Sean Ryan 2010

The best thing about Sean Ryan this year (besides being held at the best fields an Ultimate player can find) was that it was effectively a preview of Region 2 (The new California + desert region) regionals. The only top tier teams missing were SDSU (got their bid in too late) and Arizona (have never attended Sean Ryan to my knowledge). I would guess that regionals in May will have an almost identical top 8 teams as Sean Ryan. The only difference that I foresee is that UCLA will be out and SDSU will be in. The ordering of the 8 teams may very well be different in the spring time, but it is clear who is in the top tier of teams.

Notes about Sunday’s play:
The quarter finals saw UCSC playing Cal State Long Beach. It was a mostly upwind downwind game in which Long Beach made strong athletic plays to take the early advantage. The Slugs made up the deficit in the second half by keeping their sideline energy high, mixing their D looks, and playing smart O. Final score 12-10 UCSC.

The wind picked up significantly for the Semi Finals. UCSC played UC Davis in a game that saw only two goals scored upwind. UCSC scored upwind in the first half, and Davis did so in the second half. The game came down to double game point with UCSC receiving going downwind. UCSC punched it in without any turns and won the game only because they won the flip.

UCSC then faced Cal Berkeley in the finals. The wind had died down significantly for the finals, and at 5-5 the wind went away completely. UCSC took half 8-7 and up one break. They then ran away with the second half to win 15-9. The second half showed UCSC’s depth and athleticism, and also showed that Cal was missing some key players.

Scouting reports on the teams I saw in order of finish:
Santa Cruz: The Slugs have a very deep squad that is hungry to improve on last years 4th place finish at Northwest regionals. They lost only 2 rotation players from the 2010 team and have gained valuable experience playing club over the summer. A key to late season success will be finding ways to get both Cassidy and Russell out from behind the disc so they can do damage with their legs. Missing Players: Jordan Sheffield, Devon Anderson (for the finals)

Cal: California did exactly what was expected of them at Sean Ryan. They ran a disciplined vertical stack offense that utilized the width of the field and got young handlers playing time. I only watched them during the finals when it was clear from their lack of dynamic play that they were missing Andrew Hagen, Sam Kanner, and a couple of other injured players. If they have Kanner hucking to Hagen come spring time, Ugmo will be very dangerous. Missing players: Andrew Hagem, Dalga Surofchy, Sam Kanner (Sunday), that guy who played with End Phase and isn't James (Sunday)

Davis: Davis plays a very dynamic game. Taylor Lahey still runs the show, and picking up the top recruits from around Northern California has things looking up. Their O revolves around quick movement out of a close horizontal stack. It looks like they will be relying on freshman to handle along with Taylor, and will probably start three freshman on their O line. They look to huck off handler movement and breakside incuts, and I would bet that they’ll let Taylor and Eli Kerns do most of the hucking. Unfortunately, I didn’t see them playing in calm conditions so I don’t know too much about how things look. Missing Players: None that I know of

Long Beach: Long Beach has more athletic depth then almost all of the other teams I saw. The question is how well will they use it. For now they are running a vert stack with very quick movement. They seem to like the long ball, but are okay with working the under when the deep shot isn't there on count one or two. They had the best team chemistry of any team I saw all weekend. Missing Players: None that I know of

UCLA: They look very young, but are well coached. They run a horizontal stack and are mostly a faceless army. It seems like they’ve lost a lot from last year and are going to use this season to rebuild. Missing Players: None that I know of

SLO: It’s a shame that Jake Juszak plays for Cal Poly SLO.

Also of note: UCSD was missing Josh "Forge" Nickerson and Daniel 'Roget' Cox

Backcountry Backpacking

I recently went on a sweet backcountry backpacking adventure, for more info check out my shared blog with some old college friends.

Word.

Bay Area Club Restructuring

SF Bay Area ultimate promises to look a lot different for this club season than it has for the past two seasons. In the past there have been two top level teams, Jam and Revolver, and then at least two second tier teams. With the disbanding of Jam this year, and Revolver's addition of Bart Watson, The Bay now officially has one commanding team and a bunch of leftover talent. It appears that a lot of that talent is looking to join up with a new team "Wolf" which will be conducting tryouts the weekend of the 24th (April).

Here's the interesting thing about Wolf, while Revolver draws it's talent from all around the bay area, it looks like Wolf will be primarily an east bay/SF team, with not much representation from Davis, the South Bay, or Santa Cruz. I believe this will lead to strong regional teams from these locations. From conversations I've had with friends around the area it sounds like there will be local teams in Davis, Palo Alto, and Santa Cruz. If you count Wolf as an SF/Berkeley/Oakland team, that would make 4 regional teams competing behind one super team.

I predict that Wolf will have a strong enough roster to compete for a bid to nationals, but I think the days of the Bay having two teams in the quarters is over. I wonder how having one top dog again will suit bay area ultimate.

Joaq

P.S. I wonder why I didn't post this April 10th when I wrote it.

P.P.S. More funk. I wish the sample game was still as tight as it was in the late '80s / early '90s

Notes from Stanford Invite Sunday

I made it out to the invite last Sunday with Daniel "DMC" Max Chazin. Good times were had, beer was consumed, and ultimate was observed.

So, scouting reports:
On the Woman's side there are four good teams this year and they will all make semis at nationals: Oregon, Santa Barbara, Washington and Wisconsin. I'd put my money on Oregon winning nats, their height and athleticism is hard to handle even for the other top teams.

Open is a little less clear cut. There are two legit teams who probably would have made club nationals out of the Central or South West last year (Carleton, Oregon), then there are a bunch of teams on the level. My observations (alphabetically)

Cal: A strong team with great fundamentals, and a great coaching staff. I'd say their strengths are end-zone O, d-line O, and decision making. That's really all you need as a college team.

Carleton: They look like a club team based on their team speed and the speed they play at. The youth on their O-line hurt them a little at Stanford, but I think they'll right the ship by nats. They'll be in the semis at worst.

Colorado: They're big and they play physically which is hard for college teams to handle. Still, they're very much a college team. Still, I'm not even sure they'll win the SW.

Florida: Didn't get to see much of them, and Brodie wasn't playing while I was watching. The one observation I have is that while on the field they looked more like a collection of athletes than a team.

Oregon: They're experienced and fast and their O line has at least 4 5th year players on it. They're going to win the NW and take one of the top 4 seeds at nats. They should make Semis at worst.

Those were all the teams I got a good look at. Quick note, there should have been more qualifying spots and the following four teams should have gone to the "Stanford Open" instead of the invite: Texas, Stanford, UCSB, Brown. I guess having a good history as a program helps you stay at the top.

P.S. I'm know 808 is a proponent of adding pictures to posts. I not so much of a picture guy, so I'll try and throw out some funk instead:



Word.