers.

In fact, this 2017 team has something coach Hugh McCutcheon hasn’t previously experienced, despite five previous seasons with the Gophers as well as gold and silver medals from coaching U.S. national teams.

“We’re really committed, just every day in practice, we’re in here getting better,” senior middle blocker Molly Lohman said. “[Hugh] says it all the time, ‘I’ve never had a group that comes in each day and gets a little bit better each day.’ ”...


...This is not the same Gophers volleyball team that made the Final Four the past two seasons.

Maybe that’s an obvious statement, considering National Player of the Year Sarah Wilhite and the dominant middle blocking duo of sisters Hannah and Paige Tapp graduated last spring. But that statement is not a slight to this incarnation of the Gophers.

In fact, this 2017 team has something coach Hugh McCutcheon hasn’t previously experienced, despite five previous seasons with the Gophers as well as gold and silver medals from coaching U.S. national teams.

“We’re really committed, just every day in practice, we’re in here getting better,” senior middle blocker Molly Lohman said. “[Hugh] says it all the time, ‘I’ve never had a group that comes in each day and gets a little bit better each day.’ ”

The Gophers have needed that dedication to “incremental improvement,” as McCutcheon called it, en route to their NCAA tournament Sweet 16 match Friday evening against Southern Cal in Gainesville, Fla. Expectations were low heading into this year with just four seniors on the roster. But how this team succeeded this year despite those challenges demonstrates how the culture McCutcheon has installed is finally settled into place.

Across all positions and in all four classes — from true freshmen to seniors — there is depth, and at least one standout player.

Gophers volleyball

NCAA tournament Sweet 16

5 p.m. Friday vs. Southern Cal, in Gainesville, Fla. (ESPN3)

Freshman opposite Stephanie Samedy leads the team in kills with 465.

Sophomore outside hitter Alexis Hart is second with 433.

Junior setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson is regarded as one of the best in her position in the nation.

Lohman is the team’s best server, best blocker and the team’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.

That leads to a combination of old and new: Samedy is making her tournament debut, while Lohman has lived through back-to-back Final Fours as well as not even making the tournament her freshman year. Lohman said her first year, the culture of the team was still manifesting. But now she can tell not only from the results but also the increased fan support that this is how the program is supposed to be.

“If it was just a senior-dominant team, it would kind of be like starting over again with the freshman and everything,” Samedy said. “But knowing that we’re all all-around good in every class, I think that we’ll always be able to have that culture that we’ve worked so hard to maintain. So it will always keep rolling.”

That balance — while not the traditional recipe for success in the postseason, when upperclassmen usually lead the way — has also given way for another unique characteristic of this team.

“The leadership that we’ve got on this team, I don’t think I’ve seen it before. I actually haven’t seen it before in this program,” senior libero Dalianliz Rosado said. “Everyone could be a leader, no matter if you are a senior or a freshman. So everyone has a say in the team. We just work that way.”
 

MnplsGopher said:
Goes back to earlier posts I made on this subject.

- Hart and McClean are Soph and were 1st team AAs in high school/club
- Martin and Kleinman are Fr and were 2nd team AAs in high school/club
- Ziemann a Fr and was New Zealand national team
- Rollins coming next year 1st team AA in high school/club


There is just no way possible you're going to keep all these girls happy and getting significant court time. Players ultimately want to play, even over riding the bench on a high level team, I think.
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So you think somebody should transfer then I assume?
 

Should or will?

I don't think should for any of the gals ... I encourage each and every one to assess her position on the team, assess her academic needs, family needs, all that stuff.

I would not be surprised if some of them do decide to leave.
 

MnplsGopher said:
Should or will?

I don't think should for any of the gals ... I encourage each and every one to assess her position on the team, assess her academic needs, family needs, all that stuff.

I would not be surprised if some of them do decide to leave.
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Well, if they feel they aren't going to be good enough earn a spot (and playing time is truly is a big consideration for them) then yes, maybe they should transfer.

But that shouldn't hurt the on-court performance of the team. All these girls know what they signed up for. If they don't get court time, it's very likely because somebody else is playing better.

