Daniil 'CHL' Pauley analyzes
the playoff brackets and gives his final four predictions, with
responses from Stefan Ruffley, David Wise and Tyler O'Keefe. What do YOU
think of their picks?
Initial Analysis by Daniil 'CHL' Pauley
Click HERE for CHL's bracket predictions
If sitting at my computer picking the NCAA tournament
wasn't stressful enough, now I have to make picks for the CSL March
Madness, too? Good thing I got a couple of extra hours and a rampant
procrastination habit.
Certain matchups will be clear cut, while a few others had
me reaching for a coin to flip. Let's keep the breakdown simple though.
When looking at the bracket we'll call the top-left section the Raynor region, bottom-left the Kerrigan region, top-right the Zeratul region, and finally the bottom-right the Abathur region.
We'll begin with the Raynor region: a
16-team melting pot where all roads point to Toronto's supremacy. This
region holds a strong focus on Canada East/West teams with a few others
peppered in from other divisions. With that information alone I wouldn't
expect too much to come from there. Big storyline will have to surround
Wisconsin-Madison and how well they play. If they can field a seven man
team each weekend I see them making it into at least the sweet sixteen.
Toronto might have an interesting matchup against South Alabama in the
round of 32, but I wouldn't raise many red flags as we saw GT take care
of them with ease towards the end of the regular season. Either way Toronto is my pick to come out of this region.
Lets drop down to the Kerrigan region. I'm
really hyped for this portion of the bracket. Utah, Berkeley, UC San
Diego, Texas Austin, Purdue, Virginia, and Rutgers are just some of the
teams you'll find here. By Ro16 I promise there will be no such thing as
a bad matchup. Ro32 gave me some issues in a couple spots such as the
potential matchups between UC San Diego and Berkeley, and Purdue versus
Virginia. On paper a lot of these schools are very even, especially that
potential Purdue-Virginia matchup. Virginia is one game behind Purdue
in overall record only because of their silly forfeit in the early part
of the season. The Cavaliers get a vote of confidence due to using a
slightly deeper roster during the regular season, that extra experience
poises them to have a stronger showing in a bigger series. Their road to
victory will end shortly in the next round once they play Texas-Austin.
The Longhorns will have a nice ride through the first couple rounds,
and should continue that until the elite eight. Hellokitty's squad added
two more players in time for playoffs, and with minimal map loses
throughout the season I see them always getting to an ace match at
worst, if not 4-0'ing some of the early competition. Even as great as UT
is, they're not my pick to come out of this region. There's only one
team that knows what it's like to go deep into playoffs and that’s UC Berkeley.
One of the deepest and most experienced rosters in all of the CSL.
Abstinence, Oodi, Goky, Sunshine, Sky, TwentyoneJ, and Navman are the
likely rotation. They will take revenge on UC San Diego, they will out
muscle undefeated Utah, and they will, in a deep series, out muscle UT
Austin. Expect to see the Golden Bears in the final 4.
Back over to the top-right is the Zeratul region.
Competitive yes, but it resembles the Raynor region so there isn't
really too much to go over. Anyone that has watched the CSL will know
that Georgia Tech and Maryland CP will run the table. If you look at
potential matchups, Georgia Tech definitely has the tougher road though.
Versus teams like Florida and MIT I see the Yellowjackets getting
battle-tested before a very tough matchup versus Maryland CP. In a
7-game series I see Georgia Tech entering the final 4.
One region remains, Abathur. Abathur,
Abathur, Abathur. If the Zeratul region reflects the Raynor region, then
the Abathur region reflects the Kerrigan region. You'll find Chicago,
Ohio State, Ryerson, Rice, Washington, Oregon State, and UC Irvine
there. The cool story in this region is Washington having to take the
long road to get to where they want to be. A team that rose several
questions during the regular season should give a good showing come the
playoffs. I see several wins through the ACE match in the Huskies'
future. Though my final 4 pick from this region is the cinderella story
of the CSL, Chicago! Just like UT Austin, the Phoenixes
added two more players to their roster right before playoffs. How they
will win...I'm not sure. Everytime it looks questionable on paper; but
they will find a way, all the way to the final 4.
Let's wrap this up with some final 4 predictions! Toronto,
Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and Chicago are the squads. I have Berkeley
doing Toronto dirty in a six game series. Both have talented squads with
depth, but unless Toronto forces it to an ACE match I can't see them
winning. Over on the other side Georgia Tech vs Chicago. Georgia Tech
will finally put a stop to Chicago's historic run. I see that series
actually ending in five games. Georgia Tech is just too good and too
talented. Maybe if things last year went a little different we could
have had this final. In a predicted final of Berkeley vs Georgia Tech I
see Georgia Tech reigning supreme and bringing a title back to the East.
Think you can pick/predict better? Let me know your final 4 picks @CheeseHeadLogic.
CHL's Grand Finalist prediction: GEORGIA TECH.
Stefan Ruffley's reponse
@TheSRuff
As just a lowly writer for the CSL, I'm much less versed in all of our wonderful CSL playoff teams. Compared to the vast and ever growing knowledge of CHL, how could one ever compete? Well considering I remember the days when CHL knew literally nothing about StarCraft I think I can give it a shot.
