The Aftermath

It was a wild weekend for college ultimate in Las Vegas and Charlotte, as plenty of teams showed up on the national radar for the first time, while others vastly underperformed. The big surprises at Trouble in Vegas were finalist Arizona, semifinalist Harvard, and quarterfinalists Whitman and Illinois. Teams like Colorado, Oregon, and Florida still have something to prove - this season the Northwest, Southwest, and Atlantic Coast regions are all up for grabs. In Charlotte, NC State rose to the top of the pack while Michigan and UNC-Wilmington plummeted. Across the country, NUMP polls were turned upside-down and excitement about the season is palpable.

Vegas maintained its reputation as a tournament conducive to upsets, as the first news reports rolling in showed Illinois going 2-0 over powerhouses Colorado and Oregon. Illinois played together during the club season much like Cal and Notre Dame, and the team is reaping the benefits. They jumped 12 spots on my NUMP ballot this week with a convincing 13-6 victory over Beau- and Martin-less Colorado and a 14-13 nailbiter over Oregon/

Ego had a trying weekend, with losses to Illinois and Whitman sandwiching an important victory over Carleton. Their style is uniquely suited to match Carleton, and Kevin Stout is the difference-maker when he's healthy. But Jeremy Norden-led Whitman upset Oregon on universe point, causing more turmoil in the Northwest. Cal has beaten Stanford, Whitman, UBC, and Santa Cruz so far but they're hardly the front-runner in a crowded field.

Harvard snuck into the semifinals, knocking out fellow upstarts Illinois and Whitman without Chain star George Stubbs (PCL tear). But their Day 1 defeats to Carleton and UCSD highlight their somewhat easier road to the semis. Harvard's wins were against North Texas, Illinois, and Whitman - teams that haven't made much of an impact on Sunday in years past.

Arizona's run was the most impressive, going undefeated on the weekend until their 12-11 loss to Wisconsin. They've now lost to Wisconsin in all three years of Vegas! Sunburn also dealt Florida their second-ever loss at Vegas and first on Sunday. Word on the street is that Arizona has an incredibly efficient offense and a very fast team overall, loaded with seniors and 5th-year players.

Another veteran team with surprising success (to some) was NC State. After a great Queen City result last year - a contentious 14-15 loss to Georgia in the finals - they collapsed with internal strife and inconsistency leading to subpar results at Terminus, Centex, and Easterns. The final blow was registering late for Sectionals and being DQ'ed for the series in a year when they entertained hopes of going to Nationals. This year they are supposedly in a better frame of mind, and the team will be looking to maintain their dominance of UNC (3-0 this spring so far) all the way through Regionals.

Michigan showed promise on Saturday in Charlotte, taking UNC to universe point in a 9-8 loss, but they ended up behind Illinois and Ohio State in terms of weekend results for Great Lakes teams after their shocking prequarters loss to UPenn. Georgia outlasted Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon, 13-12, but fell Sunday to UNC in a spirited comeback. They'll regroup and come out as favorites for Terminus on the weekend of March 15th. Pittsburgh is still lacking that big win over an out-of-region team to propel them into the top tier of teams - after falling to UNC and Georgia at Nationals last year by two points apiece, they lost to Georgia again and NC State 10-12 this weekend. Playing top teams close doesn't mean much if you don't get the W every now and then.

(rankings below are how things stand now, not a prediction)
Regional Rankings/Nationals Contenders:
Northwest:
Tier 1: Oregon/Stanford/Whitman/Cal
Tier 2: UBC
Tier 3: UCSC
Tier 4: LPC/Western Washington

Southwest:
1. Arizona
2. UCSB
3. Colorado
4. UCSD

Central:
1. Wisconsin
2. Carleton

Great Lakes:
1. Illinois
2. Ohio State
3. Notre Dame
4. Michigan

South:
1. Texas
2. North Texas
3. Kansas

Atlantic Coast:
1. Florida
2. NC State
3. UNC
4. Georgia

Metro East:
1. Pittsburgh
Tier 2: Maryland/Cornell/Delaware

New England:
1. Harvard
2. Dartmouth
3. Williams
4. Brown

QCTU Preview

While most of the country's attention will be focused on the glittering lights of Vegas this weekend, a lot of Nationals contenders will be staying out of the spotlight a little closer to home, as the best teams in the Atlantic Coast, Metro East, and Great Lakes regions battle it out at UNC's home tournament. Even as Illinois is making waves in the desert, their main competition for a Nationals berth, Michigan and Ohio State, will be clashing with other hopefuls for Boulder in the two-day Queen City Tuneup. There are eight or nine teams that will be legitimately looking to prove that their seasons deserve to extend into May.

