If there is a practice session like they do in regionals(I.E. the day before the actual competition), try to not take everything you see that day into the next day. Many will say that they always seem completely different when it actually counts.
Like some have already said, just start off with a pretty straight line to the pocket. If you have a great ball you know you can always depend on(benchmark), start with that, regardless of the pattern I say. Build what you use(and more importantly when you use it) around that.
Another good piece of advice, is to watch what the others are doing if you can't find it right away. Especially those who you know have been there and done that before.
--------------------
Does it really matter?
