[JesseK]

This whole ball starvation strategy is a red herring.

Human players are GOOD and getting balls back across the field under the assumption they're not under a time crunch. Yet bots on Einstein will be GOOD at making rapid shots (think about the 2056-1114 pair with their back-and-forth shots).

Here's a partial strategy from my playbook, codenamed "Bunker Buster Bomb":
Scenario: Ball starvation strategy, 5-6 balls behind each player station, other balls are scarce.
1.) Our human players slam our balls across the field in rapid succession
2.) Our alliance rapidly scores 6 balls from 2 bots, concurrent with step 1
3.) The 2 bots that scored split up: 1 bot goes for the balls that crossed the field, 1 bot blocks the opponent's throwing lane
4.) 3rd bot scores 3 balls, concurrent with step 4

Probable points in 20 seconds from a MSC/MAR-esque finals alliance: 24, plus penalties because the opponents didn't get balls out in time or had more than 2 balls/player.

I seriously doubt the bots will be hungry for long. The alliance that starts this sequence first has the upper hand.