The Best Team(s) to Never Win an Official Event

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Consider 1885.

They have only missed Championship once since their rookie year in 2006.

They have earned 7 blue banners since 2012, but none of them happen to say "Winner".

Over 33 lifetime events, they have been eliminated 4 times in the finals, 4 times in the semifinals, and 10 times in the quarterfinals.

Nobody can beat these stats.

I honestly thought of them and dismissed them immediately for being too good to have not won an event. This actually blows my mind.

[Chris is me]

Extremely biased here, due to my involvement with the team for six years, but I'm convinced it's 2791. And I'm not technically on the team right now so this post is OK

Here's a complete list of the close calls 2791 has had in their history:

BAE 2012: Second pick of the 7th alliance with 1519 and 885. Knocked out the 2nd and 3rd alliances on the way to the finals, won Finals 1... and died suddenly during Finals 2. Due to some confusion the alliance was not permitted a backup robot and they lost Finals 3 2v1.

CT 2012: Second pick of the #1 seed with 2168 and 118. 2168 was the best team to not win a regional that year, and 118 was an Einstein caliber robot. After cruising through the quarters, 118 encountered the same bug that disabled them on Einstein. Still, the alliance would have won Semifinal 2, except for the fact that after the buzzer, a robot rolled off the opponent's bridge, and the remaining robot perfectly balanced it. Blown out in Semis 3 and that was that.

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WPI 2013: 2791 ended up as the #1 seed of this event, picking the highest scoring robot and only floor loader of the event in team 20. In the quarterfinals, an arm gear broke, removing their ability to hang. After a frantic fix, the robot was still functional for semis and finals, scoring the highest points of the event until Finals 2, when 2168 discovered that if you hit 2791 just right, their arm now had enough slop in it with the repair to jostle their shooter into a jammed state. In Finals 3, a full court feeding strategy was attempted to mitigate this, which almost worked. Any of three separate events would have won the event - 2791's shooter working as they were hit into the pyramid by 2168 (changes a foul into a tech); 3182 not hanging in the center front of the pyramid on top of a disk (and us remembering the Q&A that clarified this is a legal hang); 20 slidng off the very edge of the pyramid at the zero second mark. This was the most painful close call I'd been a part of.

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FLR 2014: Less close than some of those above, but the #4 seed 341 declined the #2 seed to pick us and 4930. In the semi-finals, we ended up losing by a single missed truss shot in match 1. We were more easily beaten in match 2. Not particularly close but a strong performance.

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2015 never happened

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TVR 2016: 2791 is the first pick of the 3rd alliance, after some issues with the drivetrain and collector. Set some high scores quickly in the quarters, but were bested in the semis by 3 close matches after a substitution on the other alliance.

FLR 2016: 2791 is much improved, doing a solo capture at least once in quals. 2791 is the first overall pick of the event, by 5254. The second pick is a sleeper who was high performing at their last event but struggled early at FLR. After storming through the quarters, a combination of bad autonomous luck and shutdown defense by future Einstein finalist 1405 kept 2791 from even qualifying for Championship.

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So depending on how generous you're being, that's at least 3 events where a small change in circumstances would result in 2791 having won an event. And with the exception of 2015 (my bad), they have gotten more competitive every year since 2011, always running into a combination of mistakes, circumstances, and bad luck. I think they're overdue.

[Drakxii]

I don't feel I can be a good judge of PWN teams yet, but in Texas two teams come to mind.

2881 Lady Cans - 2 Engineering Inspiration awards and 2 Judges awards

3103 Iron Plaid - 4 Engineering Inspiration awards, 2 Finalists, and 1 WFA.

Look out for them when Texas becomes a district.

[EmileH]

Seeing as nobody has done NE, I would throw in my suggestion for Team 166, Chop Shop. While they have two Chairman's Award wins in their history, they have never won an official event but have been steadily improving year after year - this year they were Finalists at Pine Tree and Battlecry, as the captains at both events. Not only this, they were also their division's #1 overall pick at Championship.

[waialua359]

Team 2090 from Hawaii.
Almost always a Regional Finalist. That team is usually a top 3-5 team selection. Its too bad their school doesnt allow them to do more than 1 regional, and champs if they were to qualify. They started FLL in the State of Hawaii and their program and facilities are top notch!
**Barack Obama's alma mater and was in Sports Illustrated several years ago as the #1 High School Overall Sports program in the USA.

