Four Unpopular Opinions on WCVI Pools

I guess I'll give my own version of the most recent Eighth Man article.

1) USC will advance to the Elite Eight. Stuck in a pool with Emerson, USF and Minnesota, a few bloggers haven't even picked to USC to advance into bracket play. I think, that not only will USC win their pool, but will win it with a good point differential. August Lurhs is one of the scariest players to play because of his experience, intelligence and size. While the matchup with David Fox might challenge Lurhs, he will lead his team past Minnesota and USF, who can't matchup with USC's size. Although they didn't make it to the finals, parts of USC's Lurhs-less performance at Western Cup was impressive, especially the first ten minutes of the UCLA game. USC hung with the highly-ranked Bruins. With Lurhs, USC is an Elite Eight team.

2) The team with the best point-defending (not seeking, or beatsr-play) will win the World Cup. Keepers or the chaser that brings the ball up the field is normally a team's best player. (ex. David Fox, August Lurhs, Zach Luce, Dre Clements, James Hicks, I could go on...) So, the team that is able to foil that player, and make him/her ineffective, will win. For instance, in the Western Cup finals, the Lost Boys' Tony Rodriguez was met every possession at mid-field with a physical UCLA player. Adam Richardson's take down and Corey Osto's harassing of Rodriguez turned the game around and won the Western Cup for the Bruins. Good point defending can disrupt an offense like a full court press in College Basketball. Passes become harder to make, drives to the hoop become impossible and a loss becomes probable.

3) Marquette will make it to the finals. Marquette is an all-around talented team that is quick and good at long passes. Marquette is the kind of team that feeds off an excited crowd. (Exhibit A: when they jumped out to a 40-0 lead against Middlebury at WCV) Bobby Roth is one of the most impressive shooters I have ever seen, and with the luck that comes with World Cup bracket runs, Rth could be draining goals from half-field. Marquette also has two of the best female chasers in the game, Caroline Villa and Cecila Ware. The entire Marquette team is physical, especially Chaser Joe Simonelli and Keeper Pat Doyle, and Ware and Villa bring it too! With tactical genius Curtis Taylor and, in my opinion, the Midwest's best Seeker, Alex Busbee, Marquette is a finals team.

4) The reffing will be good. I have confidence in the referees and the referee-certification process. The IQA will not put someone out there who isn't ready or good enough to be ref. Saying this, I'm scared I'll be proved wrong, but I have gut feeling that the refs will come through this year.