WEBVTT

00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:02.680
Hi, volleyball fans, and welcome back to Volley

00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:04.820
Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers

00:00:04.820 --> 00:00:07.099
who want to dig deep into what is going on in

00:00:07.099 --> 00:00:10.000
NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host,

00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:12.000
Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball

00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.960
world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and

00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.980
longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And

00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:20.379
I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international

00:00:20.379 --> 00:00:23.000
volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat

00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:26.820
guy. We are back with some more educational content

00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:29.920
this week. And the only hint I will give you

00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.520
is that Adam is very excited. And if you are

00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:37.880
one of our American listeners, Thanksgiving is

00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:42.299
upon us. So with that comes the end of conference

00:00:42.299 --> 00:00:47.320
play and selection show Sunday for the NCAA tournament,

00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.159
which is very exciting stuff. Some conferences

00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:55.719
have already been clinched. So we have a handful

00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.579
of teams that already are guaranteed births in

00:00:59.579 --> 00:01:03.899
the tournament. But with the selection show comes

00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:07.120
All -American time. So, of course, we have to

00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:09.299
throw out our predictions for that as well. So

00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:15.000
we are very excited to speculate and chit -chat

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:18.019
volleyball with all of you. So let's get started.

00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:33.390
Not much to report from a rankings perspective

00:01:33.390 --> 00:01:38.709
from the last week. The major shifts we saw were

00:01:38.709 --> 00:01:42.890
TCU dropping to 20 from 16. We have already talked

00:01:42.890 --> 00:01:46.250
about their plummet off the cliff here from midseason

00:01:46.250 --> 00:01:48.329
on. It's been rough. It hasn't gotten any better.

00:01:48.489 --> 00:01:52.769
Not going well. And Iowa State climbed to 22

00:01:52.769 --> 00:01:58.450
from 25. The rest stayed pretty solid. Yeah,

00:01:58.450 --> 00:02:00.609
I mean, I don't think we're going to see. Much

00:02:00.609 --> 00:02:02.909
change from now until the end of the season.

00:02:03.109 --> 00:02:06.890
We have the upcoming ranking that is released

00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:09.469
when this episode is coming out. And then it's

00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:12.610
selection time. So basically the rankings are

00:02:12.610 --> 00:02:14.889
what they are. Teams that are on the bubble are

00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:18.870
fighting for their RPI ranking. So if you're

00:02:18.870 --> 00:02:20.469
on the bubble, win in three. You know what I

00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:22.830
mean? But as far as the Power Four conferences

00:02:22.830 --> 00:02:25.449
at the time of this recording, Nebraska has clinched

00:02:25.449 --> 00:02:28.090
the Big Ten title. Arizona State has clinched

00:02:28.090 --> 00:02:31.240
the Big 12. And everybody else is battling for

00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:34.219
second in the Big 12. Literally every other team.

00:02:34.699 --> 00:02:38.439
Like the whole conference. Wild. Absolutely wild.

00:02:38.620 --> 00:02:41.460
So that's great. The unexpected results from

00:02:41.460 --> 00:02:44.259
the week, there weren't many. But talking about

00:02:44.259 --> 00:02:47.460
battling for second place in the Big 12. So Colorado

00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:50.680
lost three straight to Cincinnati. Whoops. Not

00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:55.219
ideal. Big 12, Kansas got absolutely slapped

00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:59.039
three straight by both Utah and BYU. We watched

00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:03.659
the BYU game. And it's crazy. BYU is a tale of

00:03:03.659 --> 00:03:06.039
two cities for me. You watch their athletes.

00:03:06.259 --> 00:03:08.659
They're very physical. They played really well

00:03:08.659 --> 00:03:11.439
against Kansas, I thought. You watch that team

00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:14.400
and go, how is your record what it is? Like those

00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:15.860
two things don't line up. Well, after beating

00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:20.759
Kansas, they're 8 -8 in the Big 12. That's absolutely

00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:24.039
wild. And I just don't think it should happen.

00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:27.439
I think they should be way better than they are.

00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:30.280
The consistency is definitely an issue. The eye

00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:33.099
test from that game, and now we have watched

00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:34.960
a couple games where they've been awful, but

00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.000
the eye test from that game to their ranking

00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.400
just don't line up. Very similar, I feel the

00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:41.580
same way about Oregon, where watching them play,

00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:44.240
the eye test doesn't line up with the rankings.

00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:46.979
Agreed. I can't believe that's their record,

00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:49.879
and I can't believe Kansas lost 3 -0 to both

00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:53.680
Utah and BYU. Oh, no. As we've talked, so inconsistent

00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:56.419
all year. The whole conference is inconsistent,

00:03:56.759 --> 00:03:59.039
except Arizona State, it seems. We've actually

00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:01.460
gotten a question recently about Coach Olmsted

00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:04.680
at BYU. This person was like, she frequently

00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:08.199
coaches the U21 national teams, the collegiate

00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:10.800
national teams. She has won coach of the year.

00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:13.599
But this person said she makes coaching decisions

00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.680
that I think hurt BYU. In the last several years,

00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.779
BYU's team hasn't been as good as they historically

00:04:19.779 --> 00:04:23.019
were. For example, she doesn't set up pre -conference

00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:25.060
schedule that pushes her team. It's majority

00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:28.459
gimme teams that pad her stats. What are your

00:04:28.459 --> 00:04:31.459
takes on Coach Olmsted's coaching, what she does

00:04:31.459 --> 00:04:33.500
well, what she struggles with, where she falls

00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:35.860
short? What do they need to do as a program to

00:04:35.860 --> 00:04:39.620
get back to the top 10 -5 form and go for it

00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:42.949
in the tournament? I don't know her well enough

00:04:42.949 --> 00:04:46.350
and I haven't watched. I mean, I've watched several

00:04:46.350 --> 00:04:48.750
BYU games. I don't know if I've watched enough

00:04:48.750 --> 00:04:51.790
BYU to speak to her coaching style or what she's

00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:54.629
doing well or not. Consistency is definitely

00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:58.709
a problem. Yes, I agree with you. And there's

00:04:58.709 --> 00:05:00.689
two things when it comes to consistency. You

00:05:00.689 --> 00:05:03.550
can't lay it all at the coach's feet. However,

00:05:03.850 --> 00:05:06.769
it seems to me that they lose to teams that they

00:05:06.769 --> 00:05:09.600
have no business losing to. That's either. Just

00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:12.480
an inability for athletes to get into the mindset

00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:16.980
to compete on a daily basis or and or it's they're

00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:19.079
not necessarily mutually exclusive, but the preparation

00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:22.139
is different from match to match in terms of

00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:23.959
the expectations and what you should do. And

00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:26.819
that is definitely part of the coaching staff.

00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:29.920
Now, again, we're not in the gym. We can't say

00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:32.620
that, but that is a relatively common occurrence

00:05:32.620 --> 00:05:35.120
when you see situations like this that happen

00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.040
because their athletes are not all super young.

00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:40.240
It's a consistent program. In my opinion, they

00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:42.000
should be better than their record indicates.

00:05:42.459 --> 00:05:48.199
Obviously, BYU is predominantly LDS. I don't

00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:51.600
know what percentage of students or student athletes,

00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:57.269
rather, at BYU are not LDS. affiliated. So I

00:05:57.269 --> 00:05:59.730
feel like if the student athlete population there,

00:05:59.750 --> 00:06:02.509
and I know a large majority of them are, but

00:06:02.509 --> 00:06:04.730
that's also like from a recruiting standpoint,

00:06:04.970 --> 00:06:08.250
I think they're missing a good right side. They

00:06:08.250 --> 00:06:10.889
have a strong middle in chem of war, but they're

00:06:10.889 --> 00:06:14.990
missing a second middle piece, I think. And then

00:06:14.990 --> 00:06:18.230
they've got like one and a half good left sides,

00:06:18.350 --> 00:06:22.149
Claire little, she shows up huge sometimes and

00:06:22.149 --> 00:06:23.829
then just completely disappears other times.

00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:26.920
I think Bauer, their setter, has gotten better

00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:29.180
since last year. I didn't really like her last

00:06:29.180 --> 00:06:30.779
year, but she's gotten a lot better. And their

00:06:30.779 --> 00:06:34.560
pickup with Suli Davis is massive. She's very,

00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:38.060
very good. So good. But I guess the point I'm

00:06:38.060 --> 00:06:40.620
making is if you're recruiting from a certain

00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:46.399
pool of people, how much does that limit you?

00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:50.180
It definitely limits you from year to year. Sometimes

00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:52.300
you'll get a really good crop of athletes. Sometimes

00:06:52.300 --> 00:06:55.519
you won't. I think for me, Looking at the athletes

00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:58.220
she does have on this roster, I think they're

00:06:58.220 --> 00:07:01.180
underperforming. That would be my criticism.

00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:02.660
No, but the question being, what do they need

00:07:02.660 --> 00:07:05.360
to do to get back to the top 10? Well, yeah.

00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:08.980
You've got to have good crops of athletes that

00:07:08.980 --> 00:07:11.839
come in and can play for you. You're somewhat

00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:13.920
limited in that regard, but I don't think they're

00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.600
getting the potential out of the team they currently

00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:22.649
have. I also don't see BYU... implement a lot

00:07:22.649 --> 00:07:26.410
of changes or strategy it seems like it's more

00:07:26.410 --> 00:07:28.569
of a we're just gonna hit the ball really really

00:07:28.569 --> 00:07:30.470
hard and sometimes it's gonna work and sometimes

00:07:30.470 --> 00:07:32.889
it's not like I don't I can't always tell what

00:07:32.889 --> 00:07:35.170
the game plan is I can't always tell what the

00:07:35.170 --> 00:07:38.689
serving strategy is I don't always see and again

00:07:38.689 --> 00:07:40.529
I haven't watched all the games so this criticism

00:07:40.529 --> 00:07:43.389
may or may not be fair but don't always see substitutions

00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:45.670
in terms of when you know players are struggling

00:07:45.670 --> 00:07:47.670
take them off the floor talk to them put them

00:07:47.670 --> 00:07:50.329
back in You know, I definitely think there are

00:07:50.329 --> 00:07:53.110
probably some things that could be done to get

00:07:53.110 --> 00:07:55.089
more out of this team than we saw this season.

00:07:55.430 --> 00:07:57.829
Moving away from the Big 12, yes, there were

00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:00.050
only two results that we have this week from

00:08:00.050 --> 00:08:02.889
there. North Carolina got beaten by both Florida

00:08:02.889 --> 00:08:06.110
State and Miami. We watched the Miami game, and

00:08:06.110 --> 00:08:09.310
that was ugly. I expected that to be way closer.

00:08:09.410 --> 00:08:13.930
It was a 14 -15 matchup at the time. Wow. I mean,

00:08:13.949 --> 00:08:17.189
they got blasted in the first set. Not good.

00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:19.800
They played better in the second and third, but

00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:22.379
they didn't capitalize on any of their chances.

00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:25.579
I didn't think. They couldn't pass. They couldn't

00:08:25.579 --> 00:08:29.019
pass. They didn't serve particularly well. No.

00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:32.799
They were good in flashes, but that's not the

00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:34.960
North Carolina team that was ranked 15th. Yeah,

00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:37.019
ranked 15th. Like, come on, guys. And then to

00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:39.399
lose to Florida State, too, earlier in the week.

00:08:39.539 --> 00:08:43.409
Sure. That can't happen. You can't. lose both

00:08:43.409 --> 00:08:45.250
of those matches. I mean, I was getting into

00:08:45.250 --> 00:08:46.889
tournament time. Are you kidding? Yeah. I was

00:08:46.889 --> 00:08:48.970
expecting the Miami game to be really, really

00:08:48.970 --> 00:08:50.929
good. Like I was looking forward to watching

00:08:50.929 --> 00:08:54.049
that one and they just did not show up in my

00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:58.309
opinion. Yeah. Well, another game that we expected

00:08:58.309 --> 00:09:01.870
a lot from that did not deliver was Wisconsin

00:09:01.870 --> 00:09:04.149
versus Purdue. Okay. Let's spend a little time

00:09:04.149 --> 00:09:07.029
here. Wisconsin crushed Purdue three straight.

00:09:07.190 --> 00:09:11.070
Yes. Wisconsin looked really good. I really liked

00:09:11.070 --> 00:09:13.490
watching Charlie for ringer. play in that match.

00:09:13.590 --> 00:09:16.649
I thought she was very good. She stayed aggressive

00:09:16.649 --> 00:09:18.250
at the net regardless of the shoulder injury

00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:21.129
that she's coming back from which I think for

00:09:21.129 --> 00:09:23.590
me is a good show of where her head is at. Well

00:09:23.590 --> 00:09:25.909
especially because we heard that she was done

00:09:25.909 --> 00:09:29.049
for the whole season. Yeah. So that was good

00:09:29.049 --> 00:09:31.690
to see but first and foremost I thought she set

00:09:31.690 --> 00:09:34.870
a really good game. I liked her out of system

00:09:34.870 --> 00:09:37.590
setting that game. Her out of system setting

00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:40.470
to the left side specifically was in tempo. It

00:09:40.470 --> 00:09:42.929
looked really good. I actually thought their

00:09:42.929 --> 00:09:45.210
outside struggled for the most part, but she

00:09:45.210 --> 00:09:48.710
ran the middle incredibly well. I think the middles

00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:52.870
had 29 kills between the two of them. It was

00:09:52.870 --> 00:09:55.049
really good to see her get both of those middles

00:09:55.049 --> 00:09:57.669
going. I really liked her distribution. I thought

00:09:57.669 --> 00:10:00.409
she made good decisions. She got one -on -ones.

00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:04.649
I thought their game plan against Waller to shut

00:10:04.649 --> 00:10:09.220
her down was really effective. Waller hit zero

00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:11.840
on the match. She was seven kills, seven errors

00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.460
on 24 swings. That's just not going to cut it

00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:16.799
when you're fighting for second in the Big Ten.

00:10:17.019 --> 00:10:19.100
I actually thought Ferbringer was their best

00:10:19.100 --> 00:10:21.059
player. I thought Mimi struggled at the beginning,

00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:24.179
but then kind of found her way afterwards. She

00:10:24.179 --> 00:10:26.840
was better in the second and third set, but Ferbringer

00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:28.279
in the middle, so that was the story for me.

00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:32.639
Do you think it was Wisconsin was so good, or

00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.000
do you think Purdue was also bad? I think it

00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.000
was a little bit of... Both, but more Wisconsin

00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.100
was better. Again, we've talked about this. Purdue

00:10:42.100 --> 00:10:44.419
is a team that's probably not going to make a

00:10:44.419 --> 00:10:45.940
ton of errors. They're going to serve aggressively.

00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:48.919
They're well coached. Their setter, Taylor Anderson,

00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:51.159
was pretty bad, I thought. She struggled, and

00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:53.259
I think that threw everybody else off. And the

00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:55.899
libero setting. I'm on a setting kick today,

00:10:56.019 --> 00:11:04.820
so buckle up. There were some just unhittable

00:11:04.820 --> 00:11:09.169
balls. From this libero setting, okay? I'm sorry,

00:11:09.269 --> 00:11:12.070
when you are setting the left side, they should

00:11:12.070 --> 00:11:14.850
not be hitting from position three. The bad setting

00:11:14.850 --> 00:11:17.070
is magnified when you're playing against a team

00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:19.970
that has a block the way that Wisconsin does.

00:11:20.230 --> 00:11:22.409
No, I'm talking like you're missing that set

00:11:22.409 --> 00:11:26.830
by five meters. Well, yes, I understand. And

00:11:26.830 --> 00:11:30.360
their actual setter. Had a couple head scratchers

00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:33.240
as well. I saw a girl jump and miss the ball.

