Louisiana 2015-16

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kitakule
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Louisiana 2015-16

Post by kitakule »

As an alum from this region, I noticed that there was no post about it. What are the tournaments coming up this year (I know ESA is hosting two) and what are your predictions for LAAC and NAQT state?
Moses Kitakule
ESA '15
Yale '19
Columbia '28 (???)
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The Ununtiable Twine
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Re: Louisiana 2015-16

Post by The Ununtiable Twine »

The Matthew Hayes Invitational took place this weekend, with ESA A going 11-0, followed by Baton Rouge Magnet and University Lab. Overall, I was impressed with the level of play from the top teams.

Stats can be found here: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournament ... ats/final/

As far as NAQT state is concerned, I still feel that Jesuit and Baton Rouge Magnet are favorites. Sam from ESA has taken a major step in making his team a contender for the state title but I need to see increased production on regular Invitational Series before putting ESA in the group of favorites. Do I think he can and will? Yes, I do. He seemed pretty determined to win this weekend and I think that determination will carry through to the Spring. If ESA wants to win state chances are he'll have to get a bit more help than he's currently getting, though.

Tulane's Fall tournament seems to suggest that Jesuit is still a force. This comes as a surprise to no one.

Zachary put up some decent numbers - they could break top 5 at state easily. Wesley Swain from University Lab keeps putting up monster numbers so they have to be in the discussion for top 5 as well. I would like to see all of the contenders participate at state this year. I'm not sure if I can offer an opinion regarding North Louisiana teams just yet. I presume Caddo is still decent but I don't know much about the other teams.

I can't give you any thoughts on last weekend's Lusher Invitational because proper stats weren't taken. Seriously, hosts need to take proper stats and not just report winners/losers. People use those to gauge how good teams actually are and it does no one any good to report only records. It's not hard to keep stats. SQBS is free and very easy to download and use.

** EDIT: I didn't know Leo was still at Baton Rouge Magnet. That makes them the clear favorite in my opinion, as they have gone 19-3 over the past two tournaments, both times only starting two of their top three. They went over 22 ppb both times as well.
Jake Sundberg
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kitakule
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Re: Louisiana 2015-16

Post by kitakule »

I totally agree that Sam needs more help. Right now, it's a one man show. A couple of years ago, when people like Mallory Gaspard, Logan Istre, Willis Dunlap, and I were on the team, we were much more balanced. ESA really doesn't have a core four right now; the coach, the lovely Ms. Ashley Dugas, prefers to rotate players every half game to give everyone a chance to play, leaving Sam as the only constant factor. I will say that the new freshman, Andreas Atwi, has a lot of potential to become just as dangerous as Sam. I'll talk to Sam and Mrs. Dugas about it, and maybe Andreas will get bumped up. I know Andreas well, and what I can tell you is that he has a wealth of knowledge. Heck, he's skipped two grades to get where he is now, and he reads A LOT. A Sam-Andreas combo would be dangerous. There's another decent player, Zach, who specializes in lit, and he'll contribute 20 PPG per game. But yeah, if ESA wants to truly threaten against teams such as Jesuit, Sam is going to need better backup.

As for the other teams, I wouldn't be too quick to put Baton Rouge Magnet as the clear favorites for state. Anthony Stoner is still playing at Jesuit, and he's pretty difficult to stop. Wesley Swain from University Lab is another exciting prospect.However, like Sam, he's a one man team, and I think that's what's holding University Lab back against better teams. As for the north, in my time at ESA I rarely came across teams from there at non-NAQT tournaments. Anacoco (which is sort of north) was a huge threat while Armando was there, but since he's graduated they've sort of vanished. I think that ESA and Jesuit are the favorites for the LAAC title (there will probably be a dark horse in the overall finals as well) and Jesuit, BRM, and ESA for NAQT state in that order.

Louisiana is really being crippled by the LAAC. If we could get more NAQT tournaments (ESA changed theirs to NAQT, which I'm thrilled about), and better stat-keeping, I'd have a better idea of where we stand. One thing I always lamented was that HSNCT was in late May, which is right around the time Louisiana kids are getting out of school and graduating. Therefore, we are never able to send teams up to compete. Do you have any ideas for a potential solution?
Moses Kitakule
ESA '15
Yale '19
Columbia '28 (???)
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Re: Louisiana 2015-16

Post by Kevin »

I think we've made tremendous strides over the past few years in getting more good tournaments run. With ESA joining this year, we now have four different high schools in south Louisiana (Lusher, Dutchtown, ESA, and Mt. Carmel) hosting tournaments on NAQT questions. Then we also have Tulane, ULL, and La Tech hosting. We've seen quite a few new teams and have done a very good job of reaching out to schools who played LAAC. (Much of the credit has to go to Nick Collins for first compiling a contact list of coaches throughout the state.)

We've had a number of well-attended tournaments this year. I've had to put a few teams on a waitlist for my upcoming tournament at Mt. Carmel. We simply don't have enough moderators to bring in more teams, but if we did, we might have 24 or more teams competing.

Two things I'd like to see us work on as a state:

1) Finding and developing more moderators. I hate having to turn a school away, or tell a team that they can't bring 3 or 4 teams (which Jesuit and Lusher probably could). But it's simply not feasible without more people willing to help. This issue certainly isn't specific to Louisiana, but I think we could do a better job of getting quiz bowl alumni involved. Or of training parents or other willing volunteers.

2) Getting our teams to improve. Most players simply have no idea what the level of play is in other states, nor do they realize that hard work and effort can produce tremendous results. I'd like to see some Texas teams play here, or see some of the teams in the western half of LA travel to Texas for tournaments. I think having a quiz bowl summer camp in Louisiana would be great.
Kevin Marshall
Coach, Mount Carmel Academy, New Orleans, LA (2014-present)
Coach, Chapelle HS, Metairie, LA (2011-2014)
player and/or secretary and/or captain, Tulane Quiz Bowl (2007-2009)
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