Club Power Rankings [8/26/22]

Plus, a check-in on the seasons so far of all 25 ranked Women's teams.

August 26, 2022 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments

Each week, we’ll post an updated edition of our Power Rankings here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and help us share each week’s rankings via social media. The most up-to-date version can always be found on our permanent rankings page.

Men’s Discussion

• As it so often does, the Elite Select Challenge this past weekend remade the middle portion of the Men’s Power Rankings. Shock tournament champion Cincinnati Omen make a Power Rankings debut all the way up at #12 thanks to bracket wins over Austin Doublewide and Toronto GOAT in Indianapolis. As fellow finalists, the Canadians also shoot up the board, improving their standing by nine positions up to #14. The only team to beat Cincinnati on the weekend, Virginia Vault, fell to the aforementioned Doublewide and GOAT, slotting in directly behind that pair, though still hanging strong to a strength bid in the algorithm’s eyes.
• It wasn’t quite as nice a weekend for the West Coast Canadians, as Vancouver Furious George experienced the biggest drop of the week, sliding down nine spots to #16 after dropping a game to Northwest rivals Seattle Emerald City at the Bay Area Tournament. The Washingtonians snuck ahead of Pittsburgh Temper and Montreal Mephisto thanks to their split with Vancouver.
• Reentering the back end of the Top 25 this week are Raleigh Durham United, who split a pair of games with Atlanta Chain Lightning at a Round Robin event in Raleigh. Former #24 Ottawa Phoenix and #25 Eugene Dark Star fall out to make space.

Mixed Discussion

• The biggest news of the weekend was Seattle BFG reclaiming intracity bragging rights from Mixtape. The local rivals met in the final of Fruitbowl for the right to be #1 this week and it was the reigning national champs who came out on top in this instance, rebounding a bit from a disappointing WUCC. The San Francisco Polar Bears finished in bronze medal position for the third straight tournament this season and hold steady at #7.
• Elite Select Challenge finalists Nashville ‘Shine and Kansas City United each move up three places this week, pushing ahead of a trio of Northeast teams.
• The biggest fall this week is from Montana MOONDOG, who lost three games to lower or unranked opposition at Fruitbowl, finishing tied for 7th at the in-region event and slipping down to #19 in our list. That finish leaves the Northwest in a precarious bid situation heading into the final weeks of the season, as Montana are only just hanging onto a third at the back end of the bid picture while the region boasts three of the top four teams in the Power Rankings.
• A quick piece of Power Rankings history: this is the first week in the nine years we’ve hosted these rankings that a Boston Mixed team won’t be in the top 10. To this point, more than 20% of iterations of the Top 25 have included at least three Beantown teams in the top 10. It’s been a down year for one of the division’s main hubs.

Women’s Discussion

• It’s a little hard to know what to make of a surprising result in a showcase game between Raleigh Phoenix and Washington DC Scandal. By all accounts, both teams had a majority of their main contributors and were trying to win the single-game showcase, with DC pulling out a two-point victory. As a result, Raleigh slides down a spot to #3 and Scandal moves up one to #7.
• What to make of Florida Tabby Rosa‘s season so far? A loss to regional rival Ozone in early July portended a bit of a dip, which was then confirmed with a disappointing 35th place finish at WUCC later that month. It was enough to fall out of our Power Rankings entirely. Now, a run to the final of ESC including wins over Pop and Parcha again upended expectations in the other direction. The Floridians now sit at #17, with a chance to factor into the bid picture.
• Two Canadian WUCC representatives, Ottawa Stella and Halifax Salty, that had been planning to participate in the USAU Series confirmed this week they they no longer would be involved, so they fall out of consideration here as well. They are replaced at the back end of the Top 25 by frequent fringe program Houston Crush City and a debutant from the Northeast, Northampton Starling.

Subscribers can read below for writeups on each team in our Women’s Top 25!

While the ultimate community’s attention has largely been focused elsewhere in a summer full of incredible international competition, the domestic 2022 USAU Club Season is somehow already nearly three months in. With one leg of the Triple Crown Tour behind us and another on the imminent horizon, we’re going to take a closer look at how our Top 25 teams have performed so far this season — and what that could mean looking ahead.

We’ve already dug in on the Men’s and Mixed divisions. Time for a deep dive on where things stand in Women’s.