[JesseK]

We had the (as it turns out) VCU Rookie All-Star team on our very short list, since it was a box on wheels with a very low ballasted c.g., good bridge lowerer, 4 CIMs on a moderately-geared drive train, and decent drivers. They would have pushed around the multitude of fender bots, and I could have helped guide them through overall strategy since they would have been defending right in front of us. Yet as 3rd seed we wound up picking a robot with a variable-consistency mid-goal autonomous that was (amazingly) still available.

So I agree with Adam -- it had everything to do with robot performance vs. our needs rather than the fact they were rookies.