Florida won T-Town Throwdown. Since this tournament wasn’t sanctioned, it’s a bit harder to make the Winners/Losers format interesting. Instead, I’ll just post some thoughts on the Semis teams and a few others.
T-Town Comments:
Florida– 2011 is a new regime for the Gators, and winning the first spring tournament as a new team is a big step. I didn’t hear much about how they played, but I’m guessing that their offense didn’t get broken much, their defense only had to convert about 50% of its chances thanks to said offensive efficiency, and their entire roster gained some experience playing at their new positions.
Middlebury– Their only close game in pool play was an 11-9 win over Missouri S&T, they crushed home team Alabama, and they beat Florida State en route to qualifying for Semis (where they lost 11-15 to Florida). All of this was done with a 13-man roster that was whittled down throughout the weekend (key handler Robby Zabel went down early in the Florida game) and included members of the B team. Not bad.
Ohio State- Leadbelly cruised through pool play, beat Georgia (a southern team) in the Semis, and put up 10 on Florida. Given that their best showing in 2010 was a 3rd place finish at a crazy Queen City, this weekend was definitely a huge success. They’ll be in Charlotte in two weeks.
Georgia- It was good for Jojah to prove that they still hold the upper hand against teams that haven’t seen their kind of recent success. They had a close one with Florida State on Saturday afternoon and went to universe point against Alabama in the Quarters, but that may be more indicative of youth and new roles rather than talent. I really hope we see some combination of match-ups between Florida, Georgia, and Georgia Tech at Queen City.
Ohio- This team hasn’t done much recently (finishing 5th in the Great Lakes last year after not qualifying in 2009 or 2008, so beating Tennessee, giving Ohio State its closest game in pool play , and coming within two of Florida is something they’ve got to be happy about.
Florida State- Their 9-11 pool play loss to Georgia is a game two which any current or former player on an up and coming team can relate: the combination of hope for the season, the match-up against a traditional powerhouse that no current player has defeated, and the very near win all make for a shitty feeling at the end of the day. It’s a step that good teams have to take, though, and Florida State is making its case as a squad that can beat decent teams and compete with good ones.
Final Thoughts- It’s a bummer that this tournament wasn’t sanctioned since it’s had the most inter-region competition of any this year. I’d imagine that this year’s tournament directors will be slow to get their paperwork in, but by 2012, it will be tough to find many tournaments that don’t count toward regular season results. The one place where I can see TDs avoiding sanctioning is in small tournaments that feature only elite teams. Avoiding sanctioning would give those teams a chance to match up while not affecting their regions’ bids to Nationals, a move they may be comfortable with if they’ve been dominant for a while.
Comments Policy: At Skyd, we value all legitimate contributions to the discussion of ultimate. However, please ensure your input is respectful. Hateful, slanderous, or disrespectful comments will be deleted. For grammatical, factual, and typographic errors, instead of leaving a comment, please e-mail our editors directly at editors [at] skydmagazine.com.