Easterns (Open) Preview
Both sides of the Delaware
Princeton.
Wissahickon.
Pennsbury.
Columbia.
Wissahickon.
Columbia.
Pennsbury.
Princeton.
???
Who knows what the right order is. Whatever it is, I agree that those 4 teams should constitute the 2-5 seeds at Easterns, after Amherst. Unfortunately, they've been moved about, and curiously Mount Lebanon was given the 3rd seed. Princeton's tanking at the Amherst Invitational may not be indicitave of anything, and they come out with the 2 seed, but Pennsbury and Columbia have clashed 3 times this spring, with Colubmia winning 2, but Pennsbury winning the more recent (at Amherst).
My personal evaluation of the 3 teams I have seen live, puts it at Wissahickon, Pennsbury, Colubmia. Did Princeton overperform at Hiphop? Underperform at Amherst? (Probably yes to the latter, without many top players... but yes to the former also, I think, with Columbia missing their own players... and what if they hadn't made that comeback against CB East Nasty in pool play? Princeton also performed much more poorly in the fall than the other programs.)
Wissahickon plays a spread offense, and knows exactly how to take exactly what the defense is giving them. Aman Nalavade has a top speed unmatched in PHUEL, and Kyle Baines has the throws to get it to him anywhere on the field deep. They have the speed, endurance, and discipline to keep up with anyone.
Pennsbury has no lack of players who know what they're doing with the disc. Noah Saul and Mark Dundala are patient, skilled handlers, though who knows when Noah will be injured. Franky Frank's dreads have the ability not only to psyche out inexperienced teams, but the guy can read a disc like a children's book and layout smoothly right at any disc. Their entire offense flows smoothly, but their defense can be lazy at times.
Columbia has the experienced, patient team you'd expect from the school that invented the sport, but lacks the athleticism some top teams are demonstrating.
Princeton has... Eddie Huang. And he's cool. I wish I had seen them play.
Unfortunately, there's nothing to suggest that Amherst will get a real run from this groups, though Pennsbury did give them the best game of their own invitational, losing 15-9.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Easterns (Open) Preview: Both Sides of the Delaware
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Too bad these seedings were made before Amherst Invite, some of the teams true colors were shown, and if the seeding were made today they would surely be different.
Here's how it should be:
1. Amherst (duh)
2. Columbia (2-1 vs Pennsbury, injuries all season top players finally back at full strength, plus great coaching each year will make Columbia the suprise team at Easterns.)
3. Wissahickon (beat Pennsbury lost to Princeton, no other really hard comp played, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt.)
4. Pennsbury (Plays solid at Amherst, Noah Saul is healing up, team looks like they are about to peak after scoring 9 on Amherst, just hope they warm up before every game.)
5. Princeton (Without their ringer from Hopewell they are pretty lost. The results at Amherst show this, watch out at NJ States when they get him back and they tae revenge on the teams that have been whooping on them this past week or two. We'll give them the 5th seed based on their strong early spring season.)
The rest of the seeding looks about right, its hard to seed the lower teams when they haven't played much nationally. How did Mt Lebo get into Easterns? Sounds like a lucky home team snuck in to me. Hampton should be seeded higher then them although they have not performed well against any body outside of PHUL. We will know whos better for sure after the semi-finals of PHUL where these two teams face each other.
The top 5 teams are hard to seed, but the rest of the tournament should be pretty cut and dry. Here are my final predictions:
1. Amherst
2. Columbia
3. Pennsbury
4. Who knows
These 3 teams are the only ones with National Calliber competition under their belt. Some teams don't even have more than 5 games reported. Watch out for somebody from WI to step up.
I could see the Wiss/Columbia game going either way, although the loser might have a better chance of getting into the finals. Assuming D1 and A1 win, the semi finals game will be D1 vs Amherst. D2 would be down in the other half of the bracket with (again assuming) Pennsbury and Princeton before finals.
By the way, does Columbia have Xander or is he still injured?
Zander is back in action.
How is Mark's jaw? Last I heard was that he hurt it (fracture?) at AI and didn't play in their last couple games.
All people say about princeton is their guy who won't be at easterns, but one guy can't carry a team. What about the players who will be at easterns? Who else is good on their team?
Mt Lebanon proved they deserve a spot after they won their semi-final game against hampton; these two teams have had a heated rivalry throughout the year, both winning about equal games. This proves that Mt Lebanon is not a pushover, and whatever their ranking, deserves a spot in Easterns
Mt. Lebo can still be a push over. They did not perform well against top teams at Terminus (I'm assuming that's where their scores vs. Paideia came from).
Everyone will just have to wait until Easterns to find out for sure....
So who are the top 16 teams east of the Mississippi, regardless of whether they are in easterns or not? 1-16
Mark (Pennsbury) did play against Paideia and Lexington, although a little less than usual and he was hurting the whole time.
Hampton was without many of its varsity starters at HipHop, who had to stay home for the weekend because of Easter because they received a late bid so close to the start of the tournament. So, they decided to go to Philadelphia with some of their JV players.
Lebo ended up ranked 5th, correct me if I am wrong. That should settle things.
Post a Comment