Distance apart and angles for el torro

[eneubec1]

We are a rookie team trying to implement the el torro pickup design. Our team is struggling with picking up the ball. Note: we just got enough parts to have a good prototype last week
We are looking for some advice given our limited ability to effectively prototype.

The inner frame of our robot allows motors to be mounted between 12-16 " without trouble. If we go wider we go outside the inner frame. (robot is 24x32). (Width x Length)
We are using Bag motors with a 45:1 ratio. (We do have gears to go down to 20:1).

We struggle with how sensitive the angles need to be with this design. Angle to the floor and angle inward of the arms.

We also mounted a standard PVC pipe to a Hex shaft hub. (didn't mount it directly to the shaft). Wondering if that is causing some of our grief.

Looking for advice to pass to my young students as their coach is new to this stuff and our ability to effectively experiment is pretty limit.