#23 UCLA upset by LMU

[gipke1]

Chelsey was great. One play she left someone in the dust. love her play. Best wishes on a great year for her and the Lions.

Ha! Yeah that "hesitation" move. [link below] She struggled with (car accident) injury all freshman year, but got healed up in time to drop 15 points in our final, semi-final game at the WCC tourney in Vegas. But (knock on wood!) she's just about 100%! Thanks!

 

[gipke1]

I thought USC looked pretty good in the win against Riverside 73-55.. Minyon Moore flirted with a triple double and they got some good play from Overbeck and others. Desiree Caldwell started and looked tentative but I'm glad Trakh is already trying to integrate her into his system. If USC passes UCLA this season, it will likely be for many more if recruiting and coaching means anything.

BTW, Chelsea Gipson's second choice was NMSU because they loved Trakh. Her original dream school was UCLA as was Amber Melgoza.

Yep! Chelsey was down to four schools end of junior year:
1. LMU
2. NMSU
3. Utah
4. UCLA (interest but no offer)

Mark was a super nice guy and coach. LMU had been there the whole time. Really showing lots of interest and offered her VERY early. Attended a lot of her high school/AAU games. In the end she wanted to stay local - and she wanted to go somewhere that she could get an excellent education, beautiful campus and play beneficial minutes so LMU had all of that and more! Gabby and Bree (LMU team) are step-sisters, which is how she came to be at LMU. Her Dad/family are great. When we saw Gabby transferred from Cal we started thinking: "there might be something special building at LMU?"...which we wanted to be a part of. Chelsey had a similar situation in high school when she left as backup PG for Jordin Canada at Windward, to go to Palisades. Led them to back-to-back D1 open titles. [link below]

Chelsey Gipson speeds her way to new heights on the court

Coach Elliot and staff are just fantastic. SOOO happy with LMU!

 

[nwhoopfan]

There wasnt one post about the game on the USC board. I looked at the box score and one number shocked me. I had the under over on attendance at 250, and liked the under. There were 412 at the game. Please note, USC includes players, coaches, the DJ, the band, the dance team, song girls and the cheerleaders.. Additional note they do not include the refs.

That's really sad. The team deserves better support than that. UCLA/USC fans tend to be fairly fickle. Both programs almost always have good women's volleyball teams and attendance for those are usually poor as well.

 

[WestsideWaltz]

Volleybal isn't that big a draw nationally. The Pac has teams that average in the hundreds like Cal. UCLA/USC volleyball are in the 1000+ which puts them in the Top 40. For UCLA, both their WBB and Gymnastics teams averaged in the 3,000 last year. UCLA WBB got an unnatural bump from home games with Baylor and UConn but the size of the crowds was a significant win for Close. UCLA Gymnastics won the National Championship and finished #6 in the country in attendance so there is an audience in the very tough Southern California market for women's collegiate sports.

 

[willtalk]

What do you think the problem is. Is she and her staff not good at developing players?

I couldn't say anything specifically, although there was a time when I probably could have. Close had been often discussed on Pac 12 fan and other sites in the past. She just consistently seemed to underachieve with the talent she had. She did have a year when injuries played a big part, but that was for a short time. I would assume she is a good recruiter, because she did get a lot of talent to commit to her, but not a very good coach in respect to getting results. I do remember initially when everyone expected her teams to be really good and they never ended up that way. Even when they had a good season they always seem to start out getting knocked off by lesser teams like they just did against LMU.

Trying to remember. I think it might have something to do with lack of discipline.

 

[gipke1]

Story about Gabby and Bree coming together at LMU as step-siblings!

Basketball unites once distant stepsisters

 

[nwhoopfan]

Volleybal isn't that big a draw nationally.

True generally speaking, but Big 10 fans are crazy for volleyball, particularly Nebraska. It's the next biggest thing there to football, I think it even outdraws men's hoops. Hawaii fans were known for being robust, but they've slipped in recent years and I think attendance has been effected. When UW was REALLY good they were drawing 4-5,000 regularly, but probably about half of that now. Game schedules since the Pac 12 Network came into existence has hurt attendance for pretty much every school. Nobody wants to go to an 11 am game on a Sunday, and 6 pm on a Wed. or Thurs. is a tough sell for most fans.

