Aftershock.

Lee Berg is one man Wolf Pack. Without him, Tulane hasn’t been the same.

Most current players don’t remember, as my age group does, a time when Tulane was a relevant opponent. This year they are in a position to make a comeback. They have four good college ultimate players, and the necessary athlete or two. That combination, in Gulf Coast, would be enough.

The Good
Drew Galigher is arguably the most important spoke in their offense; without him, the wheels tend to fall off. He makes possesion-saving cuts and throws. Brandon Xureb, as his name perfectly implies, is the X-factor and Tulane’s most consistent big playmaker. He’s also the heartbeat of the team, and his energy dictates their pace. His size is his disadvantage; however, non-familiar teams will probably underestimate him over the first few points of a game. Whether or not his early big Ds can translate to late success in games will depend on to what extent his teammates rally around him. Greg Cousins is just a sophomore and has a rarity for Gulf Coast–competitive high school experience. Remember that. He is quick, can get up, and his throws are improving (more on that later). Patrick I-don’t-know-his-last-name has the lanky build of your prototypical ultimate player and a practice drive uncharactristic of your typical frisbee player. With captain Jon Schlosberg still recovering from a serious knee injury, the performance of these four players will primarily determine Tulane’s success.

The Bad
The drop-off from here is steep, though not insurmountable. Tulane could run a tight line and still be successful, but they still have time. Defense against a clean offense will be a challenge due to lack of size. On the sideline there are a handful of young athletes who haven’t developed the awareness or disc skills (yet) to make a maximal impact. Not their fault, entirely, and some of them are improving weekly (Andy comes to mind). I’m gonna put my neck out there: too many of the older guys on the team are far too comfortable with their roles, which is ironic because not many of them contribute much of meaning. It’s my opinion that they are just dialing it in to the detriment of Aftershock’s competitiveness. Jon has a tough dilemma. In tight games does he sub to “experience” or to “potential”?

The Ugly
Tyler Conger, with Robert Runner and Greg Ericksen, led UVA to quarters at Columbus before falling to Stephen Presley and Texas. Conger then played with Chase S-B’s Axis of C’ville and significantly contributed to their Summer trip to Prague. Since then, he has helped Nicky Spiva lead Tanasi to back-to-back appearances at Sarasota. He is also, of all things, a really, really nice guy. And he now lives in New Orleans. And he now shows up twice a week to Tulane practices. Greg Cousins is the only one I have seen take Conger up on the offer to put in extra time–and to the benefit of his backhand. Not only has it gained distance, but control and placement. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they haven’t asked Conger to lead more practices. He may as well not be there. So my previous post was one of only slightly disguised incredulity. Because I think this team does deserve its current ranking and should continue to improve (and because Lee called me out), I’m gonna call Tulane out–let Conger be more involved in your learning now and be in the running when you wake up on April 15th.

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