DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 12, 2018 Author Share Posted July 12, 2018 July 11, 2018 vs. July 12, 2017 2018 The Cavaliers returned from several rehearsal days with a 3.45 point score increase. Legends (2.70), Phantom Regiment (2.25), and Southwind (2.25) also put up two+ point score increases. Oregon Crusaders had the largest score decrease (-0.70). Last Night's Storylines: Blue Stars topped Mandarins after losing head-to-head the night before. Crossmen came in third in the group. In the second night of competition, Louisiana Stars dropped from leading the Open Class corps' group to the bottom of the group. Guardians moved up to #1 and Southwind to #2 in this tightly packed group of corps going head-to-head. The Battalion and Columbians have each won two of their match-ups. Tonight is the final competition for Columbians. Who will end up on top of the season battle? The Battalion won the final match-up. Tonight's Storylines: The Guardians, Louisiana Stars, Southwind grouping should continue to be interesting as they match up for the third show in a row. 2017 Music City increased in score the most (3.300) while Jersey Surf decreased the most (-1.200). The big story is Boston Crusaders over The Cadets, which leads to a question of whether there has been a shift in the number of corps in contention for the gold medal. I contended that at least the top 4 and possibly the top 6 were there less than a week ago. Now there appears to be some space between #5 (The Cavaliers) and #6-#7 (Boston Crusaders / The Cadets). Last night's storylines: The Cavaliers, The Cadets, and Boston Crusaders are head to head again for the fourth time in a week. In each of the past meetings, the placement has remained the same with Boston Crusaders gaining on The Cadets. Will that continue tonight? Boston Crusaders defeated The Cadets in head to head competition for the first time since 1980 to move up into the #6 spot. The two corps will not face each other again until July 22. Legends have closed the gap on Music City and look to move up into the Open Class bronze medal spot. Music City put up a huge increase which reversed the decrease from July 9 and then some and put some space ahead of Legends. There are no shows tonight. Comparison The Top 6 in 2018 matches the Top 6 in 2017 in a different order. Spots 7-10 are exactly the same. If Mandarins stay in the Top 12, it would be the corps' first finalist appearance. Madison Scouts are the likely 2017 finalist to drop out based on its current ranking of #15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 July 12, 2018 vs. July 13, 2017 2018 There was only one show. Spirit of Atlanta was the only two+ point increase (2.05). Guardians decreased most (-0.30). Louisiana Stars returned to leading the grouping with Guardians and Southwind after coming in third the day before. Tonight's Storylines: The main story tonight has to be the Blue Stars - Mandarins - Crossmen grouping. 2017 No shows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 14, 2018 Author Share Posted July 14, 2018 July 13, 2018 vs. July 14, 2017 2018 We had our first rainout of the year in Iowa. Scores improved much more in the Alabama show than in the Wyoming show. The Guardians-Louisiana Stars battle is exciting to watch as they keep going back and forth. Heat Wave put up the biggest score improvement of the night (3.70) while Cascades was the only corps to decrease in score (-0.40). Last Night's Storylines: The rain washed away the Blue Stars-Mandarins-Crossmen battle. Tonight's Storylines: 34 of 46 corps are in action tonight across five competitions. In their one previous match-up this season, Blue Devils beat The Cavaliers by 1.60 points, the narrowest margin between the two corps since 2011 World Championships. Can The Cavaliers narrow it further and firmly establish itself as a medal contender? Bluecoats have gradually expanded its lead over Carolina Crown from 0.300 on opening night to 1.750 in Orlando on July 8. Carolina Crown has been in rehearsal most of the past week. Where will the two line up now? In the last two head-to-head match-ups, Blue Stars and Phantom Regiment traded wins. Given the scoring history between Blue Stars-Crossmen-Mandarins, the entire 9-12 block will be informed by where things line up tonight. It is the rubber match between Colts and Madison Scouts. After winning the first three shows of the season, Colts have won the last three with the last one coming at the slimmest margin of 0.050. Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets return to action for the first time since July 6. Remarkably, they have only lost two places in the rankings with no scores in that time period. How far up can they go? Tonight is the last night of the interesting battle between Guardians, Louisiana Stars, and Southwind for a few weeks. A slew of lower tier Open Class corps from the West Coast return to competition for the first time in two weeks. Most notably, Gold was in 22nd place the last time it competed. This is the corps' first match-up with Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets. Is it an Open Class medal contender? 