2016 MAR Season

[Ben Martin]

Congratulations to 1676, 5624, and 223 for winning Bridgewater! I'm looking forward to watching how the competition went down.

We are looking forward to playing with many of the best New Jersey teams for the first time this year at MAR Champs. Based on the defense we saw during the playoff rounds at Westtown, the playoff rounds are going to be insane. There were 3 or 4 good low goal scoring robots with quality driving that didn't get picked.

[Hallry]

With week 5 in the bag, I've updated my unofficial 2016 MAR Ranking Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing. I will note that it does differ from the official FIRST Rankings in regards to Team 225's ranking points. The official FIRST Rankings show them having a total of 145 points, while at their two districts they earned 72 and 68 points, respectively, which only adds up to 140. I've messaged the FRC Teams email about the matter. Either way, 225 is still decisively ranked first - Congrats!

Originally Posted by BMSOTM

Congratulations to the winning alliance at Bridgewater of 1676, 5624, and 223! Those were some intense finals matches; you certainly earned your banner! Congratulations to 1676 on EI

Originally Posted by AGPapa

Congratulations to 1676, 5624 and 223 for winning!

Originally Posted by Ben Martin

Congratulations to 1676, 5624, and 223 for winning Bridgewater! I'm looking forward to watching how the competition went down.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was another crazy weekend for us and we greatly appreciate all of your support. Special thanks to 5624 and 223 for being truly amazing alliance partners - we couldn't have asked for a better elimination alliance. We've posted our full-field footage of all the 2016 Bridgewater-Raritan Qualification and Elimination Matches, as well as Alliance Selections and the Awards Ceremony, on our YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...vGwP0QPyEFMd9D. I also just submitted all of our videos to the TBA page, so they should all appear here once they are approved: http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016njbri. Enjoy, and we can't wait to see everyone at MAR Champs in two weeks! Best of luck to everyone competing at the Montgomery District Event next weekend!

[Ben Martin]

Originally Posted by Hallry

I will note that it does differ from the official FIRST Rankings in regards to Team 225's ranking points. The official FIRST Rankings show them having a total of 145 points, while at their two districts they earned 72 and 68 points, respectively, which only adds up to 140. I've messaged the FRC Teams email about the matter. Either way, 225 is still decisively ranked first - Congrats!

Why would we not have 73? The playoff rules clearly state you have to "win" 2 matches to advance, and a "win" is worth 5 points. I read this as a true "tie" is only if you get to the 7th order sort.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Ben Martin

Why would we not have 73? The playoff rules clearly state you have to "win" 2 matches to advance, and a "win" is worth 5 points. I read this as a true "tie" is only if you get to the 7th order sort.

Ah now I see (Sorry, with being at Bridgewater this past weekend I didn't know much about what went on at Westtown). I agree with you Ben, it should be counted as a win, not a tie. I'll be sure to fix that in my Google Doc, sorry about that. It's interesting that this page of the official rankings doesn't credit the win, but it is taken into account in the overall ranking points.

[AGPapa]

Originally Posted by Hallry

Ah now I see (Sorry, with being at Bridgewater this past weekend I didn't know much about what went on at Westtown). I agree with you Ben, it should be counted as a win, not a tie. I'll be sure to fix that in my Google Doc, sorry about that. It's interesting that this page of the official rankings doesn't credit the win, but it is taken into account in the overall ranking points.

There is currently a bug in how playoff points are calculated with tiebreakers in the official rankings, so FIRST is manually adding in tiebreaker points to fix it.

You can see this adjustment at the bottom of this page.

[vmorgs]

Originally Posted by AGPapa

Well there goes week 5! With only event left before MAR Champs we should expect invites for teams with mathematical locks on a DCMP bid to go out early this week. (Last year it was Tuesday).

Our team is currently 46th so we're not a mathematical lock, especially since there's still Montgomery next weekend. So when can we expect to find out if we've made the cut for Lehigh? I would assume next Monday but is that too soon? Also, how does it work if teams make the cut but can't end up going for financial or other reasons? Do they just notify the next highest ranked team and if so when? Forgive all of the questions, but we're only in our 2nd year and I couldn't find some of these answers in the Admin Manual. Thanks!

[AGPapa]

Originally Posted by vmorgs

Our team is currently 46th so we're not a mathematical lock, especially since there's still Montgomery next weekend. So when can we expect to find out if we've made the cut for Lehigh? I would assume next Monday but is that too soon? Also, how does it work if teams make the cut but can't end up going for financial or other reasons? Do they just notify the next highest ranked team and if so when? Forgive all of the questions, but we're only in our 2nd year and I couldn't find some of these answers in the Admin Manual. Thanks!

Right after the Montgomery event ends on Sunday the top 55 teams should know that they will qualify (well, not the 55 teams by points, since there are spots for teams that won a District Chairman's award). I'm not sure when the actual invites will go out, but those teams will know that they'll receive them.

If a team declines their bid then FIRST Mid-Atlantic will try to notify the next highest ranked team as soon as they can. Those teams could decline too, so it takes a while to go down the list.

I believe that a team last year received their invitation on Thursday morning after practice matches had already started.

[vmorgs]

Originally Posted by AGPapa

Right after the Montgomery event ends on Sunday the top 55 teams should know that they will qualify (well, not the 55 teams by points, since there are spots for teams that won a District Chairman's award). I'm not sure when the actual invites will go out, but those teams will know that they'll receive them.

If a team declines their bid then FIRST Mid-Atlantic will try to notify the next highest ranked team as soon as they can. Those teams could decline too, so it takes a while to go down the list.

I believe that a team last year received their invitation on Thursday morning after practice matches had already started.

Thanks for the reply..it was very helpful and informative! As a team ranked 46th is this even something we should be worrying about?

