[Rewat]

Fact of the matter is that defense isn't something you can see immediately. Field awareness is key to having a successful defense. A team that has been playing "bump and run" all qualifying matches will be comfortable doing that in elims. Bump and run can be effective if it is just one robot that you have to contain. Finding a team comfortable playing defense is key because sometimes it is more efficient having 2 scoring robots than 3 robots getting in each others way trying to put in Frisbees.
The best defense I've seen has been teams staying in a general section and picking at teams as they come by (this is effective against a team with 2 scoring bots), defenses that chase shooters and seem to have no general plan don't do much. People may say drive train isn't important but it is. Higher traction = more push. So the only excel formula that might give some coloration may be point differentials in matches, and also compare the OPR of teams they have played. Bet we normally find defense robots based on field performance and if we can work well with their drive team.