Predictions Week 2: Scaling Up the Competition

[PayneTrain]

Five event predictions and could have done more!

Hopefully senpai notices you

[microbuns]

Thank you for the giant writeup! I always find myself "looking forward" to this post. GTRE will be crazy!

[pyrtle]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

Actually playing this weekend- 900

We are indeed! Best of luck to all of the teams competing this weekend!

[Rangel]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

OK, a write up of the AZ North Regional, but neither of the CA regionals?

Hey...

[Looking Forward]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

OK, a write up of the AZ North Regional, but neither of the CA regionals? 4 Einstein teams at LA and 3 WC teams from the last 2 years at CVR? Who's the odd team out at CVR when the alliances form? The intrigue there alone with worth a long post...

BTW, does 254 have a new drive coach?

As was mentioned before in the prelude to the week 0.5 post, Looking Forward is using the same format we used last year (described in this post). Featured events will be varied geographically from week to week in order to get a good spread of events from around the country. Don't worry, California will have events featured this season. There are certainly compelling story lines at the CA events, however we chose other events to feature this weekend. We felt that the AZ North regional had some exceptional depth and variety of teams. It could very well be this years' surprise powerhouse event, similar to Utah last year.

[TheStatisticMan]

For PNW Wilsonville, don't forget who won the district competition last year

Good luck to all the teams competing this week at Wilsonville! Excited to see many familiar teams and fresh faces among the competitors!

[hardcopi]

Congratulations to Average Joes, Stryke Force and the Iron Giants for winning at St Joe.

This was a tough competition for us, it wasn't until the end of day 1 that we got our cameras working and with that our aim. Our roborio just stopped responding when we got on the field in the 2nd match. Luckily the event had one we could borrow (thanks to Stryke Force for offering 1 too). This left us in the spot where our camera code was unavailable throughout day 1.

Proud of the kids though because on day 2 because they rallied and we made almost every shot.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

FiM District- St. Joseph
Quickly becoming one of the best in Michigan- 4967
Solid young team looking to break out- 5069
Contenders aiming to rack up points towards MSC- 2474, 2767, 2959, 3452, 3620

LF missed a few good robots here, most notably 858 Demons, 3546 Buc'n'Gears, and 3688 Norsemen.

However, LF's mystical oracular powers are clearly evident: when 2767 and 3620 looked at our scouting data to make the 16th pick, there were the Iron Giants, right where we needed them, to validate LF's breakout prediction.

Also, LF had no way of knowing that rookie 6097 would build a solid robot, play smart, pick smart (141), and captain a #5 alliance into the semis. Great job, Botcats -- and heads up for next time, LF.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

Alamo
All eyes in San Antonio will be on a pair of Texas' top powerhouses in 148 and 624. The Robowranglers struggled (relative to their standards) the last time they attended Alamo, with some early season tweaks necessary to another catapulted machine in 2014. Even if it takes a bit for 148 to dial in their launching, their excellently packaged scaling device and plenty of driver practice should give them a distinct edge over most of the field. CRyptonite will be their foremost competitor, and quite possibly their most likely partner (despite the fact that 148 and 624 have never paired up in their history). The team formerly known as the Cinco Ranch Engineering Wizards have a history of working some impressive autonomous magic, and hopefully 624 can carry that over into Stronghold with their wheeled shooter. Beyond those two, a pair of recent world champions in 1477 and 2848 will be hoping to end droughts at the regional level since 2013 and 2011 respectively. Even if the pair doesn't come out of the gate firing, they will almost certainly be adept breachers at the very least and it should position themselves well in the standings as a result. 2468 may not be quite as fast over the barriers as the top few, but they have a shooting machine with plenty of potential. While Alamo doesn't quite have the proven depth of some of the other top tier events this weekend, there are still quite a few of Texas' more hidden gems in the field. 3735 has been earning the respect of fellow competitors in recent years, but have yet to win an official award of any kind in team history. Conversely, 1817 has a well stocked award cabinet (especially if you consider individual awards, where they have 2 WFFAs and a 4 DLFAs), highlighted by a pair of regional victories. 3999 and 4063 are both bringing simple, and hopefully effective, machines that should be capable breachers and low goal scorers (with TriKzR4Kidz also featuring the potential for high goal shots). 3481 has seemingly stepped up their game this year, with a very attractive and ambitious design (albeit "low bar challenged"). 1255 will be an interesting test case for the value of opening category C defenses solo from the neutral zone, as that rare skillset may make them an attractive later selection for an alliance looking to increase their max potential score without dedicating multiple robot efforts. It may also be worth keeping an eye on 231 and 3005. Ultimately, this regional may be decided in qualifications, as if the top powerhouses are able to pair up, it might be very difficult to stop them (barring tortugas or electrical failures).

