Wisconsin Badgers 2020-2021

[robertearle]

Just looking back the last few years...

Emphasis on "few", I would say.

Prior to Blair and Campbell, it was Desbiens, and Rigsby, and with one year in between (IIRC) Jesse Vetter. That is, Blair and Campbell and 'imported' goalies are more the 'exception', albeit the most recent 'mode of operation'.

Now, if you want to argue that being a back-up at Wisconsin is a tough gig, no question about it. How many games did Frankel's back-up get this year?

[Sieve1]

Emphasis on "few", I would say.

Prior to Blair and Campbell, it was Desbiens, and Rigsby, and with one year in between (IIRC) Jesse Vetter. That is, Blair and Campbell and 'imported' goalies are more the 'exception', albeit the most recent 'mode of operation'.

Now, if you want to argue that being a back-up at Wisconsin is a tough gig, no question about it. How many games did Frankel's back-up get this year?

Obviously when you have the best goalie in the country she’s playing...but she was also recruited out of SSM by Northeatsern (rumor was she was offered a spot at UW as a third goalie/no starting time, and said no thank you)
funny thing is that if she went to UW she probably wouldn’t have had much chance to play!

[robertearle]

Obviously when you have the best goalie in the country she’s playing...but she was also recruited out of SSM by Northeatsern (rumor was she was offered a spot at UW as a third goalie/no starting time, and said no thank you)
funny thing is that if she went to UW she probably wouldn’t have had much chance to play!

Yeah, not buying that one either. If she had been recruited to come to Wisconsin, she would have already accepted by the time Campbell "became available", Campbell might well have NOT come to Madison and Frankel would have had ample opportunity to see the ice.

[Sieve1]

Yeah, not buying that one either. If she had been recruited to come to Wisconsin, she would have already accepted by the time Campbell "became available", Campbell might well have NOT come to Madison and Frankel would have had ample opportunity to see the ice.

Sorry for the confusion- what I’ve heard was whole she was at SSM she had an offer from UW as a 3rd goalie and an offer from Northeastern and decided on Northeatsern because she would be the starter after Bugalski graduated. But she ended up taking over the starting job earlier than planned.
Bottom line is free agency has come to women’s hockey and top programs like UW, OSU, UM, etc will continue to bring in transfers to boost the rosters. Players and goalies who thought they would be in the mix for playing time find themselves pushed down the depth chart. Ivies and smaller schools have a hard time competing with the big guns in the free agency market.

[Timothy A]

Just looking back the last few years...last 2 starting goalies have been transfers and the goalies that were recruited by UW have been red shirted and never play. Other schools seem to at least rotate a back up in every so often just to keep them involved. Would lead someone to think they don’t develop their recruited goalies, but just take a seasoned transfer as the starter. I could be wrong but not since ARD has UW had a regular starter that they recruited in as a freshman. Would think that Blesi, Crosnish, etc might be eyeing the portal if they want to play.

MJ just does not play back-ups. When a weak opponent was at LaBahn, I always thought why not give Rigs, ARD or Soup the day off? He just doesn't do it. I don't necessarily understand it, but it's his way and the results show for themselves.

In the end I don't think MJ looks at other goalies if he has confidence in the ones he already has. Does that mean that Blesi and Kronish are recruiting misses? From MJ's moves, one can lean in that direction. I sure thought Cece was the heir apparent to ARD. She played well when ARD was hurt her Jr year. But then Blesi flips from OSU to UW and now there's a doubt about Cece's ascendancy. Then Soup comes in and supplants both of them. Blesi looked a little shaky when Soup was injured her Jr year. Kronish shows up, Cece end up getting released from the team (unrelated moves). Then Blair comes in and wins the job. It's been a crazy ride in G for UW, but through it all they haven't missed the Frozen 4 and Soup and Blair have something ARD does not have.

As I said earlier, if Blair is coming back, I would almost expect Blesi to be in the portal.

[ARM]

MJ just does not play back-ups.

This hasn't always been true. During his first championship team, three different goalies played a lot, and it wasn't until the NCAA Tournament that he went totally to Vetter. The next season, Vetter and Dufour were in a rotation until the NCAAs. Maybe it is that back then UW had a lot of games where it was just flat out better. Or maybe his philosophy changed. But in 2007, Dufour started the WCHA finale, allowed a single goal, and he was back to Vetter for the tournament. It could be that over time, he has grown to think that the started has earned the right to be in the net just about every day. Can't fault that. But UW has been lucky, in that it hasn't had the No. 1 get injured/ill in the tournament, something that has happened to UM multiple times.

It's like going "all in" when playing poker; it works, until it doesn't.

