Highest Seed not Chosen for Finals

[Koko Ed]

Team 73 the Visioneers were seeded 13th and not chosen at FLR.

[Ashley Weed]

Over time, you personally will see more and more of this. Teams will get "overlooked" because they don't have a noticeable name, they are a rookie team (although now it is not so true as rookies are not "true rookies" anymore), and teams will pick teams just because they are "friends". The lowest I know that has been overlooked was 13th/14th and that was in 2003 at the Championship.

It would be interesting to have the data to know if a team lower has been overlooked, as usually at least 9 & 10 get bumped into Alliance Positioning.

[Allison K]

2003 Championships my team was ranked 16th out of about 70, and we were not chosen for alliances. That was the year we had won Great Lakes too.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Allison K

2003 Championships my team was ranked 16th out of about 70, and we were not chosen for alliances. That was the year we had won Great Lakes too.

I think that was Children of the Swamp.

[Allison K]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I think that was Children of the Swamp.

What was?

Anyway. I went and checked the details. We were 15th out of 73 in the Archimedes Division, and weren't picked, but I can imagine with 73 teams to scout it wouldn't be difficult too miss something. Especially because that our the first year in blue (as opposed to yellow in previous years) and first year as the hammerheads.

[Kirk Stankiewcz]

We were seeded 22 at the Hartford UTC Regional, and a Rookie to boot. We WERE chosen as an alliance partner in the quarter finals. It was a thrill and an honor!

Our machine was very dependable, it worked 14 out of 14 times. As rookies, we just had to improve our driving and strategy, which we did by taking cues from our alliance partners.

We scored an average of 22 pts per round, only 3 points from the #1 robot.

For a veteran team to choose us, a rookie team, was an honor.

Kirk Stankiewicz
Mentor
Team 1524

[xzvrw2]

Originally Posted by Allison K

2003 Championships my team was ranked 16th out of about 70, and we were not chosen for alliances. That was the year we had won Great Lakes too.

Hey it didn't matter.
It didn't matter because no one was going to beat the 111, 469, 65 alliance. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'm just playing. That really blows though that you didn't get picked. I liked your guys robot.

[karch]

oh... I know who you're talking about..

alliance 8 REALLY slipped up there. also, and this is hearsay... I heard 955 was just about to get picked by alliance 1 as pick two, but then 8 chose them.

i remember your guys' wooden bot (who doesn't), and it really was very impressive. i am feeling your pain.

[abeD]

This has happened to many teams out there...I can recall in 2002 my team was around 11th and didn't get picked. I was mad and so was my team but hey we learned our lesson and since then we have been as outgoing and noticeable as possible with flyers brochures and things like that. Not getting chosen is just a part of the FIRST experience sometimes...and most fairly new teams come out better for it.

[Cory]

Back in 2002 at nationals we were seeded 11th in Einstein and didn't get picked.

The last picking team was seed #10.

We lost our last match like 52-50 to 16... we would have been the #1 or #2 seed had we won

[Andrew Rudolph]

2002 Nationals 10th Seed, we were 4th the entire competiiton until our last match we lost and that dropped us to 10th, and only one alliance from the top 8 was made.

[abeD]

Alot of times what happens when you're a high seed for a long time teams forget that you're not in the top 8 and for that reason are not on their lists of teams to pick. (happened to us in 2002).

[Cory]

Originally Posted by abeD

Alot of times what happens when you're a high seed for a long time teams forget that you're not in the top 8 and for that reason are not on their lists of teams to pick. (happened to us in 2002).

Yeah, we were in the top 7 all weekend until our last match. That can be a part of it. Another part is not selling yourself to other teams. It's especially critical to do so when you're in a division with 70 something other teams, where any one team can be easily overlooked.

[ajlapp]

just my opinion, but i personally do not put any faith in seeded position.

seeding relies almost exclusively on your partners, especially with so many penalty possibilities. if you have less than perfect partners for many matches than you may seed low, even though you are exceptional. on the opposite side many teams who seed high often get there on the backs of other good robots.

we rely solely on our scouting and knowledge of robots to choose complimentary partners, whether they are seeded first or last. if you are a good bot and end up seeded in the middle, but don't get picked, its most likely that people don't know you, didn't see you perform at your best regularly, or don't need your particular skill set.

[team222badbrad]

Well here are a few things I think are common in Alliance Picking:

Lower numbered teams usually pick lower numbered teams.
Rookies usually pick rookies.
Teams that know local teams or have "family" teams usually pick their local friends or local "family".
When I say family; I mean teams that have branched off of one certain team.
For example my team branched off of one team that had several high schools involved way back in the years of FIRST and now most of these high schools have their own team.
Family teams can also mean teams that have mentored a certain team for some time.

Remember that just because your team could have placed 8th does not mean that a team ranked lower than you could have placed 1st.

Our team has also been subject to not getting picked even though we thought we did well, however, this is not really the case for us anymore.