00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:35.899
I think that was the biggest issue. I don't think

00:11:35.899 --> 00:11:38.500
they passed particularly well either. But the

00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:41.139
setting was definitely kind of the focal issue

00:11:41.139 --> 00:11:43.639
that I saw, both from the setter and from the

00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:46.059
other players. We got a question about Wisconsin

00:11:46.059 --> 00:11:49.539
that I think is interesting. This person said,

00:11:49.940 --> 00:11:52.639
what does Wisconsin need to do to make a push

00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.539
in the tournament? Because it seems like Mimi

00:11:55.539 --> 00:11:58.700
is like the only person they set. Would it make

00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:02.019
sense, perhaps, for Grace Egan to move to the

00:12:02.019 --> 00:12:07.259
left side and bring Wardlow or Quest in on the

00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:10.840
right side? The season was a tale of two situations

00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:12.899
for me for Wisconsin. Not two cities this time,

00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:17.620
two situations. When Furbringer's in, she runs

00:12:17.620 --> 00:12:19.240
a way more balanced offense than their backup

00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:21.169
setter. So when the backup setter's in, she's

00:12:21.169 --> 00:12:23.090
set Mimi because that's the safety blanket. That's

00:12:23.090 --> 00:12:24.389
what you're comfortable with. So I don't think

00:12:24.389 --> 00:12:25.950
that that's going to be an issue going into the

00:12:25.950 --> 00:12:27.769
tournament. I think that if Furbringer's healthy

00:12:27.769 --> 00:12:30.450
and they're passing relatively well, she will

00:12:30.450 --> 00:12:32.789
distribute the ball in a way that is effective.

00:12:33.090 --> 00:12:35.909
But how do you feel about this Vajic girl? Not

00:12:35.909 --> 00:12:38.730
a huge fan. Yeah, so would Egan be a better option

00:12:38.730 --> 00:12:40.830
than her on the left side and then bring Quest

00:12:40.830 --> 00:12:43.149
or somebody in on the right? Because I am not

00:12:43.149 --> 00:12:46.090
a huge Vajic fan either. Sheffield needs to be

00:12:46.090 --> 00:12:48.659
comfortable. messing with his lineup. Well, we

00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:50.500
all, we know he's not. Well, but this, you asked

00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:53.700
me what he has to do. He has to be okay. Putting

00:12:53.700 --> 00:12:56.600
those outside hitters and rotating who's playing

00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:59.000
where. Let's say he wasn't scared of changing

00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:02.120
his lineup or let's say he was open to making

00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:05.360
changes or substitutions. What do you think that

00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:08.779
that arrangement would be better than keeping

00:13:08.779 --> 00:13:11.899
by addition on the left side? Probably you can

00:13:11.899 --> 00:13:13.980
pass. Well, that's the thing. It's going to come

00:13:13.980 --> 00:13:17.200
down to which outside can pass the best. You

00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.080
need passers for Wisconsin to be able to run

00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.139
the middle. First and foremost, for them to be

00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:24.159
successful, their middles have to be a threat

00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:27.220
consistently. That's number one for me. And so

00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:29.659
if that means you've got a rotating outside core

00:13:29.659 --> 00:13:32.259
outside of Mimi Collier for who's going to pass,

00:13:32.519 --> 00:13:35.740
so be it. And you might have to throw, not throw

00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:38.779
away, but if you play set one and it's a dumpster

00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:40.720
fire, then you make changes right then and there.

00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:42.759
We know that's not going to happen. Well, going

00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:45.500
in, that's what you have to be prepared for because...

00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:47.679
There is a little bit of a lack of consistency

00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:50.919
with Vajicic on the left side there. If Egan's

00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:52.700
your next best option, then you put her there

00:13:52.700 --> 00:13:54.679
and you put in your other players on right side.

00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.600
I think that that totally has to be something

00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.500
that's on the table. Because when they're playing

00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:04.480
well and they're clicking, they're good. But

00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:06.860
there is that inconsistency in that regard. And

00:14:06.860 --> 00:14:08.960
they're going to face very good serving teams.

00:14:09.539 --> 00:14:11.679
Okay, there's one more Wisconsin question I wanted

00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:15.399
to address now. And it is, what is your opinion

00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:17.919
on the two setters? Some people say that Addie

00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.879
Horner's ceiling is higher than Charlie Furbringer's.

00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:23.080
Do you think she could ever overtake Charlie?

00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:26.740
My instinct on this answer is we have seen how

00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:30.279
reluctant Sheffield is to make changes. He is

00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:34.059
not the type that would bench Charlie Furbringer

00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:39.299
to take a flyer on this other girl, even if hypothetically.

00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:43.820
Horner does surpass Furbringer. I think Furbringer's

00:14:43.820 --> 00:14:46.580
got that starting spot for her whole time there.

00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:49.440
I'm actually a big Charlie Furbringer fan. She

00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:52.480
does a lot of things really well. First and foremost,

00:14:52.700 --> 00:14:54.919
I really like her decision making and how she

00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.399
runs her offense. Definitely from the few matches

00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:59.399
that I saw Addie play, I don't think they're

00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.360
on the same level. She's bigger. But Charlie

00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:05.379
blocks pretty well. You don't generally see her

00:15:05.379 --> 00:15:08.580
being abused in the front row. And I think that...

00:15:08.730 --> 00:15:12.570
She's a really cerebral setter. And that's hard

00:15:12.570 --> 00:15:15.029
to overtake, especially at that age, I think.

00:15:15.049 --> 00:15:17.549
We're basing that off of anything that we know.

00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:21.789
No, just watching her decision -making when she

00:15:21.789 --> 00:15:24.549
sets the ball and who she chooses to set at different

00:15:24.549 --> 00:15:28.490
times. For how young she is, I'm generally impressed

00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:31.710
with her decision -making. So I would be surprised

00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:36.470
if Addie overtook her. That's my take. Anything

00:15:36.470 --> 00:15:39.110
else you thought about Purdue? Or from that match

00:15:39.110 --> 00:15:41.370
before I have one more thing to wrap up this

00:15:41.370 --> 00:15:44.990
segment. Give it to me. I happened to listen

00:15:44.990 --> 00:15:47.389
to the post game. Okay, I thought you were going

00:15:47.389 --> 00:15:49.649
to let this go. I'm not going to let it go. I

00:15:49.649 --> 00:15:51.149
happened to listen to the post game interview

00:15:51.149 --> 00:15:56.009
with Coach Sheffield after that win. And he seemed

00:15:56.009 --> 00:16:00.590
genuinely shocked that Dave Shondell changed

00:16:00.590 --> 00:16:04.210
his rotation to start in rotation one, which

00:16:04.210 --> 00:16:06.230
apparently he's never done all year. And that

00:16:06.230 --> 00:16:08.570
was the reason that they got off to a slow start.

00:16:08.830 --> 00:16:11.509
First of all, there's a few things that I find

00:16:11.509 --> 00:16:14.490
incredibly concerning about this statement. One,

00:16:14.649 --> 00:16:17.730
changing your starting rotation to get a matchup

00:16:17.730 --> 00:16:21.090
against teams should be a fundamental practice

00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:24.429
for volleyball at all levels, including club

00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:28.590
volleyball. For that to be a surprise or to be

00:16:28.590 --> 00:16:31.470
like a shocking strategy that you would see at

00:16:31.470 --> 00:16:33.970
the highest level in the Big Ten is head -scratching

00:16:33.970 --> 00:16:35.669
to me. Now, I don't know if he was just trying

00:16:35.669 --> 00:16:38.330
to give him credit. And we don't watch teams

00:16:38.330 --> 00:16:40.690
like enough to see rotation changes from match

00:16:40.690 --> 00:16:44.710
to match. But that's volleyball 101 in my mind.

00:16:44.750 --> 00:16:47.629
I was shocked. I don't know how you feel about

00:16:47.629 --> 00:16:50.830
that. I mean, if you're the top dog in a matchup,

00:16:50.850 --> 00:16:54.730
I would say you just start where you start. And

00:16:54.730 --> 00:16:57.230
the other team should make adjustments. If Shondell

00:16:57.230 --> 00:17:00.309
is the under, and it was such a close matchup

00:17:00.309 --> 00:17:02.230
ranking wise, like was there an underdog in this

00:17:02.230 --> 00:17:04.069
match? I don't know. But like hypothetically,

00:17:04.130 --> 00:17:06.930
let's say Purdue was, you're going to see where

00:17:06.930 --> 00:17:09.009
Wisconsin normally starts and you're going to

00:17:09.009 --> 00:17:12.480
set your rotation for the lineup you want. Absolutely.

00:17:12.539 --> 00:17:14.839
I just thought it was funny that he was surprised

00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:16.579
that that happened. Maybe he was looking for

00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:18.940
something to be complimentary about. And he might

00:17:18.940 --> 00:17:20.900
have been because they beat them so badly and

00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:23.000
whatever else. But that comment just stood out

00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:25.140
to me as a bit of a head scratcher. What else

00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:28.079
happened in this week? No, that's it. Those are

00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:32.200
the noteworthy results for the week. But on Monday

00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:35.619
at noon Eastern, so by the time this podcast

00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:37.920
has been released, this has probably already

00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.519
happened. The MLV draft is happening. On the

00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:45.400
Roku channel. If we missed it. Maybe they'll

00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:49.440
show it on YouTube. Who knows. But Dallas gets

00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.220
the first pick. Because they're new to the league.

00:17:52.460 --> 00:17:54.720
Fair enough. So it'll be interesting to see.

00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:59.039
Which graduating athletes. Are choosing to go

00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:03.680
the MLV route. Last year. We know that MLV. PVF

00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:07.670
at the time. drafted some athletes that really

00:18:07.670 --> 00:18:10.269
had no intention of ever playing MLV or PVF.

00:18:10.349 --> 00:18:12.450
Curious to see if that'll happen again. That

00:18:12.450 --> 00:18:15.849
whole wrinkle adds a lot of intrigue to the draft,

00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:18.549
which I think will be interesting. Who knows?

00:18:18.569 --> 00:18:21.950
Who knows? So maybe they've done better research

00:18:21.950 --> 00:18:24.289
or connected with athletes and coaches beforehand

00:18:24.289 --> 00:18:28.490
to see who is actually committed to playing for

00:18:28.490 --> 00:18:33.700
the league. We'll find out. But recently, Love

00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:37.539
and MLV both announced new expansion teams. So

00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:40.039
both are going to head to Minnesota, I think,

00:18:40.059 --> 00:18:46.819
in 2027. And then Love is heading to LA. And

00:18:46.819 --> 00:18:51.660
then I have heard that MLV is heading to Northern

00:18:51.660 --> 00:18:56.319
California. I'm pretty sure the LA team is happening

00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:01.970
in 2020. Okay. The season starts in 2027. Minnesota

00:19:01.970 --> 00:19:07.210
is starting in 2027 for MLV. I'm just like, my

00:19:07.210 --> 00:19:09.589
question is, why are you guys going to the exact

00:19:09.589 --> 00:19:11.869
same places all the time? Well, just trying to

00:19:11.869 --> 00:19:13.430
hit the volleyball markets and capture them.

00:19:13.589 --> 00:19:17.829
Thank you, Adam. Find different ones. You're

00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:21.130
making people pick the same, a similar product

00:19:21.130 --> 00:19:24.849
in the same city. Both believe that they will

00:19:24.849 --> 00:19:26.690
be the one who's successful and want to have

00:19:26.690 --> 00:19:28.609
a presence. That's what I'm guessing is happening.

00:19:28.769 --> 00:19:30.750
But just the fact that they're all going to the

00:19:30.750 --> 00:19:33.869
same places. I understand you're picking places

00:19:33.869 --> 00:19:36.049
where volleyball is big, but can we not do it

00:19:36.049 --> 00:19:38.829
at the same time? We'll see who wins. It's going

00:19:38.829 --> 00:19:41.029
to continue to be a fight. So that's happening.

00:19:41.150 --> 00:19:45.529
I've also heard that the Love Six will probably

00:19:45.529 --> 00:19:48.230
not be a thing. No, I'm guessing that was a one

00:19:48.230 --> 00:19:52.750
-time deal. But because Kelsey Cook and Justine

00:19:52.750 --> 00:19:54.789
Wong -Arantes announced their pregnancies, that

00:19:54.789 --> 00:19:56.829
leaves a couple of vacancies that I think will

00:19:56.829 --> 00:20:00.309
have expected to be filled. So I have heard,

00:20:00.390 --> 00:20:04.390
and I'm not positive about this, that very short

00:20:04.390 --> 00:20:07.210
contracts were offered to a couple graduating

00:20:07.210 --> 00:20:10.650
athletes. Would you take those really short contracts

00:20:10.650 --> 00:20:14.230
or go to MLV? Depends what you think your future

00:20:14.230 --> 00:20:16.740
is going to be and the money around it. and the

00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:19.460
sponsorship opportunities, it's a tough decision

00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:22.559
unless you know all of the specifics. Yeah, again,

00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:26.160
I've heard a lot of rumors. We aren't confirmed

00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:28.759
on those, so I don't want to go wild with these

00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:30.759
speculations. But I just wanted to throw them

00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:32.619
out there, you know? We will have a breakdown

00:20:32.619 --> 00:20:35.589
on the draft next week, though. We'll take a

00:20:35.589 --> 00:20:37.410
look and let you guys know what we think. It's

00:20:37.410 --> 00:20:39.589
been a big week, you guys. Beach Volleyball World

00:20:39.589 --> 00:20:42.950
Championships finished up. Latvia won the women's

00:20:42.950 --> 00:20:45.970
side. Sweden won the men's side. We had a Sweden

00:20:45.970 --> 00:20:48.349
-Sweden final in the men's side. Which was a

00:20:48.349 --> 00:20:55.529
massive shocker. Schmassive. And, I mean, Latvia's

00:20:55.529 --> 00:20:58.250
been knocking at the door for a while now. Yeah,

00:20:58.269 --> 00:21:01.950
good for them. Yeah. I played an AVP with Tina,

00:21:02.130 --> 00:21:06.200
so. Of note, it looks like Duda and Anna Patricia,

00:21:06.380 --> 00:21:09.140
there was some sort of injury. They dropped out

00:21:09.140 --> 00:21:10.920
in the round of 16. They didn't even play that

00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:12.900
match. They're always in the conversation to

00:21:12.900 --> 00:21:14.640
win. So this tournament seems like it was wide

00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.000
open. Finally, I can't tell you the number of

00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:20.440
messages that we received about this on Instagram

00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:23.180
this week. Izzy Stark has announced that she

00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:26.200
is entering the transfer portal, which probably

00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:30.140
comes as a shock to nobody. But now the question

00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:33.779
is, where is she going? Originally, Adam and

00:21:33.779 --> 00:21:36.740
I were all over the Texas train, but then I started

00:21:36.740 --> 00:21:38.819
thinking about what happened to Avery Carlson

00:21:38.819 --> 00:21:41.680
and how the Swindle fans just really pushed her

00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:45.559
out. Would the coaching staff recruit over Swindle

00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:49.859
again, or would somebody go to a program where

00:21:49.859 --> 00:21:53.420
that has happened? So that's got me scratching

00:21:53.420 --> 00:21:56.119
my head. Where else do you think she could possibly

00:21:56.119 --> 00:21:58.319
land, though? So there's two things for me. One,

00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.759
it depends how Texas does at the tournament and

00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:03.829
who's. quote -unquote fault it is if it doesn't

00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:08.009
go well. Okay, but there were like all SEC selection

00:22:08.009 --> 00:22:10.349
posts made about the Texas players that got to

00:22:10.349 --> 00:22:12.369
go. Shout out to the person who sent me the screenshot.

