Quote:
Originally Posted by Iaquinto.Joe
There will not be a FCS in the semifinals. Period. Full court shooters have shown little reliability in elims where people can slap on a blocker to their bot over lunch. Maybe an FCS will be able to squeeze their way into an alliance captain spot, but they will not be successful unless they are versatile or it isn't a main goal of their bot (e.g. 469). The top 4 alliances will all have 7 disc autonomous capability, the top 2 featuring a total 15 disc. Ultimately, 469 seeds first, picks 33, and the third pick just has a strong drivetrain, 3 disc autonomous, and the ability to cycle. Exclusive 30pt climbers will be second picks of 5-8 alliances, and lose in QF.
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I believe the full court shooter plays a very different role here; it fulfills the saying "the best defense is a good offense." In the case of elimination matches such as seed 1 versus seed 8, where the third robots on the alliance will be of rather varying in capability (an OPR as high as 60 in the 8th seed, and as low as 20 in the first seed) a third robot full court shooter requires the other third robot to cease normal defense (that would have prevented pyramid play of the first and second robots of the first seed) or leave the FCS undefended, thus allowing it to score many more disks than the other third robot. In the likely chance that the defense is pulled, the match then becomes a 2v2, with a distinct advantage for the 1st alliance.
On the topic of First seeded alliances, Michigan has been dominated by the first seed, with 9 of 11 district competitions being won by their first seed. The only time a fist alliance didn't win was when one of their main shooters wasn't functioning properly (Troy) or the field was very even to begin with (Livonia.) It's possible that MSC could mirror Livonia, but that won't be clear, as this is the first chance each of these teams has had to compete in a field this diverse and this difficult.