Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
See, that's the thing. For many teams, that is their strategy. For many others, who happen to tend to be slightly better (or maybe more to the point, tend to end up in the top 8 more often than not), they might be a little more picky. They may have teams that they won't ally with, for whatever reason, regardless of situation. (Possible reasons may run back for quite a few years, but that's beside the point.) They may have teams that they really like to ally with, again for reasons that may run back a decade or more.
These teams are strategists and will look at the long picture. These are the teams who were playing 6v0 in 2010, or always going to the coop bridge in 2012. These are the teams who will decline if they think it will help them win. Many of them will have a strategy something like: "If we're picked by X, Y, Z, accept without hesitation. If it's F or D, decline. If A or B picks us, your call--see if you can chat with 'em in the mass of representatives."
It's the latter teams that will either play a scorched earth intentionally from the picking side, or "assist the play" from the defensive side. Because they tend to seed higher, they tend to be in better position to use it, and thus it gets used.
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Great points here.
11 hasn't normally had the opportunity to decline in the past, but this season they did. It was a call that was debated for hours the previous night and many situations and scenarios/potential alliances were presented and analyzed. When 11 declined as the first selection at Bridgewater district, we heard "boos" and "ohhhhh" and I frankly thought that was way more disrespectful than any decline I've ever seen. The call was risky and in the end, didn't pan out as planned, but it was one we had to take or risk playing against much stronger alliances that could have been formed because we felt the top seed had a slightly easier schedule than many others (and the data showed this as well)
Very honestly - I think Frank should address the issue of how declines are perceived by the audience and by many teams in FRC, instead of the rarely seen "scorched Earth" strategy. The one being declined should not take it personally or be upset, and the audience should not do anything to make the declining team feel embarrassed or bad about their decision. We hear the booing and the "oohhh"s way too often at other events too, this really should be discouraged by the higher-ups in FIRST.