***2023 NCAA Volleyball Tournament Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
Kind of a disappointing semi. Not even sure I will tune in Sunday.
Wisconsin was a great team, but their biggest flaw was when Smrek was not on the floor. That was evident when they dropped B2B games against PSU and Purdue in Nov while Smrek was out. Texas exploited that flaw (and serve/receive) to perfection last night. I don’t think they’ll see the same in Nebraska on Sunday, but should be a great matchup nonetheless.
UT's back row completely out played Wisky's while negating to some extent Wisky's front row advantage (including exploiting Smrek's rotation absences as you mention and utilizing Skinner's back row attacks)
Good sign. Probably helped some that the NFL game was a blowout/not a good match-up.
"In other action Thursday, ESPN averaged 1.08 million viewers for the NCAA women’s volleyball semifinals — easily the highest average on record. In particular, Nebraska-Pittsburgh averaged 1.10 million viewers and Texas-Wisconsin 1.07 million — up 49 and 55 percent respectively from last year (Texas-San Diego State: 736K; Louisville-Pittsburgh: 692K)."
"In other action Thursday, ESPN averaged 1.08 million viewers for the NCAA women’s volleyball semifinals — easily the highest average on record. In particular, Nebraska-Pittsburgh averaged 1.10 million viewers and Texas-Wisconsin 1.07 million — up 49 and 55 percent respectively from last year (Texas-San Diego State: 736K; Louisville-Pittsburgh: 692K)."
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Smrek isn't full rotation and the passing was.......less than good last night. Plus the 6-2 and needing to conserve subs...props to Texas for exploiting the weaknesses.
It's been great that some of these bigger games have been on more accessible channels this year. Herr durr no one watches womens' sports well it's a lot easier to watch when I don't need to pay for 18 different niche streaming platforms to see teams play. I only ever watched ISU because I wasn't paying for more. Having ESPN+/ESPN and having access to these other games - we've watched more games this year than any prior year.
Who do you pull for in this final? Both schools have betrayed the Big XII conference - IMO, Nebraska’s was unforgivable! If nothing else, we’ll get to watch phenomenal volleyball - I’ll probably decide once the match is underway but I’m leaning Texas.
LOL I went the other way, I still despise texa$ Nebby left long enough I don't care and their FB & MBB program suck and that helps take some of the sting away.
I probably hold my nose, close my eyes and pick Texas. I cannot stand Cook. Watched him a few times against ISU before they left. And he did UW dirty back in the day.
This is gonna come off as bitter, but it is what it is.
I never understood why Pollard allowed CJL to schedule Nebby right after they left the conference? AD's Tom Osborne and Mike Alden (MU), along with ATM, thought they would bring about the downfall of the conference by leaving. It was all about uT football and revenue, but left us in a really bad spot for a while. I still don't forget that.
ATm is going to have to play uT all the time now, as is Missery, good for them. They deserve it. You can't tell me NIL money doesn't matter for NU volleyball? They're the Penn State of a few years ago in recruiting, and it's Crooked, starting with their coach.
This NCAA tourney is a final of money, imo. What a way to promote college athletics.
We just need to position ourselves to move up in this conference, and recruit better.
