kiyoat

Looks like 2 years eligible, too. Nice get.

Congrats on having a postseason! I just looked, and the last time we (USD) didn't qualify for a postseason was the Spring of 2010 (Great West era).... yikes. This is a great reward for your gals having a great season. Go win some games!

Regardless of how the regular season finished, and how the SLT goes, I think you guys have a good shot at a WNIT bid. Nothing guaranteed like with NDSU, of course. But often that tournament has to go deep into their wish list to get teams. For some reason, eligible P-5 teams often turn their noses up at it. Pretty arrogant, if you ask me. Post-season opportunities are a nice reward for your players' hard work, and provide valuable experience IMHO.

Yeah, it's pretty bad right now for the Yotes. If there is any saving grace it would be the parity in the conference (outside of the Jacks) is giving most teams an opportunity to climb the ladder in the last 3 or 4 games. Just depends who is playing the best right now. UND has a great final 4 games, (ORU, KC, UST, WIU). I could see you going anywhere from 4-0 to 1-3, with the most likely 3-1, losing to ORU. No chance of getting beat by KC. I think you have a good shot at #2 or #3, but could fall to #4 also. USD's schedule is similar, but a little tougher with Omaha, Denver, ORU and KC. I think we could go 3-1 or 2-2, and likely end up at the #4 or #5 seed. Not great, but that's what we were in 2017 in Dawn's first year, too. At least the final two weeks will have meaningful games. *shrug*

Yeah, I don't think that is a very controversial take. State probably would have gotten in last year, had they not had some early struggles in the non-con that wrecked their NET ranking. The controversial part is where you are calling USD a 2nd place team this year. SMH I appreciate the gesture, but this USD squad has been too inconsistent to be favored to finish 3rd, let alone 2nd. We could plausibly finish 4th or lower, depending on how this team develops or doesn't (or if we have any more injuries). I'm hopeful they will figure it out by the end of the season, but right now I'd be very happy with a 3-seed. This year is strange. During the non-con season It looked like the conference outside of SDSU, NDSU, UND and UST was significantly weaker than last year. Like REALLY bad. But since the conference season started, USD, ORU and WIU have looked dominant in individual games (all very streaky/inconsistent), and Omaha has looked much better recently too. Is it an illusion based on bad teams playing each other? Or are these teams coming together and figuring it out? Who frickin' knows...

I'm not in the know, but PrepDig is at least a good reference. Not every state does PrepDig rankings, but many do now. I couldn't say on your Canadian recruits, but it looks like your setter might be the star of the class. #9 2023 player in Minnesota, #2 Setter https://www.prepdig.com/minnesota/rankings/2023-rankings/?position=S The Libero looks like unranked, but listed as the #16 Libero in California https://www.prepdig.com/california/rankings/california-2023-rankings/?position=DS/L I don't see the MB on the Texas list, but it is a big state, and you can only scroll down so far without a PrepDig account https://www.prepdig.com/texas/rankings/2023-rankings/?position=MB I don't have a PrepDig account, but I find these pages by directly searching Google for "2023 player rankings (state)"...

Well, believe it or not, UND is still not out of the race for regular-season title. If you won your last 4 and the Yotes lost 4, then we would be tied. The H2H would also be a tie. If NDSU overtook Omaha for 3rd, your win over them would be the difference.... otherwise we have the edge with Omaha and Denver. But that's an extremely low probability scenario. The point is that with four matches left, you still have literally everything to play for. Not bad. I think you will end up 4th or 5th, but who knows. It's nice when there are a ton of meaningful matches at the end of the season. Hopefully fans are still paying attention, instead of pivoting to basketball.

You could drop to a six-seed at worst. Kansas City in seventh place is four games back from UND, with four games left. You win a tie based on H2H wins. So you’re in. Question is: would you rather have NDSU or Denver in a first round? I vote Denver.

Well done, Hawks. Looks like we will have 5 or 6 title contenders in the league tournament this year. Things might get a little wild. Funny how the right coach can sometimes turn things around quickly. Wish we could find a “Tupac” that coaches football. see you in eleven days for the rematch.

Yes and no. Woodin (the Freshman Setter) got her first extensive action of the year at setter (was a serving specialist before that) @ St. Thomas, playing some of the first set, and the entire second set before they put Schram back in for the third and fourth sets. I assume she was injured then as well, but they thought she could rest it and play through? Woodin then started the entire match @ Western Illinois two days later (this was three weeks ago). Schram then played exclusively for the next two weekends (probably through pain), and Woodin played the entire SDSU game last Friday, with Schram in a boot. Stress Fracture, out 8 weeks. So she is done for the season. Woodin was class of 2022 at Elkhorn South HS in Nebraska, All-State as a senior. Broke that school's single season and carreer assists records. She was ranked the #14 overall player in Nebraska by PrepDig for 2022. Not a tall setter (5'-6"), so there's that. But she did get two block assists at Western Illinois, and one at SDSU. Not ideal for us, but she did seem to play well against SDSU. I don't recall any setter dumps in that match by her, and it felt like she wasn't setting the middles enough in the early sets, but... what do I know? Might be hard to game-plan for tendencies of a newer player, especially at that position.

I believe that after a H2H comparison, the records of the tied teams are compared to each conference opponent, one-by-one, starting at the top of the rankings. So if there are a bunch of teams tied for first, like in your example, then the next team down in standings is what would be compared. If that is still a tie they look at RPI ranking. Keep in mind that tie-breakers in the Summit are just for seeding (and determining next year's host), Co-champions is a thing.

This is exactly correct. And I'm quoting you..... Great reverse-sweep win. I think at this point the only way Tupac doesn't win COY is if NDSU wins the regular season. Great hire.

Just something to note- Omaha switched from (former SOY) Clarkson to a two-setter system after their SD trip. Just like last year when Coach Buttermore switched from Senior Mountjoy to Soph Centeno at Libero, but kept (former DPOY) Mountjoy in the lineup. Basically had two liberos out there most of the time. They were the #1 defense last year (and won the regular season). I think Buttermore is a really good XnOs coach. For your coach to go from winless to a top-6 or top-5 season, I assume he knows what the hell he is doing, too. Especially what he has done with Norris, giving her more opportunities. I'm also thinking he is a good "culture" guy. Winless seasons can just totally gut the culture and locker-room. I'm surprised you guys aren't happy with taking Denver to 5 sets, but I guess that just shows you are a fanbase with high expectations. Nothing wrong with that, but I'd say enjoy the ride. This is a season to celebrate. And BTW, feel free to beat the Bison again. Thanks in advance.

If UND is able to get into the 6-team SLT after going winless last season.... I have to think that's Coach-of-the-Year territory. If a coach outside of the "big three" of USD, Omaha or Denver wins the regular season, like at NDSU or SDSU (who are surging right now), then I'd say it probably goes to them. Or if the Yotes win out after the loss at NDSU, our Coach Williamson might win it because of the 11-1 non-conference season. Barring all of that, I'd say it would be Coach Tupac's to lose. Either way, that would be huge for your program. As I've said before, I know our programs aren't "buddies" or anything, but UND has shown a lot of fan loyalty for your women's programs. And I respect that. And you don't wear blue, so that's good too. Would much rather have our girls play in full arenas all over the conference than empty ones. Even when Denver has been dominant, their fans just don't show up for WBB or VB. Having all or most of the "Dakota 4" be good in any sport is good for conference attendance typically.

Called it.