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[table “31” not found /]*To our knowledge, has not yet committed to DIII.
Talking Points:
Winners
Harding University – Harding graduated 0 (that’s right, 0) players after their 7th place performance at nationals last year. And, from seeing all the other teams in the top 8 at nationals, I think they were probably more like the third best team (had the brackets been more favorable for them). They also put up an extremely strong showing at T-Town Throwdown, getting to the semis and almost upsetting Ohio State there.
Kenyon College – This is a bit of a dark horse pick, (Jeez, now I’m talking like Brodie.) but I’ve heard good things about this program, and I think they can be very good this year. They didn’t play in DIII last year, but they had a lot of close games against good DI schools (NC, Penn State). They did lose Ironside starter Russell Wallack, but they’ve also proven that they can play without him by very nearly missing finals to take 4th at Music City Warmup.
Losers
St John’s: They were impressive last year at DIII championships, but they lost their most experienced cutter Chris Battista, and their best handler, Ben Roske. They are a strong program, and I think they can rebuild again with baller Nihal Bhakta and others, but for now I don’t think they have what it takes to make another run at the finals. On the other hand, I’d be happy to be proven wrong!
Again, this is all very rough so far, so if you disagree, you should definitely comment! I will likely take your suggestions into account for the next set of rankings.
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