Recapping Shoji on this morning’s radio show 1420-AM
He was on for about 10 minutes, talked a lot about going to the Olympics, will be going to beach volleyball, track, maybe fencing in addition to mens and women’s volleyball.
Asked about TV work. he said maybe in retirement he’d get picked up locally but he didn’t want to do what Kevin Wong does, which is a lot of travel and being on planes.
Talked a little about this coming year, having to replace Magill and Manu-Olevao. said he expected Mitchem in for Magill. didn’t really get into the OHs but said Greeley was just cleared to be in the gym after her labrum surgery.
talked about Maglio’s potential and that they’ve discussed moving her to opposite next year to showcase her skills. but this year she will be in the middle.
Only setter he discussed was Higgins. said she has worked really hard and hoped she has a great senior year.
said Kahakai has national team potential.
that’s about it.
I thought it was pretty obvious by what he said that he is going with Granato and that Higgins was going to be the setter regardless because she has worked so hard. He did admit that she is undersized. No mention of Castillo at all. He seemed distracted to me. The interview did not instill confidence but the interviewers did not ask the questions that the contributors to this blog would like answers to.
……discussed moving her to Opp next season. ………..If Shoji was retiring after this year, I don’t think he would have made a statement like that…Would he??
I don’t know if it’s a slip of the tongue but if he is discussing next year then maybe he IS coming back next year.
1. Obviously done on a cell phone while he was in the car. (you could hear a bell when he turned off the engine, at least that’s what I heard)
Was it supposed to ‘instill confidence? About what?
Pacheco was doing the show from Hilo, Hatcher was in the Honolulu studio. Don’t think it was meant to be an in-depth interview and the focus seemed more on the Olympics.
He didn’t mention a lot of players and Granato seemed to be mentioned in passing.
2. i think he will make that decision after this coming season is done. Of course he’s looking at 2017 and beyond. It’s why he’s recruited beyond this year.
2016 roster : http://www.hawaiiathletics.com/roster.aspx?roster=592&path=wvball
I only reported on what I heard. Would it have been too much for him to at least show some enthusiasm towards the next year ? Yes, Granato was mentioned in passing, as the probable starter. His endorsement of Higgins was also strangely worded. I don’t claim to know 1/100 of what Dave knows about volleyball but I do on occasion question his personnel decisions just like other knowledgable contributors to this blog.
Couldn’t wait for this season to start but now being that the season is only a few weeks away i don’t have that feeling anymore. All the excitement that i had is not there. Only thing i’d like to see is Lindsey Berg and what she can do.
So glad to hear that Greeley is now cleared to practice. Hoping that Kalei takes it slow and be easy on herself as she works to regain flexibility.
4. hollycow – Thanks for the link. Where in the world did you get that?
6. Kazu – I don’t know about you, but I’m busting at the seams. I can’t wait to see what this team can do. I’m pretty sure there will be a learning curve with Berg, but I believe that Dave wouldn’t have picked her if he wasn’t sure of her. I’d love to see what Iosia can do. But with the tough schedule Dave lined up, it will be hard to see any newbies in there. Hopefully this schedule will help to beef up our RPI.
7. tongo – Amen tongo! I hope our “Steady Eddy” will continue to do so but recover slowly and wisely.
GO BOWS!
8. Wahine Booster Club Facebook, July 14 entry.
It’s possible he will defer setter decisions of Lindsey Berg, and general decisions to Jeff Hall (including Tom Pestolesi), who will coach during Shoji’s absence.
Has he already decided on his libero? (despite last season’s mobility and passing issues) Perhaps he has changed the tip/dink responsibilities, but can Kahakai consistently handle the passing? (especially if Greeley needs more recovery time)
More interestingly, how does he intend to handle the video challenges, which are approved for this season. Is he familiar with the rule in its entirety?
FYI- blunite Shoji said that Kahakai was good enough to play on the national team someday and that she is one of the top libero’s in the country this year.
Surprised he said that about Kahakai. But if she’s improved that much then good for the team.
