Thursday back on line, Manu-Olevao, Mitchem
As mentioned on previous thread power outage knocked out internet when I got home.
took that as a sign that my laptop also was tired after being used for over 8 hours when finishing up the main story that ran today, the preview that runs Friday and Friday’s feature on Nikki Taylor.
Obviously overlooked (No. 12 on Wednesday posts). Not that I was testing you …
No official release from UH regarding it other than to say during practice that she was “expecting to play.”
Manu-Olevao has declined to comment, which is her prerogative. This isn’t the pros where you might get fined for not showing up at a press conference.
Mitchem continues to be cleared only to practice, not to play. Might not happen until Friday afternoon.
Recommend reading previous thread. some good discussions.
Cindy, what is the cause of the delay? NCAA clearing or UH, or both? Hope she gets cleared for this tournament. Going on Saturday and would really like to see AM in action. Especially with all of the allocates she got the last two years.
Read a lot about the improvement of players Nikki Taylor, Olivia Magill, Emily Maglio and Megan Huff in the off-season, so this opening match is highly anticipated. Y0u kinda got the sense of how good they can be during the spring match against Texas. This season should be really exciting. Thank you Coach Shoji and the rest of the staff.
1 more detailed explanation on previous thread. There are privacy issues involved that legally can’t be discuss but it appears that the holdup is more in California, which can create a chain reaction with other institutions.
2. agree. Shoji’s cautiously optimistic statement that, I think, is in Friday’s special section is “Could be a very good year.”
apologize but have written so much over the past few weeks in various stories for various places (blog, special section, daily paper ) that I don’t remember exactly where some things were written such as quotes.
Thanks Cindy … This must be one of ur busiest times of the year, if not the busiest.
I’m cautiously optimistic as well !!
If your on FB – check Ryan Kalei Tsuji’s facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-Kalei-Tsuji/326644590709349
He have so many memorable moments from the old players like Margaret Vakasausau, Victoria Prince, Mita Uiato, Kari Gregory, Nohea Tano, and more..
I know this is an old issue that doesn’t really matter now; but was our getting Magill a trade for Croson? If that was the reason, we sure got the better end of the deal. To #6, I am cautiously optimistic as well. Sooo many things falling in place that smells like a very good year. If we do, I hope Shoji will stick around 1 more year to see how his big girls will fare.
If anyone has a prepvolleyball.com subscription, Tawa put up a top ten ranking of each position in college for this upcoming season. Hawaii had no one in the outside hitter lineup, no one in the setter lineup, no one in the libero lineup, no one in the middle blocker lineup….but guess who made #10 on the right side/opposite lineup? That’s right, our very own Nikki Taylor!
Olivia Magill made the “next” list of 5. So she is top 15.
#8, no there was no “trade” between Croson and Magill. Just a coincidence. But yes, we got the better of the 2.
Nikki made all BW 1st team last season playing at not 100% when she got back into the starting lineup. Shoji mentioned it and after watching the scrimmage, I see an improved Nikki that should be a leading candidate for BW player of the year, and trying not to get too way ahead, a legit candidate for AA.
Anyone who uses facebook should check out Ryan Tsuji’s page. He has a bunch of Wahine Vball alums talking about their most memorable matches as players.
Is it just me or does Coach seem more excited about this team than usual. In the past he has been somewhat reluctant to heap praise prior to the season. His demeanor and smile looks like someone holding four aces and is ready to lay down his hand for all to see. I think the B side would be good enough to make the tournament but I will reevaluate in 3 weeks.
#12 totally agree! I was a little taken back when Dave started to make these overtures about the quality of the team. It was very un-Dave. Hopefully, these are good omens of great things to come. Have my fingers cross for the girls sake, his sake, and our sake. Let’s have a great year!! I am still hoping for the Taylor Made dual to have a huge breakout year! Everybody talks about Nikki but I am also hoping for Taylor to kill it this year with her setting.
Is one or two of their matches going to be shown on national television like last year?
Totally agree #12 & #13! Normally, when you hear Dave talking he starts out with the usual “Weeeeell” and talks about all the tweaking that needs to be done, working more on the basics, passing, serving, etc. Now, like #12 said, he’s got 4 aces and he can’t wait to drop it like it’s hot! And if you’re a poker player, you can see the look in his eyes like, “It doesn’t matter what you have in your hand, I’m going to take you out!” Go Bows!
Tongo, loved the line “very un-Dave”, and darkfire’s “weeeeell” made me LOL!
cindy perhaps shoji needs to prod and/or chew out whatever found in cali to fix mitchem being ‘uncleared’ to play. thats ridiculous.
7. Ryan came by practice Wednesday to discuss what he was doing. He had been interviewing with ET in LA. May not have worked out. but from what he told me last year it was a long process so maybe still viable.
8. there was no trade at UA. they played together one season. Magill left for UH. Croson now playing beach.
12. Think he is.
15. as for Shoji … What I’ve noticed at the beginning was he was smiling when watching practice. later asked and he said he was happy with what he saw. This was the first few days of practice. The demeanor has changed as there has been a real sense of urgency. by the coaches pointing out what isn’t acceptable, especially about not hitting out .
17. not the coach’s job to ‘chew out’ the academic people. it is handled at the academic level. Coaches are not involved in the clearance process.
Great videos on Ryan Tsuji’s facebook page. All the former wahine look great but
V Prince Federline has not aged one bit, same with Nohea Tano.
Hope Mitchem is cleared to play friday, Idaho should be the easy match of the weekend, and hopefully the backups with get some playing time.
Terrific write-ups in today’s issue of the Star-Advertiser. Way to go, Cindy.