I just don't see the value in worrying about transfers because there's too much talent on the roster.
 

I'd rather be recruiting too well than not well enough. I'd prefer having too many excellent players than not enough excellent ones. Rather have players who go on the court thinking they're the best, not ones doubting themselves. Rather be ahead 2-0 than behind 0-2. Rather 'be there' every year at the Final Four, than just knocking at the door. I suspect that's Hugh's thinking. Not all the chips will always fall in the right place, though. Some bench players will think it's worth while to practice everyday against the best; others will opt out. Hugh says he wants players who will totally devote four years to volleyball. As MRJ says, they "know what they sign up for."
 

Yeah. You guys are both absolutely correct.

I wasn't implying anything to the contrary. Merely saying that I doubt we can hang onto all that talent, when there's no realistic way for them to all see significant time on the court.
 

http://www.twincities.com/2017/12/07/how-big-ten-volleyball-and-gophers-seemed-to-pass-pac-12/

Pioneer Press on B1G volleyball:

Voepel points all the way back to 2006, when Nebraska, a Big 12 school at the time, won a national championship in Omaha. Prior to thate, the Pac 12, — then the Pac 10 — had won five straight NCAA titles and Midwest teams had claimed two of the previous 24.

“The atmosphere, the electricity at that Final Four — it’s jam packed and the Huskers won — was so amazing,”Voepel said. “I think it really did resonate a lot.”

The next season, Penn State won the title — and the next, and the next and the next. In total the Nittany Lions won six championships in eight years. Right in the middle of that stretch, 2011, is when Nebraska joined the Big Ten. Finally, the college volleyball conversation was starting with, and revolving around, the Big Ten.

“You had these two programs that were so good but also had such genuine fan bases, like people who traveled, and people who had been fans for a long time,” Voepel said. “I think that helped push it over the edge. I think it helped, those two teams obviously were the lead in that.”
 

MnplsGopher said:
Yeah. You guys are both absolutely correct.

I wasn't implying anything to the contrary. Merely saying that I doubt we can hang onto all that talent, when there's no realistic way for them to all see significant time on the court.
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Yeah, I wonder about that, too, to be honest. All season I've watched McLean on the sidelines, always in a great mood and mixing with fans and teammates. At the same time, she was a highly touted recruit; so I wondered how she reacted to little, or no, playing time. It's great she finally got a chance to show her ability in games. Keeping everybody reasonably happy is probably a coach's biggest task. I hope the Gophers can get that Regional title; it would be a great accomplishment considering how young the team is.
 

For sure! Really hoping to see a great match with Florida. I know they'd have a little bit of a chip against Samedy too. Would be a fun match.

Yeah it's interesting that Martin played more than McLean this season, but suddenly McLean is playing great in the tournament. Don't thing Martin got any sets at all against N Iowa.
 

The Gophers volleyball site says: Watch Online. Does that mean that ESPN3 will be streaming the match against USC this evening at 5 CT, for people who don't have ESPN3 on their TVs? Does anybody know?
 

Hrothgar said:
The Gophers volleyball site says: Watch Online. Does that mean that ESPN3 will be streaming the match against USC this evening at 5 CT, for people who don't have ESPN3 on their TVs? Does anybody know?
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Yes it's an ESPN3 (online) match.
 

"ESPN3" brand just means it's online streaming only, and there is no channel you can tune in to watch it.


There are multiple ways to access that online stream:
- use your computer, and go to watchESPN.com in an internet browser
- use your phone or tablet, and download the watchESPN app for that platform
- use your smart TV (device), such as a Roku, AppleTV, etc., and download the watchESPN app for that platform
- it might even be possible these days, if you have a new enough cable TV box, that it's smart enough to have a watchESPN app built in (I know some cable TV boxes now support Netflix directly)

Usually, you then need to authenticate with your username/password for your cable TV and/or ISP account. Like your Comcast Xfinity or Charter Spectrum login info, etc. But perhaps these particular events will be allowed to be accessed by anyone for free? That's the only part I'm not sure about
 


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