ECE 2009 Sunday Preview

By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Sun Jun 28 2009 9:25am

10:30am -- Burning River vs. Brewcity: Cleveland's Burning River will be coming off a Saturday bout against DC, while Milwaukee's Brewcity will have just faced Minnesota.

Tournament implications: Depending on what happens on Saturday, this bout could very easily amount to a play-in bout for the North Central tournament. Both teams are currently officially ranked by WFTDA just outside of the cutoff for tournament invites, with Burning River sitting at NC #11 and Brewcity at #12. Both seem likely to bump up based on previous performance in this quarter, with Burning River having almost surprised NC #4 Cincinnati in April (107-93) and Brewcity having come similarly close to NC #5 Arch Rival (81-70), in addition to having squeaked by NC #8 North Star 92-91 this month.

11am -- Ohio vs. Montreal: Ohio plays their single game of the weekend against the irrepressible crew from north of the border on Sunday. The Columbus girls have had a pretty rough time of it over their relatively long existence, going 6-15 in their 21 WFTDA-sanctioned bouts, and just barely winning in their triumphs. With the exception of two +100 point blowouts over young Gem City, their four other wins have been by 3, 1, 3 and 4 points. Montreal will be coming off a Saturday bout against Atlanta and will be hoping to get out of the weekend with their first -- or second -- WFTDA-sanctioned win.

Tournament implications: Ohio sits 3 spots out of a North Central invite at NC #13, but they did manage to squeak by current NC #10 Naptown in a narrow 66-62 bout earlier in June. It's hard to imagine them getting past Brewcity and Burning River for that #10 spot, though, both of whom have had more success against the region's top 10. Montreal won't qualify for a tournament invite due to not having played two bouts against their Eastern Region rivals.

12:30pm --  Grand Raggidy vs. Dominion: Both teams here are looking to arrest recent slides. Grand Raggidy was abused by Detroit and Cincinnati earlier this year, losing both bouts by over 100 points; Dominion suffered equally rough treatment at the hands of DC and Atlanta.

Tournament implications: Grand Raggidy very much needs at least one victory this weekend to stay in the tournament hunt; there are about seven teams battling for the bottom four spots in their fluid North Central region. Dominion, currently officially at #10 in the East, probably has to win impressively in both weekend games to get in to the East Regional. They've already lost big to East #12 DC, 159-35, and will face East #11 Connecticut on Saturday.

1pm -- DC vs. Fort Wayne: After a rough start to their interleague action, DC has strung two wins together for the first time with a narrow 90-83 win over Dutchland in March and a 159-35 romp over Dominion in April. Fort Wayne is 4-2 in their 2009 action, but their wins have been mostly over lowly ranked teams.

Tournament implications: DC, sitting at #12 in the East Region, needs an impressive showing in both bouts this weekend to jump past East #11 Connecticut for the last tournament slot (they've already taken care of the #10 slot with the win over Dominion.) Fort Wayne's fate is not entirely in their hands, as they sit at #9 in their North Central region but recently narrowly lost to NC #10 Naptown. A bad weekend would probably drop them out of the region's top ten, and a good one would still leave their seeding contingent on the fortunes of their regional rivals.

2:30pm -- Connecticut vs. Minnesota: Minnesota has two bouts against rapidly improving teams this weekend (the first is against BrewCity on Saturday). While Minnesota would have to be considered favorites in both, a couple of upsets aren't outside the realm of possibility. Connecticut demonstrated very smart strategic play in a big win over WFTDA newbies Suburbia in a 124-38 rout last weekend, and is clearly itching to keep their star rising.

Tournament implications: Two losses for Minnesota this weekend would be extremely detrimental for their tournament hopes, but the out-of-region Connecticut bout is less of a direct problem. Connecticut is basically in a dogfight with DC for the East #10 spot, and while their Saturday bout with Dominion is the most direct comparison point with DC, a good and/or successful showing against Minnesota would bolster their case.

3pm -- Atlanta vs. #21 Cincinnati: Atlanta has long been hovering just outside of the unofficial DNN top 25 Power Rankings, and this bout presents a golden opportunity to bust into them. Cincinnati will be coming off what is likely to be a very tough bout against #2 Windy City on Saturday, and the question will be whether they perform better against a less experienced team or whether the Saturday match leaves them with little left for the Dirty South.

Tournament implications: Both teams are pretty much locks to get into their respective tournaments here -- Atlanta is at South Central #5 and Cincy at North Central #4. For Cincy, this weekend is mostly about staying ahead of #5 NC Arch Rival, who have a good case for moving up after a big out-of-region upset of DNN's national #12, Duke City.

4:30pm -- #19 Madison vs. Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay, like Ohio, is only playing one bout this weekend. They'll probably have their hands full with Madison, though. Though TBDD was victorious in the mostly non-WFTDA Sunshine Skate tournament in February -- the unofficial Florida State Championship -- they have been on an 0-3 skid in WFTDA sanctioned action, most recently going down 165-82 to Dallas. Madison will be coming off a bout against Kansas City and is a team known for having no mercy when they have the advantage -- at last year's ECE, they put up the biggest point margin with a 250-38 pummeling of Fort Wayne.

Tournament implications: Probably not serious on either side. Madison is definitely going to the North Central tourney, as they sit at NC #3 and only some highly unexpected outcomes would move them up or down. Tampa is at #8 in the South Central, but SC #9 Assassination City and SC #10 No Coast don't have the scalps that would raise them over Tampa given this weekend's events.

5pm -- #2 Windy City vs. #8 Boston: The highest-level bout of the Sunday action finds the second place team of 2008 Nationals going up against a Boston team that has prospered from educational losses to top-flight teams in 2009. While Boston went down to #1 Gotham, #3 Philly and #7 Charm City this year, it was clear that they'd learned from their experiences when they hung tough with #4 Texas for almost an entire bout before falling out of striking distance. Without a doubt, Windy City is the favorite here -- but an upset is by no means out of the realm of possibility.

Tournament implications: Really, not too many with this one. Boston is pretty much certain to land at either #4 or #5 in the East depending on the outcome of their Saturday battle with Carolina, while Windy City has already staked a solid claim to #1 in the North Central by defeating #2 NC Detroit. A win here for Boston would give them a lot of confidence going into the tough Eastern Regional tournament, while Windy City would solidify their national position by turning away the Boston threat.

6:30pm -- #9 Carolina vs. #14 Detroit: This match will end up being a rematch of the third-place bout of the 2007 Regionals, where Detroit trailed for most of the bout but made a serious run in the end at Carolina before losing by 10 points. That was some time ago in the quick evolution of derby, though. While Detroit sits higher in their respective region than Carolina does, this bout could very well be a toss-up.

Tournament implications: Ranking wise, this is a mirror image of the previous Windy City / Boston bout, with both teams more or less locked in to whatever regional ranking they had entering -- and both teams likely to draw regional-tournament confidence from a win over the other.

7pm -- #3 Philly vs. #18 Kansas City: See DNN's Feature Preview.

Additional reporting: Chairman Meow