We know this is a good team. They climbed a ladder, Michigan State at home, Maryland at Maryland, 11th-ranked Purdue at Purdue, 8th-ranked Penn State at home; each match more challenging than the previous one – and are 8 & 0! This is an impressive start for a team with two freshmen in the starting-eight (3 of 8 for 7 sets at Purdue).
We know they have the “heart,” confidence, and determination to come from behind. Three of their eight matches have gone 5 sets, and they were down 1-2 in all three of them. And none of their three 5th-set wins have been close! In these 5th-sets, when the opposing teams seem to tire, the Gophers appear to have “another gear.”
We know they have the dominant player (Samedy) that championship teams need when the set is on the line. But we also know they have depth; McCutcheon unafraid to use his talented bench, and the bench delivering!
We don’t know, can’t know for certain, how they’ll fare at Nebraska this weekend, if they’ll stay injury-free and covid-free, how the rest of the season will go, or the April NCAAs. But I’m as optimistic as I was before the season started, when I predicted that this team will have a real shot at their first National Championship!
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THESE INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS
SAMEDY is a super-star! A “5-tool,” “6-rotation” player, she was a First-Team All-American last year (2019), and she’s playing even better this year. She not only leads the team in kills, but she dominates (would dominate if such a statistic was kept) in kills when her team is behind or when the score reaches 20. Hard to imagine that she could get even better — but who knows?
PITTMAN is a star, another “5-tool,” All-American. She seems the emotional leader of this year’s team, contributing in multiple ways, and tends to come alive as a blocker at the end of close matches. And lately, against Penn State, she started putting away “slides.” But her overall offensive production is down – understandable playing with a freshman setter, as middle-sets require precise timing. The Gophers have gotten by on the strength of their outside hitters so far, but the timing between Pittman & Shaffmaster needs to improve for a championship run.
ROLLINS, another “6-rotation” player, is a steady and reliable performer. I am fairly certain (the Gopher website stats-page is down today, cold weather?) that she ranks second on the team in season kills. She can’t dink to save her life, but she has a variety of arm-angles and a great “roll-shot” (i.e., an off-speed shot that looks like it going wide, but then drops inside the line).
I’ve been up-and-down on Rollins her whole career, but yesterday’s BTN announcer reminded me that Rollins was the MVP of last year’s Texas Regionals (that got the Gophs to the Final Four). Shortly after this announcement, with the Gophers struggling in the 2nd set, Rollins was benched (in favor of Wenaas). She stayed benched through the equally dismal 3rd set, but came back to record 5 kills in the 4th set, including at least 2 during the Gophers 8-2 start. Exactly the response you want to see from a veteran benched for a freshman.
McGRAW is the Gophers’ starting libero, so presumably the Gophers are strongest when she is in the lineup. McGraw got injured at the end of the 3rd set during the first of two matches versus Purdue last weekend, and didn’t play during the second match. She was back in the lineup against Penn State – with two taped hands; unclear if she’s at 100%.
Reader B.W. expressed his thought that the Gophers played better, and received serve better, after McGraw left. (Kilkelly switching to libero, and Wenaas stepping in at D.S.) I can’t say that I saw what B.W. saw, but it is true that the Gophers were 1 & 2 vs Purdue with McGraw in the lineup – and 5 & 2 vs Purdue without.
McGraw. Liberos are most visible, for better or worse, when they’re digging. But with a freshman setter, and not an especially quick one, McGraw has picked up a lot of extra responsibility for setting – and doing well.
KILKELLY did not impress me at the beginning of her freshman year, last season, but did impress me as the season went on. And as mentioned above, the Gophers actually played better when Kilkelly moved up to libero vs Purdue. Was that all Kilkelly? Probably not; but she played well. Serves well, also.
LANDFAIR was the #1 ranked recruit in the country. If you weren’t sure why, you found out yesterday, when she kept the Gophers’ hopes alive during a disappointing (by everyone else) 3rd-set, contributed significantly to 1st and 4th set wins, and dominated the 5th-set. (Samedy disappeared not so much because she was cold, but because every set was going to the red-hot Landfair.)
She is also a freshman, and that’s been obvious at times as well. She has looked tentative at times, seems afraid to attack an imperfect set, isn’t blocking as effectively as I expect her to once she gets more comfortable, gets targeted by opposing servers (at 6-5, I don’t expect her to ever become a “6-rotation” player), and she’s been benched at least once.
