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