Gopher Volleyball 2018

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Time to start the 2018 thread.
 

What are people's way-too-early guesses for the starting lineup in 2018?
 

I'd guess something like this:

RS: Samedy
M1: Pittman
M2: Morgan/Buford
OH: Hart
OH: Martin/McLean/Rollins
DS: Barnes
L: McGraw

Just a guess. A lot still to be determined.

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MRJ said:
I'd guess something like this:

RS: Samedy
M1: Pittman
M2: Morgan/Buford
OH: Hart
OH: Martin/McLean/Rollins
DS: Barnes
L: McGraw

Just a guess. A lot still to be determined.

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Click to expand...

And of course SSS at Setter.

Will there be another DS? Beckley?


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Ski U Mah Gopher said:
And of course SSS at Setter.

Will there be another DS? Beckley?


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Click to expand...

My educated gut feeling is that Adanna Rollins takes over as the 2nd outside. She is extremely talented and versatile, and her back row play would eliminate the need for a 2nd DS. Between McGraw, Barnes, and Rollins, the gophers would have some of the best passing/digging in the country.
 



Ski U Mah Gopher said:
And of course SSS at Setter.

Will there be another DS? Beckley?


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Click to expand...
Yep, please forgive the obviously silly omission..[emoji4]

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GameDay said:
My educated gut feeling is that Adanna Rollins takes over as the 2nd outside. She is extremely talented and versatile, and her back row play would eliminate the need for a 2nd DS. Between McGraw, Barnes, and Rollins, the gophers would have some of the best passing/digging in the country.
Click to expand...

Do teams use two six-rotation hitters? Or is that not what you meant, for Rollins. Would she start a set in the 5 position, or the 2 position?
 



Ski U Mah Gopher said:
And of course SSS at Setter.

Will there be another DS? Beckley?


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Click to expand...

In addition to my previous post, I was wondering if Beckley would get more time this year with a possible defensive specialist spot open. Barnes took over and pretty much never gave up the spot. I'm also wondering with Goehner leaving if Beckley might rotate with Barnes next year. This is assuming that McGraw takes over the libero spot.
 

According to gophersports roster bio, Beckley played in 6 sets in 2017 as a junior, down from 31 sets in 2016 as a soph.

Just wondering why you guys think her court time is going up significantly?
 

MnplsGopher said:
According to gophersports roster bio, Beckley played in 6 sets in 2017 as a junior, down from 31 sets in 2016 as a soph.

Just wondering why you guys think her court time is going up significantly?
Click to expand...

She played a bunch as a sophomore because Goehner suffered an injury/illness and was out for a number of matches early in 2016. Hugh plugged Beckley into Goehner's spot and she performed very well imo until Alyssa came back.

I thought the minutes could have been there this year and was likely an open competition between Sophie and Barnes to see who would play alongside Rosado and Goehner when one or the other was out. As we know, Barnes emerged and took over the spot for the vast majority of the season.

With Alyssa and Rosado both leaving, an extra spot figures to open up in the rotation, so there's a possibility for Sophie to maybe get more court-time in 2018.
 

MRJ, thanks for the thoughts.

Goehner and Barnes both played in all 118 sets this year. No stats on how many total rallies they were each on the court for, which would be good info.

The rotation structure of this year notwithstanding, it seems like only one DS is actually needed to substitute with the OH, just as only one L is needed for substituting with the MB.

Guessing it will be an open competition between Barnes and McGraw for the L, as I guess that is a more prestigious and important position for defense specializing players. The “loser” getting the DS position.
 



MnplsGopher said:
MRJ, thanks for the thoughts.

Goehner and Barnes both played in all 118 sets this year. No stats on how many total rallies they were each on the court for, which would be good info.

The rotation structure of this year notwithstanding, it seems like only one DS is actually needed to substitute with the OH, just as only one L is needed for substituting with the MB.

Guessing it will be an open competition between Barnes and McGraw for the L, as I guess that is a more prestigious and important position for defense specializing players. The “loser” getting the DS position.
Click to expand...
Could very well be. Some of it will also depend on how well Rollins fits in too.



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MnplsGopher said:
Do teams use two six-rotation hitters? Or is that not what you meant, for Rollins. Would she start a set in the 5 position, or the 2 position?
Click to expand...

Teams will use 2 six-rotation hitters if they believe that 2 of their 3 pin hitters are capable of playing the back row at a high enough level. If Rollins' offense and blocking proves good enough to give her the OH2 spot, that would give them both Rollins and Samedy as players spending 3 rotations in the back row, hence only needing one DS.

As for the Libero/DS stuff, I truly believe that McGraw starts day 1 as libero. She's absolutely outstanding, and has been regarded as the top libero in the country in the 2018 class. Those don't come around often. Barnes is special and provides amazing consistency when passing, so I think the floor defense takes a huge step up next year. Goehner really underperformed this past season and Rosado never quite reached a level of play that we expected of her.
 

Thanks for the thoughts GameDay.

With “only” Samedy and SSS staying on the court for the whole set, you still think there need to be two DS? Is it a mechanics of rotations/substitutions thing, or another reason?


