Nationals 2010 Preview

So I got to play ultimate last night with four other generations of Illinois Menace. Five generations total were represented: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013. Unbelievable. It was a straight up shit show, but so much fun. It makes me unbelievably geeked for the Illinois reunion team, as well as for a possible Alumni Weekend. Hol-LER.

That said, this is shaping up to be a whole week of ultimate, as Nationals is starting in just two days. Luckily for all of you, yours truly will be on the sidelines of Nationals this year, most likely being belligerent and straight up noxious. I'll have my camera out, and of course I'll also be tweeting scores periodically.

Even though I'm pretty far out of the women's college ultimate loop, I think I'm gonna try my hand at predictions and see how far off I am. That said:

Pool A:
I'm pretty confident that Oregon is going to win this pool handily. That's all that needs to be said. Other than Wisconsin, I don't think any team has the depth that Oregon has. I don't know what I can say about their talent that other people haven't already said. From the looks of their roster they have a lot of their girls from last year back (Is the one they call "Big Tuna" back? Because I continually heard that nickname during our game against them at Pres Day '09 and thought it was hilarious. I also think she is the one that they brought the inhaler out to during semis against UCSB at Nayshuns last year ... holler asthma! But not in a good way like yay asthma but more like yay asthma buddies! But anyway, holler Big Tuna). Plus they have Bailey Zahniser who is legit one of my new favoritest players ever ... I was rereading my tweets from Nationals last year, and I think I gushed about her twice. But more than just being insanely talented, and really just more simply than that too, Fugue just seems to enjoy playing together. They seem to really like each other as people, not just as teammates, and you can see that in the way they play. I watched a bunch of their games last year at Nationals and I watched them play a bit at Pres Day this year (before we were relegated to the remote fields, sadness), and not only do they look like they're having a BLAST out on the field, they look like they trust each other. They play like a cohesive unit, and their sideline presence is engaging, even for an outsider. I was on the sideline for their semifinal against UCSB at Natties last year and I could just feel how much they supported and believed in each other. They're a really exciting and fun team to watch, and they've got some burners on that team. I'm calling Fugue in the finals.

I haven't seen UNC-W play at all this year, but as far as their record goes, I don't have reason to believe that they would fall far from their second seed in the pool. Unforch, I will have to stop here, as you all know how I feel about UNC-W ... I don't want to let my distaste taint my judgment -- that never leads to good things. But legit, Kelly Tidwell is pretty sick. Old girl has mad hops too! (That fills my "say nice things about UNC-W" quota, right?)

Late Friday morning we'll get to hear the two most obvious, and yet somehow still two of the most hilarious cheers in women's college ultimate: P-I ... T-T! vs. C-A-ARLETON! Ah, the comedy of both of those cheers gets me in a good place every time (except maybe not that time Pitt beat us like 15-1 ...). But in all 4srsness, I think I'm going to like watching the Pitt/Carleton game. Mind you, I'm comparing these teams, and all the other teams in this preview, to my team from my experiences playing them, so our views of these teams may be a little different. Just a lil'. But that said, Pitt's crazy athletic and the girl on Pitt with the gold or yellow cleats is pretty sick. When we played Carleton earlier this fall, I think they brought a really small and very young roster, so that game probably was a little more competitive than it should have been, but Anna Snyder is the real deal. Her throws were on. Point.

I really like Texas and they're another team that's not just competitive but also fun to play against. Even though they've whupped us both times we played them this year, they were always fun games. I'd like to see them do well this weekend.

Pool B:
Wisconsin will win this pool. I am starting to get the feeling that no matter who Wisconsin sends to the line, they are confident in that line just desecrating whoever is standing across from them. That's scary. A lot of their roster is back from last year, and they have the absolutely incomparable, 2009 Club Champion, your Callahan and my favorite Wonderdread. How do you compare with that? You know how Geno Auriemma used to say, "We've got Diana and you don't"? I think it's that same way with Wisconsin -- they have Georgia and you don't. But more than that, they have players all around her who do their jobs well. It's not so much that Wisconsin has the best 1-4 players in the game, it's that players 5-7 on their line will also devastate and fully embarrass you. It's not even fair. Lean, mean, fast, talented, focused ... I don't see anyone standing in Bella's way.

As for the rest of the pool, Stanford and UCLA are good, but just not good enough to overtake Wisconsin. I haven't seen Maryland play in a while, and I've never seen Middlebury play at all, so I'm not gonna flaunt my ignorance.

Pool C:
I know it's ridiculous, but I sat back and scratched my head over this one for a long, long time. I like Washington. Didn't like half the team or something ridiculous like that play together during the club season with Underground? But I also really like UCSB. I like that Finney/Kaela combo, and Marie Madaras is RIDICULOUS. Like, STUPID RIDICULOUS. I'm sure that she has only gotten better since the last time she left my dang jaw on the floor at Nationals last year. I still can't believe that she was only a sophomore last year, those plays she was making?! Heavens to Betsy Brkich! That said, I went with UCSB.

