The biggest tournament of the season is upon us, and there is so much to be decided. The College landscape has been blessed (or riddled, depending on your perspective) with one thing this season, parity. That is, if you don’t include the defending National Champions and their undefeated record and three tournament titles. They are also the two-time defending champion at this tournament and prohibitive favorite to make it three in a row.
The main challengers to Wisconsin were identified as Florida and Carleton. Florida lost to Arizona, who lost to British Columbia, who lost to UC-Santa Barbara, who lost to Texas, who lost to Oregon, who beat Carleton. Carleton lost to UNC-Wilmington, who lost to Stanford, who lost to UC-San Diego, who lost to Pittsburgh, who lost to Claremont, who lost to Arizona, who, as mentioned many teams ago, beat Florida.
The fun only starts there. In the Northwest, Oregon and Stanford are threatened to be replaced in Boulder by British Columbia and Las Positas. In the Southwest, Colorado and UCSB could be replaced by Arizona and Claremont. Nearly everything you think you know about College Ultimate could be thrown out the window to this point in the season. There were many questions as the National Collegiate Ultimate Series headed to Palo Alto, and there are few answers as the NCUS shifts to Austin. Instead of creating more, we’ll try to uncover some of the deeper storylines as the nation anticipates all the juicy match-ups the tournament is bound to create.
Three matchups we are hoping to see:
With apologies to Oregon/Stanford or Illinois/Michigan or Florida/North Carolina or any other Regional match-up that has yet to take place, the potential match-up with the most significance would be Arizona vs. Colorado. Arizona’s appearance in the Final in Vegas coupled with Colorado’s exit in the Round of 16 has them currently in line for the top seed in San Diego. It would be unfamiliar for anyone in the Region to be looking up at someone other than Colorado. More importantly, it would only add to the hunger in Boulder. So, the new kids on the block could use a shot at Colorado now to prove to themselves they can hang tough at the end of April. It’s already been suggested that Colorado is best served to avoid its Regional opponents through the end of the Season to keep its psychological edge.
Arizona | Colorado
Neither team has done an overly impressive job of staking its claim to the role of Number One Contender, and it may take a head-to-head win to give either a definitive claim to the spot. Carleton’s performance in Stanford could cause it to slide down the seeding ladder and move this up from a potential Semi-Final to a rematch of a Quarterfinal at this tournament last year, reprised again at Nationals in Columbus. Neither team likes the other much, which only adds to the intrigue. Elimination time better include the guys in orange, or this one would get ugly.
Carleton | Florida
The path to becoming a true contender for a National Title has been laid out, and NC State has plenty of other victories that they need to add to their body of work. Of the team’s still jockeying for position, this is the one team that hasn’t played Wisconsin much over the last season and a half, and therefore still provides the potential to stand up to the Champs. Lots of physical downfield defense in this one and lots of offensive turnovers that will result in bombs. Wisconsin has mastered a strategy employed for many years in North Carolina, and one that State used to claim a Title of its own long before Wisconsin was the major player on the scene.
NC State | Wisconsin
Three under-the-radar players who could have a huge impact:
Wisconsin has a laundry list of impact players that most others can identify, but one they likely won’t is Chris Doede. Not a particularly impressive physique, and often not matching-up with the best player on the other team, so he is sometimes easily overlooked, but Doede has lock-down coverage capability. Against the teams that have offensive depth to present any challenge to Wisconsin, this is the guy that could make the difference.
Chris Doede, Wisconsin
Most people will walk away from Florida’s field focusing on the team’s reliance on a few dominant performances, but a couple of overlooked players do their part to keep the program at the top of the game. Davidson transfer Jeff Yeakel joins an offensive unit still centered on major pieces from the last two seasons, but has quietly made it more potent. Yeakel also turns into the unit’s best defender on the occasion where Florida coughs up the disc.
Jeff Yeakel, Florida
Carleton’s talented youth is largely owed its chances to compete for this and many more years to come, but the current campaign wouldn’t be possible without a few key veterans. One such player is offensive stalwart Sam Roberts, who serves almost exclusively as the reset for a unit that will have to continually churn without the presence of a singular unstoppable weapon in the deep game. Roberts will rarely be making the big yardage plays, but he will often be on one end of the pass in the tight moments or closing spaces.
Sam Roberts, Carleton
The teams we’d like to see in the field:
Tournament time in March means lots of conversation about mid-majors and their place in the field of sixty-four. This season there are a couple of teams that fit into that type of conversation, and who would fit into this field of twenty-four. Mid-major in College Ultimate has a slightly different definition, referring to those non-blue-blood programs who are planning their seasons around Regionals, not their annual trip to the UPA College Championships.