I think I just need to sit down and bang out 12 lists showing like rotation 1 serve, rotation 1 receive, rotation 2 serve, etc until I understand it.
 

GameDay said:
Teams will use 2 six-rotation hitters if they believe that 2 of their 3 pin hitters are capable of playing the back row at a high enough level. If Rollins' offense and blocking proves good enough to give her the OH2 spot, that would give them both Rollins and Samedy as players spending 3 rotations in the back row, hence only needing one DS.

As for the Libero/DS stuff, I truly believe that McGraw starts day 1 as libero. She's absolutely outstanding, and has been regarded as the top libero in the country in the 2018 class. Those don't come around often. Barnes is special and provides amazing consistency when passing, so I think the floor defense takes a huge step up next year. Goehner really underperformed this past season and Rosado never quite reached a level of play that we expected of her.
Click to expand...

CC was great her Sophomore season in H.School and the following season at Select. I was amazed the first time I saw her play. Unfortunately, I doubt she ever sees the court as a Gopher. She is all reputation now: but no longer is quick and nimble. I’ve seen her play a lot and she was much better 2 yrs ago. Sorry


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Big Ten Championship said:
CC was great her Sophomore season in H.School and the following season at Select. I was amazed the first time I saw her play. Unfortunately, I doubt she ever sees the court as a Gopher. She is all reputation now: but no longer is quick and nimble. I’ve seen her play a lot and she was much better 2 yrs ago. Sorry


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Never sees the court? Um, okay.

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Big Ten Championship said:
CC was great her Sophomore season in H.School and the following season at Select. I was amazed the first time I saw her play. Unfortunately, I doubt she ever sees the court as a Gopher. She is all reputation now: but no longer is quick and nimble. I’ve seen her play a lot and she was much better 2 yrs ago. Sorry
Click to expand...

And we offered her a scholarship just for the heck of it?
 

Big Ten Championship said:
CC was great her Sophomore season in H.School and the following season at Select. I was amazed the first time I saw her play. Unfortunately, I doubt she ever sees the court as a Gopher. She is all reputation now: but no longer is quick and nimble. I’ve seen her play a lot and she was much better 2 yrs ago. Sorry


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Well she's the highest ranked recruit at her position (on a national level) in more than 5 years and recently just played outstanding in the UA All-American game last weekend against 24 of the top recruits in the country, so I'm going to beg to differ. She was at setter for Prior Lake this past season and was asked to take on different responsibilities rather than specializing in her traditional libero role (not to mention being injured for part of the year) so this HS season would not be a good indicator at all. We're all free to express our opinions though.
 

A B1G coaching switch (I didn't see this coming):

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2017/12/...iana-hires-aird-as-head-volleyball-coach.aspx

Indiana University Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass announced today that Steve Aird is the new head volleyball coach at Indiana University. A two-time NCAA champion as an assistant coach at Penn State, Aird is an elite recruiter who has spent the last four seasons successfully turning around the Maryland program as its head coach.

"Being located in the middle of a volleyball hotbed and opening a new, state-of-the-art $17 million facility, it was important that Indiana University hire the right coach to lead our program into this exciting new era," Glass said. "In Steve Aird we have found that person. He is an elite recruiter, a program-builder of the highest order, a great trainer and tactician, knows the conference well, connects with and graduates his students, and is regarded as one of the best young coaches in America. We are thrilled to welcome Steve and Brandy to the IU Athletics family.
 


MnplsGopher said:
Indiana is a volleyball hotbed? Hmm...
Click to expand...

Big time. Gophers nabbed Mel Shaffmaster, the #2 ranked recruit in 2020, who happens to be from New Castle, IN. Some other Indiana studs...

Caitie Baird- Top 5 recruit in 2019, hardest hitter in her class, probably going to Stanford
Kylie Murr- Top libero in 2019 class, Ohio State commit
Kenzie Knuckles- 2nd best libero in 2019, Nebraska commit (yes, the top 2 nationally are both from the same high school)
Jonni Parker- #14 recruit in 2018, played in UA All-American game, playing for Penn State next fall
Maybre Shaffmaster- Top 20 recruit in 2021. Could follow her sister to Minnesota.
Alyiah Wells- Named a top 50 recruit in 2019. Alabama commit.
Moe Hornung- Top 10 Libero in 2018. Purdue commit.
Julia Wohlert- #47 recruit in 2018. Wisconsin commit. (6 ft 7 inches, I might add)
Bonnie Bostic- Top 50 recruit in 2019. Arizona commit.
Amiya Jones- 6'3 MB. Iowa commit.

*Also, 4 Indiana players placed as 1st/2nd/3rd team AVCA All Americans in college volleyball this season. Danielle Cuttino of Purdue, Kendall White of Penn State, Carly Skojdt of Michigan, and Tionna Williams of Wisconsin.

I know this is a bit lengthy, but hopefully this gives you the memo. Indiana is one of the top states in the country in producing collegiate VB talent. If Aird recruits well and can put up some borders in the state, he can build an outstanding program. He has a long ways to go to make IU and attractive destination however.
 

Maryland was improving under Aird, I hope they can keep improving under their new coach.