00:22:12.789 --> 00:22:17.089
And the first comment was, where's Ella Swindle?

00:22:17.130 --> 00:22:20.089
She is the engine that keeps the Texas program

00:22:20.089 --> 00:22:23.890
running. Well, she didn't make it because that's

00:22:23.890 --> 00:22:25.630
just not true. Because the people who picked

00:22:25.630 --> 00:22:29.069
it, they know. That's why. I'm sticking with,

00:22:29.109 --> 00:22:32.579
I think, that's the weak link. I still think

00:22:32.579 --> 00:22:34.680
that's the front runner for a couple reasons.

00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:37.660
One, they can probably throw a good amount of

00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:39.480
money at her. I'm sure there's a bidding war

00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:42.920
going on behind the scenes with her agent. They're

00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:45.099
about to throw a ton of money at her. Yeah, so

00:22:45.099 --> 00:22:47.859
we'll see what happens there. But also, where

00:22:47.859 --> 00:22:50.880
else can you step in with those horses? Here's

00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:53.480
the thing. There's a lot of top programs that

00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.920
have young setters at the helm. Correct. Not

00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.259
Kentucky. Cassie O 'Brien is a freshman. Yeah.

00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:02.829
Bergen -Riley still has a year, and then Campbell

00:23:02.829 --> 00:23:05.089
Flynn is going to step in. Probably not Nebraska.

00:23:06.470 --> 00:23:10.150
Stanford has Logan Parks. And you don't just

00:23:10.150 --> 00:23:13.589
walk into Stanford. You need to have the academic

00:23:13.589 --> 00:23:15.990
clout to back that up. I don't know about her

00:23:15.990 --> 00:23:17.990
academic history or anything, but I'm just saying.

00:23:18.369 --> 00:23:21.970
Pitt could be an option. Could be, but when Babcock

00:23:21.970 --> 00:23:25.730
leaves, what are you tying your wagon to? Okay,

00:23:25.730 --> 00:23:30.210
fine. Wisconsin has Furbringer. They're the same

00:23:30.210 --> 00:23:34.569
age. Is she going to lose her eligibility a year?

00:23:34.890 --> 00:23:37.789
Absolutely. I would be shocked if they get it

00:23:37.789 --> 00:23:40.990
back. I heard Alexis Stuckey might leave Florida.

00:23:41.349 --> 00:23:45.670
So Florida could be an option. I wouldn't be

00:23:45.670 --> 00:23:47.569
shocked if Stuckey went to Penn State. Wouldn't

00:23:47.569 --> 00:23:50.470
that be nuts? We're going to throw rumors out.

00:23:51.009 --> 00:23:55.029
We could talk about this forever. My gut is...

00:23:55.369 --> 00:23:58.910
Stark ends up at Texas. And if Stucky goes to

00:23:58.910 --> 00:24:01.910
Penn State, I think Heredia Colon would follow

00:24:01.910 --> 00:24:05.369
her. Again, I'm basing this on absolutely nothing

00:24:05.369 --> 00:24:08.609
other than... Heredia Colon already tried to

00:24:08.609 --> 00:24:11.970
go play with Martin and Stucky. Exactly. We'll

00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:15.230
have to wait and see on that one, but I wouldn't

00:24:15.230 --> 00:24:17.950
be surprised. SMU, perhaps? We know SMU loves

00:24:17.950 --> 00:24:21.829
the portal. True. Arizona State? SMU could be

00:24:21.829 --> 00:24:29.200
an option. I think it's hard to go. Playing at

00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:32.339
Penn State, it's a prestigious program. I think

00:24:32.339 --> 00:24:35.859
that that matters. Wow, Adam's getting all elitist.

00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:38.059
I'm just saying. I didn't expect it from him.

00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:40.079
I'm just saying. If you are looking at places

00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.740
to go, I think Texas makes the most sense where

00:24:42.740 --> 00:24:45.200
you can come in and go, hey, they've got a bunch

00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.180
of really good young players there. Oh, well,

00:24:47.259 --> 00:24:50.539
if I'm Izzy Stark, do I care about... Ella Swindle's

00:24:50.539 --> 00:24:53.579
spot. No, I'm going to go try to win the spot.

00:24:53.859 --> 00:24:57.240
The question is, if you know that the Texas fans

00:24:57.240 --> 00:24:59.859
are diehard Swindle, do you want to deal with

00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:01.700
that? Especially when your reason for leaving

00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:03.359
Penn State was mental health issues, because

00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:05.900
that can cause some mental health issues if you're

00:25:05.900 --> 00:25:10.279
getting bullied about playing. We'll see. I still

00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:11.779
think that that makes the most sense if she's

00:25:11.779 --> 00:25:13.980
leaving. Let us know your thoughts. Let us know

00:25:13.980 --> 00:25:15.859
where you think she'll end up. I think Texas

00:25:15.859 --> 00:25:18.160
makes the most sense, but there are options.

00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:22.980
Okay, so we are going to continue on the theme

00:25:22.980 --> 00:25:27.559
of Volleyball Education 101, 102. I love these,

00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:31.519
really. We had somebody reach out and ask about

00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:34.059
stats. You know, what do we look at? What do

00:25:34.059 --> 00:25:36.839
they mean? So we're going to dive in. We'll cover

00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:39.579
some of the basic ones you see on the broadcasts.

00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:42.099
And then we'll go into a little bit more of a

00:25:42.099 --> 00:25:43.940
conversation about what maybe teams are looking

00:25:43.940 --> 00:25:47.549
at in terms of preparation. The stats we actually

00:25:47.549 --> 00:25:49.869
think are important when it comes to winning

00:25:49.869 --> 00:25:52.509
games. This is definitely your wheelhouse because

00:25:52.509 --> 00:25:57.849
you have been the stats guy for a lot of top

00:25:57.849 --> 00:26:00.509
teams. That is true. So this is definitely your

00:26:00.509 --> 00:26:05.150
wheelhouse. Yeah. I enjoy combining the stats

00:26:05.150 --> 00:26:07.970
with the eye test. I think you can't do either

00:26:07.970 --> 00:26:10.269
of those on their own. I think there's always

00:26:10.269 --> 00:26:13.109
gaps. So marrying the two and coming up with

00:26:13.109 --> 00:26:15.470
the... Good observation and a good conclusion.

00:26:15.650 --> 00:26:18.130
I really enjoy doing that. Okay, so whenever

00:26:18.130 --> 00:26:20.670
we dive into personal stuff, it's usually about

00:26:20.670 --> 00:26:24.529
me. But why don't you give our listeners a CV,

00:26:24.769 --> 00:26:29.950
resume, summary? I hate doing this, but I guess...

00:26:29.950 --> 00:26:33.910
Well, you have to. Fair is fair. I started learning

00:26:33.910 --> 00:26:37.769
stats in Italy when we moved there from the stats

00:26:37.769 --> 00:26:40.609
guy who did... Sarah's professional team. So

00:26:40.609 --> 00:26:42.750
I learned data volley to start. I did that with

00:26:42.750 --> 00:26:45.049
the Canadian national team as their statistician

00:26:45.049 --> 00:26:49.069
for four years, five years. I don't know. It

00:26:49.069 --> 00:26:52.049
was a while. You kept doing it after I stopped

00:26:52.049 --> 00:26:54.190
with them, didn't you? Yeah, I did. So I would

00:26:54.190 --> 00:26:55.829
do data volley for the Canadian national team.

00:26:56.029 --> 00:26:58.549
We would stat practices. We would stat tryouts.

00:26:58.549 --> 00:27:01.150
We would stat tournaments. I was doing game plans.

00:27:01.410 --> 00:27:04.849
I also worked as the statistician slash assistant

00:27:04.849 --> 00:27:08.180
coach for a professional team in Brazil. The

00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:11.319
one where I was working with Bruno and some of

00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:13.819
the other national teams. So that was probably

00:27:13.819 --> 00:27:15.519
one of the coolest volleyball experiences I've

00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:18.819
ever had. And then when I started coaching beach,

00:27:19.019 --> 00:27:22.319
there was no good data volley on the beach side.

00:27:22.660 --> 00:27:25.160
So with my computer science background, I wrote

00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:28.079
my own stats program that we used for a decade

00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:30.880
competing at world championships, Olympics, so

00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:33.799
on and so forth. So I love the numbers. I've

00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:35.420
been doing it for a long time. So here we go.

00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:38.039
Amazing. Let's talk about the basic stats you

00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:40.720
see on some of the broadcasts. We'll start with

00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.279
the really easy ones. Assists. You touch the

00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:45.779
ball. You set it to somebody on your team. They

00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:48.619
get a kill off that swing. You get an assist.

00:27:48.900 --> 00:27:52.059
Easy peasy. Aces. This one actually has a little

00:27:52.059 --> 00:27:54.299
bit of gray area that people may not know. Go

00:27:54.299 --> 00:27:56.519
ahead. Why don't you take this one? So an ace

00:27:56.519 --> 00:27:58.880
is either like you serve the ball and it directly

00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:02.880
hits the ground or you serve the ball. Somebody

00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:07.039
passes it and they can't get. a solid second

00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:10.019
contact to be able to put it back over. Both

00:28:10.019 --> 00:28:12.759
of those are considered aces. Very important

00:28:12.759 --> 00:28:15.440
because I'm not sure everybody always knows that.

00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:20.960
Digs, if you touch the ball up on your side,

00:28:21.160 --> 00:28:23.220
and this one's a little nuanced as well, if the

00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:25.619
ball doesn't hit the block and you get a dig

00:28:25.619 --> 00:28:27.900
in the middle of the court and your team can

00:28:27.900 --> 00:28:30.319
get a second touch on it, it counts as a dig.

00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:34.599
They also count digging a ball off a block touch.

00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:38.339
as a dig in a lot of places. So I think in some

00:28:38.339 --> 00:28:41.140
places they also, if a free ball comes over and

00:28:41.140 --> 00:28:42.980
you pass it, they count that as a dig as well.

00:28:43.099 --> 00:28:46.839
Correct. Those dig stats can actually be a little

00:28:46.839 --> 00:28:50.000
inflated with free balls and touches off the

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.619
block that are easy. And then specifically in

00:28:52.619 --> 00:28:54.720
the college game, and I'm not sure they do this

00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:56.579
anywhere else in the world, but there's a block

00:28:56.579 --> 00:28:59.500
solo and a block assist. If you block somebody

00:28:59.500 --> 00:29:02.829
one -on -one, And let's go back. A block counts

00:29:02.829 --> 00:29:04.769
when you block the ball straight to the floor

00:29:04.769 --> 00:29:07.190
and you get that point right then and there.

00:29:07.269 --> 00:29:09.450
It also counts if somebody covers it, but it

00:29:09.450 --> 00:29:11.329
shoots off to the side. That also counts similar

00:29:11.329 --> 00:29:13.609
to the ace. If you're the only person involved

00:29:13.609 --> 00:29:17.390
in the block, you get a block solo. If there's

00:29:17.390 --> 00:29:21.009
a double block or a triple block, everybody who

00:29:21.009 --> 00:29:23.369
participates in that block, if it's a kill block,

00:29:23.609 --> 00:29:27.390
gets a block assist. Which is half. Sometimes

00:29:27.390 --> 00:29:30.650
you see a half block on the stats. That's how...

00:29:30.859 --> 00:29:33.180
that number comes to be because half blocks are

00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:36.380
kind of funny that way. And that is like internationally

00:29:36.380 --> 00:29:39.940
and at the professional level overseas, the people

00:29:39.940 --> 00:29:43.940
keeping the stats watch who actually makes contact

00:29:43.940 --> 00:29:46.400
with the ball when they're blocking and they

00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.180
give it to that person. Yeah. So those ones are

00:29:49.180 --> 00:29:51.539
often wrong actually. Correct. Because it happens

00:29:51.539 --> 00:29:54.839
so fast. Yes. So those are the basic ones. And

00:29:54.839 --> 00:29:59.059
then we have hitting percentage. He needed to

00:29:59.059 --> 00:30:01.920
say that extra slow. well because there's kill

00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:04.339
percentage and there's hitting percentage so

00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:06.200
we're going to go over both of those hitting

00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:09.059
percentage has to do with how efficient you are

00:30:09.059 --> 00:30:12.220
as an attacker and it brings in the number of

00:30:12.220 --> 00:30:15.220
errors you make so the formula for that is you

00:30:15.220 --> 00:30:18.140
take your number of kills you minus the number

00:30:18.140 --> 00:30:20.420
of errors you've made and you divide that by

00:30:20.420 --> 00:30:22.799
your total number of attempts that gives you

00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:25.880
your hitting percentage this is different from

00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:28.619
your kill percentage which is the number of kills

00:30:28.619 --> 00:30:31.140
you get over the number of attacks you have.

00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:33.680
So one is looking at just how often you kill

00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:35.960
the ball. And the other one is how many mistakes

00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:38.380
are you making? How efficient you are? Which

00:30:38.380 --> 00:30:40.380
of those two stats do you like better? Or do

00:30:40.380 --> 00:30:42.900
you think means more? Hitting percentage. Fair

00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:46.480
enough. Because you can kill 50 % of your swings,

00:30:46.500 --> 00:30:50.099
but then make errors on the other 50%. And so

00:30:50.099 --> 00:30:53.160
you're a net zero for your team. Even though

00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:55.220
you're swinging, like your kill percentage is

00:30:55.220 --> 00:30:58.740
pretty high. If you're causing as much hurt to

00:30:58.740 --> 00:31:03.220
your team as points, it's not great. Those individual

00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:06.039
stats can then also be applied to a team situation.

00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:08.779
So you'll see your team hitting percentage, which

00:31:08.779 --> 00:31:11.000
is everybody's attacks minus the team's errors

00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:13.220
over everybody's attempts. And you can do the

00:31:13.220 --> 00:31:15.720
kill percentage for the same thing. Those stats

00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:18.299
can be either player specific or team specific.

00:31:18.519 --> 00:31:20.930
I think that's pretty much... I also want to

00:31:20.930 --> 00:31:24.490
add like in the NCAA, they include if you hit

00:31:24.490 --> 00:31:28.190
out or in the net or if you get blocked as an

00:31:28.190 --> 00:31:31.609
error. Correct. But some places don't count getting

00:31:31.609 --> 00:31:35.390
blocked as an error because they want, we're

00:31:35.390 --> 00:31:37.349
making this more complicated, but some stats

00:31:37.349 --> 00:31:42.769
groups want the points to be separate from the

00:31:42.769 --> 00:31:44.650
errors. So if you're assigning a point for a

00:31:44.650 --> 00:31:47.509
block and an error for a block, it doesn't add

00:31:47.509 --> 00:31:50.849
up. Right. There are differences in like leagues

00:31:50.849 --> 00:31:52.490
and stuff and how they choose to do that. But

00:31:52.490 --> 00:31:54.930
in NCAA volleyball, they include getting blocked

00:31:54.930 --> 00:31:57.329
as an error. What is your personal opinion about

00:31:57.329 --> 00:31:59.670
that? I like including getting blocked as an

00:31:59.670 --> 00:32:02.069
error. Me too. And I think that the person who

00:32:02.069 --> 00:32:05.130
blocks should get credit for it too. Totally

00:32:05.130 --> 00:32:07.470
agree. Because if you're a hitter that goes up

00:32:07.470 --> 00:32:09.390
and just gets blocked over and over again, like

00:32:09.390 --> 00:32:11.829
you're not doing much. And it should be reflected.

00:32:12.170 --> 00:32:14.509
Yeah, 100%. Those are the basic stats you generally

00:32:14.509 --> 00:32:19.789
see on a broadcast. some of the team specific

00:32:19.789 --> 00:32:23.089
preparation stuff, I want to go over a few other

00:32:23.089 --> 00:32:25.849
kind of individual player things that I've seen

00:32:25.849 --> 00:32:29.170
done and that I've done myself that I find valuable.

