May Madness 7s Is Huge: Here's a Look at the Men's Divisions
May Madness 7s Is Huge: Here's a Look at the Men's Divisions
Big College Sevens Tournament #2 kicks off this weekend in New Orleans with May Madness, run by NCR.
The tournament has six divisions, with the largest in a bracket format rather than a pool-playoffs format. That means that the first game for every team is a must-win if they want to get the Cup. Losing teams get funneled into consolation brackets. It drives up the intensity, that's for sure.
This format also allows NCR to host more teams on the fields in and around The Shrine on Airline Stadium in the Big Easy. There are a total of five fields hosting 110 teams—NCR says this is the largest ever collegiate rugby tournament, and there's no reason to think otherwise. College Rugby has a special place in the American landscape, and certainly the number of teams in this event dwarfs any other tournament.
In the event there are four men's competitions, with a Men's Premier, Men's DI Club, Men's DII, and Men's Small College.
Here's a quick look at all of these:
Men's Small College
This division is massive, and it should be as NCR's bread and butter has been small college competition. Several teams who have shown well in the 15s arena should be favored here, but watch out for some dark horses.
Favorites include New Mexico Tech, which impressed in the ACR spring playoffs and before that in NCR's fall playoffs. They don't care; they just want to play. It has ben NMT's dynamic backline and understanding of space that won them games in 15s, and will make them a force to reckoned with in 7s.
Christendom, which won the fall 2021 small-college championship brings an interesting combination of pace and power. Well, some pace, and a lot of power. Their approach is to free up big runners, and they can do that. Wayne State is very quick and elusive and their final pool game against Christendom is one fans will want to circle on the schedule. The same goes for New Mexico Tech vs Susquehanna, possibly the most dangerous team out of Pennsylvania.
Who else to keep an eye on? Babson is a very smart, cohesive group. VMI, which not that long ago was in a national DII final in 15s, will be fit and powerful. Southern Nazarene is a brand new school-supported program that could be a real surprise.
Men's DII
This is the level of play where NCR has really made an impact. When various conferences and divisions decided whether or not to move under the NCR umbrella, most of Men's DII did so, and it's become a key component of what NCR is about. Several of these teams are really, really good at 7s. Principia has won a championship at 7s before and they are probably stronger at that game than 15s. Wisconsin-Whitewater has a history of being strong at both and has emerged as one of the strongest out of the always-tough Great Midwest. Nothern Iowa is out of there, too, and as the best of the non-varsity DII 15s teams, bring a physical and team-oriented approach to their play.
IUP and The Citadel are on a bit of a collision course in their pool and that's a game to watch. But there are more games like that: UNI vs Georgetown is one. In fact, that entire pool is a bit wild with UMass Lowell and St. Louis University both also capable of winning the pool. If everyone in that pool goes 1-1-1 we won't be surprised.
Norwich vs Whitewater and UNC Wilmington vs Principia highlight a 16-team division where there are no easy games.
Men's DI Club
This is a small division of only eight teams. It's probably not quite as strong as the Men's Red division in the R7CC a week ago in Atlanta. One team, Sam Houston State, has opted to play in both and their experience in Atlanta, where they didn't win a game but were very competitive, could stand them in good stead here.
Salisbury and Purdue, and potentially UConn, could contend here.
Men's Premier
This is the division with the bracket format. That's because they have 32 teams in there. Here are the matchups with some notes:
Indiana vs Florida—Both teams played at the R7CC but in different divisions. Indiana is a solid, perhaps more than solid, team, and kind of underperformed. They dropped a game against Cal Poly they needed to win and will be wanting to be more consistent this time around.
AIC vs Michigan—This is a bit of a tossup game and Michigan, which showed quite well in Big 10 action, could win this one.
Dartmouth vs Virginia Tech—Dartmouth's 7s history might hold sway here. They know how to play the possession game.
Notre Dame vs Clemson—An excellent matchup. Clemson was the only non-D1A team in the Men's Gold division at the R7CC. They ended up in the Bowl Final, so they didn't do too badly. They learned a lot and, if healthy, could be a contender.
Army vs Air Force—Ouch. Touch draw for the two military academies. Air Force has more pace and already played in the R7CC. Army? Not sure, but they have talent and work rate.
Iowa State vs Louisville—Another matchup of a team that played in the R7CC (ISU), and one that didn't. Both won their conference tournaments, and this is a tossup.
Notre Dame College vs Nazareth—NDC has been playing some really exciting 7s this spring.
Mount St. Mary's vs West Chester—MSM won the Chesapeake Conference series and they have a bunch of young players who are experienced in select-side 7s action.
Cal Maritime vs Minnesota—Cal Maritime is a DII team in this group. They would be delighted to shock a few teams. The Gophers are probably favored but in the end it's about the seven guys you have on the field.
Iona vs Iowa Central—Iowa Central could certainly win this one.
Kutztown vs Maryland—KU is favored here. They have a long 7s history and they won a major NCR qualifier.
South Carolina vs Northeastern—USC went 3-0 in Pool Play at the R7CC but were summarily dumped by Harvard in the quarterfinals. They have a tough opener here but have to be motivated to go further in the bracket.
Penn State vs Fordham—Penn State started slowly in Atlanta but ended up winning the Bowl. They could win more than that this time around as they have some fine 7s players.
Wheeling vs Harvard—Watch out Harvard, Wheeling players are very, very fast.
St. Bonaventure vs LSU—One of the prominent DI programs that has been really quiet even coming out of COVID, LSU might have a bit of a party in New Orleans this week. SBU is smooth.
Lindenwood vs JMU—Sorry James Madison, Lindenwood, even with some different players, should take this and remains one of the favorites to win it all.
