Cohen, Polk, UVA and UCA...

[BogeyGolfer.sixpack]

1. I'm not a Polk hater but it is is a lot more difficult to make it to CWS under the current regional system that it was under most of the Polk era. What a great coaching job by Cohen this year. With our schedule and to be sent to UVA to a Super without a true ace and win convincingly, great job by Cohen and staff.

2. I don't know whether UVA underestimated us or what but they looked completely shell shocked. Even the demeanor of the coach in the interview last night and the players in the dugout. I think we just wanted it more than they did.

3. This leads me to my third talking point, is UCA better than UVA? Me and a buddy had this conversation last night...You be the judge....

 

[basedawg]

UVA is better w/o a doubt. The thing that impressed me the most about winning this super, was winning on the road in two!

I agree it's tougher today to advance, teams are much more balanced than years ago and more competitive!

 

[CadaverDawg]

1. I'm not a Polk hater but it is is a lot more difficult to make it to CWS under the current regional system that it was under most of the Polk era. What a great coaching job by Cohen this year. With our schedule and to be sent to UVA to a Super without a true ace and win convincingly, great job by Cohen and staff.

2. I don't know whether UVA underestimated us or what but they looked completely shell shocked. Even the demeanor of the coach in the interview last night and the players in the dugout. I think we just wanted it more than they did.

3. This leads me to my third talking point, is UCA better than UVA? Me and a buddy had this conversation last night...You be the judge....

Their style of play is a terrible matchup for us. They definitely aren't better than UVA, but we match up much better with UVA than UCA. In fact, that is what makes me excited about a potential run in Omaha, we match up with traditional style teams pretty well, and there isn't many, if any, teams in the CWS with great speed style games....at least not that I saw. Louisville may be that type of team but I haven't seen them play much.

Much like a less powerful Vandy, UCA's constant pressure with their speed made it hell on our team with all of our "contact" pitchers in my opinion.

 

[Todd4State]

Good points

1. Agree on Polk. I actually don't like shitting on him, but the fact of the matter is he brought this all on himself. If he actually shows some class and remorse about what he did, I think he would be revered much like Boo Ferris is at Delta State. And when I say show remorse, I don't want him to come out with some public apology or put him in the stocks at Starkville so we can throw beer at him. Just apologize to Cohen and Stricklin in private and then let Cohen take it from there by inviting him to Dugout Club functions and things like that.

2. Virginia is a young team, and we have a lot of veterans. Plus, the truth is yet again, the SEC is just a stronger conference than the ACC. We may be actually down a little bit just because it's an expansion year and it's going to take a few years and maybe a coaching change for Mizzou to adjust. But there are no programs in the SEC that are weak or do not have the potential to be good. In the ACC, they have some Boston College's, Duke's, Wake Forest's, and maybe even Maryland- that just are not that good.

3. No, I don't think UCA is better. UCA is not a very good hitting team, but they are fast and they can cause a team to make mistakes. Their pitching is good too. But if you throw a power arm against UCA, they are dead. That's why we beat them in the final game- Girodo is not a power arm guy, but he definitely had a swing and miss slider going and that's good enough. We struggled against them because most of our pitchers want hitters to put the ball into play, and that plays right into what UCA wants to do.

 

[dogshake]

Polk-no comment. Cohen did do a great job, he seems more relaxed. I also give a lot of credit to Butch Thompson. Solid pitching coach. The bullpen is always prepared(though Holder did give me a scare today).

We are a better team than UVA or better prepared at least. It showed.

UCA better than UVA? No idea, eyeballs tell me UVA is better.

 

[Wicked Pissah]

UVAs pitching was awful. They looked like a mid tier sec team at best. Maybe they had an off weekend but their hitting wasnt great and pitching reminded me of mid week starters

 

[engie]

UVAs pitching was awful. They looked like a mid tier sec team at best. Maybe they had an off weekend but their hitting wasnt great and pitching reminded me of mid week starters

Was a top 20 pitching staff in the country this year. We just got hot at the right time.

That UVA team was almost all freshmen and sophs. They crumbled under the bright lights a little bit -- but I expect them to be tremendous in the future...

Don't look now -- but TD Ameritrade is a huge, dead park that plays like Hoover and/or Dudy Noble. That plays into our favor bigtime...

 

[KurtRambis4]

Your point

on youthfulness is dead on. I think people don't understand the importance of experience and upperclassmen.

 

[esplanade91]

I've already been pretty vocal about how I feel about the late, great Ron Polk. I'll leave it to my previous comments.

We've been so close the last couple of seasons. I'm so proud of our guys turning the corner this year. This current system makes it a lot harder to get to the big dance... and omeone was right... the competition is 100x's better than it used to be... but we also don't have LT doing us any favors anymore either. We had the hardest Regional this year and went to a team we had no business beating on paper in a Super and took it in 2 in blowout fashion.

UCA on their best day is just as good as UVA, but UCA can also be very bad. I never want to play them again. They bring their "A" game against up. Definitely one of those teams that steps up to the competition.

 

[Will James]

Don't look now -- but TD Ameritrade is a huge, dead park that plays like Hoover and/or Dudy Noble. That plays into our favor bigtime...

Definitely makes me a lot more comfortable with Pollo on the bump.