As reported by Rugby Today, the CRC 7s has released its list of teams at the main tournament in 2016:

The teams already invited are: Arizona, Arkansas State, Army, Boston College, Cal*, Clemson, Dartmouth^, Drexel, Indiana, Kutztown#, Life, Michigan, Navy, University of Notre Dame, Penn State, South Carolina, St. Joe’s, Temple, UCLA, and Virginia Tech.

*-three-time defending champions

^-won the CRC twice

#-runners-up in last two tournaments

In addition, teams that win the Big Ten 7s, Atlantic Coast 7s, and SCRC 7s, along with the winners of the CRC Qualifier at the Las Vegas Invitational, will also be invited.

It’s highly likely that at least one of the qualifying spots will revert to an open spot, as Indiana is the favorite to win the Big Ten, and Clemson is in good shape to challenge for the ACRL spot. 

As usual, the though goes to the teams that were not invited, including 2015 USA Rugby 7s champion Lindenwood. The CRC organizers have stuck by their plan to invite only “name” schools. But, of course, they’ve deviated from that plan somewhat. Drexel is not a name school when it comes to college sports, and while the admission of Life, Kutztown, and Arkansas State is a good thing, those teams have shown that being a name school actually doesn’t matter - it’s the fans and the quality of play that matters.

Not invited from last year are Texas, Alabama, and Air Force. Army replaces Air Force (dashing our hopes for an all-military-academy pool), and South Carolina replaces Texas. Alabama qualified in the SCRC last year and could be back.

On NBC and in Cal’s press releases, this tournament is called a national championship. It is, of course, not that - it can’t be. It’s a championship, because any tournament can be called a championship, but a National Championship has to be open to all teams, which this is not (yes the LVI tournament is open to all teams, but only one funnels through that way - 16 of the spots in the CRC are by invitation).

One could come up with a pretty fair list of teams - Lindenwood, Central Washington, St. Mary’s, AIC, Arizona State, Air Force, Cal Poly, James Madison, Utah, Bowling Green, Stony Brook, Oklahoma, and San Diego State - that could compete at this level. (We’re not mentioning BYU because both the USA Rugby Collegiate 7s National Championship and the CRC play on Sundays.) We have a feeling that a few others, such as Grand Canyon, Davenport, and Notre Dame College might be in this list, too.

While there’s no doubt that the top end of the CRC is very, very good, it’s also true that the bottom third is not, and that the main prime-time coverage by NBC on Sunday spends half of its time showing some of those teams.

Interestingly, that second list includes several schools that have a long history of athletic and academic success. And it’s not as if Oregon or Auburn or Baylor or North Carolina are being asked.

So there’s the CRC. As usual, it will be good, and in the semifinals and finals, very good. The bottom end might not be pretty, but it will be on television, and that’s good for the game. And those who want to take a break in March to qualify in Vegas can still do that.