Thoughts on Centex

I'm currently in class and Centex is this weekend so that obviously means I'm thinking more about Ultimate than what my professor is saying. This is the last big tournament before the Series begins so the results will really take into account seedings and bid distribution. So far this year, I have not seen one team that is completely dominant. While Iowa won Easterns, UCSB won Stanford Invite, Oregon won Pres Day, and Stanford won the Santa Barbara Invite, I cannot say that one of those teams is clearly better than the others. And then you have the next level of teams: UNC, UBC, Cal, Wisconsin, and UCLA who have all done decently well in the tournaments but have yet to win the whole tourney. Then throw us, Washington, UNCW, Caleton, and Texas into the mix and everything is up in the air. It seems to me that which ever team is playing well on a specific day, that is the team that is going to win. That statement might seem self explanatory, but as compared to years past, teams can no longer get away with playing 'okay'. This year I feel like there is a pretty even playing field. While I divided teams up into three tiers earlier in my post, it does not necessarily mean there are three tiers out there.

Because of this, I feel this weekend will be incredibly exciting. ANY one of the teams can step up and win this. It doesn't have to be one of the four teams that have won a tournament this year - it can be any of the others as well. Teams this weekend are not just fighting for first place at the tournament - they are fighting for bid allocation as well.

At the same time, there is a slight bit of sadness surrounding this weekend. This will be my last big tournament (during the regular season) of my college career. I'm definitely using that (and other factors) to motivate me personally this weekend. Let's get it Flywheel!