The Spice is Right: D3NewCentral
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 next month, and running a couple per week until teams are back from Winter Break. NOTE: We started this with the plan to simply post once, but everybody had good responses so we’re turning it into a series! Each blogger will give their hot take over the next week or two and the other bloggers will react. If you missed D3RegNEC’s take, check out his belief that there are only about a dozen teams capable of winning a national championship. Let’s see what D3NewCentral has for us today…
NEWCENTRAL’s (aka GTA: Spice City’s) take:
Kalamazoo will end this year ranked as the fourth best team in the Central.
RegAS: I am definitely reaching for the milk after taking a bite of this habanero-esque take. This is pretty darn spicy looking at what they would need to accomplish to make this happen. There is no way that Wash U and Chicago are going to budge from the top, so as of right now the highest KZoo can rise is to #3. Kenyon is poised for a very good season with Zalenski, Diehl and Paolucci at the helm of this Lords team. KZoo’s strength lies at the top of their lineup and Kenyon instantly negates that with their big 3, so that knocks KZoo down to #4. Then you’re telling me that they have the depth to outlast an all around solid Case squad? I just don’t see it. I do think they should be able to jump a depleted GAC squad and could even earn a 5-4 win over an up and coming Denison team, but after that, I just can’t see it. KZoo ends the season #5 at best, but most likely #6 behind Wash U, Chicago, Kenyon, Case and Denison.
AVZ: For comical relief, NewCentral had “The Middle” by Zedd and Maren Morris as your favorite song as a placeholder until he replaced it with the Kzoo one. Phenomenal. This one is definitely a mouth burner, but with a bit of flavor so at least it’s not crazy painful. NewCentral is putting a lot of pressure on the young guys at the top of the lineup. Little Metzler will need to take a big jump forward and the newcomer Ian Yi will have to be a stud at #1 for this to come true. Daniel Henry in the middle of the lineup will be a great asset, but do the Hornets have enough power to unseat the typical teams at the top. Chicago? No chance. Wash U? Good luck! Kenyon? Probably not. GAC? No Al-Houni means who knows. Denison? Talent is there, but Kzoo could win this. Case? Also possible. I just don’t see Kzoo making the jump to 4 this season. 5 at the highest, but could stay at 6 as well. Since this is a Central specific hot take, I will say it’s as spicy as St. Elmo’s Steakhouse shrimp cocktail sauce. It will clear your sinuses, but you keep coming back for more.
NE: At first glance I thought this was somewhat of a chipotle pepper sauce, more flavorful than burning, but let’s go a bit deeper. In order to parse out just how spicy this take is, let’s take a look at the Central Region. 1) Chicago, 2) GAC, 3) Wash U, 4) Kenyon, 5) Denison, 6) Kalamazoo, 7) Case. Those are the only teams who will realistically challenge for top-4 in the region. So NewCentral is saying KZoo will jump Denison and one other team while holding off Case. The Hornets don’t play GAC, Wash U or Kenyon this spring, which means they will need to beat both Denison and Case, AND have help. While I do believe KZoo will beat Denison and have a shot vs Case, they have to play AT Case, and that for me is enough to at least downgrade that to a tossup. GAC’s spring schedule isn’t up yet, but it would take the Gusties losing to somebody like Case while KZoo beats the Spartans to make this happen, and therefore this take hits you with some SERIOUS after burn.
NewRegional: A horseradish-ish take from NewCentral. At first it’s real jarring and blows out your sinuses, but then you realize there’s some benefit to it and it goes nice on a sandwich. Tytus Metzler and Ian Yi are strong at the top of the lineup but are young. Kalamazoo won’t touch Wash U and Chicago. You could talk me into wins over Denison and Case but those are far from a sure thing. I don’t see them jumping Kenyon, but a possible down year from Gustavus could slot Kzoo in at number 4. Unlikely, but wouldn’t be the most shocking result.
RegNEC: I commend NewCentral for bringing the hotness in this take that clearly I don’t have. I don’t feel like coming up with another analogy for some spicy food, so I’ll just say that this is a very hot take, because it is not likely to come true. I’m not that high on Kzoo, and I actually think Case is going to have a very good year. Wash U and Chicago are way better, and I would put Kzoo behind all of GAC, Case, Kenyon, AND Denison. An win over one (or two) of those four wouldn’t shock me, but no way they win all four.
AS: Now this is like the red sauce at Chicken & Rice. @ me again if you a true New Yorker. It’s that red sauce because this is another take that is NOT going to come true. I don’t like KZoo over any of the top 6 teams, and that includes Denison, which is a team that I NEVER like. I don’t like anyone today, I’m on fire. The last time Kzoo provided us with an upset, Kenyon was coming off of chemotherapy from booting off team cancers off the team. The only way this team comes back to be a top 4 regional team is if they have a major chip on their shoulder from being ousted from postseason play last year due to whatever that was. Color me skeptical.
DIIIWest: Damnnn a sauccccyyyyy take if I’ve ever seen one. Kalamazoo has a solid squad with some potential to make some noise in the Central, but sorry my Zoo animals, top 4 just isn’t going to happen. With the likes of Chicago, Wash U., Gustavus, and Kenyon battling in the same region, I see no other way outside of these 4 teams having a complete stranglehold on the top 4 spots. If, IF, there was a way for a team to insert themselves as a top 4 team in the region, I could see Denison making a case for themselves. But for now, I’ll leave this take as “saucccyyyy” (whatever that means) and give it a slim chance of happening.
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