AC Regionals Preview
It is hard to give predictions when it is the Thursday (almost Friday) before Regionals and it is still unclear who is going to regionals and what the format is. It looks like a team has dropped (my nightmare as an RC), and I am sure folks are scrambling to either 1) replace that team or 2) pick a format. If #1 is being thrown out, I am not so sure why a schedule has not been posted. #2 is easy. Adam Tarr and co. made it easy. Just plug the teams into their spots. So, I am assuming #1 is what is going on.
Anyway.....it does not matter.
It will be quite simple in my opinion: anything can happen. In the last couple of years, the South has been exceptionally strong. I highly doubt a South section team will be seeded #1 or #2, but that does not matter. UGA, Florida, and Emory all have players on their teams that know how to win at Regionals. They will win games at Regionals, they will threaten upsets, and the teams from the Carolina section better be ready.
Wake Forest appears untouchable. They have probably the most versatile player in the region on their team with Lucia Derks - but here is the kicker - the rest of the team catches and throws now. I know there are going to be Wake girls pissed at me for saying it like that, but it is the honest truth. Now, I dont know if it was just because Lucia was not throwing to other girls or if the other girls just could not get integrated into the offense quick enough for her or if they just could not simply not catch and throw. Does not matter now, because they are a good, deep team with a lot of players with solid fundamentals. Besides Lucia and Kennedy there are about ten other players who will make plays, pivot, catch, advance the disc, and slowly kill your team. Defensively, Wake will eat you alive if you do not score quick and early in the game. They love their clam looks and their four person cup that is very much NOT flat. They love playing man on down field and they love for you to turn it over and have four people who play in the cup (runners) taking off for their deep deep (Lucia) to throw it against your three handlers (typically, not runners/defenders) trying desperately to play D and figure out why in the world you can not beat their D. That is Wake.
UNC appears to be at the front of the pack as well posting decent wins against decent teams at their two cultimate tournaments. For the first time in like 10 years, UNC has not won sectionals and honestly, THANK GOD. Maybe for once, UNC is focused on winning some games at a much more important series tournament.
Then, you have the South Section. The sleepers. The scary teams. The teams that have not done much yet this year as in quality wins, but they know how to win. Florida, UGA, Emory = a lot of turnover. Wind will benefit Florida more, but there will be no wind. Florida graduated all of their handlers and their big hope is that it is windy enough so their two receivers who have now turned handlers can huck it deep, call it a good pull, and play their junky zone. UGA is led by Jam and a few others and being they are from a good program, they are going to be dangerous. Everyone has to remember that they upset Pitt at QCTU and Pitt is like 9th in the now. They also upset Pitt on a windy, windy day and that means UGA has some players who can catch and throw. We all know catching and throwing is that much harder on a windy day. Emory, I honestly know nothing about except for they lost a lot of people. I would expect them to be least likely to pull out an upset over the top 2.
Virginia, Richmond, and Tenn appear to be the dark horses from the blue ridge. Tenn made a nice run at regionals last year - beating Wake Forest - but have more than likely lost some folks to graduation. There does not seem to be much on the score reporter about them. Richmond and Virginia look very dangerous and UVA is a solid program that has been to the big dance before. They made Nationals in 2004 and there should still be some players from that team remaining that knows what it takes and what it feels like to make it.
Alright, just waiting for the schedule now.....
Anyway.....it does not matter.
It will be quite simple in my opinion: anything can happen. In the last couple of years, the South has been exceptionally strong. I highly doubt a South section team will be seeded #1 or #2, but that does not matter. UGA, Florida, and Emory all have players on their teams that know how to win at Regionals. They will win games at Regionals, they will threaten upsets, and the teams from the Carolina section better be ready.
Wake Forest appears untouchable. They have probably the most versatile player in the region on their team with Lucia Derks - but here is the kicker - the rest of the team catches and throws now. I know there are going to be Wake girls pissed at me for saying it like that, but it is the honest truth. Now, I dont know if it was just because Lucia was not throwing to other girls or if the other girls just could not get integrated into the offense quick enough for her or if they just could not simply not catch and throw. Does not matter now, because they are a good, deep team with a lot of players with solid fundamentals. Besides Lucia and Kennedy there are about ten other players who will make plays, pivot, catch, advance the disc, and slowly kill your team. Defensively, Wake will eat you alive if you do not score quick and early in the game. They love their clam looks and their four person cup that is very much NOT flat. They love playing man on down field and they love for you to turn it over and have four people who play in the cup (runners) taking off for their deep deep (Lucia) to throw it against your three handlers (typically, not runners/defenders) trying desperately to play D and figure out why in the world you can not beat their D. That is Wake.
UNC appears to be at the front of the pack as well posting decent wins against decent teams at their two cultimate tournaments. For the first time in like 10 years, UNC has not won sectionals and honestly, THANK GOD. Maybe for once, UNC is focused on winning some games at a much more important series tournament.
Then, you have the South Section. The sleepers. The scary teams. The teams that have not done much yet this year as in quality wins, but they know how to win. Florida, UGA, Emory = a lot of turnover. Wind will benefit Florida more, but there will be no wind. Florida graduated all of their handlers and their big hope is that it is windy enough so their two receivers who have now turned handlers can huck it deep, call it a good pull, and play their junky zone. UGA is led by Jam and a few others and being they are from a good program, they are going to be dangerous. Everyone has to remember that they upset Pitt at QCTU and Pitt is like 9th in the now. They also upset Pitt on a windy, windy day and that means UGA has some players who can catch and throw. We all know catching and throwing is that much harder on a windy day. Emory, I honestly know nothing about except for they lost a lot of people. I would expect them to be least likely to pull out an upset over the top 2.
Virginia, Richmond, and Tenn appear to be the dark horses from the blue ridge. Tenn made a nice run at regionals last year - beating Wake Forest - but have more than likely lost some folks to graduation. There does not seem to be much on the score reporter about them. Richmond and Virginia look very dangerous and UVA is a solid program that has been to the big dance before. They made Nationals in 2004 and there should still be some players from that team remaining that knows what it takes and what it feels like to make it.
Alright, just waiting for the schedule now.....
posted by Mccants at 8:20 PM
1 Comments:
Looks like they have the schedule up now and that they went with option #2 (not filling the empty spot). I wonder if there was no team in the Region that could make it on such short notice. What a bummer since a 15 team format is not nearly as good as a 16 format. Although, I guess it does benefit UNC since they are in the pool that has fewer games on Saturday--something that could come in handy late on Sunday.
Really exciting for Wake Forest that they have such a great shot at going to Nationals. Emory will be gunning for them in pool play, but I'd be excited to see Wake make it all the way.
Post a Comment
<< Home