Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

Hawaii has no school today as Good Friday is a State Holiday. You mean to tell me that you have/had school? :p

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

Many (most) public schools do not have Good Friday as a holiday.

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

My college does. I'm on break right now, otherwise I'd be in Differential Equations at this time. It's a public college.

Back on topic:

gorilla, there are always teams that people can't believe are still available. 65 in this year's MI Championship, 503 in the 2005 Championship, the list goes on. They may be a Florida team, they may be a North Dakota team, they may be international.

I'm going to refine my earlier statement:

The best 3rd pick in any division is the one that best fits the alliance strategy and was overlooked in the previous round of selection.

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

Eric...
You are 100% correct, however you didn't really say anything.
The point of a thread like this is to have some fun and speculate about which team is going to be the surprise 3rd round "steal".

"The best robot at Championship is the one that is playing the best."
While 100% true, it is just silly to say something like that. Do you think it makes you seem smart?

Everyone knows that anyone can win and anything can happen on "Any Given Saturday". That is why we scout AT THE EVENT. No one actually makes their pick lists based on these threads.

I've been surprised this year at the number of people taking stuff like this so seriously. I don't mean to single you out. Your post wasn't bad, it just reminds me of the people who get all hot and bothered when someone says "1114 has a good machine and has a good chance of winning Archimedes". I hate it when someone feels the need to reply "Yes, they are good but anyone can win." OF COURSE ANYONE CAN WIN! However that doesn't mean we can't have fun speculating about which "greats" will come out on top.

I'm not going to speculate my "sleeper" because then they wouldn't be a sleeper anymore... ;)
Then again, whenever I tell our scouts "watch this team, they are my 3rd round sleeper" they usually end up seeding in the top 4. :rolleyes:

$.02
-John

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

It is funny that Aren is hoping that 148 slips to the 2nd round I am thinking that 148 might be thinking the same thing about 1625.

Honestly I think the best 2nd round pick is a team that can play strong defense, pin well, score a few and has a smart coach. I think teams like 33, 16, 177, and 862 would all be great 2nd round picks.

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

I think someone didn't hear about what happened in St. Louis. ;)

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

WOW,
Has anybody seen the horse because the cart already won the championship?

I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here. Nobody knows who will be ranked & where. I love the speculation but who is to say that 148 won't be picking 1625 & then whoever? I know a track record has been established but if any of you have been to Championship before you will know things don't always go according to plan.
I still think back to '04 when we were hoping to pick 67 & 1126 like we did in Buckeye. As it turns out our second pick from Buckeye picked us second... after picking 67 1st.

anybody remember 195 from '06 Newton? I do.

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

1506 is looking much better as a 3rd pick now that they have added a hopper to hold more moon rocks. their drivers are pretty good at both offense and defence. keep an eye out for metal muscle, theyll be a great 3rd pick if they dont seed in the top 8

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

2609 will be a 2nd pick that will put an alliance over the top - possibly on to Einstein.

Their lack of ground pick-up scoring will turn a lot of alliance captains off - especially those alliances (#4-#8) that might want substantial moonrock scoring support from their 2nd pick. But top alliances take note: if these guys are still around on the way back of the serpentine, they'll win you a ton of matches. They'll score an initial 7 with ease, deliver empty cells, provide defense, and put their robot exactly where it's needed, when it needs to be there (a truly underrated skill in this game that doesn't always show up in the stats).

Despite being the #1 alliance captain at Waterloo, and picking 2056, and having the 2nd highest CCWM/Plus Minus to 2056 at that event, these guys will fly in under the radar at Atlanta. They're so low radar, I'd actually be concerned that they might miss elims altogether...

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

i hope the 3rd pick in the alliance 234 is in wins on Einstein :)

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

Isn't there something special about being the last pick in alliance selections? The drama is just incredible!! :ahh:

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

Yes, I posted from the tech room during lunch earlier today. We don't get things like Good Friday off here in Colorado. We get next week off though. And you all know the reason :)

Yes. Yes there is. That is exactly what happened to us in Colorado. Kept sitting there with the though "please pick us, please please please pick us," and then after debating it a couple minutes we were picked by 399 as the very last pick of the day.


So my question is how do you scout these teams at nationals to make this decision. I know to do pit scouting and watch the matches, but what is the best thing to be looking for in a more defensive bot?

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

In Atlanta, a "defensive" bot may not be the best option for the other two alliance partners. Teams also love picking others who are known to work insanely well with others and contribute 100%. Such as 217, 67, and 65 at MSC. Driving skill for me is a big factor in alliance selection.

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

I personally if in a picking position would be slightly preferential to teams that I know our team works well with, like 2826 or 2470 or whomever we had a good qualifying match with. It's a shame neither of the above robots are on our field.

Of course, if a robot's outclassed, it's outclassed, but if there's two equally good robots (or roughly) at a scouting meeting I'm going to vote to put ahead the one that works better with us on the driver-to-driver level.

The main problem with finding a defensive bot is that in the qualifying matches, teams are going to want to show off their offense to keep their numbers up. Or perhaps a team will have good offense and never get to show off their defensive capabilities because they're being relied on for offenses in "weak" pairings.

Sometimes you just gotta know the team, the bot, the driver and pick a defensive bot that way. I'd say that's how 1675 got picked in Midwest Regional, everyone knows Kevin and they can play good D, even if they weren't showing it (though IIRC at Midwest their scoring wasn't working, so the issue I raised above doesn't apply).

Re: Best 3rd Pick in Newton
 

Also you guys can't forget that there are lower scoring teams that go for the empty cell delivery. We found that to be one of our best strategies yet.