2022 HS season

I recognize that eye test alone isn’t the best argument, but if you look at Cole Young, 6’10 middle for Liberty last year, first team all state, you didn’t even have to watch the guy play to know he is a pretty special talent. All you had to do was watch him pound 8 foot line consistently in warmups and it became clear he deserves it. Not that he played poorly, but nothing Patterson did all of the state tournament gave me the impression he was first team all state caliber. I had heard his shoulder was hurting, so I’m not sure how much he was limited by that. I think the season stats matter too. 294 kills with 0.404 efficiency, 100 blocks, and 87 aces. I mean cmon. 294 kills isn’t far off from Maune, and Bo’s a middle.
I think those numbers are a little deceiving. While I think O'Leary is a great middle, he didn't play the schedule Moeller played to get those stats. I also believe Patterson was used as a decoy to help their outsides score more easily, getting less sets than Bo.
 
I recognize that eye test alone isn’t the best argument, but if you look at Cole Young, 6’10 middle for Liberty last year, first team all state, you didn’t even have to watch the guy play to know he is a pretty special talent. All you had to do was watch him pound 8 foot line consistently in warmups and it became clear he deserves it. Not that he played poorly, but nothing Patterson did all of the state tournament gave me the impression he was first team all state caliber. I had heard his shoulder was hurting, so I’m not sure how much he was limited by that. I think the season stats matter too. 294 kills with 0.404 efficiency, 100 blocks, and 87 aces. I mean cmon. 294 kills isn’t far off from Maune, and Bo’s a middle.
It's not the fact that you're using the eye test, but you're literally talking about how short someone can hit a ball. That's not the argument you think it is when it comes to evaluating how good a player is or isn't or comparing two players lol
 
I recognize that eye test alone isn’t the best argument, but if you look at Cole Young, 6’10 middle for Liberty last year, first team all state, you didn’t even have to watch the guy play to know he is a pretty special talent. All you had to do was watch him pound 8 foot line consistently in warmups and it became clear he deserves it. Not that he played poorly, but nothing Patterson did all of the state tournament gave me the impression he was first team all state caliber. I had heard his shoulder was hurting, so I’m not sure how much he was limited by that. I think the season stats matter too. 294 kills with 0.404 efficiency, 100 blocks, and 87 aces. I mean cmon. 294 kills isn’t far off from Maune, and Bo’s a middle.
Similar to MyNameIsDoug's point, what is the argument here? It is such an ignorant take to state that bc someone hits 8 foot line in warmups, that they are all of a sudden an all-star. If you watched any of the finals and had a good understanding of volleyball, you would know that the box score only tells half the story. The amount of times that Patterson held the blockers by simply making a run is a great example of how great a player he is. He was the reason Renneker, Hagerty and Geselbraucht had solo blocks. Hell, there were times that the pin hitters had NO block. A great middle holds the block and gives his teammates an advantage. This is not in any box score.

If you want to argue season stats, go look them up http://gcls.gclsports.com/vlPlayerGameLog.aspx?player=645890 and this is without at least 7 matches worth of stats. This is against the top teams in the state. Moeller played 16 matches against top ten DI teams. TW played 2 matches against top ten teams.. Both OL and lost them both.

NO ONE is discounting the seasons that Bo has had. He is a great player, but when you start talking about irrelevant things like warmups and 10 foot line hits, you lose the audience. Patterson is a stud.. deserving of 1st team all-state for sure.

Also... Maune had 391 kills. So, a bit off, yes lol
 
I’ve backed up Bo in the middle for the past couple seasons and I don’t think the guy has ever had an off game, at least in terms of attacking and blocking. He has 480 kills and 201 blocks in a 2 year varsity career… as a middle. On top of that, very dominant server with 140 career aces. Even just eye test. I didn’t see Patterson hit closer than 13-14 ft that weekend, Bo hits 10 ft very regularly. And I don’t think team finishes in the playoffs really holds much significance. I don’t think anyone’s arguing Renneker, though a great player, over Maune based on playoff finishes.
As someone who's played both against Bo and with Patterson, it's not much of an argument. Bo's certainly a great player, very athletic and can hit well around the block but Patterson is still a tier above. Just on the weekend, Will was playing with a torn labrum and because of that had to wear a clunky shoulder brace that limited shoulder movement quite a bit. On top of that, he was hitting against a well-formed double block (at least against Elder) and was still finding ways to score even if it wasn't banging 10 ft line which really enabled both Hagerty and Renneker to both have phenomenal games.
 
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