133
1 Crookham
2 Fix
3 Shawver
4 Ragusin
5 Nagao
6 Vito
7 Orine
8 Frost
R12
Bailey
Van Dee
Latona
Bouzakis
R16
Chlebove
Farber
Romney
Teske
1-2
B. Brown
Serrano
Oakley
Wells
Phipps
Zaccone
Yarbrourgh
After completing my brackets, it is clear to me that as treacherous as Nagao’s road is on the frontside, it is equally manageable, even favorable, on the backside. He gets by Nasir (easier said than done, obviously), loses to Crookham, beats Latona and has a difficult, yet winnable, matchup against either Orine (a toss-up) or Vito (who I have beating Orine in the QFs, losing yet again to Crookham in the semis and then defaulting out to 6th).
Orine is the pivotal match on the backside. He’s 15-2 on the year, with his best win coming by MD vs Frost at CKLV and two losses to Fix, by MD, and Bouzakis, by fall. He’s had two close, late season decisions over Latona, but his schedule is relatively weak beyond that. He’s beatable. If Nagao passes that test, he likely sees a white-hot Shawver, which I have as a loss, and moves into the 5th place match against a MFF’ing Vito. In my mind, a 5th place finish would be superlative result considering how this bracket seemed to lineup for him at first blush.