2017 NCAA Volleyball Final Four
- Thread starter Mavric
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Bornhusker
Banned
Florida made Florida look silly. They were not a very well coached team, making stupid mistakes at the net numerous times. They were also not a mentally tough team!
There were a couple times when they got rolling and NU couldn't handle them, but because of their weaknesses NU was able to come back every time.
John Cook could coach baseball and would win, he actually started his career as a football coach. NU was the less "talented" team, but by far the best mentally tough team and of course the best coached team. Just think what a 6' 8" player would do under Cook.. Man oh man!
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knapplc
International Man of Mystery
They aren't badly coached, they just ran into a better team. Mary Wise won the AVCA Coach of the Year award (which should have gone to Cook), and while we may debate the merits of that, she's not only not a bad coach, she's been a pretty good coach for a pretty long time.
Florida looked silly when Nebraska was on their game. When we weren't, in the third game, Florida looked good. No team gets to the Finals by accident. Florida didn't beat Stanford without reason.
It's just that Nebraska was overall a far better coached team, whose players understood their roles and executed those roles well.
Don't take my word for it. Watch the Gators beat Stanford.
huKSer
Well-known member
Don't forget his ability to surround himself with great assistant coaches ..... unlike many of our recent football coaches.
Bornhusker
Banned
no doubt about that. I, personally, believe he makes those assistant coaches better.
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knapplc
International Man of Mystery
No, I don't agree with you. Every team is less well coached than Nebraska. That's not a knock on Mary Wise.
Again, she didn't coach that team to the Finals, beating Stanford along the way, because she's a bad coach.
Bornhusker
Banned
and I didn't say she was a bad coach, I said they were not very well coached, which is 100% true, and there is a difference. My mistake was I should have clarified better. I was more talking about for this game. That said, those mental mistakes fall on the coach, she did not have them prepared. Well coached, mentally strong teams overcome mistakes, teams that are not, don't.. they didn't! There is a reason why teams do not serve receive well under pressure!
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knapplc
International Man of Mystery
OK, if you're just talking about the Championship match and not her overall as a coach, I would agree. In fact, I think she tipped her hand about her mentality heading into the Finals by saying they were going to play another "road game" during the presser. I felt that was exactly the wrong message to send to her team, and it showed in the way they played.
Nebraska is, overall, a better team than Florida. That showed very clearly in the three games we won - two of them weren't competitive, and the third wasn't really in doubt. I think Florida was mentally unprepared to play against a good Nebraska team, but also in front of that massive crowd. That crowd was probably ten times larger than any previous hostile crowd they'd played against. It had an effect.
Nebraska is, overall, a better team than Florida. That showed very clearly in the three games we won - two of them weren't competitive, and the third wasn't really in doubt. I think Florida was mentally unprepared to play against a good Nebraska team, but also in front of that massive crowd. That crowd was probably ten times larger than any previous hostile crowd they'd played against. It had an effect.
Bornhusker
Banned
yeah, my mistake. I should have better clarified my position. Even very good coaches can make mistakes and have teams unprepared.
and yes, I 100% agree NU is the better overall team for a number of reasons.. being mentally tough is a big part of that.
JKinney
Well-known member
For someone in the know : What was the talent comparison between Nebraska, Penn State, and Florida?
I was not an avid Nebraska volleyball fan (until now!) and I was curious if anyone had some thoughts on this. Based on my very uneducated eye test, it seemed to me that Penn State and Florida both had better athletes, in the sense that they seemed bigger, faster, and stronger on the whole. But that Nebraska seemed much better coached. Agree or disagree?
I was not an avid Nebraska volleyball fan (until now!) and I was curious if anyone had some thoughts on this. Based on my very uneducated eye test, it seemed to me that Penn State and Florida both had better athletes, in the sense that they seemed bigger, faster, and stronger on the whole. But that Nebraska seemed much better coached. Agree or disagree?
VectorVictor
Well-known member
knapplc
International Man of Mystery
Nebraska's players are definitely not less athletic than Penn State or Florida. We train our kids in the weight room with stamina and explosiveness in mind. Not all programs follow the same regimen, so maybe athletes look different from team to team, but on pure athleticism, we're on par with anyone in the nation. Cook is building a team, not signing individual hired guns, so the eye test isn't necessarily the best way to go about it. If you judge a Ferrari based on its grease-covered crank case you won't be impressed, but when you put that piece where it belongs on the car, it's going to do its job very, very well.
That said, our recruiting classes are always among the top in the nation. Stanford, Nebraska, Penn State, Washington, Texas, Wisconsin... all of these schools are always in the top 5-10-15 in recruiting. Rankings are a bit tougher in Volleyball than in a better-covered sport like Football because there simply aren't enough scouts in the recruiting services to go around and see all the 100,000 girls playing high school & club volleyball.
As far as talent goes, you can trust John Cook to offer ONLY the best players to fit his system. If a girl is ranked, say, 25th in her class at OH, and Cook offered her, the recruiting ranks are wrong. Cook's eye for talent is unquestionable.
Gage County
Banned
You don't look anything like my mind imagined you. I love your beautiful blonde hair.
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VectorVictor
Well-known member
I think that Landlord is second-guessing outing herself to the board and is trying to get us to confuse a blonde cheerleader in the first row with the guy from the second row.
Sorry, but your ruse won't work.
