Will Huck Finn cause its usual late season changes to the rankings?
March 28, 2024 by Keith Raynor in Preview with 0 comments
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The Midwest’s finale is a connective piece for teams from across both D-I and D-III, with seven different regions sending teams to Illinois. The tournament also has a history of causing late shifts in the bid picture, making it one to keep an eye on. Many of these teams, however, are looking to sharpen themselves for postseasons that will demand some heroics if they want to make it deep at their respective Regionals.
Tournament Profile
- Date: March 30-31
- Location: O’Fallon, IL
- Weather: High temperatures in the 70s with 5-15 mph wind
- Top 25 teams: 1 D-I, 3 D-III
- Schedules & Results
- Event Page
Streaming Schedule
All Ultiworld Standard and All-Access subscribers will have access to watch the live broadcasts from this year’s Huck Finn, where we will have one game in each broadcasting round.
The broadcast schedule can be found below:
All times are CT.
Saturday, March 30
9:00 AM: Colorado College vs. Northwestern [M]
10:30 AM: Washington University vs. Alabama [M]
12:00 PM: St. Olaf vs. Purdue [M]
3:00 PM: Prequarter 1B vs. 2E [M]
Sunday, March 31
9:00 AM: Quarterfinal TBD [M]
10:30 AM: Quarterfinal TBD [M]
12:00 PM: Semifinal TBD [M]
1:30 PM: Final TBD [M]
Wash U-ndefeated?
#23 Washington University Contra are the lone team in the D-I top 25 headed to Huck Finn, placing the target firmly on their back as the heavy favorite. They are in a five-team power pool with Virginia, Alabama, St. Olaf, and Purdue, the other top five seeds coming into the weekend. That means easy wins might be tough to come by. But after a run to the final round of the Stanford Invite, WashU has to have their eyes set on potentially reaching Nationals and dominating much of the competition at this event along the way.
Raising the Bid Stakes
Most of the teams attending Huck Finn are likely more concerned with how many bids their conferences will earn to Regionals than with national strength bids, but there are a few exceptions.
Washington University was at 27th in USA Ultimate’s most recent rankings, putting them within 100 ranking points of the bid cutoff. That means every margin will matter for them, even with their tough schedule. Most of the rest of the field’s top challengers are between 50th and 100th, and a few hundred ranking points behind WashU, so there’s a lot of risk in front of Contra. But while they might not have a ton of upside, many of the teams ranked around them are playing this weekend, and they could stumble back into the bid range with some corner-case Easterns outcomes.
More pertinent are the D-III strength bids, with each of #2 St. Olaf, #11 Colorado College, and #17 Michigan Tech facing varying stakes. Michigan Tech hopes to earn a third bid for the North Central, and with only seven games on their ledger, there’s a lot of volatility in their rating. Colorado College looks a lot more safe in the middle of the strength bid pack, but with so few games in D-III, things can change quickly. Meanwhile, St. Olaf is basically a lock to earn a strength bid, and instead has a chance to earn a spot atop a pool at Nationals with a successful showing.
