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.