In Pool A, Georgia will be looking to repeat as tournament champions, with their fiercest in-region rival, Florida, in Vegas. Greg Swanson has admirably stepped into Dylan's shoes and is the unquestioned leader of this team. The last-round game against Ohio State will provide their first test of the weekend. Penn should be helped by sophomore receiver Aman Nalavade and veteran captain Ricky Chung and could upset William and Mary.

Elon is easily the odd team out in Pool B, as Michigan, Delaware, and favorite UNC all have claims to a Nationals bid. Delaware, however, is down a year after their miraculous upset of Florida and likely won't factor in the pool's results. Michigan, led by Ryan Purcell and with pickups Will Neff and Ollie Honderd, will look to upset UNC. Darkside lost stud Zach Washburn, but they return Josh Torell, Mat Thomas, and Nate Hood, and pick up freshmen Noah Saul and Lucas Darden and transfer Paul Weeks.

Pittsburgh leads Pool C, and although their roster is lacking the familiar names Ben Ristau and Brent Bellinger, Pennsylvania juniors talent has helped mitigate the loss and keep Pitt on the rise. Look for Josh Suskin, Brad Bellinger, and (if healthy) David Vatz to lead the cutting ranks while sophomores Chris Brenenborg and Kyle Baynes control the backfield. Sophomore Eddie Peters will also be in the mix for Pitt. UNC-Wilmington is their chief competition, led by Slow White layout artist Rusty Ingold-Smith. Their fiery demeanor is no shock to Metro East veterans Pittsburgh, but it may surprise some teams when they go west to Stanford Invite.

Pool D belongs to NC State by seed, although Georgia Tech will be looking for the upset. Both teams are known for their inconsistency, although NC State's 15-10 win over UNC in an unofficial scrimmage bodes well for them after a season marred by internal strife. New leadership on the team is trying to build a squad capable of upsetting Florida, Georgia, or UNC and tasting Nationals again. This is also Maryland's best team in years, and they've already proven that they belong among the teams mentioned in any discussion of ME contenders. And if Edinboro still has Ben Banyas, they will be able to upset teams. Both NC State and Georgia Tech could get caught out if they underestimate the other two teams in their pool.

With 8 games packed into four days, the teams left standing at the end of the day may be the two that have managed their energy and resources best, not necessarily the best teams. But with Stanford, Centex, and Easterns all game-heavy as well, results here could be an early indicator of which teams are capable of doing well in tournaments throughout the pre-Series season. Look for Georgia and Pittsburgh to have a barn-burner if they meet, likewise UNC and NC State.

Vegas Open Preview

Trouble in Vegas marks the beginning of the college season for many teams across the country. It's the largest tournament of the season that still draws an elite field, and it boasts one of the most regionally diverse lineups ever. Teams from all 8 regions are in attendance, and after the weekend is over we should have a sense of how they stack up. The elaborate schedule and A-bracket are posted at scorereport.net.

The most interesting elite matchup is in the D-pool (as usual) as Colorado takes on Oregon in a matchup of the #3/#9 and #7/#4 teams in the NUMP Rankings and MSSUI Power 16. Can Dusty Becker, Eli Janin, and Kevin Stout lead Oregon over last year's finalists? Without Beau and Martin, Stout will still have his hands full with Mac Taylor and Jolian, but Oregon's fast-motion offense and breaks might be too much for Colorado to overcome with their big-play offense at sea level. Upset special!

In the lower tiers, look for Pool E to be a real battle. LPC and Central Florida were the #26 and #27 vote-getters in the NUMP poll, and Washington is building up a program in the tough Northwest Region. Pool K should also be interesting, as UCLA tries to get through a Cornell team that beat Pittsburgh at Regionals last year and MIT, a solid New England team. In the lowest tier, both Messiah and Carleton-GOP seem massively underseeded and should move up as the weekend continues.

Predicted Power Pool Standings
AA
Wisconsin
Carleton
Colorado
UC Santa Cruz

BB
Oregon
Florida
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego

CC
California
Texas State
UCLA
Utah

DD
UBC
Humboldt
Colorado State
Wesleyan

EE
Harvard
Dartmouth
Texas A&M
Richmond

FF
Illinois
LPC
MIT
Boston College

GG
Whitman
Washington
Cornell
Va Tech

HH
North Texas
Central Florida
San Diego State
Miami

II
Western Washington
Tufts
Davidson
Florida State

JJ
Claremont
Oregon State
LSU
Arizona

Predicted Bracket Results
Prequarters
Wisconsin d. Claremont
California d. UCSD
Florida d. Whitman
Colorado d. Illinois
Oregon d. Western Wash
UCSC d. UBC
Carleton d. UNT
UCSB d. Harvard

Quarters
Wisconsin d. Cal
Colorado d. Florida
Oregon d. UCSC
Carleton d. UCSB

Semis
Wisconsin d. Colorado
Oregon d. Carleton

Finals
Wisconsin d. Oregon

Boring? Maybe ... the actual results are usually far more exciting. Tomorrow: QCTU Preview