00:32:29.410 --> 00:32:31.670
And some of the things that I look at when I'm

00:32:31.670 --> 00:32:34.049
evaluating players, when I've worked with teams,

00:32:34.170 --> 00:32:38.529
we've done a player plus minus, where we grade

00:32:38.529 --> 00:32:41.490
every contact that that player has made. For

00:32:41.490 --> 00:32:45.829
example, if you look at attacking, and it's a

00:32:45.829 --> 00:32:48.369
continue, so the other team gets the ball and

00:32:48.369 --> 00:32:51.410
the rally continues. That's kind of a wash, right?

00:32:51.470 --> 00:32:53.230
It goes to your total attempts, but it doesn't

00:32:53.230 --> 00:32:55.230
affect anything in terms of how we look at that

00:32:55.230 --> 00:32:58.089
player. What I like to do is have a continue

00:32:58.089 --> 00:33:00.950
plus and a continue minus. So if you make a really

00:33:00.950 --> 00:33:03.829
good swing and the opposing team only has, you

00:33:03.829 --> 00:33:05.890
know, one or two options or they're out of system.

00:33:06.069 --> 00:33:07.910
Or sends a free ball back. Or sends a free ball

00:33:07.910 --> 00:33:10.049
back. That's a positive outcome for you and you

00:33:10.049 --> 00:33:12.079
should get credit for that. The same is where

00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:14.180
if you play it super safe and you put a little

00:33:14.180 --> 00:33:17.539
roll shot in or opponents can run the middle

00:33:17.539 --> 00:33:20.559
off your attack, that's an attack minus and that

00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:23.119
counts against you. And so we're actually looking

00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:26.119
at your effect on that play as it's happening.

00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:28.700
You can do that in all kinds of areas of the

00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:30.700
game. And sometimes when we talk about setters,

00:33:30.779 --> 00:33:33.599
if it's a bad pass and you come in and you make

00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:37.319
a really good set, that is a plus action for

00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:39.200
you. You are improving the ball. And that's kind

00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:41.960
of how we look at... that metric. We wouldn't

00:33:41.960 --> 00:33:44.180
necessarily give you a plus for passing a free

00:33:44.180 --> 00:33:46.180
ball well, because that's the expectation, but

00:33:46.180 --> 00:33:48.099
you would get a minus if you don't pass a free

00:33:48.099 --> 00:33:50.460
ball well. So we start to look at your impact

00:33:50.460 --> 00:33:53.200
on the ball outside of terminal points, and that

00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:56.000
gives you a really good indication of whether

00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:58.039
you're bringing value to your team or whether

00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:00.680
you're hurting your team outside of some of the

00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:03.779
terminal scoring. Basically, if you want to do

00:34:03.779 --> 00:34:07.559
stats properly or well, it's not for the faint

00:34:07.559 --> 00:34:12.949
of heart, everybody. It takes meticulous observation

00:34:12.949 --> 00:34:15.530
and note -taking. If you're a statistician, every

00:34:15.530 --> 00:34:18.409
match that your team plays, you watch probably

00:34:18.409 --> 00:34:21.269
at least twice to go through and do the stats

00:34:21.269 --> 00:34:24.070
for your team, for the other team. It's a lot

00:34:24.070 --> 00:34:25.969
of work. I think it's fair to say the NCAA teams

00:34:25.969 --> 00:34:28.969
are probably not going into this level of detail.

00:34:29.269 --> 00:34:31.449
I bet you if they have a dedicated stats person,

00:34:31.570 --> 00:34:34.710
the top -level teams are. I would be shocked

00:34:34.710 --> 00:34:37.429
if we're doing plus -minus touches on the ball.

00:34:37.610 --> 00:34:40.500
I would be surprised. Anyway, that's something

00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:43.239
I personally really like. No, I think it's necessary

00:34:43.239 --> 00:34:45.960
if you want to do your job properly. Don't cut

00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:50.900
corners. But I think at the highest levels, yes,

00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:53.699
they're going into that detail. College, I would

00:34:53.699 --> 00:34:56.420
be surprised if it's that meticulous. Fair enough.

00:34:56.500 --> 00:34:58.619
But I think it's important to be that meticulous.

00:34:58.820 --> 00:35:00.739
Let's talk about block touches. So middles get

00:35:00.739 --> 00:35:03.500
screwed in stats in general. They work so hard

00:35:03.500 --> 00:35:05.380
and very rarely get credit for it. So one of

00:35:05.380 --> 00:35:07.699
the things I also like to look at is... How many

00:35:07.699 --> 00:35:10.300
times you make the right read? Did you close

00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:13.940
the block? And then positive touches for those

00:35:13.940 --> 00:35:16.039
blockers. So can we get a transition opportunity?

00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:19.079
And would go even as far to say, did you follow

00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:21.980
the game plan? Did you do your job in terms of

00:35:21.980 --> 00:35:24.679
lining that block up, taking away what the game

00:35:24.679 --> 00:35:26.599
plan dictates you're supposed to take away in

00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:28.480
that situation? And this comes back to watching

00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:31.860
film and prepping athletes. We track a lot of...

00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:34.340
kind of that stuff away from the ball to understand

00:35:34.340 --> 00:35:36.639
decisions athletes are making and if they're

00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:38.940
executing on those decisions as well. Block touches

00:35:38.940 --> 00:35:41.920
and block lineups, very important to track and

00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:44.719
to stat. And then finally, we get lots of questions

00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:47.239
about this. Very often on the broadcast, the

00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:49.179
only thing they look at with serving and passing

00:35:49.179 --> 00:35:52.019
is aces and errors. Let me tell you, it's important,

00:35:52.139 --> 00:35:54.780
but it's not that important. If you get zero

00:35:54.780 --> 00:35:57.639
aces, but you keep your opponents out of system,

00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:00.960
80 % of the time, you're winning the match. What

00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:04.539
a lot of teams will do is they will assign four

00:36:04.539 --> 00:36:08.559
points in total to a serve and a pass. And often

00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:11.559
on the NCAA broadcasts, at least, or the ones

00:36:11.559 --> 00:36:14.099
we listen to, the announcers only talk about

00:36:14.099 --> 00:36:16.500
a three -point scale. Correct. Here's a little

00:36:16.500 --> 00:36:20.059
bit of detail. You get an ace. You get four points

00:36:20.059 --> 00:36:23.199
for that serve. The passer gets a zero. The pass

00:36:23.199 --> 00:36:27.139
is then dictated by... the number of options

00:36:27.139 --> 00:36:29.739
the setter has to comfortably set. So if you

00:36:29.739 --> 00:36:31.719
pass a horrible ball and they can only set a

00:36:31.719 --> 00:36:34.579
high ball outside, that's a one pass and the

00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:37.079
server would get a three. That totals four points.

00:36:37.260 --> 00:36:39.739
Now, if you pass, you know, maybe behind the

00:36:39.739 --> 00:36:41.480
attack line, but it's got pretty good height

00:36:41.480 --> 00:36:43.880
on it. You could run, you know, a pipe in a left

00:36:43.880 --> 00:36:46.400
side or a left side and a right side. You have

00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:49.219
two options to set comfortably. You would get

00:36:49.219 --> 00:36:51.500
a two pass for your team and the servers would

00:36:51.500 --> 00:36:53.579
get a two for their serve. So that's essentially

00:36:53.579 --> 00:36:56.679
a wash serve. Now, if you as a team have all

00:36:56.679 --> 00:36:58.280
three options, you can run the middle, you can

00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:00.460
run the left side, run the pipe. It's kind of

00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:02.360
in front of the attack line. It was considered

00:37:02.360 --> 00:37:04.860
a good pass. You would get a three for that pass

00:37:04.860 --> 00:37:08.019
and the server would get a one. And here is where

00:37:08.019 --> 00:37:11.159
I think some teams don't do this, but we often

00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:14.260
look at the tempo of the pass. So how long is

00:37:14.260 --> 00:37:17.239
the contact from the passer's forearm to the

00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:20.039
setter's hands in terms of trying to keep everybody

00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:23.360
in tempo that we want as a team? If you manage

00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:26.179
to do that as a passer, we would then give you

00:37:26.179 --> 00:37:28.800
a four pass because we want to know how often

00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:31.619
we're really clicking it in tempo. In this case,

00:37:31.639 --> 00:37:33.519
we also give the server a one because it's not

00:37:33.519 --> 00:37:37.900
an error, but that is how I've always done the

00:37:37.900 --> 00:37:41.360
passing and the serving scale. Does your scale

00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:45.210
change based on the quality of the setter? If

00:37:45.210 --> 00:37:47.889
a setter is capable of running the middle, say,

00:37:48.090 --> 00:37:53.110
from off the net, does that change the padding

00:37:53.110 --> 00:37:57.070
that you give certain numbers? It's all predicated

00:37:57.070 --> 00:38:00.250
on what the expectations are. So if we have decided

00:38:00.250 --> 00:38:04.059
as a team that this is a four pass, that... Four

00:38:04.059 --> 00:38:06.000
pass might be different for different setters

00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:08.059
on different teams, but it generally doesn't

00:38:08.059 --> 00:38:10.840
change once you've set it up. If you switch setters,

00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:13.099
your passing numbers generally stay the same

00:38:13.099 --> 00:38:14.980
because as a team, you're trying to accomplish

00:38:14.980 --> 00:38:17.639
one specific thing. But like if you're scouting

00:38:17.639 --> 00:38:20.639
a team, like let's say you have a very average

00:38:20.639 --> 00:38:24.519
setter and then the next day you play a team

00:38:24.519 --> 00:38:28.420
that has like an elite setter. Does how you're

00:38:28.420 --> 00:38:32.449
grading their passers change? Because of the

00:38:32.449 --> 00:38:35.710
setter's magic. Not generally for a one, two,

00:38:35.730 --> 00:38:38.730
or a three pass. For the four pass, it will change.

00:38:39.010 --> 00:38:41.730
Just because when I'm scouting another team,

00:38:41.829 --> 00:38:43.989
I'm trying to understand what they're trying

00:38:43.989 --> 00:38:46.230
to accomplish as an offense. Like, what's their

00:38:46.230 --> 00:38:48.409
gold standard? And then you know how to take

00:38:48.409 --> 00:38:51.010
them out of that. Yes, to a certain degree, but

00:38:51.010 --> 00:38:53.489
like a one, two, and a three pass are all generally

00:38:53.489 --> 00:38:56.070
pretty much the same. Okay, so those are some

00:38:56.070 --> 00:39:00.440
of the individual advanced stats that... I personally

00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:01.960
like to look at that I've seen a lot of high

00:39:01.960 --> 00:39:06.460
quality teams use. And now let's get into maybe

00:39:06.460 --> 00:39:09.000
some of the stats that teams would use to prepare

00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:11.260
for an opponent. And you can speak to this. You've

00:39:11.260 --> 00:39:13.900
played for some fantastic coaches. Bernardinho

00:39:13.900 --> 00:39:15.599
is one of the most prepared coaches I've ever

00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:18.079
seen when it comes to game planning. First, and

00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:19.679
again, you can change the order depending on

00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:21.679
what you like to do, but generally these steps

00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:24.579
apply. So one is you look at all of the players'

00:39:24.820 --> 00:39:27.599
tendencies from the other team in isolation.

00:39:28.250 --> 00:39:31.429
So what I mean by that is you would see... The

00:39:31.429 --> 00:39:34.030
attackers. The attackers. Yes, the attackers

00:39:34.030 --> 00:39:38.570
on... And the servers. You would generally see

00:39:38.570 --> 00:39:42.570
one page per athlete on the opposing team, okay?

00:39:42.650 --> 00:39:46.269
And you would have a court drawn out and all

00:39:46.269 --> 00:39:48.309
of their attacks that you've had for the relevant

00:39:48.309 --> 00:39:51.789
amount of games drawn on that box in different

00:39:51.789 --> 00:39:54.269
scenarios. And this is a little hard to visualize

00:39:54.269 --> 00:39:58.090
verbally, but we're going to do our best. So

00:39:58.090 --> 00:40:02.150
in one box, you would have the different scenarios

00:40:02.150 --> 00:40:03.969
that player could hit, right? So if they're a

00:40:03.969 --> 00:40:06.349
left side, you would have all of their left side

00:40:06.349 --> 00:40:08.929
attacks on an in -system pass. You would have

00:40:08.929 --> 00:40:11.170
all of their left side attacks in a separate

00:40:11.170 --> 00:40:14.019
court drawn out. or they're out of system passes.

00:40:14.099 --> 00:40:17.119
And you're showing lines from where they're contacting

00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:19.820
the ball to where the ball lands on the court.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:23.380
Correct. So you end up having this court with

00:40:23.380 --> 00:40:25.500
all these lines over showing whether they like

00:40:25.500 --> 00:40:29.940
to hit line or angle or... deep seam. And those

00:40:29.940 --> 00:40:32.860
lines are also color coded with different endings

00:40:32.860 --> 00:40:35.000
on them, depending on the result of that swing

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:37.320
and the type of swing. So you want to know, was

00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:40.099
it hard driven? Was it a tip? Was it a roll shot?

00:40:40.219 --> 00:40:43.360
Did it go off the block? All of that is coded

00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:45.619
into a system where you can just look at that

00:40:45.619 --> 00:40:47.800
player sheet and understand what their tendencies

00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:50.320
are. And again, you're looking in isolation for

00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:53.639
in system attacks, out of system attacks, transition

00:40:53.639 --> 00:40:57.349
attacks. Back row, right side. So again, every

00:40:57.349 --> 00:40:59.949
player has a sheet and you're looking at all

00:40:59.949 --> 00:41:01.650
of these different scenarios so that you know

00:41:01.650 --> 00:41:03.670
when you recognize that scenario on the court,

00:41:03.809 --> 00:41:06.530
what their tendencies are. And you would also

00:41:06.530 --> 00:41:09.730
include their serving angles in that sheet as

00:41:09.730 --> 00:41:13.809
well. So every player gets a little bio of information

00:41:13.809 --> 00:41:16.550
about their attacking habits that the team has

00:41:16.550 --> 00:41:18.610
put together. Anything to add on that in terms

00:41:18.610 --> 00:41:21.110
of what you've seen on those sheets? I know that

00:41:21.110 --> 00:41:25.159
sums it up well. What would you do for the setter's

00:41:25.159 --> 00:41:27.780
sheet? This is the next one. After you kind of

00:41:27.780 --> 00:41:29.559
got a feel for the hitters, and I want to be

00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:31.760
clear, we generally pair video with these sheets.

00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:33.880
So you would look at the sheets, you would talk

00:41:33.880 --> 00:41:35.500
about them, and then we would watch video on

00:41:35.500 --> 00:41:37.920
those players to line that up. The next thing

00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:39.559
and where it starts to get a little more complicated

00:41:39.559 --> 00:41:42.019
is... As if it's not complicated already. You

00:41:42.019 --> 00:41:45.559
guys are listening to this like, whoa. Maybe

00:41:45.559 --> 00:41:47.380
I'll try and throw some visuals up on the YouTube

00:41:47.380 --> 00:41:49.579
channel. The next thing you start to look at

00:41:49.579 --> 00:41:52.949
is your rotational charts. So this is the full

00:41:52.949 --> 00:41:56.329
team now, not just one player. Exactly. And we

00:41:56.329 --> 00:41:59.650
break it down rotation by rotation. So let's

00:41:59.650 --> 00:42:02.389
say the setter is in one. You would have the

00:42:02.389 --> 00:42:05.329
court laid out. It would say rotation one. All

00:42:05.329 --> 00:42:08.349
of the hitters would be on that sheet. And you

00:42:08.349 --> 00:42:11.550
would start to see a breakdown of what the set

00:42:11.550 --> 00:42:14.690
distribution is to those different players, right?

