A Cinderella story?

[Racer26]

1075 has been 11th seed before, and not been picked (would have been 9th alliance captain). Kettering Kickoff 2009.

If you want examples of your "cinderella story" scenario, where a powerhouse alliance carries a relatively weak team to a regional champion and seat in atlanta, look no further than the Canadian Regionals. 1114 and 2056 consistently dominate here (2056 is 4 times defending at WAT, 3 at GTR)(1114 is 5 times defending at GTR and 3 of the last 4 at WAT, not attending in 2009), and carry a third team through the finals.

[Peter Matteson]

I can think of a few times where we picked teams who didn't think they would get picked because they were valuble to playing the game the way we played it that year, but other teams weren't playing the way we did and overlooked them. My favorite example of this is 2006 we were the Galileo 2 seed due to a tiebreaker. We picked 1126 first. A clear top choice to us. Our second pick was 201. They were a gem that no one had picked up on for our style of play. Only after we won the division did a mentor on 201 tell me that he had given the "Sometimes you try hard and just don't make it speech," the night before telling me they had no idea anyone would pick them. It felt good to take a team like that with us.

I could list off other similar stories but that was my favorite because I could see it in that mentor when he told me about talking to the kids how much it meant to them.

Also for Cinderella stories, don't forget about that pesky Newton 8th seed alliance that won the Championship a few years back...

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

Our second pick was 201. They were a gem that no one had picked up on for our style of play. Only after we won the division did a mentor on 201 tell me that he had given the "Sometimes you try hard and just don't make it speech," the night before telling me they had no idea anyone would pick them. It felt good to take a team like that with us.

Wow, I remember watching 201 fall and wanting our alliance (#3) to select them before you (#2) could. However, we went with a defensive specialist which differed from my opinion that you should go for "all out offence" if they can get quality like 201 that can floor collect. I still think we would have beat you in the semis with 201 if for no other reason than you couldn't replace their scoring, (there was no one even close left). I got involved with the strategy team the next year.

Then again, you probably would have found a way to Einstein as you have the last 4 years. You have directly eliminated us in all 3 rounds of divisional play QF ('09), SF ('06), and F ('08) during that run (why do we keep ending up in the same division? ). At least when we paired up in '04 we made a Div Final run.

[Dan 1038]

At Buckeye, we were the #2 seed and picked two rookie teams who we had worked with all year, 3138 (who is STOUT offensively) and 3201 (Good defense)... We almost got to Atlanta, but failed to close the deal in the third match of the finals. 3138 is the only one going south out of our alliance, due to their Rookie All Star award... It was a great experience for 3201 to be involved in the eliminations at the first regional they ever attended, which was our intent when we picked them to join us! Cool stuff!

[Dan-o]

I remember a situation that might be what you're looking for. I will leave team numbers out of it in case anyone wants this to be kept quiet.

In 2005, "Team A" significantly helped "Team B" throughout the build season and both showed up to the same regional with functional machines. Team A was not very successful and end up placing in the bottom 10% in the final rankings. Team B, however, seeded 1st. It became clear that Team A was not going to get chosen for the elimination rounds. The captain of Team B offered to use their second pick to select Team A so they could have a shot at eliminations. Team A declined saying that Team B should pick the team they though would best help the #1 alliance succeed. Team B picked a more competitive partner and ended up winning the regional. Team A went un-picked, but cheered Team B on throughout the eliminations.

My opinion is that both teams acted honorably.

[Zach Purser]

When our team puts together the list of who we would like to pick, we do have discussions of "I really like their team, they really seem to get it, let's move them up the list," or "we haven't seen anyone besides the mentors ever work on their robot, move them down a few notches," so it's not just about performance. We want to win, but we would prefer to do so with a great partner team, not just a great partner robot.

About picking lower ranked teams, one of the coolest things I've seen was an odd pick at VCU probably 6 or 7 years ago. None of us understood the pick until the first alliance match. We barely even recognized the lower ranked robot, the alliance captain had built a part to literally bolt on top of their partner robot. They had been scouting for a team with a solid drive train and enough underweight for the part to be added. I don't even know if their partners were aware of this plan before they went back to the pits.