[saikiranra]

A more local example to SoCal is 4201. They always put on a good show, but have not won a regional yet.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by tickspe15

461 still hasn't won an event.
They've been an event finalist 6 times including one division finals appearance. They also have won 5 engineering inspiration awards and two chairmans in their 17 seasons. Hopefully their finals curse ends soon, preferably with 1747

For a number of years (2006-2009) they would always make Finals only to lose out on the banner. Based on the stories I've heard over the years 2004 should have been an Einstein appearance in that their failure to advance was due to bad luck, not bad performance per se.

Originally Posted by carpedav000

I think it's shocking how 1741 hasn't won any regionals/districs... They have been regional finalists three times that I know of (BMR 2006, BMR 2013, Chesapeake 2014), they scarcely miss eliminations (if ever), and they have made division elims. three times (SF 2012, SF 2013, QF 2015).

I'd say 1741 is also up there, at least in the Midwest (and for sure in Indiana). IMHO thier best shot was 2013, but that was also a good year for two other teams, 868 and 234, which kept them from the win at both of their regional appearances. That's what's nice about districts; it gives more opportunities for teams to win events (less of a "shadow" effect).

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

+1 on this.

I'll add that Steve Florence is among the greatest of FIRST's unsung heroes. That he does not (yet) have a WFFA is even more incredible than the team's hard luck breaking through for a Winner's blue banner.

This is very true. Me saying this is a bit biased as I know Flo (and work with him at a lot of Indiana events) though.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

+1 on this.

I'll add that Steve Florence is among the greatest of FIRST's unsung heroes. That he does not (yet) have a WFFA is even more incredible than the team's hard luck breaking through for a Winner's blue banner.

+1 I am also astonished that this is true.

[Lil' Lavery]

Team 708 has really stepped up their on-the-field game over the past few years, and is the best non-winner in MAR that I can think of (now that 1089 has a division banner).
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/708/history

1x Regional finals (2009)
2x District event finals (2012, 2016)
1x Sub-division finals (2016)
2x District Chairman's Awards (2016, 2016)
1x MAR Championship Chairman's Award (2015)
FeelsBadMan

3974 and 4954 are some (relatively) younger MAR teams that are still looking for their first wins.

[Christopher149]

From the UP of Michigan: probably have to go with 1596. One time regional finalist, a smattering of design awards, and a couple trips to States. As to why they haven't won, some of it is probably the small number of teams and events in the UP, and the show's been stolen by downstate teams and the likes of 2586, 3602, and 4391.

In a different vein, I think 2246 The Army of Sum must be the best at winning the Imagery Award (8 times) without having won an event.

[scottandme]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Team 708 has really stepped up their on-the-field game over the past few years, and is the best non-winner in MAR that I can think of (now that 1089 has a division banner).
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/708/history

1x Regional finals (2009)
2x District event finals (2012, 2016)
1x Sub-division finals (2016)
2x MAR Championship Chairman's Awards (2015, 2016)


3974 and 4954 are some (relatively) younger MAR teams that are still looking for their first wins.

Beat me to it..

Top teams without an event win by average MAR points:

3974 118.6 (3 time finalist)
484 109.2 (4 time finalist)
708 103.2 (4 time finalist)
1647 101.2 (3 time finalist)
2180 99.6 (2 time finalist)
1712 98.2 (1 time finalist)

[BotDesigner]

The best team in this category in Colorado has to be Team 1440, The Kraken. During 20 events they have been eliminated in the Finals 3 times, Semi-Finals 3 times, and Quarter-Finals 5 times. They have picked their own alliance 4 times and have won 10 awards.

[mastachyra]

I'll try the Midwest Regional. It's not as interesting as some of the previous mentions...

2704 - Roaring Robotics from Batavia, Illinois (Home of Fermi Lab). They have accomplished alot, including Engineering Inspiration and four Safety Awards in seven years. They're also just a pleasure to compete with in general.

[Logan Byers]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

+1 on this.

I'll add that Steve Florence is among the greatest of FIRST's unsung heroes. That he does not (yet) have a WFFA is even more incredible than the team's hard luck breaking through for a Winner's blue banner.

Correction: Flo won a Woodie Flowers Award in 2006 at the Buckeye Regional in Cleveland.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Logan Byers

Correction: Flo won a Woodie Flowers Award in 2006 at the Buckeye Regional in Cleveland.

Aha! Thank you for the research on that. Now TBA should update the 461 history page.

IIRC, some scorekeepers have not always entered team affiliations for WFFA. And even when they do, TBA sometimes doesn't pick them up. For example, Frank Dressel got the 2006 St. Louis Regional WFFA and the scorekeeper recorded his team number, but it doesn't show up on 931's TBA history page.