I think Dave was running late for his Tee time. Kahakai was outstanding last year after a slow start. I think she is a no brainer like Nikki.
Outstanding? ehh…
#14 Yes, outstanding. not sure what you were watching.
Considering that Shoji himself said Kahakai has trouble with serve receive, and that he made Claire Marie Anderson the libero a few times (Claire wore the green top of the libero), ….. Note: he accepted several incoming liberos (with Emma Smith being highly touted — Mira Costa Player of the Year).
8. roster now up on UH website. they had posted it earlier but took it down. not all the enrollment stuff had been official. now it is.
http://www.hawaiiathletics.com/roster.aspx?roster=592&path=wvball
10. not sure why you don’t think he’d up on video challenges.
16. He gave Anderson some extra playing time. She was the steadiest server on the team.
there are several invited walk-ons for libero, including Smith. it’s called planning for the future. Both Kahakai and Anderson are juniors.
Mckenna Ross is listed at 5-10. still learning to play DS/L
As mentioned previously, don’t be surprised if at least one DS/L redshirts.
10. as for video challenges …
http://www.ncaa.com/news/volleyball-women/article/2016-02-29/video-challenges-approved-womens-volleyball
Coaches will be allowed to challenge the following plays:
• Net faults: players contacting the net/antenna.
• Player touching the ball: four hits/blocker/defensive player.
• Whether a ball was in or out (this includes pancakes and whether the ball touched the antenna).
• Service foot faults.
the use of the challenge review system rule will be optional and is not required for competition. The rules do not define the camera type or the number of cameras that should be used, or where the location of the cameras should be.
We all know how poor the camera quality is in the Big West. Think ‘optional’ will be standard. As in not having it at most sites.
Does Norene look 5-11″ or 5-9″?
Regarding Kahakai, there seems to be a high level of amnesia going on in this blog, or at least selective bias. She had the highest serve receive pct. of any player with more than 8 attempts. She had 529 attempts at a .975 receive pct. rate. No other libero/DS had 20 attempts. By comparison, Manu-olevao had 634 attempts with .934 pct. Maybe .975 is not outstanding, but she was statistically the best and played far more than anyone else in the libero position. She played in more sets than any other player and started every match. She is a no-brainer to start this season.
Also remember it was mentioned that she is the second libero in program history to have been given a scholarship out of high school. Ka’aihue was the first. Clearly Shoji thought highly of her skills as a high schooler as liberos receive the fewest schollies of any of the volleyball positions. Coaches prefer to invest scholarships in OHs, MHs and setters.
16. Of course Shoji recruited several liberos/DSs this year. All current liberos/DSs are going to be juniors and seniors this season. Shoji needs to stock the roster with libero/DS replacements, as he does for all the volleyball positions, depending on the year. If you can get an Emma Smith today, who could start during her junior year after Kahakai graduates, then bravo. Plus she will push Kahakai and make Savanah (and thus the team) better. To suggest anything more than that is creating a story where none exists.
On another note, as I mentioned two years ago, this year’s team is a final four contender, but much will depend on TMOs replacement. Assuming all other players have improved, Mitchem has a great year, and Greeley recovers from surgery and gets back to playing at a high level, the biggest hole is that OH2 position. Options are Granato, Castillo and Sibley. Not clear to me who wins out at the end, but Granato seems to have the inside track based on playing time and comments made by Shoji.
I predict that the topic generating the greatest debate/frustration/inappropriate comments, particularly during the preseason, will be who fills TMO’s slot. When the OH2 position fails to deliver consistently, posters on this blog will complain a ton. I’m just waiting for folks to say how much UH could use TMO, especially after last year’s near universal panning of her inconsistent performance. Wouldn’t that be ironic?
Nothing like a dose of Maverick’s logic to slap us back into reality. Also noting that the blog host is always ready to guide us back if necessary. One point of interest for most of us will center around the setter position.
21. Good point about the setters. Second biggest topic of debate for next season: Higgins vs. Iosia.
20. A better comparison would be libero to libero (UCLA, Florida, Nebraska, etc.) No amnesia nor bias here, recall Idaho. We will see regarding serve receive, tips/dinks, and dumps.
