ISU - 15th
ISU D - 3rd at Div II Sectionals
ISU Women - 9th, 1 spot away from regionals!
Good job from everyone this weekend, write-ups to come soon...
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Series Preview
This year has been interesting to say the least. From the best rookie turnout we've ever seen to the best rookie retention rate we've ever seen to losing 2 of our top players to injury and another to ineligibility, it's been a rocky road to the series with lots of ups and downs. From the high of rolling the competition at Knox to the lows of losing our legs in the championship game, and seeing our teammates go down in games, it's also been probably the most emotionally taxing season of ultimate I've ever played. Although I'm sure you all know this already, I'll say it anyway--there's nothing I'd rather do this weekend than play at sectionals with the Gnomes. I'll leave it at that. Now I'll give a little preview of the weekend. Hopefully it won't be my last.
The format for this weekend is very forgiving, in my opinion. Here's the breakdown:
Round 1: Gnomes vs Notre Dame
Notre Dame is the top seed in our section, and they deserve it. They have an outstanding regular season highlighted by wins against Colorado, Iowa, and Illinois - 3 teams with a pretty good shot at Natties. We'll fight for this game like we always do, but it would be a huge upset if we pulled it off. Enough about that.
Round 2: Gnomes vs Bradley
Play our game, run our systems correctly, and this game should be easily won. We haven't played Bradley yet this year, but our D team has beaten them twice (once mixed at Knox).
Round 3: Gnomes vs Western Illinois
If you weren't there for last year, you've heard about it. I won't go into detail. This game should be hard fought and, due to some of the struggles we've had this year, winnable for either team. The key here will be shutting down their 4 main players - Doc, Garrett, Hastings, and Greg Jr. and making sure we don't give them easy goals via turnovers near the goal line, lazy defense downfield. Expect to run hard downfield. Their cutters will be fighting for every disc. This game will be important in our road to 2nd in the pool.
Round 4: Gnomes vs Wheaton
We haven't played Wheaton once since I've been at ISU. I don't know what to expect. Wheaton is traditionally a good team and regularly qualifies for regionals although I don't know if they've ever made it past that. This game could be the difference between 2nd and 3rd in our pool.
Round 5: Gnomes vs Southern Illinois
Frenchy's out, Ktan's out, Mojo's out, Flounder's out...I feel for these guys and if we weren't playing in this tournament and I wasn't injured I'd love to give them an extra pair of legs for the weekend. God knows they probably wouldn't need it anyway though because they always seem to find a way to win games even if they're playing savage. This should be a fun game and even if we lose it we can still remind them of that one time they got naked lapped at 214 W. Willow.
Remember that with such parity after the 1st seed point differential could make a difference in placement after pool play. We'll have to finish hard. Luckily games are to 11 so we shouldn't have too much opportunity to slack off. Best of luck to everyone playing this weekend and I wish everyone a safe weekend. p.s. I've never been to Detroit...
The format for this weekend is very forgiving, in my opinion. Here's the breakdown:
- 7 bids to regionals
- 2 paths to 7th or better place
- 1st: take 1st or 2nd in your pool, win 1st or 2nd game on Sunday, or your last 2
- 2nd: take 3rd or 4th in your pool, win out Sunday
Round 1: Gnomes vs Notre Dame
Notre Dame is the top seed in our section, and they deserve it. They have an outstanding regular season highlighted by wins against Colorado, Iowa, and Illinois - 3 teams with a pretty good shot at Natties. We'll fight for this game like we always do, but it would be a huge upset if we pulled it off. Enough about that.
Round 2: Gnomes vs Bradley
Play our game, run our systems correctly, and this game should be easily won. We haven't played Bradley yet this year, but our D team has beaten them twice (once mixed at Knox).
Round 3: Gnomes vs Western Illinois
If you weren't there for last year, you've heard about it. I won't go into detail. This game should be hard fought and, due to some of the struggles we've had this year, winnable for either team. The key here will be shutting down their 4 main players - Doc, Garrett, Hastings, and Greg Jr. and making sure we don't give them easy goals via turnovers near the goal line, lazy defense downfield. Expect to run hard downfield. Their cutters will be fighting for every disc. This game will be important in our road to 2nd in the pool.
