PAGANELLO 2002 PREVIEW/
BETTING POOL HANDICAPPING

My Best Guesses for Paganello 2002.

First, divide the 12 pools into 4 sections to represent the high pool pairings (the top two from each of three pools form a second-round pool of 6). From these four new pools of 6, only two teams will emerge to make quarterfinals. Here are my very un-researched guesses at who will make the top 24 and how they will finish in their pools.

Pools A,B,C: Top Dogs

Fine, so they say Clapham is coming here to compete, to trade places with London brethren Under the Influence and to steal the umbrella from them. Who am I to argue? They will be tough to beat. Here in America, when a team goes away and comes back having made finals, the word starts to spread. Expect Collard Greens to have picked up some more quality American veterans to add to a revolving roster of talent.

Now the wicked thing is, these two teams will be very good. That means the others in the three opening pools will have to fight hard to make the top 24 and then even harder to upset one of these top dogs. I think Zamperl and Flying Angels have good chance to do so, and will definitely beat other teams in their crossover games. But can they upset Collard or Clapham? Personally, I don't think so.

Predicted finish:
1/2: Clapham, Collard Greens
3/4: Zamperl, FAB
5/6: Catchup, CUSB

Pools D, E, F: Who's Got the Goods?

Who is Freespeed? What players are playing for UTI? Who will Feldrenner have? What kind of team is Gronical, and can they compete? What will Flying Circus do in the Paganello Big Top?

This is the question mark pool. A lot of questions, and we won't find out the answers to Saturday night. UTI won 2001 and is ranked first. They will not finish first, nearly everyone concedes. But the question is, just how good will they be? How many top players did they retain from last year's squad (two are now with Clapham). They are "re-uniting" just for Paganello. Will they have the same chemistry?

Again: who is Freespeed? Feldrenner finished in the semis at EUCC. They are always a competitor at Rimini. Last year they were disappointed. Expect them to play bigger this year.

Gronical lost to Crunch by 2 at the Dutch National Championships and have placed well in more than a few tournaments this year, but this is the first time at Paganello. They are rumored to be youthful. Will it help? Or hurt?

Gronical plays Flying Circus, a Danish collection of top players. But which top players? Will they have a good vibe? Or will they be a contentious group?

Predicted Finish:
1/2: UTI, Feldrenner
3/4: Flying Circus/ Ultimate Vibration
5/6: Gronical/ Team 42

Pools G, H, I: Mix It Up

Ok, so we know about Mir San Mir. But we don't know what Chicago is bringing. If this is France's year, watch out for Arsenic. They ran hard last year and lost a few close games. If they are psyched to play, could surprise some teams. Quattro Stazione is another standby German team. Hard to predict where they will end up.

Catch 22 might not be so strong this year, as the rise of Clapham might have diminished other English teams. A surprising run last year might not be in the works. The Fluid Druids, veteran Britishers will know the Catch 22 game and could beat them. Zueri I know nothing about, but like the name.

Predicted Finish
1/2: Mir San Mir/ Chicago
3/4: Arsenic/ Fluid Druids
5/6: Catch 22/ Salutami

Pools J, K, L: Fight for Second

No Tsu Oh will beat all the teams in these three pools. They are very determined this year and have brought back some of the best players in the world as well as adding some top-shelf ringers.

Chevron and Crunch will be a good game, could go either way perhaps. What to do with thebigez and Freeez Beeezz? I don't know. Cota Rica will have a good team. Is Peldi with them?

Predicted Finish:
1/2: No Tsu Oh/ Cota
3/4: Chevron/ Crunch
5/6: Freez/ Mental Disc

Final Writeup (Paga)
Final Writeup (UPA)

This was written for the Paganello "Betting Pool" portion of the website, an idea I had to incorporate fan interaction and encourage people to follow the action and the teams by investing a "bet" (without money) on final team finishes. Loosely modeled on NCAA March Madness office betting pools.

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