2017 One show was rained out. Impulse put up the largest improvement by far with an increase of 5.950 over its last performance on July 2. Music City continue its yo-yoing back and forth with a -1.500. The corps has had only one show where its score did not go up or down by more than 1 point. Spirit of Atlanta moved up in the rankings the most from #20 to #16 while Incognito moved down furthest from #38 to #42. Santa Clara Vanguard's 1.300 score increase was enough to put the corps in 1st place for the first time this season. There have now been 4 corps in 1st place in the rankings (Bluecoats, Blue Devils, Carolina Crown, Santa Clara Vanguard). Vanguard Cadets made a big gain on Blue Devils B and now trail the Open Class leaders by only 0.300. Storylines from last night: Louisiana Stars and Southwind debut in Alabama. Where will they stack up in Open Class? Southwind debuted #30 and Louisiana Stars at #32. The final two corps will debut on 7/17 (Les Stentors) and 7/20 (Guardians). Carolina Crown has not competed since July 8. That day they were ranked #1. Where will they be tonight? Carolina Crown put up a 1.600 score increase moving them into the #3 spot, keeping in mind that neither the #2 or #4 corps (Blue Devils, Bluecoats) competed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 14, 2018 Author Share Posted July 14, 2018 July 14, 2018 The Academy, Blue Knights, Oregon Crusaders, Pacific Crest, Santa Clara Vanguard, Seattle Cascades, Troopers - Denver, CO Blue Devils, Blue Stars, The Cavaliers, Colts, Crossmen, Madison Scouts, Phantom Regiment, Pioneer - DeKalb, IL Bluecoats, Carolina Crown, Jersey Surf, Music City, Spirit of Atlanta - Alexandria, KY Boston Crusaders - Ste. Genevieve, MO The Cadets - West Paducah, KY Genesis - Unknown Mandarins - Trenton, IL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 15, 2018 Author Share Posted July 15, 2018 July 14, 2018 vs. July 15, 2017 2018 With lots of corps in action, there was actually very limited movement in head-to-head competition. The most significant was probably Madison Scouts moving back ahead of Colts. In non head-to-head action, The Academy posted a score that puts the corps slightly ahead of Crossmen for the #12 spot. Score increases were lowest in the California Open Class show with several corps increases by 2.00 points or less after several weeks off. Last Night's Storylines: In their one previous match-up this season, Blue Devils beat The Cavaliers by 1.60 points, the narrowest margin between the two corps since 2011 World Championships. Can The Cavaliers narrow it further and firmly establish itself as a medal contender? Ever so slightly. Blue Devils won by 1.50. Bluecoats have gradually expanded its lead over Carolina Crown from 0.300 on opening night to 1.750 in Orlando on July 8. Carolina Crown has been in rehearsal most of the past week. Where will the two line up now? Bluecoats lead by 1.15. In the last two head-to-head match-ups, Blue Stars and Phantom Regiment traded wins. Given the scoring history between Blue Stars-Crossmen-Mandarins, the entire 9-12 block will be informed by where things line up tonight. Phantom Regiment was rained out so we must wait. It is the rubber match between Colts and Madison Scouts. After winning the first three shows of the season, Colts have won the last three with the last one coming at the slimmest margin of 0.050. Madison Scouts retook the lead by a margin of 1.40. Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets return to action for the first time since July 6. Remarkably, they have only lost two places in the rankings with no scores in that time period. How far up can they go? Score increases were modest given the amount of time off and neither corps gained a spot in the overall rankings. Tonight is the last night of the interesting battle between Guardians, Louisiana Stars, and Southwind for a few weeks. Guardians won by a small margin over Louisiana Stars with Southwind falling back. A slew of lower tier Open Class corps from the West Coast return to competition for the first time in two weeks. Most notably, Gold was in 22nd place the last time it competed. This is the corps' first match-up with Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets. Is it an Open Class medal contender? Gold only improved to #28 and was nearly 4.00 points behind Blue Devils B. Tonight's Storylines: The #1 question is: Will the Bluecoats remain undefeated after meeting up with Blue Devils? The Cavaliers and Carolina Crown have not met head-to-head since June 29. Carolina Crown won those two meetings by an average margin of 0.950, however The Cavaliers are now ranked slightly ahead. Boston Crusaders have a great opportunity to make a claim that it is in the running for the top 5. It has been over a week since it tied Carolina Crown suggesting that the corps is in the discussion for position as high as #4. Blue Stars - Phantom Regiment - Mandarins - Crossmen have been fighting for position. Tonight's match-up is important, especially with The Academy and Spirit of Atlanta in the fight for finals. After losing to Blue Stars by over two points last night, Crossmen has to make a strong claim tonight or the corps is in danger of falling out of the conversation. 