With a glut of teams capable of playing a world caliber game, Archimedes may finally be able to claim victory on Einstein for the first time since 2006. This division boasts more proven seven disc autonomous modes than any other, and has plenty of other ground pickups who may add themselves to that list. In fact, it’s entirely possible that some teams with 5 disc autonomous modes may end up on the outside of the elimination bracket. And there will be no shortage of high tier teams to compliment the floor loaders well. While the full court shooting crowd is a little thinner than some other divisions, there’s a very strong crop of cyclers who can climb for 30 bonus points.
TIPS:
After being finalists three teams in the past, NRG finally broke through in 2013 to capture their first regional win (in a convincing 15-0 fashion) in Seattle. 948 boasts a quality full court shooting machine that has led its alliance to scores of 125 of higher in almost half of the matches its played this season. While they won’t be able to carry an alliance on its own at this level of play, 948 looks like the cream of the FCS crop on Archimedes.
In all of FRC, no team is better at running cycles than than the TechHOUNDS. 868’s lightning quick machine won both Indiana events this season, and their alliance’s 154 point per match average* at Crossroads is incredibly impressive once you factor in that nobody on that alliance could score extra discs in autonomous, climb beyond the first rung, or full court shoot (and that 1646 spent half of the eliminations not moving). They load swiftly, shoot quicker, and dash across the field in the blink of an eye. Expect them to either be an alliance captain or an early selection by a ground loader.
*Fun stat fluke. The mean, median, and mode of the #1 alliance at Crossroads’ scores are all 154.
When a team has nearly 20 blue banners, it means a whole lot to say they’re in the midst of one of their best seasons ever, but that’s exactly 2013 has been for 33. The Killer Bees won all three districts they attended this season as members of the #1 alliance. Even in a semi-final defeat at MSC, their alliance never score fewer than 158 points, and only once did they score fewer than 124 points during the entire weekend in Ypsilanti. The Bees have a terrific autonomous mode, and are capable of both sweeping the floor and loading directly from the human player station.
There are several teams on Archimedes who can both shoot effectively, and ascend to the top rung of the pyramid. 71 is the biggest name of the bunch, and showed significant improvement in both their shooting and climbing consistency during their win in Chicago. 836 executed the first 30 point climb of the season back in week 1 at Palmetto. 3467’s addition of a shooter stepped up their game enough at Pine Tree to earn them the #2 seed, #1 selection, and regional win. All three of them are relatively safe bets to be in the elimination rounds, but if one can slide to the mid or late 2nd round, they’d be in the best position for a deep run. 1334 has the added edge of being able to dump colored discs once they’ve reached the top rung (and are the only team of this set to climb from the outside of the pyramid), and assuming they maintain the level of play they demonstrated earlier in the season, that should provide enough advantage for them to be a relatively early selection.
973 hasn’t been able to carry their alliance over difficult match-ups in the eliminations this season, but a lot of that has to do with not getting the proper support from alliance partners (and the difficult of the opposition during the SVR finals). But the Greybots did prove themselves to be an excellent #2 option at Long Beach, as their quality cycling machine contributed plenty of points in route to a regional win. Their consistent offense should help them seed reasonably well, and they could end up as an alliance captain. They’d need favorable partners and match-ups to advance past the semifinals, but it’s not out of the question.
It doesn’t look like much, but 2590’s robot is the perfect example of a simple design executed well. When Nemesis can avoid the jamming issues that have periodically plagued them (including during the MAR eliminations), they’re a highly skilled sweeper who can pot 7 discs during autonomous. They don’t quite have the upside of some of the other teams in the division, but given that they’ve seeded no lower than 4th this season and have seeded lower than 9th just once over the past two seasons (including Archimedes and IRI last year), Nemesis once again being an alliance captain seems very plausible.
DARK HORSE:
Exploding Bacon has twice been on the #1 alliance this season, with very different results. 1902 is as fast at as anyone at traversing between the loading station and the pyramid. There’s still some kinks to be worked out of their machine, especially regarding their autonomous (which was frequently missing shots low during the Boca Raton eliminations), but their issues are solvable. And getting their ground pickup working certainly wouldn’t hurt. They could be a very high upside cycler capable of helping tilt the balance of an elimination match.
SLEEPER:
Mechanical and cRIO issues derailed the WiredCats elimination hopes at Peachtree and DC, but 2415 has boundless potential. They have one of the most effective accumulators in all of FRC, have demonstrated 6 and 7 disc autonomous routines, and even have a human player who scores regularly. They’re going to have to resolve their technical issues and play consistently, but they could end up being one of the best sweepers in the division.
LOCKS:
The Cheesy Poofs’ quick and reliable 30 point hang combined with their 7-disc autonomous gives them an edge on many competitors heading into alliance selection. 254 hasn’t had to carry the load themselves in the eliminations yet this season, but should be plenty capable of it and should fit well on just about any alliance. It’s no fluke that they’ve broken 200 points with two entirely different alliances and have played a grand total of one elimination match when they won by fewer than 40 points (F2-2 at SVR, where they won by 38).
987 surprised everyone when they won it all in 2007, but after another terrific regional season and trips to Einstein in 2011 and 2012, nobody is going to be caught off guard by the High Rollers. 987 can do just about anything with the discs in Ultimate Ascent. They can shoot full court, shoot from anywhere near the pyramid, load from the floor, accept directly from the human player, and even score the center line discs during autonomous. It would be very surprising to see them go home without some sort of medal.
It’s hard to believe, but 469 does everything that 987 does, but even better. They captained four alliances to victory in 2013, included their high octane win at MSC. Nobody loads from the human player in less time than Las Guerillas. Very few ground load as well as the Gorillas. Fewer still have the autonomous flexibility that they have (987 perhaps being the one team that has more). No path to gold will be easy on Archimedes, and plenty of other teams have skill sets that may offset 469’s advantages. Even still, it would take a spectacular upset to keep the team from Bloomfield Hills away from the divisional finals for the second straight year.
The remainder of the division threads will be posted periodically tonight. Stay tuned!
