Preview

Sweep Across the South Part Four

by Ryan Haggard | September 13, 2014

Photo by Tim Adkins

Some of these teams were quite hard to rank. The top-tier was clear to me, and there should be no question from anyone whether they belonged there. However, in the subsequent lists, most teams have qualities that both defy and cement their rankings. The following remarks will be listed in the order in which the original document was written.

The Contenders

Florida’s Finest (FF)

From both in-region and out-of-region, the general consensus is that Florida’s Finest is the number one team in the South. With deep chaser lines, deep beater lines, and several high-impact players on both sides of the ball, FF certainly looks that way. However, for all the hype and the detractors, the facts must be set straight. Florida’s Finest was started last year by Sean Pagoada. It changed ⅓ to ½ of its roster per tournament and placed in the top three teams at every tournament it attended. At the South Regional Championship, FF was massively undermanned due to some last minute circumstances. It dominated its pool and was knocked out in overtime by the University of South Florida. FF went 5-1 at World Cup, making it to the Sweet 16. This year, the roster is set in stone, most of the competition is rebuilding, and FF is favored to win the South Regional Championship.

University of Florida (UF)

There is not much else to say about UF. It is the same, if not slightly better than last year. UF is picking up a fairly large group of new recruits; however, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue, as the first and second lines have been well-established. In a region where a large number of teams are rebuilding, teams such as UF who have maintained their level of skill, or gotten better, will look much more impressive in comparison.

University of Miami (UM)

This is another team that is subject to a large amount of hype and a larger amount of nay-sayers. Long held to be the King of the South, UM has won the past four Regional Championships. Sean Beloff, David Moyer, and Stephen Ralph—the “star power” of UM—are departing, while Team USA beater Shannon Moorhead remains. The three big losses represent a reduction in the skill ceiling that has formerly dominated the South. However, the concentration of playing time has not been dispersed evenly among the team in the past; Beloff played the vast majority—if not the entirety—of every game, which did not allow other players to gain experience. Now, that being said, Miami returns this year with a much more balanced squad. The vast majority of the players have a year under their belts and the skill floor has moved up much higher as a result. In the short term, this will be a large hurdle to overcome, as UM won’t be able to rely on “The Beloff Show” to bail out some of its weaker players. Miami is still an upper-middle tier to top-tier team. However, over time, the quality of all of the players on the team will become much higher than if they were to remain in Beloff’s shadow.

The Challengers

University of South Florida (USF)

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. USF always has potential to do considerably better than it ends up doing each year, and it consistently recruits talented athletes to the pitch. Unfortunately, in the past few years USF could never just put it together. The Bulls relied upon their beaters last year to carry their offense, which could never get off the ground. Defensively, beaters were everything, and even in cases where the beaters controlled the flow of the game, the chaser side of the ball still lagged behind. That is not for lack of trying; the Bulls have had and do have talented chasers, but the system wasn’t there. USF developed and implemented a new offense for every tournament but had yet to find the strategy and identity that consistently worked for it. With regards to USF’s ranking, the biggest question that remains is its recruitment. In the past, USF has been able to recruit some phenomenal players. However, it has retained around the same amount of players as last year. The quality of USF’s recruits will greatly determine whether it deserves its place, or somewhere above or below it.

College of Charleston (CofC)

CofC surprised the rest of the South at the Regional Championship where it barely lost out to USF and UM by a snitch grab during a hard-fought day. CofC's performance last season makes it seem as though it is too good to be where it is. However, with a loss against the University of South Carolina to deny it a World Cup bid, this raises several questions about what went wrong. I get the impression that CofC is unsure of its own potential. More practice and more tournaments (especially in-region) would do much to help the team become more comfortable on the pitch. CofC has the potential to be in a higher tier, and perhaps even the top tier, but at the same time, if it keeps playing to the level of its opponents and not itself, it could fall a tier as well.

The Competitors

Tennessee Technological University (TTU)

TTU was impressive at the Regional Championship. Last year, it was in the upper-middle tier. Its physicality and the sheer amount of ridiculous plays it pulled off made a sideline fan of many in the crowd. However, its big strength is now one of its weaknesses, and its ball and chain just got a lot heavier. TTU will be hurting without its army of female chasers, and the loss of two veteran beaters is going to put a damper on an already chaser-heavy offense. The reason TTU is ranked in the middle is because its vast depth in skill at male chaser will keep it there for the foreseeable future. I don’t see TTU rising or falling too far if its skill remains the same. TTU is at the top of the middle tier.

Rollins College

Rollins was a bottom-tier team last year, being essentially comprised of Stephen Nettles, Amy Sullivan, and Stix Stager. With some new additions to the roster and a new-found depth, Rollins has the potential to put out a respectable mid-tier showing; however, it also has the chance to end up back where it started.

Florida International University (FIU)

FIU struggled with numbers last year, but by the end of the season, it had a full squad that was competitive, giving top-tier teams a run for their money. Normally, I wouldn’t rank a team that hasn’t been around as a full squad so highly, but FIU was fairly impressive. If it can maintain a full squad this year, it might pull a few upsets on the tier above and maintain mid tier ranking.

The Participants

University of South Carolina

South Carolina did not have a good record last year. The games it won were through sheer aggressiveness. Its program needs some severe changes to its game plan to be taken seriously. South Carolina has glimpses of potential here and there, but without a structural adjustment, it will stay in its current tier.

University of Southern Mississippi (USM)

USM is where Rollins was last year. It has a few good players, but not enough to put the team in the next tier. It has the potential to grow into a mid-tier program, either by this year or the next, and its inter-region play should help this.

University of South Alabama

South Alabama did not do well last year and is not projected to do well this year either.

Florida Atlantic University (FAU)

FAU did not field a full squad last year, and there is no information on whether it will this year.

The Recruiters

Florida State University (FSU)

Last year, FSU struggled to have enough players to play a tournament. The team dispersed its players during the South Regional Championship, allowing them to be on other teams. This summer has been a highly effective recruiting period for the team, and the degree of talent of the new players is vastly improved over previous squads. I honestly think that FSU is going to either herald in a new era of FSU Quidditch for the future, or it will fizzle out over the next few months; either is equally likely.

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU)

FGCU was another one of those teams where it was borderline dangerous for it to play in a tournament all day due to the fear of exhaustion. However, there were glimpses of high levels of talent on the team; it just didn’t have the backups to prove itself. This year, the sheer amount of recruits will dilate the original talent pool, and these new players may come into their own and change the composition of the squad completely. The team’s goal for this season is to make some consistently good showings at tournaments, and this year is ultimately preparation for next.

City of Palms Quidditch Club

Truth be told, there is no spin, angle, or evidence for extrapolation for this team. The only thing we know is that Tyler Goss and Jacob Barrett are making a community team with some former Cape Coral High School players.