Japanese NT 2017

  • Maybe just translation issues. "senior coach", "head coach", "director" Who knows? I don't think Ferhat Akbaş's own Instagram Post helped: -

    Quote

    It is a big honor for me representing Japanese flag.To be part of Japanese volleyball culture as first foreigner coach in Japanese history makes it more special for me. Go Nippon

  • Yeah I agree, I don`t think he even knows what he signed for. :lol: ....He should have made it clear on his instagram what his job is. And makes no sense for him to say he is the coach if he is not...

  • I always root for Japanese team, they are my 2nd favorite team (apart form Brazil :D) and I really wish they could come back to be title contenders. But I fell that they miss dominant MBs. If they had at least something close to Norie Hiro (for me, the best MB ever played for Japan, played in the 1980s) would be huge step forward...

  • I'd like to get to the bottom of Kotoe Inoue, #10 for the Marvelous JT, NT pick as a Libero. A tough little whippersnapper, she seems to be a curious combination of serving specialist and Libero. Watching some JT games sometimes she wears the Libero uniform and sometimes she doesn't. The first time JT played the Body Queens she played Libero, the second time they played, she came in at the end to serve an ace to win the game.


    Maybe a Zayasu in a reverse sidewinder move. But the NT is limited to two Liberos, I believe. It's not like they can stash her in a spiker role. They still have to get rid of someone there to make room for Yanagita!

  • well, maybe Nakada thinks that Yanagita still has some time to improve, moreover she had hard times to fight with Nikolova for starter place :whistle: ^^ Nagaoka is without doubts 1st OP now, Horikawa eventually got playing time in Toray together with Sakoda :thumbsup: and she did ok, while Nomoto had some chances to show her value when Nagaoka was injured

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

  • maybe Nakada thinks that Yanagita still has some time to improve, moreover she had hard times to fight with Nikolova for starter place


    Yanagita needs to improve her serving, for sure. And while I think Nikolova is great, and while I think it's wonderful for all the players that get to do it and I think it's good for the sport in general, my problem with hiring giant Europeans to play in the V.League is--who benefits and at whose expense?


    Yanagita got best newcomer in 2015. And in what was probably the biggest game of her young career (after being high scorer in NEC's defeat in the Champ game over Hisamitsu in 2015), the Asian Club Championship game against reigning champs Thailand in 2016, she really stepped up as high scorer (and should have won MVP over Koga). When a young player steps up in an important game, doesn't get nervous and choke, it counts for a lot. And she spikes at the same height as both Saoris, more or less, her 5'5" stature notwithstanding. And she freaking blocks!


    That NEC team that won last fall (clobbering China in the final match after beating Thailand in the Semis) has the players I think the NT should be nurturing instead of coasting with the Hisamitsu squad. (JT Marvelous also, and I'm happy to see 5 players from there made the NT). They should be skating to where the puck is going to be with Yanagita and Sagawa. I'd take Oumi, too, but that's just me.


    I think the Hisamitsu sleepy sisters are excellent volleyball players but they don't seem hungry and they don't look like they feel like they are winners on the court. That's where Oumi comes in :thumbsup:

  • The foreign players in the VLeague are hired guns, some teams focus their offense with them.


    Just saw a highlight video for the NEC Hisamitsu final and in 2015 Saori Kimura said that Koga at 19 is much farther ahead than Saori was at the same age. Koga had a really bad 16 season. She had an improved 17 season and expect her to play better with the national team this year in the run up to 2020.


    Nakata knows what she is looking for. Japan has depth in the outside hitting/passing positions. As for libero, the job is Arisa's to lose. Mio satoh who was the 2nd libero (swapped with zayasu on defense in 15 World Cup) did not even play this season for Toyota Auto Body.

  • It seems Setter is Miyashita's to lose, as well. I'm happy with her as Setter and Arisa at Libero. They seem like all business. I don't know if Miyashita is that good at actually setting the ball and controlling the pace of the game, but she's the best defensive player on the team. I've seen Her and Arisa perform more full on swan dive with belly flop moves than the entire rest of the teams put together. I guess that's what they are paid to do. If you're over 5'10" you're in for more damage with such a move. But one or two saved balls a game is often enough to win. And Japan wins by keeping the ball off the floor.


    I'm good with Miya Sato as backup setter. I've never seen Koyomi Tominaga. Misaki Tanaka hasn't impressed that much and she may appear better than she is because she has a good team around her.


    I'm sure Nakada knows what she is looking for. But this is the Internet, and as a guy on the Internet I get to pretend I know better :teach: :lol:


    I've been watching a lot of Sarina Koga lately and I'm growing more impressed (and a little worried). I think she is wily. She seems still in decision making mode when her hand is six inches from the ball. Most attackers have a kill shot and a slow ball, a tip shot over the block. And maybe one speed in the middle. Koga seems to have several attack speeds, and a great mid speed top spin sinker. My worry is that those mid speed sinkers don't land as often against tall trees. So she looks good against shrubbery in the V.League, but not as good against Russian Redwoods or China's Great Wall. And she's not comfortable on the floor. She takes too long to get up and looks like a drunken horse doing it. I don't know why that is. She's fit and thin, doesn't make sense. Maybe if she wore makeup it would spur her toward some elegance. But she serves well and is a lovely receiver/passer, imo.


