[Matt D]

First, teams usually (but not always) have a reason to pick from below the top ranked teams. For example, in 2003 at Nationals along with team 27 (who picked us) we picked team 192 for our alliance even though they were close to last place because we knew they had fixed their robot.

We have an extensive scouting team. On Friday night, we create a preliminary list of teams from 1-24ish. We recognize that seed has little to do with actual robot ability. On Saturday morning we change our list based on performance that day. If we notice that a team that was capping one per match on friday suddenly is capping 3 per match, they will move up on our list. We try hard to find that team that is overlooked. In 2003 and 2004 at SVR we were really fortunate that 852, an awesome team, was not picked in the first round. In 2004, if we had not been picked by another seeded team, we would have picked 852 as our first pick. This year, we picked 22 as the overlooked team since they had not driven well during the qualifying matches, but trusting that they could cap at least 2 per match. During the playoffs, their driving skill increased exponentially.

We completely ignore the list of seeds when we create our list. This year, we created our list based on complementability with our robot, average points scored by that robot only in each of its matches, reliability, strength of drivetrain, and avoidance of penalties. Creating our 24 team ranking of teams is more an art than a science, but it helps us know who to pick next. Whatever team we pick (or are picked by), we celebrate because they are on our list and play our best to win.

Good luck to everybody!