Tournament Preview (Week 2)

This is our second look at the tournaments the West Region (or Region X) will be playing in to start the season. These tournaments will start on September 10^th. With the change to the ASC conference alignment (moving from 11-teams and 2 divisions to a single 10-team division), a number of these schools will already be starting conference play. I understand how this change could have caught schools off-guard and coming off a lost season this is all fine and dandy but this can’t be the new normal moving forward. If we want to promote at-large bids from our region and continue to advance the national reputations of our up-and-coming programs, we’ll need to see the ASC schools play at least two non-conference weekends. I mean this is what I’ve gotten upset over with the NWC in the past. The ASC, for the most part, is actually worse than the NWC has ever been this season as far as scheduling outside of their conference. Six of the ten ASC schools starting conference play this weekend are Concordia, ETBU, HSU, UMHB, McMurry and Sul Ross State. Other schools not playing in tournaments are Centenary (although I still don’t have their schedule so this could be wrong), Schreiner, Caltech and Redlands. Technically, a couple of these schools may be playing in tournaments but they are with NAIA or NCCAA schools so I didn’t include them.

For the schools playing in tournaments, here is the tournament list including the other schools also participating.

Colorado College Tournament (Host Colorado College)

Belhaven, Colorado College, Howard Payne, Moravian and Occidental

Teams in bold are from the West Region. This is a strange little tournament. You have the host, which is the program that went undefeated last year and finished #1 in the AVCA rankings. You then have four teams that have struggled. You simply don’t see a team like Colorado College agreeing to schedule teams like these let alone host a tournament full of them. I’m sure I’m coming off like a snob here and that’s not the intention but these teams could really hurt the Tigers’ Strength of Schedule (SOS), an at-large selection criterion, if they don’t win the conference title. Moravian is the only team not from the region as they are out of the Landmark Conference. This conference has teams like Juniata and Susquehanna. In 2019 they were 10-21 and, in the spring, they were 0-4. Belhaven went 7-11 in the spring and may be the second-best team in this group. Occidental didn’t play in the spring but went 2-25 back in 2019. Howard Payne went 3-19 in the spring. So, again, just a fascinating group of teams that you typically wouldn’t see together with a Colorado College that probably only happened because the Tigers needed to host a tournament to avoid another flight (travel). On the flip side, this is a great opportunity for all of these teams to play against a program that will have a chance at a national championship.

East/West Battle (Host Cal Lutheran)

Cal Lutheran, CMS, Emory, Saint Benedict, Trinity and Washington-St. Louis

This is maybe my favorite tournament of the year and one I actually flew to go see back in 2019 just because the competition is just so good. Interesting that Juniata is not a participate this year. I’ve heard there maybe a shift in the teams playing and even an expansion in the number of teams that will be invited next year. One of the schools to be included rhymes with UTE (wasn’t sure if I was allowed to name the school directly so you’ll have to figure it out). Quite a coup for them if this is the case. What’s great about this tournament is that there really is no downside. You are playing top programs so your SOS will only improve and you have the opportunity to really get a statement win or wins on your resume. I think this model could really be used by other top programs and I’d love to see a group of New England teams do something like this, but it works with any region. You get 4 or so core top-level teams and rotate hosting duties. Then invite one or two other quality teams to participate. You’ve locked down a weekend each year on your schedule and only improved your at-large chances if you don’t win your conference. Sorry for that soapbox moment. As for the tournament this year, we’ve got four teams that didn’t play in the spring in Cal Lutheran, CMS, Emory and Washington-St. Louis. St. Ben went 4-2 in the spring while Trinity went 13-3. St. Ben appears to be the Junita replacement this year. If you are in the area this weekend, definitely catch some of these matches.

Hendrix Invitational (Host Hendrix)

Dallas, Hendrix, Southern Arkansas and St. Thomas

Southern Arkansas is a DII program that went 1-10 in the spring and 3-24 in 2019. Hendrix is always a quality program who went 7-6 in the spring and 19-7 in 2019 and will be the class of this group. Dallas struggled in the spring going 3-12 after a good 17-19 2019 season. St. Thomas went 7-8 in the spring and are, most likely, in their last reclassification season before becoming a full DIII member next year. Seeing that conference foes Dallas and St. Thomas are scheduled to play is another example of how hard scheduling and attracting out-of-region teams to tournaments was this season.

Oregon Trail Classic (Host Lewis & Clark and Pacific)

George Fox, Illinois College, Lewis & Clark, Linfield, Mills College, Pacific and Willamette

If you need a place to still play that second weekend, this is where you need to go. The Oregon schools are going to be pretty good but they are just struggling to attract teams to their tournament this year. The schedule isn’t finalized as far as I can tell especially with the NWC teams but Illinois College will definitely get as many matches as they want in this one. Illinois College went 5-4 in the spring after a 21-8 2019 season. They should make for a nice test for the NWC but we just need more teams here from outside the NWC. Mills College makes their first appearance, as far as I can tell, in this one and it should be interesting to see the makeup of their team. Remember, this is the school that announced they would be stopping enrolment in order to close in a few years. Since then, they are in the process of merging with another school to keep the doors open. Regardless, Mills has always struggled and I don’t see this news helping their program move forward. From the NWC side, I really enjoyed watching the Oregon schools in the spring and they were all really close in talent. Linfield was the exception but they should be getting stronger after going winless in the spring.