[Meredith Novak]

We would never say we could "carry" anyone or be stupid enough to attempt it. But we do consider in our scouting sessions whether a team needs a ticket to the CMP or is already attending.

[Emily3204]

It happened to my team this year. The first place team, Miss Daisy, selected our rookie all-girls robotics team to be in their alliance. NYC Regional Winners 2010

[Mrs.Drake343]

This year at Palmetto, 343 picked 1398 as their 2nd pick. 1398 has never had (until this year thanks to 2815) a lot of engineering help and as a result has never been able to earn any respect for their robot. When we picked them, it was the 1st time they had EVER been picked to play in the elims. They were awesome! We were able to pick the true "sleeper" bot this year.

1398 has gone to Nationals in the past by winning the Chairman's Award, and this year had actually already qualified for Atlanta by winning the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Bayou Regional. But they have never gotten there by winning a regional!

As far as a rookie Cinderella, both rookie teams at Palmetto had already been picked. So 1398 was the next best Cinderella story!

[gvarndell]

Originally Posted by Dan 1038

At Buckeye, we were the #2 seed and picked two rookie teams who we had worked with all year, 3138 (who is STOUT offensively) and 3201 (Good defense)... We almost got to Atlanta, but failed to close the deal in the third match of the finals.

Yeah, I was there.
If I recall, 3138 had, uh, shall we say, mobility problems that last match, right?
You guys were an alliance to be reckoned with for sure -- bad luck aside.
I think 3138 was *the* most impressive robot there, and there many very impressive robots.

[gvarndell]

Originally Posted by Emily3204

It happened to my team this year. The first place team, Miss Daisy, selected our rookie all-girls robotics team to be in their alliance. NYC Regional Winners 2010

Congratulations!
Looking forward to seeing you in Atlanta.

[Dan 1038]

Originally Posted by gvarndell

Yeah, I was there.
If I recall, 3138 had, uh, shall we say, mobility problems that last match, right?
You guys were an alliance to be reckoned with for sure -- bad luck aside.
I think 3138 was *the* most impressive robot there, and there many very impressive robots.

3138 learned a little about seating PWM cables properly in the final match... Regardless of the outcome, we had a blast and look forward to the off season!

[DinerKid]

At Boston we were in 50th after the quals. We are a defensive robot so a lot of our wins and losses depend on our alliance partners. We all ran like crazy trying to make a name for ourselves with ALL of the top teams. We were picked by the fourth seed 88 (TJ Squared) as their defensive guy. They also picked team 1922 Oz Ram. We went on to become tournament champions. We did our best to block the other alliance despite being double teamed in our zone. While we blocked 1922 and 88 were busy scoring like crazy. They worked incredibly well together, one returning balls to the other who would quickly score it.

We were pumped to be picked into the elims. for the first time ever. And when we saw the scores at the end of Finals Match 2 is was hugs, jumping and tears all around.

I don't think it gets too much more "Cinderella story" than that.

I would really like to thank 88 and 1922 again both for giving us a chance in the finals and for being such GREAT offensive alliance partners.

~DK

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

(Most teams will tell you that ranking has nothing to do with who they pick)

The smartest ones will, at least.

Originally Posted by dtengineering

We have ranked as high as 12th and NOT been picked

Originally Posted by 1075guy

1075 has been 11th seed before, and not been picked

Yeah, we were 11th seed at CMP once, and didn't get picked. That was actually an excellent lesson for us: We were a good robot, but there's this thing called "Strategy"...

Back to the OP: Some teams take factors other than performance into consideration, but not most. An alliance captain has a duty to the rest of the team to actually win something, and not harm those chances by selecting someone who can't perform. But, if they pick a 'deserving' team when all else is equal, that seems good.

[JoshAdkins]

I think 3138 was *the* most impressive robot there, and there many very impressive robots.

Thank you, team 1629 also had a very impressive robot. We look forward to seeing you in atlanta.