ACF Fall at UTK and other topics

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Scipio
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ACF Fall at UTK and other topics

Post by Scipio »

Although partially anticipated by Jason Paik, what will follow is another long-winded, largely self-indulgent, and generally laudatory commentary, this time specifically about Knoxville's ACF Fall tournament. The disclaimer about my other post ("skip if not interested, because this will be no more fascinating than anything else I write") applies.

* In the first place: mammoth praise is to be directed at Carol Guthrie, Scotti Whitmire, Marcus Iturriaga, and the numerous other aides and readers for making this a logistically smooth affair. Moreover, Jason Paik (with fellow Alabaman Wesley Matthews in tow) drove up specifically to read and did so with their usual aplomb. For the entire field, I offer my thanks.

* Secondly: as Paik mentioned, congratulations are in order to Vanderbilt (Matt, Paul, Jeffrey, and Saurabh) for winning the tournament in convincing fashion; I don't believe any team there came close to beating them. Their performance was truly awesome. Rounding out the top four finishers are Kentucky A, Georgia Tech, and Kentucky B.

* In addition, congratulations are in order to Georgia Tech B, who won the Division II title. During the course of the tournament they came very close to beating Kentucky A and did beat beat their own A team, and look to develop into a very good team.

* As mentioned before, the University of Louisville fielded a team and played very well under the leadership of their main scorer, Monica Marks, playing at her first official ACF tournament and only her second out-of-state tournament ever. This makes her numbers more significant: she went 62-3 over ten rounds, finishing with 60.5 points per game and an aesthetically pleasing TU/I of over 20; a girl after my own heart. Of course, while praising her shills (which arr manifest), this should also show the quality and accessibility of the questions, about which I spoke earlier.

* Speaking of statistics: while not intentionally doing so, I decided to give lie to my notoriety for buzzer cowardice and racked up 16 interrupts in 10 (well, nine) games, and handily led the field in interrupts. I also had my best numbers ever. I wonder if there is a correlation between increased aggression and more points per game, as everyone has always been telling me?

* I hope I can be forgiven for being pleased with myself for another accomplishment that Paik mentioned. On the last packet of the round robin (I forget its author; since we were given the all-clear to mention answers, it was the one whose answers included "lion", "Ural", and "Jude the Obscure", I think), I went 20-0 against UTK - B. I'm obviously not the first to have gotten the grail - Illinois did that two years ago, as I did my best to remind everyone, since many seemed to think I was he first; I am emphatically not - but it did feel good, and while not winning a tournament is never to be preferred to personal stats, I was able to take a great deal of solace in this one personal statistic. And here again: without packets which were challenging but ultimately perfectly accessible, this would not and could not have happened, so the ACF editors deserve credit for both Illinois's and my achievement here.
Seth Lyons Kendall
University of Memphis, 1993-1997
University of Kentucky, 1997-1999, 2000-2008
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Re: ACF Fall at UTK and other topics

Post by ASimPerson »

Scipio wrote:During the course of the tournament they came very close to beating Kentucky A and did beat beat their own A team, and look to develop into a very good team.
We totally beat them. I don't have the score on me, though.

As for the rest of the tournament at Knoxville:

Good readers. Great timing and logistics - 14 rounds were played in 10.5-11 hours, and this includes a lunch break and a break after the initial round robin. The folks in Knoxville run just this one tournament every year, but they always do a great job.

Most of the problems I have with this tournament can be blamed on our own team - our second best player was not in attendance, and our best was in and out all day. We had a pretty good shot to take second, but our inconsistent play caught up to us in our second match against Kentucky B, which mean we had to beat Kentucky A in the last match to salvage the third place finish.

Let me say for the record that Vanderbilt A is a very good team.

I may have more to say later, but I think that's all for now.
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Dan Greenstein
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Re: ACF Fall at UTK and other topics

Post by Dan Greenstein »

Scipio wrote:... I went 20-0 ...
Is Mr. Kendall the first person to get the grail solo?
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Post by vandyhawk »

I agree that UTK ran the tournament very well. Starting at 10:00, we did 14 rounds, lunch, and awards by 8:00ish, though I can't remember if that was eastern or central. In any case, thanks to everyone there for a great tournament.

Obviously I don't know this for sure, but I have to believe that Seth is the first player to get all 20 solo. It was on the LSU, MIT, and UNC (by the way, who is Dan from UNC?) packet, which fortunately contained very gettable science for him - Mersenne prime, mitochondrion, deuterium, and Brownian motion. Congrats again to Seth for this amazing accomplishment, and for a fine performance all day.

Like I said in my other post, I'm surprised at just how few schools in the area have been going to ACF Fall, esp. compared to the numbers at COTKU, NAQT, and Sword Bowl. Getting Louisville involved is certainly a step in the right direction, but how can we continue to improve in this area? Emory has been noticeably absent the past couple years, and I often see schools like Wofford, various GA schools like Berry, Macon State, etc. at other tourneys, so why not ACF Fall? Maybe we should just bring some packets with us to the next big event and show them what a worthwhile tournament it is...
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Post by wwellington »

Dan from UNC is Dan Wright, who played on TJ's A team last year.
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Post by Scipio »

(T)he LSU, MIT, and UNC ... packet, which fortunately contained very gettable science for him - Mersenne prime, mitochondrion, deuterium, and Brownian motion.
And that was really the deciding factor, quite honestly, since my comical lack of knowledge of the sciences is in fact very real. But that's the thing about well-written science questions, isn't it? They are supposed to be fairly obscure until the end for non-science players, but accessible even to them by the end. I'm sure that if I had been playing a more experienced, science-heavy team, I would never have had a chance at these, as they would have been immediately gotten by the more knowledgeable players. My score was as much due to luck as skill.

I'm convinced that the field for Knoxville was artificially small because of the Sunday date. There was no way around it, of course, given the pandemonium of the football game (and - by a bizarre coincidence, they were playing a team from my old school, University of Memphis, and it was apparently a close game; it's a damned good thing the Kittens ... er, "Tigers" ended up losing, or else the entire city might have been destroyed in a riot). Had it been a Saturday event, perhaps South Carolina, Emory, and even Georgetown would have come down, as well.

Therefore, the next step will be to convince teams to come to Regionals. I'm sure it can be done.
Seth Lyons Kendall
University of Memphis, 1993-1997
University of Kentucky, 1997-1999, 2000-2008
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Post by quizbowllee »

Congrats, Seth, on the accomplishment. First or not, that is an awesome task.
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