- Keys of the game for Western: Shut down our main players - Steve, Crack, Shane, Cole, Trevor, Tom, ROOKIE, Peteo, Goober, Wildo, Samsicle, Greg, Pat, JGraham, Teleport, Corey, and Afryl
Round 4: Gnomes vs Wheaton
We haven't played Wheaton once since I've been at ISU. I don't know what to expect. Wheaton is traditionally a good team and regularly qualifies for regionals although I don't know if they've ever made it past that. This game could be the difference between 2nd and 3rd in our pool.
Round 5: Gnomes vs Southern Illinois
Frenchy's out, Ktan's out, Mojo's out, Flounder's out...I feel for these guys and if we weren't playing in this tournament and I wasn't injured I'd love to give them an extra pair of legs for the weekend. God knows they probably wouldn't need it anyway though because they always seem to find a way to win games even if they're playing savage. This should be a fun game and even if we lose it we can still remind them of that one time they got naked lapped at 214 W. Willow.
Remember that with such parity after the 1st seed point differential could make a difference in placement after pool play. We'll have to finish hard. Luckily games are to 11 so we shouldn't have too much opportunity to slack off. Best of luck to everyone playing this weekend and I wish everyone a safe weekend. p.s. I've never been to Detroit...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Huck Finn Preview - courtesy of Peteo
Peteo decided to be awesome last night and wrote up a preview for Huck Finn. Enjoy.
This weekend we will be playing against teams that are a step up from the teams we played at Chicago Invite. This should be a good opportunity to take what we learned from all those close games and see how good we can be. All the teams we play are beatable if we play our best , and they will help us prepare for the competition we'll see at sectionals.
This weekend we will be playing against teams that are a step up from the teams we played at Chicago Invite. This should be a good opportunity to take what we learned from all those close games and see how good we can be. All the teams we play are beatable if we play our best , and they will help us prepare for the competition we'll see at sectionals.
SATURDAY SCHEDULE:
Round 1 - Missouri S&T
Round 2 - St. Louis
Round 3 - Kansas B
Round 4 - Truman State
SUNDAY SCHEDULE:
Round 1 - Missouri State
Round 2 - Missouri
SATURDAY
Round 1 - Missouri S&T: Miner Threat seems to be winning a lot lately, and Naji is probably getting a little cocky. I don't think I've ever actually been able to play them, but they seem to be a decent team with good spirit. They have only played a couple teams I've seen before (lost 7-13 to North Park and won 13-9 to DePaul). I think we could get comparable scores against those teams, so hopefully we can come out strong and start the weekend 1-0. Hopefully without a naked point...
Round 2 - St. Louis: I'm pretty sure this is SLUT, who we played at Glory Days. I think we won with our X team, or at least had a close game (and if I remember correctly, they were nice). Some of their recent games include beating Notre Dame B 13-2 and losing to Illinois B 6-15. If we keep our heads in the game and don't let up we should have a good chance of winning this game.
Round 3 - Kansas B: I haven't played these guys, but I saw them a little bit at Mardi Gras. Even though they are a B team we can't look past them. Kansas is a good program and there should be some decent talent and athleticism on this team. They lost to Illinois B too, 9-13 (by the way, Illinois B is a team we can beat if we play well). It would be great to start off the weekend and get some confidence by going 2-1 or 3-0, so we can bring our positive attitudes into the tougher games. yeah. be positive! the ladies love it.
Round 4 - Truman State: We played JujiTSU as an X team at Western for our first game. They were able to get a lot of deep throws on us, so we have to watch out for that. I also lost against them at Mardi Gras. These guys are pretty good, and I heard they went to regionals last year. That might just be made up though. Either way, they are pretty cool guys and at least one of them likes Gnomes. They were pretty excited when I walked by in my shorts. Anyway, they have pretty good flow and we need to disrupt that. I think they also poached a little bit and did a good job of clogging the cutting lanes, but that might have just been because we were playing on a small field. They probably aren't looking at us as their biggest threat, so let's use that as an advantage and surprise them by coming out strong and winning. and scoring more points than them.
