By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Tue Nov 10 2009 7:35pm

Philly | Gotham | Boston | Windy City | Madison | Detroit | Texas | Kansas City | Houston | Oly | Rocky Mountain | Denver

Kansas City (#2 South Central)

First bout: vs. Denver, Friday 7pm

2009 WFTDA record: 8-3

2009 biggest win: 198-77 over Tampa Bay, September 25 (South Central Regional)

2009 biggest loss: 145-44 to Philly, June 28 (East Coast Extravaganza)

2009 closest bout: 135-115 loss to Charm City, July 11

2009 background: Most of KCRW's bouts this year have been big wins, but they don't really have any memorable upsets to their name in 2009, with all of their bouts playing out more or less the way the rankings would have suggested. They did come pretty close to upending tough Charm City in July, holding a 58-29 lead in the first half before falling victim to a signature second-half Charm comeback and losing 135-115. Philly and Texas treated the KC girls more roughly, with Philly dropping a 101-point margin on them in June and Texas swamping them 153-70 in the final of the South Central tournament.

Tournament history: Kansas City has experienced both the highest and lowest points of tournament competition in the last two years. In 2007, they were the very definition of a Cinderella story when they were the 4th of 4 seeds from the West but knocked off Gotham, Tucson and Rat City to claim a shocking victory at the first Nationals. The next year, though, they lost their first Western Regionals bout to Duke City in one of the most memorable derby upsets yet and had their title defense snuffed out after just 60 minutes.

Lowdown: Kansas City has long had a well-deserved reputation for smart effective defense, even with a fair amount of turnover in those defensive platoons over the last couple of years. Rarely do this team's blockers go lone-wolf on opposing jammers -- they're consistently good about staying together and using strength in numbers, with the KC jammers usually getting some time to pick their way through while the opposing team attempts to destroy the KC walls. They're also a team that stays together effectively while still going fast, which can seriously frustrate jammers that rely on their own acceleration rather than offensive blocking schemes.

Players to watch: Kansas City is a particularly fun team to watch for pack play, as they've got a lot of different elements with different strengths. Canny blocker Annie Maul is a master of putting the track-cut trap on opposing jammers, able to power her opponent out of bounds and then shave off speed instantly to force the slowing; meanwhile, her fellow blockers Eclipse, Rita Ploy and Jessika Rabid like to take care of jammers the old-fashioned way by trying to launch them into parking lots. Princess Slay'Ya uses lateral movement exceptionally well to keep opponents frustrated and hemmed up, and pivot Bruz-Her is often found at the front of the pack putting all of those different approaches together.

Unfortunately for Kansas City, one of their most fun players to watch will be watching this tournament herself; rookie jammer Track Rat suffered an exceptionally regrettably timed major injury on Sunday, breaking her fibula just five days before the tournament in practice. That'll put a little more pressure on the standing KCRW jammer rotation, which will likely be built around Hall Balls and Strawberry Cutthroat.

Road to the championship: Kansas City's first-round matchup with Denver looks like it might be the most closely matched of the opening day; Denver's never beaten Kansas City but it's been closer and closer every time, with the most recent meeting being a 132-90 win for KC in a consolation-round bout at last year's Western Regionals. If KC prevails, they get rewarded with a date with #1 North Central seed Windy City -- and Windy City punished KC 155-39 the last time they met, in September 2008. Beyond Windy, Kansas City would face Oly, Gotham or Detroit in the final four, should they get that far.

Roster: 7 Ami‐Geddon // 111 Annie Maul // 999 Bad Omen // 26 Bella Fire // 45 Bomb Pop // 244 Bruz-Her // 44 Damsel of D'Tension // 187 Delia Death // 0 Eclipse // 76 Hayley Vomit // 30 Hall Balls // 11 Jessika Rabid // 1 Missle Toes // 4 Princess Slay-Ya // 19 Rita Ploy // 22 Ruth Canal // 1111 Scratch N Tiff // 85 Strawberry Cutthroat // 84 Tuff Noogies