Thursday Musings

No matches today and frankly this is the last day where my life is probably close to what I’ve considered normal so why not do some musing. I did link in a diary of sorts to my fight with lymphoma through my About Me page. You can also find it here. I need to make it funnier. For me, it helps organize my thoughts and it causes me to create questions so it’s useful to me. (Spoiler – I say this is my last normal day because full-body scan tomorrow and then real decisions get made.)

I do appreciate the well wishes. If nothing else, I hope you all realize how easy it is to make comments to the website. I don’t see anything other than the name you supply and comment so it’s pretty secure. So, join the dialog when they occur and correct me when I’m wrong (which is too often).

I tweeted out that Averett University is moving from the USA South Conference to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in 2022-23. I think there are just more Virginia schools in the ODAC but who knows all of the reasons. You have to realize that Averett has been in the USA South for over 40 years so kind of a big deal. Both conferences can absorb the change as they are two of our larger DIII conferences.

I saw that the Trinity/Southwestern matches have been rescheduled for next Wednesday. I literally have the most contacts into that program than any other school and no one tells me anything. Heck, even the Trinity parents didn’t tell me and they are just as crazy as I was in my heyday. Crazy needs to respect crazy is all I’m saying.

Following up on that, if we ever get back to in person matches where things are kind of safe, introduce yourself to the enemy. Some of the coolest people were enemy parents. They all have the same concerns you do. Same complaints. Only theirs are about another team. Makes it easier to talk, in a way, as you’re not accidentally offending anyone. I always loved the parents that would say something like Mary Sue is doing great and needs to get more playing time…in front of the parents who’s daughter would obviously lose playing time if that happened. Oh, and hey. When you talk to them see if they know about the website. If they don’t, you’ll look really smart.

I was today years old when I finally figured out that UMHB Volleyball and UMHB Athletic Department will tweet out the exact same information at the same time. On my timeline it looked like the same tweet twice from the same account because I follow both and their picture is the same. It has always bugged me. Why one just can’t retweet the other, I don’t know. Or maybe the volleyball handle can get a new picture up?

I don’t want to spoil any future Points/Set articles but the UMHB/Concordia matches from Tuesday just highlight that there are no guarantees in volleyball. Concordia had beaten Howard Payne and then struggled with HSU (splitting their matches). Then they lose to UMHB in 4-sets but have a better Points/Set number before winning easily in the next match. UMHB had two of their poorest P/S numbers in these matches of the season. It seems obvious that Concordia has the firepower to compete with anyone in the region but they also can beat themselves like few teams have shown.

More on P/S. I think for the most part, the statistic shows that the winning teams earned the win. When the reverse happens it makes me wonder if you can spot the trend mid-game and change things. Basically, you would have to identify where you are giving up the points. But if you change that up does it mean that you alter the points you are going to earn? I think that would be an obvious, yes. For instance, if you are serving out too much and become less aggressive then the other team is going to be in-system more and your service aces will be reduced. I also think the statistic isn’t really needed by coaches in-game because they probably get a sense of things. Still, I’m liking the stat.

One problem with St. Thomas is that they are not allowed to appear in the NCAA Statistical Database. Still early, but they appear to be one of the best blocking teams in the region. Really interested to see them take on the top teams from the conference.

Looking through the statistics, I often look at who is not doing well in a category. Concordia seems to struggle with blocking. They were last in the region before Tuesday’s matches. They’ve moved out of that spot but not by much (thanks Sul Ross State). Trinity is 5th worst in Digs/Set so how does that make sense? Do they just terminate more so the rallies aren’t as long? (As a side note, I often wonder about the scorers and how consistent we are in categories. If you want to drive yourself crazy, score a game from video. In fairness, it’s all in real-time for them. Of course, I know the difference between a solo block and a block assist, so there.)

Did the AVCA just update their logo? Funny to me because I downloaded the original one for my Top 25 posts. I can’t get anything right, I guess.

I’ve written numerous articles on how you have to be in the Top 10 in Hitting Percentage to win the NCAA Championship. As of Sunday, LeTourneau is our leader but only sits 16th in the nation. I guess it’s good the championship was cancelled for the season.

I’ve rambled on enough. Stay safe!