Recent content by oldman

Remind me how many starting pitchers we expected last year but who went down with season ending injuries? Could that have something to do with our pitching problems?

D1 teams generally side out at about a 65% rate. That is, roughly 2 out of 3 serves result in a point for the receiving team. Receiving serve is a big advantage. The easier the serve the more likely the receiving team can run their offense effectively, and the higher the side out percentage...

Virtually every D1 head coach worth their salt takes that in a heartbeat. Not to mention all of the havoc that doesn’t result in an ace but leads to a point.

I keep flashing back to the Duke game and watching the 11th player running off the field, offsides, while we stopped them, giving Duke an extra play which, in my mind was the difference between winning and losing that game. Between that and losing to a Purdue team we should beat 4 out of 5...

I missed the double hit not called - when was it? Under new rules double hits are not called unless the ball is directed over the net. If only AA had the presence of mind to be at the net so she could have blocked the ball as it came over - although had she been there she would have been the...

I got caught up watching the game despite the late hour. We were called for offsides an unbelievable number of times. Almost all were passes initiated from behind the mid-field line. Hard to tell watching on television, but it appeared we were not getting the benefit of the doubt.

Three interceptions called back because of defense penalties. This could have been a very different game but for Jets stupid mistakes.

In my opinion, without any hard facts, I feel there was more going on. On Friday against Marquette in Milwaukee she played one rotation in each set and showed no sign of the injury, but sat almost all of the match. On Sunday in Champaign she started and played full time. Miraculous recovery...

Excellent question. While putting Ashlyn back in the starting rotation certainly helped, particularly giving Kenna more and better options which she has done a great job of using to take advantage of what opponents are giving us, I think the biggest difference is the back row hustle has...

Glad to put this season in my rear view mirror.

Mary Eggers was 5’11”. Nancy Brookhart was the only player over 6’0” at 6’1”. In 1992 Tina Rogers played on a B1G 10 championship team. At 6’3” she was reported to be the tallest player in the history of Illinois volleyball. We are now considered undersized with two 6’4”s and one 6’3” starters.

No lead is safe.

The story of Ernie Banks MVP years.

Round up the usual suspects.

Who is the great grandfather?