HUD

Now that we are in a bit of a dead period I am throwing out the following for discussion. Can a school have both an elite women's volleyball program and at the same time an elite one in women's basketball. For consideration if you look at the top ten in the last ten years I could only find Stanford that fits that scenario. Also Texas and Penn State for sure in VB but only on occasion in WBB. This hit me when Maryland and Rutgers joined our conference with excellent WBB but really poor WVB.

Sorry Row6Seat10, I was wrong, the limit is 15. So we should have 3 scholarships available for 2017 class.

By then Shepard and Blackburn will be juniors and probably well established in the starting line up. That may cause some recruits to look elsewhere but if we could get one of their caliber plus another 3 star steal like Blackburn we would be set for years.

WBB gets 14 Scholarships. We presently have 13 filled leaving one open. The four seniors Theriot,Clark,Kalenta and Ostrander are all on scholarship. So for 2016 we have 5 available but have signed a class of 5. Assuming no one leaves we will be at max 14. For 2017 both Havers and Ramacieri are done so that leaves 2 openings which will be probably used for a couple of bigs as we will be down to 3 then.

We are probably looking at two Posts/Forwards for the 2017 class. Pretty well stocked elsewhere else.

What it really boils down to from my perspective is some times those passes are there for the taking and sometimes not. Each time everything is a little different. We need to curtail the low percentage ones when both the pass needs to be perfect and the receiver exactly in the right position to catch it. As previously noted we have about 4 or five of those per game. Need to value each possession more. In close games a couple of those turnovers converted to buckets would be the difference.

One player who wasn't mentioned much but had a great game was A. Kalenta. 7 pts, 14 rebounds and great defense. Kept us in the game earlier.

Connie Yori is an excellent coach as many of her peers allude to each year. If you read her comments it's clear that the developing of players is crucial and one of her strong points. Yes we lost 4 starters from last year and have a younger team this year but if you look at those 4 as freshmen we can see some of the inconsistency that you have with our freshmen this year. They just all stayed with the program and improved each year. Patience is the key but some highly recruited players don't always have it. Hence the two we lost last season. As a prime example of this just look at Havers year to year improvement. As previously noted too bad she couldn't have redshirted as a freshman. To me she is the biggest positive surprise this year.

We probably learned more on our strengths and weaknesses from the OT Cal road loss then any game so far. It will be interesting to see how we apply it in our last 2 non conference games. Some close games are necessary in preparing for the Conference.

Concerning turnovers I've noticed that even in games where we didn't have much competition that we would make 3 or four really low percentage passes that just ended up in turnovers. Doesn't hurt us when we have a big lead but in close games especially on the road it can be the difference. It doesn't just happen to the Freshman (where you might be more tolerant) but from Theriot,Clark and Romeo. Coach Yori talks about valuing each possession like the game is on the line every time down the floor. I'm sure she will get that worked out.

One of the toughest parts of recruiting is to have a year to year balance in new recruits. Ideally with an overall limit of 14 scholarships for WBB you would have 3 per year with an occasional 4th. Look at UConn. That's the way they usually breakdown. They use redshirting to help achieve that balance. It's hard when kid's leave because the next year you have to make up that opening. Theriot is the only player from her class 4 years ago that is here and a starter. The next class has just 2 remaining players with 1 in a major reserve role and the other in a minor reserve role when she is healthy. in last years class we lost Page (a 5 star recruit now playing well for K State) and Smith( a 4 star recruit who will probably be a good player for Gonzaga after her red shirt year). This means we will be very young next year for the 2nd time in a row with 5 new recruits coming in. Then if all stay we will be down to a class of 2 with a big need for posts. Why is balance so important? So you can have a good cross section of experience. Look at NU Volleyball they have that balance most of the time. Coach Yori is working towards that but just hasn't gotten there yet. You can have good teams but not elite ones year to year without it.

