C.B. writes: “I don’t know that much about volleyball, but I do know sports. And my impression is that the main problem with this team is effort. I think that you were saying that in your anecdote about the 16 and U team that you were coaching years ago.
Against Purdue, the Gophers lost big in the first set. Then, while seeming to try harder, they were very close in the second set . In the third, finally desperate, they pushed the score well past 25.
Against Wisconsin, they seemed to bring intensity from the beginning. But after wining 2 sets, they had a bit of a let down (or maybe WIS turned it up). Then, near the end of the third set, the Gophers became desperate, not wanting to go to a 4th set.
And against Northwestern, they started with big leads in at least the 1st three sets, only to let them get away.
To win at this level, where every team has good players, the Gophers need to develop a killer instinct, and to overcome the lure of over-confidence against lower-rated competition.”
JOHN: I saw some of what C.B. writes about at the end of the 5th set vs NW. At 13-13, there was a point where the Gophers made miraculous save after miraculous save. They ended up losing that point, and soon the match, but I can’t help but think that if the Gophs had played the whole match with that intensity, the result would have been different.
C.B. was one of the top competitors I’ve ever seen – in any sport. Never dirty, but incredibly intense — even in practice. I remember chatting with him after a game, years ago, when he explained what made him so tough. “Well obviously, the goal is to physically dominate the guy you are matched up against, whoever it might be. To convince him that I am not only physically stronger (which C.B. generally was), but that I want it more than he does (which C.B. always did). If you can establish that early, he might decide it isn’t that important who wins this game.”