 

[oldude]

That's really sad. The team deserves better support than that. UCLA/USC fans tend to be fairly fickle. Both programs almost always have good women's volleyball teams and attendance for those are usually poor as well.

Too many other distractions in LA unlike Storrs, CT in wintertime, where there’s really only two things to do: watching the Huskies and shoveling snow from your driveway...

 

[Txhoopsalot]

Texas volleyball packs the on-campus renovated gym where it plays. The team attracts an animated student section along with the faithful oldies. I watch the games on TV - almost all are televised. I am still learning to understand the game.

 

[donalddoowop]

Texas volleyball packs the on-campus renovated gym where it plays. The team attracts an animated student section along with the faithful oldies. I watch the games on TV - almost all are televised. I am still learning to understand the game.

I follow women's volleyball and have seen Texas a few times. They are really good.

 

[wallman]

There wasnt one post about the game on the USC board. I looked at the box score and one number shocked me. I had the under over on attendance at 250, and liked the under. There were 412 at the game. Please note, USC includes players, coaches, the DJ, the band, the dance team, song girls and the cheerleaders.. Additional note they do not include the refs.

I had heard Vanguard did well in a scrimmage with USC, I think USC were disappointed when they did not do so well in their other games It is hard to say what is happening with the PAC this year but congrats to LMU.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I am still learning to understand the game.

I got hooked (no pun intended) on volleyball when UW went to 3 straight Final 4s and won the Title in '05. I think there are some nuances of the game I'll never quite get.

 

[WestsideWaltz]

LMU without Gabby Green picked up it's second Pac12 win over Arizona, 66-64. Aarion McDonald, transfer from Washington scored 39 points, 20 of them from f/t. No other player from Arizona had more than 8 points and even with McDonald, they looked very weak. Incidentally, Arizona added former LMU associate head coach April Phillips and she's considered a real up and coming coaching prospect.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

LMU without Gabby Green picked up it's second Pac12 win over Arizona, 66-64. Aarion McDonald, transfer from Washington scored 39 points, 20 of them from f/t. No other player from Arizona had more than 8 points and even with McDonald, they looked very weak. Incidentally, Arizona added former LMU associate head coach April Phillips and she's considered a real up and coming coaching prospect.

Well, it is never good when one player scores 39 of 64 points, but she looked phenomenal. She said to someone sitting near me that she didn't know how many points she had.

I'm not sure "weak" is the word I would use to describe Arizona. I thought Reese, who has impressed as the real deal, played weak - I'm wondering if she has a health issue. A lot of the rest was poor shooting, but my impression of LMU was - from the beginning - that they played a very physical, aggressive and frenetic game - and AZ still came back.

They (LMU) should do well in their conference. Arizona should be better than last year, and may yet surprise. I attended all the games so-far, and, while there are plenty of youthful mistakes (and what's up with Alonso's shooting?), I would not say they look weak.

 

[shizam]

I believe her final three were Cal, Ohio State, and Tennessee. I feel like she went on an official to Cal and committed and never made it to an officialy visit to Ohio State. Her high school teammate also committed to Cal, Mikayla Cowling, so there were a lot of comforts...but I guess it didn't work out at Cal for her.

Heck yah it didn’t work out for Green at Cal. She looked like she was “mellowed” out all the time. Very laid back style and didn’t help Cal win games.

 

[gipke1]

Well, it is never good when one player scores 39 of 64 points, but she looked phenomenal. She said to someone sitting near me that she didn't know how many points she had.

I'm not sure "weak" is the word I would use to describe Arizona. I thought Reese, who has impressed as the real deal, played weak - I'm wondering if she has a health issue. A lot of the rest was poor shooting, but my impression of LMU was - from the beginning - that they played a very physical, aggressive and frenetic game - and AZ still came back.

They (LMU) should do well in their conference. Arizona should be better than last year, and may yet surprise. I attended all the games so-far, and, while there are plenty of youthful mistakes (and what's up with Alonso's shooting?), I would not say they look weak.

Arizona is no joke. Me and my best friend were at the game and I told him before we even started that as far as I was concerned, Arizona (especially without us having our team captain and leader Gabby) scared me WAY more than even UCLA. Seriously. This game is all about the matchup. We held a slight (if not "comfortable"!) 8-10 point lead throughout the first three periods. And then forth period happened.

All in all...got the "W". Sophomore Jasmine Jones is just phenomenal. Been following her since Long Beach Poly. Exciting times