June 7, 2023

We have checked in on the Open qualifiers, trying to determine an order of strength. It’s been a fun exercise, starting with the 17s division before moving onto the 16s. It’s 15 Open’s turn to see how the qualifiers stack up. There were a couple that rose to the top in a big way. The method we used was hardly perfect and is relative of course. At the same time, it does shed light on what may be the toughest qualifier of the season. The factors we used to determine the list we came up with are 1) Number of eventual Open qualifiers; 2) Percent of Eventual Open qualifiers from the overall field; 3) The number of ranked teams from vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50; 4) the average rank of the teams from the Top 50. We took the average of those four rankings and listed them from 1-12 for each qualifier. The full breakdown is below, with comments. 15 OPEN RED ROCK RAVE (*Average – 1.5) (overall rank – 1) Number of Teams: 38 Bids Available: 3 Number of Previously-Qualified Teams: 0 Number of Eventual Open Qualifiers: 15 (overall rank – 1)* Percent Eventually Qualified from Field: 39 (overall rank – 1)* Number of Ranked Teams from vballrecruiter.com Top 50: 22 (overall rank – t1)* Average Rank: 23 (overall rank – t3)* Comment: Having done the 16 and 17 Open divisions already, 15 Open at Red Rock Rave blows everything away so far. It was an unbelievably tough qualifier in every aspect. Toss in the fact that there was no trickle-down in play and this was truly an insane qualifier! It had 15 eventual Open qualifiers, which is more than a third of the field we’ll see in Chicago. Those 15 teams made up 39 percent of the field in Las Vegas, which was tops for percent of eventual Open qualifiers. It also tied Lone Star for 22 teams from the Top 50 and tied for third for Top-50 average at 23. *** LONE STAR CLASSIC (Avg: 2.25) (2) Number of Teams: 39 Bids Available: 3 Number of Previously-Qualified Teams: 8 Number of Eventual Open Qualifiers: 13 (2) Percent Eventually Qualified from Field: 33 (5) Number of Ranked Teams from vballrecruiter.com Top 50: 22 (t1) Average Rank: 22 (t1) Comment: Lone Star would outshine any qualifier in any other division except that’s how insanely strong Red Rock was this year. Lone Star was nearly as incredible, possibly more so because it had the opposite of no trickle down. With eight teams holding bids, it was possible no one would qualify there. Lone Star also tied for highest Top-50 average rank at 22. Which like Red Rock, isn’t to be taken lightly considering there were 22 teams from the Top 50. Both were ridiculously deep and competitive fields. *** WINDY CITY (Avg: 3.75) (3) Number of Teams: 23 Bids Available: 2 Number of Previously-Qualified Teams: 6 Number of Eventual Open Qualifiers: 8 (t6) Percent Eventually Qualified from Field: 35 (3) Number of Ranked Teams from vballrecruiter.com Top 50: 12 (5) Average Rank: 22 (t1) Comment: Windy City was carried by tying Lone Star for highest Top-50 average. What are method doesn’t take into consideration is that there were only 23 teams in the field. Twelve were from our Top 50 and it was the highest-ranked field with Lone Star. Windy City was small, but pound-for-pound it was heavyweight stuff. *** FAR WESTERN (Avg: 4.5) (4) Number of Teams: 27 Bids Available: 3 Number of Previously-Qualified Teams: 7 Number of Eventual Open Qualifiers: 10 (5) Percent Eventually Qualified from Field: 37 (2) Number of Ranked Teams from vballrecruiter.com Top 50: 11 (6) Average Rank: 25 (5) Comment: This was a huge surprise! Far Western is typically not viewed as a stronger qualifier. However, it checks in at No. 4 based on our averages. The Top-50 average rank of 25 was strong, as was being second at 37 in percent of eventual Open qualifiers. There were also seven teams with bids, so it was possible only one bid could have gone out. And with 11 teams from the Top 50 combined with the high average rank, it’s easy to see now why Far Western ranks so highly. *** NORTHERN LIGHTS (Avg: 5) (5) Number of Teams: 40 Bids Available: 3 Number of Previously-Qualified Teams: 1 Number of Eventual Open Qualifiers: 11 (t3) Percent Eventually Qualified from Field: 28 (t8) Number of Ranked Teams from vballrecruiter.com Top 50: 15 (3) Average Rank: 27 (t6) Comment: Northern Lights rounds out the Top 5. It was a larger field with a solid Top-50 average rank that tied for sixth. It also had a large number of teams from the Top 50 with 15. *** SUNSHINE CLASSIC (Avg: 5.25) (6) Number of Teams: 32 Bids Available: 3 Number of Previously-Qualified Teams: 0 Number of Eventual Open Qualifiers: 11 (t3) Percent Eventually Qualified from Field: 34 (4) Number of Ranked Teams from vballrecruiter.com Top 50: 13 (4) Average Rank: 29 (t10) Comment: Sunshine was early, and thus had no teams with bids. That’s hard to account for because there is no trickle-down. Sunshine ranked really well in eventual Open qualifiers, percent of eventual Open qualifiers and teams from the Top 50. However, it was dragged down by a lower average rank of those Top-50 teams. *** MEQ (Avg: 6.5) (7) Number of Teams: 24 Bids Available: 3 Number of Previously-Qualified Teams: 2 Number of Eventual Open Qualifiers: 7 (8) Percent Eventually Qualified from Field: 29 (7) Number of Ranked Teams from vballrecruiter.com Top 50: 8 (8) Average Rank: 23 (t3) Comment: MEQ moved the 15s from its regular weekend this year and the typical number of entrants fell from 48 to 24. It made MEQ a smaller qualifier but among the stronger ones in terms of average Top-50 rank. MEQ tied for third. It just didn’t rank in the top half in the other three areas. *** BIG SOUTH (Avg: 7.5) (8) Number of Teams: 40 Bids Available: