USA NT 2014

    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    Anyone else feels like Webster should be tried as second OPP? Klineman is doing nothing offensively and I don't know why is Karch insisting on her. She is a great blocker, she also did good in defense, at least much better than Kelly when given a chance.. If Karch likes her that much than he better cuts Davis because he has a defensive specialist there - Lichtman and bring Webster.

    IMHO even Fawcett is more useful than Klinemann right now :whistle: but it's Kiraly and he still believes in his sytem :lol: :aww: becuase of it I don't think that he'll get rid of Davis even though she's so useless and definitely worse than Banwarth :wavy:

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

    Don't forget Karch was an assistant with the women's team in the run up to the London Games. So he could see what the last group of players were like.


    Hooker may be acting like a Diva, but if she is in shape and performing, she's a dominant player. Karch may be using the World Champs as a springboard for the team going to Rio. If the team performs well, then he'll make few adjustments, but if it performs poorly, then backpedal to get previous players on board like Hooker. Tom and Berg were probably out for Rio anyways due to age.


    US public focuses on Olympics more than World Championships, so pressure is not on immediately.


    Still the US in my mind needs something. The World GP schedule for them has been very tough in the first two weeks, but these would be teams that you would face in later rounds of the World Championships, so wins now could lead to wins later.

    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    Anyone else feels like Webster should be tried as second OPP? Klineman is doing nothing offensively and I don't know why is Karch insisting on her. She is a great blocker, she also did good in defense, at least much better than Kelly when given a chance.. If Karch likes her that much than he better cuts Davis because he has a defensive specialist there - Lichtman and bring Webster.

    I am a fan of Bailey Webster, but I'm not sure her style of play fits in well with what Karch is trying to implement. She is an imposing blocker at the net, but her floor defense will need a lot of work considering she never played in the back row in college. Also, her strength is hitting over the block since she has such a high vertical jump, so it will be interesting to see how she adjusts to the quick low sets in Karch's system.


    Klineman is definitely ahead of her in floor defense, but her offense is abysmal up to this point. But if Karch is just going to be using Klineman in the double sub for front row only, he should go ahead and give Webster an opportunity for playing time in my opinion. She is already a better blocker...might as well see how she does offensively in the front row for 3 rotations.


    I am excited to see how Bailey develops in the professional league in Brazil. I think if she performs well there, she may have more opportunities to start on the NT next season.

    I think people are a little bit too harsh on USA, including me :D . While it's true that they were beaten 3:0 by Brazil, it was a very close and tight game. USA proved that they can match Brazil's speed and firepower. If USA won, it will be the other way around and people will be criticizing Brazil heavily saying that Ze Roberto should have chosen Tandara over Sheilla, replace Player X with Player Y, etc, etc. Remember that players like Sheilla, Fabiana, Jaqueline have been playing on their NT for years, almost a decade (since 2005), having experienced two World Championships and 2 Olympics (with Fabiana having 3 OG). With such experience, it IS very difficult to defeat them especially when Brazil is in form.


    The big factor that determined their last match is the number of errors they committed. Many points Brazil made are literally gifts from the USA. Being a very experienced team that Brazil is, USA could not hope to win by having such percentage of errors.

    no one will say tandara shoudl replace sheila because right now sheila is still 2 levels higher than tandara and if brazil loses they wont say "replace a certain player" rather they'd say "oh the brazilians are collapsing again, they losing their composure :wall: :wall: :wall: " honestly the us team is disappointing if your standard for them is to medal but if you are treating them as a newly formed group who needs more time to develop then i believe they're doing okay.

    What I don't understand about Karch is why can't he manage such diva attitude of his players when he himself is the biggest diva during his NT stint? Remember the time that he did not compete in 1992 Olympics because according to him that NT was too weak to win any medal.


    Bailey Webster is a slow attacker but has superb vertical leap (even higher than Akirandewo). Let's see if she will develop in Brazil into a universal opposite.

    I think this team needs time....most players are playing in high international level for not even 2 years, if that much...but I do think Kiraly could be a bit less passive during matches.


    But I do think that he has a very good group of players in hands...maybe they just need time to adjust everything.


    I mean, look Brazil for how many years all that players are together...of course they have advantage in game play...thats a natural process in any sport.

    The batch of Hooker, Larson, Foluke, Glass and Hodge won the Grand Prix on their 1st and 2nd year as international players and did it successfully in the next 2 years getting runner up / commendable finishes in major volleyball events.


    The current crop of Karch is not doing well based on the standard that was set by the previous batch. The batch of larson and destinee could be the new brazil.

    Quote from Mapuan

    What I don't understand about Karch is why can't he manage such diva attitude of his players when he himself is the biggest diva during his NT stint? Remember the time that he did not compete in 1992 Olympics because according to him that NT was too weak to win any medal.


    Bailey Webster is a slow attacker but has superb vertical leap (even higher than Akirandewo). Let's see if she will develop in Brazil into a universal opposite.


    :whistle: :down:

    The talk about player-coach drama made me remember something Hugh McCutcheon said about his time coaching.


    McCutcheon said he knew there will be many different players on a team. So it was important for him to make sure that in the team he put together, there isn't more than one dysfunctional player. But he'll tolerate only up to one, because that's all he can afford. Because if there are two or more, then those dysfunctional players will surely get together and destroy the team.


    Sounded funny but over time I understood what he meant.


    Anyone else heard it? That was a little of Hugh's philosophy in handling dysfunction anyway.

    so 1 player with attitude hooker is still ok since she is just 1 person now if there are other players in the us team who have bad attitude then that player should be the one banned from the team.

    Quote from iceman006

    hmn how many teams who are bad during their 1st 2 years became title contenders in their 4th-5th year?


    The last two USA teams under Lang Ping and Hugh McCutcheon.


    Weak in 2005 and 2006. Medal contender by World Cup 2007 thru 2008 Beijing.


    Weak in 2009 and early 2010. Started to be really good mid 2010 and medal contender up to London.

    I think Murphy is doing a very decent job, so Hooker is not needed right now. Of course, Murphy does not jump as high as Hooker, but with Alisha's super fast sets, I don't see much problem there at the OPP position. For me, the US is missing another good and stable OH (like Logan Tom, of course). Hill has good spiking skills but overall she has problems with other areas, and Robinson is not ready yet. Another problem I see is the second MB. I know people have talked about why Adams is there (because of blocking), but I don't like her at all...but regarding the MB, the problem will be solutioned when Christa comes back!

    Quote from LairMichaels

    Similar sources are saying that Karch cut Berg, Tom, and Kim Glass from the team even though they wanted to continue playing for the NT.


    Who are these sources? Berg's knees cannot handle 4 more years of high level play. Tom wasn't cut. Kim Glass has been off the team for a long time now.

    Quote from Zelo

    Kim Glass has been off the team for a long time now.

    Which I find really weird...I think she is very reliable and complete


    "You get what you tolerate."


    I heard this about Hugh's perspective on dysfunction second hand. I wasn't in a position to ask him any follow up questions although I would have loved to.

    Quote from Sidney

    I think Murphy is doing a very decent job, so Hooker is not needed right now. Of course, Murphy does not jump as high as Hooker, but with Alisha's super fast sets, I don't see much problem there at the OPP position. For me, the US is missing another good and stable OH (like Logan Tom, of course). Hill has good spiking skills but overall she has problems with other areas, and Robinson is not ready yet. Another problem I see is the second MB. I know people have talked about why Adams is there (because of blocking), but I don't like her at all...but regarding the MB, the problem will be solutioned when Christa comes back!


    Agree on your observation on the second OH and MB. These two spots definitely need to be addressed the soonest.


    Not only Harmotto's skill set, I also miss her enthusiasm and general presence on the team. There have been a number of times that the US team body language had looked 'flat' to me.

    Been an interesting year (and a half) for the US. Trying out a lot things with mixed results. Some random thoughts:




    Going 'superfast'


    I've said this before -- I like speed. I value hittability.


    USA is trying to set the "Go" (left side) fast every single time. I saw them attempt this from 15 feet, even 20 feet off the court. And even after the left side pulled to the right to triple block. This leads to problems where the hitter is not in a great position or not able to see the block and defense before the attack. USA loses their height advantage with sets too low.


    Would USA not be better off with slower and a bit higher sets situationally?




    Minimization of backrow attacks - Is this stats-driven? Probably USA made this decision because they have observed their players are not great backrow attackers and have chosen to send those transition balls to the front row pins instead. But this is putting tremendous pressure on the pins and I am not convinced they are terminal enough to pull this off.



    Libero in position 6 - In theory, it is a good concept -- putting your best defender where most balls go when stats indicate that a huge portion of opponent attacks end up in the middle middle part of the court. Does it have to be the libero? Could the OHs improve enough to return to middle back?




    Defensive weakness -- tips, balls deflected deep in the court, right side.




    Perfect Reception in the 30s


    Banwarth: 68.0% pos, 39.5% exc, 2.7% err (147 recs)
    Robinson: 62.7% pos, 33.7% exc, 4.2% err (166 recs)
    Larson: 60.4% pos, 30.5% exc, 6.5% err (154 recs)
    K. Hill: 55.2% pos, 26.2% exc, 4.3% err (210 recs)



    USA reception started really rough. They went on a stretch of good passing matches for a while then was bad again. The way USA wants to play, shouldn't team average be closer to the mid40s or 50s?


    I must say a nice spot has been Banwarth's emergence. Not only is she steady in reception, she is also fairly low error. I think she is currently the best option at receiving.




    Receiving libero and defensive libero - Pretty telling of Banwarth and Davis strengths, respectively. If this trend continues, there will be one less roster spot for that defensive specialist/OH.





    I've been watching the US team for a long time now and this time they are really mixing things up and trying a lot of wrinkles. I think they can continue this until the World Championships. I think 2015 can't afford much experimentation anymore.