    None of the OHs Nakada picked know how to tap the ball off the blocker to start the play over like Oumi does. Koga included. Everyone could take some tips from Yanagita on how to go around the block. :whistle:


    Blah blah blah Are you listening Ms Nakada? :super:

  • At the Club Championship we will get the chance to see how much has Koga improved this season. She has definitely improved in the V.League, but let`s see how she does when she goes up against the big girls.

  • Ever since Japan focused on Nagaoka as their main offense, their floor defense and attack variety shattered.


    It could be that Shinnabe was missed sorely but they were a much better team when they have a receiving opposite and not a non-receiving attacking opposite.


    I really want Nakada to resolve this. Japan with their height shouldn't be bad at what they used to be good at. It's going to kill them considering european teams are getting better tactically in service.

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

  • well, it's possible, it just requires switching positions :wavy: if Nagaoka can deal with spiking from zone 4 and Shinnabe from 2, then there's no problem :wavy: Shinnabe had already dealt with it before she left NT ^^


    now I'm coming back to Yanagimoto's times when Kurihara was non-paasing OH and Takahashi passing OP and they had 5 MBs in 12-players roster :roll: :lol:
    then we had Yamaguchi and Shinnabe as passing OPs, while Sakoda or Ebata were non-receiving OHs :D

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

  • My Picks:


    L: Arisa Sato, Mako Kobata, Miku Torigoe
    S: Haruka Miyashita, Miya Sato, Ayano Nakaoji, K. Yamaguchi
    MB: Erika Araki, Haruyo Shimamura, Kana Ono, Nami Sagawa, Riho Otake or Iwasaka when Sagawa plays at 2 or 4
    OP: Mizuki Yanagita, Saori Sakoda, Mari Horikawa (Nagaoka if Sakoda declined or when Yanagita plays the 4)
    OH: Akari Oumi, Sarina Koga, Hisae Watanabe, Yuiko Ebata, Risa Shinnabe, Yuki Ishii, Risa Shiragaki?


    What happened to NEC explosive #9 Risa Shiragaki?


    I haven't seen: Koyomi Tominaga, Ayaka Matsumoto, Arisa Inoue, Ai Kurogo (aka Love After Dark), but lets throw the last two on there for the sake of our children and to pad the OHs. Kotoe Inoue is a mystery libero serving specialist.


    There are a lot of players on other teams I'm not familiar with. My apologies to them. If any of you know of links to V.League games of the last few years that are better than those Betting Site Streams, please share. I'm scouring Youtube with little luck. There are zero 2016 Final Round videos I can find.


    I want players who can hit from all over the court and who don't need, don't want, to be hidden on defense. Japan wins with Defense. Start there. They can/may win with spikes and blocks against every team below them in the world rankings, but they can only beat those above them with defense, keeping the ball off the floor. And Speed. Miyashita needs to pick up the pace and make the opponent MB dizzy by making her dance back and forth, side to side.


    If NEC of the last two years kept their NT players, I'd bet on that NEC squad against any iteration of the NT Nakada is building without them. They've been crushing it. Until I see video, preferably in HD, of Hisamitsu winning V.League last year, it didn't happen. It's been all NEC. To those who will taint NEC's title this year with an *asterisk* because Nagaoka didn't play, Yanagita (nor Sagawa) didn't play much either.


    I'm nervous with Nakada as Coach she's going to lean on her Hisamitsu players. They are wonderful players. I'm not convinced they are winners.


    Japan NT won Bronze in 2012 with two 5'2" players, and had ZERO points off the block in the Metal Match (well, Against Korea).




    I just came across a weird fan edit of the Final 2015 V.League match: Oumi Red Rockets and Hisamitsu Springs 04.04.2015. It's a crazy single cam HD fan edit where it goes from the ball hitting the ground, to a shot of the scoreboard, to the ball being served, bang bang bang ... It's the whole game with callout replays highlighting each (most) of the players, and with little excursions from a zoomed in slo-mo (triple) replay of Coach Nakada giving Shinnabe's butt a love pat, to slow mo coverage of good rallies/plays/blocks/spikes with musical drama--not replays, they actually just slow it down because the editors know what happened but we don't yet. It's kind of suspenseful and interesting. Definitely a different rhythm volleyball game.

  • Anyone know what happened to Natsumi Fujita from The Body Queens? Played at Montreux 2013 and 2015 WGP. I'm watching a 2015 challenge match between the Body Queens and the Marvelous JT, and she's impressive (but pretty short and skinny). Seems lightning quick, really knows her hitters. I'm still looking for a backup setter.