My final four are Utah, Toronto, Maryland CP, and Irvine. Yes, all teams that were first in their divisions, very cookie cutter and somewhat lame. But these teams all stick out in my mind after thinking through all the games I watched. All very strong teams, all fairly well rounded, and yes they all have the ability to be champions. Utah has a great line up and literally dropped two games the entire season. It's hard to see them losing to anyone before the final four, despite the chance of facing Berkeley early on. Toronto has an even deeper roster than Utah and has some very big players that can secure ace matches for their team, with the only obstacle in their way being Wisconsin-Madison. I really had to fight with to pick Maryland CP over Georgia Tech. Both teams had great seasons and Georgia Tech has the deeper roster, but something just tells me that Maryland CP will be able to pull off the big win and make it into the final four. Last but not least we have Irvine, the team that has impressed me the most this season. They only had two matches not reach the ace match this entire season, but except for one odd loss they always came out ahead. They have the toughest road ahead of them as well, having teams like Washington and Chicago to beat to even make it to the final four. But this season showed they have the players and the ace to do so.
Who wins it all? I have to say Irvine, just because of their ability to always pull out wins even if it all comes down to the ace match. Besides the fact that their captain and ace is a random player, which fixes my slight bias toward Terrans.
Stefan's Grand Finalist prediction: UC IRVINE.
David Wise's reponse
@WiseLingSC2
The schools that surprised me the most this season are the
University of Utah and the University of Washington. With the departure
of their Grandmaster players Sangjae “ZergZingZing” Park and Huy
“SCDPride” Troung, I did not figure that the Utes would go undefeated in
the regular season. However, thanks to the discipline and teamwork they
exhibited the Utes accomplished that feat. If the Utes can defeat UC
San Diego or UC Berkeley in the playoffs, I fully expect them to clinch
the title.
Washington surprised me, but not positively. The Huskies
played well and finished second in the West 2 division, but Adrian
“KawaiiRice” Kwong has proven to be a huge wild card. The most glaring
example was his loss to an in-base proxy Gateway versus Brigham Young
University’s Jared “Derajn” Noel. Washington also had issues forfeitting
this season. I still believe that the Huskies can go far in the
playoffs as long as their administrative issues don’t hamper them and if
KawaiiRice rises to his performance in previous seasons.
UC Irvine finished in the top spot in the West followed by
the UC San Diego and UC Berkeley. Berkeley hasn’t been the unstoppable
juggernaut we’re used to seeing since Conan “Suppy” Liu left the team.
However, the Bears still eked out a 6-2 regular season record and few
other schools can match their playoff experience. UC Irvine has a few
obstacles in the path to playoff glory, namely Washington and UChicago.
If Irvine can overcome these titans, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them
competing in the finals.
While there are numerous other teams that have the potential to win it all this year, I am excited to see how far the University of Texas, Austin
can go in these playoffs. The Longhorns’ opposition in their path to
the finals seems somewhat lackluster at first. Brigham Young University
forfeited its spot in the playoffs, giving the Longhorns either a Bye in
round of 32 or a rather easy matchup versus the University of New
Mexico. Their first real test will come in the round of 8 versus either
Utah, UC San Diego, or UC Berkeley. If Zifeng “hellokitty” Wang and the
Longhorns can overcome any of those round of 8 opponents, the CSL title
is well within their grasp.
David's Grand Finalist precition: UT AUSTIN.
Tyler O'Keefe's reponse
@MrKeefster
I won’t lie to you guys, I spent five minutes at most on my NCAA bracket. But this, this is serious business. This is Starcraft! I agree with a few of CHL’s predictions. Obviously, certain matchups will be clear-cut. While team “Bye” certainly has the overwhelming statistical advantage, I don’t believe they’ll make it all the way this year.
In the Raynor region, I pick the U.S.A. coming out on top
of Canada. By U.S.A., I do not mean the United States of America, I mean
the University of South Alabama. By Canada, I really mean the
University of Toronto. But all of those details are beside the point and
focus of my analysis. Thats right folks, U.S.A. is making it all the
way in this region. U.S.A., U.S.A.!
Down in the Kerrigan region, we have the truly terrible
teams. Teams like Rutgers, UT Austin, UC San Diego, and UC Berkeley that
never seem give us the results we hope for. By this, I mean they win.
They win a lot; significantly more than I do! These are the teams with
deep rosters, big name players, and history. I’m going to agree with CHL
and his infinite wisdom here, I’m giving the advantage in this region
to UC Berkeley.
Zeratul is awesome. So is the region named after him. I
can, with little certainty, tell you that University of Maryland College
Park is going to come out on top here. Not only do I have a few friends
at UMCP, I also… well that’s really it. I’d love to see a school in the
East go all the way, and I have faith in these guys. No pressure, team!
No pressure.
Abathur’s region is by far the best region, if only because
it is named after the main character featured in the Heart of the Swarm
campaign, Abathur. There is really one stand-out team in this region,
George Washington University. Either this is a sick joke or somehow,
some way, this team managed to get into the playoffs. The FBI is still
investigating a potential bribery scandal and the whole situation has
been dubbed “Star-Gate” (get it? It’s both a Protoss structure and a
scandal-naming trend). I say GW is going to take this region by surprise
and make their way to the final four.
Ultimately, U.S.A. will fall to Berkeley and UMCP will be somehow defeated by the scrappy George Washington University. In the finals, I predict the Berkeley will take the first three games off the GW. Of course, breakout player “Gloob” (the self proclaimed “God of Mech”) will start to turn things around. In the biggest upset in sports history, the Colonials will come out on top of Berkeley 4-3, thus saving e-sports forever. Kappa.
Tylers's Grand Finalist precition: George Washington University.
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