Highest seeded team not picked for finals

[Brandon Holley]

Kind of going on the opposite note of everyone here, we were ranked 43rd of 44 teams, and were picked. I would like to extend appreciation to scouts at the Boston Regional for looking at individual performance, rather than their ranking.

Our team was getting just the worst of luck with partners. If we had a solid looking team, one of the good members would end up flipping, or turning off in some freak accident, but our team was consistently scoring 25+ points a match, and that got us noticed.

[Yipster]

We were 12th, hoping to get picked. But we were disappointed.

Due to the rules of FIRST, we were to be on stand by just in case a team went down. I didn't think it would happen, but one of the robot chain or transmission broke down and we were now allianced with the 2 top seeded teams. But....we lost to the cheesypoofs

[MrForbes]

We have a relatively small team, and the students split about in half, 6 scouting and the others operating and working on the robot. The scouts ignored the standings, and on Friday night they had a very good idea of which teams could complement our team. We all watched these teams carefully Saturday morning, and decided that even though these teams were not very well ranked, they would probably cover our weaknesses and we could help them with our strengths.

It turned out we were right...our alliance won the regional eliminations.

Thorough scouting really is more important than the standings. To answer the original question, we didn't even notice which teams were highest seeded, but did not get picked.

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Who were the highest seeded teams not picked for finals at your event(s) and why?

At the Davis Sacramento Regional, we were ranked 12th out of 40 teams at the end of qualifying. We were not picked because....? I have no clue why, only guesses. I think the most frustrating part is, the 37th ranked team was selected to the #1 alliance as their third member. Again, why? I have no clue only guesses.
#1 guess) Team recognition and scouting.
My team has very few members, only 6 at comp. this year, none of which will willingly approach other teams and speak with them. Not even to introduce themselves.
Scouting was carried out by most teams at this regional. The funny part is, we hosted FSN. Only had three or four teams showed interest. We had all of the team and match pairing data loaded. Not a single team spent the time to upload the match scouting data they collected. Therefore, it was an unused resource.
Admittedly, we didn't do any scouting what so ever. Our entire time was spent working to get our bot to function the way we designed it. It never even saw carpet until our first match Friday. Fortunately for us, our driver was able to adapt quickly to it and turned what could have been a major disappointment into an incredibly effective defensive robot. That one aspect, along with some very good alliance partners, is what earned us the #12 position.
Am I complaining? No, not really. I truly believe in following the rules. Otherwise, there is no need for them at all. Alliance selection this year has a new flavor and this years game has an incredible amount of strategies that can be applied to it. Thus, teams are taking a slightly different approach to alliance selection. Team make-up is incredibly important. The fact that we really could not contribute on the offensive side may have weighed heavily teams decisions to pass us over.

[MrForbes]

Hi! To expound on my post above (we were the team that picked the #37 seed)....

Scouting is indeed very important. It is unfortunate that you didn't have the personpower to do it yourself, and also disappointing that FSN didn't get used. We think FSN is a good idea, but it seems like it needs enough teams to be willing to put the effort into getting it to reach "critical mass", and that didn't happen. Finding the energy to tackle FSN on top of all the other things we had to do, is asking a lot. However, if we can get over this hurdle, it will be a net time and effort saver.

I hope there is something you can do to help your team get over shyness! I've noticed in the short time that I've been involved with FIRST that most of the other people are just like me...wierd (in a good way) and interesting and interested in meeting and talking to others like themselves. We all have at least one common interest (robots), and using this common interest seems to be a very easy way to break the ice.

In our scouting, we were looking for other teams that could perform consistently (even if the alliances they wound up in lost several or most of their matches), and that could shoot high, since we shoot low. It's also vital in this game that they be able to play defense, and be able to take the heat that others dish out. Having the ability to score at least a few points in autonomous is also a very big plus, as we seemed to get our good seed in large part by consistently scoring 5 to 10 points in auto each match....that was usually enough to get the 10 point bonus, and that bonus really contributes to the score. Being able to get up the ramp, and help others up, is also a critical ability.

The fact that you made #12 seed with such a small team, and with no practice, really says a lot about your team...you did great!

[SwitchBlade430]

We were 11th seed after the qualifying rounds at the New Jersey regional in Trenton. I was so sure that we were going to get picked, we had a fairly good shooter and we had plenty of torque to play defense. It was a good robot, but we didn't get picked.

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by squirrel

Scouting is indeed very important. It is unfortunate that you didn't have the personpower to do it yourself, and also disappointing that FSN didn't get used. We think FSN is a good idea, but it seems like it needs enough teams to be willing to put the effort into getting it to reach "critical mass", and that didn't happen.

Jack, I couldn't agree with you more! FSN will be a great resource in the future. Adam has created a really nice piece of software, but like any database, it requires data. This data only comes from people collecting it during matches and then uploading it to the server. I hope this tool doesn't loose any momentum during the off season, only gains more!

Originally Posted by squirrel

The fact that you made #12 seed with such a small team, and with no practice, really says a lot about your team...you did great!

This is why I am so proud of our team. This was a very difficult season for us. We may have set a goal that was a little too high. (I firmly believe in teaching these kids to reach for a higher goal, otherwise they could learn to be satisfied with mediocrity.) They didn't give up and ended up with a very respectable placement standing in the end.

[kborer22]

i know on my former team(MORT 11) and current(125 NUtrons) we try to concentrate on the robot as an individual. Yes there is that factor if they can/do work well with your alliance but in the end you want the best robot. At GSR we should have been ranked 19th but due to a scoring glitch we ended up in 30th and didn't get picked, granted we were not best but we had the best range(about 35ft) and could play defense. Then come Boston we had to face the #1 seed think pink 233 in 2 straight matches, in the first we played strong d and pushed them across the field. The second match they kept away from us to an extent. After the match they complimented us on playing great defense. We had could not catch a break with our alliances and were 1-8-1 and in 43rd out of 44. We ended up getting picked by the #2 seed, but(121 and 233) the first alliance was going to pick us if they #2 had not. This shows that the more veteran teams are more open to picking a robot with a lower rank if they have properly scouted. It seems that most rooks and younger teams in general have not yet realized the value of a good scouting team

[Lea103]

103 was ranked 32 at the end of friday (due to technical problems that were resolved and the robot now runs smoothly) and 22 at the time of alliance selections. we were second pick of the afternoon, team 293 recognized our potential when everything was working right (they also saw us at NJ). in our case, the ranking didnt affect us because 293 scouted and saw a team that would work well with them.

[Scott358]

While a story from last, it's relevant to the topic, so I thought I'd share....

In 2005, Team 358 (who was a member of the winning alliance at the Long Island Regional, won Chairmans at the Long Island Regional, and was a member of a finalist alliance at the Philly Regional) seeded 14th in our division at Nationals, and did not get picked. Obviously this is not what it's all about, but it sure hurt at the time.

At this point, we've turned the hurt into the motivation to take our destiny into our own hands. So far we've seeded 5th at UTC (and made it to the finals) and seeded 1 on Long Island (and won). We hope to control our own destiny in Atlanta.

In the end, it's a great lesson that if you want to go to the dance, don't sit by the phone and wait, do what it takes to be in the position of doing the asking (which in this case meant working even harder than in the past)!!!