Top Rising Teams from Your State

Competition
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Lots of discussion about top teams on CD. Generally these threads rehash previous years, since we all know who is already great. With the upcoming season nearly upon us, I am more curious who y’all see as rising stars? This could be rookies that you know have prepared well, or teams that have historically done less well but have turned their programs around, or teams that have been just below the threshold of greatness, but have shown that this will be their year to break out. I don’t care if you know of one team or ten, so no arbitrary “top fives” here (unless that’s your actual number)

I’ve lately paid a lot of attention to Colorado teams and have seen signs that these teams are gonna shine:

#4 4418 Team Impulse has really come together in the face of tremendous tragedy and hardship, and are stronger as a community and a team. On-field performance isn’t the point, but I do expect this exceptional group to rise above previous expectations because of their strength of character.

#3 3200 has quietly developed an exceptional relationship with mentors and sponsors, and have also put in the sweat on their off-season training. I expect to see them break into the top eight at both of their regionals and shock the field.

#2 2240 have been so hungry for years, and their coaches and team have absorbed every lesson. I won’t reveal their secret sauce but I’m seeing them do things in the off season that I’ve never seen before. Last year they built the most original and effective level 3 climb in FRC and knew how to limit their focus for greatest effect. They are gonna explode into the top tier of the Rocky Mountain West this year.

#1 1410 Is lean and focused, has the neatest secret den for their team I’ve ever seen, and jumped into the regional top tier last year. This year, expect them to rival the best of the Rockies. I’m serious.

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7028 in Minnesota is going to be a powerhouse in the coming years. I’m extremely excited to watch their continued development.

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Gonna shoutout teams from my old district as I’m new in Utah.
So from PCH

3635: did really well this past season going to worlds for their second time and then winning the Georgia off season event. Excited to see what they bring to the table next year

7427: rookie team with a swerve drive and suction climb. Had issues with reliability but the work they did was impressive.

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This past year was a very promising growth year for the state of New York. Lots of teams have stood out in various ways, each in their own contexts.

6300 is so close to being great. A very small team with a lot of passion for the program and only a few small steps away from being a multi-banner contender. I’m absolutely nervous to be competing against them next year, as I know they’ve got the passion and the dedication to make a truly great robot with less than a dozen or so students.

1493 has built a very solid MCC(+) the last two years and should be looked up to by many for how to make a simple, effective robot. This includes pulling off one of the biggest upsets I’ve seen in FIRST over one of the teams I mentor. I am so happy to see their success. They are looking to get to a 2nd regional for the first time next year which is going to be a really great opportunity.

A handful of other teams across the state had a really great year - 2228, 1551, 3157, 2638, 3003, 145, and more - and I’m hoping to see them all continue their success through next year.

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Our team, Techmen Robotics 5669, has turned around during the offseason. We have gone from eight to 40 members (in a 400 student school) since the end of last season and have expanded into the frc community by means of publicity. We are also an all boys school so we reached out and became co-ed. As far as preparation for the 2020 season goes, the team has never been more prepared for a season. We are as well more organized than ever before and are expecting this next season to go much better than ever before.

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Speaking of Utah, I’d watch our 2019 alliance partners from Utah, 6844. They impressed me a lot when we were competing with them, and I expect to see a good upwards trajectory.

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I would also like to add 4068 for Colorado. This was the second year that they got picked and the first year they got past the quarters. At Kendrick Castillo Robotics Invitational this year they came with a semi-custom swerve drive. While they did not make elims, their improved design skills and swerve could make them a great lower first pick/higher second pick.

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On the Kansas City side of Missouri:

5801 CTC Inspire and 6424 Stealth are 2 of the newer teams that are very strong. They both are travelling to Oklahoma in week 3 and I expect them to represent our area very well down there.

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Top 25 teams by Elo change from end of season 2018 to end of season 2019:

team Elo change
4043 299
6528 288
5166 274
4811 249
2998 246
6135 242
6569 238
4907 234
6595 231
6986 228
1700 227
3340 225
4338 221
6064 218
6461 218
4929 217
1771 215
5667 214
3302 214
1922 210
6161 208
4291 207
253 206
5949 202
6304 202
7042 202
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Here are the largest Elo improvements by state/province:

USA
State Team
Alabama 538
Alaska 568
Arizona 2478
Arkansas 6586
California 1700
Colorado 2240
Connecticut 3146
Delaware 1370
District of Columbia 2912
Florida 5949
Georgia 1771
Hawaii 2853
Idaho 4175
Illinois 5934
Indiana 1646
Iowa 967
Kansas 2410
Kentucky 6157
Louisiana 4336
Maine 6161
Maryland 1727
Massachusetts 4311
Michigan 2048
Minnesota 3102
Mississippi 6068
Missouri 4256
Montana 3216
Nebraska 5906
Nevada 6824
New Hampshire 1922
New Jersey 1676
New Mexico 4153
New York 2228
North Carolina 4534
North Dakota 877
Ohio 5667
Oklahoma 4005
Oregon 4043
Pennsylvania 2641
Rhode Island 78
South Carolina 1293
South Dakota 4593
Tennessee 4504
Texas 6377
Utah 5933
Vermont 2523
Virginia 2998
Washington 3049
West Virginia 3492
Wisconsin 930
Wyoming 5657
Canada
Province Team
Alberta 5015
British Columbia 6485
Ontario 4907
Québec 3986
Saskatchewan 6178
Mexico
State Team
Aguascalientes 5133
Baja California 6694
Chihuahua 6200
Coahuila 5312
Colima 6348
Distrito Federal 5344
Durango 4355
Guanajuato 6106
Hidalgo 5716
Jalisco 7102
Mexico 7161
Michoacán 4731
Morelos 5948
Nuevo León 6647
Oaxaca 7018
Puebla 5887
Querétaro 3354
Quintana Roo 6965
San Luis Potosí 6170
Sinaloa 6319
Sonora 6676
Tabasco 5696
Tamaulipas 5874
Zacatecas 7037
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Two teams from North Carolina-

7890- It was a shame they missed champs but SeQuEnCe was very impressive in their first year. As rookies they were able to machine a beautiful robot this year even with a very small team which is why I’m optimistic that they’ll continue their success in 2020.

