Quote:
Originally Posted by roystur44
Nuttyman,
It's time to give everyone a run down of the teams that are competing. Any favorites to run the gauntlet or will the defense be so tight that it will be a scheduling Gods decision?
The kids on 4543 are going big with a shooter and something special for the big guns. |
Love the mods for 4543 Roy. 100 and 256 will also be bringing some major redesigns to the competition, which makes the already deep field at SVR even deeper.
I'll leave most of the robot specific talk to Looking Forward, but this is probably the strongest field of teams we've seen here since the early 2000's. Not only are several big guns coming from out of state (and bringing 4 regional wins and a finalist appearance with them), but a number of California's own powerhouses and up-and-comers contribute to a strong top tier. Being such a late regional, many mid-tier and lower tier teams have already competed once and had a chance to tune their machines. This may be the most serious threat to 254's dominance at the regional ever.
I believe Silicon Valley will play out more like a division with a field this deep. The scheduling gods will definitely come in to play, but with so many top teams and great depth, it will be hard for anyone to come out unscathed. 3rd round picks will make or break alliances, and the lower seeds will have opportunities to pull major upsets. All bets are off this year: when it's said and done, whoever emerges victorious will have earned the title.
Most years, the #1 seed alliance includes the perennial powerhouse Poofs, and anyone who has to face them in the bracket is woeful of their position. Making it to the finals at SVR, win or lose, is a bragging right. Both of these sentiments remain true this year, but for different reasons: with so many wildcards potentially in play from top teams, making it to the finals is likely a ticket punched to the big dance in St. Louis. If any 3 teams in the finals can open wildcard slots, all 6 teams get to go. There are no guarantees, but I'm hard-pressed to see this play out in a way that at least the captains of both finalist alliances don't get invitations to championships.
The 2013 Silicon Valley Regional is going to be a hard-fought, high-octane battle from start to finish. Bragging rights and wildcards in Week 6. Will the title stay in California, or will our guests from Texas and Florida grab a piece of the gold? Get your popcorn ready and keep your eyes glued to the webcast folks, there's a storm brewing in San Jose.