How low could Crown go?

[Tim K]

Blue Devils winning last night is not that surprising. I think we will continue to all kinds of reshuffling this year. Now I will say that while I won't see SCV's show live until Allentown, I know I will love it judging from Fan Network, but I don't think we will see it place higher than 3rd, most likely 4th. The will most likely top Cadets at least once possibly Crown and BD, but not at finals, perhaps a TOC show. I think we can predict Cadets will be a solid 3rd place finisher though they could make things interesting for both Crown and BD. I still think this will be Crown's year and I see no reason to believe that a show that many have said had flaws last evening, has already peaked. My guess is that Atlanta will be a good show for Crown and will go Crown's way. I wish the four were facing each other at the Saturday night show in Allentown. However if asked how low can Crown go, I would ay this year 2nd would be the lowest. Same would be true of Blue Devils. As I say this, with the way things have gone this season, anything is possible.

[Lead]

I was told by a group of staff members last night that Crown has a new ending (not performed in San Antonio) that "will decide the championship" - their words. We shall see.

[charlie1223]

I was told by a group of staff members last night that Crown has a new ending (not performed in San Antonio) that "will decide the championship" - their words. We shall see.

Good strategy

[westcoastblue]

Dumb tread. Shallow. Typical of modern day drum corps. Are you kidding me, how low?

Crown, like several other corps this season, are amazing and could be champions in any given year.

[skywhopper]

I was told by a group of staff members last night that Crown has a new ending (not performed in San Antonio) that "will decide the championship" - their words. We shall see.

They'll form a giant "20.0" on the field for the final set!

[Dash Fieldpaint]

Well, theoretically, 22nd I suppose. You did say "could" after all...

But if that happens it will be the biggest 'peaked too early' in the history of drum corps.

It's possible for a World corps to place lower than 22nd if any of the Open corps place above them in Prelims. Pioneer, for example, placed 27th last year. So "how low" depends on the number of Prelims entries. 35 corps competed in Prelims in 2012. If the same number of corps compete in Prelims this year it's possible that Crown can best their lowest ever placement of 33rd in 1990.

[Cleveland1]

BD put in changes at Minnesota and this week they cleaned... and got first. Expect crown to be putting in some changes going into atlanta, and thatll increase their ceiling. SCV added changes this week, expect cleaning which will have them get even closer to cadets.

Ive been saying for weeks that SCVs show has the highest ceiling. BD has the lowest (of the top 4). I truly believe that if the top 4 were able to fully realize their potential, that the scores would go SCV Crown Cadets BD.

But that isnt going to happen. Not only will each show not be maximized conceptually, the performances will not be perfect. BD has the reputation of "you play for other corps for a few years and you age out BD to get a ring" (yes i know that isnt true for all bd members) but they get talent, and they will be clean come finals... will crown, cadets, or scv be that clean?

Crown goes to great lengths to get the best brass they can get their hands on, and at the expense of their drumline. While this makes for a powerful and clean hornline, their percussion score holds them back depending on the judge. Getting 7th in percussion could mean 2nd or 3rd place. Since BD is BD and will have nearly perfect, or perfect, scores for captions based on execution, at finals that can hold them back.

Cadets have the premier talent the NE can afford, that isnt in Massachusetts. Not saying anything bad about BAC, but cadets are a powerhouse and have been for a while now. Cadets have the talent to win, their GE scores were first in SA. So ideally all they need to do is clean and they win. And as said, they have the talent to do it. The problem would be if their GE scores begin to fall in ranking. Which i see happening. They can win though, by maximizing the concept and executing it well.

SCV has, after percussion, the weakest talent pool of the top 4. Competing with BD for talent in cali is tough. Cadets top 12 competition in the NE is boston. Crown has spirit in GA. So off the bat i anticipate a sloppier show than crown cadets and bd. Top that with visually the most difficult, at least diffucult looking, drill and it becomes even harder to reach their full potential. But alas they got 3rd in visual overall in SA. And musically they arent far behind the leaders either. As with GE captions... it realky depends on the judges. SCV could have 1 GEV judge have them 1st and another have them 5th. And they even out to 4th or 3rd place. For SCV to win it will take some changes at the end (yes even after these new changes) as well as some luck in who is judging. They need to get 1st or near 1st in those captions that they can. Color guard has been really solid, percussion has been at the top most of the season. Winning GE overall is key for vanguard as they probably wont win brass, or visual overall.

My likely finishing order at finals.

Crown BD SCV Cadets.

But really any can finish anywhere in the top 4. Could be cadets bd scv crown.