00:42:14.750 --> 00:42:17.469
So I'm in rotation one. Let's say it's a four

00:42:17.469 --> 00:42:20.670
pass. Here's where the setter likes to go. The

00:42:20.670 --> 00:42:22.969
routes that the hitters are running. Totally.

00:42:23.250 --> 00:42:26.050
All of that information. So again, good pass,

00:42:26.329 --> 00:42:30.170
bad pass, transition, out of system. It sounds

00:42:30.170 --> 00:42:32.369
very complicated, but when you gather enough

00:42:32.369 --> 00:42:37.690
data, patterns emerge. Yes. And so it's easier.

00:42:37.869 --> 00:42:41.110
That's why stats guys do all the heavy work,

00:42:41.210 --> 00:42:45.070
break it down for us normal people, and then

00:42:45.070 --> 00:42:47.510
play the percentages. And obviously people change.

00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:51.179
things up every now and then but you play the

00:42:51.179 --> 00:42:53.360
probabilities the one other thing i think is

00:42:53.360 --> 00:42:55.280
really interesting about these rotational sheets

00:42:55.280 --> 00:42:58.699
is as a stats guy we mark down what route the

00:42:58.699 --> 00:43:01.460
middle runs and what everybody else does so i

00:43:01.460 --> 00:43:03.920
want to know if the middle runs a 31 which is

00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:06.519
a push away from the setter do they like to set

00:43:06.519 --> 00:43:08.519
the middle do they like to run the left side

00:43:08.519 --> 00:43:10.639
do they then like to go back to the right side

00:43:10.639 --> 00:43:12.920
so you're thinking about where the middle is

00:43:12.920 --> 00:43:15.920
what type of pass it is and then what the percentages

00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:18.210
are that they're going to set that hitter, and

00:43:18.210 --> 00:43:20.429
then you're remembering what those hitters' tendencies

00:43:20.429 --> 00:43:22.389
are. These are what players are thinking about

00:43:22.389 --> 00:43:25.269
in real time. Let me rephrase that. This is what

00:43:25.269 --> 00:43:27.349
players should be thinking about in real time

00:43:27.349 --> 00:43:30.150
as the play is developing. So there's a lot of

00:43:30.150 --> 00:43:32.929
things to prepare for and to be ready for. So

00:43:32.929 --> 00:43:35.710
your middle blockers who get no credit for any

00:43:35.710 --> 00:43:39.449
stats, they are thinking so much on the defensive

00:43:39.449 --> 00:43:44.789
end because as they see where their responsibility...

00:43:45.369 --> 00:43:48.710
the other middle is going, they are like, okay,

00:43:48.750 --> 00:43:53.489
the middle's going here. They want to run A,

00:43:53.630 --> 00:43:56.489
then B, then C. What are my responsibilities?

00:43:56.530 --> 00:43:59.590
What am I doing? And then the outsides, when

00:43:59.590 --> 00:44:01.750
they see where the middle is going, they're like,

00:44:01.889 --> 00:44:06.349
okay, if I need to be able to help here, if I

00:44:06.349 --> 00:44:09.110
am one -on -one, this is the angle that I'm taking.

00:44:09.230 --> 00:44:11.909
If my middle makes it to me, this is where I'm

00:44:11.909 --> 00:44:15.659
setting up my block. The defense sees which patterns

00:44:15.659 --> 00:44:18.059
the other team is running and is like, hey, this

00:44:18.059 --> 00:44:20.219
is where they want to hit. This is my responsibility.

00:44:20.619 --> 00:44:23.679
This isn't just like, let's go to Cabo and like

00:44:23.679 --> 00:44:26.239
play volleyball with our friends and just keep

00:44:26.239 --> 00:44:28.800
the ball in the air. Like it is so much more

00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:30.980
complicated than I think people give it. The

00:44:30.980 --> 00:44:34.079
average fan gives a credit for. Totally. And

00:44:34.079 --> 00:44:36.900
this is why you start to see teams will make

00:44:36.900 --> 00:44:40.659
specific serves at different times. So we talk

00:44:40.659 --> 00:44:43.519
about Ella Swindle. If you look at. What she

00:44:43.519 --> 00:44:45.619
sets when the ball comes from behind her, there

00:44:45.619 --> 00:44:48.480
will be a distinct pattern there. That's why

00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:51.139
everybody serves Texas to zone one. Correct.

00:44:51.480 --> 00:44:53.780
It eliminates her middle when she does that.

00:44:54.099 --> 00:44:57.159
You look at if I pass a left side to their inside

00:44:57.159 --> 00:44:59.619
seam and then they have to go and attack, they

00:44:59.619 --> 00:45:02.119
don't swing line. So I might serve her into that

00:45:02.119 --> 00:45:04.119
seam after 20 and go, hey, we're going to block

00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:05.699
angle on this ball because we know what's going

00:45:05.699 --> 00:45:08.840
to happen. Or, hey, if we serve a really easy

00:45:08.840 --> 00:45:11.849
ball. to this team. They run the middle 85 %

00:45:11.849 --> 00:45:13.570
of the time. We're going to purposely put in

00:45:13.570 --> 00:45:15.329
an easy ball and then we're going to commit on

00:45:15.329 --> 00:45:18.030
the middle. These are all the types of scenarios

00:45:18.030 --> 00:45:20.530
that the stats guys are whispering in the coach's

00:45:20.530 --> 00:45:23.110
ear about, hey, we can do this or we can do this

00:45:23.110 --> 00:45:25.550
or look for this play in this situation. And

00:45:25.550 --> 00:45:30.090
you start to see teams, good teams, do these

00:45:30.090 --> 00:45:32.969
and play the percentages to score defensive points.

00:45:33.480 --> 00:45:35.219
And internationally, that's why you see the head

00:45:35.219 --> 00:45:37.500
coaches with mics in their ears, because the

00:45:37.500 --> 00:45:40.619
stats guys for their teams are taking stats live

00:45:40.619 --> 00:45:43.219
while they're playing and gathering data in case

00:45:43.219 --> 00:45:46.000
it's in conflict with what they've prepared for.

00:45:47.019 --> 00:45:50.280
And this is where the chess game starts. So you've

00:45:50.280 --> 00:45:52.820
done all of your prep work here, and that game

00:45:52.820 --> 00:45:55.199
plan is sitting beside you. And then as the match

00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:57.820
is happening, you're looking for discrepancies

00:45:57.820 --> 00:46:02.000
to your game plan. to see what your opponent

00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:04.460
is trying to do so you can get one step ahead

00:46:04.460 --> 00:46:08.400
of them it's so much fun to try and predict what's

00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:10.320
going to happen to understand what your opponent

00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:13.460
is doing and when it works and you get a block

00:46:13.460 --> 00:46:16.219
as i'm telling you as a stats guy sitting at

00:46:16.219 --> 00:46:18.760
the back of the court nothing feels better than

00:46:18.760 --> 00:46:20.840
when you make a play call and it works and you're

00:46:20.840 --> 00:46:23.219
just it's the greatest feeling ever indoor is

00:46:23.219 --> 00:46:26.639
very coach driven and staff driven so like adam

00:46:26.639 --> 00:46:30.230
gets that feeling from indoor and then the players

00:46:30.230 --> 00:46:32.949
the information is like filtered down to the

00:46:32.949 --> 00:46:35.949
players on the beach I can relate because there

00:46:35.949 --> 00:46:37.730
were have when I played there were no coaches

00:46:37.730 --> 00:46:40.730
on the benches that could communicate so like

00:46:40.730 --> 00:46:45.130
I would create the play calls based on what the

00:46:45.130 --> 00:46:47.230
information I had been gathering all match and

00:46:47.230 --> 00:46:49.869
the same thing like if you create a play and

00:46:49.869 --> 00:46:52.869
you elicit the response that you expected from

00:46:52.869 --> 00:46:56.530
that it's such a good feeling so good but basically

00:46:57.260 --> 00:47:00.559
In each rotation, and correct me if this is too

00:47:00.559 --> 00:47:04.099
simplified, you are breaking down set distributions

00:47:04.099 --> 00:47:07.199
based on the potential middle attack routes.

00:47:07.420 --> 00:47:12.460
Yep. You are also adding in a layer of where

00:47:12.460 --> 00:47:14.980
the pass is coming from. Correct. And then you

00:47:14.980 --> 00:47:19.239
can add in a deeper layer of what a player will

00:47:19.239 --> 00:47:22.219
do after they pass to attack. Correct. So you're

00:47:22.219 --> 00:47:26.420
layering on options. It can be as simple or as

00:47:26.420 --> 00:47:29.460
complex as you want or as your players are capable

00:47:29.460 --> 00:47:33.460
of understanding. But that is the gist. Yeah.

00:47:33.860 --> 00:47:35.960
Normally you're doing this for your own team

00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:38.980
after matches. So I want to know what other teams

00:47:38.980 --> 00:47:42.159
are thinking about our tendencies. Where are

00:47:42.159 --> 00:47:44.380
we predictable as a team? Where do we need to

00:47:44.380 --> 00:47:47.179
change our distributions? How can we be exploited?

00:47:47.320 --> 00:47:49.860
And top level teams are constantly looking at

00:47:49.860 --> 00:47:53.400
their own footage, at their own stats. and trying

00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:55.480
to understand, and that formulates what you work

00:47:55.480 --> 00:47:57.380
on in practice and how you do those distributions.

00:47:57.539 --> 00:48:00.900
So it's a continuous cycle. And from the college

00:48:00.900 --> 00:48:03.380
perspective, I would say in recent years, that's

00:48:03.380 --> 00:48:06.659
why everybody talks about why it's so hard to

00:48:06.659 --> 00:48:09.179
defend Nebraska, because their set distribution

00:48:09.179 --> 00:48:12.460
is so equal across the board, generally speaking.

00:48:12.860 --> 00:48:15.800
I hope that gave you some clarity into... Did

00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:18.059
you see him light up, everybody? If you're watching

00:48:18.059 --> 00:48:20.099
on YouTube, did you see the joy on this man's

00:48:20.099 --> 00:48:24.070
face as he was talking about this? I do. I do

00:48:24.070 --> 00:48:25.929
enjoy it. I hope that gives you some clarity

00:48:25.929 --> 00:48:28.769
into maybe what coaches are thinking, what teams

00:48:28.769 --> 00:48:31.909
are doing, the amounts of information athletes

00:48:31.909 --> 00:48:35.190
are processing at any given time to do it properly,

00:48:35.389 --> 00:48:38.469
where they make mistakes or where they make misses.

00:48:38.869 --> 00:48:42.409
And it's fun as a fan to sit down and go, oh,

00:48:42.449 --> 00:48:44.380
I wonder what they're doing. Oh, I wonder if

00:48:44.380 --> 00:48:46.219
that was intentional. And then you'll start to

00:48:46.219 --> 00:48:48.139
pick up some of these tendencies, whether it

00:48:48.139 --> 00:48:51.360
be serving or block lineups or defense. And for

00:48:51.360 --> 00:48:53.039
me, it makes the game a little more enjoyable.

00:48:53.099 --> 00:48:55.579
But if you have any other questions, feel free

00:48:55.579 --> 00:48:57.760
to shoot us them on YouTube or on Instagram.

00:48:57.780 --> 00:49:00.320
And I'm definitely happy to revisit this topic

00:49:00.320 --> 00:49:03.480
as it's clear. And we just love that we have

00:49:03.480 --> 00:49:07.539
helped some of you become more critical consumers

00:49:07.539 --> 00:49:11.349
of volleyball. From an offensive and defensive

00:49:11.349 --> 00:49:14.590
perspective and now statistically a game plan

00:49:14.590 --> 00:49:18.110
perspective, it's been really cool to see and

00:49:18.110 --> 00:49:22.130
get feedback of how you guys are consuming the

00:49:22.130 --> 00:49:26.610
sport now. It's great. We have gotten a lot of

00:49:26.610 --> 00:49:31.110
questions about who our first team All -American

00:49:31.110 --> 00:49:35.829
picks would be. And major ABCA award winners,

00:49:36.110 --> 00:49:38.989
namely freshman of the year, player of the year,

00:49:39.050 --> 00:49:41.369
coach of the year. We worked together on this

00:49:41.369 --> 00:49:48.489
to put together a list. We are aware that the

00:49:48.489 --> 00:49:51.809
semifinalists for ABCA national player of the

00:49:51.809 --> 00:49:54.389
year have come out. I feel like that could be

00:49:54.389 --> 00:49:56.630
the first team All -American list in and of itself.

00:49:57.090 --> 00:50:01.550
But we've put together a list. mid -majors much

00:50:01.550 --> 00:50:05.789
i've watched a lot of big west because of my

00:50:05.789 --> 00:50:08.949
like commentating stuff but we haven't watched

00:50:08.949 --> 00:50:13.730
a lot so most of our players are from like top

00:50:13.730 --> 00:50:16.730
ranked programs yeah and there could be a couple

00:50:16.730 --> 00:50:18.429
athletes flying under the radar for sure this

00:50:18.429 --> 00:50:21.530
is by no means comprehensive and we haven't seen

00:50:21.530 --> 00:50:24.619
everybody but i think a lot of them make sense

00:50:24.619 --> 00:50:27.460
so let's rattle off a few here tell me these

00:50:27.460 --> 00:50:29.599
are in no particular order so we're gonna have

00:50:29.599 --> 00:50:31.239
to start with our 24 and then we're gonna have

00:50:31.239 --> 00:50:34.820
to cut it down yes do you want to start with

00:50:34.820 --> 00:50:37.559
ones who will probably who will probably cut

00:50:37.559 --> 00:50:39.599
I would say who would who would be on the list

00:50:39.599 --> 00:50:42.159
for sure okay I think your for sure's and my

00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:44.219
for sure's are probably different I'm gonna go

00:50:44.219 --> 00:50:46.159
down the list we'll just go one at a time and

00:50:46.159 --> 00:50:49.440
you tell me for sure or not for sure and then

00:50:49.440 --> 00:50:52.739
go from there I just say keep them or not and

00:50:52.739 --> 00:50:54.820
then we'll see how many we end up with. And then

00:50:54.820 --> 00:50:57.780
we'll cut it down again. This is in no particular

00:50:57.780 --> 00:51:02.539
order. Andy Jackson. Keeper. Mark that down.

00:51:03.539 --> 00:51:09.380
Bergen Riley. Keeper. Rebecca Alec. Keeper. Marie.

00:51:10.519 --> 00:51:17.659
Keeper. Collier. Yes. Booth. No. Delay. Yeah.

00:51:18.260 --> 00:51:21.250
Hudson. Yeah. Are you agreeing with all these?

00:51:21.349 --> 00:51:25.250
Okay. Lednicki. Keeper. Babcock. Yeah, Keeper.

00:51:25.369 --> 00:51:28.949
Kennedy Martin. Yes. Herrera Colon. Yes. Did

00:51:28.949 --> 00:51:30.690
you like that accent you threw in? I tried. I

00:51:30.690 --> 00:51:33.469
tried. As of right now, we're 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

00:51:33.570 --> 00:51:37.909
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Oh, fantastic. So we have

00:51:37.909 --> 00:51:40.809
three more spots. I'll tell you. No, we have

00:51:40.809 --> 00:51:42.989
to just work through it. Okay, we'll keep going.

00:51:43.190 --> 00:51:46.329
I have Casa Paula. Texas A &M is ranked sixth.

00:51:47.150 --> 00:51:50.269
She is statistically having a fantastic year.

