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Regarding BYU: Regionals Accommodations?

USA Ultimate College
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#1

With BYU now earning a bid this week in the USA Ultimate rankings, what do you think should happen? It seems to me there are three plausible scenarios:

  1. Northwest teams and USA Ultimate find a way to accommodate BYU to compete in the Series for a chance at Nationals. The NW keeps BYU’s earned bid.

  2. BYU does not get accommodated and is unable to compete at Regionals, but the Northwest gets their bid.

  3. BYU does not get accommodated and the strength bid falls to the next team in the rankings.

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I would bet that the Northwest would prefer to keep the bid, even at the expense of having to play Regionals games on Friday.

But what will USAU do? Even if they accommodate them for Regionals, what do you do if BYU makes the quarterfinals at Nationals? Do you just try to cross the Nationals bridge when you get to it?

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#2

Well the rankings are out and BYU made it, as expected.

It’s hard for me to see USAU accommodating this year --there’s not enough time to adjust schedules and I think a lot of students would be affected, as has already been said.

It’s also tough for me to fully side with BYU. Though I think they’re a great program with an awesome attitude and they clearly play with a great love for the game and competition, all of those guys knowingly went to school that has a history of not letting their students compete on Sundays. There’s a known religious priority/policy. Students make college choices based on school history, reputation, etc. all the time. As a student, you’re choosing to value that over your ability to compete on Sundays, regardless of sport and stage.

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#3

Unless USAU can decide now to accommodate BYU at Nationals there’s really no conversation to be had. From there it’s about if the NW teams can do two consecutive Saturdays or a Friday/Saturday regional. If all of that falls into line, then the NW can keep their bid.

My prediction would be is that nothing changes this year, BYU can’t compete in the series. If that stays the case, the bid has to go to the next top team. I don’t think there’s a good argument for it staying in the NW if BYU can knowingly not finish out the series.

#4

Some really interesting reading about BYU’s rugby team and how they threatened legal action to get USA Rugby to accommodate them: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595053284/Legal-scrum-in-past.html?pg=all

#5

Update: no accommodations, bid stays with NW.

#6

How long would you expect for it to take, for a final decision to be made on the bid allocation? I have no issues with BYU or the NW region, however I find it tough to even consider the thought of NW maintaining a bid when BYU is not given the chance at punching the ticket to Nationals. The next region on the bid allocation waiting list (who knows due to Huck Finn upcoming crazy weekend), should be receiving the bid instead of a random team in the empty slot, whether it’s #30 Victoria or a random upset from Western Washington/Oregon State.

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#7

USAU is going to stay straight and narrow within the college guidelines. That means that the NW will keep a BYU-earned bid. Not sure that’s the “fairest” scenario, but I doubt we will see an exception made.

#8

This hypothetical scenario seems too convenient and I heavily doubt the team would try this, but does BYU still have the option to drop out of the usau rankings? This would force a rerun of the algorithm, affecting wins (against mid to top tier in bid position) and losses (against teams in bid position like Cincinnati). The irony would be their presence being felt without being in the system at all.
I doubt this not because I think usau has a rule against allowing a possible dropout, but mainly because of BYU committing to an action like this. Their physical record becomes a blank slate. All their hard earned wins against top teams disappear with no record to show how close they were to contend for a ticket to nationals. Only the community knowing, that is a tough choice to make.

#9

It’s the choice they’ve made every year, more or less, since their results haven’t mattered much at all until now. They were prepared for this, even if they hoped for accommodation.

#10

I understand that aspect, of traditionally sticking with this choice. I know it’s an unfair question to ask, but this is the first year to my knowledge, that the choice this year has a lot more weight for their program compared to the preceding years. I’m not suggesting anything, just curious on a possible scenario, I rather watch a team that earned a bid at least have a chance to fight for it. But I also don’t want a region to benefit from the deserts of a 4th bid they didn’t “deserve” (ranking wise). That’s the main reason for my question. It’s related to the bid allocation more than the choice (that I respect) made by BYU.

#11

This story is getting some statewide, even national, press. The AP has a story on the wire about it (posted here on the Salt Like Tribune site) and many other sites:

#12

This story takes another twist!

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