“Lucky we live Hawaii” This especially true when it come to volleyball coverage. No where else in the Country would we get the information that Cindy’s articles provide.Up close and personal glimpses of the players, coaches, and the volleyball world in general. Thank you so much Cindy and the rest of you sane bloggers out there.
#22 I second that! The wahine volleyball program is such a beloved team that it is impossible to explain to my neighbors here in So. CA. In very odd way, for those of us who have relocated to the mainland, it is a link to all the things that we love about the islands. Thank you Cindy!
Looking forward to this new start tonight. I hope after watching last years final eight teams that we’re correct on the passing and especially the setting placement and decisions adjustments. Those areas will really have a great impact on how well we do later in the year.
21-23 absolutely agree – thank you Cindy !!
Absotively Posilutely Fabulous job on the insert Cindy! I was waiting with much anticipation for it and it did not disappoint one bit. I like how everyone was divided up into their positions so that you could focus on those specific girls. Also, everyone has that look in their eyes like we’ve been referring to…the poker look like they’re all going to take everyone out and no one is going to stop them. All except one person, Savannah Kahakai. She’s got that smirk on her face like, “You won’t know what hit you brah…” Again, super job Cindy! Mahalo nui loa for all your work!
Cindy, I really enjoyed the preview section, particularly the discussions of the returning and new players. Great way to get us prepared for tonight’s opening season match. However, the article on RPI has some issues (I quote from the article directly):
1. “Play the best team in a bad conference and one’s RPI will take a hit. Lose that match and it’s a disastrous free-fall.” This is not necessarily true. If you play a 27-3 team from a bad conference, that 27-3 record will do more to boost the RPI (50% weighting) than the impact of the bad conference’s overall won-loss record (the second 25% factor in the RPI). And the difference between winning and losing that match is approximately .008 (to be adjusted for opponent’s opponents’ won-loss record), hardly enough to warrant a “disastrous free-fall”. In fact, you can’t even say if a team’s RPI ranking will fall if the team wins vs. loses that match because you don’t know the relative RPI values for teams ranked around it. I agree from a human voting perspective that a loss to a non-power team will be punished more harshly than a loss to a highly ranked team, but that has nothing to do with RPI. I agree you would prefer to schedule stronger conference opponents than weaker conference opponents to increase the opponents’ opponents’ won-loss value and boost that portion of the RPI, all other things being equal.
2. “Beat a middle-of-the-pack team in a highly ranked conference and good things can happen. Lose “as expected” and the damage is palatable.” Not sure what you mean by good things can happen, but beating a middling team in a good conference is less valuable that beating that conference’s leader. And per #1 above, you would prefer to schedule teams from strong conferences. The second sentence again reflects what human voters would do, not how the RPI formula works.
3. “Plus the Rainbow Wahine’s RPI will get a boost just by playing teams in the power conferences, regardless of how those opponents fare the rest of the season.”
The first part is true if the power conference teams have really good non-conference seasons (also, this statement relates to the 25% part of the RPI related to the won-loss record of one’s opponents’ opponents). However, the last part is blatantly false. If UH beats Florida and then Florida proceeds to lose a bunch of games, that will really hurt UH’s RPI versus Florida winning those games (and those losses will outweigh any positive impact from playing a team from the SEC). Opponent’s won-loss records are the 50% factor in the RPI and you want your opponents to win as much as possible.
4. “Where Hawaii’s RPI will take a hit is when playing two Big Sky teams in Idaho (picked to finish fifth in the conference) and Eastern Washington (eighth), and when hosting the WAC’s Cal State Bakersfield (fourth) twice and San Diego State (sixth) of the Mountain West.” Maybe, maybe not. If the teams actually have great seasons, then RPI could be improved regardless of conference affiliation. Again, that 50% RPI factor comes into play (opponent’s won-loss record). If the teams are middling or terrible, then UH’s RPI will suffer vs. those teams having excellent won-loss records. I remember a couple of years ago when American had that great season and a very strong RPI, despite being in a weaker conference. Much of that had to do with its excellent won-loss record.
To understand how UH can maximize its RPI, I like to use the following rules of thumb:
1. UH must win as many matches as possible. A win has the biggest positive impact to RPI versus what an opponent does or the scheduling impact related to playing strong conference vs. no-name/poor conference opponents. It is also the only part of the RPI that UH has any control over, other than scheduling.
2. UH’s opponents need to win as many matches as possible (50% RPI factor), excepting their matches with UH. Does not matter which conference they are from. They all need to win as much as possible. For Big West opponents, UH needs them to win as many non-conference matches as possible–conference season becomes a wash as everyone plays each other (as an aside, UH would prefer the other Big West teams schedule more cupcakes and rack up more wins than play the top teams, to maximize its RPI).
3. UH’s opponents’ opponents’ won-loss record needs to be as high as possible. Generally, you will see this in conferences which tend to play a lot of lesser teams in the preseason and rack up the wins prior to conference play. For example, Big 10 and Pac 10 (they can afford to hold tournaments and get lesser teams to come and play). So that is generally why you want to schedule power conference teams. However, that positive impact will be nullified if you lose to that power team and/or that power team has a bad year.
4. If the NCAA awards win bonuses for victories over top 25 competition, as is strongly rumored, then definitely beat Florida, UCLA, etc.
Your article is strongest when it describes the challenges of trying to schedule “good” teams a year or two into the future and the resulting uncertainty. However, it suffers from the issues above and seems to confuse how RPI will be impacted by a loss versus how human voters will be influenced by that same loss.
I know you have disagreed with me on this in the past, but I am just going by the mathematics of the formula. Happy to discuss further and expound on the above in a constructive manner, as has been the case with you and the other posters on this blog. Thx.
Thanks for all the kind words. I do the mis days when we were a little more creative with the previews, my favorite being the ‘Chemistry’ one that had coach as the mad scientist.
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=32821
new thread up for Friday