toughest regional in 2011?

[unionylibertad]

which regional do you think will be the hardest to win in 2011?

[AdamHeard]

San Diego deserves a mention.

[dodar]

I would say the same for Florida. Also for a mention, even as a 1st year regional, Smokey Mountain has an amazing list of teams. Florida has 79, 86, 103, 179, 233, 341 1251, 1902 and SMR has 34, 48, 71, 79, 234, 931, 1024, 2775

[JB987]

I'll second that...the BBQ rating for San Diego should be impressive!

[Chris is me]

Michigan State Championship doesn't count.

Midwest is HUGE. Top tier: 16, 45, 71, 111, 118, 1625, 1732. Second tier: 135, 2041, 2410, 2704, 2826, 2949. Depth few regionals could match and one of the few where the bottom half of the bracket might be an actual advantage.

San Diego is strong. 254, 399, 968, 973, 987, 1388, 1538, 1622, 1717 is one hell of a top tier.

[Mike Schreiber]

Michigan State Championship. No explanation needed.

[EricH]

Toronto. There's a reason I didn't specify which Toronto event. (Well, two reasons, actually, one per event. Both have respected numbers. Both were on Einstein last year.)

Vegas will also be a battle to win, with 359 jumping in late to join 987, 60, 1726, 399, 1266, 4, and 166.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by EricH

Toronto. There's a reason I didn't specify which Toronto event. (Well, two reasons, actually, one per event. Both have respected numbers. Both were on Einstein last year.)

Under that logic wouldn't Waterloo be the harder event to win?

[big1boom]

Midwest is consistently one of the most competitive regionals. And with it falling in Week 4 this year several of the major players will already have a regional under their belts.

One thing that is interesting is the number of teams that are doing Wisconsin and Midwest this year. I guess it helps that they are 2 weeks apart this year.
Midwest/Wisconsin overlap teams:
111
1091
1625
1675
1732
1781
2022
2041
2826
3197

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Under that logic wouldn't Waterloo be the harder event to win?

With those two teams separated, it's wider open, making it harder (but that is a relative term) for either to win. By that token, they'll fight harder. Makes it tougher on all the other teams.

In Waterloo, the way to win is to be above them in seeding, or to be better than one of them to the other one, who is hopefully higher in the standings. Not so terribly difficult, now, is it?

[nikeairmancurry]

Hardest Event to win.. MSC... 64 top teams.. yes its all michigan teams.. yes you have to quailify, but still to win it, its tough... Good teams are left out of elims every year...

Hardest Regional to win Midwest..

[Basel A]

TECHNICALLY MSC is a regional. It just sends way more teams to the CMP than any other.

Anyway, it's the only regional for which it takes more than fingers and toes to count all the really good teams. How was 2834 the final pick in eliminations last year? First and 2nd overall picks at ATL divisions were ranked 8th and 9th at MSC (respectively). Multiple other proofs here.

Besides, MSC (and districts, a few of which are loaded as well), I'd have to agree that Midwest is again very strong. San Diego is powerful as well. Those are two regionals I'll have to watch.

[Colin P]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Michigan State Championship doesn't count.

Sure it does, don't hate on us.

[robodude03]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Michigan State Championship doesn't count.

Midwest is HUGE. Top tier: 16, 45, 71, 111, 118, 1625, 1732. Second tier: 135, 2041, 2410, 2704, 2826, 2949. Depth few regionals could match and one of the few where the bottom half of the bracket might be an actual advantage.

San Diego is strong. 254, 399, 968, 973, 987, 1388, 1538, 1622, 1717 is one hell of a top tier.

Absolutely agree with your post. Midwest will be very interesting to keep tabs on. As for San Diego, one of the reasons we wanted to attend this event was for the sheer amount of top tier teams that are attending. Each of these teams has regional, division or world championships under their belts. This will definitely be a regional to watch (as MSC always is ).

[EricH]

The reason the MI State Championship doesn't count is because it's a championship, not a regional. If the MI teams are going to take MSC as a regional, then I'll go ahead and take the Archimedes, Curie, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein--especially Einstein--"regionals" as toughest.

Oh? You have a problem with including events that you have to qualify to get into as regionals? Well, then, MSC is not a regional.

The MI districts are tough, though. I think those should be counted as regionals; they're as large as or larger than some of the smaller regionals, and the competition level is as high or higher, especially once you get past the first event for some teams.