The results from the Santa Barbara Invite provide a first glance at 2011 west coast college ultimate. Lets see what can be learned from the Score Reporter . . .
Winners:
The Northwest Region – UBC and Washington have combined to lose the Backdoor Final at Northwest Regionals each of the last three years. In 2008 UBC lost to UCSC, in ’09 UW lost to Cal, and in ’10 UBC lost to Cal. With the redraw of the regions UBC and UW no longer has to compete against Cal and UCSC at regionals, but they’re left with Oregon in a region that is only guaranteed one bid to Nationals. By going undefeated against the Southwest, the Thunderbirds and Sundodgers greatly helped region’s chance of earning a second bid to Nationals.
SDSU, UCSC – SDSU and UCSC went undefeated against competition from their own region. While their losses to the NW competition doesn’t bode will for the Southwest in terms of nationals bids, UCSC and SDSU might think they wont need them anyways.
Losers:
The Southwest Region – The issue for the Southwest goes beyond getting trounced by UBC and UW. Having GOP come and win their pool hurts the region even further. The California teams will have many chances to redeem themselves as cold weather teams travel west for the Presidents Day Classic and during the Stanford Series.
Cal – Cal is only listed amongst the losers because of high expectations. Ugmo went 4-2 on the weekend, with their losses coming against the eventual champions UBC and the host team UCSB. Unfortunately for Cal, after a Quarterfinal appearance at last years championships, many around the country expected Cal to win this tournament handily. Ugmo will have to regroup and attempt to re-assert themselves at the top of the Southwest at Presidents Day.
Southwest Power Rankings Jan 24th edition (based on the results posted, not on games watched):
SDSU – 1 loss on the weekend, undefeated against SW competition
UCSC – 2 losses on the weekend, undefeated against SW competition
UC Davis – Strong weekend, only losses to SDSU and eventual champs UBC
UCSB – Lost to UCSC in pool play, defeated Cal in the Pre-Quarters, unclear if they played in the 5th place bracket
Cal – Losses to UBC and UCSB lead to them taking 9th place
CSULB – Close losses to Cal, UCSC, and UBC aren’t exactly catastrophic
Stanford – Disappointing showing, played without Ben Funk and captain Jordan Jeffery
UCSD, UCLA – Early results point towards the Squids and Smaug both being in rebuilding years
———- Edit ———-
UCSB should move above UC Davis based on 5th place bracket results that are now up on the Score Reporter.
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