Boy, does no one even think Kendra is in the running against Norene? I do find it a little odd that we have three setters. I thought Kendra really helped mix things up last year after teams had scouted them out.
We have three setters. Two are proven at the D1 level, although inconsistent at times; if, both have improved we are in good shape. Added to the mix in a talented young freshman with “potential” and it remains to be seen how she performs under the lights. Needless to say, we have EXCELLENT depth at the position.
Passing will be a big key…if not…
Let’s hope we have a setter that can better the ball, Kamana’o was a great example.
Ron, you’re going to like this post.
23. Seriously, how does comparing Kahakai to other teams’ liberos better answer the question as to whether Savanah is the best person for UH’s libero position? Are you expecting UH to obtain a late transfer from a top-tier libero from UCLA or Florida or Nebraska? Shoji can only give the job to someone on UH’s roster, silly. So comparing Savanah with every other person on the team, particularly all the other liberos/DSs, is the only way to logically answer the question.
And using Idaho is the perfect example of selection bias. You realize that this was UH’s first game of the season, right? This was her FOURTH start ever in a UH uniform. And that is your argument for questioning whether she should be the starting libero? You ignore the entire body of work from last year, including her turning it around during and after the Florida match, to have a great overall season. You ignore that her serve-receive and digging stats are better than anyone else’s on the roster. She had 2 digs/set against Idaho. I guess that is more important than the 5+/set she had against each of Texas A&M and Minnesota? Overall, she averaged 4.66 digs/set during the NCAA tournament. It is your performance at the end of the year against the top teams that matter most. Maybe you are ignoring this data too. Or you just have amnesia. Or selection bias.
24. Historically on this blog, there seems to be excited, if not inflated, expectations for highly-touted incoming freshmen such as Iosia. Already, several posters believe Sibley has a shot at OH2 this year. My comment only predicts what posters will say about the setting position, not whether or not Kendra is good enough to merit significant playing time this season, or whether she will be the second setter. I could very well be wrong with my prediction.
Is it only me who thinks Shoji opting to watch his sons in the olympics over HIS team is totally wrong?! If I was a current player I would think he has half his foot out the door and half cares about the season. He should have retired if he cared about the team.
#20 Totally hilarious – it would indeed be totally ironic when posters starting complaining that the new OH is not as consistent as TMO!! I can’t wait! Absolutely too funny!!
26. You always compare your players to the best in the business, period.
You cannot compare Kahakai to other DS on the team because none of them have had sufficient opportunities to prove their worth. What is the point of SK’s stats if they are mediocre compared to the rest of the liberos in the top 10? So what if she has the best stats on the team, she was not even the best libero in the Big West, look up the stats. Coming in fourth is nothing to brag about.
30. You are diverting away from the original question that you stated in 10. above:
“Has he already decided on his libero? (despite last season’s mobility and passing issues) Perhaps he has changed the tip/dink responsibilities, but can Kahakai consistently handle the passing?”
Comparing to other teams’ liberos does not inform on these questions, even if Kahakai isn’t the best libero in the Big West. If you want to change the topic to whether or not Kahakai is one of the top liberos in the country/Big West, fine, but don’t challenge my logic or statistics when you are clearly off-topic.
Kahakai’s stats was what it was because the spikes were stopped at the net by the best blocking team in the BW and season ending 2nd best in D1.
#28 My first wahine volleyball match that I ever saw was an exhibition match at Klum against the USA National team with Flo Hyman and Patty Dowdell. UH had Beth McLaughlin who both set and hit. Prior to the match, Dave was sweeping the floor, pulling the bench seats down, and setting up the equipment. Now, many many years later, there is still no one who sweats every detail for the team more than Dave. As far as I am concerned, he can do any damn thing he wants – he earned it.
Maverick – What do you think of Kendra playing OH2? She didn’t look so bad in the exhibition game earlier this year.