3229- This might seem a little weird considering they have two district championship wins from 2017 and 2018 (albeit as the final pick). I feel like the team has had improved design over the past few years. 2018 trash can climber was cool and in 2019 Hawktimus was a real scoring threat undefended. I think the team’s individual performance will continue to improve (just maybe don’t do mecanum unless the game permits :slight_smile: )

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Keep an eye on 7599 in Philly. Give it a couple years and I bet they’re a regular at MAR/world champs

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One veteran team in MN that I think will take a step forward is 2239. They are in the SWHub so we have seen them a bit this fall. I have been fairly impressed with their mentor and they have a captain this year that seems solid.

As far as rookies, I am looking at 8409 out of Mankato. Mankato has a strong VEX history and the previous team from Mankato (3747) was pretty strong in their short FRC history. Plus it wouldn’t hurt to have a strong team from where the current governor taught high school.

This one surprises me. Mostly because I wouldn’t have thought that they had the room to go up the most in the state - especially with the year 5991 had. (I am guessing 5991 would be top in MN if the MSHSL tournament was considered in season)

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Jason is pretty awesome. I’m excited to see where 2239 goes in the coming years as well. There are a lot of MN teams that will be making waves! The new practice fields, and bag going away should definitely help to unlock a lot of potential around the state!

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Teams from Maine:

6329 The Bucks’ Wrath had a very solid robot and had a pretty good year last year. I fully expect them to become a dominant force in the next couple years.

As for a rookie team, I think 8023 The Northern Forge is going to have a solid rookie year. They have access to a lot of resources that some rookie teams might not have access to, and they have at least one mentor that has previous FRC experience.

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3102 had a delta of 120, where 5991 moved up 103. Both of those are impressive gains, but 3102 was significantly stronger. They pulled up from 36th percentile to 79th globally

Edit: My data is coming from a spreadsheet in my downloads called “Average Elos.csv” which I’m 99% sure is Caleb’s.

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Left a few countries off that list there, no?

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Lots.

I only included the ones that Caleb’s scouting database had states or provinces listed for. The others I could have sorted by city, country, or district, but I would have had to restructure my google sheet which I didn’t feel like doing.

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Most improved teams by nation:

Country Team
Afghanistan 7329
Australia 4774
Brazil 1382
Canada 4907
Chile 2576
China 6304
Chinese Taipei 7130
Colombia 6001
Czech Republic 5996
Dominican Republic 4091
France 6541
Germany 3011
India 6024
Israel 4338
Japan 6909
Mexico 5312
Netherlands 4481
Norway 7239
Poland 5883
Singapore 4817
Sweden 6819
Switzerland 6417
Turkey 6064
United Kingdom 1797
USA 4043
Vietnam 6520
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I’m in MARdbaFMA, the district equivalent of writing BOM/CAW.

I’m going to list my own team, 5113.

I know this is not exactly the point of the thread, and that it is a little bit vain and narcissistic, but let me explain:

Our season last year went extremely well (by my standards, at least). We placed 9th and 11th at our district events, becoming an alliance captain at both. Our picks at our first district event were not great due to almost no strategy or scouting system, so I implemented one and took over picks for our second comp (Seneca). At Seneca we lost in QF (to the alliance that won Finals) on a tie breaker qualifier (they had 3 more cargo points, we had 3 more HAB points, we both had the same score in our 3rd QF match). At DCMP we placed 13th and were 1 RP away from being the starting 6th alliance captain IIRC.

On top of that we ranked 11th in our district by ELO and 180th in the world by ELO, according to the Sykes Scouting Database.

This was a huge improvement from any of our previous seasons. For this year we have bought all new batteries, electronics, Falcons, an OMIO Router, laptops, drills, tools, and materials. Also, we have completely revamped our design process, increased preseason training hours to 5-6 per week (as opposed to 1.5 or less), organized our shop, added a significantly more robust strategy plan, and much more (including throwing our Mecanum wheels into a dark, unreachable corner of the shop in favor of a WCD).

Unless something catastrophic happens during our build season, we expect to do just as well as last year, and probably much better. We think (for many reasons) that our resources and capabilities are the perfect match for a bagless season, and we can’t wait to show it.

Now, I don’t expect to be a consistently top 8 team, as almost no teams should. Buuutt, if we happen to blow @Ben_Martin and the rest of the 225 crew out of the water, I might just have to put down my 225 hat during DCMP and stop fangirling over them.

EDIT: Sidenote: It’s weird to me to think of 1676 as a rising team… I admire them and would typically consider them to be an established team, but maybe I’m wrong.

EDIT 2: In my defense, I wasn’t the first person to nominate their own team in this thread. Heck, I want the first person from my district to nominate their own team in this thread. One of them nominated a 1 year rookie that placed near last at both of their events, and won a banner as a defense pick.