QCTU Day 1 Recap

“Good times, Great Lakes”

It was a domination of the old Great Lakes region today at Queen City Tune Up. Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Ohio all won their respective pools. There were some notable exits prior to pre-quaters, including Georgia Tech. The temperature was relatively mild, but steady winds for most of the day, giving way to ton of zone defense. The main trend was that the winning teams had more conditioned depth and fresh legs.

The format was rather strange, being 8 pools of 3, where two pools faced each other. Rather than face any opponents in your actual pool, you would face three opponents in the pool adjacent to yours. This is also why the seeding seemed a little haphazard in the 4 pool format on USAU. The “experimental” rules didn’t yield any good information, as there was hardly any “contact” called by throwers. It seems that teams could have used some time to get used to the rule, rather than being notified the Thursday before. TMF’s were issued more readily, where marks were under close scrutiny.

Pool Recaps:

Pool A:

To give you an idea of the “8 Pool Setup”, this is how it worked.

Teams in A:

• Ohio State
• East Carolina
• Appalachian State

Teams in H(Technically in A by the USAU pools)

• Virginia Tech
• Penn State
• Maryland

The teams in H only played the teams in A for pool play.

Ohio State (A1):

Ohio State had a strong day, going undefeated at 3-0. They did play some close games against Maryland and a Universe game against Penn State, which was the game of the day. Phil Cherosky’s constant handler cuts provided the offensive movement for Lead Belly the majority of the day. Often he was running circles around the man with the disc, doubling back on up the line cuts. His motor never seemed to stop, and getting the bye into pre-quarters will probably help him keep his energy up. They are in danger of an upset before the finals, as they were not dominant.

Virginia Tech (A2):

Virginia Tech was able to survive to make it into the championship bracket. The team was missing several players, including Scott Forrester, and seemed to lack play makers. Evan Klein was hobbling throughout the day on his injured ankle, forcing himself to play through the pain. Burn went 1-2 in  pool play, losing to ECU 12-11 and Ohio State 15-7, before beating Clemson 12-8 in the cross over game to make it into the championship round. Opening with Michigan tomorrow is going to be a tough match-up, even with Scott Forrester coming into town for Sunday play.

East Carolina (A3):

ECU’s lack of depth hurt them immediately in game one against Penn State. They were able to pull off a universe point win against Virginia Tech, and most likely advance into pre-quarters facing an even younger ND team in the cross over.

Penn State (A4):

I told you Penn State was primed to make a run in this tournament in my preview, and I wasn’t wrong. Only losing to Ohio State on universe point, Spank showed that they will be in the conversation for a second spot within the newly formed Ohio Valley region. While there are several strong players, Rob Baker and Brian Nevison, Penn State relies on heavy rotation and even playing time. They will start off against Wake Forest tomorrow morning, leading into a likely Michigan match-up in the quarters. Penn State could upset Michigan, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them make semis.

Appalachian Sate (A5) and Maryland (A6):

Both teams failed to make it into pre-quarters, even after Maryland beat ECU. Appalachian State lost in the cross over to Wake Forest 9-8 after leading 8-5. Maryland was able to take third in the pool, but lost a scrappy NCState team in the cross over to be eliminated.

Pool B:

Georgia (B1):

Georgia survived several close encounters against NCSU and Clemson to go 3-0 on the day. Georgia is still a mystery to me, as they’ve been able to play big teams close, but play down to lower level teams. Due to those close games and 3 teams in the pool going 3-0, they were relegated to 2nd after point differential. They by chance will be playing NCSU in prequarters tomorrow morning, but are likely going to exit when they face Michigan State.

Notre Dame (B2):

Notre Dame lost 11 seniors last year, and looked like the worst seeded team in the tournament due to lack of information. I only recognized one player from the previous season, and it showed as they were unable to win a pool play game. It’s likely that they lost to ECU in the cross-over, leaving them to the chumpionship bracket tomorrow.

Ohio (B3):

Ohio was my surprise pick for the semis, and so far the path is looking pretty good. Ohio wasn’t threatened today at all, going 3-0 and nabbing first in the pool. They open up day 2 against Tennessee, a very winnable game

Clemson (B4):

Clemson’s first two games left them gassed, losing to Ohio and Georgia close. After having a bad, out of character game against Wake Forest, Clemson faltered in the cross over against Virginia Tech. It looked like some conditioning could be in order for the Joint Chiefs, as the defense was unable to keep up the intensity at the end of games.