Mytake – Did I totally miss something here? Dave is going to watch a possible once in a lifetime event where his SONS are playing in the Olympics. How can you say he doesn’t care about his team? I went to an American High school in Augsburg, Germany. The Munich Olympics were on at the time and I argued with my folks about going to the Olympics instead of starting my first year of college in Hawaii but I lost the argument. However, they regret it to this day. The Olympics is a once in a lifetime event. The team will do fine and are in good hands. Go Bows!
To everyone else, let the jousting begin! LOL!
32. Good point. Nothing happens in a vacuum. If you have a tremendous block, fewer chances to dig a ball.
Stats are also impacted by quality of competition. As you noted, UH’s blocking stats were tops in the nation because of a weak Big West schedule until they played taller, top teams in the tournament and the blocking numbers fell a little.
#29 tongo – I’m with you man. Last year all everyone would talk/complain about was why TMO was still being played. That would be really funny if the postings for this year do an about face, LOL!
#34: i agree with nothing u said. Your comparison is apples to oranges. He is the Head Coach of a D1 volleyball team. I have never heard of a coach of any sport of any college who took time off during the pre season much less season and I don’t care what the reason is for.
34. I was unable to see the exhibition match, so it is difficult for me to comment. Based on the game stats, Granato got most of the work by far, so that is a clear indication that she is the front-runner for the OH2 position (assumes Greeley recovers appropriately). If I had to predict, Kendra is probably the situational setter for height/blocking purposes, but not a top OH2 candidate (maybe an emergency OH2). Iosia gets reps to prepare her to take over the starting setter spot in 2017, and Kendra backs her up then. I like Kendra’s height but don’t see her as the starting setter during her UH career.
#30 Don’t see your point at all. Yes, Kahakai started the season a little shaky but steadily improved. In the post season 2nd round match vs. Texas A&M Head, Coach Laurie Corbelli gave very high praise to Savanah. And in the 3rd round sweet 16 match vs Penn State, TV commentator Maria Taylor also had so many great things to say about her digging. IMO, Savanah is solid as a rock.
I never played V Ball but a blind one could see Nalani Yamashita was the best Libero Hawaii has ever had… BY FAR!!!
I would go with Longo as the best in the last 13 yrs. since I switched my allegiance from the 49ers to the Wahine. Ps. thanks Maverick
35. You said it with your post 26. on Kahakai’s digging stats. Hawaii’s season’s long blocks over 3.0 was missing in the post, so her digging stats went up. Pretty logical.
42. There were other matches in which Kahakai had 5+ digs/set during the season: vs. CSU-Bakersfield, UCSB, UCR. She also averaged 2.3/set vs. Penn St. Against the two good teams in the preseason, her averages were: UCLA (3.25), Florida (3.8). UH’s team blocks against those teams were 12 and 8, respectively. UH only had 5 blocks against Penn St. So we were probably a little simplistic in our analysis above, but the point I was trying to make was that Kahakai was much improved at the end of the year as compared to the beginning against Idaho.
About Tai, she was such a talent. Quickest arm swing I can remember on any wahine. But she just wasn’t focused half of the time.
Kahakai had an ok sophomore season needs to be more steady, I disagree with shoji and don’t think she nas national team potential no offense to Savannah.
Mytake….
Stop being a troll about Shoji spending 2 weeks of preseason practice to watch his sons play in the olympics. To answer your first question, yes you are the ONLY ONE who sees a problem with this. During this entire time of everyone talking about it, no one expressed a problem with it. They will be in good hands. Dave will be able to even watch practice over the internet.
And Yamashita was not a libero. If we really want to get technical about things. She was a DS. Liberos were not a position in 95/96 when she was at UH. And yes, she was one of, if not, the best in the back court we have had. I will agree with you there. But that’s it.
You clearly have some personal issue with Shoji and you are using him going to Rio to make a big deal and saying he should have just quit rather than spend some time of preseason PRACTICE to watch his sons in the olympics. He will return before the season starts. We have a team FULL of veterans that can help run things and a very, very good coaching staff in place.
