Big College Sevens Tournament #2 kicks off this weekend in New Orleans with May Madness, run by NCR.
The tournament has six divisions, with the largest in a bracket format rather than a pool-playoffs format. That means that the first game for every team is a must-win if they want to get the Cup. Losing teams get funneled into consolation brackets. It drives up the intensity, that's for sure.
This format also allows NCR to host more teams on the fields in and around The Shrine on Airline Stadium in the Big Easy. There are a total of five fields hosting 110 teams—NCR says this is the largest ever collegiate rugby tournament, and there's no reason to think otherwise. College Rugby has a special place in the American landscape, and certainly the number of teams in this event dwarfs any other tournament.
In the event there are four men's competitions, with a Men's Premier, Men's DI Club, Men's DII, and Men's Small College.
Here's a quick look at all of these:
Men's Small College
This division is massive, and it should be as NCR's bread and butter has been small college competition. Several teams who have shown well in the 15s arena should be favored here, but watch out for some dark horses.
Favorites include New Mexico Tech, which impressed in the ACR spring playoffs and before that in NCR's fall playoffs. They don't care; they just want to play. It has ben NMT's dynamic backline and understanding of space that won them games in 15s, and will make them a force to reckoned with in 7s.
Christendom, which won the fall 2021 small-college championship brings an interesting combination of pace and power. Well, some pace, and a lot of power. Their approach is to free up big runners, and they can do that. Wayne State is very quick and elusive and their final pool game against Christendom is one fans will want to circle on the schedule. The same goes for New Mexico Tech vs Susquehanna, possibly the most dangerous team out of Pennsylvania.
Who else to keep an eye on? Babson is a very smart, cohesive group. VMI, which not that long ago was in a national DII final in 15s, will be fit and powerful. Southern Nazarene is a brand new school-supported program that could be a real surprise.
Men's DII
This is the level of play where NCR has really made an impact. When various conferences and divisions decided whether or not to move under the NCR umbrella, most of Men's DII did so, and it's become a key component of what NCR is about. Several of these teams are really, really good at 7s. Principia has won a championship at 7s before and they are probably stronger at that game than 15s. Wisconsin-Whitewater has a history of being strong at both and has emerged as one of the strongest out of the always-tough Great Midwest. Nothern Iowa is out of there, too, and as the best of the non-varsity DII 15s teams, bring a physical and team-oriented approach to their play.
IUP and The Citadel are on a bit of a collision course in their pool and that's a game to watch. But there are more games like that: UNI vs Georgetown is one. In fact, that entire pool is a bit wild with UMass Lowell and St. Louis University both also capable of winning the pool. If everyone in that pool goes 1-1-1 we won't be surprised.
Norwich vs Whitewater and UNC Wilmington vs Principia highlight a 16-team division where there are no easy games.
Men's DI Club
This is a small division of only eight teams. It's probably not quite as strong as the Men's Red division in the R7CC a week ago in Atlanta. One team, Sam Houston State, has opted to play in both and their experience in Atlanta, where they didn't win a game but were very competitive, could stand them in good stead here.
Salisbury and Purdue, and potentially UConn, could contend here.
