USA Ultimate

Open Division Southeast Regionals Preview

Since Florida won its first National Title in 2006, both the Gators and Georgia have reached the College Championships in every year but 2009.  But 2011’s regional redraw took both teams out of the Atlantic Coast and joined them with more up-and-coming programs from around the South, and as a result, are now in a region with only one bid to Boulder. At this weekend’s Southeast D-I Open Regionals in Tallahassee, Florida, these traditional powerhouses will battle it out with 14 other hungry teams for that one spot.

Florida

While the Gators haven’t gone undefeated and currently sit only at #3 in USA Ultimate’s Open Rankings, they have put together quite a season thus far. Florida lost only four games by a total of 17 points in the regular season, and each was to a team that, barring an enormous upset, will be playing deep into the College Championships. Florida claimed the 2011 T-Town Throwdown title and the highly coveted College Easterns crown.

However, the regular season is just that: regular. The Central Florida Dogs of War stormed into the Gators home turf at the Florida Conference Championships and took the Gators down in Saturday pool play on double game point. With a lesson in humility learned, Florida came back on Sunday with a little more fire and won the necessary three straight games by a combined score of 45-29 to earn another tournament victory on the season and guarantee themselves the No. 1 seed at SE Regionals.

Florida has to be the favorite to win the tournament based on regular season performance. However, it’s been shown that regardless to the skill and firepower they possess, they can be had.

Central Florida

One of those teams always just barely on the cusp of competing for a bid to Nationals, Central Florida has been hanging around on the edge for a long time. They’re the team that finds itself, at the end of the season saying, “If we just didn’t have that one injury… If we could have capitalized on just a few more turnovers…”

The “ifs” are over now.

The Dogs of War, under the leadership of recent alumnus Andrew Roca, put together a season for the books in 2011. With only two regular season losses to their name, these Dogs won Tally Classic VI, reached the final at both College Southerns and the Florida D-I Conference Championships, and got off to a strong start at the weather-shortened Terminus. Central Florida’s 2011 results show that this Dogs team is ready to make plays where teams in the past where not.

When the postseason arrived, Central Florida knocked off conference favorite Florida in pool play on Saturday, 12-11.  Even though the Dogs didn’t come out on top on Sunday, this team is going to take as viable a shot as any against the Gators come this weekend.

Tennessee

If there is one team that in the top four at Southeast Regionals that has flown under the radar this season, it’s Tennessee Agent Orange. While the team fell short of its pre-season hype with weak finishes at the fall’s Classic City Classic and UOA Nationals a close inspection of Tennessee’s Score Reporter page reveals some interesting finds.

Out of Tennessee’s 10 losses on the season, only one was to a team that isn’t headed to D-I College Regionals somewhere in the nation. Also, six of those 10 losses were by two points or less. Add that to convincing wins at Freaknik and an undefeated weekend at the Southern Appalachian Conference Championships that included a double game point victory over a slipping Georgia squad, and Tennessee’s season actually looks rather formidable.

Phil Brock is running the show for Tennessee, and he has two seasons of serious playing time with Tanasi under his belt. It’s hard to imagine he won’t be one of the best players on the fields in Tallahassee. Agent Orange has shown that it can compete with any team in the field.

Georgia

There has been no joy in Athens this season. The Dawgs have struggled mightily in just about every tournament they have attended, especially by their own standards. Of course, when a team loses the caliber of players that Jojah saw depart last offseason, a down year should come as no surprise. Still, there are certainly Georgia athletes that are wishing that this season had gone better than it has.

Georgia started the season off well enough, losing to Ohio State by three in back-to-back semifinals appearances at T-Town Throwdown and Queen City Tune Up. However, collective 3rd place finishes were slightly below Jojah’s hopes and things got worse at the next tournament. Georgia’s winless weekend in Wilmington at College Easterns all but guaranteed that the Southeast would only be seeing one bid to Nationals. A rained out Terminus didn’t help, and the Dawgs entered the postseason with not one tournament final appearance to their name.

That would change at Conferences as the Dawgs stormed to an opportunity to regain their title as conference champions after losing in final to Georgia Tech last season. But Tennessee lined up across from Jojah and dug and clawed its way to a double game point victory, leaving Georgia without a tournament victory all season. This weekend, Georgia has one last opportunity for a tournament win. The team’s hopes of making it to Nationals ride on whether or not they can put together their first complete tournament of the season.

The Rest of the Field

The rest of the field is comprised of teams whose expectations for 2011 were high, like a Georgia Tech or Florida State, along with teams like Georgia State and Auburn that may simply be happy to be there. However, as Central Florida showed against Florida at Conferences, no one is ready to let anyone else waltz through this tournament.

While the Southeast may not be the most talented region in the nation, there is a lot of fight left in plenty of the teams in the field. Time will tell if anyone can translate that fight into an upset victory over Florida.

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