Round 5 - BYE: I'm not sure if we're going to celebrate the bye by leaving early to shower/eat or by watching the Dnomes or by watching a "showcase" game. All of those sound fun to me!
SUNDAY
Round 1 - Missouri State: I don't know much about these guys, but they beat Northern Iowa (the team we played first on Sunday at Chicago Invite) 13-6. They did lose to Maharishi twice, which I think is that one team we lost to last year at Huck Finn. Anyway, they seem like a pretty good team. I don't think they're out of our league though, so let's come out swinging Sunday morning. Just don't hit anybody.
Round 2 - Missouri: There sure are a lot of teams from Missouri and St. Louis going to Huck Finn! UPA says their team name is the MUtants. Scary. Let's see here...they beat Vanderbilt 13-9 (I played them at Mardi Gras, we could probably beat them), lost to the Grinnellephants 11-12...beat to Indiana. Yeah, I don't know anything about this team. I would guess they are not the best team we play all weekend but not the worst either. Maybe somewhere in the middle, or towards one of the extremes. I strongly believe that we could win or lose this game. Let's try to win though.
Round 3 and beyond: I'm still a little confused about this format so I have no idea what kind of teams we'll play after this, but hopefully we'll get lucky and play one of the top 25 teams.
Take luck!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
ISU D Huck Finn Preview
Doug wrote a preview for Huck Finn in order to make up for missing the Chicago Invite. I won't be writing one for the 1st team because I'm too busy with schoolwork. My apologies, and now Doug and I are even. Enjoy.
So Cu1timate is trying out this new format for Huck Finn. I’m not going to comment on that because you can do that somewhere else. All I know is that the Dnomes have a very good chance at having a good record for the weekend. In the long run, it more about developing this team rather than winning, but doing both is pretty awesome. The schedule for the weekend looks like this:
Sat Rd 1 (9:00) - BYE
Rd 2 (11:00) - Wisconsin-B
Rd 3 (1:00) - Marquette
Rd 4 (3:00) - Notre Dame-B
Rd 5 (5:00) - St. Louis-B
Sun Rd 1 (8:30) - BYE
Rd 2 (10:30) - SLUH
Rd 3 (12:30) - Wash U-B
Rd 1 vs Steven Naji: I like that both days we start with a bye because I absolutely love to sleep in. Plus I’m working Friday night so I’m getting into St. Louis late so I’m not going to be getting much sleep, especially if Venus hogs all the covers again. We’ll be watching the A team take on Missouri S & T which should be a good game.
Rd 2 vs Wisconsin-B: Wisconsin has a very good program. They’ve won nationals the last two years so I pretty sure they know what they are doing. I expect for them to have a good solid B team. Wisconsin will have only played one game so they shouldn’t be too tired but I think that we will be able to beat them with hustle. We started to get very good flow at the Chicago Invite. If we can keep that going we should do well.
Rd 3 vs Marquette: I don’t know much about them. I’ve been told they are a solid program and I expect this to be the hardest game we play this weekend. As long as we play our game, we should do fine. It’s only our second game so we should still have somewhat fresh legs, and I know all about being Fresh.
Rd 4 vs Notre Dame-B: We played this team last year at Sectionals. I pretty sure we won decisively. They’ve had some time to grow and are coming from a great program so they should be better this year around. If memory serves me right, we have them on looks. This game is within our reach. If we have the desire (which I know we do) we should be able to win this game.
Rd 5 vs St. Louis-B: I’m worried about this game for one reason, we run a good cup. Why would this worry me? It sounds like a good thing right? It is, but it is also our last game. At the Chicago Invite, we ran cup almost every game the second day and got really tired. If we can keep the intensity up and keep fresh legs in, then we have a chance at winning this. It will be close no matter what.