00:51:50.449 --> 00:51:53.230
Okay, we'll keep her for now. Okay. Kara Cressy.

00:51:54.090 --> 00:51:56.730
Keep her for now. We'll see where we end up.

00:51:57.230 --> 00:51:59.130
I have Lizzie Carr. I know that's a stretch.

00:51:59.469 --> 00:52:05.010
No, take her off. Schumacher. Libero from UCLA.

00:52:05.409 --> 00:52:11.849
Okay. You guys, if I had to pick a Libero to

00:52:11.849 --> 00:52:15.199
be on this list this year, it would be her. Granted,

00:52:15.199 --> 00:52:17.420
I understand she's not playing for a great team,

00:52:17.579 --> 00:52:21.820
but what she is doing for that team is incredible.

00:52:22.139 --> 00:52:25.039
I don't think she will be a first -team All -American,

00:52:25.199 --> 00:52:27.280
but if I were to pick a libero, it would probably

00:52:27.280 --> 00:52:29.639
be her. But I would say take her off. We have

00:52:29.639 --> 00:52:32.139
the same opinion. I have watched her play a few

00:52:32.139 --> 00:52:34.960
times. She does all of the things a libero should

00:52:34.960 --> 00:52:38.679
do and then covers an immense amount of court

00:52:38.679 --> 00:52:41.820
on defense. Her ability to read and dig and to

00:52:41.820 --> 00:52:45.440
set. She's very good. I'm impressed. I had to

00:52:45.440 --> 00:52:47.719
put her on the list personally. Malaya Jones.

00:52:49.440 --> 00:52:51.579
She's had a good season. Keep her on for now.

00:52:52.159 --> 00:52:58.320
Stafford. Yeah, keep her on. Wallard. Oh. Okay,

00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:00.199
keep her for now just so I can see how many we

00:53:00.199 --> 00:53:03.400
have. Glover. Okay, I'm basically saying yes

00:53:03.400 --> 00:53:05.840
to everybody. Okay, well, if we're comparing

00:53:05.840 --> 00:53:09.300
her to the likes of Martin or Babcock, I'll say

00:53:09.300 --> 00:53:13.280
no. Okay. Ava Martin. I don't think she's at

00:53:13.280 --> 00:53:16.079
the level of certain other players. Elia Rubin.

00:53:16.440 --> 00:53:20.059
Yeah. Okay. So that was kind of the long list.

00:53:20.260 --> 00:53:23.699
What are Martin's numbers? Ava Martin was at

00:53:23.699 --> 00:53:29.480
4 .88 points a set. That was her big stat. Okay.

00:53:29.519 --> 00:53:33.900
So we have 17. And the tough thing is, you know.

00:53:34.059 --> 00:53:35.699
Wait, so we just have to cut three from that?

00:53:35.719 --> 00:53:38.210
We have to cut three from that. Okay, do you

00:53:38.210 --> 00:53:40.670
think they would actually give four from Nebraska?

00:53:40.849 --> 00:53:43.630
I think one of them probably won't get it. One

00:53:43.630 --> 00:53:46.550
of them probably won't get it. And Andy Jackson

00:53:46.550 --> 00:53:50.809
will probably win it over Alec. Yeah. But I think

00:53:50.809 --> 00:53:54.730
personally Alec deserves it. I think that Alec

00:53:54.730 --> 00:53:56.650
will be the one out. I would even argue take

00:53:56.650 --> 00:53:59.130
Harper Murray off of that four. You're about

00:53:59.130 --> 00:54:03.030
to be crucified. It happens every week. Why not?

00:54:03.659 --> 00:54:07.719
So let's be frank. Those four are good enough

00:54:07.719 --> 00:54:09.980
to be All -Americans. But when we're comparing

00:54:09.980 --> 00:54:17.820
outsides, DeLay, Hudson, Stafford, I think do

00:54:17.820 --> 00:54:21.119
more than Murray. Not that they're looking at

00:54:21.119 --> 00:54:23.159
positions and being like, yeah, we have to keep

00:54:23.159 --> 00:54:24.579
it even by position. I don't think they care

00:54:24.579 --> 00:54:27.300
about that. But Heredia Colon is doing more than

00:54:27.300 --> 00:54:30.300
Murray. So is this a byproduct for you that she

00:54:30.300 --> 00:54:33.030
plays on Nebraska and it's more even? You think

00:54:33.030 --> 00:54:34.789
if she played for another team, she would get

00:54:34.789 --> 00:54:39.650
the nod? No, I think her numbers compared to

00:54:39.650 --> 00:54:42.030
other outsides that are on this list are not

00:54:42.030 --> 00:54:45.349
comparable. How does Alec and Jackson's numbers

00:54:45.349 --> 00:54:48.429
compare to other middles? I mean, Andy Jackson

00:54:48.429 --> 00:54:50.949
has the highest hitting percentage. Rebecca Alec

00:54:50.949 --> 00:54:54.929
is very high on blocks per set and hitting percentage.

00:54:55.329 --> 00:54:58.789
Jackson's number one, I think Alec is 14. They're

00:54:58.789 --> 00:55:01.690
both putting numbers up. If we're looking at

00:55:01.690 --> 00:55:04.179
middles, I think they're both better than Cressy.

00:55:04.320 --> 00:55:05.639
Cressy means more. Well, I think they're the

00:55:05.639 --> 00:55:08.099
best middle duo in the country. The question

00:55:08.099 --> 00:55:10.199
is, are they going to give Nebraska four first

00:55:10.199 --> 00:55:12.239
-team All -Americans? And I would say probably

00:55:12.239 --> 00:55:14.780
not. No, they probably aren't going to. And again,

00:55:14.840 --> 00:55:17.039
we've talked about this in awards on a team like

00:55:17.039 --> 00:55:19.400
this. But if you're looking at it straight from

00:55:19.400 --> 00:55:21.920
a skill standpoint, they deserve four. I don't

00:55:21.920 --> 00:55:24.559
disagree with you. Yeah. Probably Wallard. Like,

00:55:24.559 --> 00:55:26.239
she's there because Purdue. Take Wallard out.

00:55:26.360 --> 00:55:31.179
Wallard would be off. Cressy is... Probably realistically

00:55:31.179 --> 00:55:35.980
more of a second team choice. Kosok Paula is

00:55:35.980 --> 00:55:39.480
probably also more of a second round choice if

00:55:39.480 --> 00:55:42.239
we're looking at middles to be fair. Probably

00:55:42.239 --> 00:55:44.960
those ones. Okay, which ones would you 100 %

00:55:44.960 --> 00:55:48.159
feeling they are going to be on the list? Jackson,

00:55:48.320 --> 00:55:51.400
Riley, Collier, DeLay, Hudson, Lednicki, Babcock,

00:55:51.679 --> 00:55:54.000
Martin, Heredia, Colon. So you think they're

00:55:54.000 --> 00:55:56.360
going to put Lednicki, Babcock, and Martin three

00:55:56.360 --> 00:56:00.719
opposites? Yes. And Malaya Jones. Yes. You think

00:56:00.719 --> 00:56:02.539
Malaya Jones is going to be first team All -American?

00:56:02.780 --> 00:56:06.159
I think her numbers are off the charts. Hit me

00:56:06.159 --> 00:56:12.639
with her numbers. I believe she was at 4 .1 kills

00:56:12.639 --> 00:56:15.820
per set hitting 371. I think she has the highest

00:56:15.820 --> 00:56:19.139
efficiency of any of those hitters. I think she's

00:56:19.139 --> 00:56:21.159
going to be on it. I think Stafford for sure.

00:56:21.199 --> 00:56:24.079
Her numbers have been very, very good. I actually

00:56:24.079 --> 00:56:27.539
think Ruben might be a second team. I don't think

00:56:27.539 --> 00:56:29.340
they'll put her second team. I think she's very

00:56:29.340 --> 00:56:32.039
important to Stanford, but her numbers aren't

00:56:32.039 --> 00:56:34.940
as good as the other outsides. Really? Yeah.

00:56:35.119 --> 00:56:38.039
We're keeping four opposites. I think all four

00:56:38.039 --> 00:56:39.420
of those will be first -team All -Americans.

00:56:39.719 --> 00:56:42.130
Do you think both Hudson and DeLay? I think you

00:56:42.130 --> 00:56:45.969
have to. Okay, the ones you have to for me, Collier,

00:56:46.190 --> 00:56:49.869
Martin, Babcock are musts because they carry

00:56:49.869 --> 00:56:52.809
their team. Heredia Colon needs to be there.

00:56:52.889 --> 00:56:55.909
Those four need to be there. Stafford. Are her

00:56:55.909 --> 00:56:58.650
numbers that good? Very good. Okay, Stafford.

00:56:58.710 --> 00:57:02.150
I think Bergen -Riley needs to be there. So that's

00:57:02.150 --> 00:57:06.030
six for sure that need to be there. It's an interesting

00:57:06.030 --> 00:57:08.710
question. I'm curious how they make the final

00:57:08.710 --> 00:57:11.920
decision. Do they take... Conference into account?

00:57:12.079 --> 00:57:15.179
Do they take position into account? You know,

00:57:15.199 --> 00:57:17.659
I think it was a lean year for Setters and Liberos.

00:57:17.800 --> 00:57:21.239
I agree. Quite frankly. Well, then people would

00:57:21.239 --> 00:57:24.199
Charlie Furbringer make the long list. I like

00:57:24.199 --> 00:57:26.219
Charlie. I think the fact that she missed the

00:57:26.219 --> 00:57:28.159
amount of time that she missed hurts her chances

00:57:28.159 --> 00:57:31.920
of being a first team. Okay, so who are our four

00:57:31.920 --> 00:57:34.079
team then? I think it will go to Jackson over

00:57:34.079 --> 00:57:37.079
Alec. Riley, I think they will also give it to

00:57:37.079 --> 00:57:41.070
Murray. That's three. Collier, DeLay. Hudson,

00:57:41.210 --> 00:57:45.090
Lednicki, Babcock, Martin, Heredia Colon, Malaya

00:57:45.090 --> 00:57:52.650
Jones, Stafford, 12, Rubin maybe for 13, and

00:57:52.650 --> 00:57:57.750
Kosokpola maybe? Schumacher maybe? No, I would

00:57:57.750 --> 00:58:01.269
say Kosokpola over Schumacher. Okay, there you

00:58:01.269 --> 00:58:03.929
go. Who do you have for freshman of the year?

00:58:04.190 --> 00:58:08.530
Okay, in no particular order, here were my considerations.

00:58:09.530 --> 00:58:14.630
Suli Davis from BYU, Alana Clemente from Oregon,

00:58:15.070 --> 00:58:19.150
Jaden Jagger from Indiana, Kari Spears from Texas,

00:58:19.530 --> 00:58:24.170
Erica Sayre from Stanford, and Logan Parks, also

00:58:24.170 --> 00:58:26.750
from Stanford. Those were kind of who was in

00:58:26.750 --> 00:58:30.489
the running for me. If you were to ask me a month

00:58:30.489 --> 00:58:34.150
ago, I would say that Kari Spears would run away

00:58:34.150 --> 00:58:36.829
with this award. The way she started the season,

00:58:36.909 --> 00:58:40.019
I was like, okay. incredibly impressive. She

00:58:40.019 --> 00:58:43.199
has come back to earth. I would even argue that

00:58:43.199 --> 00:58:46.800
Vanderwall on her own team may have surpassed

00:58:46.800 --> 00:58:49.579
her in my opinion. Yeah. That's not, that's not

00:58:49.579 --> 00:58:51.800
a terrible take. And I think Vanderwall would

00:58:51.800 --> 00:58:54.739
be also a consideration on the list. If we were

00:58:54.739 --> 00:58:58.159
going to add one more, I, for me, I think Suli

00:58:58.159 --> 00:59:01.199
Davis is it for freshman of the year. Her numbers

00:59:01.199 --> 00:59:04.139
are really good. I believe she has better numbers

00:59:04.139 --> 00:59:06.300
than any of the other freshmen. She's also been

00:59:06.300 --> 00:59:09.119
a go -to player for BYU and she's been consistent

00:59:09.119 --> 00:59:12.400
all year. I think she is my pick for freshman

00:59:12.400 --> 00:59:14.940
of the year. And I think Alana Clemente would

00:59:14.940 --> 00:59:19.239
be my second choice. I like Alana Clemente. I

00:59:19.239 --> 00:59:22.699
don't know if they'll give it to her because

00:59:22.699 --> 00:59:25.440
her team is like not doing well. I mean, now

00:59:25.440 --> 00:59:29.340
there's BYU. I mean, Clemente just 355 kills

00:59:29.340 --> 00:59:34.039
on the year hitting 374. Very, very impressive.

00:59:34.789 --> 00:59:40.309
374 is pretty good. Yeah. I like Parks. She like

00:59:40.309 --> 00:59:43.409
started the season. I like Sayer too. I think

00:59:43.409 --> 00:59:45.650
if the freshman class wasn't quite this strong,

00:59:45.829 --> 00:59:48.110
Parks would have a very good case to win it.

00:59:48.190 --> 00:59:51.369
But Sui Davis and Clemente are putting up like

00:59:51.369 --> 00:59:53.550
numbers to be in consideration for All -American.

00:59:53.789 --> 00:59:58.849
Like those stats are impressive. Like Oregon's

00:59:58.849 --> 01:00:00.889
in a good conference. Suli Davis is playing in

01:00:00.889 --> 01:00:03.090
the messy Big 12. I get that it's not quite as

01:00:03.090 --> 01:00:05.550
high a level. I think Suli Davis will be given

01:00:05.550 --> 01:00:08.289
a second team All -American probably. Yeah, I

01:00:08.289 --> 01:00:10.829
would agree with that. Okay, my pick freshman

01:00:10.829 --> 01:00:12.869
of the year is Suli Davis. Yeah, me too. Coach

01:00:12.869 --> 01:00:14.730
of the year. I think Danny Busboom has done an

01:00:14.730 --> 01:00:16.869
incredible job with Nebraska. I don't think she's

01:00:16.869 --> 01:00:21.070
going to win it. Really? No. Maybe. I think she

01:00:21.070 --> 01:00:23.389
has a very good chance of winning it. I think

01:00:23.389 --> 01:00:25.510
what Dave Shandell did at Purdue was incredible,

01:00:25.690 --> 01:00:28.130
but I don't think his team will advance far enough

01:00:28.130 --> 01:00:30.710
for him to win it. See, I, okay. I wasn't taking

01:00:30.710 --> 01:00:33.369
that into consideration. I'm looking at just

01:00:33.369 --> 01:00:37.070
value brought to the team. So in that case, then

01:00:37.070 --> 01:00:40.190
yes, probably Danny will win. Like when do you

01:00:40.190 --> 01:00:42.289
ever see a coach of the year that doesn't make

01:00:42.289 --> 01:00:44.329
the final four? I'm sure somebody is going to

01:00:44.329 --> 01:00:47.550
give me a whole roster stat sheet of like the

01:00:47.550 --> 01:00:50.889
examples, but. Okay. I mean, yes. Fair enough.

01:00:50.929 --> 01:00:52.969
Who else did I think did a good job? I think

01:00:52.969 --> 01:00:56.170
Shondell did a really good job. I think, again,

01:00:56.389 --> 01:00:59.150
Oregon didn't end up doing as well as I thought

01:00:59.150 --> 01:01:02.469
they would, but I thought he, Trent, did a great

01:01:02.469 --> 01:01:05.690
job at Oregon. I was impressed with their team.

01:01:05.690 --> 01:01:07.949
Considering they started from scratch, basically.

