Ball Brothers Brawl (BBB) is being hosted by Ball State tomorrow as they look to capture their second tournament in this very young season.
First things first, check out the pools:
POOL A
Bowling Green
Marquette
Purdue
Merc
POOL B
Ball State Cardinals
Miami
Tennessee Tech
Wolverine Quidditch
University of Southern Indiana
POOL C
Michigan
Blue Mountain Quidditch Club
Falcon Warriors
Ball State Horcruxes
Bowling Green and Ball State both look poised to take high seeds into bracket play. However, Marquette has pulled out surprising good performances in the past, and could potentially keep the defending regional champions in check. Purdue has also shown flashes of brilliance in the past, but after an epic collapse last season, this team has a lot of unanswered questions about rosters, leadership, and even existence. I've yet to see a merc team roster, so I can't say anything to their potential ability, but merc teams have been potentially tough outs in the past.
Obviously, anything but a 3-0 record in pool play is a failure for Bowling Green. They put on a dominating performance a TOTS and looked to be the best or second best team there. Their beater play was dominant, and their chaser game had a new pace that really pushed opposing defenses.
Ball State is coming off a championship in the aforementioned TOTS, but their chaser play looked sluggish and very beatable. Their beaters, while very solid defensively, did not do much to open up space on offense. Still, in this pool, they should dominate. Miami's upset of BMQC shows that they have the ability to match good athletes, but their subsequent dismantlings by Bowling Green show that they are a team that can't do it consistently yet. Tennessee Tech (TT) is also an interesting wild card, and could make this the pool of death, but they are also suffering from the loss of a plethora of players from last season, and could be looking at a rebuilding year. Michigan's B team may be able to hang with a weak showing from Miami/TTU for a while, but ultimately I do not see them winning any games other than USI.
Pool C is where it gets interesting. BMQC and Michigan is going to be a very telling matchup for both teams. With Crashley back in the beater lines for BMQC, our beater game could be very effective. At the same time, Michigan's chasers might be, overall, the most athletic in the Midwest, and they will look to utilize mismatches there. I expect this pool to come down to a snitch. Then we have a pair of JV teams, which shouldn't compete with UM or BMQC, but should have a very interesting matchup amongst themselves
Overall, I think the semi-finals has to be BG, Ball State, BMQC, and UM. I think the most likely finals matchup is UM vs BGSU, and believe that BG will win the tournament. But, there is potential for TTU to make a good run if they have reloaded from last year well enough, and potential for Miami to pull an upset to reach the semi's, but I can't see a scenario where either TTU or Miami makes the finals.
Cool, now I need to go pack and leave. Thanks for reading. See you at the tourney.