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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 25, 2013Kelly SheffieldTHE MODERATOR: Coming off a road sweep last weekend, the Badgers volleyball team wraps up its regular season this week. UW plays at Minnesota on Wednesday, then faces Northwestern in Evanston on Saturday. Badgers are currently tied for fourth place in the Big Ten. Head Coach Kelly Sheffield is here. We'll have opening comments and take questions. COACH SHEFFIELD: Last week going into this stretch of playing the two Michigans, both top 20 teams going on the road, we had a discussion with the team just saying most people would probably say we're likely to go 0‑2, possibly 1‑1. I said‑‑ this is the first time I've said this in my career, but let's‑‑ let's look at both games and let's make this the stretch of 2‑0 weekend. After we won on Friday, that was the first thing that was out of everybody's mouth in the locker room: Let's go for two. We started out at Michigan State. We talked to them down in the locker room. Obviously, this is a team that we beat early in the year, a really talented team. They're certainly going to be coming after us. Let's take the best punch after the best punch after the best punch and keep trying to take the game back. Obviously, the first part of it seemed to be pretty prophetic, and I'm not sure that's something I'm really typically good at. Falling down behind 9‑1 in Game 1, we certainly had our backs against the wall. We kept chipping away. We got ourselves back in that game. Couldn't quite win Game 1. But the last three games, thought we were doing some really good things. I thought we played really well. And then back that up against a real quality Michigan team was really good. That was a battle. It reminded me a lot of our second Purdue match. I mean, it was just two teams playing at a really high level defensively. Just two teams making play after play after play. So it was a really good weekend. I thought we played at a really high level, and we're really excited about this homestretch. We've got two more games this week to close out the season, Wednesday night at Minnesota and then Saturday at Northwestern. Q. I don't know if you guys flew or rode a bus to Michigan or whatever, but was that the best ride home you guys have had all year? COACH SHEFFIELD: Yeah, it was great. The team was fired up, and they should be. We flew back. It was great, everybody on the same plane together. Little bit of an issue when we got back here, you know, the bus broke down right before‑‑ right when we landed, but about that time, the women's hockey team had just arrived, so both teams jumped on a bus together. I'm sure they were partying all the way back. Us old folks had our own vehicles, so we were kind of from the airport back our own way. But they were pretty excited. Q. Kelly, is Ellen Chapman First Team All‑Conference? COACH SHEFFIELD: Probably not right now. She's playing at that level right now. You know, it's‑‑ Ellen has been‑‑ it's been a fascinating ride with her so far this season. I'm really kind of looking for‑‑ I'm glad we got her for another year. I'm glad our season isn't over right now. Earlier in the year, I thought this was a kid that had maybe two shots. You know, she could hit the cross‑court and she could tip, and that was about it. So early on in the year, we just kept talking about expanding your game, expanding your range, adding a cut shot that you can work in in big moments and being able to hit high over the block in the seams in the cross‑court corner, and be able to hit your line shot and develop a tool shot. So the first part of the year was adding a lot more tools to the tool belt. And then it became, you know, she's playing it safe in big moments. That was one of the things we talked about after the Purdue match, is I thought we got into Game 5, and she's hitting everything right to their best player because it's the safest shot. When we talked about that, she, you know, kind of‑‑ and it's been reported on that she was kind of ‑‑ she didn't want to make errors in big moments. Last weekend we got into a couple of games where we ended games on her hitting errors. She was hitting the right shot, just not executing it. How are you going to get upset about it?  