G.U. writes: “It appears the Gophs need someone watching the replays on TV and reporting to the bench. McCutcheon had no business using his last challenge as the Penn St. player was 3 inches behind the line when she left the floor for that kill.”
JOHN: American pro sports has seen an explosion in the size of coaching staffs:
- In addition to a hitting coach and a base-running coach, the Twins staff now includes a “Run Production Coach.”
- In addition to a pitching coach, an infield coach, and an outfield coach, the Twins staff now includes a “Run Prevention Coach.”
- The NBA’s Utah Jazz, with a 15-man roster limit, have a coaching staff (not counting Traveling Secretaries, Equipment Managers, Trainers, etc) of 12 coaches! Perfect for that one-on-one attention.
- The Vikings (with 29 full-time coaches, they do not lead the league) who dress 2 quarterbacks for each game, have a “Quarterbacks Coach,” and an “Assistant Quarterbacks Coach.”
- The Vikings employ an “Interior Linebacker Coach,” an “Exterior Linebacker Coach,” and an “Assistant Linebacker Coach.”
- And a coach whose primary function is to sit in the booth watching replays, replays not dependent on the network, and advising the head coach when to challenge.
The Gophers seem to have 2 or 3 assistant coaches, but I don’t think they have access to video replays outside of what BTN or BTN+ provides, leaving McCutcheon dependent on his own eyes and his trust in his players. His challenge of that back-row attack proved wrong, and it cost us the potential to challenge a maybe-touch at match-point (no guarantee he would have won that). But he seemed certain, based I think on his own eyes) that the PSU hitter had stepped on the line.
R.A. writes: “John, can you explain why McKenna Wooker doesn’t play 6-rotations? Her serve may not be perfect and she may still be less experienced in back row defense, but her defense can’t be any worse than Landfair or Kilkelly.
Hockey has +/- ratings for players based on goals scored both ways when they’re on the ice. Applying that logic to volleyball, points earned minus points lost on errors, I regard Landfair as a liability. Her constant poor receives take the Gophers out-of-system even if they’re not scored as receiving errors. I respect McCuthcheon’s coaching record, so I’m flummoxed by these seeming inconsistencies. What am I missing?”
JOHN: I can’t read McCutcheon’s mind, and I’m not at the practices watching Wooker receive. Based on the respective heights of these two top recruits, 6-1 vs 6-5, I would expect Wooker to be a better receiver than Landfair, but based on the very small sample we’ve seen in live-action, she doesn’t seem to be. Being only one-person trying to observe everything for this blog, I have not been able to track every serve-receive – instead only tracking the totally failed receives (and maybe not even all of those). Looking at my notes from the last 7 matches vs quality opponents (not including Iowa or Rutgers) I have Landfair with 20 back-row kills vs 18 totally failed receives – so her presence in the back-row is pretty much a wash.
R.A. continues: “Further, Wooker is the only player who consistently kills with authority. She contributes as much in limited time as Wenaas overall or Landfair. And only a fraction of Landfair’s shots are delivered with authority. As you’ve observed, she only really attacks perfect sets.”
JOHN: According to the official Gopher season stats:
- Wooker: 157 kills, minus 58 errors, on 385 attempts = .257.
- Wenaas: 225 kills, minus 88 errors, on 622 attempts = .220
- Landfair: 403 kills, minus 142 errors, on 1040 attempts=.251
- But raw stats can mislead; Wooker’s a freshman, and she’s been injured, Wenaas has been playing Opposite half the time – not her natural position..
R.A. again: “Booth’s and Wooker’s performances continue to bode well for next year.”
CRITICAL FINAL WEEKEND
The schedule, set months in advance, has the Big Ten’s 4 best teams playing each other in back-to-back Friday/Saturday Doubleheaders, with 1st place Wisconsin (#3 nationally) playing at 2nd place Nebraska (#5 nationally) and then at 3rd place Ohio State (#8 nationally), while our 4th place Gophs (#9 nationally) play at 3rd place Ohio State and then at 2nd place Nebraska. This weekend’s matches will determine the Big Ten Championship (the Gophers are out) and the critically-important seeding for the NCAAs (the Gophers are in, somewhere).
Obviously, the schedule-makers did the Badgers and our Gophers no favors. My hunch is that BTN demanded a final weekend like this as the price for broadcasting volleyball at a time when it has to compete for air-time with not only Big Ten football, but also basketball and hockey. (Reader D.U. has questioned why the MN Girl’s H.S. basketball and hockey tournaments are broadcast and the volleyball Tourney is not. A good question.)
A week ago, based on the volleyball I had personally watched, I would have said that then 15 & 1 (in the conf) and 5th rated Ohio State was the best team in the Big Ten. Then last weekend, the wheels fell off the Buckeye machine and they lost twice: at 11th place Maryland in 4 sets, and at home, in 5 sets, to 8th place Indiana. I said before the season started, and continue to believe, that the Badgers were/are overrated; yet they’re 17 & 1 in the conference – their only loss (in 3 sets) at the Pav.
As much as I love the Gophers, and as highly as I value their talent, it is tough to explain how we remain, currently, the 9th-rated team in the country, with a 18 & 8 record. And it is hard to imagine a 18 & 10 team, should we lose both matches this weekend, getting a top-16 seed. We have “signature wins” over Wisconsin, #12 ranked Florida, and #19 ranked Purdue at the Pav, and a neutral-site win over #17 ranked Baylor. But also “signature losses” to unranked Northwestern and Pepperdine at the Pav, and zero “signature wins” on the road. A win last Friday at Penn St. would have helped, but we let that one get away. I doubt that a top-4 seed is obtainable, even if we win both matches, but a split would guarantee a top-16 seed, likely giving the Gophers home-court advantage in the first two rounds.