Hardest Regionals?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by JudyVandy

But, Ed, some teams DO have a history....

Past success does not guarantee future results....

[dubious elise]

i find it interesting that boilermaker has been mentioned already, considering that no one has attended it yet. i noticed that many of these statements are based on the teams that are participating in the regional, but to paraphrase Koko Ed, it can change from year to year!

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by dubious elise

i find it interesting that boilermaker has been mentioned already, considering that no one has attended it yet. i noticed that many of these statements are based on the teams that are participating in the regional, but to paraphrase Koko Ed, it can change from year to year!

This is true. However, given the odds of such a long list of teams with amazing track records all having off years during this particular season (which I calculate to be mighty slim odds), I'm willing to take that calculated risk.

I liken it to when I hold off on a project until the night before it is due. I take a chance of my computer dying, the dorm printer failing, et cetera. However, I know my track record when it comes to these sorts of situation (I'd say about 98% of my projects done this way come out as A's or B's) and assume that risk. Sure, I could completely bomb--and when it happens, I'll take what comes with it.

If Boilermaker proves to be a bust, I'll crack eggs on my forehead in Atlanta. A dozen, Grade A Large.

[tkwetzel]

Originally Posted by Billfred

This is true. However, given the odds of such a long list of teams with amazing track records all having off years during this particular season (which I calculate to be mighty slim odds), I'm willing to take that calculated risk.

If Boilermaker proves to be a bust, I'll crack eggs on my forehead in Atlanta. A dozen, Grade A Large.

I'll put out my opinion: I agree with Billfred and Karthik that many teams are expected to do well year after year and the aforementioned regionals have some good lists of teams. I will also say that the larger regionals will also be a little tougher: there are more teams that you have to do better than to win, more teams that you have to pay attention to when scouting, and fewer rounds per team thus fewer chances to make-up for one or two poor performances. The regionals that have over 60 teams attending fall into this category.

Edit: Billfred: I'm holding you to the egg-cracking bit.

[DivideByZero]

Originally Posted by tkwetzel

Edit: Billfred: I'm holding you to the egg-cracking bit.

Agreed. I'd buy that for a dollar.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Billfred

If Boilermaker proves to be a bust, I'll crack eggs on my forehead in Atlanta. A dozen, Grade A Large.

There'll be no egg on your face this time.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Past success does not guarantee future results....

Agreed, but I think there is a strong correlation between past success and future results. For example, based on what I've seen over the past 7 years, I don't think I'm going out on too much of a limb by saying that Teams 71 and 254 will be pretty good this year.

This by no means precludes any upstart team from entering the class of elite teams. But, I just think that going into the season there's certain teams out there that we know to expect great things from. To me it's sort of like Vegas setting the early lines on who's going to win the 2006 Rose Bowl. There's a good chance that USC, the favourite will come through, but just because they're favoured doesn't mean that Ohio State (Go Bucks!!) won't be in the big dance.

All that being said I think the "tougher" regionals this year will be Boilermaker and Western Michigan But heed Ed's comment, all early lines are subject to change upon the release of robot pictures in weeks 4-6.

[Captain Rich]

Sacramento, Grand Rapids, and Detroit.

Why? 245 will be there.

[mizscience]

The UCF Regionals are challenging because you have temas like Think Pink, Swamp Thing, S.P.A.M., SigmaC@t, etc....

[Kyle Love]

I think all regionals are tough...I mean every regional will have a few "powerhouse" teams in it...but if I have to choose one it would be Midwest because there is a mix of teams from all over the world and teams like 71, 111 and 108 will be there...I'm sure it will be exciting!

[Validius]

GLR is the hardest. We have the Big 3 sponsoring every other team and we have teams like 1(Juggernaughts), 66(Flyers), 67(HOT) and of course, 1547 :-D

[Heretic121]

UTC... usual teams...

121, 69, 157, 237, 236, 126, 20, 173, 176, 175, 195, 571, 716, 177...

sorry if i forgot anyone...

but that right there is the usually the big teams that is also about 1/3 of the competition...

[nobrakes8]

The New England, Atlantic, and eastern midwest United States is where the top teams are located. With so many compeitions it seems like all the regionals have lost some power teams to the newer regionals. UTC, NJ, and NH are probably still some of the most loaded regionals with excellent teams, just fewer than in the past. The midwest also used to have some loaded regionals but just reading this post and some other posts, it seems like their top 2-3 regionals are loseing teams to newer places as well.

With so many regionals, I bet the invitationals in the northeast are going to be extremely fun to watch. I mean this year's UTC missed a few noticeible teams like Buzz and Sie-H20-bots, I'm willing to bet those guys as well as many of the NJ, NY, UTC, NH teams are going to be at the same invitationals makeing some memorible moments. WPI, Beantown Blitz, bash @ the beach, PARC (assumeing those invitationals are going to happen again) are going to have awsome teams signed up. Realisticly if the top Northeast teams show up to the same place, it will be harder to make elmination rounds at these invitationals than most regionals in the country.

[Ali Ahmed]

Originally Posted by nobrakes8

The New England, Atlantic, and eastern midwest United States is where the top teams are located. With so many compeitions it seems like all the regionals have lost some power teams to the newer regionals. UTC, NJ, and NH are probably still some of the most loaded regionals with excellent teams, just fewer than in the past. The midwest also used to have some loaded regionals but just reading this post and some other posts, it seems like their top 2-3 regionals are loseing teams to newer places as well.

With so many regionals, I bet the invitationals in the northeast are going to be extremely fun to watch. I mean this year's UTC missed a few noticeible teams like Buzz and Sie-H20-bots, I'm willing to bet those guys as well as many of the NJ, NY, UTC, NH teams are going to be at the same invitationals makeing some memorible moments. WPI, Beantown Blitz, bash @ the beach, PARC (assumeing those invitationals are going to happen again) are going to have awsome teams signed up. Realisticly if the Northeast teams show up, it will be harder to make elmination rounds at these invitationals than most regionals in the country.

Hey what about us here in the west. We got great teams like 60, 254, 980, 330, and 968 just to name a very few. Anyway, I think that Boilermaker and Midwest are probably the hardest.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by nobrakes8

The midwest also used to have some loaded regionals but just reading this post and some other posts, it seems like their top 2-3 regionals are loseing teams to newer places as well.

That is very true. 4 or 5 years ago, I would have said the 2 hardest regionals were Great Lakes and Midwest, bar none. They were the only two regionals in the area, so all the powerhouse teams of the Midwest were there. I'd have also probably given the nod to GLR, because at that time, there were nearly 70 teams competing. 70 teams + all the midwest "elites" = the hardest regional in the country.

Now, with a new regional being added every year since 2001 (West Michigan, Buckeye, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Boilermaker, in that order), the field has been diluted a bit. Not that it's a terrible thing, because more teams get to play, and more teams get to win, but it does lower the level of competition slightly. For this year, I would say the Boilermaker Regional had the toughest field of teams, which is fairly typical of the trend I've seen since 2001. The new regional always attracts a lot of big teams in its first year, because people want to go to the new event. Then, after a year, it generally tends to even out with the others.

So, which one will be the hardest next year? Wherever they add an 8th (!) regional in the Midwest Barring that, I'd have to go with my perennial favorite, Great Lakes.