Scouting: Diamond in the Rough

[Molten]

Every year, a lot of good teams rank low. A great scout finds this team and chooses them regardless of rank. It seems that ranks really don't matter as much as people believe. I'd like to hear some stories about this occurrence. The times when the scouting really paid off to take note of all of the teams. Anyone got a great story? Please post them here.

[EricH]

I can remember one. Second pick of the #2 alliance on Newton in 2005 was team 503. Both the other teams (330 and 67) wondered why they were not picked until then, but were more than happy to pick them. They had a very reliable scorer that wasn't the fastest or flashiest, but they had really good strategy to go with it. This was shown in the second match of the Einstein finals--they left a cockeyed tetra cockeyed because the goal was already owned by one below. One world championship resulted.

[Adam Freeman]

Originally Posted by EricH

I can remember one. Second pick of the #2 alliance on Newton in 2005 was team 503. Both the other teams (330 and 67) wondered why they were not picked until then, but were more than happy to pick them. They had a very reliable scorer that wasn't the fastest or flashiest, but they had really good strategy to go with it. This was shown in the second match of the Einstein finals--they left a cockeyed tetra cockeyed because the goal was already owned by one below. One world championship resulted.

Ahh, the days before the serpentine draft. 503 was #4 on our alliance selection list.

I believe 330 was the 2nd seed, selected 67 with the 2nd pick....then 7 other teams were selected before 503 was selected by our alliance.

I remember marking off the teams, hoping that 503 would be there for us. When they were, I signaled to our student on the field, she discussed with 330's student (I am sure 330 was thinking the same thing) and the pick was made.

We asked 503 to protect the back row, while 67 handled the right side, and 330 handled the left side. The strategy worked incredibly well and it 503's performance was well beyond what was expected of them.

If the matches were available to watch, 503's performance was on par with both 67 and 330. No way they should have been available for our alliance to select them.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

Ahh, the days before the serpentine draft. 503 was #4 on our alliance selection list.

I believe 330 was the 2nd seed, selected 67 with the 2nd pick....then 7 other teams were selected before 503 was selected by our alliance.

I remember marking off the teams, hoping that 503 would be there for us. When they were, I signaled to our student on the field, she discussed with 330's student (I am sure 330 was thinking the same thing) and the pick was made.

We asked 503 to protect the back row, while 67 handled the right side, and 330 handled the left side. The strategy worked incredibly well and it 503's performance was well beyond what was expected of them.

If the matches were available to watch, 503's performance was on par with both 67 and 330. No way they should have been available for our alliance to select them.

Memory correct. And I am looking for some of the Einstein matches from that year, if I can find them...

[Alex Cormier]

1902 was clearly the steal of the draft process in CT this past weekend. The best defense-offensive bot. (Seek CT thread to learn more about that) That pick completed the alliance so well. I had chosen that alliance to win it all. Excellent Scouting work done by 126, 1155.

[shortone1320]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

1902 was clearly the steal of the draft process in CT this past weekend. The best defense-offensive bot. (Seek CT thread to learn more about that) That pick completed the alliance so well. I had chosen that alliance to win it all. Excellent Scouting work done by 126, 1155.

We knew they were good and were shocked that they were still there when the picks came back around to us. we definitely wouldnt have won without them and theyre incredible pinning and scoring ability.

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by EricH

Memory correct. And I am looking for some of the Einstein matches from that year, if I can find them...

They're actually on the 67 website.... http://www2.huronvalley.k12.mi.us/sc...eo_gallery.htm

[EricH]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

They're actually on the 67 website.... http://www2.huronvalley.k12.mi.us/sc...eo_gallery.htm

I knew they'd be somewhere... Makes sense that one of the champions would have them.

[KF987]

Anyone remember 2007 Championships? 8th seeded alliance from Newton won it all. 190 Was ranked 9th and then moved up to 8th seed. 987 was ranked in the upper 30's and I'm not sure where 177 was.

Goes to show that alliance number doesnt always translte into wins.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by KF987

Anyone remember 2007 Championships? 8th seeded alliance from Newton won it all. 190 Was ranked 9th and then moved up to 8th seed. 987 was ranked in the upper 30's and I'm not sure where 177 was.

Goes to show that alliance number doesnt always translte into wins.

987 was ranked 37th, 177 was ranked 50th...

From personal experience this year, 190 found an great partner in 1099 at Boston, who were instrumental in getting us through semis against the beast that is 1153.

971 was also elated to be able to pick 852 again at SVR, who kept 668 in a corner during semis and never let 1280 score in the finals.

I would also say that 1868 (who were finalists at SVR with 192 and 1280) shouldn't have lasted that long in the draft. They are an excellent team with a quality robot and top-notch driving (and from what I hear, were even more formidable at Davis with the improved collector). Keep an eye out for these girls at championships, they may be one of those diamonds.....(if they don't do well enough to pick up a few themselves)

[jgannon]

In 2005, team 108 seeded 79th out of 85 on Curie, and went on to win the division.

[Akash Rastogi]

Palmetto 06, We seeded 8th (might've been a different seed captain though) and picked 1251, 41st seed, and 247, 44th seed. Went on to win the regional undefeated.
http://www2.usfirst.org/2006comp/eve.../rankings.html

[AndyB]

We ended up picking team 2549 last year in the 2nd round. If you looked at their bill of materials, you'll see they spent only $50 on their robot. A lot of teams wrote them off when they saw it was just a kit-bot. But we noticed that they had very talented drivers and seemed very under control. We ended up winning the regional largely because of their ability to keep the track free and moving.

[BenX02]

At Peachtree this year, we picked team 2415, who were 43/47, and we ended up winning. A lot depends on what alliance partners you get during the qualifiers. So rank doesn't really mean all that much.

[Ian Curtis]

At Battlecry in 2006 we seeded 18th and picked from the 14th seed spot. (BattleCry runs a 16 seed draft), picked the Gaelhawks (seeded 48 out of 48), and were given the Chop Shop. We went on to beat the #2 seed, before ultimately being knocked out during the Semifinals.