THE SPICE IS RIGHT: Take 6 – DIIIWest

THE SPICE IS RIGHT: DIIIWest

It’s getting cold outside, boys and girls, so how about a little spice to heat up your life? We’ve gathered the blogger roundtable for one final time in 2018 to do a little crystal ball gazing and fiery hot take…ing for you. Each blogger has given a hot take about the upcoming spring season, and all of the other bloggers are here to sample the spice, and give their reviews. Was the take too spicy? Not spicy enough? Just right? We’ll be heading into winter mode pretty shortly, but we’ll try to start hitting up season previews beginning later this month, and running a couple per week until teams are back from Winter Break. Today we have DIIIWest bringing some west coast sauce to to the table! Shoutout to NewCentral for his wordy take. 

DIIIWEST’s (aka Vanilla Spice’s) take:
For all intents and purposes, we’ll say Redlands is the 13th ranked team in the country (where they ended before the suspension was enacted)… hot take: Redlands will end the season outside the top 30 in the country AND finish outside the top 4 in SCIAC.

NewRegional: Half mild, half blazin. I would be SHOCKED if Redlands finished outside the top 4 in the SCIAC. Unless there’ve been more transfers I haven’t heard about, a team with Chase Lipscomb, multiple starters returning, and 2 3 star freshmen will not lose to Cal Lu or Whittier. I don’t know what to expect from Redlands this year after the debacle that was last season. They have a bunch of matches set up against teams in the top 30, so I would be surprised if they didn’t at least go .500 against Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, Swat, Whitman, Tufts, Caltech, Pomona, and Gustavus (at home). I’d even toss Southwestern in the mix as well. Going 5-4 would definitely be enough to keep Redlands in the top 30, and even 4-5 should probably do it. I like the take, and maybe I’m giving the team too much credit, but I’m going to say a top 25 finish and a 5-4 decision with Caltech to see who claims 3rd in the SCIAC.

RegAS: This take is like when you initially bite into a pepper and you’re like “eh, it’s not that bad,” but then out of nowhere you bite into a seed and your mouth is on fire. I can very much see the Dawgs slipping out of the top 20 into the 30-40 range. This is a young team, Krimbill’s departure was a big loss and they might be a little unstable after the events of last season. They have plenty of matches on their schedule that could keep them ranked close to where they were or could keep them out of the top 30. Now I’m biting into the seed. This take is SPICY because I don’t think any team in the SCIAC outside of CMS, Pomona and Cal Tech have the firepower to knock Redlands out of the top 4. It’s just not going to happen.

NewCentral: AGGRESSIVELY MILD.

AS: Whatever your favorite hot sauce is, that is this take. If I were to choose, I’d probably choose the Green Sauce at Pio Pio (Shoutout NYC). Its green so you’re kinda like “wtf is this” but then you taste it and you’re like “bruh.” If you in NYC, make it a must. Don’t get it without the sauce or you’re just done. Anyways, I am a big fan of this take because it hits on the fact Redlands isn’t currently inside the top 30, but everyone assumes that they should be. If you look at their roster, I believe that they get back some of the players that were suspended last year, but they’re also coming off a general disaster and a transfer by Krimbill. Given the Redlands culture right now, this could go downhill real quick. You’d think that Redlands has the talent to easily make top 30 and top 4 in the SCIAC (CMS, Pomona, Caltech, wait who’s the other one). They probably do. But they’re also extremely combustible right now. Love the take, it’s hot but it can certainly happen. A truly perfect hot take.

AVZ: Somehow I am getting forced to writing more with the blog after learning via twitter that I have been traded for nothing more than Bitcoin. That means I literally am worth a nonexistent entity with the value only determined by speculation. In spite of this, I think a Redlands team has no chance of falling outside the SCIAC top 4, but outside the top 30 is very possible. Redlands would need to lose to a Pacific, Christopher Newport, or Rhodes for this to come true. As I have been able to read my fellow bloggers answers before my own, none of them did the schedule research to see who they had to play this year. I don’t see them falling to those teams anytime soon so my expectations will be top 25 and fighting for third in the SCIAC with CalTech.

NE: I’m on board for part of this hot take, but the second part is where you lose me. We haven’t seen the Dawgs outside the top-30 in a long time, so even with their losses that by itself warrants at least some Desert Heat dry rub (see what I did there?). However, if you look at Redlands’ upcoming schedule, note all of the teams hanging in the 20-35 range: Mary Washington, Swarthmore, Tufts, Caltech, CNU and Southwestern. To make top-30, they will likely have to beat two of those last three teams. I know they lost Lil’ Krimbill, but they do still have Lipscomb, Leahy, Cummins, Libao and some other younger guys. Remember that this team beat UMW, and Trinity Tx (2x) with ease last year. Now, that may not seem like much on a national or even Pool-C level, BUT those were pretty much TOP-15 WINS! They’ll be worse, but this seems strong, which is what makes it a great take. However, finishing outside the top-4 of the SCIAC is dumbass hot sauce (which I would not recommend). Even if Redlands falls outside the top-30, which will mean finishing behind CMS, PP and Caltech, I don’t believe they are going to lose to Whittier or Cal Lu. C’mon man, what we doing out there, man?

RegNEC: Full disclosure: I know nothing about this year’s Redlands team. Absolutely nothing. Rankings wise, I don’t think it’s at all unrealistic for their to be 30 teams ranked ahead of them by year’s end. Team’s like Lewis & Clark, Skidmore, and Santa Cruz are all in that 30ish range right now, and I have no trouble seeing Redlands be at around that level. This take is like mole sauce—it’s not really hot, but it’s so complex I really don’t even know what’s going on.

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