USA Ultimate

Women's Division South Central Regionals Preview

Hold on tight because South Central Regionals is sure to be a wild ride.  Teams heading into May 7th and 8th weekend in Houston, TX come knowing to expect the unexpected and the unexpected is exactly what’s in store.  Originally, there was a natural favor for Washington University, Texas and Colorado at the forefront, but after crazy conference final standings where Kali did not even originally qualify for Regionals, we can only count on Wash U staying at the front of the seeding.  Colorado College, Colorado State, Rice, and Texas A & M make some noise for their programs and flex their talents to show they have what it takes to muscle the title from the top dogs.  From head-to-head match ups and conference standings, there is surely no one team to definitely rise above the others and no teams to count out.  It's a large and rounded pack of contenders for the two bids and it's going to be the team that decides to play with everything they've got without losing focus and not riding their regional history into a successful nationals bid. 

Washington University, with it’s recent proud and strong history of players and competition starts off the seeding at an uncontested number one seed.  Finishing a conference weekend with decisive victories, Wash U shows they are ready to take on the challenges of the weekend without a lot of show and just a lot of solid offensive and defensive play.  They’ve proven themselves with wins in the season against Co. College, Colorado State, Rice and A&M but have yet to crack the Colorado team that newly emerges back into the tournament and have yet to meet up with the defensive prowess of Texas.  With an almost entire line of graduating players, one can bet they’ll be ready to give everything they’ve got to earn another trip to the show.

Colorado College, the likely two seed, has already proven a lot against the remaining field of teams and has a 1-1 record with top seed Wash U.  Their program, built up with the help of a strong and devoted coach, leans heavy into their big time player leaders.  At the same time, the team plays with a lot of similar mentality and feeds those leaders well.  If they are out to win it all, everyone will be standing together 100% and does so with that great positive atmosphere that is always admirable in college ultimate.  Expect Colorado College to not be easily giving up a lot of opportunities for their opponents and taking their seeding all the way through to finish. Colorado College has not met up with Texas’ run em’ and gun em’ style of play and possibly finding both A&M and Texas at the top of their pool will bring a new set of challenges.

Texas A & M will garner a 3rd seed spot after shooting out of the Texas Conference with first place.  A & M came out aggressive and on fire against a flat Texas in the championship game at Sunday and never let Melee take over the tempo.  They, no doubt, deserve their seeding but head into challenging waters facing up against new opponents of the season in Wash U, Colorado College and Colorado State this coming weekend.  If they can bring the same game-starting intensity of the past weekend they could likely continue success all the way to the bid games.

Rice too, took advantage of a Texas team out of focus and ran away with the eventual second bid out of Texas to move into a likely 4th seeding with South Central Regionals.  A large and fun team, Rice has built up a valiant season with the leadership of a couple of key players who lead by example with dedication and hard work each and every day.  Following suit, the team respectfully garnered their shot for Boulder and goes into the weekend looking to play their game, every game, no matter the opponent.  Looking to walk away satisfied with their play over the weekend, no one can count them out as they will take their opportunities when given and go a long way.

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Davis

Texas had a momentary lack of focus after failing to perform the Easter Sunday of Conferences by going down early to A&M and never having quite enough to gain it back.  After the finals loss, they repeated the same in the game for the two spot.  No doubt they’ve learned their lesson twice over and with renewed focus will bring their running and gunning offense back to full speed.  Their (wo)man to (wo)man defense has got to be the best in the region by far and if anything, this will be the reason why they could find themselves heading on a trip to Boulder despite starting the weekend off in the likely fifth seed spot.

Hells Bells of Colorado State too proved a formidable force over Conferences weekend in the Rocky Mountains and are another story in a different conference of a team who didn’t shy away from walking away with the then second bid out of a competitive conference.  Offense for the team is driven by one players capable hands and amazing up field passes to maintain their flow.  Colorado State has proven they can match their opportunities with success but the question is how will the entire lineup stack up to the other teams top players who will supposedly be playing in their finest form of the year?

After Missouri State declined their bid out of the Ozarks Conference early this week and having no other team capable of filling the role, Colorado Kali finds themselves gifted by the Ultimate gods with a glorious chance to fight for what they no doubt will be out to prove they deserve after having finished so well at College Championships in 2010.  With a handful of unanswerable offensive players and a tough to break zone, will the lack of wind and bright sunny weather of the Houston weekend be the final downfall of the tight roster, or the break to get Kali up and shining again?  Either way, their season has been one of ups and downs Kali will probably show a lot of emotion in each competitive game of this weekend as they climb their way back up from a likely seventh place seeding.

Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas-B are the three teams rounding up the start of the second half of the seedings going in this likely order.  These three teams are a few of the most exciting of the region and show the competitive growth of the up and coming teams.  Both Oklahoma and Arkansas show that it takes a couple of focused individuals and the addition of a coach if possible to start showing they are ready to make a showing at each and every game.  Neither team will not to be looking to be taken lightly by their opponents.  Texas-B has enough competitive fire of their own to step away from the shadow of the A-squad to prove their own identity in an already fundamentally strong program.  Each team will head into the weekend showing focused determination to showing their own individual worth.  The question is if these teams plan on breaking into the upper echelon of teams, will they crack under the pressure when game momentum doesn’t go their way or will they meet it head on and create the gutsy play necessary to steal a chance to make a shot at Boulder.

The Kansas backpack dancing Betty’s really got themselves into the spirit of competition conferences weekend and broke through a lot of equal competition to qualify for the regional tournament.  If they choose to channel this fire once again, they could use it to show they have even more to offer than perhaps other Ozark teams let them prove.  It’s really a question of eliminating turnovers and seeing them execute more risks upon the ones that worked out for them over the past conference weekend.

Saint Louis women, awarded a bid after Truman State declined, have proven themselves a wildcard in the past.  Having qualified in recent history with 2009 Championships, if they can prove to show they’ve still got enough players with the scrappy layout bid mentality of a SLU of generations past, they could give other middle tier teams their most difficult challenge and move up from a likely last seed. 

There is bound to be upsets somewhere in the pools and brackets of the upcoming weekend after the unpredictable Conferences finishes set up an interesting order of teams.  Either way, heartbreak will abound as nearly the entire top half of the seedings have qualities to vie for a shot at the big show.  It all comes down to who most wants to prove they’ve got what it takes while maintaining focus and not allow for any missteps on the road to Boulder.

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