Christian Ultimate
Disc League

First Impressions

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The third regular season of the CUDL is over— and what a season it has been. 

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We've seen some crazy good ultimate over the last three weeks. Yet those three weeks have shaped the playoffs in more ways than one. No one will have an easy path to championship week; no team can be dismissed.

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There's a lot to unpack, so I'll get right down to it.

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So What Happened?

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Rather than going team by team, I'm going to attempt a league-wide, big-picture approach.

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1. No one wants to play the Disc-iples

 

The Disc-iples are being talked about a lot. But perhaps... they're not talked about enough?

The Disc-iples currently hold the largest win streak of any CUDL2023 team. They've won six consecutive games. They've beaten every one of their top competitors comfortably. They're averaging over 17 points per game over the last six games while keeping their opponents to a meager 11 points per game. This is not the same team that started the season (0-3) with a stat line that could lose to the Detroit Mechanix.

This poses a serious problem to the league as a whole, and here's why:

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The Disc-iples have beaten six of the seven other teams in the league at least once. Chances are they can do it again. The Disc-iples are third place at (6-3). But in my mind, this team is the single biggest championship contender for CUDL2023.

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2. Underdogs gonna underdog

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On the other side of the spectrum are HammerTime and the Knights. Both teams have only won one of their last seven games and are ranked seventh and eighth in the league, respectively. HammerTime just missed out on a season-saving win in week nine, falling 15-16 to the Scoobers. The Knights, meanwhile, shouldered another crushing defeat, this time to the Landsharks. The Landsharks, hungry for an end-of-the-season win and hoping for a chance at first place, took the win 26-13. 

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But all may not be as it seems. HammerTime has been chronically understaffed these past few games. Further, their team has a ton of talent— it's just that the results haven't been there. I had the chance to talk with Red's team captain about his view of his team and his hopes for the rest of the season. Brennon seems to believe that while his team is fantastic, they just haven't been able to harness their talent in quite the right way yet. The talent is there, he says, but the teamwork isn't quite. While it is perhaps a bit late in the season for such assessments, I believe the point is still true. When Red works together well, the results are fantastic. Consider the first two weeks. Consider the fact that Red led the Tugboats for the better part of the game in week nine. We need to recognize HammerTime as a good team. Otherwise, they might just pull off another underdog championship run like the past two years...

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Which would honestly be a lot of fun to see.

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The Knights have been quite similarly understaffed; two game-influencing players in particular have been missing for several weeks. While I'm not predicting a wild come-from-behind championship run, I would note that the addition of a full roster would significantly boost Camo's potential stat line in the playoffs.

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Both these teams are a lot of fun to play with and to watch play. They're also, unfortunately, going to be quite unpredictable going into the playoffs.

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3. Scheduling conflicts

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I think it is equally important to address the date change for the first week of the playoffs. After long deliberation, week one of the CUDL2023 playoffs was moved back two days. The league was made aware of mass scheduling conflicts that would have effectively reduced the number of players to about two-thirds of the normal number. At least four team captains would be gone and several teams would have been reduced to seven or fewer team members. The move from Friday to Sunday helped alleviate this problem immensely. However, as with any last-minute change, it also created problems that are worth mentioning. Purple and Yellow, for example, will both will be missing valuable players in week ten as a direct result of the schedule change— Purple could be missing as many as four players from their starting roster. 

Bottom line: the schedule change definitely affected CUDL for the better, but there are trade-offs that we'll have to keep an eye on.

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4. The race for fourth place

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At this point, three teams have really set themselves apart as league leaders: The Tugboats, Landsharks, and Disc-iples. I don't mean to say that they cannot be beaten, nor that these are the only 'good' teams, nor even that the championship is guaranteed to one of these teams.

What I am saying is this: the top three teams seem to be extremely evenly matched, and the bottom five teams seem to be evenly matched. As such, there seems to be a five-way race for fourth place between those bottom five teams. Right now, the Green Eggs and Hammers are holding on to that fourth-place spot by a narrow eight-point margin over the Scoobers. But since Yellow plays Green in week ten, that position is nowhere near guaranteed. In fact, every one of these teams has a very reasonable chance at fourth place.

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The point here isn't to compare teams or pretend that lower-ranked teams aren't capable of winning in the playoffs. Rather, I find it interesting (and somewhat infuriating) to observe the evenness of the bottom five teams and to speculate on how many different ways the playoffs could go because of it. 

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Final Whistle

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When it comes right down to it, the path to championship week is quite simple: win two times. Sure, it's interesting and helpful to look at statistics and records and predictions. But two wins is all it takes.

Every team has won at least once; every team has lost at least once. That means that every team can feasibly win in week ten, and every team can feasibly lose. To a certain extent, it doesn't matter that one team is 'better' than the other, or that one team is 'expected' to win.​

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Play hard and play well. That's what it takes to win.

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And if I do say so myself, CUDL playoffs tend to bring out the hardest and the best. 

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Only one team will leave CUDL2023 as Champion. I can't wait to find out who it'll be.

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The Call

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As is my habit, I will give my take on the next week's games at the end of each article. Feel free to disagree with me; this is just my opinion. It's also worth noting that I am often miserably, miserably wrong. Put your own calls in the comments below!

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Eggs and Hammers - Scoobers:

Eggs and Hammers, 18 - 13

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Disc-iples - Wind:

Disc-iples, 17 - 12

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Landsharks - HammerTime:

Landsharks, 14 - 8

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Tugboats - Knights:

Tugboats, 16-6