Presidents’ Day Invite 2025: Sunday Stock Watch (Men’s Div.)

Sunday's power pools gave fans plenty to chew on, as several undefeated teams noted red in their ledger as score lines got tighter. After four more rounds of play, we've got the insider's guide on who's stock is surging, who you should hold on, and some sneaky picks to buy on before they hit the mainstream.

February 17, 2025 by Emmet Holton in Recap

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All aboard for the second stop on the Southwest Triple Crown Tour. With a slightly retooled format, the long holiday weekend promises fireworks aplenty as Nationals-level programs (including several potential title contenders) from both divisions clash in sunny SoCal. The limited data of an early season tournament means the market is highly volatile. With two days of games in the books, here’s my attempt at giving you the inside track on the trends around the men’s division.

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The Circle of Suck

Where on Saturday the pool winners failed to convincingly separate themselves from the pack, on Sunday any semblance of a pecking order was dashed against the rocky shores of power pools and a chaotic quarterfinal round. Though not a perfect circle, Sunday saw Saturday pool winners UC Santa Cruz Slugs and #3 Colorado Mamabird each take multipoint losses to their respective reshuffled two seeds, #8 Washington Sundodgers and #17 Cal Ursa Major, and an as yet undefeated #5 Cal Poly SLO SLOCORE team fall in quarters as the bracket no.3 seed.

Santa Cruz against Washington in the last round of power pools was a slugfest (no pun intended), with several points seeing upwards of 10 turnovers. The Sundodgers eventually won the war of attrition, as their balanced roster was able to outlast a more top-heavy Slugs team. Winning 11-7 and securing top placement in their pool, Washington theoretically earned themselves a favorable quarterfinal.

Colorado vs Cal may have been the game of the round, as the two teams traded monstrous examples of playmaking. Carter Lankford and Dexter Clyburn each had moments where it seemed like the Colorado players couldn’t do much more than spectate, as the two of them made play after play in the open field, on defense and offense. Colorado, for their part, looked much like the team we saw on Saturday. Their offense was mostly crisp (one of their O-points devolved into a 10+ turn brawl), but their D-line simply couldn’t find traction, both when hunting a turn and once gaining possession. Once they had a few breaks in hand, Ursa Major were able to trade out, winning 13-10 in the end.

After Cal’s upsetting of Mamabird, SLOCORE found themselves opposite their inter-region rivals far earlier than any betting market would have predicted. The first turn of their quarterfinal match would be a microcosm of the few turns that would come in an otherwise picturesque offensive showcase, as an unforced miscommunication between Benton Shevlin and Tucker Kalmus gave Cal Poly a short field and the game’s first break. Colorado’s two first half breaks came on similarly unforced short field errors. The aforementioned reset error, a missed under, and a drop were the only three mid-point changes of possession in the first half. In the second half, the story was the same. Cal Poly regained a break on another miscommunication between Shevlin and Kalmus, and their final break opportunity came on a reset error from Nanda Min-Fink to Tobias Brooks. From start to finish of the game, not a single block was had by either team, nor were many particularly close to being gotten, as Mamabird held out for the universe point win, 13-12.

With a Mamabird team with growing confidence now set to face the final undefeated team, #1 Oregon Ego, in semis, there is a very real chance we see zero teams emerge undefeated from the weekend.

Northeastern as a Nationals Team

Though they are 0-2 against Ego on the weekend (losing by a total of four points), #21 Northeastern Huskies fought their way into semifinals, taking down an impressive looking Washington team to do it. The three headed downfield monster of Peter Boerth, Jackson McGuinness, and Kalten Toone have been making defenses look pedestrian all weekend, and their disciplined defensive unit lead by Angela Zhu’s coaching has been able to hang breaks on everyone they’ve been asked to (most notably a sizeable handful on Oregon). This weekend’s results so far are more than a flash in the pan, and a very winnable semifinal against OSU could lead to some eye opening results and serious bid implications for New England.

The Stars (Known and Lesser Known)

Antone Orme, Tobias Brooks, and Kyle Lew all look like First Team All-Americans. Maybe that’s not the boldest take, but after their collective quarterfinal performances, it feels like the only appropriate one. Add in Mica Glass picking up right where he left off a season ago, Peter Boerth lifting up an unheralded Huskies team, and Dexter Clyburn’s heroic performance against Colorado, and you have the household names all meeting or exceeding the lofty expectations placed upon them.