I think the rest of the pool will play to seed. I know that some of my teammates are obsessed with certain players on Colorado, but other than that, I haven't gotten the chance to see them play this season. We played against Michigan earlier this season but I think they brought a lot of rookies to that tournament. I think I read on RSD that they didn't bring a whole lot of girls to Regionals and that a bunch of their girls were hurt. I hope that doesn't hurt their chances at Nationals. But either way, Becky Malinowski is probably going to be a handful for other teams to match up with. She's added those big ol' throws to her arsenal, so I think she's going to cause some headaches. As for Harvard, I've never seen them play so there's not much I can say about them.

Pool D:
Same as with Pool C, I had to think on this one for a bit, but I'm going with USC winning the pool. Both USC and Cal are incredibly talented teams. I don't know why, but I just have a feeling about USC, plus they have the confidence of winning a tough, tough region in the SW on their side. So USC over Cal, but other than the top two spots, I see the rest of this pool playing to seed. I don't know much about North Carolina but I've read a lot of stuff about Leila Tunnell, and I've heard a lot of stuff about her from friends who know her and who have played with her. She sounds like a straight up baller and a great leader, and I'm quite excited to see her play this weekend. We played against Wash U at Centex this year and Abby Stephens is another player to keep your eye out for, although I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult.

Northwestern has been a solid team all season. People might try to zero in on Kim Streff and Sara Miller (and deservedly so), but the real impact player on this team is Lien Hoffman. I don't see this team doing as well as they did this season without her. In the few times I've played against her, I've been really, really impressed by everything she can do. She can cut and she can handle, and there seems to be very little she can't do. If you want to stop Northwestern, you're going to have to stop Lien first.

Also, it should be noted that Lien is built like a truck. You might not know it to look at her slight frame but she is a tank. Ol' girl and I collided (she was poaching in the lane while I was making an upline cut?) at Centex and I'm pretty positive that she was fine but I got knocked on my ass something emburrussing. Yikes.

Pool Play's Marquee Matchup(s)
Lucky us, my Marquee Matchups of pool play will both be on Friday, and they'll both be back to back: Washington/UCSB and Cal/USC. The 1/2 matchups in the other pools will be fun to watch, I'm sure, but if Oregon doesn't beat UNC-W I'll go without making fun of Sarah Rosenwinkel for an entire month (most likely the month that she is gone, ha suck it), and even though I think Bella/Superfly will be a good game, I'm also pretty sure Bella is going to win this one. They've won what, 3 out of their last 3 matchups? Washington/UCSB will be a repeat of last year's finals, and I'm pretty excited to see how it plays out this year. I think Cal/USC will be another good one because of how their series has gone so far this season. I think it's now 2-1 in favor of Cal, but I think I might actually go with USC on this one. Holler.


Final Four: Oregon, Washington, Wisco, UCSB
All I can say about this is that imma need to have my head on a swivel for semis.

Finals: I'm sure you expected it based on what I said about them -- Wisconsin vs. Oregon final. I'm really looking forward to this game. Two of the deepest, most talented teams in the country, two of the teams with the best team chemistry ... it's going to be the cat's pajamas my friends. Oregon may have gotten the better of Wisconsin in their first two matchups, but I think the tide is turning in Wisconsin's favor, especially because they'll have the added bonus of playing in front of their Bella Donna faithful. PLUS it will be a matchup of two of my favorite teams in the college game and two of my favorite players, Wonderdread and Bailey Zahniser. *squeal*

You read it here first, as if my opinion even matters at all, but ... as a BDFG4L (BellaDonnaFangirl4Lyfe, in case you're not in the know) Wisconsin is going to win a squeaker at home. C'mon, I've been fangirling for far too long to not want this to happen. Also, I'm a sucker for human interest stories. C'MON GUYS. Hometown team finally winning the Big One?! You had to know I was going to pick them, right?
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I'm about as excited as I could possibly be about Nationals this weekend. I'm exceedingly excited to get behind the lens again! It'll probably be a bit tough to watch, but I'll be there, soaking in all the amazing ultimate with my wonderful friends.

These are my closing thoughts on Nationals '10:
1. Walden Nelson for Callahan. Holler holler. The Illinois contingent will be HYPE if/when he wins. I'm just saying that I got my graduation photo taken with him. So awkward.
2. Let's go Great Lakes. GREAT LAKES, GREAT TIMES!
3. If you hear the weak ass heckle "Suck a chubby!", please know that that is NOT me. I can't be held responsible for the dumb heckles that may or may not leave Sarah Rosenwinkel's emburrussing, underage, and DRUNK mouth. Unforch.

See ya'll in Madison.