A strong Big Ten is good for all the teams in the conference.


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Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Maryland was improving under Aird, I hope they can keep improving under their new coach.

A strong Big Ten is good for all the teams in the conference.


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Click to expand...

A couple of patsies are just fine. The conf. is plenty tough.
 

GameDay said:
Big time. Gophers nabbed Mel Shaffmaster, the #2 ranked recruit in 2020, who happens to be from New Castle, IN. Some other Indiana studs...

Caitie Baird- Top 5 recruit in 2019, hardest hitter in her class, probably going to Stanford
Kylie Murr- Top libero in 2019 class, Ohio State commit
Kenzie Knuckles- 2nd best libero in 2019, Nebraska commit (yes, the top 2 nationally are both from the same high school)
Jonni Parker- #14 recruit in 2018, played in UA All-American game, playing for Penn State next fall
Maybre Shaffmaster- Top 20 recruit in 2021. Could follow her sister to Minnesota.
Alyiah Wells- Named a top 50 recruit in 2019. Alabama commit.
Moe Hornung- Top 10 Libero in 2018. Purdue commit.
Julia Wohlert- #47 recruit in 2018. Wisconsin commit. (6 ft 7 inches, I might add)
Bonnie Bostic- Top 50 recruit in 2019. Arizona commit.
Amiya Jones- 6'3 MB. Iowa commit.

*Also, 4 Indiana players placed as 1st/2nd/3rd team AVCA All Americans in college volleyball this season. Danielle Cuttino of Purdue, Kendall White of Penn State, Carly Skojdt of Michigan, and Tionna Williams of Wisconsin.

I know this is a bit lengthy, but hopefully this gives you the memo. Indiana is one of the top states in the country in producing collegiate VB talent. If Aird recruits well and can put up some borders in the state, he can build an outstanding program. He has a long ways to go to make IU and attractive destination however.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I stand corrected and humbled, obviously.

Props to the gals going to PAC and Big Ten schools. Alabama?? Barf. Why not go to Kentucky while you're at it. Yeesh.
 

GameDay said:
Big time. Gophers nabbed Mel Shaffmaster, the #2 ranked recruit in 2020, who happens to be from New Castle, IN. Some other Indiana studs...

Caitie Baird- Top 5 recruit in 2019, hardest hitter in her class, probably going to Stanford
Kylie Murr- Top libero in 2019 class, Ohio State commit
Kenzie Knuckles- 2nd best libero in 2019, Nebraska commit (yes, the top 2 nationally are both from the same high school)
Jonni Parker- #14 recruit in 2018, played in UA All-American game, playing for Penn State next fall
Maybre Shaffmaster- Top 20 recruit in 2021. Could follow her sister to Minnesota.
Alyiah Wells- Named a top 50 recruit in 2019. Alabama commit.
Moe Hornung- Top 10 Libero in 2018. Purdue commit.
Julia Wohlert- #47 recruit in 2018. Wisconsin commit. (6 ft 7 inches, I might add)
Bonnie Bostic- Top 50 recruit in 2019. Arizona commit.
Amiya Jones- 6'3 MB. Iowa commit.

*Also, 4 Indiana players placed as 1st/2nd/3rd team AVCA All Americans in college volleyball this season. Danielle Cuttino of Purdue, Kendall White of Penn State, Carly Skojdt of Michigan, and Tionna Williams of Wisconsin.

I know this is a bit lengthy, but hopefully this gives you the memo. Indiana is one of the top states in the country in producing collegiate VB talent. If Aird recruits well and can put up some borders in the state, he can build an outstanding program. He has a long ways to go to make IU and attractive destination however.
Click to expand...

But for in-state talent, Aird has to go against Purdue and Notre Dame in-state, plus border state institutions like UK, UI, Northwestern, OSU, Michigan & MSU. Also the B1G biggies like Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn St, and Wisconsin. That doesn't even include the other VB blue-bloods like Stanford & Texas, etc.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
But for in-state talent, Aird has to go against Purdue and Notre Dame in-state, plus border state institutions like UK, UI, Northwestern, OSU, Michigan & MSU. Also the B1G biggies like Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn St, and Wisconsin. That doesn't even include the other VB blue-bloods like Stanford & Texas, etc.
Click to expand...

It's like Texas/Georgia/Florida for football in a sense. So much talent. Don't need to get 1A and 1B out of your state, but if you can connect on some of the better players in the state, your giving your program a chance to compete year after year. Look at how he turned Maryland around.
 

Big Ten Championship said:
CC was great her Sophomore season in H.School and the following season at Select. I was amazed the first time I saw her play. Unfortunately, I doubt she ever sees the court as a Gopher. She is all reputation now: but no longer is quick and nimble. I’ve seen her play a lot and she was much better 2 yrs ago. Sorry
Click to expand...

Would think better of a D-I volleyball school, let alone one of the best in the country, to simply rescind a scholarship offer if this were the case.
 

Is there any reason that the highest drawing women's program doesn't have their games on radio. I would have thought with the contract that started this year that VB would be on one of the iHeart Radio stations (like 93.3, where WBB is broadcast). It would be nice to get some radio coverage during the season.
 

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