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Thoughts on the first weekend of NCAA VB...
Posted on: December 4, 2016 at 07:23:01 CT
bluetiger_ MU
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All 4 seeds that went down, went down hard, losing 3-2 in really close matches. It was very close to having all 16 seeds advance. I thought more seeded teams might get pushed more. Of the 12 seeds that advanced, 8 of them won their second round match 3-0. The other 4 seeds to advance, Mizzou, PSU, NC, and Michigan, lost just one set apiece.
The SEC, already lacking in national reputation, lived down to the low expectations. With the exception of Mizzou, of course. Florida kicked away a 2-0 set lead in becoming one of the 4 seeded teams to lose. TAMU went down meekly 3-0 to SMU in the first round, who then went down 3-0 to Texas. I didn't think TAMU would have beaten Texas, but they just didn't show up. And while Kentucky was a long shot to win @ Washington, I thought they would be more competitive than they were, getting handled pretty easily and never being close to winning a set in a 25-21, 25-11, 25-20 loss. The SEC as a whole is nowhere near breaking into the dominance of the B1G and PAC 12.
In the next round, The top 4 seeds, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas are all going to be heavy favorites to advance to the quarterfinals. I like #8 Washington also to advance. The other 3 sweet sixteen match ups should be more competitive:
Florida State against #6 Stanford
#10 UCLA against #7 North Carolina
Creighton against #12 Michigan
It wouldn't shock me to see one or both of those unseeded teams, Creighton and Florida State, win, on neutral courts.
Mizzou has a monumental task @ Minnesota. But as far as I'm concerned we are playing with house money at this point. Nothing to lose, it has already been a great season, one of the best in Mizzou history under the Kreklows. All the pressure will be on Minny, and I'm hoping they will overlook us to some extent, not a real stretch. Come out loose, get an 'A' game from our stars, and I think we will make it a lot closer match than Hawaii was able to give them.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 07:26:13 on 12/04/16
The SEC, already lacking in national reputation, lived down to the low expectations. With the exception of Mizzou, of course. Florida kicked away a 2-0 set lead in becoming one of the 4 seeded teams to lose. TAMU went down meekly 3-0 to SMU in the first round, who then went down 3-0 to Texas. I didn't think TAMU would have beaten Texas, but they just didn't show up. And while Kentucky was a long shot to win @ Washington, I thought they would be more competitive than they were, getting handled pretty easily and never being close to winning a set in a 25-21, 25-11, 25-20 loss. The SEC as a whole is nowhere near breaking into the dominance of the B1G and PAC 12.
In the next round, The top 4 seeds, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas are all going to be heavy favorites to advance to the quarterfinals. I like #8 Washington also to advance. The other 3 sweet sixteen match ups should be more competitive:
Florida State against #6 Stanford
#10 UCLA against #7 North Carolina
Creighton against #12 Michigan
It wouldn't shock me to see one or both of those unseeded teams, Creighton and Florida State, win, on neutral courts.
Mizzou has a monumental task @ Minnesota. But as far as I'm concerned we are playing with house money at this point. Nothing to lose, it has already been a great season, one of the best in Mizzou history under the Kreklows. All the pressure will be on Minny, and I'm hoping they will overlook us to some extent, not a real stretch. Come out loose, get an 'A' game from our stars, and I think we will make it a lot closer match than Hawaii was able to give them.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 07:26:13 on 12/04/16
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Thoughts on the first weekend of NCAA VB... - bluetiger_ MU - 12/4 07:23:01