Two of the teams got their chances at The Stanford Invite, and both continued to warrant another look. Whitman got its signature win over Oregon in Vegas, but didn’t hold its third seed in pool play to advance to the Championship Bracket. Claremont, who had to win The Stanford Invite Qualifier, got its signature win on Sunday morning over North Carolina to advance to the Quarterfinals. Both teams are lurking in their respective Regions, and both look capable of playing with the best the country has to offer.
The most interesting team outside the field is now Tufts, who lost a great chance to prove its mettle after the tornadoes took down Terminus. Sporting only the one loss in Vegas by one point to Arizona, there had to be many in Medford wondering if they had missed a golden opportunity. They’ll get the chance later in the season to prove they are better than Brown, but beyond that selection, there aren’t many to argue with in what looks like the deepest field in the history of this tournament.
Tufts, Whitman, and Claremont
Saturday Records:
One of the most interesting storylines will be the impact of the format change on the tournament. Centex Saturday is widely regarded as the most difficult day of the College season. Five games in the warming Texas heat, for many their first real taste of Spring and green grass, with not a single cupcake at the site.
Three teams have braved this impossible task with remarkable success, the only teams to have made the Top 8 in each of the four seasons that Centex has been what it is known as today. Those teams might be predictable, as each has two Finals appearances in that span, with Wisconsin becoming the first to add the National Title after winning Centex last season. Their Saturday record is an impressive 17-2 in four seasons, a mark that is matched by Florida, but is surpassed by Colorado, who until Coach Catt Wilson held his tardy superstars out of the first round game against Kansas last season hadn’t lost on Saturday. It remained their only loss for an astounding 18-1 over the four tournaments.
Other teams might come to mind for this distinction, like Stanford with its 14-5 mark, but they missed the Top 8 in 2005. Oregon has matched that record, but bookended two Semi-Finals in 2005 and 2006 with missing the Top 8 in 2004 and last season. Texas is the only other team to make the Top 8 three times, in spite of only a 12-7 record on Saturday. NC State posted strong performances in 2004 and 2005, but has fallen to 11-8 on Saturday and missed the top 8 the last two seasons. Carleton, in spite of reversing an old habit of losing tons of regular season games, still has a losing record at 9-10 and has missed the Top 8 in even-ending years.
Surprise Entrant in Top 8:
With Colorado, Wisconsin and Florida gobbling up spots in the Top 8 each season, and Stanford and Texas often in that fraternity, there has still been room for a surprise entrant in the Quarterfinals at each of the four editions of Centex. That trend was started by Florida itself. In 2004, still a team that had never qualified for Nationals, Florida nearly took down Cal in the first round, and used the momentum to get out of a pool that also included Oregon, Illinois and UCSD.
Taking up that role in 2005 was Kansas, though not nearly as unheralded, still suffering a down year, and placed in a pool with Colorado and eventual AC Regional Champion Georgia. Rain wiped out one round, but Kansas did its part too, and so won the right to play none other than Florida in the Quarterfinals. In 2006, Oregon started its unexpected run to Nationals after being written off after poor performances in Vegas and at Stanford, advancing from a pool with British Columbia (Stanford Finalist) and Michigan State and UCSB (National Qualifiers).
Finally last season, Texas A&M made the biggest splash yet, posting a win over Georgia in pool play, and at the end of the day claiming the second spot from the pool, while UCSB was sent down. Among this group of surprise entrants, only Oregon used it as a springboard to a run through the Series, so a team in the position of say, Minnesota, might be advised not to follow this trend
Wisconsin vs. Wisconsin:
The final thought is a quick look at Wisconsin this season compared to the same point in the last two seasons in which it has notably collected this title.
2006: 24-2 with a margin of victory of 5.53 (12-2 vs. Centex field) Wins vs. Georgia (National Semi-Finalist), Michigan State, Texas (National Quarterfinalists) No wins vs. Florida (National Champion), Stanford (National Semi-Finalist), Colorado (National Quarterfinalist)
2007: 24-1 with a margin of victory of 5.36 (13-1 vs. Centex field) Wins vs. Georgia, Texas (National Quartefinalsits) No wins vs. Colorado (National Runner-Up), Florida, Stanford (National Semi-Finalists), Oregon (National Quarterfinalist)
2008: 24-0 with a margin of victory of 6.5 (16-0 vs. Centex field) Wins vs. Carleton, Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Stanford, UBC, UCSB. No wins vs. Florida, Colorado, NC State, Georgia