But OMG, the power! She’s still a freshman (for a while longer, anyway), so I don’t imagine she will play as well consistently as she did during yesterday’s 4th & 5th sets. But I feel like we saw the real Landfair yesterday, one capable of taking over matches, even against top-flight opponents.
RUBRIGHT seems to be our other (opposite Pittman) middle, for now. A highly-recruited freshman in 2019, Rubright couldn’t crack last year’s line-up (except to block for McMenimen on our serve, on occasion), and she didn’t start this year’s first 4 matches. But with the Gophers struggling during the first Purdue Match, she subbed in for MYERS, and provided offensive spark which helped turn the match around.
Rubright started and played well in the second match against Purdue, and respectably in the first match against Penn St. – she’s a monster on “overpasses.” Then, like Rollins, she was benched (in favor of Myers) during yesterday’s dismal 2nd and 3rd sets. But she was back in the line-up for the 4th & 5th set wins, so I expect to see her in the line-up for the 1st set at Nebraska. Frankly. our middles were dominated by Penn State this weekend, and Wisconsin’s middles are better than Penn State’s, so we need someone to step up, and Rubright seems the most likely candidate.
SHAFFMASTER is not, as previously noted, the second coming of Seliger-Swenson, but she is, also previously noted, OUR SETTER; and our championship hopes will live or die on Shaffmaster’s development. She has fed her outside hitters well enough to lead the Gophers to an 8 & 0 record against strong teams. She brings an offensive threat to the setter-position like we’ve never seen. (And yesterday’s announcer spoke of Shaffmaster in the same sentence as Wisconsin’s Sidney Hilley, who basically is the second coming of Seliger-Swenson.) Shaffmaster has good hands, and basically sets well when she gets a perfect first pass.
Unfortunately, not every first pass has been perfect, or will they be. Life is full of trade-offs, and while big setters block better than little setters, big setters aren’t as quick. Anticipation is every bit as important as quickness, and I feel like Shaffmaster is anticipating better week by week. And the rest of the team is getting better at helping with balls Shaffmaster can’t reach.
She hasn’t been great at covering dinks either, but getting better I think. (This is particularly a problem in the one half-rotation when McGraw is on the bench; Penn State was dinking us to death in that rotation.) Most disappointing so far has been Shaffmaster’s blocking. With her height, she should be a decent blocker, but so far she hasn’t been. Then again, Landfair hasn’t been blocking great either. Perhaps this is just part of the freshman learning curve, and will improve over time.
But the most important thing for Shaffmaster’s development, and therefore the Gophers’ chances for a Championship, is feeding our middles. That’s not 100% on Shaffmaster; the whole team needs to make better first passes so that Shaffmaster doesn’t have to chase the ball, and Pittman, etc, need to get used to a taller setter. But the Gophers need to generate at least 10% of their offense from their middles.
BENCH: As noted by Reader D.S., the bench is one of the strongest parts of this year’s team. Having watched McCutcheon in the London Olympics, and through his first several years with the Gophers, I wasn’t thinking of McCutcheon as the kind of coach who likes to use his bench. At least not until last year (2019) when he was forced to.
But he never had a bench like this, a bench loaded with players who would start for most D-1 teams. Reader D.S., asked how McCutcheon can keep great players happy on the bench, and that will definitely be an on-going challenge. But already, in 8 matches, in addition to his 8 initial starters, McCutcheon has used 4 players off his bench, McMenimen, Miyabe, Wenaas and Rubright. Not clear yet whether Rubright or Myers is the starter; maybe the competition will push one or both to a higher level.
I’ve written previously about how much I love Miyabe and the energy she brings. Wenaas played D.S. wonderfully when McGraw got hurt (we might not have won either of the matches against Purdue without Wenaas), and Wenaas, a potential “6-rotation” player, has also subbed in at left-side hitter for both Landfair and Rollins when they were struggling. Same for McMenimen replacing Shaffmaster.
Wenaas didn’t dominate during her brief appearances at left-side, nor McMenimen at setter, but neither did they hurt the team. And when Shaffmaster, Landfair and Rollins came back in, they played better – in some cases dramatically better.
Watching on TV, which I’m stuck with during the pandemic, I’m not sure if Shaffmaster, Landfair and Rollins were 1) benched as a motivation tool, 2) a chance to catch their breath, or 3) for coaching related to a specific technique or strategy. But whatever, this bench is, as Reader D.S. suggests, a major asset.