Rank does not correlate well at all to desirability for picking, this year, due to the different alliance dynamic required by Aerial Assault. In past years, teams' contributions on an alliance have largely been additive; for example, if your robot scores 20 frisbees per match on average, and you pick a team that typically scores 10, you could count on scoring somewhere around 30 in eliminations.
Not so this year -- you pick robots that fill out a third of the particular cycle type you want to run in eliminations. Rank wasn't a factor at all this year in 254's scouting process. I only discovered 973 was ranked 43rd when I was idly looking at the standings while waiting for alliance selections to start, and I only found out 2135 was ranked 41st when I saw this thread.
Much more important are the ability to not commit fouls, pleasantness of working with your team if we have a qualification match together, and ability to quickly intake and release a ball.