My admittedly garbage Nationals preview

As we all know, CUC 2008 is taking place this week. As is becoming a tradition, the Hounds will be well-represented: Carla and Connie will be playing with Lotus; Bonnie, Nat, Sarah and Frogger will be kicking ass with Tundra, Lyanne will be trying to lead Big Hammers to an improvement on their 7th place finish last year...and Tien will be working on his anger management with Roy.

Play well, have fun, and bring back some shiny medals!

Now, as much as I like to act like I know everything, I actually don't. Please, don't be so shocked...it's true. So, with the bar being set really low, here are my somewhat-but-not-really-informed Nationals Predictions:

Mixed

Does anyone else think that Ontario got a bit of the shaft with these seedings? I mean, I know that most teams stunk up the joint at Mixed Up, but the top seed is Monster with the 8th seed. Really? Last year there were 4 teams from Ontario in the top 8, so this year if seeds hold there will be one. I disagree. Although that's because I am going to totally crap over the Alberta and Prairie teams (who I know nothing about).

Pool A looks pretty simple with TFP and Monster likely to finish 1-2, unless TFP loses its focus after winning the Worlds. Swarm will finish third, which could be the highlight of their tournament. Don't worry about Wannabego.

Pool B is where Tundra is, and they have a tough road ahead of them as the 15th seed. They have championship contenders Gecko as the top seed, Saskquatch (I wonder where they are from?) and the always solid Mayhem. Gecko takes the pool easily, and I'm calling Mayhem and Tundra to take down the farmers. I think Tundra will really have to come out firing and utilize their women and height against Mayhem. If they can stop Mayhem's flow, they can take second in the pool, which would be great considering not much will be expected of them coming in.

Pool C looks like the Group of Death, with Psychoplastique (AB #1), RIP, Clearcut (BC #2) and Big Hammers all with legitimate claims to the top seed. Anyone in this pool could finish first or last, so I'm going to say it ends up being RIP, Big Hammers, Clearcut and Psychoplastique, in that order. I don't expect anyone to escape this pool with a 3-0 record.

Pool D is Onyx's for the taking, and 2nd likely comes down to who wins the Liquid/Bronco game in the morning. I don't see good things in BFC's future...I think they are a solid team, but I think others will rise above them. Although they could surprise and nab the 3rd spot on their experience from last year (yeah, I'm hedging a bit).

Quarterfinals - I'm going to go with TFP, Monster, Onyx, Liquid, Gecko, RIP, Big Hammers and Clearcut as the final 8, with TFP and Gecko meeting in the finals. That's right, I'm really going out on a limb to predict the top two seeds make the finals!!

I think Tundra will finish around 10th (although I'm really hoping for top 8), and if they do better, it's because Bonnie got mad at someone and took over.

[As an aside:

Dear Ontario teams,

Please do well and place as many teams in the top 8 as possible.

Sincerely,

Me

Given the number of touring teams in the province (especially compared to every other region) we need as many bids as possible for Nats. If Snipe beat Gecko last year on Day 2, Ontario gets another bid and Zen makes it to Nationals. Just sayin'...]

Women's

Unlike Mixed where a case could be made for half the teams to win the whole enchilada, Women's looks like it doesn't quite have that same depth. I see Stella, Storm and Lotus (as long as they take Bushfire seriously) taking their respective pools, leading to an all-Ontario final that will be the closest final of the day. If I have to make a choice, I'll say that Stella takes it on universe point over Lotus. PPF and Bushfire are my darkhorse picks.

Open

Last year Invictus finished third behind Furious and Goat (they almost beat Goat on Day 2). So, not seeing either of those two teams playing this week, plus the fact that Invictus will be playing at home, I'm calling them to win it over Nomads from BC. Phoenix might surprise and make the finals. Then again, they might not.

I don't envision anyone seeded 9th and lower moving into the top 8. If Roy beats it's 12 seed, that means they had a good tournament.

Juniors

I have no clue, so I'm just going to say that the BC kids beat the Toronto kids again this year.

Masters

All I know about Masters is that when your team is seeded 3rd, and your leaders see me in a bar 3 days before the tournament begins and ask if I'm old enough to play, then your team is probably in trouble. So, don't expect much from Fossil this week.

It doesn't really matter, GLUM will win, probably over Figjam.

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So, there you have my predictions. I'm curious to see how close I end up . Although, with no posts up yet on the esteemed sites (Cultimate, Canadian Ultimate) or even the non-esteemed ones (cough *Big Fish guy's blog* cough) these could be the definitive prognostications for CUC 2008.

Does that make my guesses sound more valid? No? Oh well...that's what I figured.

Good luck Hounds!