Call the Coach, Taylor named ESPNW POW
Station kept having ‘technical difficulties’ so they lost probably 20-25 minutes of the show on air.
They kept doing the show so if anyone who was at the Pagoda wants to add to this please do.
Shoji talked about a lot of things that we’ve discussed here such as how good the European trip was for a bonding experience, how the team grew closer when basically living in the arena during two-a-days, how the newcomers have blended in.
He talked about how good the Florida win was and that it would help the RPI. Said that he spoke with Wise about coming back next year since the O’Connell Center will be under renovation (it was supposed to be this year but they’ve moved it back next year) She said she’d like to but doubted that her AD would go for it.
Spoke a little on the Mitchem situation and how Tom and Diane (Sebastian) Pestolesi were key to keeping her on track in qualifying for DI. Said the reason they don’t like to go the JC route is that there is so much paperwork. NCAA clearance, UH acceptance, credits transferring, etc.
On Bakersfield this week: won the WAC last year, expected them to be good again but not panning out so far. Still his team wasn’t consistent enough to overlook people.
On his DSs: Anderson came in and did a nice job. gave her a chance at libero to see what she could do. said he liked the job all his DSs were doing. And as with other positions it’s a matter of getting them all playing time.
Setting: Higgins is the starter, likes starting off with her serve. Koelsch is better coming off the bench. Likes the spark she bring every time.
Burns: probably redshirt. She’ll be re-evaluated next week. She’ll be a contributor when she gets back on the court. Once cleared she’ll be able to practice.
The middles: Magill doesn’t like to do the slide, doesn’t think she’s good at it (she did run it once last weekend). Maglio very athletic and agile. Said beach has helped her and that Hall said she could be a very good beach player.
Gave a shoutout to Ah Mow-Santos for her birthday (Tuesday). Said the alumnae match always fun to watch (Sunday 3 p.m) that Ah Mow-Santos always says she isn’t going to play but always does.
Schedule: did what he did to avoid the conflicts with football and basketball, both men and women. said he didn’t want to play on a Wednesday or at 2 p.m. on a Sunday. That Nov. 1 is early for senior night. Would be nice if conference added another team to balance things out.
I’m sure there’s more if anyone would like to add. Thanks.
Dave also talked about letting the players know that their play in practice is being charted and will be scored – and that these results will help influence starting and playing time. In short, he is throwing open the starting lineup each week. I am guessing that he feels that intentionally creating a very intense and competitive environment in practice is now necessary to obtain additional improvement. To me, it sounds like Dave is deploying practice methods similar to those of Jim McLaughlin, now at Notre Dame.
Just some perspective on Bakersfield. Yes, they won the WAC Tournament last year, but they had an overall 16-15 record, 4-9 in the preseason (2-8 so far this year). They finished third in the WAC regular season and lost some big contributors to graduation. From an RPI perspective, Bakersfield last year and so far this year is not a good team to play. Their record and conference is at best mediocre. And unfortunately, playing them will nullify the gains from playing Florida and UCLA (which, according to one RPI calculation, currently has the top RPI so far this year). Scheduling Bakersfield, IMO, was a clear mistake. They weren’t good last year and wouldn’t be expected to have a better year this year, based on record and roster. Unfortunate for UH’s RPI. Btw, the RPI calculation has UH at 9 right now. Expect that to drop as the season progresses and UH gets into conference play, which is the historical trend and logical given conference weakness (i.e., poor out of conference record), relative to other conferences.
Article on Nikki posted on espnW:
http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/13658331/hawaii-rainbow-wahine-nikki-taylor
To clarify, the RPI calculation I referred to above is independently generated based on the generic RPI formula (an estimate). It is not the official NCAA calculation, which is rumored to give bonuses for wins against top 25 teams, and which has yet to be published.
3. thank you. just found that as well
2. agree not the best choice. But as have mentioned before, they needed to fill the schedule, not that many teams out there willing to come out, and certainly not for just a single game. So they got 2 with the ‘runners.
can’t predict how well a team will do. Consider when Cal was out here and how they ended up that season.
With scheduling coaches can only hope for the best when they schedule a year or 2 in advance.
1. Thanks. mentioned the stat-ting last week and if I remember correctly some griped that if that was how he was determining the lineup the Wahine were in trouble.
just can’t win with some people.
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/rainbow-wahine-volleyball/video-taylor-named-national-player-of-the-week/
in case you missed our video from yesterday on Taylor
I really enjoy the post-game interviews by Scott, Lisa and Ryan because it shows, without exception, the person behind the player we see on court. They’re always so nice, humble and consistently speak of contribution to the team and team goals. They’re all winners. Go Wahine !!!
I just heard that Megan Huff quit the VB team to focus on Basketball. Too bad since it looks like she has lots of potential in both. Though I’m sure its difficult to manage school and two sports.
10. yep, have new thread up. Had been holding off until now.
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=33245