Sun Rd 1 vs Yo Mamma: We again have a bye first thing in the morning. This will be good for the rest of the day and for cheering on the Gnomes!
Rd 2 vs SLUH: I’ll be honest for a change; I don’t know what this stands for. I think it might be St. Louis University Honors, but it could also be Spitting Loogies Under Horses. I don’t know. So I don’t have much to say on this game.
Rd 3 vs Wash U-B: This will be our last game before the BCS bowl game that we play (I don’t really know how the format works. It reminds me of college football. I just hope we don’t get the Meineke Car Care Bowl). It will be a hard fought game as we play tired. If we can stay mentally tough, we should come out on top.
I expect the team to make big improvements this tournament. It’s our second tournament as team so we should start to flow better and know where to be at the right time. As long as we give it a 100% I’m going to be happy. Remember, when you have the disc you are the quarterback of the team.
So Cu1timate is trying out this new format for Huck Finn. I’m not going to comment on that because you can do that somewhere else. All I know is that the Dnomes have a very good chance at having a good record for the weekend. In the long run, it more about developing this team rather than winning, but doing both is pretty awesome. The schedule for the weekend looks like this:
Sat Rd 1 (9:00) - BYE
Rd 2 (11:00) - Wisconsin-B
Rd 3 (1:00) - Marquette
Rd 4 (3:00) - Notre Dame-B
Rd 5 (5:00) - St. Louis-B
Sun Rd 1 (8:30) - BYE
Rd 2 (10:30) - SLUH
Rd 3 (12:30) - Wash U-B
Rd 1 vs Steven Naji: I like that both days we start with a bye because I absolutely love to sleep in. Plus I’m working Friday night so I’m getting into St. Louis late so I’m not going to be getting much sleep, especially if Venus hogs all the covers again. We’ll be watching the A team take on Missouri S & T which should be a good game.
Rd 2 vs Wisconsin-B: Wisconsin has a very good program. They’ve won nationals the last two years so I pretty sure they know what they are doing. I expect for them to have a good solid B team. Wisconsin will have only played one game so they shouldn’t be too tired but I think that we will be able to beat them with hustle. We started to get very good flow at the Chicago Invite. If we can keep that going we should do well.
Rd 3 vs Marquette: I don’t know much about them. I’ve been told they are a solid program and I expect this to be the hardest game we play this weekend. As long as we play our game, we should do fine. It’s only our second game so we should still have somewhat fresh legs, and I know all about being Fresh.
Rd 4 vs Notre Dame-B: We played this team last year at Sectionals. I pretty sure we won decisively. They’ve had some time to grow and are coming from a great program so they should be better this year around. If memory serves me right, we have them on looks. This game is within our reach. If we have the desire (which I know we do) we should be able to win this game.
Rd 5 vs St. Louis-B: I’m worried about this game for one reason, we run a good cup. Why would this worry me? It sounds like a good thing right? It is, but it is also our last game. At the Chicago Invite, we ran cup almost every game the second day and got really tired. If we can keep the intensity up and keep fresh legs in, then we have a chance at winning this. It will be close no matter what.
Sun Rd 1 vs Yo Mamma: We again have a bye first thing in the morning. This will be good for the rest of the day and for cheering on the Gnomes!
Rd 2 vs SLUH: I’ll be honest for a change; I don’t know what this stands for. I think it might be St. Louis University Honors, but it could also be Spitting Loogies Under Horses. I don’t know. So I don’t have much to say on this game.
Rd 3 vs Wash U-B: This will be our last game before the BCS bowl game that we play (I don’t really know how the format works. It reminds me of college football. I just hope we don’t get the Meineke Car Care Bowl). It will be a hard fought game as we play tired. If we can stay mentally tough, we should come out on top.
I expect the team to make big improvements this tournament. It’s our second tournament as team so we should start to flow better and know where to be at the right time. As long as we give it a 100% I’m going to be happy. Remember, when you have the disc you are the quarterback of the team.
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