Update #16

[jgannon]

Match pairing was not much better at Pittsburgh, either. In addition to seeing the same opponents several times, we were also seeing the same partners several times. In addition, I know that several other teams were having issues with matches being very close together. At least one team today had to immediately go on deck after finishing a match. 7 minutes is not enough time between matches. I understand that the algorithm is trying to optimize for several constraints, but the only one that it seems to be hitting consistently is pairing a low, mid, and high number team. I'm still not sure that this is what we want as customers. It's fun to see some balance, but I also like to occasionally see good pairings. As this algorithm stands, none of the Delphi teams (45-48?) or the UTC teams (173-177?) will ever get to partner up in quals. Some otherwise spectacular pairings (70/71, 111/118, 217/229, 1503/1680 come immediately to mind, but I'm sure there are dozens more) just won't happen. Personally, I'd like to play with some rookies instead of against them all the time. Does anybody think this is the way match pairings ought to be?