Predictions Week 5: Full Moon

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Calling 195 to win CT with 228. Hope that happens.

Hoping big things for 1323 and 1458 at Sac. Good luck you guys.

While 195 is awesome, I believe that unless there is a major upset 121 will win CT

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by octothorpe

Some Davis-bound teams that should also have been noted include 604 with their respectable shooter, 701 (home from Boston??) who always produces a strong robot, 668 with their cleanly designed conveyors (something about them seems familiar...), and definitely our neighboring Palo Alto team 8 for their reliable defensive play.

Team 8 won't be at Davis, they prefer to attend Las Vegas.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

It seems every other team at CT is a power dumper. A bunch of teams are popping out of the woodwork with impressive machines. Should be an EXCITING event!

[Josh Goodman]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

It seems every other team at CT is a power dumper. A bunch of teams are popping out of the woodwork with impressive machines. Should be an EXCITING event!

I agree and will be watching the webcast all day tomorrow and saturday.

[Raumiester2010]

Originally Posted by Kaushal.K

Thanks for the mention of course, and we all know (sorry everyone else), but GTR is going to be the loudest regional this Weekend!!

Thanks for the mention, Troy is going to be chaos...

i disagree, we are gonna be the loudest!
my team may be small but we can be really rowdy when we feel like it

[mark johnson]

They aren't as flashy as some of their Michigan opponents, but 910 is the real deal and wants to earn their first district win. Foley reached the finals last week, and with stronger partners they could be even more dangerous. They'll have to improve their qualification fate if they want to guarantee themselves a partner capable of knocking off the top teams though.

Thanks for the good things you have to say about The Foley Freeze. The team is woking hard and having a blast doing it . Its great seeing the effort is being noticed by a awsome thread like this!!!!!! I look forward to reading your post every week. Keep up the good work!!

[Athleticgirl389]

That's very sweet to have 102 mentioned Hopefully we can pull back-to-back, especially with the help of 870 as well as our alliance partner from last year, 2487

[tim_reiher]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

While 195 is awesome, I believe that unless there is a major upset 121 will win CT

Truth be told, with such a deep field at CT this year, especially in the alliance pairings, their defeat didn't come as that much of a shock to me. The 4th seeded alliance simply built a very solid squad that worked together well, and deserved the victory.

Congrats to 1155, 1902, and 126.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by tim_reiher

Truth be told, with such a deep field at CT this year, especially in the alliance pairings, their defeat didn't come as that much of a shock to me. The 4th seeded alliance simply built a very solid squad that worked together well, and deserved the victory.

Congrats to 1155, 1902, and 126.

While I was a bit surprised, I agree that the 4th seeded alliance was very solid, and worked together perfectly. In the end, I think their strategy worked best.

I ,too, congratulate 1155, 1902, and 126 on a well earned victory.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

488 can score oodles of points in a single dump, but will have to learn how to deal with the defense if they want a regional victory. They'll be an early selection, but they'll need very good strategy to knock off the other elite scoring machines. The XBots are most dangerous when they have a lot of balls, so it's hard for both them and another "big dumper" to be effective on the same alliance. Proper use of super cells, defense, and reliable secondary scoring could bring them to the finals though.

...eerily prescient.

[Steven Sigley]

Originally Posted by octothorpe

701 (home from Boston??) who always produces a strong robot

Aw thanks, yeah we just got back from Boston, and had a great time in Davis, I was surprised with the number of high-scoring robots this year.

Even though we lost in the quarterfinals we're proud because we nearly handed 1717 their first lost when they beat us by merely 4 points. Congratulations to everyone on their awards, and hard work, this year's regional was fantastic!

[smurfgirl]

You were right-on as usual, LF. I love reading your predictions, thanks for doing this.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

LAS VEGAS:

They have a low scores of just 18 and 24. 254 is an explosive team, but also capable of being locked up and pinned (as is just about every team). They're the favorite to notch up another gold, but if they encounter two strong scoring machines with a smart defensive partner, and lack a top notch #2 option themselves, they could be in trouble.

Well, it wasn't 2 strong scoring machines and one defender, it was just a strong scorer that could play defense. Try doing a moving pin...Maybe they should have picked a different team.

987 has probably the most potential for improvement of any team at the event. [...]If they have the right partners and continue to improve, they could earn a medal here for the fifth time (in the fifth year of the regional).

They did.

The Beachbots are another team with big potential here in Vegas. This isn't the 330 of the past two seasons though, but they should still be a major player. They'll be more than capable of beating anybody with the right partners, but having the right alliance in the eliminations will be critical.

Pretty good, LF. They took out the Poofs with a moving pin, but couldn't do the same to 987. They beat 254 and 987 in quals, too.

The Holy Cows are 254-lite. 1538 has many of the same attributes as the Poofs, but none are quite as refined. They've given their drivers plenty of practice time since being shut down in the finals in San Diego, so they should be sharp, but they'll need a partner with consistent scoring who can help lighten defensive pressure. Another finals appearance is not out of the question for the Cows, especially if they pair with someone like 987, 973, or 330.

Allied with 254, they were pinned most of QF1-1, and then lost in SF1.

The Greybots were the undisputed star of their alliance in LA. 207 added reliable scoring, but the focal point was 973. Their power dumper was highly effective and should be one of the top few bots in Vegas. They'll be asked to join one of the top three or four alliances, and it will take another elite team to knock them out of the eliminations.

Not asked to the top few, they were on #5 and had the misfortune of facing off against 330 in the quarterfinals. Two losses later, they were bound for home.

2543 helped prove the value of defensive specialists by shutting down RAWC and the Holy Cows in week 2. They'll need to be on an alliance with two strong scoring machines and have proper strategy if they want to have any success in the eliminations.

Very good, LF. But their #8 alliance couldn't get 254 pinned by 2543 for long enough and lost in 3 matches.

[115inventorsam]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

[b]The Bears looked good, but not great, in San Jose. Both they and 115 have similar designs and should be effective scoring machines. Both should improve, but 766 has more potential. Either team is very capable of reaching the finals on the proper alliance, but niether will be able to capture gold without a well-rounded alliance and a 2nd strong scoring partner.

LF was right on for that prediction. 766 was with 100, but they ran into 1717 and 668 in the semis and lost. We made it to the finals but couldn't keep up since we did not have a very strong scoring partner, though 2122 was awesome considering that they came in as the backup bot.

[=Martin=Taylor=]

Originally Posted by Looking Forward

The Space Cookies have larger offensive potential (can score 7-10 balls pretty consistently) than 852, but their defensive abilities are their biggest feature. Both of these teams will likely be early-mid 2nd round selections, but will depend heavily on their scoring partners in the eliminations.

1868 went from uber-D-bot to power scorer. The combination of that powerful drive and lift system earned them the second pick (team 100 declined).

I thought they were in the top three of best robots at the event. I expect they go very far in Atlanta.

I'm sry if anyone was insulted by our decline. 1868 was a MUCH better pick than our unfortunate robot, and I suspect 2035 did better with them than they would have with us.