[Timothy A]

This hasn't always been true. During his first championship team, three different goalies played a lot, and it wasn't until the NCAA Tournament that he went totally to Vetter. The next season, Vetter and Dufour were in a rotation until the NCAAs. Maybe it is that back then UW had a lot of games where it was just flat out better. Or maybe his philosophy changed. But in 2007, Dufour started the WCHA finale, allowed a single goal, and he was back to Vetter for the tournament. It could be that over time, he has grown to think that the started has earned the right to be in the net just about every day. Can't fault that. But UW has been lucky, in that it hasn't had the No. 1 get injured/ill in the tournament, something that has happened to UM multiple times.

It's like going "all in" when playing poker; it works, until it doesn't.

I appreciate the history lesson. My time with the program only goes back to Rigsby.

[Timothy A]

robertearle, I had the most vivid dream last night that the UW volleyball team won the Naty and I was on this site posting to you congrats. I must be a sick man to dream about the USCHO at night......

[robertearle]

robertearle, I had the most vivid dream last night that the UW volleyball team won the Naty and I was on this site posting to you congrats. I must be a sick man to dream about the USCHO at night......

Or you're a prophet! We'll find out by two weeks from Saturday.

[Timothy A]

Or you're a prophet! We'll find out by two weeks from Saturday.

We're almost there. Hopefully the ladies can dodge the c19. I see Rice had to bow out of the tourney.

[robertearle]

We're almost there. Hopefully the ladies can dodge the c19. I see Rice had to bow out of the tourney.

At least seven of them who play significant time already had it, contracted in the wake of a match vs Michigan State in February; somebody on Michigan State was asymptomatic on the weekend, but became sick by the next Tuesday, and UW players had it two days after that. So they come to the tournament with antibodies already on-board. "Silver lining".

Awful news for Rice. They were rated around #20 and had a real chance of knocking off Penn State into the 'Sweet Sixteen'

[ARM]

UW volleyball this season are like a dominant team in Hockey East. The Badgers are obviously very talented, and deservedly ranked #1. But who is the best team that they've played? Purdue w/o Grace Cleveland? Minnesota playing its only match of the season w/o its setter? I get that UW didn't have its setter either, but I'm talking about the quality of the opponent on the other side of the net. Weren't schedule to play OSU. Matches vs PSU and Nebraska were cancelled. Who does that leave? Illinois? Michigan? Maybe they're good enough to overcome it, but if the Badgers don't win it all, it will likely be because they didn't get much of a challenge during the season.

[Timothy A]

UW volleyball this season are like a dominant team in Hockey East. The Badgers are obviously very talented, and deservedly ranked #1. But who is the best team that they've played? Purdue w/o Grace Cleveland? Minnesota playing its only match of the season w/o its setter? I get that UW didn't have its setter either, but I'm talking about the quality of the opponent on the other side of the net. Weren't schedule to play OSU. Matches vs PSU and Nebraska were cancelled. Who does that leave? Illinois? Michigan? Maybe they're good enough to overcome it, but if the Badgers don't win it all, it will likely be because they didn't get much of a challenge during the season.

Interesting parallels, though the hair stood up on the back of my neck with the VB team getting compared to BC's hockey team. MJ always says he likes to get tested during the season to lay the building blocks for the post-season (though this year was a bit extreme in that regard). I will await Robert's response on the strength of schedule.

The women's football team is in the B16 title game as well.

All I can say is:

LET'S GO RED!

[robertearle]

I will await Robert's response on the strength of schedule.

Year in and year out, UW head coach Kelly Sheffield schedules as tough a non-conference set of matches as he can: in 2019, they played at least four non-conference matches vs team that ended up in the NCAA tournament; in 2018, at least five such matches; etc etc.

NOBODY dislikes the way things played out more than he does.

Six teams Big Ten made it into the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin played three matches against them (and won all three); Nebraska played four (and went 2-2); Minnesota played seven (and went 6-1); Ohio State played six (and went 3-3); Purdue played eight (and went 3-5); Penn State played six (and went 1-5). Everydoy had matches within that group that were cancelled, and I'm sure none of the coaches or teams were happy about it.

The thing that Wisconsin has going for it - and this is not hyperbole - is that their "second string" is good enough to go .500 in the Big Ten on their own.

(as for playing Minnesota when the setter Shaffmaster was missing: on the volleyball web site comparable to this, there are *plenty* of Gopher fans who think Shaffmaster is the Gophers' biggest problem this year, and were OK with seeing a match without her... until they saw the results. The bigger problem that night was they were without their libero, CC McGraw. But that is apparently going to be the case for the rest of the year. Injuries happen, and they happen to everyone.)

[ARM]

Kilkelly does some things better than McGraw (receive serve for one), so I don't think her loss has the same impact. But w/o Shaffmaster, UM plays a 6-2, meaning Samedy is on the bench half the time. The point isn't making excuses for the Gophers; they are what they are. It's just that the two best teams UW has seen, Purdue and Minnesota, were far less than they can be when UW say them.

I understand about practicing versus quality. Practice intensity and match intensity... Props to Wisco if they can make it work for them.