There are 5 Michigan districts this week and I’ll take a look at each event, as well as rank each event. This is Rank 5 for 2023 Week 3, Detroit.
Detroit District
Last Year Winners (33-1701-5478)
Favorites: Detroit comes in at the lowest ranked event of the week, I had trouble finding enough teams to fill my list out, and I think the top tier is very shallow here. So this is another event I feel confident in predicting the winner of, but as I haven’t gotten one 100% correct, we’ll have to see. Top of the list is really a tie between 2337-EngiNERDs and 503-Frog Force, the unknown versus the known. Starting with the unknown, 2337, a current MSC Champion, looks to start their season with a win at what may be the easiest event so far this season. I did see a little of their new 2023 robot at Kettering Week 0 that looked like a winner, but definitely needed to be refined. It has been 3 full weeks since then, so I can imagine they will be ready to go,ultimately to make up for an underwhelming quarterfinalist finish at last year’s worlds. Now back to Frog Force, who we saw at the ultra competitive Milford District in Week 1. They performed well, finishing 5th in qualifying, joining 548 on the 3rd Seed and finishing in 4th. 503 is definitively the best of the robots who have already competed this season and I can easily see them taking the top spot in qualifying, due to experience and on the field knowledge. My last favorite was another team that competed at Milford in Week 1, 3414-Hackbots. I had 3414 alongside 503 in the Contenders tier in my Milford Preview, and even after the event they still belong side-by-side at Detroit. Frog Force may be a better machine through their first meeting, but the Hackbots machine was the 8 Seed Captain at Milford, and given they had to start the playoffs against my top 2 ranked teams on the same alliance, 67 and 3538, I can see them have much better success at Detroit, as they look to claim a spot at MSC.
Contenders: Out of my Detroit Contenders, there is only 1 team who we haven’t seen, so I want to start there, Team 2620-Titans. Titans had a rough start to last season despite still being Semifinalists, but later became an alliance captain of a Finalist at Woodhaven. Then became a top 10 ranked Semifinalist at MSC, losing to the eventual Fimstein Champion. My next Contender is a team that was underwhelming at Kettering 1, but I am sure they can turn it around to defend their Title as reigning Detroit District Champions, 1701-RoboCubs. The lone returning 2022 Detroit Winner, had a difficult qualifying at Kettering 1, finishing just 29th. They were able to make the playoffs as a part of the 5 Seed, and coincidently finished 5th as well. They were able to make up some of the district points though, winning the Judges Award, but I am confident they can turn their season around and truly compete here in Detroit. My last team of note was a team I was hoping to put as a Dark Horse, but as I couldn’t find another team to add to this slot, they were promoted to Contender. Team 5577-Kinematic Wolves, they finished Rank 12 at Wayne State last week, and became the 7 Seed Captain. Their robot didn’t play very well in the playoffs, and wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Despite their placement on the leaderboard, with an extra week to work out some bugs and redesigns, I bet they have a better second event. Not only on the field, but off as well given they’re our current Detroit Chairman’s/Impact Winner.
Dark Horses:
6914-Retro5ive
7191-ABT Gators
Playoff Teams to Make a Jump:
1-The Juggernauts
3096-The Village Bulldogs-14 at Wayne State, 7 Seed Pick 1, 7th
815-Advanced Power
Rookie Team to Watch:
9255-Botmasterz (and no, not just because they’re the only one)
Prediction:
1 Seed 503-2337 v 2 Seed 3414-2620
Next up is Rank 4,Belleville.
Coming Soon.