[ALIBI]

Curie, OK, I am biased. The most likely division to produce the champs is just too difficult to guess this year. Teams that have done well and that are expected to do well look out. You have got a target on your back and when any alliance goes against you they will try their hardest to shut you down. This years algorithm for match pairings and in championship field assignments has more than ever before attempted to level the playing field. At West Michigan I saw for the first time ever, at least for me, a strange patern. None of the actual 1st picks came from within the top eight seeds (one team did decline). Absolute quality teams that know how to win were way down in seeding due to what I believe was effective deffense during their qualifying matches. The winning alliance will be the alliance that can sort through all of the quality teams and put together the right combination (discussion in another thread). I went back to see why we were finalist twice last year without a regional win, the other alliance shut down our offensive weapon(s) so that they could win, simple as that. Out of respect for Michigan teams and our friends in neighboring/near by states and country, I do believe that Curie does have a lot of teams with the ability to put together winning alliances and the depth of teams in Curie is going to produce one tough winner. There are just too many teams in Curie that know how to win when faced with tough competition.