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he first time that Wisconsin volleyball coach
Kelly Sheffield addressed his players, he
didn't shy away from talking about the NCAA
tournament.
He just had to dust off the topic, since there was
no frame of reference for anyone in the room, save
for Taylor Morey, a Notre Dame transfer.
Although no one with UW ties has played in the
tournament since 2007, Sheffield wasn't speaking
to the past; he was talking up the future and not
pulling punches.
"We did bring it up from day one ― dream big ―
that's always a goal of ours," he said. "And it was not
to just get into the tournament but to advance in the
tournament."
He didn't stop there.
//
VARSITY December 5, 2013
"We've got NCAA-caliber talent on this team," he
stressed to his players. "Not only that, we're not going to pigeonhole ourselves by saying how far we
can go.
"We've got talent here ― dream as big as you can."
When he looked around the room, what did he
see, what did he feel? Were there blank looks? Were
there nods of approval? Was there acceptance or rejection?
"The younger kids, they've all known winning,"
he said. "The freshmen coming in were sitting there
thinking, 'Of course."'
Of course this is how it works, they were thinking, you earn the right to win. You earn the right to
play in the NCAA tournament ― ideas that would
become Sheffield staples.