But those aren’t the only ones making waves in San Diego. Some of the most impressive play of the day came from players who are either new to the college game, or have spent years prior to this in smaller roles and are only just breaking into stardom. Cal’s Carter Lankford, Washington’s Ben Bolan, Colorado’s Ryan Shigley, Oregon’s Ben Horrisberger and Raekwon Adkins, Oregon State’s Ben Thoennes, and Cal Poly’s Max Gade each have had moments where they look like their team’s best player, and all will likely be making key plays in big moments throughout the rest of the season.

Red Zone Hammers

But only if you play on Mamabird and your name is Tobias Brooks.

 

Hold

The Quarterfinals Losers

After reshuffled pool play decided quarterfinal seeding, I would have been entirely unsurprised to hear the four semifinalists were any of the eight possible teams. Each and every one showed the ability to play winning ultimate against strong competition, just as each and every one showed a propensity to keep games closer than they likely should have been.

• Cal look like a team that could make a Nationals bracket run if they are able to repeat their performance against Colorado. Outside their stars they boast a fleet of strong college players in names like Bernie Wang, Jack Dinsmore, Robbie McCabe, and Mitchell Gibson.
• Washington will no doubt improve as the season progresses. Their youth might make them slightly higher variance, but talent and competitive fire will bring this team plenty of wins.
• UC Santa Cruz have thoroughly exorcised whatever demons hung over them a month ago in Santa Barbara. Though their 13-9 quarter final loss to Oregon stings, this weekend proved the Slugs are a team to be reckoned with once again, and a berth to Nationals is well within reach.
• Cal Poly may end up being one of the three best teams at this tournament. Though there are certainly talks to be had about the Colorado game, their offense remains one of the most potent in the country, and will keep them competitive in every game they play this season. The return to health of Keaton Orser will also be a boon to their postseason ambitions.

The Weather

Here’s hoping! Saturday and Sunday gave us near perfect playing conditions, with sunny skies, mid 70s temperatures, and minimal wind allowing for high-level execution across the complex. With so many teams sporting excellent offenses, this made for tight games up and down the schedule, as even teams with less potent defenses were able to hang in games till the bitter end by simply not getting broken.

D-Line Play

My day one article was particularly critical of the defensive (and particularly the D-line offensive) showing from the presumptive top teams at the tournament. Sunday’s games didn’t dispel those criticisms entirely (see the SLOCORE v Mamabird game film in which in you will not find a single forced turnover), but as teams have crossed over more readily in response to the rising stakes, the execution both defensively and once the break chance is in play does appear to be improving.

Sell

Victoria Vikes and Utah Zion Curtain

Though they hung tough in a number of games through day one and the first round of day two, #25 Victoria Vikes appeared to completely run out of the gas, closing out the day with a 12-6 loss to a previously winless Colorado State Hibida side. Utah Zion Curtain, who got the better of Victoria in Saturday’s crossover round, have simply failed to live up to their talent one too many times for me to stump for them. At a certain point, Zion Curtain need to build a resume that doesn’t hinge on the occasional close loss to a good team, buried in a sea of middling results against the rest of their competition.

I will concede this is a stock to watch, as health seems to be a significant factor for UVic. If they can get their full complement of players on the field come postseason, they might look like a wholly different team. Likewise, Utah do nothing if not show flashes of excellence amidst a morass of confusing errors and self-impeding moments. But as things sit, it’s hard not to come away from the weekend thus far feeling anything but disappointment at their combined results.

The Depth

The top teams at this tournament do not boast the roster strength they did a year ago. Among the quarterfinalists, each team feels like it has a strong set of between four and nine players followed by a precipitous drop into the remainder of the roster. One diagnosis could be that this is the first year of a post sixth-year-effect hangover. While some notable sixth year stars are still lingering around the division, most teams seem to have lost a significant portion of the top and middle of their rotation, while the ballooning upperclassman population of the division consolidated experience and development at the high end of the age range. This has left the underclassmen less experienced at taking the reins than prior to the sixth year era.

Growing Pains

Call this a cop out rephrasing of a “buy” blurb all you like, rookies are coming in more polished and ready to make an impact than ever. No longer does the speed of the college game chew up and spit out the highly touted incoming freshman who thinks he’s all that. When kids enter the college ranks with buzz, they are, more than likely, all that. Ben Bolan has been the centerpiece of the Washington offense all weekend, marshalling the disc with aplomb. Cole Mires has been one of the most important parts of the UC Santa Cruz offense in just his second college tournament and has a great ability to let the game come to him. Elliot Hawkins, though taking on a less featured role for Mamabird, already plays with the ease of a vet. And it feels like half of Oregon State’s top seven might be rookies, as Sam Anderson, CJ Kaperick, and Akira Koenigsberg are already taking on major roles on both offense and defense.