OT. Fall KU women's sport

A early report, why, keep reading.
The BB team beat Minnesota holding them to 40 pts below their average.

The VB team had a bad game losing to Utah. May have been a letdown fron the KSU game. We dropped from 2nd to 4th in the Big 12.

Now the reason I wanted to write an early report. The soccer team beat ranked Louisville and is now in the round of 16. We won 3/1 on three very nice goals. So why not wait until the next game, Sunday vs highly ranked Duke.? Well coach Lie was really pissed with the talking heads.

“We listened to a podcast called ‘College Soccer Nation,’ which (has) really respected coaches,” Lie said postgame. “And they talked and previewed this game, and they said that this is when the Big 12 gets found out. And they used Kansas as an example of a team that didn’t even have a chance against Louisville. We were dismissed. I found that pretty tough. We had five top-50 wins this year, Louisville had two.

“I think it’s professional negligence to dismiss a team of this caliber. We deserve to be here. I appreciate it — we played it for our team before the game to tell them what the rest of the country thinks about this. And what I would just tell you and whoever’s listening — whoever we play here … we very, very, very much respect anyone that we’re going to play and we know the caliber at Duke, but like, we’re not really intimidated at all, if I’m being honest.”

We have never made it past the round of 16, so let’s make them eat their words. Still a number of other Big 12 teams alive with three more playing today.

Well the women’s soccer team got knocked out at the round of 16 by Duke. The team lost 2/0 but it should have been 1/0 after a bad call by the ref in the penalty box leading to the second goal. Duke was the superior team and highly ranked. We do lose some key players moving forward but we have a some very good freshman that can step in to replace Wimes and Watts. There are also some high quality returnees so 2026 looks good. Coach Lie and his team seem to be very good coaches and recruiters.

The VB team had a bad week, losing to both Utah and BYU on the road in straight sets. We looked off in both games. We finish up the regular season on the road at ISU, a very tough game, and at home vs. UCF, a winnable game. KU is now 4th in the Big 12 standings. Whether we get to play at home for 1-2 games in the NCAA playoffs will dependent on how we finish up the last two games.

The BB team is doing well but have only played a few games against top opponents. The next four games are on the road at neutral site. In the Oral Roberts game this weekend, playing without Davis, 2-3 of the freshmen really stepped up. I think this team can finish in the top half of the Big 12, how high will be the question.

OK, soccer is over and the women’s BB had a difficult week losing narrowly to both Georgia and Dayton. Since BB is readily reported in the news, I will stop commenting on the BB team.

The VB team had a very good week after a disappointing week before. Going into the week, we were in 4th place in the Big 12 and had dropped in both the RPI and National ranking. On Wednesday, we played a ranked ISU team in Ames, and won 3-1 in a hard fought battle. Coach changed up the line up a little, one to help and one due to an injury to our setter, Katie Dalton. The first and 4th sets were very tight and could have gone either way. Reese Ptacek played really well. The win left us tied for 2nd place with ISU and CU but in 4th when the overall record is taken into account.

Then came Senior night against a good and well coached UCF team. Thank you Seat Geek, I managed to get a last minute ticket. It was bloody cold walking down to the game but well worth it. Coach went with Cline at setter but switched out as we did not look good losing the first set. The team seemed distracted and made numerous errors. They then proceeded to win the next 3 sets. UCF has a really good team with some great hitters and blockers. However, Jovana Zelenovic for KU was spectacular with 17 kills and 3 aces. Her serve not only related in this aces but she also kept UCF off balance. I’ve gotten to meet a number of the VB players and they all say what a really nice and funny person she is. Yes, she is 6’7” and a big woman. There is a good chance she will be named Big 12 freshman of the year.

Because ISU (thank you KSU) and Colorado both lost yesterday, KU finished alone in 2nd place. We will know later today where whether we get to play 1/2 games at home in the NCAA Championship. I am 100% sure that will be the case. Right now they have 8+ Big 12 teams being in the play-offs. ASU is ranked in the top 4 Nationally and has a chance to win it all. KU, I believe can make it to the round of 8 or 16 depending on the draw. BTW, the finals are played in KC at the T- Mobile center.

The T-mobile VB was completely sold out in the first 23 minutes. So, no probably not going unless KU makes it. May try to get tickets to first two rounds if played at KU. We will know by about 5:30 PM CT tonight. It is live on ESPN.

KU a 4th seed and 1/2 home games and if they win they will likely play unbeaten #1 Nebraska. First round is against High Point and winnable, and second is likely to be Miami.

OK, just a final follow up on the Soccer team. Two of our players made All-American, senior Lexi Watts and Junior Caroline Castans. Although we lost to Duke in the second round, Duke went on too make the Final 4 but lost to #1 Stanford, 1-0. The last Big 12 team TCU lost in the Final 4 to Florida State.

The VB post season games have been great. Big 12 teams were well positioned but took a pretty big hit in the last few days. Games seem to be following the rankings with only a few surprises. We are now down to the final 16 with only ASU and KU surviving.

On Friday evening, I attended the KU vs Miami game with a friend, a former KU BB player from the mid-60s who had never been to a KU VB game n person. Wow, Wow, what a game. Miami had a VB All American who is an amazing athlete/player. KU won in 4 sets by targeting their play to especially try to make her impact less. The whole team played great, although I think two of our players were not feeling great due to injuries. To me this was the best VB game I have ever seen in person and I have helped coach VB but at a very low level with my three daughters, one of which played college ball, be it at the D3 level. The KU crowd was nuts and my friend just raved at what he had just witnessed.

That was the good news, Now the not so good news. The next team we play is Nebraska, #1 nationally, unbeaten and has only lost 7 sets all year in the best league Nationally, the Big 10. Nebraska beat KSU yesterday, 3-0. Watched part of the game. Nebraska is huge, fast and very talented. Playing in Lincoln will to help. Let’s hope we take our A game and push Nebraska and see what happens. The growth of this team this year is something I will remember for quite a while.

ASU has a team that can make the Final 4. They are very well coached.

OK, this is my last report on the topic. ASU lost fairly badly to Creighton on Thursday leaving KU as the only remaining Big 12 team. Last evening we played #1 Nebraska. My goal was to take one set from the Huskers as I realized, winning was probably not going to happen. WELL, we got destroyed in three sets.

While watching a number of games in the round of 16, it was obvious that we matched some of the teams that were losing in the round but probably not going to go further. That was confirmed last evening.

Ulmer and the team provided some wonderful highlights over the year and the team was one we could all be proud of both on and off the court.

The women’s BB team is doing well. Right now the lower leg injury to freshman Davis is worrisome but looks like it is being resolved. Regan William’s injury appears to not as serious as initially thought. The team plays two cupcakes before conference play begins. Interesting that we are playing Haskell this Wednesday. The two teams have played 5 time with KU holding a 4/1 record. I suspect this is a fund raiser for Haskell as its Federal budget is under fire. Looks like a good chance for our bench to get some playing time.