LabMaster Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 4 hours ago, Gantang said: You do great work, but this all means very little (NOT a dig on you by any means!) until San Antonio when one slate of judges evaluates the corps. Slotting will have an impact in the 18-13 range and since those corps are changing positions nightly in different shows there's no clear leader in that pack. Saturday afternoon and night will be the first reality check for everyone. Woo hoo!! I think this past week, and there is still tonight, is a reality check to see where everyone sits with other corps as tours merge and judging slates shift. We are starting to get a clearer picture where placement battles are. SA will crystallize much of it, being the first show where everyone sees the same judging panel and judges (I assume even judges not judging that night) see everyone at one time. The caveat to that is that this is the current competitive baseline, which will have movement each week between SA and Indy. How much movement and position changes remains to be seen. Nothing is certain… just yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 22, 2023 Author Share Posted July 22, 2023 18 hours ago, Gantang said: You do great work, but this all means very little (NOT a dig on you by any means!) until San Antonio when one slate of judges evaluates the corps. Slotting will have an impact in the 18-13 range and since those corps are changing positions nightly in different shows there's no clear leader in that pack. Saturday afternoon and night will be the first reality check for everyone. Woo hoo!! The whole point of this exercise (over several years now) is to help show what does and does not matter year over year in terms of score comparisons. All in good fun and to feed the overanalysis before and between regionals. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 22, 2023 Author Share Posted July 22, 2023 July 21 Rundown Dover, PA Three corps made their season debuts: Jersey Surf (68.000, 25th); Raiders (57.800, 35th); Les Stentors (57.500, 36th). These scores put the two Jersey corps ahead of where they were this time last year (4.850 for Surf and 14.700 ahead for Raiders). It will be interesting to see whether these scores are inflated as they pushed Spartans (+2.800) and Southwind (+4.700) up quite a bit over their last performances just about a week earlier. Houston, TX There were no head-to-head placement changes. In fact, Carolina Crown and Bluecoats both decreased by the same 0.100 points to stay exactly even at a tight margin. The 0.600 point increase for Blue Devils means there is even more room between the leader of the pack and those hoping to catch up. Colts put up the largest score increase (2.650 points) after a few days off the competition field. July 22 Preview San Antonio, TX All World Class corps except Jersey Surf appear together for the first time this season. No corps has moved up more more than two spots from San Antonio to finals since at least 2016. With this in mind, the very tight 14-17 or 14-18 range is something to watch. Sewell, NJ This is the same line-up as last night in Dover with the addition of 7th Regiment which is returning to competition for the first time since July 2nd. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 July 22 Rundown San Antonio, TX Blue Devils emerge from the first regional undefeated but with its lead over Boston Crusaders at 1.000 points, down from 1.550 points when the two corps met last on July 18th. Bluecoats retook its lead over Carolina Crown by less than 0.400 points and both corps are closer to Boston than they were just two nights before. Mandarins and Phantom Regiment competed head-to-head for the first time and tied for fifth place. The corps actually came into the night tied in their most recent scores although those were not from the same show. The Cadets narrowed its gap with Phantom Regiment (0.300 versus 0.625 on July 15th) for a very tight 5-7 grouping. The Cavaliers widened its lead over Blue Stars as it has been doing since Blue Stars were last in the lead on July 7th. Colts and Troopers have traded the lead several times this season with Colts victorious by the slimmest of margins at 0.120. Their lead over the current #12 corps seems pretty solidly pointing to a second straight appearance in finals for both corps. Pacific Crest edged Blue Knights by less than 0.400 points to take the #12 spot. This is the second straight head-to-head win for Pacific Crest after Blue Knights took a narrow win on July 17th. Both corps have a solid two-point lead over the next grouping of finalist challengers. Crossmen come in the historically important 14th place (see yesterday's post for an explanation). As you can see below, Pacific Crest has not even been in the Top 15 in San Antonio as long as I have been doing this data tracking. A season to remember for sure! Spirit of Atlanta had the most disappointing night from a score standpoint, dropping 0.950 points from its score two nights earlier. Sewell, NJ 7th Regiment returned to competition for the first time since July 2nd with a 6.450 point increase, good for four spots in the rankings. One day after its 2023 debut, Raiders made an impressive 2.950 point increase. July 23 Preview Fairfield, CT Gold rejoins the DCI tour after traveling clear across the country. The match-up with Spartans is a likely preview of the battle for Open Class gold. Saturday Showdown Competitive Landscape The Blue Devils breathing room was cut in half over the past week from 1.500 points last Saturday to 1.000 points last night. Year over year, this means this year's #2 (Boston Crusaders) is closer (1.000 points) to this year's #1 (Blue Devils) than last year's #2 (Boston Crusaders) was (1.475 points) to last year's #1 (Blue Devils) coming out of San Antonio. Bluecoats and Carolina Crown traded spots year over year with all four corps breaking the 90 point mark (compared to the top 3 only last year). What appeared to be emerging as a 5-7 grouping last week was solidified this week with Mandarins, Phantom Regiment, and The Cadets neck and neck. And it seems that Blue Knights and Pacific Crest are the likeliest competitors for the #12 spot with the 14-17 group falling a bit behind. On the Rise (2+ spots higher than 2022) Pacific Crest continues to lead the way. Currently situated in the coveted 12th place spot, Pacific Crest is seven spots higher than last year (19th), two spots higher than its highest ever placement (14th in 2019), and six spots higher than its average over all of the years at Lucas Oil Stadium (18th). The next most impressive rise goes to another California corps although this one feels less surprising. Mandarins currently sit tied for 5th place. This is five spots higher than each of the last three years which were all the highest and only World Class finalist placements for the corps (10th place in 2022, 2019, and 2018). It seems conclusive that Mandarins will have its best finish ever. Phantom Regiment's tie for fifth place is three spots higher than last year's eighth and would mark the first time in the top 6 in a decade (6th in 2013). Holding Steady (+1 to -1 spots away from 2022) The Academy, Blue Knights, The Cavaliers, Colts, Jersey Surf, and Troopers are all currently one spot ahead of their 2022 finish. Blue Devils, Boston Crusaders, and Carolina Crown are even. Bluecoats, The Cadets, Crossmen, Genesis, and Madison Scouts are one spot lower. Blue Knights, The Academy, and The Cavaliers are all currently one spot ahead of their 2022 finish. Blue Devils, Boston Crusaders, Carolina Crown, and Colts are even. Bluecoats, Crossmen, Genesis, and The Cadets are one spot lower. Falling Back (2+ spots lower than 2022) For the second week in a row, Blue Stars and Music City currently sit two spots lower than last year. Back in Action Spirit of Atlanta (17th) and Seattle Cascades (26th) returned to competition this year. Spirit is four spots behind its last two finishes (13th in 2019 and 2018) while Seattle Cascades is just one spot behind its last placement (25th in 2019). Coming back from a year away is difficult and the fact that both corps have done so with little competitive change is notable. Open Class With Gold out of competition for the past week, Open Class analysis does not serve much purpose today. Sparts and Gold are the clear front runners for the championship. By this time next week, we will have head-to-head data and the season debut of Columbians to give us a fuller picture of the competitive landscape. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 24, 2023 Author Share Posted July 24, 2023 July 23 Rundown Oddly, Gold and Spartans both increased their scores by the same amount (4.050 points) with the Gold increase coming after a week of travel and Spartans one day after its last performance. The score increases for the corps competing two days in a row were much higher than usual ranging from 1.150 points (Raiders) to the aforementioned 4.050 points (Spartans). 7th Regiment defeated Raiders after being just behind one night earlier. If the Open Class scores are accurate (and historically this sort of inflation happens at Open Class heavy shows sometimes so that is unlikely), then Spartans would be in the mix for the Top 12 World Class discussion. July 24 Preview One show tonight in Mesquite. The 12-14 place corps from San Antonio are head-to-head again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 (edited) On 7/23/2023 at 8:36 AM, DrumCorpsRadio said: July 22 Rundown San Antonio, TX Colts and Troopers have traded the lead several times this season with Colts victorious by the slimmest of margins at 0.120. Their lead over the current #12 corps seems pretty solidly pointing to a second straight appearance in finals for both corps. It's one-tenth of the slimmest of margins: 0.012 Edited July 24, 2023 by 2muchcoffeeman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOC Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 On 7/23/2023 at 8:36 AM, DrumCorpsRadio said: Competitive Landscape The Blue Devils breathing room was cut in half over the past week from 1.500 points last Saturday to 1.000 points last night. Year over year, this means this year's #2 (Boston Crusaders) is closer (1.000 points) to this year's #1 (Blue Devils) than last year's #2 (Boston Crusaders) was (1.475 points) to last year's #1 (Blue Devils) coming out of San Antonio. Bluecoats and Carolina Crown traded spots year over year with all four corps breaking the 90 point mark (compared to the top 3 only last year). .750 is half. Might need to take a break from all the numbers and play some Wordle. (Keep up the great thread that we're enjoying.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 25, 2023 Author Share Posted July 25, 2023 8 hours ago, TOC said: .750 is half. Might need to take a break from all the numbers and play some Wordle. (Keep up the great thread that we're enjoying.) Haha. I think I meant to say cut half a point. Good catch! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 25, 2023 Author Share Posted July 25, 2023 July 24 Rundown Okay, I didn't see this update coming. Carolina Crown came out of San Antonio strong, beating Boston Crusaders head-to-head for the first time since July 5th (Mason, OH). This catapults Carolina Crown to the #2 spot in the rankings. The two corps line up next on July 28th in Murfreesboro (along with Bluecoats). More surprises in the battle for the last spot in finals as Crossmen jumped over two corps and into 12th place with Blue Knights staying still at 13th and Pacific Crest falling all the way down to 14th. Crossmen made this jump on a nearly unprecedented score increase of 2.925 points coming out of the regional. That's the sort of score improvement typically seen only after multiple days out of competition. The three corps line up next on July 28th in Trussville. July 25 Preview Manchester, NH Gold and Spartans line up together for the second time. Can Gold reduce the nearly two point lead Spartans opened up with? McKinney, TX The most intriguing match-up here is Mandarins and The Cadets. The two corps were separated by just 0.300 points in San Antonio, and that gap means the difference between fifth and seventh right now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted July 26, 2023 Author Share Posted July 26, 2023 July 25 Rundown Manchester, NH With all the regular caveats...Spartans is tied for 12th place in the rankings. McKinney, TX The Cadets defeated Mandarins by 0.450 points to jump from 7th to 5th. Crossmen maintained its large score increase from last night. July 26 Preview Hattiesburg, MS The main thing to watch here is how Boston Crusdaders responds to its loss to Carolina Crown. Does the corps fall further behind Blue Devils after getting to one point back in San Antonio? Monroe, LA It is all about the match-up between The Cadets and Mandarins. Syracuse, NY My attention is on Spartans as the corps continues to perform at a very high level and could make some noise in Indianapolis if these scores hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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