01:01:08.369 --> 01:01:10.889
Yeah. Indiana came on strong. We've talked about

01:01:10.889 --> 01:01:14.570
the coaches that we like, but I think Craig Skinner,

01:01:14.630 --> 01:01:16.909
a case could be made for Craig Skinner. True.

01:01:17.269 --> 01:01:20.969
True. But I mean, if Nebraska continues to go

01:01:20.969 --> 01:01:23.469
undefeated and they make the final four, it's

01:01:23.469 --> 01:01:25.849
hard to argue that Danny hasn't done. I mean,

01:01:25.849 --> 01:01:27.789
she's got all the pieces, but they were very

01:01:27.789 --> 01:01:29.889
consistent. If Nebraska makes the final four,

01:01:29.969 --> 01:01:32.230
Danny Busby, I think will win. I think that's

01:01:32.230 --> 01:01:34.750
a fair take. Do I think she brings the most value

01:01:34.750 --> 01:01:38.489
to her team? Probably not, but it's still hard

01:01:38.489 --> 01:01:41.889
to get to produce the results that she's produced

01:01:41.889 --> 01:01:45.269
this season. Player of the year. I think it's

01:01:45.269 --> 01:01:47.019
going to be Bergen Riley. I really do. I think

01:01:47.019 --> 01:01:49.280
it'll be Bergen -Riley. Nebraska has had a historic

01:01:49.280 --> 01:01:52.820
season. I don't think any of their hitters have

01:01:52.820 --> 01:01:56.559
been so dominant that they deserve player of

01:01:56.559 --> 01:01:59.639
the year. And in that case, I think it goes to

01:01:59.639 --> 01:02:03.219
Bergen -Riley. Yep. I agree. There you have it.

01:02:03.260 --> 01:02:07.519
Our predictions. All Americans. Big awards. Let

01:02:07.519 --> 01:02:09.179
us know your thoughts. I'm sure we are going

01:02:09.179 --> 01:02:14.070
to hear about it. Love it. So hit us up. All

01:02:14.070 --> 01:02:16.170
right, we're going to dive into our listener

01:02:16.170 --> 01:02:18.769
questions of the week. Okay, question one. What

01:02:18.769 --> 01:02:21.949
do you think of Cassie O 'Brien at Kentucky as

01:02:21.949 --> 01:02:26.449
a setter and possibly running a 5 -2 at some

01:02:26.449 --> 01:02:29.349
point? You don't see that too often. I mean,

01:02:29.349 --> 01:02:31.429
there just aren't that many setters who are also

01:02:31.429 --> 01:02:35.530
offensive like that. Listen, in the college game,

01:02:35.710 --> 01:02:37.989
you pretty much never have. What's a 5 -2 for

01:02:37.989 --> 01:02:41.210
people who don't know? Okay, so a 5 -2 is essentially.

01:02:42.079 --> 01:02:45.820
A 6 -2 where one of your setters is hitting.

01:02:45.960 --> 01:02:48.219
Cassie O 'Brien, when she's in the back row,

01:02:48.440 --> 01:02:51.039
she will be the setter, and they'll have another

01:02:51.039 --> 01:02:53.800
opposite in the front row hitting. When Cassie

01:02:53.800 --> 01:02:57.059
rotates to the front row, they'll sub the other

01:02:57.059 --> 01:02:59.760
right side out for another setter, and Cassie

01:02:59.760 --> 01:03:01.599
will hit in the front row. So she will be that

01:03:01.599 --> 01:03:03.880
hitter. Exactly the same thing as a 6 -2, except

01:03:03.880 --> 01:03:06.480
Cassie in this case is going to hit when she's

01:03:06.480 --> 01:03:09.380
in the front row. So you always have three front

01:03:09.380 --> 01:03:11.929
row attacking options. I don't hate it. Honestly,

01:03:12.130 --> 01:03:14.489
she'll be in better rhythm because she's staying

01:03:14.489 --> 01:03:16.070
on the floor. Was she a hitter in high school?

01:03:16.369 --> 01:03:18.409
I think so. I think and club. I think they played

01:03:18.409 --> 01:03:20.650
a 6 -2 all the way through. Hitting in club and

01:03:20.650 --> 01:03:23.590
hitting in college is two different things. We'll

01:03:23.590 --> 01:03:27.469
see how good she is at that. But I don't dislike

01:03:27.469 --> 01:03:29.969
it. And I think you need to try to find ways

01:03:29.969 --> 01:03:32.170
to maximize the talents on your roster. And if

01:03:32.170 --> 01:03:34.530
that works for Kentucky, then absolutely. As

01:03:34.530 --> 01:03:37.769
far as her setting, I think she's good for sure.

01:03:37.889 --> 01:03:42.829
I think she makes some freshman. mistakes like

01:03:42.829 --> 01:03:47.610
when the wheels fall off they they fall off or

01:03:47.610 --> 01:03:51.530
you'll see certain lack of experience type of

01:03:51.530 --> 01:03:55.409
errors but i i think she's good yeah she definitely

01:03:55.409 --> 01:03:58.610
falls into a trap of just setting delay and hudson

01:03:58.610 --> 01:04:01.449
i mean would i feel like anybody would maybe

01:04:01.449 --> 01:04:06.570
fair but that's where she has to grow is running

01:04:06.570 --> 01:04:08.989
a more balanced offense understanding when to

01:04:08.989 --> 01:04:11.579
push the middle when to use your right side.

01:04:11.760 --> 01:04:14.659
You can't just set two players. I mean, they've

01:04:14.659 --> 01:04:17.820
been successful this year doing it. And maybe

01:04:17.820 --> 01:04:20.000
it'll be proven wrong, but yes, that would be

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:21.880
where the growth is, I think. Okay, question

01:04:21.880 --> 01:04:23.960
two. Is there anything blockers can do to avoid

01:04:23.960 --> 01:04:26.400
hitters using them to recycle off the block?

01:04:27.039 --> 01:04:29.920
Why don't more blockers pull their hands down

01:04:29.920 --> 01:04:31.960
when hitters are hitting off the net out of system?

01:04:32.059 --> 01:04:35.320
It seems like... In more cases, the hitters catch

01:04:35.320 --> 01:04:37.599
hands that sends the ball flying in an awkward

01:04:37.599 --> 01:04:39.719
trajectory rather than the block being effective.

01:04:40.260 --> 01:04:43.400
Okay, so there's actually quite a lot to unpack

01:04:43.400 --> 01:04:46.840
in that question. Being used on the recycle.

01:04:47.360 --> 01:04:49.860
So when I hear the term recycle, I think of a

01:04:49.860 --> 01:04:51.760
hitter's not in a good position. They use the

01:04:51.760 --> 01:04:54.019
block to rebound it back to their own side to

01:04:54.019 --> 01:04:55.960
give their team a chance. Yeah. There's nothing

01:04:55.960 --> 01:04:58.719
you can do about that. No. Getting tooled. Correct.

01:04:58.780 --> 01:05:00.900
Is a different story where somebody is going

01:05:00.900 --> 01:05:04.019
off and as this question asked, ricocheting the

01:05:04.019 --> 01:05:06.480
ball off the block into the crowd or whatever.

01:05:06.599 --> 01:05:09.699
I will ask you this because on the beach, tooling

01:05:09.699 --> 01:05:11.599
the block is a very big thing because you're

01:05:11.599 --> 01:05:14.300
generally one on one. Not many people attempt

01:05:14.300 --> 01:05:16.659
it unless the ball is real tight. Right. But

01:05:16.659 --> 01:05:19.659
you are very good as a blocker at identifying

01:05:19.659 --> 01:05:21.440
when a hitter is trying to do that and pulling

01:05:21.440 --> 01:05:24.539
your hands down. So I think that's a very high.

01:05:25.119 --> 01:05:27.179
level skill I don't think a lot of college players

01:05:27.179 --> 01:05:30.059
can do it well what makes it so challenging and

01:05:30.059 --> 01:05:31.619
what do you have to do to be successful at it

01:05:31.619 --> 01:05:33.559
I will say I think it's more obvious on the beach

01:05:33.559 --> 01:05:36.199
because people are more limited physically and

01:05:36.199 --> 01:05:40.480
so what a player is trying to do is given away

01:05:40.480 --> 01:05:43.380
more by their physical tells whereas in indoor

01:05:43.380 --> 01:05:45.260
you can do a lot of stuff while you're in the

01:05:45.260 --> 01:05:48.239
air so take this with a grain of salt I guess

01:05:48.239 --> 01:05:54.719
but even having played both you can kind of tell

01:05:54.719 --> 01:05:58.159
what a hitter's intention is. Like if they are

01:05:58.159 --> 01:06:00.420
going up with the sole intention of completely

01:06:00.420 --> 01:06:04.679
wiping you off, you can see their hips close

01:06:04.679 --> 01:06:07.079
to the net. You can see their shoulders completely

01:06:07.079 --> 01:06:11.139
close. And so that is generally an indicator

01:06:11.139 --> 01:06:13.780
that they are going to try to take the ball to

01:06:13.780 --> 01:06:16.519
the line. You can tell by the trajectory of the

01:06:16.519 --> 01:06:19.440
set if a hitter is going to be in trouble. And

01:06:19.440 --> 01:06:22.679
then that combined with how they are aligning

01:06:22.679 --> 01:06:25.139
their hips and shoulders on their approach, you

01:06:25.139 --> 01:06:28.840
can deduce what they're trying to do. Sometimes

01:06:28.840 --> 01:06:32.460
you might do that and the hitter will score,

01:06:32.639 --> 01:06:38.119
will hit it down the line. That's not great.

01:06:38.420 --> 01:06:42.380
But the ones who are, I see, I don't even know

01:06:42.380 --> 01:06:45.139
how often hitters are going up with the intention

01:06:45.139 --> 01:06:48.219
of swinging into the stands, though. It's fair.

01:06:48.320 --> 01:06:51.900
To be honest, I don't think hitters go up. You

01:06:51.900 --> 01:06:54.739
can tell when a hitter is going up with the intention

01:06:54.739 --> 01:06:59.519
of like completely using a block. Well, and so

01:06:59.519 --> 01:07:01.920
the one scenario that they use here is the set

01:07:01.920 --> 01:07:05.420
off the net, right? The set off the net, that's

01:07:05.420 --> 01:07:08.239
a blocking issue. Yes, to me, that's a technical

01:07:08.239 --> 01:07:10.380
issue of you not being in the right place, your

01:07:10.380 --> 01:07:12.239
timing either being wrong or your hand positioning

01:07:12.239 --> 01:07:14.239
being wrong. But the thing you have to remember

01:07:14.239 --> 01:07:17.579
is. You have a responsibility as a blocker. You

01:07:17.579 --> 01:07:20.599
have generally four other people playing defense

01:07:20.599 --> 01:07:23.559
around you. If you decide to vacate your responsibility

01:07:23.559 --> 01:07:27.579
and they swing where you're supposed to be, your

01:07:27.579 --> 01:07:30.760
coach is going to be very unhappy with you. You

01:07:30.760 --> 01:07:33.880
have to be 100 % sure that they're trying to

01:07:33.880 --> 01:07:35.739
tool you to pull your hands down. Otherwise,

01:07:35.900 --> 01:07:39.260
you're causing a liability. The other thing is

01:07:39.260 --> 01:07:42.179
you have to have very good vision and very quick

01:07:42.179 --> 01:07:44.159
decision -making to decide to pull your hands

01:07:44.159 --> 01:07:46.579
down. And I don't think there's a ton of college

01:07:46.579 --> 01:07:49.599
players who are processing the game at that level

01:07:49.599 --> 01:07:54.000
to be able to make that good read consistently.

01:07:54.780 --> 01:07:56.480
Yeah, I mean, I think you have to understand

01:07:56.480 --> 01:07:58.820
the type of hitter you have too. Like if you

01:07:58.820 --> 01:08:01.940
have a person who is just a horse that's going

01:08:01.940 --> 01:08:07.019
to go for it, I would probably block more often.

01:08:07.059 --> 01:08:10.699
If you have a hitter that's air averse. And who

01:08:10.699 --> 01:08:12.940
doesn't like to hit in uncomfortable situations.

01:08:13.000 --> 01:08:15.519
In that scenario, it needs to be a conversation

01:08:15.519 --> 01:08:17.920
of like, let's vacate. Well, and the other thing

01:08:17.920 --> 01:08:20.279
I will say is I don't consider somebody hitting

01:08:20.279 --> 01:08:22.640
the tops of your fingers and going out the back.

01:08:22.739 --> 01:08:25.560
That's not being tooled. That's a very good offensive

01:08:25.560 --> 01:08:28.399
swing. And there's nothing you can do about that.

01:08:28.460 --> 01:08:30.979
A tool is rattling through your arms, hitting

01:08:30.979 --> 01:08:33.020
the side of your arm, off the side of your hand

01:08:33.020 --> 01:08:35.319
and out of bounds. Or deliberately swinging for

01:08:35.319 --> 01:08:38.819
the bleachers in the sideline. Yeah. They are

01:08:38.819 --> 01:08:41.739
not looking for the court. Exactly. Question

01:08:41.739 --> 01:08:43.720
three, as we're coming up on selection time,

01:08:43.899 --> 01:08:47.020
could you go over how that works? I get lost

01:08:47.020 --> 01:08:49.319
when some teams in very tough conferences don't

01:08:49.319 --> 01:08:51.199
make it, even though they're really good teams.

01:08:51.600 --> 01:08:54.579
So basically there are 64 teams that make it.

01:08:54.659 --> 01:08:58.539
There are 31 conferences and the conference winner,

01:08:58.640 --> 01:09:01.880
each conference winner is guaranteed. So that's

01:09:01.880 --> 01:09:05.560
31 right off the board. And that only leaves

01:09:05.560 --> 01:09:11.550
33. remaining spots and so those spots tend they

01:09:11.550 --> 01:09:16.029
tend to do it by rpi so quick recap of what rpi

01:09:16.029 --> 01:09:19.890
is yeah your strength of opponents that you have

01:09:19.890 --> 01:09:23.630
played in your kind of pre -conference mode as

01:09:23.630 --> 01:09:26.090
well all counts towards your ranking whether

01:09:26.090 --> 01:09:27.890
you win in three whether you win in four whether

01:09:27.890 --> 01:09:30.409
you win in five what the ranking of your opponent

01:09:30.409 --> 01:09:33.579
is when you play it's very formulaic which calculates

01:09:33.579 --> 01:09:35.460
kind of your strength of schedule and how you

01:09:35.460 --> 01:09:38.979
perform to give a ranking. So that's why you

01:09:38.979 --> 01:09:43.520
see top teams really overload their preseason

01:09:43.520 --> 01:09:46.739
these days is because their strength of their

01:09:46.739 --> 01:09:48.819
opponent is so strong. And if they're getting

01:09:48.819 --> 01:09:52.899
wins against those strong opponents, that boosts

01:09:52.899 --> 01:09:55.359
their RPI. So even if they don't win their conference,

01:09:55.699 --> 01:09:59.439
they're going to be ranked higher. But it also

01:09:59.439 --> 01:10:02.420
takes into account how... your opponent's opponents

01:10:02.420 --> 01:10:05.439
and how your opponents do against those people.

