Next Weekend the powerhouses of the Ohio Valley all face of in state college to determine who goes to Nationals. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati come in to claim the strength bids that they earned for the region. However dark horses like Penn State, Ohio, Lehigh are equipped for some huge upsets.
Team Previews (The Top 3 & The Next 2)
Pittsburgh
The Ohio Valley has 2 bids this year (1 auto & 1 strength bid) but that doesn’t matter to this team. Pittsburgh has had nationals on there calendar before the first pull of the year. Expect Pitt to cruise through the fairly week Ohio Valley to take the first bid as the favorites.
Cincinnati
Even with all the controversy about if Cincinnati truly “earned” there bid they still look to be the 2nd best team in the Ohio Valley. They went passed their first test at conferences with flying colors going undefeated in the Ohio Conference. This is a team looking to make its first ever nationals appearance and will look to play holistic game as they have no true stars to run their offense through.
Penn State:
Penn State and a very rocky start to this season with a winless Carolina Kickoff and a subpar showing at Florida Warmup. However the team has completely change gears over these last couple weeks. With wins over most of the bottom 8 half of the region they know that should be in the running for a nationals spot on Sunday. There performance at West Penn conferences was solid as they played pitt in two close games (Saturday pool play 13-19 and Finals 15-10). Penn State early season experiences may be what gets them over the hump to take punch their first ticket to nationals since 2001.
The Next 2:
After these 3 teams we look towards teams like Ohio and former D-3 powerhouse Lehigh to take one the two bids to nationals. These teams both showed signs that they can be one of the top teams in the region. But, unfortunately those performances came against average to bad teams. Regionals will be there first true test of the season, they will have to learn quickly or face the end of the season. I look forward to seeing Lehigh play as they try to make this huge transition after competing in D-3 nationals 4 of the last 5 years. Be hide of the deadly deep cutter Nick Mathiason of the Philadelphia Spinners.
Tournament Prediction: (The Ohio Valley Coordinator has yet to post seeding or tournament format for this year. I assumed based off previous year that he will go with Bracket 16.2.2 for 2 bid regions as described by the USAU rulebook.)
Format: The four pools of four with the #1 team advancing to the championship bracket. The loser of the Semis will be place into the 2nd bid semifinals games. While the loser of the final will automatically be placed into the game-to go to nationals. I took into account strength of schedule and conferences results when creating my seeding.
Predictions:
Jack Gergel says
This was really interesting to hear about since I don’t know much at all about college ultimate. It looks like it’s setting up to be a great tournament, and the format of it looks different from one’s I’m used to seeing but also very cool. Hopefully Penn State can have a strong tournament, as well as West Chester U which is where I’m from.