Rhodes Tournament (Host Rhodes)

Austin College, Huntingdon, Rhodes, Rust, TLU and Westminster (MO)

Another tournament where I don’t see the final schedule. I assume Austin College and TLU will play the other teams and avoid a non-conference conference match. Both schools will be fighting for that 4^th spot in the SCAC assuming the “big 3” of Colorado College, Trinity and Southwestern continue to lock down the top spots. Huntingdon is out of the USA South and went 10-5 in the spring. Rhodes went 3-9 but had a nice win over Hendrix late in the season. Rust is an NAIA school after switching over from DIII a number of years ago. They are typically not very good. Westminster is out of the SLIAC and went 19-9 in 2019 and winning their conference. They did not play in the spring. They obviously played in the spring and went 13-3 but lost in their conference championship. Both Austin and TLU should do well in this tournament and frankly should be disappointed if they drop a match here. No pressure, right?

St. Paul Tournament (Host Hamline)

Buena Vista, Crown, Hamline, Luther, St. Catherine and Whitman

Perfect tournament for Whitman that should challenge this up-and-coming program. I’m a little confused over the schedule in this one among other things. I’ve seen a different name on this tournament and I’ve seen St. Catherine as the host. My guess is that both schools call it something different and they probably both host. Buena Vista is out of the American Rivers Conference (along with Luther) and went 3-5 in the spring. Luther has a really bad website and it was taking me too long to figure out what they did in the spring so I just gave up. Every once in a while, I stumble on a DIII program that I wasn’t familiar with so say hello to Crown with me for the first time. They are out of the Upper Midwest and went 0-11 in the spring. Hamline and St. Catherine are out of the MIAC. Hamline went 4-4 in the spring while St. Catherine went 1-4 including a loss to Hamline. I’d love to see Whitman roll through this group but a lot will depend on where they are after a 1-11 season where they played a lot of close matches. If they improve and figure out how to finish, I like their chances here.

UT Dallas Fall Festival (Host UT-Dallas)

Aurora, Carnegie Mellon, LeTourneau, Southwestern and UT-Dallas

After the East/West Battle, this is probably the best collection of teams this weekend. Both Aurora and Carnegie Mellon made the NCAA Tournament in 2019. Aurora went 8-1 in the spring and should be returning most of their players so they should be very strong. Carnegie Mellon always has a really good program and went 3-1 in the spring. UT-Dallas should be one of the stronger teams in the West Region and will battle UMHB for the conference title (again) this year. Southwestern looks to be returning everyone and will try to get back into Top 25 discussion this season. This tournament will go a long way on whether that will happen. LeTourneau finished second in their division last season and continue to improve each year. They will only be playing a conference match against UTD and then only one non-conference match against Southwestern in this one. I’m a little disappointed they are not playing Aurora or Carnegie Mellon in this one and I really see this as a lost opportunity for this program. Not sure what my health will be like but I’d love to figure out how to sit in the corner and watch some of these matches.

Whittier Invitational (Host Whittier)

Chapman, La Verne, Pacific Lutheran, Pomona-Pitzer, Puget Sound, UC Santa Cruz, Whittier and Whitworth

When I saw this tournament, I thought it was kind of brilliant as it’s really an NWC/SCIAC Challenge type of tournament. Now, I think it came about because they couldn’t get any out-of-region schools to travel but I love the concept. Just think if you could rotate this every year giving each conference a break from an additional flight every two-years and locking down a week in the schedule. Probably not doable and it doesn’t help the national reputation of the region but I like these cross-conference tournament. (Why the ASC and SCAC don’t just do this every year, I don’t know.) Back to this tournament and we’ll see the top three Washington schools from the NWC going against some very good SCIAC teams. UC Santa Cruz gets thrown into the mix as they give the SCIAC schools a fourth opponent for the weekend. Overall, this is going to really help the regional rankings when it comes to these two conferences and from that ranking perspective this is a HUGE tournament and one where teams cannot afford to slip up in. I like Chapman and Whitworth as the class of this group and that specific matchup will, most likely, have at-large ramifications at the end of the season.

About 67 miles between Cal Lutheran (East/West) and Whittier for those wanted to catch matches at both locations. (Or am I the only one that would even consider something like that?) I’m sure health will keep me at home but in an alternate reality my wife is learning of my plans and shaking her head because that is my birthday so she knows she’s defeated.

I’ll finish up this Tournament Series with a look at the remaining tournaments being played by the West Region teams throughout the rest of the season. There are a couple the following weekend but most schools will be playing conference matches. There are at least two mid-season tournaments, which would be less than what typically is played, but I’m still looking.