2017 Gold returned to competition for the first time since July 2 with a huge 7.200 point increase moving the corps up 9 spots in the standings from #34 to #25. Music City continued its yo-yo scoring was a 3.100 improvement. Three corps went down in score, Seattle Cascades the most at -1.100. Oregon Crusaders lost the most ground in the rankings dropped 4 spots from #16 to #20. Last night's storylines: Bluecoats and Blue Devils are head to head for the first time this season. The last time the corps met, Bluecoats won their first world championship. Blue Devils enter the competition undefeated. The two corps have three common opponents this year (credit to ascendperformingarts.org) with both corps beating The Academy and Phantom Regiment in all matchups. Blue Devils are 4-0 over Santa Clara Vanguard while Bluecoats lost to Santa Clara Vanguard in one of their two matchups. Blue Devils won the match-up by a margin of 1.150. They'll be head to head again on 7/17 and then matched up with the rest of the Top 5 on 7/18. Prior to last night Carolina Crown had been beating Boston Crusaders by an average margin of 4.31. Last night, the margin was 1.95. Will Boston Crusaders close the gap even further? Carolina Crown opened the gap by 0.20 additional points. The Cavaliers have gradually increased its lead over The Cadets. The Cadets are head to head with Phantom Regiment for the first time this season with a 1.300 margin in the rankings. The two corps have a comparable record against common opponents. Is this a battle for the #7 or #8 spot? The Cadets won the match-up by a margin of 2.200, 0.900 more than their previous scores suggested. Troopers get into the mix with Oregon Crusaders, Pacific Crest, and Seattle Cascades for the first time tonight due to last night's rainout. Where do they stack up in head to head competition? Troopers came out on top of the group. Pacific Crest led the West Coast corps. Vanguard Cadets and Blue Devils B are used to season-long battles. It looked like Blue Devils B had a big lead early but that lead evaporated last night. What happens next? Blue Devils B put up a whopping 2.850 point improvement night over night while Vanguard Cadets saw its score go up 1.800. The Battalion and Columbians will compete for the final time of the season. Where will they max out? The Battalion's top score on the season was 59.100, good for #28 as of today. Last year, the corps' top score was 49.800. Columbians finished the season at 57.100 in #31, the same as their top score last year although the corps scored slightly higher (57.300) the day before. Comparison This time last year, every corps in the top 18 was ranked within one place of its final position. If that were to hold true this year, the most significant change would be Spirit of Atlanta who would move from 18th place in 2017 to 13-15th place in 2018. Last year at this time, there were four corps within one point of the #1 ranking; this year there are only two (Santa Clara Vanguard and Blue Devils) with Bluecoats 1.050 out of 1st place despite being the only undefeated corps. The top 12 remains extremely tight with 8.75 separating #1 from #12. This is just slightly larger spread than last year (8.60), which had been the tightest top 12 at this time of the season since 2014. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 15, 2018 Author Share Posted July 15, 2018 July 15, 2018 Blue Devils, Blue Stars, Bluecoats, Boston Crusaders, The Cadets, Carolina Crown, The Cavaliers, Colts, Crossmen, Genesis, Jersey Surf, Madison Scouts, Mandarins, Music City, Phantom Regiment, Pioneer, Spirit of Atlanta - St. Louis, MO The Academy, Oregon Crusaders - Hays, KS Blue Knights, Seattle Cascades, Troopers - Somewhere between Denver, CO and El Dorado, KS Pacific Crest, Santa Clara Vanguard - Denver, CO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 15, 2018 Author Share Posted July 15, 2018 I am going to be traveling for the next couple weeks including stops for DCI shows in San Antonio, Hattiesburg, and Atlanta. Therefore, I won't have access to the map. I can spend some time this afternoon doing my best to map out the next two weeks ahead of time and post them all or I can just leave it be. I'm willing to do the work up front if people are looking at it and like seeing how things line up across the country. I know it's a little self-serving, but can you like the post or otherwise indicate if you want everything posted? I'll make it a project for the afternoon if it's worthwhile to people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 16, 2018 Author Share Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) July 15, 2018 vs. July 16, 2017 2018 This new regional gave us a nice preview into where things stand with just five days to go until the first full World Class regional in San Antonio. Blue Devils defeated Bluecoats telling us that there is a three-way fight for the championship this year based on Santa Clara Vanguard's previous success over Blue Devils. There was remarkably little movement in the rankings other than that and Madison Scouts topping Colts by 0.025. Shadow put up the largest score increase of the night (6.225) after a week off followed by Legends (3.625), and Vessel (2.200). Genesis (-1.550) and Pioneer (-1.325) lost significant ground in score, which led both to fall four places in the rankings to #23 and #35 respectively. Legends gained the most ground in ranking moving up five spots to #29. Last Night's Storylines: The #1 question is: Will the Bluecoats remain undefeated after meeting up with Blue Devils? No. The Cavaliers and Carolina Crown have not met head-to-head since June 29. Carolina Crown won those two meetings by an average margin of 0.950, however The