You get excited about a ball that's inbounds by two inches, but you're going to get upset by a ball that's out by two inches? No, I don't think so. I remember after one of the matches, you know, she's really kind of frustrated, feeling like she let her team down, and I looked at everybody in the room, and I said, you know, this is what we're seeing out of Ellen. Has anybody got a problem with that? We want you going after those big shots in big moments and it's going to come. This week I felt like‑‑ and I turned to our MASH unit on the sidelines, about 7‑4, 7‑5 in Game 5 at Michigan, and I said the kid's growing up in front of our eyes. I mean, she just had this look about her down the stretch that was saying, all right, here we go. I think she had five kills in Game 5, and every one of them was a different shot. Every‑‑ line shot, cut shot, roll shot, deep corner. We got a couple points out of her serve, an over pass out of her serve, and a nice stuff block. The kid, she's just growing, and it's really fun as a coach to watch. Q. Kelly, obviously, the program has already accomplished a lot this year, 11 Big Ten wins, most since 2007. How do you gauge their ability to finish it off this weekend with the two matches and not jump ahead to the Selection Show and wondering what's next? COACH SHEFFIELD: You know, it's‑‑ I don't sense that there's‑‑ I think they're excited. As a coach, the players tell you where they're at. If they're coming ready to work every day, if they're coming into the film sessions and they're asking the right questions and they're paying attention and you're seeing them implement the game plan, probably earlier in my career, I'd probably panic: Uh‑oh, people are feeling good about themselves. We can't have that. As I've gotten‑‑ you know, I've done this a little bit longer, you tend to trust your team a little bit more. You tend to listen to them a little bit more. You want your team confident. You want them believing that they can do some things. But if they're not paying attention, if they're not being disciplined and diligent with things, that's when you get on them. You don't get on them and create this unnecessary tension if they're in a good place. Right now I get the sense that our team‑‑ they're pushing, they're driving, they're learning, they're trying like crazy to get healthy. But I really like where our team is right now. I'd be shocked if they showed up later on and just fat and happy. I just haven't seen it. Q. Diane's got a whole bunch of stuff on here, stuff you guys haven't done in a long time, three matches in a row for the first time in six years, back‑to‑back conference wins on the road in a weekend for the first time in five years, getting votes in the Coaches Poll for the first time in six years every week of the season. When you hear all these milestones that the program hasn't done in a while, what comes to mind? COACH SHEFFIELD: That Diane is the best in the business. I don't know, we've got talent. I've been really, really fortunate that I walked into a great situation. This isn't about me, it's about the kids. It's about the previous coaching staff. Pete Waite did a great, great job of bringing in tremendously talented players that I've been fortunate to be able to work with. We've got a great coaching staff that did a heck of a job. We don't win the match at Michigan without the input that my assistants were giving. It's‑‑ you know, it's good. We're capable of doing that here. We've got some kids that are very talented that are young. We've only got one senior on this roster who does a great job of leading this program, and I think the future is obviously bright. Badger fans should be really, really excited about the future, but they should also be really excited about what we're capable of doing this year. All those things are fun. I don't think you get too hyped about it right now. When Diane mentions those things, it's like, well, that's kind of cool, and then you move on to trying to beat the No.5 team in the country or whatever. It's good, but, you know, hopefully there's more of those things to continue to come. Q. Kelly, in your opinion, what needs to happen to you guys to be able to host the first couple rounds of the tournament in a couple of weeks? COACH SHEFFIELD: I think we put ourselves in a position to host. I mean, it's‑‑ and that's what you're wanting to do. In this conference, there could be five teams that are hosting. That's almost a third of the league, if it that were to happen, which is crazy. I don't know, I think there's a misperception that people‑‑ that the NCAA Committee only looks at the RPI, and I don't believe that's the case. I think that's a tool, but I think they really look at the team sheet. How many top 25 wins do you have and how many top 50 wins do you have? When you're talking about numbers like that, like we've beaten some teams that are between 45 and 55. I think like five teams, right around there. If it all of those teams, all five of those teams, happen to go between 45 and 50, we have a lot of top 50 wins. But if all those in this last week move just a couple slots and they go between 51 and 55, all of a sudden our team sheet doesn't look nearly as good. So there's so many things that kind of play into that that are kind of out of our hands. So I know we put ourselves in a position. I know we'll be discussed. I believe that we should. I think we've had the season, you know, in this conference to be able to earn that right to play in front of our home fans. We'd certainly like to. But we're probably one of eight teams that are going to get really, really dissected for those last few spots. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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