On Friday evening, I had an opportunity to see some of the Badgers (now rated #6 after their loss to Baylor) at home vs Marquette (rated #24), and on Sat evening, an opportunity to see some of the Huskers (now rated #2, down from #1, not because they lost, but because of Texas’s strong start) at home vs Ole Miss (not a strong team).
The Gophs will get two Conference Season shots at the Badgers, the first, at the Pav, later this month. The Badgers are still strong at Middle, with 6-7 sophomore Smrek and 6th-year senior Hart. But absent the finally graduated Rettke, and the Gophs addition of Booth (also 6-7, but more athletic) , the middle vs middle match-up will be even this year. Besides Rettke, the Badgers also lost star setter, from MN, Sidney Hilley. Their new setter? MN’s Izzy Ashburn. Ashburn was the D.S. on last year’s Nat Champs. The 2022 Badgers are a strong team, outside hitter Robinson is tough. But as of now, I like our chances at the Pav on Sept 25.
We won’t see the V at the Pav at all this year, and won’t see them in Lincoln until the last match of the regular season on Nov 25. So it almost isn’t worth analyzing Huskers vs Gophers with so much that can change between now and then. But for what it’s worth, here’s what I saw. The Huskers also lost a couple of players from last year’s national runners-up, but they got four strong outside hitters (as do the Gophs). Interestingly, Coach Cook exploits that by playing a 6-2, using Eagan’s Kennedi Orr as one of his two setters. (This does not seem an attractive option for the Gophers this year, with only the one top-flight setter.)
Not sure how many GopherVBallRocks readers also read the Strib’s Patrick Ruesse. To Ruesse’s credit, he is one of the few such “experts” to credit the Gopher V-ballers as a “major” local team. Anyway, Ruesse’s Saturday column was an appraisal how the likelihood of “major” local teams achieving success in the coming year.
Ruesse gave our ladies a 15% chance. Sound bleak? Maybe, but before assigning a percentage chance of success, Ruesse defined “success for each team, as follows:
Twins: Win one playoff game.
Gopher Football: Win Big Ten West.
Vikings: Win NFC North.
Wild: Win a playoff series.
Wolves: Win a playoff series.
Gopher Men’s Basketball: Finish in the top 7 in the Big Ten.
Gopher Women’s Basketball: Finish in the top 7 in the Big Ten.
Gopher Women’s Volleyball: Win the National Championship! Ruesse doesn’t even entertain winning-it-all for any of the above teams.