01:10:05.520 --> 01:10:11.140
So top teams guarantee themselves spots by playing

01:10:11.140 --> 01:10:13.920
tough teams who play other tough teams and getting

01:10:13.920 --> 01:10:17.739
wins against them. And so it ranks every single

01:10:17.739 --> 01:10:21.359
team in the NCAA on those metrics. And so the

01:10:21.359 --> 01:10:25.859
remaining 33 teams are taken from that pretty

01:10:25.859 --> 01:10:28.819
much. Now it's not a straight take. Like there

01:10:28.819 --> 01:10:31.659
are some considerations of X number of teams

01:10:31.659 --> 01:10:33.899
from this conference, from that conference. They

01:10:33.899 --> 01:10:37.699
do pick some outside of the big four that end

01:10:37.699 --> 01:10:40.579
up going in that have good season. So it's not

01:10:40.579 --> 01:10:42.760
just, you know, those teams come out, but it's

01:10:42.760 --> 01:10:46.340
pretty close. It's, I mean, at the end of the

01:10:46.340 --> 01:10:49.699
day, it is college sports. So like, yeah, they

01:10:49.699 --> 01:10:54.260
could probably pull from only power four conferences

01:10:54.260 --> 01:10:57.380
aside from the top 30. the 31 conference winners,

01:10:57.560 --> 01:11:01.880
but yeah, you don't, that's boring. Yeah. So

01:11:01.880 --> 01:11:04.399
yeah, that's why you kind of see it a little

01:11:04.399 --> 01:11:07.960
more mixed. I mean, I think what, like nine teams

01:11:07.960 --> 01:11:10.819
were taken from the big 10 last year. I don't

01:11:10.819 --> 01:11:14.000
know. Half of the big 10 made it. Yeah. If you're

01:11:14.000 --> 01:11:17.439
not finishing in the top half, you might be better

01:11:17.439 --> 01:11:19.100
than some of the teams that get to go, but like,

01:11:19.100 --> 01:11:21.779
come on, but you don't get to go like it. Let's

01:11:21.779 --> 01:11:23.539
draw a line somewhere. You know what I mean?

01:11:24.039 --> 01:11:27.319
So, yeah, it can be a little confusing. But if

01:11:27.319 --> 01:11:29.300
you're in a power four conference, if you're

01:11:29.300 --> 01:11:33.920
finishing in the top six, at least you're probably

01:11:33.920 --> 01:11:37.300
safe. Question four. Can you explain how volleyball

01:11:37.300 --> 01:11:39.979
fantasy leagues work? I mean, you should mention

01:11:39.979 --> 01:11:42.779
that. Yeah, there's all kinds of different formats

01:11:42.779 --> 01:11:46.380
you can do. The one that we did this year was

01:11:46.380 --> 01:11:50.420
done. Shout out to Around the Block Volley. Check

01:11:50.420 --> 01:11:53.300
them out on Instagram. Yeah, they hosted one

01:11:53.300 --> 01:11:55.520
and it was a lot of fun. So we did a snake draft.

01:11:55.720 --> 01:11:58.880
We picked 10 players. You have seven active players

01:11:58.880 --> 01:12:03.260
each week who gain points. Every positive kill

01:12:03.260 --> 01:12:06.859
or terminal action is worth a point. Errors are

01:12:06.859 --> 01:12:10.779
negative points. Digs count for one. Assists

01:12:10.779 --> 01:12:14.319
count for half. And you just accumulate points

01:12:14.319 --> 01:12:15.779
from the beginning of the season to the end of

01:12:15.779 --> 01:12:18.720
the tournament. So that's one way to do it. There's

01:12:18.720 --> 01:12:22.659
all kinds of... fantasy volleyball leagues and

01:12:22.659 --> 01:12:25.539
things you can do in terms of you know picking

01:12:25.539 --> 01:12:28.800
set scores or picking who wins this in three

01:12:28.800 --> 01:12:31.979
four or five and you could build teams that last

01:12:31.979 --> 01:12:33.979
more than a year where you're doing a draft at

01:12:33.979 --> 01:12:35.760
the beginning of the year like there's all kinds

01:12:35.760 --> 01:12:38.720
of different fantasy you can do i actually had

01:12:38.720 --> 01:12:42.220
so much fun this year playing fantasy volleyball

01:12:42.220 --> 01:12:46.260
that i'm i'm working on putting out a fantasy

01:12:46.260 --> 01:12:48.359
volleyball website so when that's done i'll let

01:12:48.359 --> 01:12:51.140
you guys know Stay tuned. I have some interesting

01:12:51.140 --> 01:12:55.600
ideas for both NCAA, some of the US Pro Leagues,

01:12:55.600 --> 01:12:57.979
and then international. So stay tuned. That'll

01:12:57.979 --> 01:12:59.960
be coming. I think it's going to be a lot of

01:12:59.960 --> 01:13:04.159
fun. Basically, you have modifiers for each skill.

01:13:04.359 --> 01:13:08.979
Yeah. So you have to determine which skills are

01:13:08.979 --> 01:13:12.220
going to earn you the most points and then pick

01:13:12.220 --> 01:13:16.859
players who will earn you those points. So for

01:13:16.859 --> 01:13:20.300
example, like... Our libero in our fantasy league,

01:13:20.300 --> 01:13:22.819
a dig is worth a point. An assist is worth a

01:13:22.819 --> 01:13:27.920
point. Aces. Our libero is the Valparaiso libero.

01:13:28.720 --> 01:13:33.020
Because here's the thing. Those rallies go forever.

01:13:33.020 --> 01:13:37.199
The rallies aren't as terminal in mid -major

01:13:37.199 --> 01:13:39.920
volleyball. So the people are getting way more

01:13:39.920 --> 01:13:43.840
digs. so you want like we picked a mid -major

01:13:43.840 --> 01:13:46.899
libero who is just crushing it because like you

01:13:46.899 --> 01:13:48.300
don't want to pick a libero from like a power

01:13:48.300 --> 01:13:50.920
four conferences because the players are so terminal

01:13:50.920 --> 01:13:53.100
they're not getting as many digs so it's just

01:13:53.100 --> 01:13:57.619
like interesting to explore yeah and see what

01:13:57.619 --> 01:14:00.579
is important to you or what you think will get

01:14:00.579 --> 01:14:04.439
you the most points which positions stuff like

01:14:04.439 --> 01:14:08.180
that and then going from there so i'm also going

01:14:08.180 --> 01:14:11.050
to put like the ability to choose a conference

01:14:11.050 --> 01:14:12.949
you could keep all your players within a conference

01:14:12.949 --> 01:14:15.770
or pick a couple conferences there'll be there's

01:14:15.770 --> 01:14:17.670
all kinds of ways that you can do it and collect

01:14:17.670 --> 01:14:20.090
points it's it's quite fun actually and then

01:14:20.090 --> 01:14:22.729
like you have a 10 person roster and then picking

01:14:22.729 --> 01:14:25.369
who's on your active roster and like who's on

01:14:25.369 --> 01:14:27.130
the bent like it's pretty cool you can trade

01:14:27.130 --> 01:14:28.869
with people you're on or pick up players who

01:14:28.869 --> 01:14:30.850
haven't been picked up we have to figure out

01:14:30.850 --> 01:14:34.010
how to do it with like a draft with people not

01:14:34.010 --> 01:14:35.989
in the same place correct you know what i mean

01:14:35.989 --> 01:14:38.760
so that nobody picks the same player but Very

01:14:38.760 --> 01:14:41.520
fun. Really helps you stay engaged and maybe

01:14:41.520 --> 01:14:44.039
watch certain teams that you wouldn't watch.

01:14:44.979 --> 01:14:47.859
So, yeah, it's great. Question five. Can you

01:14:47.859 --> 01:14:50.380
talk about Gigi at Tennessee and the glow up

01:14:50.380 --> 01:14:52.819
she's had this year compared to her time at Wisconsin?

01:14:52.939 --> 01:14:55.600
Is there something Tennessee is doing to train

01:14:55.600 --> 01:14:59.119
passing that Wisconsin isn't? I mean, in watching

01:14:59.119 --> 01:15:02.659
Tennessee this year, Gigi definitely seems a

01:15:02.659 --> 01:15:05.500
lot more confident. I don't know if it's because

01:15:05.500 --> 01:15:07.779
she played for one of the top teams in the country

01:15:07.779 --> 01:15:12.880
and just kind of feels like a big dog now with

01:15:12.880 --> 01:15:15.359
this new team. Like that could be part of it.

01:15:15.399 --> 01:15:18.380
It's just like she feels more confident because

01:15:18.380 --> 01:15:21.340
of where she's come from. Maybe it's not having

01:15:21.340 --> 01:15:23.319
the confidence to take the scene with Sarah Franklin

01:15:23.319 --> 01:15:25.680
or being uncertain about who you're playing with.

01:15:25.720 --> 01:15:29.699
Or the pressure. Yeah, or the pressure. Any number

01:15:29.699 --> 01:15:32.819
of reasons. There might be a few technical pointers

01:15:32.819 --> 01:15:35.279
that maybe Tennessee pointed out to her that

01:15:35.279 --> 01:15:38.079
helps her out. Listen, some coaches don't. I

01:15:38.079 --> 01:15:40.779
think passing is a mental skill, honestly. I

01:15:40.779 --> 01:15:42.260
do too. If you get in your own head about it,

01:15:42.380 --> 01:15:45.460
you're toast. That's totally fair. It is obviously

01:15:45.460 --> 01:15:47.520
a technical skill too. No, but what I was going

01:15:47.520 --> 01:15:50.239
to say is sometimes two coaches can tell you

01:15:50.239 --> 01:15:52.239
the same thing in a slightly different way and

01:15:52.239 --> 01:15:54.739
it just makes sense for you. Coming from one

01:15:54.739 --> 01:15:56.739
versus the other. Which could also be the case.

01:15:56.859 --> 01:15:59.239
Same fundamentals but think about it this way.

01:15:59.380 --> 01:16:00.979
And then it just works. There's a couple reasons

01:16:00.979 --> 01:16:03.319
something like that could happen. Question six.

01:16:05.020 --> 01:16:07.340
So we've talked about how Chloe Chacon probably

01:16:07.340 --> 01:16:11.640
can't play pro as an outside. Do you think she

01:16:11.640 --> 01:16:14.020
could play pro as a libero or is it too late?

01:16:14.939 --> 01:16:18.520
There are so many defensive players that it might

01:16:18.520 --> 01:16:20.500
not be too late for her to build that skill set.

01:16:21.069 --> 01:16:23.710
But the chances of a team taking a chance on

01:16:23.710 --> 01:16:25.909
her to play libero without her having proved

01:16:25.909 --> 01:16:28.409
it probably just means she won't get the opportunity,

01:16:28.609 --> 01:16:30.409
not that she's not capable of it. That would

01:16:30.409 --> 01:16:33.970
be my take. But she could definitely, like, she

01:16:33.970 --> 01:16:36.689
could probably play left side for a PVF team

01:16:36.689 --> 01:16:40.850
or an MLV team and maybe do the transition there

01:16:40.850 --> 01:16:44.210
and work on getting some film. But pro -pro league

01:16:44.210 --> 01:16:46.689
overseas probably won't take a flyer on somebody

01:16:46.689 --> 01:16:48.810
like that at the libero position. Okay, last

01:16:48.810 --> 01:16:51.430
question of the week. If you are less physical,

01:16:51.590 --> 01:16:54.250
can you make up for it with more skill? Within

01:16:54.250 --> 01:16:58.229
reason. If you're 5 '4 and you touch 9 '8, it's

01:16:58.229 --> 01:17:03.130
going to be hard to score. If you're 5 '10 and

01:17:03.130 --> 01:17:06.210
you're a few inches lower than your other competitors,

01:17:06.510 --> 01:17:10.130
yes. Good fundamentals, good decision making,

01:17:10.329 --> 01:17:14.170
being smart and crafty. Until you get to the

01:17:14.170 --> 01:17:17.590
top, top, top levels. I 100 % believe that you

01:17:17.590 --> 01:17:19.170
can make up for that and that you could play

01:17:19.170 --> 01:17:23.470
NCAA. All right, there's some interesting matches

01:17:23.470 --> 01:17:26.710
in these last final weeks of the NCAA. So here

01:17:26.710 --> 01:17:28.550
are a few to pay attention to as you're off for

01:17:28.550 --> 01:17:30.289
Thanksgiving, if you can squeeze them in between

01:17:30.289 --> 01:17:35.869
your football viewing. Wednesday at 3 p .m. Eastern,

01:17:35.949 --> 01:17:39.390
we have Baylor versus TCU. I mean, somebody has

01:17:39.390 --> 01:17:41.569
to win, so one of those teams will get a win.

01:17:41.710 --> 01:17:44.930
We'll see. Wednesday at 7 p .m. Eastern, we have

01:17:44.930 --> 01:17:47.829
Louisville versus Pitt. Circle that one. That'll

01:17:47.829 --> 01:17:50.729
be a great game. Purdue versus Minnesota. Purdue

01:17:50.729 --> 01:17:52.850
needs to right the ship. Just do the split screen

01:17:52.850 --> 01:17:55.369
with those ones. Yes, absolutely. Dual monitor.

01:17:55.930 --> 01:17:59.010
Also Wednesday at 7 .30 Eastern, we have Kansas

01:17:59.010 --> 01:18:01.409
versus Iowa State. Kansas has been on one. Iowa

01:18:01.409 --> 01:18:05.069
State has also been winning. So we'll see what

01:18:05.069 --> 01:18:08.329
happens with those ones. Love it. Yeah. As always,

01:18:08.449 --> 01:18:12.020
same as usual. Friday at 9 p .m. Eastern, we

01:18:12.020 --> 01:18:14.640
have Minnesota versus Wisconsin. If Wisconsin

01:18:14.640 --> 01:18:17.340
plays like they did this week, probably they

01:18:17.340 --> 01:18:19.640
will roll 3 -0 on that one. But Minnesota has

01:18:19.640 --> 01:18:21.899
been interesting to watch. Probably should have

01:18:21.899 --> 01:18:24.199
had some freshmen on the list, but they weren't

01:18:24.199 --> 01:18:27.880
quite that good. No. Saturday, we have Stanford

01:18:27.880 --> 01:18:31.020
versus Louisville. Louisville has a big weekend.

01:18:31.239 --> 01:18:34.520
They have a big weekend. And that Stanford -Louisville

01:18:34.520 --> 01:18:36.779
match. We'll just star that one. Well, Pitt is

01:18:36.779 --> 01:18:39.180
in the running, too. Let's not forget about them.

01:18:39.340 --> 01:18:43.699
True. Star those ACC matchups. It'll be good

01:18:43.699 --> 01:18:46.779
viewing. And then Saturday at 3 p .m., BYU versus

01:18:46.779 --> 01:18:50.439
Colorado. And Saturday, also at 7 p .m., Indiana

01:18:50.439 --> 01:18:53.319
versus Purdue. Actually, that could potentially

01:18:53.319 --> 01:18:56.079
be a very good game. Very fast offense against

01:18:56.079 --> 01:18:58.819
a very well -prepared team. That will be a good

01:18:58.819 --> 01:19:01.500
match, I think, to watch. Yeah, lots of good

01:19:01.500 --> 01:19:04.319
viewing this week if you have some time to sit

01:19:04.319 --> 01:19:07.380
down and watch. That concludes this week's episode

01:19:07.380 --> 01:19:09.279
of Volley Talk. There's always something shaking

01:19:09.279 --> 01:19:11.079
in the volleyball world, and we hope you enjoyed

01:19:11.079 --> 01:19:13.500
this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so

01:19:13.500 --> 01:19:16.409
you don't miss any updates. And we'd be so grateful

01:19:16.409 --> 01:19:19.789
if you'd leave us a five -star review. Baby wants

01:19:19.789 --> 01:19:22.329
you to do it too. You can also find us on Instagram

01:19:22.329 --> 01:19:25.189
at volleytalk underscore podcast. If you have

01:19:25.189 --> 01:19:27.189
a topic you'd like us to discuss, you can reach

01:19:27.189 --> 01:19:30.310
out to us on Instagram or at info at sarahpavin

01:19:30.310 --> 01:19:32.930
.com. Thanks so much for joining us and we'll

01:19:32.930 --> 01:19:34.069
be back next week.