Great predictions !
148 & 624 continued the streak of facing off in the finals !

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

Predictions Week 2: Scaling Up the Competition

Greater Kansas City
Since 2009, at least one defending regional champion has repeated their victory at GKC.

Whelp. This trend died this weekend.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

As I noted, CVR was one of the 3 top line events this week. Likely only SVR will exceed it in quality in California this season.

As anyone else can note, that doesn't mean that it's worthy of an in-depth look. No one is offering a lot of analysis on Alabama playing an FCS team. There were x group of good teams that are the same x number of good teams there as last year. The best one was going to be picked by the highest ranked one, and they would be favored over other pairs.

If you are really offended that a faceless textbox did not do enough ego stroking, might I suggest wrapping yourself up in the comfort of 3 divisional banners and one world champion banner? Not a lot of us can.

[Floodie Wowerz]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

If you are really offended that a faceless textbox did not do enough ego stroking, might I suggest wrapping yourself up in the comfort of 3 divisional banners and one world champion banner? Not a lot of us can.

Wow!

[JABot67]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

As was mentioned before in the prelude to the week 0.5 post, Looking Forward is using the same format we used last year (described in this post). Featured events will be varied geographically from week to week in order to get a good spread of events from around the country. Don't worry, California will have events featured this season. There are certainly compelling story lines at the CA events, however we chose other events to feature this weekend.

This post is a good enough explanation for why certain events were featured and certain events were not. LF does not necessarily choose to cover events based on stuff like the presumed "wow factor" of the robots debuting.

LF does what LF wants! If other CD commentors think they can add to the predictions, they can. That's what FIM Informer, PCH Informer, CHS Platter, NEForecast, INSight, and everyone else is for!

[Bill Klein]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

LF missed a few good robots here, most notably 858 Demons, 3546 Buc'n'Gears, and 3688 Norsemen.

However, LF's mystical oracular powers are clearly evident: when 2767 and 3620 looked at our scouting data to make the 16th pick, there were the Iron Giants, right where we needed them, to validate LF's breakout prediction.

Also, LF had no way of knowing that rookie 6097 would build a solid robot, play smart, pick smart (141), and captain a #5 alliance into the semis. Great job, Botcats -- and heads up for next time, LF.

Richard - Thanks for the callout to the Norsemen 3688. You ran a stellar event.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

As anyone else can note, that doesn't mean that it's worthy of an in-depth look. No one is offering a lot of analysis on Alabama playing an FCS team. There were x group of good teams that are the same x number of good teams there as last year. The best one was going to be picked by the highest ranked one, and they would be favored over other pairs.

If you are really offended that a faceless textbox did not do enough ego stroking, might I suggest wrapping yourself up in the comfort of 3 divisional banners and one world champion banner? Not a lot of us can.

Amen!

I enjoy reading what LF has to say about the events they choose to highlight each week, as well as the week-to-week strategic breakdowns.

Just because the best team in FRC (254) is at an event doesn't mean in needs a full write up.

Plenty of great teams at every event, I'm not even sure how LF has the energy to choose featured events and still give a nods to all the other events. Lets not forget that we set a record Week 2 for most FRC events happening simultaneously. That's a lot of events to cover!

-Mike