icengineer
- Southern Illinois
I don't know if I'd call NC runner up, and 3 consecutive Sweet 16's bracketed by two no-shows, a downswing necessarily. But I do agree with the fact that it would be nice to get a few more Illinoisians on the team.
Illini Volleyball 2017
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If you look at just the last three years, you can see things were slipping, particularly if you look at overall record and place in conference:
2014: 26-8/ 16-4 B1G (3rd), NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2015: 21-13/ 10-10 B1G (7th), NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2016: 17-14/ 10-10 B1G (8th), No NCAA tournament
The other problem was that they had gone from the third best program in the B1G behind Penn State and Nebraska to clearly behind Wisconsin and Minnesota also, with Purdue, Michigan State and even Ohio State starting to pass them up as well.
Plus, their highly-ranked recruits (they had the #1 ranked class one year) were clearly underachieving. All-in-all, it just seemed that the program was sinking deeper and deeper into mediocrity.
icengineer
- Southern Illinois
I don't follow the team real close, I just catch games here and there, and was going off my impression. I'll take the word of those who follow more intimately.
That being the case, what made Hambly so attractive to Stanford? Without knowing much about them I do know they have been a top tier VB program for a number of years. I'd guess it's much easier to recruit to SU then it is to UI?
I'm not sure what made Hambly so attractive to Stanford, because i don't know much about their previous coach. My guess is that he brought something different than his predecessor. Hambly is known for being a player's coach and has always been very well liked and respected as a person. He is very loyal (some would say to a fault) and never had issues with players leaving the program that I can recall.
Here is an article that will give you a good impression of the kind of person (and coach) Hambly is: https://www.avca.org/Blog/Article/33/Family-Matters-Kevin-Hambly-Chris-McGown
Hambly is also known as a very good recruiter and has connections to the US National Team. He was an assistant coach for the US Women's Olympic team and works with the national developmental teams. He has established relationships with the many of the top junior players through those connections.
Really, if Hambly's teams at Illinois just won a little bit more he would probably still be seen as the ideal coach.
I know that the complaints about his coaching style centered around the offense being too slow and his teams being too defensive-minded. His teams also seemed to often have trouble finishing matches, which was really frustrating for fans.
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Jazmine Orozco was one player who left.
I guess she's kind of the exception that proves the rule.
Her transfer really hurt, but if I recall correctly she had serious head injury issues and was from California and transferred back home to Pepperdine. I heard rumors that she might have been unhappy with how her injury was handled, but I don't know if that was true.
If I remember correctly, Hambly (Illinois) wasn't going to allow her to play after the concussion. She played both indoor and outdoor there as a junior earning All American honors. I'm not sure if she played as a senior.
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
One would think Tamas would do well recruiting with his past involvement with the men's national program, as well as his wife's involvement with the women's national team.
http://www.fightingillini.com/coaches.aspx?rc=704
http://www.fightingillini.com/staff.aspx?staff=454
http://www.fightingillini.com/coaches.aspx?rc=704
http://www.fightingillini.com/staff.aspx?staff=454
That definitely helps. Of course, in the B1G, most of the top coaches are well-connected nationally. For instance, Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota's coach, was the Head Coach of the US Men's National team that won the gold in the 2008 Olympics and coached the US Women's team to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics.
Incidentally, Minnesota just got a commitment from one of the best recruits in the class of 2020 from Plainfield, Illinois
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
True. Nebraska, Minny, PSU are very strong regarding recruiting with national team ties. I think Tamas will get us there. I enjoy watching him on the sidelines and he has a strong Twitter game. Should play well with the recruits.
The 2011 team that went to the national championship game had 12 players from Illinois.
Yep, that was kind of my point. We need to get back to that.
And it's not just the number of players, but the fact that it included some of the very best players from the state like Michelle Bartsch, Colleen Ward, Erin Johnson, and Jocelynn Birks.
You're always going to miss on some, but when you have those caliber of players from your home state you're going to have success.
I agree 100%, but Colleen Ward went to the Gators before coming home for a year to play for the Illini. She would have been a great 4 year player at U of I. We need to keep those types of talents at home for all four years, while mixing in the right out of state players.
Yes, I know she started at Florida and it would have been better to have had her for four years, but I believe she played two seasons at Illinois and was a second-team All-American her first year and First-team All-American her last year.
And there is probably no way she transfers to Illinois if it weren't her home state and she wasn't already familiar with so many players on the team.
We have been substantially shut out of Chicago area recruiting ever since Birks and Viliunas. Given how early club volleyball players commit, it will be years before we can expect to see an Illinois volleyball team made up of even half Illinois players. It is frustrating to watch other BIG teams beat us using Illinois talent. I don't know why Hambly was such a failure in Chicago, whether by his choice, bad relations with Chicago area clubs, or whatever. He just was not successful in northern Illinois.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Awesome! Hoping they have now hit their stride and maintain that consistency the rest of the way.
We start 3 freshmen and 4 sophomores plus 2 junior all-Americans. Only one senior on the entire roster, although she will be missed when she is gone. Let’s hope the win over Minnesota is the confidence builder it should be. I’ve thought all year that they just weren’t as sure of themselves as their talent justified. Maybe the poll people will pay attention now.
Illini_1979
- Oregon
No, you are not the only one. I am right there with you.
Peoria Illini
- Peoria, IL
Incredible stat line for Poulter. Great stats for Donnelly, Ali, Quade, and Prince as well. Avenged the 5 set loss at Minny in October.
My daughter and I drove from Peoria on Saturday for the game. Our first Illini volleyball game live. Great game, very entertaining. It's a lot of fun watching them live.
They played very well. Especially Poulter! Great game. They are very young and will miss Donnelly in the libero position. But I think O'Brian, who I think filled in at libero when Donnelly was injured will help pick up the slack. She's just a freshman.
Need to close out with wins at home Wed against the Squawkeyes, then on the road this weekend at Ohio St. Both teams need wins to help their tourney resumes, so they will be dangerous games.
Illinois should be in good shape with winning one of the last two. But win the last two and we are a solid 5th place in the best conference in the country, I think.
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