What? I thought partner and opposition assignment was completely random! This makes certain things very unfair. As you said, FIRST makes an "attempt" to put veterans w/ rookies. That means sometimes they can't, and some rookies get ripped off.

But, back to the original topic of this thread:

A high number of wins indicates a robot and team that can do what the game called for consistently, no matter who their opponents or partners are. A high number of points only indicates that the robot and team can score high consistently. That would also mean that hanging teams would often score higher than others. An emphasis on wins indicates that you must adapt your strategy to meet challenges from your opponent. This might mean you have to score lower to beat them. Thus, you are rewarded for being a real scientist or engineer. You're being creative and you're completing the objective.