If somebody doesn’t think that Coach Shoji hasn’t earned the right to skip preseason practices, then you haven’t been paying attention to what he has been doing the past 40 years.
46. Amen. It boggles the mind that Shoji would be criticized for taking time off during the Wahine practices to watch his two sons, and another Hawaiian, Micah Christensen do their thing at the Olympics in Brazil. GO USA.
Iosia should redshirt if she cannot beat out Kendra and Tayler.
Too bad Maglio didn’t redshirt her freshmen year also.
Kahakai had a fantastic year… I don’t get where people are getting that she was an average libero last season. She was probably one of the better ones on the West Coast. Literally from Florida on, she found a flow and became rock solid by the postseason.
She just needs to step it up on covering drinks, but because of how Shoji sets up his defense, his teams have always struggled with the dink – which is why so many teams do that against UH.
I wouldn’t say fantastic, Nikki had a fantastic year last year!
kahakai hopefully will be quicker this year (would help with the dinks) and have steadier passing.
I could see Mckenna and Rina redshirting maybe Emma as well.
Not sure who our strength coach is? But our girls tend to get to bulky. Yes, they can jump higher but seem to lose some quickness. IMHO
Wow, 51 posts already – a sure sign that the season is upon us and there is high interest in this team, that perhaps may be the last one for Dave. Let’s make it a good one!
Anyone know if OC Sports will once again stream UH Sports live online this season? I’m getting stressed out wondering if I’ll be able to watch Wahine Volleyball live this coming season. 🙁
Maverick nailed it in his posts. I would like to point out, though, that NCAA stats only chart every reception attempt and error (number of times that player was aced). She received serves 529 times, and was only aced 13 times. But the stats don’t show how many shanks she committed. This isn’t the FIVB, where only “excellent receptions” are credited.
Kahakai may probably be the very best back row player on UH’s current roster, but I disagree that she has national team potential (based on last year), and would also like to point out that Katiana Ponce and Gianna Guinasso have never really been used to receive serves. They are there to serve, and their defensive coverage is limited. Anderson received serve only 18 times last season. Mostly, she, Ponce and Guinasso have the same role: serve and dig the ball that comes right at them. It’s what Ashley Watanabe did when she was a sophomore. She averaged less than a dig per game despite playing in a lot of matches, because her role limited what she could do. She put on the libero jersey the following year and set a digging record.
Kahakai is great, but I don’t see how she is better than people like Ali Longo, Liz Ka`aihue, Ashley Watanabe, Melissa Villaroman or Hedder Ilustre, to be classified as having national team potential. IIRC, out of the UH liberos, only Villaroman and Ilustre made national team travel rosters.
Dave said she had potential….she’s not ready for it yet. But he also said Cia Goods had potential. Potential is only as good as the player allows it to be. It is their hard work, on top of that potential, that will get them what they want. Only hard work will help you achieve your dreams. I loved Cia Goods, but not sure if she ever realized her potential herself…she lacked confidence within and didn’t believe she was as good as she was or could be. She was a freaking BLOCKING MACHINE! Maybe the best blocker UH ever had…as far as terminating. She was so fun to watch.
Anyone know the exact date of first official practice Aug 8/9?
I think Cia Goods came into her own her senior season. She was a soft-spoken person who led the team by example. Had her team made it to the regionals, she would have been an All-American. Unfortunately, it was a rebuilding year for Hawai’i as they lost their 2-time All-American Setter (AhMow), 4-time All-American Middle (Ljungquist), Opposite (Nobriga), Outside Hitter (Robins), and one of THE best Hawai’i Defensive Specialist EVER, Nalani Yamashita. Hawaii struggled with the setter position as he switched playing time between NIHIPALI, HUBBERTS, and even tried Tehani Miyashiro at one point. The only bright spot was Cia Goods who would later go on for a short stint with the U.S. team. She was one of my favorite players.
56. first practice had been scheduled for Aug. 8.
It was changed to Aug. 9 according to an email sent out Sunday.
will answer a couple of above questions on new thread.
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=38325