Matches 5 & 6: B1G/Pac 12 Challenge: Gophers Play Oregon and Stanford in Palo Alto (Sept 8 & 9, 2023)

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After they won the second set I thought this was gonna be a more competitive match than I expected, but right back in the hole they went and pretty soon it was game over.
 

Tough Love time for this HC.

To most of us fans it is quite obvious and in all seriousness time for this HC to address the "elephant on the court". IMO, it is a must that all players be as mentally and/or physically capable to play any sport, at any time.

It is no secret to anyone who is following this program our starting lineup consists of starters who are not at the top of their game. Players have been writing/talking about how they have and/or are suffering from "mental health issues". Individual results (positive or negative) after each and every match not only affect that player but an entire team.

I am sure these coaches want nothing but success both on and off the court for all these players. But I feel the experiment is over and this Gopher Team needs all their starters as healthy as possible both physically and mentally.
 

Tough loss. The volleyball was good for two sets. Then, in the middle of the third set, the Gophers hit a wall--emotional and maybe physical because they had the toughest match on Friday. Beating Stanford on their home court is always tough.
 

*preface this by saying I didn't watch either match*

Could also be another strong factor: quite simply, there is a decent gap between that #7-#10 range in the country, in which the Gophers firmly reside, and the #1-#4 range in the country.

We couldn't hang with Texas and sound like we couldn't hang with Stanford.


Goal for this team should still be to try to make it to the Elite Eight. I think that will be the ceiling, and of course will depend on the routing we draw. Granted, last Final Four was lucky as hell and we easily could've lost in the EE to Texas instead of Louisville playing their Super Bowl to take them out and then having nothing left in the tank for us.
 

walleye said:
Tough loss. The volleyball was good for two sets. Then, in the middle of the third set, the Gophers hit a wall--emotional and maybe physical because they had the toughest match on Friday. Beating Stanford on their home court is always tough.
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I returned from the Gopher/Eastern Michigan game in time to watch the match from the middle of the third set on. Nevertheless, I think the offense is improving; whether we can ramp up the blocking remains an open question
 


MplsGopher said:
*preface this by saying I didn't watch either match*

Could also be another strong factor: quite simply, there is a decent gap between that #7-#10 range in the country, in which the Gophers firmly reside, and the #1-#4 range in the country.

We couldn't hang with Texas and sound like we couldn't hang with Stanford.


Goal for this team should still be to try to make it to the Elite Eight. I think that will be the ceiling, and of course will depend on the routing we draw. Granted, last Final Four was lucky as hell and we easily could've lost in the EE to Texas instead of Louisville playing their Super Bowl to take them out and then having nothing left in the tank for us.
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It's still a long season ahead of them, but I could definitely see us not hosting the first round. So that would mean a trip out west or down south.
 

We'll definitely host a first round. That's just the top 16 teams. We've done that the last __ years?

It's the regional hosts that are just the top 4 seeds that we rarely ever make it as a host, and usually you at best run into one of those hosts and can't get over the hump.

Last year we didn't even make it to the regional final (Elite Eight matches), though we would've lost to Texas anyway.

In 2019 we also went to the Austin regional, but Louisville had its coming out party by taking the Longhorns out for us in the regional semi. Then had nothing left in the tank against us in the regional final. So we got to go to the Final Four.
 

MplsGopher said:
We'll definitely host a first round. That's just the top 16 teams. We've done that the last __ years?

It's the regional hosts that are just the top 4 seeds that we rarely ever make it as a host, and usually you at best run into one of those hosts and can't get over the hump.

Last year we didn't even make it to the regional final (Elite Eight matches), though we would've lost to Texas anyway.

In 2019 we also went to the Austin regional, but Louisville had its coming out party by taking the Longhorns out for us in the regional semi. Then had nothing left in the tank against us in the regional final. So we got to go to the Final Four.
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Dang, you're right. Look at what this program has done to me, we've had such a high level of expectations that I've already assumed that we're making it past the first round.😬
 

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