Coach Hambly has never lost at Maples. (Can you believe Stanford lost 5 at Maples in 2016?! Well, Coach Dunning & the team made up for that!) We fans have experienced few recent matches that generated intense excitement & emotion. (I remember one game this year where Stanford was down 19-20 and I realized I wasn't worried at all.) I think the turning point was the Stanford timeout when we were down 16-20 in the second set. The team started to climb back into it and the crowd started cheering. This team can be really great, but it seems they (and we fans) need to realize it isn't business as usual. (That's part of the reason I'm glad Stanford is playing BYU again. If it were Texas, Stanford might expect to win.)
I enjoyed seeing the coach talk to the players after the match. You could see he was congratulating them individually - a really good bonding experience. He then sent them off to dance with the Band (does anyone ever call them the "Banned"?). I don't recall that they've done that in the NCAA tournament games until this one.
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You know how announcers have all the facts about the teams and their players at their fingertips, and they use those during the game? Unless one chooses to think the announcers were incompetent (which I don't believe), one would have to believe the announcers for this game seemed not to know Stanford, or perhaps they chose to or were instructed not to say more than they had to about Stanford.
Early on, they observed "Penn State is known as a strong serving team” but I never heard them say anything to indicate that Stanford has more aces per set than PSU.
Early on (and repeated multiple times), “This Penn State team is 6th in the nation in blocks per set.” FINALLY, at an hour and 52 minutes into the match, they mentioned once that Stanford was #1 in blocks per set.
They NEVER mentioned that Tami Alade was #1 in blocks/set.
They NEVER mentioned that Stanford is #3 in assists/set and Jenna Gray is #2 individually.
They NEVER mentioned that Stanford is #3 in kills/set (or that Plummer is #11).
They NEVER mentioned that Stanford is #3 in hitting percentage (or that Alade is #9).
Missing a few of those might be an oversight. Missing so many would seem to either be incompetence or intent. Even if Stanford didn't show, say, their blocking prowess until late, you'd think they'd say something like, "Stanford is #1 in the nation in blocking, but Penn State is the team with the lead in blocking."
At the beginning, ESPN highlighted the liberos of each team and promised to give a "dig of the night" (which I don't believe they delivered on).
I found it odd that they chose that statistic to look at. Indeed, it is the worst of the major stats for the two teams, when looked at individually or as a team.
Blocks/set: Alade #1, Stanford #1 | Gray #43, PSU #6
Assists/set: Gray #2, Stanford #3 | Weiskircher #35, PSU #32
Kills/set: Plummer #11, Stanford #3 | Reed >#150, PSU #31
Hit %: Alade #9, Stanford #3 | Hord #20, PSU #20
Aces/set: Gray #83, Stanford #98 | >#150, PSU #125
Digs/set: Hentz #80, Stanford #287 | White #75, PSU #185
While ESPN did show a graphic saying that Stanford beat Penn State 3-0 in September, the announcers only said “These two teams met one time before this season, but it was a long time ago.”
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Russ Rose is obviously a great coach with a historic record. But honestly, can’t he even bother to shift his sitting position a little when the girls that dry the court have to squeeze through the 6” he leaves for them to get off the floor? I watched them very carefully trying to work their mops through that small space. He didn't twitch a muscle or do anything to acknowledge that they were trying not to disturb him. They aren’t his opponents or his staff.
In the 3rd set (when he was upset that an attempted challenge was not allowed as his attempt to challenge happened after the next serve had started), at 3-6, Rose violates rule 5.2.4.1 by approaching too close to the court during play. Coaches & players are to remain more than 1.75m (the length of the dotted line outside the court) from the sideline (extended). I presume one of the reasons for this rule is safety for the players, and indeed, one of his players fell out of bounds and slid through where he was standing forcing him to back out of her way. From the way he approached the court (initially walked in a legal zone parallel to the scoring table and talking at the official (during play), and then straight out toward the court), I believe he was intentionally trying to violate the rule (in the same way a baseball coach chooses to get ejected).
Regarding the late challenge, unfortunately, the video does not show the coach raising the challenge card. He is seen standing some seconds after the whistle has been blown for the serve to start. What I saw was that he seemed to be discussing the situation with another coach, and then reached over to raise the card (while still seated). I can't specifically recall when the whistle was blown, but I do recall that he essentially immediately saw that the next serve was started and he put down the card and then stood up. Only the head coach can raise a challenge. I'm guessing the fact that he was seated and facing away from the down official lead her to believe he was not challenging, so she didn't have any reason to delay. (I did notice that she would look at both benches immediately after a point.)
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At the game, if seemed as if Penn State only sweated on points they lost. It seemed that they only called to dry the floor after points they lost. I was going to check that on the video, but it was not shown.
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One of the announcers mentioned going online and getting some advanced statistics (how many times double touches are called, by conference). I'm guessing that's behind a paywall, but does anyone know where that is?
Stanford plays BYU at 4PM (PST) on Thursday. Nebraska - Illinois is at 6PM PST
If Stanford advances to the finals, that will be Saturday at 6PM PST.