[AGPapa]

Originally Posted by vmorgs

Thanks for the reply..it was very helpful and informative! As a team ranked 46th is this even something we should be worrying about?

Only a few teams will need to jump you for you to not receive one of the initial bids. Unfortunately I wouldn't say that your chances are good. If you do receive an invite it will probably be later in the week as teams decline their invitations. Luckily for you MAR teams decline their spots fairly often!

In order to stop teams from jumping you you'll want to cheer on teams this weekend that are playing for the 3rd time. These teams can't earn points and will stop other teams from earning points that they could use to jump you. You'll also want to cheer on teams that already have more points than you, since they won't be able to pass you. Additionally, you'll want teams who have won a District Chairman's award to get a lot of points since they will jump you anyway.


The teams you want to do well this weekend so you can get a MAR Champs bid are:

103 (3rd event)
433 (3rd event)
869 (3rd event)
1228 (3rd event)
1403 (3rd event)
2180 (3rd event)
3974 (3rd event)
6203 (already has more points)
1923 (Chairman's)


It seems like your team made big improvements in performance from Hatboro (when I saw you) to Westtown. I hope you qualify to Lehigh so I can see those improvements! Good luck!

[vmorgs]

Originally Posted by AGPapa

It seems like your team made big improvements in performance from Hatboro (when I saw you) to Westtown. I hope you qualify to Lehigh so I can see those improvements! Good luck!

Thanks! After Hatboro-Horsham we abandoned our high goal shooter and focused on getting our our scimitar (scaler) working. Our programming team was a little disappointed we were ditching our high goal shooter because they spend a TON of time trying to figure out vision processing in C++ but in the end, we made the right call. Now we'll just be anxiously awaiting the results of Montgomery this weekend to see what's next for us.

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by AGPapa

I believe that a team last year received their invitation on Thursday morning after practice matches had already started.

Yes there was, Team 5438 the Technological Terrors. There were 3 late cancellations last year and they were the only one who could fill on day of the event (and all the way from Jersey City, New Jersey). The last 2 spots went unfilled. Here is a video queued to Rizzo telling the story:

https://youtu.be/SmqR_KuUuxQ?t=4h40m24s

I finished the last bits of that inspection while the cart was rolling to the queue. In a scheduling coincidence, they were paired with the eventual MAR Champs 316 & 225. That is 188 points you wouldn't want to miss out on. 5438 only had 41 district points last year so that gives you some feel of how few points a team can have and still have a possibility be invited to the Champs. Everyone on the bubble, make sure you have the registration fee ready in an account in case you get a late call. It was a fun story to go from registered to competing in such a short time (students were literally pulled out of classrooms), but hopefully we will not have as many late declines this year.

[Ari423]

Just FYI, I can now officially say that Team 3974, E=mCD, will not be attending Montgomery. Taking their place will be Team 423, the Simple Machines. We learned that there was a spot open yesterday, and we jumped on the opportunity. We are looking forward to seeing all of our friends again this weekend!

[rcoren22]

Originally Posted by Hallry

With week 5 in the bag, I've updated my unofficial 2016 MAR Ranking Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing. I will note that it does differ from the official FIRST Rankings in regards to Team 225's ranking points. The official FIRST Rankings show them having a total of 145 points, while at their two districts they earned 72 and 68 points, respectively, which only adds up to 140. I've messaged the FRC Teams email about the matter. Either way, 225 is still decisively ranked first - Congrats!





Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was another crazy weekend for us and we greatly appreciate all of your support. Special thanks to 5624 and 223 for being truly amazing alliance partners - we couldn't have asked for a better elimination alliance. We've posted our full-field footage of all the 2016 Bridgewater-Raritan Qualification and Elimination Matches, as well as Alliance Selections and the Awards Ceremony, on our YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...vGwP0QPyEFMd9D. I also just submitted all of our videos to the TBA page, so they should all appear here once they are approved: http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016njbri. Enjoy, and we can't wait to see everyone at MAR Champs in two weeks! Best of luck to everyone competing at the Montgomery District Event next weekend!

And Thank You, thank you, thank you!
What an incredible ride it was. Thanks to our friends at 1676 for believing in us. We have been dreaming of winning a banner with you guys for awhile and it seems that the steaks are finally on the grill! After we had some difficulties Saturday, we knew we had to come out Sunday like crazy and it seemed to work. 5624, it was great working with your team - you guys are a real fast low goal cycling bot and you were great throughout the entire elims. 1676 is absolutely a shut down d with capabilities of low goal cycles and defense breaching- triple threat.

Looking forward to running with the rest of MAR next week at Lehigh!

[Hallry]

It was just announced at Montgomery that the capacity of MAR Champs will be increased from 55 teams to 60 teams!

Originally Posted by rcoren22

And Thank You, thank you, thank you!
What an incredible ride it was. Thanks to our friends at 1676 for believing in us. We have been dreaming of winning a banner with you guys for awhile and it seems that the steaks are finally on the grill! After we had some difficulties Saturday, we knew we had to come out Sunday like crazy and it seemed to work. 5624, it was great working with your team - you guys are a real fast low goal cycling bot and you were great throughout the entire elims. 1676 is absolutely a shut down d with capabilities of low goal cycles and defense breaching- triple threat.

Looking forward to running with the rest of MAR next week at Lehigh!

Thanks so much for the compliments. You guys certainly turned up the heat on Sunday morning, scoring 7 and 8 low goals in two qualification matches, and we were ecstatic to get you guys on our alliance. We certainly couldn't have done it without you. I hope Jack enjoys his steak.

[vmorgs]

For those of you not at Montgomery and not live streaming it, I thought I'd let you know they just announced it will be the top 60 teams going to Lehigh instead of the top 55.