Highest ranked team not picked?

[lovelj]

I am confident all teams in elims were scouting and doing a good job. After 8 matches we were ranked 72nd yet were consistent in 20 pt auto on CDF and low bar, scoring 5 to 7 high goals per match. I think our first win was Q118 where we got 10 high goals and 20 pt auto (3824).

Before that match, 2122 was in our pits talking about elims. Thier scouts saw we were a sleeper due to a tough draw. I’m always impressed with the level of scouting at championship. Last year our alliance captain at champs picked the 75th team as our 3rd bot. Generally, if you are highly ranked and not picked it’s because either their scouting data suggests that they need something you don’t have or they see an inconsistency or vulnerability that they need to avoid in the finals. We started self scouting years ago to keep ourselves honest as well as for marketing our team to others.

This year just seemed to have a higher percentage of low ranked teams getting picked which suggested to me that there was something implicit in the game that had a disproportionate number of strong teams with low rankings.

[lovelj]

This was true for our team on Archimedes, by Friday we had our 20 pt auto working and were averaging 5-6 Teleop high goal boulders per match but didn’t get picked. I feel teams don’t do enough scouting or at least get only a few top picks but when those are taken they are stuck. We knew we were in trouble when around teams 2nd pick they were looking up at the board for numbers.

You definitely were overlooked and it’s very frustrating for the team. I’ve seen this happen at almost every event. Mistakes happen and it can be disheartening for the students. If you are not doing so already, consider having one of your scouts devoted to self scouting and a small group of your best communicators using that data to market your team to the top teams in your division. Networking is good for both getting visibility at the competition as well as fostering long term relationships with other teams.