The pools have been set for the Classic City Classic in Athens, and they are thick with competition. Pool play begins Saturday, November 16th. Let’s take a look at the teams:
At the top of Pool A is the team to beat at the tournament, the UCF Dogs of War, coming of a hot performance at nationals after finishing second in the country. In the National semifinal they knocked off an experienced Carleton with authority, outscoring them 15-8. With a promising performance on a limited squad at regionals last year, LSU is looking to knock off the favored Dogs of War. While LSU lost 15-8 to UCF at regionals last year, LSU also had a small squad and pulled upsets against Florida State and Alabama. Virginia Tech is also looking to make trouble for the favorites. With a win over University of North Carolina Wilmington at regionals, they have true potential to pull some wins over the favorites. Eastern Michigan and Emory are also looking to show they deserve respect this season.
North Carolina comes in at the top of pool B. They finished tied for 5th at Nationals last season only losing to Central Florida in pool play and Pittsburgh in quarters. While North Carolina is a strong favorite, Florida comes into this tournament with much to prove, losing in the game-to-go last season on universe to Florida State. They aim to establish dominance early and Georgia Tech looks to take it away. Also losing in another game to go to the show by two points, Georgia Tech wants to show that they can still hang with the big guys in this Fall tournament. Seeded 4th, Cincinnati enters CCC with tremendous Fall season success under their belt. With big victories over Pitt and Ohio to win the Steel City Showdown last weekend, they are likely to shake things up in pool B. Tulane has the ability to make some noise as well after ending last season at regionals with four losses, three of which were on universe point. They will surely bring fire from last season into this Classic City Classic.
At the top of pool C is the home team Georgia. With the advantage of playing on their own turf and Nationals experience last season, Georgia hopes to show they are a consistent and strong team this year. Michigan comes in second, losing in their game to go to Nationals last year by three to Illinois, and ready to prove they have more. Like in pools A and B, the last round of the day at 3:35pm highlights another great match-up in Georgia v. Michigan. A perennial force in the AC region, Virginia makes the trip back to Athens again this year with a relatively young squad dotted with returning leaders from last season’s team. Kennesaw also has high hopes coming into this pool to upset some teams, beating a shorthanded Georgia squad at an earlier fall tournament by two. There is a lot of parity between the teams in this pool, and upsets are likely.
In pool D Florida State sits at the top, hoping to build on their first Nationals trip last year with a strong start to this season. Having only lost by two in the game to go to the game to go last year, James Madison is ready to prove that they can beat Nationals teams and looks to dethrone Florida State. The three southeastern teams remaining in the pool (Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia Southern) will all fight to steal the third seed from Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Interesting Facts
- UGA men have never won their own tournament.
- There have been 7 back-to-back champions.
- There have been 2 back-to-back-to-back champions. (Brown University, Wisconsin-Madison)
- Wisconsin-Madison Hodags have won the CCC tournament 6 times.
- 1 college has swept both divisions of the tournament in 3 times (Wisconsin-Madison x2, Brown University)
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