That time of the year again...NCAA guesses

[edew]

The school year's started. It's not too soon to cast your picks for the NCAA teams. My guess: Penn State by a landslide. St Johns second, Notre Dame third and Stanford fourth, with a close Princeton and Yale.

I hear that Alex Weber of Germany's bronze medal sabre team is now a freshman at PSU. Alex, Nontapat (who's been training in Korea and Poland all year), Weiercoch, Eim and Burke, and a polish gal for WF. They've got depth and skills in all weapons.

Smart has graduated from SJU, so one of their top sabre fencers is gone -- and even then, Smart isn't nearly as good as Weber.

Stanford has depth in MF, but ME and MS are both quite weak. WF has Iris, and WE may have a sneak or two.

Let's hear your analyses.

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

I don't know. I'll guess.

1st place: Fairleigh Dickenson U.
2nd plcae: MIT
3rd place: Air Force Academy
4th place: Brown U.

[edew]

FDU has very little chance of doing well.

MIT has a surprisingly good women's sabre cadre. Their men's epee isn't too bad either. I don't think they can field a full time, given the tough Northeast region.

Airforce will have a tough time getting to field a strong, full team, since they're part of the Western region with Stanford. However, they do have a very strong epee squad and their sabre isn't that bad (go Vern Thompson).

Brown is the secret to the Northeast. Atilio Tass is the head coach there, second (or third) year there. He's got a good sabre squad and if they can field a decent group of people at NCAAs, they can do well.

[HilandDoug]

Wayne State University in Detroit used to be a big powerhouse along with PennState. Is Wayne still in the thick of things, or are they being crushed by the bigger schools now?

[escrime chick]

Vassar, all the way...
Sigh, only wishful thinking...

[Emfuser]

WSU has some nice showings here and there but they're not the powerhouse they used to be. (At least that's been my experience in the NCAA Midwest Conf. for the past four years.)

Mike

[Peach]

I'm hoping Brandeis *gets* some fencers to the NCAAs this year. That would be a victory as far as I'm concerned. My own kid (she's at Brandeis) was first alternate in WE from her region but came down with mono the weekend of championships, so I was just as glad she didn't go, after all. This year it would be nice if she made it, though, and with the addition of a couple of her club-mates from home who are now at Brandeis I wouldn't be surprised if there were more from there.

--Delia

[veeco]

Originally posted by escrime chick:
<STRONG>"J'escrime, alors je suis"</STRONG>

Je fais de l'escrime, donc je suis.

[edew]

Originally posted by veeco:
<STRONG>

Je fais de l'escrime, donc je suis.</STRONG>

J'escrime, tu'escrime, we all scream for ice cream.

[edew]

Now that the WC's are over, let's go back to this topic...from checking out the various school's squads, there doesn't seem to be any one standout. There is quite a bit of parity, or rather, no one school have a strong field in all weapons. And without fencers in all weapons, it's impossible to have a lock on the NCAA Championships

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

1. Vassar College - I don't know. Maybe they have a shot.
2. Harvard University - With all that money, you figure they might win.
3. Stanford University - That's where all the snobby fencers go because they don't want to go to NYU.
4. NYU - That's where all the snobby fencers go because they don't want to go to Stanford U.

[damianip]

1) St. John's
2) Stanford
3) Notre Dame
4) Rutgers (hey, I can dream)

Paolo

[Pommel]

Well at least that last one was somewhat reasonable. There's no chance of us seeing 355's list. Vassar and Harvard the top 2? No offense to those teams, but that's rather unlikely.

[U.M.Amherst.Sabre95]

Actually, Harvard does not have the luxury of supplying athletic scholarships, and while they are in good shape financially, they have very few major recruits.

Did a brief article on them eariler in the year:
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/...2-fencing.html

Good group of people though, along with some solid coaches.

Evan

[U.M.Amherst.Sabre95]

BTW: Forgot to pass along some kudos to the UMass Team and Head Coach Brad Baker. The team recently participated in its first dual meet of the year, going undefeated on the day against Bard, Vassar, and CCNY (2-0 men, 3-0 women).

More recent results have been posted online at:
http://www.umass.edu/rso/fencing/results.html

This weekend the team will be down at Brown for Round 1 of the NFC's, and I hope to make it down as well to burn through a number of rolls of film.

Once again, good job.

Evan

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

1. Vassar College - I don't know, maybe they have a shot.
2. Bard College - I don't know, maybe they have a shot.
3. CCNY - I believe in Crystal Light so I believe in me.

[escrime chick]

" 1. Vassar College - I don't know, maybe they have a shot.
2. Bard College - I don't know, maybe they have a shot.
3. CCNY - I believe in Crystal Light so I believe in me. "
three_hundred_fifty_five, thanks for your vote of confidence (although I think our chance is slim, which is why I made the initial joke of mentioning Vassar... It is a good thing UMass Amherst is not NCAA... sigh, losing to club teams is demoralizing...
"4. NYU - That's where all the snobby fencers go because they don't want to go to Stanford U. " LOL, a former teammate of mine goes to NYU, snobby doesn't begin to cover it...
Pommel, no offense taken... although it just may motivate us to get out there and prove you wrong

[escrime chick]

hey, btw, speaking of college fencing... anyone else going to be at the NIWFA tournie next weekend @ FDU?

[Pommel]

Actually Escrime Chick, I go to NYU too. No offense taken, though I certainly don't consider myself a snob (then again does any snob consider themself such?) Ah well, whatever.

Good to hear that UMass is doing well, I know a few people over there. Brad is a competent fencer, and I have to imagine he's similarly skilled as a coach. I've generally encountered him as an epee fencer, though from what I hear his sabre fencing has been getting formidable as well.

As far as Harvard is concerned they haven't got much. A beautiful salle, but there aren't many accomplished fencers coming into the program from what I've seen and heard. Brand has only been coach there for a couple of years though, he may be slowly turning the process around for all I know.

[RF]

Man, no one seems to have any legitimate picks... sigh

1. Penn State (some nice recruiting should help put them back over the top)can I get a darth vader face here?
2. Notre Dame (they might have better fencers, but they're always the bride's maid) <img src="graemlins/crap.gif" border="0" alt="[Crap]" />
3. St. John's (they're good, but I don't see them putting it all together again) <img src="graemlins/jester.gif" border="0" alt="[Jester]" />
4. Stanford (because they're in weak regional they'll probably qualify all 12, but their ME is weak and while they have a few stars they don't have any depth, besides that who spells out the entire name of their school for a cheer? I mean seriously l-e-l-a-n-d-s-t-a-n... you get the point)
5. It's a total crap shoot from here on out <img src="graemlins/dunce.gif" border="0" alt="[Dunce]" />