How did teams go about picking an alliance?

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Posted by Jason, Coach on team #252/254, Bay Bombers/Cheesy Poofs, from Broadway High and NASA Ames.

Posted on 2/28/99 12:01 AM MST


In Reply to: How did teams go about picking an alliance? posted by Mike Kulibaba on 2/27/99 8:05 PM MST:



Mike,

I am actually part of two teams which competed in the playoffs
today, so I'll tell you how we picked. Our team - 252
Broadway High/Bay Bombers finished 5th I think or 6th. The team
we picked did happen to be 9th. We picked them because they could play
good defense while we were really strong at offense and we felt they
matched up well with us. It seemed teams went by team reputations and
conceived ability for pairings rather than how high teams finished.

The other team I am part of which is a
partnership between Broadway & Blackford High Schools, Team # 254
the Cheesy Poofs with robot Cartman was another story.
Cartman was a really good design, but was totally broken down the
first half of the first day of qualifying. We were in 26th after 3
rounds, got a few of the problems fixed and got up to 22 by the end
of the day. We worked all day, night, and morning to fix everything.
We did really well in the 4 matches this morning and moved up to #12.
I think I can speak for Woodside High (seeded # 4) in that they picked
us not because of our place/seeding in the qualifying matches, but
because of what they knew our robot could do if it was working correctly.
They took a gamble and bet that we could get everything fixed in time for
the playoffs instead of picking a higher seeded and fully functional team
We did get Cartman fixed (with their help) and we ended up being
a really great team which worked great together and really communicated
well. They are really a neat team with some great coaches and really fun,
happy, energetic students. Thank God they didn't just go by the seedings
and took into account our ability, potential, and results in the later
part of the qualifying. It paid off for both of us. There were some
great teams in the playoffs, and I don't know if either of us could
have advanced so far in the playoffs with a different partner.

So there are two examples of how alliances were chosen. Good luck in
your regional and the National.

Jason