Harrisburg Invitational 2020, HUE Tournament Preview
On campuses across America, massive COVID spikes and hybrid classes changed everyday life. With college esports, getting students in on a place to scrim is nearly impossible. Because students are getting acclimated to college life, official brackets often get pushed to the Spring. Meaning that the Fall semester usually has pre-season scrims and not much else. Harrisburg wants to change that. The Harrisburg Invitational, also called HUE 2020, brings together some of the top programs in the country in Overwatch and League. Each program will duke it out in two of the world’s biggest esports for a share of over $10k in scholarships.
Overwatch To Watch
The larger of the two brackets its the Overwatch arm of HUE 2020. It’s a who’s who of college Overwatch. Most of the teams from UMG’s Collegiate Clash return to solidify their dominance. Squads like UNLV, UT-Dallas, and Utah all performed well at the Clash. So the will want to continue their runs of form. Be on the lookout for Coblart and CoolABC from Utah to make waves as a top DPS duo. But the hosts, Harrisburg, also have former pro-OW player, Elk, on their side. And the ever-present Maryville could still play a major role in who wins out. In a strange twist of fate, its a couple of Power 5 schools that may struggle the most. Teams like Michigan and Ohio State have a lot to prove but they are both seeded against top teams.
Here’s our predictions for who makes it out of groups:
- A – Harrisburg, UC-Riverside
- B (GROUP OF DEATH) – Maryville, UNLV
- C – Fresno State, UCLA
- D – Utah, George Mason
- E – Miami, Boise State
- F – Northeastern, Purdue
- G – UT-Dallas, Akron
- H – UCF, Mizzou
The League of (College) Legends
While the League of Legends pools is significantly smaller, the competition is just fierce. There are a few teams that have more than one entry with A and B squads, but the predators are all present. Maryville, Illinois Wesleyan, Harrisburg, and Winthrop all stand as giants in the game. But watch out for teams like Arizona State, that lost to Maryville A in the UCLA invitational. While they did get swept in the finals, their play revealed a team much better than the results showed.
Here’s who we think will make it out of the League groups:
- A – Maryville, Western, Boise State
- B (GROUP OF DEATH) – Harrisburg, Illinois Wesleyan, Arizona State B
- C – Winthrop, UC-Irvine A, Michigan
- D – Columbia, Arizona State A, Maryville B
- E – Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Harrisburg B
- F – UC-Irvine B, Ohio State A
Where To Watch
HUE 2020 starts on Saturday, September 19th at 9 am eastern and runs through the weekend. You can find the Overwatch stream here. But if League is more your flavor, then you can check it out here. The event is sure to bust even the most meticulous brackets so be on the lookout for upsets and blowouts.
Broke it down even further on CheckpointXP On Campus!
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