Wake Forest (B5):

WOMB finally broke through and went undefeated throughout the day. Unfortunately, they were forced to play a cross over game, due to point differential. They came back against App. State after being down 8-5 to win 9-8. They also survived a universe point scare against Notre Dame after being up 9-2 in pool play. They open up against a strong Penn State team tomorrow morning, but they have to feel good after today.

North Carolina State (B6):

What can you say? Go 0-3 in pool play, and win your cross over to put yourself in pre-quarters. They played Georgia pretty tough, and will open against them tomorrow morning.

Pool C:

Georgia Tech (C1):

The tribe had a difficult day, starting with Hogan McHugh pulling his quad. With a lack of depth, the long day caught up with Georgia Tech. Andrew Fish, thankfully did not break his leg at ACCUC, is still out with a muscle strain, putting more of the load on Nick Lance. Michigan did not have too much trouble winning their matchup, leaving Georgia to play a pre-quarter match up. Losing to Delaware by 2 in the cross over added to the sourness, as a top seed makes an unexpected exit.

Michigan (C2):

Michigan had a relatively easy day, but got a close game from Washington University. They open against a gassed Virginia Tech team, and should be well rested.

Washington University (C3):

A bit of a wild card this weekend, Contra showed they were a legitimate threat by giving Michigan a close game, being up 8-7 at one point. They have a solid opponent in NYU tomorrow in the first round, but I think they’ll be in quarters.

Alabama (C4):

Alabama once again was forced to rely on Zack Moore and Tim Brady, who didn’t have enough to put them into the championship round. They were unable to get a big win, but snuck out some wins against lower level opponents. They did not have enough for a deeper UNC squad in the cross over, putting them into the chumpionship round.

Cincinatti (C5):

A young team slowly on the rise, Cincinatti has appeared relatively out of no where. While they won’t be playing in the championship round, this will definitely be a good experience for the team.

UPenn (C6):

They were happy when I told them that they were going to be playing at 10:45. Oh.. sweet jerseys.

Pool D:

Michigan State (D1):

Michigan State had the easiest day, cruising to victory in each of its games. They could have played better in the game against UNC, but Darkside drops gave them the game. They ran ho-stack the majority of the time, relying on plays by their handlers to move it up the field.They open the day against ECU, and are still my pick to win it all.

North Carolina (D2):

Pool play was unkind to Darkside, as they were forced to compete in the cross over to make it into the championship round. They were relegated to the game against Bama to stay alive due to a universe point loss to JMU. They were definitely had a chance to do damage against MSU but they were plagued by drops and throw aways. If they could find a groove and find consistency to match with their athleticism they could be at the top of their region.

James Madison (D3):

The Hellfish had a chance to take control of their own destiny with a win over UNC but failed to beat Tennessee. This team is experienced and deep, expect OSU to have to play hard to win the first round match-up.

Tennessee (D4):

Going 2-1 was good enough to get 2nd place and a bye to pre quarters. Agent Orange suffered  a huge defeat against MSU, but will open up with a game against Delaware, giving them a shot at quarters. It looks like Tennessee can beat lower level teams, but can’t find a way to compete against the big dogs.

NYU (D5):

Purple Haze opened up with a tough game against UNC, losing 11-8. This team may be in the Metro East, but will give Wash U a tough first round game tomorrow morning. They are still a decent ways away from threatening Cornell, but closer than I expected.

Delaware (D6):

I felt that Delaware was under seeded going into the tournament, but did not expect them to upset GT in the cross over game. Sideshow showed that they can compete without Sean Keegan, but still lack a go to guy. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them in quarters, but its tough to see them beyond that.

The rounds were delayed today due to frost on the ground, which is why a lot of scores were really low. I’ve got some video and pictures from today, but they will be posted tomorrow or Monday. I’ll be tweeting tomorrow, but may wait till after pre-quarters to save some battery. I plan on watching PSU-Michigan if that should happen, and be able to scope out what makes Spank tick.