Some surprises in the men's division.
October 3, 2019 by Steve Sullivan in News with 0 comments
The official seeding and associated pools for the 2019 USA Ultimate National Championships are now here! You can find the game schedules on the official tournament site or Score Reporter.
Women’s Division
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C | POOL D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fury (1) | Molly Brown (2) | Riot (3) | 6ixers (4) |
| Traffic (8) | Phoenix (7) | Scandal (6) | Brute Squad (5) |
| Ozone (12) | Siege (11) | Nightlock (10) | Schwa (9) |
| Nemesis (13) | Wildfire (14) | Iris (15) | Pop (16) |
- Both Canadian squads — 6ixers and Traffic — were rewarded for their upset victories at Regionals. Toronto slides ahead of Brute Squad and Traffic move up two places to slot in front of Portland Schwa. Otherwise, the seedings perfectly mirrored the rankings.
- Ultiworld’s seeding predictions were spot on in the women’s division.
Men’s Division
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C | POOL D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sockeye (1) | PoNY (2) | Truck Stop (3) | Ring of Fire (4) |
| DiG (8) | Sub Zero (7) | Machine (6) | Revolver (5) |
| Condors (12) | Temper (11) | GOAT (10) | Doublewide (9) |
| Furious George (13) | Johnny Bravo (14) | Chain Lightning (15) | Rhino Slam! (16) |
- Aside from Seattle at #1, the top line of the Men’s pools comes as a bit of a surprise. Like Sockeye last year, PoNY was given the #2 seed despite losing their regional final. Making that even more shocking is that the reigning champs finished 50 points back of #2 Truck Stop according to the algorithm, though they do own two head-to-head wins over DC. Bumping PoNY to #2 pushes Truck down to #3 and Ring down to #4 — despite owning a win over PoNY and finishing just two points behind New York in the rankings. Quite the turnaround from USAU’s traditional reliance on the algorithm.
- Aside from the top line, Ultiworld’s seeding predictions nearly perfectly matched the official seeding. The only difference from 5-16 was Doublewide hopping ahead of GOAT thanks to a win over Toronto from July, which again signals that USAU gave more credence to head-to-head results this season, even in instances where the teams are dozens of rankings points apart in the eyes of the algorithm.
Mixed Division
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C | POOL D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drag'n Thrust (1) | Mixtape (2) | AMP (3) | Wild Card (4) |
| BFG (8) | Space Heater (7) | Mischief (6) | Slow White (5) |
| Public Enemy (12) | Toro (11) | Snake Country (10) | shame. (9) |
| Cocktails (13) | Polar Bears (14) | MOONDOG (15) | Superlame (16) |
- In the craziest of all divisions, Ultiworld’s seeding predictions perfectly matched the official seeding.
- Contrary to the seeming weight given to head-to-head matchups in the men’s division, in mixed only one was taken into account, bumping Cocktails ahead of Polar Bears at #13 and #14. The regular season head-to-head results between shame., BFG, and Space Heater did not impact seedings, despite that trio being bunched closer together in the algorithm than some swaps that were made in the men’s division.
