[RyanMcE]

This was team 492's first year picking at regionals. We had the following information:
1) We were a ball manipulating robot that could not hang.
2) In qualifications, we won every match in which we were paired with a hanging robot
3) Our highest scoring match (170) was with a hanging robot (1031)
4) Our last match, a very narrow win, was against a very tough hanging robot (1031)
5) Our excellent scout had kept track of every teams hanging attempts and successes, among many other things. At the top of the list in terms of percentage and total hangs was an excellent partner (1031).

Since we had first pick, we (obviously) chose 1031. The rest of our list was sorted, roughtly, based on how many times the team's robots got to hang in an actual match. As the number one seed, many teams talked to us and tried to convince us they would be good alliance partners. We entertained them all, but this really had minimal effect on our choices - since we had excellent scouting, we really had all the information we needed ourselves. We went to a quiet place and ranked the teams that we wanted for first choice, then all the possibilities in order for second choice. Admittedly, we got very lucky with 957 - we had some lemons on our list above them that got picked, because we ran out of time to flesh out the list.

Thats how we did it, at least.