Can a 8th seed knock off a 1st seed at champs?

[george.tan]

Originally Posted by Hadi379

Yes, the 2016 Curie #8 Alliance won their division, knocking off the #1 seed in the quarterfinals.

The entire Curie Field is a big upset!

Quarterfinals 5, 6, 7 and 8 alliances took out 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Semifinals 7 and 8 took out 5 and 6.
Finals 8 took out 7 and went on to Einstein.

[Caleb Sykes]

The likelihood correlates well with how many quals matches we get.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by hutchMN

Is it reasonable for an 8th seed to knock off a 1st seed at champs this year? If yes, what will be the ideal strategy, and alliance makeup for the 8th seed?
I personally believe it's possible, I believe the ideal strategy will be to pick the best 2 offensive robots available (and a defensive 4th robot), and here is why: 1) The 8th seed will be able to select two decent high goal scorers to join them; the 8th seed should go all offense due to the dominant, unblockable, high goal scorers that will be picked in early part of the first round. Defense will have very little effect on these super-efficient outerworks shooters, devaluing a defensive robot. 2) Defense becomes less of a factor when you introduce a third offensive robot. Most of the best outerworks shooters will be gone by the 8th pick, so the robots on the 8th seed could be susceptible to defense. Splitting the defense 3 separate ways will help some of the easier to defend against shooters get their shots off. 3) Having 3 offensive robots will help you control more of the boulders, and in return, possibly causing boulders to become a semi limited game piece. This could help keep the game a lot closer, leaving the game to be decided by who can scale. 4) You will be able to find a high level defense robot anywhere in the draft at champs. An alliance will be able to pick a very good defensive robot with the 4th pick, but will have a hard time finding an offensive robot with the same pick. I would love to hear what you think the makeup of the 8th seed alliance will be.

Can it happen? Absolutely. 1 seeds have been knocked out in quarters a whole bunch of times at champs.

Your breakdown? I don't necessarily agree with. A number of different robots can seed first, including very defensible machines. Additionally, their first overall selection may not be an unblockable shooter as well.

Take 254, for example. I'd bet my money that they'll be on one of the top 3 alliances in their division at worst. They're very difficult to keep from scoring a ton of boulders, but if left to their own devices, with no defense, they've proven they can score 17 boulders in teleop on their own (this was a practice match, but it encapsulates a lot of what I'm trying to convey).

When playing against a machine like 254's, you almost have to defend them, or you almost certainly lose.

That being said, everyone likes an upset (except those being upset), and I'd love to see some scrappy 8 seed prove me wrong (or right), and take down the powerhouses.

[Citrus Dad]

Why a No 8 might knock of a No 1 this year? There's been a surprising number of rookies getting to No 1 in competitions this year. The ranking rewards working with your alliance members to get some level of RPs, and that's pulled teams into alliance captains that would not have made it in previous years based solely on win records. So a No 1 may not be the best bot for the elimination rounds but was set up well to qualify high. Gotta get to the ball before ya can dance...

[Jacob Paikoff]

Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard

Take 254, for example. I'd bet my money that they'll be on one of the top 3 alliances in their division at worst. .

254 was the number 1 seed in their Division last year, how'd that work out for them.

It happened last year, see above, 2014, 2012, 2009*, and 2007* twice.

With 8 divisions and 8 #1 seeds I would say the odds are pretty good it happens again.

*Fun fact, 79 upset #1 seeds twice while I was a student on the team, 2007 and 2009.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Jacob Paikoff

254 was the number 1 seed in their Division last year, how'd that work out for them.

It happened last year, see above, 2014, 2012, 2009*, and 2007* twice.

With 8 divisions and 8 #1 seeds I would say the odds are pretty good it happens again.

*Fun fact, 79 upset #1 seeds twice while I was a student on the team, 2007 and 2009.

Do you have a death wish?

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Jacob Paikoff

254 was the number 1 seed in their Division last year, how'd that work out for them.

The Poofs definitely had every single right to be the #1 seed last year, and were more knocked out by incredibly ill timed visits from Murphy than anything.

[Jacob Paikoff]

Originally Posted by CalTran

The Poofs definitely had every single right to be the #1 seed last year, and were more knocked out by incredibly ill timed visits from Murphy than anything.

Totally agree, didn't saw they didn't deserve to be there, in fact I would say they were far and away the best team in that division last year.

Just citing it as a good example that regardless of seed anything can happen at champs.

[Caleb Sykes]

Originally Posted by CalTran

The Poofs definitely had every single right to be the #1 seed last year, and were more knocked out by incredibly ill timed visits from Murphy than anything.

It wasn't Murphy, it was the Carson curse.

[Eric Scheuing]

Originally Posted by CalTran

The Poofs definitely had every single right to be the #1 seed last year, and were more knocked out by incredibly ill timed visits from Murphy than anything.

That Murphy, always dropping by unannounced and at the worst possible time

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Jacob Paikoff

254 was the number 1 seed in their Division last year, how'd that work out for them.

Worked out pretty well for them in 2014...