The WBB game against Baylor is at noon on Saturday at Maples. If Stanford wins on Thursday, it would be great if Stanford Athletics could have Maples open Saturday evening and let WVB fans come watch it there.
I enjoyed seeing the coach talk to the players after the match. You could see he was congratulating them individually - a really good bonding experience. He then sent them off to dance with the Band (does anyone ever call them the "Banned"?). I don't recall that they've done that in the NCAA tournament games until this one.
------------
You know how announcers have all the facts about the teams and their players at their fingertips, and they use those during the game? Unless one chooses to think the announcers were incompetent (which I don't believe), one would have to believe the announcers for this game seemed not to know Stanford, or perhaps they chose to or were instructed not to say more than they had to about Stanford.
Early on, they observed "Penn State is known as a strong serving team” but I never heard them say anything to indicate that Stanford has more aces per set than PSU.
Early on (and repeated multiple times), “This Penn State team is 6th in the nation in blocks per set.” FINALLY, at an hour and 52 minutes into the match, they mentioned once that Stanford was #1 in blocks per set.
They NEVER mentioned that Tami Alade was #1 in blocks/set.
They NEVER mentioned that Stanford is #3 in assists/set and Jenna Gray is #2 individually.
They NEVER mentioned that Stanford is #3 in kills/set (or that Plummer is #11).
They NEVER mentioned that Stanford is #3 in hitting percentage (or that Alade is #9).
Missing a few of those might be an oversight. Missing so many would seem to either be incompetence or intent. Even if Stanford didn't show, say, their blocking prowess until late, you'd think they'd say something like, "Stanford is #1 in the nation in blocking, but Penn State is the team with the lead in blocking."
At the beginning, ESPN highlighted the liberos of each team and promised to give a "dig of the night" (which I don't believe they delivered on).
I found it odd that they chose that statistic to look at. Indeed, it is the worst of the major stats for the two teams, when looked at individually or as a team.
Blocks/set: Alade #1, Stanford #1 | Gray #43, PSU #6
Assists/set: Gray #2, Stanford #3 | Weiskircher #35, PSU #32
Kills/set: Plummer #11, Stanford #3 | Reed >#150, PSU #31
Hit %: Alade #9, Stanford #3 | Hord #20, PSU #20
Aces/set: Gray #83, Stanford #98 | >#150, PSU #125
Digs/set: Hentz #80, Stanford #287 | White #75, PSU #185
While ESPN did show a graphic saying that Stanford beat Penn State 3-0 in September, the announcers only said “These two teams met one time before this season, but it was a long time ago.”
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Russ Rose is obviously a great coach with a historic record. But honestly, can’t he even bother to shift his sitting position a little when the girls that dry the court have to squeeze through the 6” he leaves for them to get off the floor? I watched them very carefully trying to work their mops through that small space. He didn't twitch a muscle or do anything to acknowledge that they were trying not to disturb him. They aren’t his opponents or his staff.
In the 3rd set (when he was upset that an attempted challenge was not allowed as his attempt to challenge happened after the next serve had started), at 3-6, Rose violates rule 5.2.4.1 by approaching too close to the court during play. Coaches & players are to remain more than 1.75m (the length of the dotted line outside the court) from the sideline (extended). I presume one of the reasons for this rule is safety for the players, and indeed, one of his players fell out of bounds and slid through where he was standing forcing him to back out of her way. From the way he approached the court (initially walked in a legal zone parallel to the scoring table and talking at the official (during play), and then straight out toward the court), I believe he was intentionally trying to violate the rule (in the same way a baseball coach chooses to get ejected).
Quote:SITUATION 3: During play, the Team R coach stands nearer to the court
than the imaginary 1.75-meter (70-inch) boundary described in Rule 5.2.4.1.
RULING: On the first occurrence, as a courtesy, the referees may remind the
coach to remain the appropriate distance from the court while the ball is in
play. Continued lack of compliance with this rule results in a delay sanction.
Regarding the late challenge, unfortunately, the video does not show the coach raising the challenge card. He is seen standing some seconds after the whistle has been blown for the serve to start. What I saw was that he seemed to be discussing the situation with another coach, and then reached over to raise the card (while still seated). I can't specifically recall when the whistle was blown, but I do recall that he essentially immediately saw that the next serve was started and he put down the card and then stood up. Only the head coach can raise a challenge. I'm guessing the fact that he was seated and facing away from the down official lead her to believe he was not challenging, so she didn't have any reason to delay. (I did notice that she would look at both benches immediately after a point.)
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At the game, if seemed as if Penn State only sweated on points they lost. It seemed that they only called to dry the floor after points they lost. I was going to check that on the video, but it was not shown.
------
One of the announcers mentioned going online and getting some advanced statistics (how many times double touches are called, by conference). I'm guessing that's behind a paywall, but does anyone know where that is?
Stanford plays BYU at 4PM (PST) on Thursday. Nebraska - Illinois is at 6PM PST
If Stanford advances to the finals, that will be Saturday at 6PM PST.
The WBB game against Baylor is at noon on Saturday at Maples. If Stanford wins on Thursday, it would be great if Stanford Athletics could have Maples open Saturday evening and let WVB fans come watch it there.