April 27, 2015 by Charlie Eisenhood in Livewire, Video with 4 comments
We have a lot of upcoming reporting from various Regionals around the country, but I wanted to get some quick thoughts on paper that we’ll be discussing later this week on the podcast and beyond.
– So many great stories from this weekend. On the Men’s side, Tulane rises to the occasion and takes down Georgia to claim a bid. Cincinnati cleaned up easily. Maryland took the bid they earned. UNC looks resurgent. No Florida or Carleton?! Notre Dame stunned Michigan and Illinois cruised. Texas A&M won the South Central for the first time ever.
– On the Women’s side, Notre Dame showed that their great regular season was no fluke. Pittsburgh punched a ticket and nearly upset Ohio State. Florida State finally got past Central Florida when it mattered most. The South Central was crazy!
– Reminder: Seeding for College Championships still requires that teams that finished higher at Regionals get seeded above those below them. (i.e. UNC must be a higher seed than UNC Wilmington!) The rule change that softens that rule is only for the upcoming club season.
– I watched the Men’s games at South Central Regionals. Texas A&M passed their first major postseason test with flying colors. They annihilated Colorado, who couldn’t handle the A&M junk zone or the rain. I’m not sure Colorado completed more than one or two hucks in that game. Matt Bennett and Dalton Smith were excellent as you would expect, but the team’s cutter corps was perhaps better, pulling down tons of 50/50s and doing a generally excellent job in the tough conditions. More to come in the recap.
– Regarding Florida and Carleton: both teams looked vulnerable all season. Carleton was outright bad at times this year. It’s not such a shock that they lost at Regionals and missed the tournament. What IS shocking is how the landscape of college ultimate is changing: you can’t just rely on your system or your program to succeed. There are too many good players filtering out to schools everywhere thanks to the explosion of high school talent.
– Regarding Cincinnati: They sure showed up. Pounded everyone except Pitt, who they gave a halfway decent game to. Also, gotta say: those early Tulane wins look quite a bit more impressive now that Tulane made their way to Nationals. Save the preaching: Cincinnati did what almost every team would have done in their spot, and now they reap the rewards.
– Regarding Tulane: Did not see them coming! Their loss to Auburn at Conferences put a damper on their Nationals hopes, I thought, despite the hot finish at Huck Finn. But they rallied from a 7-2 deficit against Georgia to beat them, and then beat them again (a tough thing to do) to earn a bid. Can’t wait to tell you more about this team as they prepare for Nationals.
– Good for Minnesota. What a relief it must be for them. The return of Josh “2Klainz” Klane was a welcome sight for the team, no doubt, and they more than earned a spot. Maybe it really did help them to come into Regionals as an underdog. How far can this team go?? Let’s hope Klane is healthy for Nationals.
– WashU put a real scare into Texas in the SC game-to-go. WashU rattled off three straight breaks in the first half and had a 7-4 halftime lead. But Texas did not relent, and WashU forgot that they had to play in the second half. Texas scored seven straight to win 11-7. That’s right: WashU did not even score in the second half.
– Side note: WashU senior Joseph Marmerstein was a valiant leader and had himself perhaps the most impressive individual half of the tournament against Texas. He gave each teammate a hug after they were eliminated.
– Lots of chalk on the Women’s side! Aside from Texas nabbing a bid in the South Central, every tournament shook out as expected.
– From all reports, UNC looked nasty good this weekend. Ben Snell is actually looking healthy and totally dominated at points during the weekend. They stomped UNC Wilmington in finals, and UNCW couldn’t do anything about it. (Note the role reversal from last season!)
– I went 21/25 on my Regionals picks (got a fair amount in order too). Missed Tulane (M), Minnesota (M), Illinois (M), and Texas (W). Regretting not taking Illinois, who looked pretty impressive at times this year (like their win over UCF at Warm Up), especially since Michigan and Northwestern were not looking so hot this season. Jim Harbaugh swayed me! Don’t know if I really could have picked Minnesota, especially to win. But it goes to show you how important it is to be healthy. Klane changes that team. Tulane didn’t come out of nowhere, but still I can’t blame myself for that one. Texas and Colorado College was a coin flip and I picked the higher seed.