With Simon out for awhile besides Cincore's minutes going up we will see a little more of Emily. She can shoot the 3 but also has a nice command of the floor. With backup posts playing so well may see a little of Rachel B. at the 3 position for defense when required.

I would like to go to practice once Ostrander joins the team and watch her and Blackburn go at each other. Will not replace 43 but both are very physical players. Ostrander may end up being just a practice player but with such young posts she can bring a lot of leadership there just being around the rest of the team. Also don't know when Washington will be back contributing. It's a one year good use of one of the two unfilled scholarships we had for this year.

It's still plenty early but as each game passes it's fun to look at the ratings a little more especially for the RPI. We started out pretty low but have been steadily rising. I'm sure most people look at the NCAA.Com one where we are currently 65th but another interesting one where we are higher is the: The Jeff Sagarin/CBN Women's College Basketball Ratings

I was at the game and sat close to the court. Creighton players had tremendous ball movement and certainly weren't intimidated but this type of game was good for us. You could see the expression change on Shepard's face the fourth qtr. and really play tough. What was really amazing was after Creighton reestablished themselves in the third qtr was how Theriot just put us her back and although her expression never changed she just got it done. It was very obvious to me in watching her play that she is easy to take for granted because she is so smooth and efficient. What a leader. Easy to see why we were 15-4 last year before she got hurt and 4-7 after. Kudos to the crowd. Biggest impact on a game that I was at since since the men beat Wisconsin last year.

Don't get me wrong in thinking Simon will start by conference time. I like a lot of things about Clark and really want her to be a big cog with the team especially with her 3 point shooting. But as a 5th year senior if she doesn't, do you invest more playing time in a true freshman with a big upside over 4 years or someone who will be here 1.

Yes I feel that the person Simon will replace in the line up will be Clark. Several reasons for that. On several posts before the season started I pointed out that ideally you want some height, athleticism, ability to drive to the hoop and outside shooting at the wing position. You will also be guarding these type of players once league starts. I know last year we used Jeffery there even though she was of similar height to Clark. That was because we were so limited due to injuries, players leaving etc. Brandi stayed healthy and was a great rebounder for her size. I can see Clark coming off the bench in relief of Theriot and Romeo with her amount of minutes depending on her increasing her shooting percentage and over all confidence coming off a big injury. Also look for Wood's minutes to gradually increase. On another topic I love the hustle displayed by Kalenta, Blackburn and Romeo. Due to that fact that Theriot is so smart, experienced and smooth it is there as well but not so noticeable. She just glides around.

Simon will soon be a starter.

UCON bench loaded with top recruits scored 40 points to ours with 7. A big difference is a really strong bench creates a lot of competition and gives the starters a good look at practices. Said it before but as each game comes and goes I'm concerned about our consistent 3 point scoring.

We need to get some consistent scoring from the wing position when we play decent teams. Haven't seen the consistency yet. disappointed in Clark's 3 pt shooting. Time for it to still come around though.

I agree. Jess trying to keep up with Stewart could increase an injury possibility especially as competitive as Jess is.

So HB you are saying that we aren't much better then K-State who lost to UCON by 40 but only beat Southern by 12 who we beat by 51?

Only preseason loss to UCON. A moral victory would be to stay within 20. But when Connie Yori was asked if she and the players thought they could win she said that if a player here didn't think they could win going into a game they shouldn't be here irregardless of who they are playing. Don't under estimate Yori in motivating her team. I said it several months ago and still feel the same. NU will be the biggest surprise team (positive) in the conference.

For the 2017 season we will only have three posts with Shepard, Blackburn and Washington. I would assume that if no one leaves we will use both our available scholarships at that time on posts.

Pretty tough assignment for anyone let along a freshman with Stewart being a four year starter and having played against the best of the best during that time. Even if we get beat by a lot it will be a great experience especially with them coming to Lincoln next year. It will provide Yori some great teaching opportunities. I think UCON will be our only non conference defeat. When we play Iowa as our first conference game we should be rated in top 20. We really need to stick it to Iowa. Hate to lose to them in anything.