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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
Good dig. Those numbers are telling. Am not suggesting we should feature an all from Illinois roster or anything remotely close, but 2 is ridiculous. Especially, for being a rich volleyball preps state. Hambly really messed up there.
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.
Awesome! Hoping they have now hit their stride and maintain that consistency the rest of the way.Sooooo the ladies just be #7 Minny.
Am I the only one who's not a fan of the new "music video" style of highlights? I like the old ones where they showed entire plays with the radio calls.
Incredible stat line for Poulter. Great stats for Donnelly, Ali, Quade, and Prince as well. Avenged the 5 set loss at Minny in October.