Welcome back, for those unaware I made this thread, in 2012 and followed it up with this thread in 2016, I decided to come back to this topic a year earlier than my four year cycle as several areas have switched to districts and championsplit has happened since resulting in more teams being able to leave this illustrious group. (Shout out to 3653 one of my picks in 2016 who went on to win in 2017 & 2018)
Here are the rules for those who haven’t contributed before as well as those who need reminding:
- You must compete with the team fairly regularly
- The team must have competed in 4 straight FRC seasons aka since 2016
- Teams must already be signed up to compete in the 2020 season
- They can not have won any official event
- An official event is one that provides a FIRST Blue Banner (Regional, Distict, District Championship, Division, Subdivision, and Championship)
- They can not be your team or teams.
While not a requirement I also would like everyone to list why they think these teams are good enough to win, and what has kept them from getting the coveted Blue Banner.
Bad Luck? Mechanical Inconsistencies? Scouting Issues?
So from Florida I am going to once again bring up 3556 GET SMART and my new contender 2152 SMASH
3556 has continued to be stellar since the last thread but still hasn’t been able to get the W. Heading into their 10th year they have now attended 11 Regionals regionals have only missed elims once all the way back in their rookie year. They now boast a trio of finalist appearances (2012, 2016 and 2019 Orlando Regionals), as well as falling to the eventual winners during their 2013, 2014, and 2017 Orlando Regional runs. 3556 unfortunately appears to be a victim of either geography, the waitlist, or financial ties as they have only been able to to attend two regionals twice (2015 and 2016) and would have (in my opinion) won an event by now if they were able to consistently attend two events. GET SMART may benefit from the lack of bag heading into 2020 as they improve over the course of their events showing, to me, that a lack of practice may be another factor keeping them from a Blue Banner.
2152 had a breakout year, which helps elevate them in my opinion. While not as consistent historically as 3556, SMASH showed this year that everything for them may have finally clicked. A number 1 seed, finalist appearance and Chairman’s Award all at Orlando shows that 2152 is a true contender for both on and off field awards. Their showing on Galileo this year (5th seed alliance captain, semifinalist) also showed that at the highest level they are a force to be reckoned with as had they been on the other side of the bracket they might have gone further. 2152 would benefit from competing outside of Florida, as well as potentially putting more focus on strategy and scouting, or asking for help at it as certain things this year may have gone differently with a different strategy or data interpretation.
Honorable Mentions:
1523 (Very good 2015 & 2017 but seem to be their own worst enemy the last two years)
5816 (Improving year over year with their best robot yet this year, would also benefit from attending more events, potentially out of state)