Cavaliers are now ranked slightly ahead. Carolina Crown won by a 0.90 margin, nearly exactly the same as the previous average. Boston Crusaders have a great opportunity to make a claim that it is in the running for the top 5. It has been over a week since it tied Carolina Crown suggesting that the corps is in the discussion for position as high as #4. Boston Crusaders fell behind Carolina Crown by 1.35. Blue Stars - Phantom Regiment - Mandarins - Crossmen have been fighting for position. Tonight's match-up is important, especially with The Academy and Spirit of Atlanta in the fight for finals. After losing to Blue Stars by over two points last night, Crossmen has to make a strong claim tonight or the corps is in danger of falling out of the conversation. Blue Stars made a strong statement with a 1.10 margin over Mandarins and a tight win over Phantom Regiment. Crossmen appears to be in a fight for 12-14 rather than 8-11 at this point. Tonight's Storylines: The two tours begin meshing together tonight so we will start to see some new head-to-head match-ups that should bring clarity to where everyone stands. Santa Clara Vanguard matches up with The Cadets for the first time. Although The Cadets do not appear to be in the same discussion, the spread may be telling. Blue Knights and The Academy see Spirit of Atlanta for the first time. Again, spreads may help determine who is really in the hunt for the 12th finalist spot and who could be above/below that grouping. 2017 There was just one show last night and all 8 corps in competition improved in score by 1.10 or more. Incognito led the way with a 3.050 increase. Impulse gained the most ground in the rankings moving up 3 spots to #36. Last night's storylines: Three corps finish their seasons tonight (Blue Devils C, Golden Empire, Watchmen). Where will they max out? Blue Devils C scored 48.1, Watchmen a 58.6 and Golden Empire a 59.7. All 3 are higher than last year. Comparison From this time last year to championships, there was only one change in the Top 15 rankings (The Cavaliers moved up to #4 from #5 and Bluecoats fell to #5 from #4). There was a bit more movement in 2016 however no corps in the Top 15 changed by more than two spots. If that all held true this year, there are two big stories in this group: 1) Mandarins would not only make finals for the first time but would do so as high as 8th. 2) Spirit of Atlanta would return to the Top 15 for the first time since 2013. The Top 3 are about as tight this year as last year. Edited July 16, 2018 by DrumCorpsRadio Added Tonight's Storylines 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 18, 2018 Author Share Posted July 18, 2018 July 16, 2018 vs. July 17, 2017 2018 Scores went up a lot at one show with every corps in competition going up by 1.450 or more. When this happens, a reset usually follows a day or two later so don't expect the swings in placements to last. That said, the largest increase of the night went to Guardians (2.950) with Music City (2.550) and Crossmen (2.525) also increasing by two+ points. Notably, Guardians scored higher than both Pioneer and Jersey Surf in head-to-head competition. There were a few small score decreases with Pacific Crest losing the most ground (-0.400). Last Night's Storylines: Santa Clara Vanguard matches up with The Cadets for the first time. Although The Cadets do not appear to be in the same discussion, the spread may be telling. Santa Clara Vanguard was ahead of The Cadets by just about five points. Blue Knights and The Academy see Spirit of Atlanta for the first time. Again, spreads may help determine who is really in the hunt for the 12th finalist spot and who could be above/below that grouping. Spirit of Atlanta was about a point behind The Academy. They were about a point behind Crossmen the night before, which suggests that Crossmen and The Academy will be very close with Spirit right behind them for the #12 spot when they all meet up. 2017 One show was rained out. The biggest score increase went to The Cadets (1.900) with Madison Scouts seeing the largest decrease (-2.150), which knocked them down to #13 in the rankings behind Mandarins. No corps moved more than 1 place in the rankings, but Santa Clara Vanguard takes the top spot heading into tonight's Tour of Champions show. Last night's storylines: Bluecoats and Blue Devils match up for the second time. Can Bluecoats narrow the 1.150 margin? Bluecoats gained ground on Blue Devils in head to head competition cutting the gap from 1.150 to 0.700. The last time Crossmen and Madison Scouts were head-to-head, Crossmen won by 2.075, but now Madison Scouts is scoring just 0.100 behind. Where will things be tonight? Crossmen led with its largest margin of the season at 2.500. Seattle Cascades and Genesis, currently ranked #22 and #23 respectively, match up for the first time tonight. Who comes out on top? Genesis won the matchup by 0.300. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrownBariDad Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 If last year was any indication, it seems PC's score drops after DATR, but rebounds at SA -- they finally get some extended rehearsal time this week. According to DCP scoring charts, they are ahead of last year's scores at this point on the tour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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