Highest Seed not Chosen for Finals

[Jack Jones]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

So here's a bizarre, possbily embarrassing topic.

What's the highest-seeded team NOT chosen to be on one of the eight final alliances in your tournament? We finished seeded 17th of 37 in our regional (we should have finished around 10th, but we made some mistakes in team operation that will NEVER happen again), and were not chosen. The embarrassing part is that three robots that WERE chosen didn't score a single point in the finals. One of them was a "brave little toaster" that didn't have an arm. Or the ability to turn. (To make it a little more poignant, we gave them materials and fixed their software for them.)

So, how many 17th seeds don't get picked? We were the highest non-chosen team in our regional. Another embarrassing fact, now that I think of it.

Some facts: Three times (don't laugh) we went onto the field without testing our arm only to find out that someone had unplugged a cable. We lost all three of those. In the rounds where we didn't do something stupid, we went 5-1, scoring an average of four tetras per round. Our only other loss was when an alliance partner racked up 40 points in penalties in a match where we would have won by 16 (and they got chosen for the finals after finishing seeded about 30th).

Hey, I'm not complaining. It was our fault. We could have picked up two more wins if we hadn't shot ourselves in the arm. Or hand. Whatever.

Still, at least eight robots seeded lower than us were chosen. Is this unusual, or Just the Way Things Are? Thanks.

What really must be embarrasing, or at least would make you feel "ungracious", is sitting there wishing someone would break.