Midseason Poll

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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by username_crisis_averted »

I'm pretty late to this party, but I think the Illinois poll had a fairly high success rate at curbing regional bias. Our idea was to have each team in the rankings get equal representation. Each school submitted a ballot collectively and those ballots were fed through an alternative vote calculator to get final results. Even if the rankings do go awry for whatever reason, the methodology still provides useful information (the average opinion of the group). I'm not sure how this would work on a national scale, but I think generally having votes from all areas being ranked in the poll is a must-have. If anyone hasn't seen them yet, the IL rankings are in this thread: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewto ... 1&start=50
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by Hyrdofluoric_Acid »

I liked the poll and it inspired me to look at some stats. I looked at all NAQT sets and 4 housewrites among teams ranked in the poll or who are returning 'good' players who powered from a previous nationals team. Check it. If anyone knows that there are more stats hit me up. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
This has also lead me to believe that Westview should probably be ranked higher. Hot take: Detroit Catholic Central is good...
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

Hyrdofluoric_Acid wrote:I liked the poll and it inspired me to look at some stats. I looked at all NAQT sets and 4 housewrites among teams ranked in the poll or who are returning 'good' players who powered from a previous nationals team. Check it. If anyone knows that there are more stats hit me up. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
This has also lead me to believe that Westview should probably be ranked higher. Hot take: Detroit Catholic Central is good...
Could you put Terrapin stats up here? I feel like with only 2 data points for some Illinois schools (ours included), it's kinda hard to get a complete picture. Other than that, this is some pretty good stuff. Also, DCC is good.
Jakob M. (they/them)
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by Mahavishnu »

I feel a little compelled to add that American Heritage-Boca Delray, the only Florida team on the list, lost their star player Abhishek (also on the list) to Cypress Bay HS, so they are rather unlikely to make any large impact this year. On that note, Cypress Bay's proficiency is not accurately recorded by NAQT in recent events, as the aforementioned Abhishek missed the majority of the December event.
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by Antrobus63 »

This is way cool, John. A comprehensive data base open to players, coaches and other interested folk--a common resource we can all visit--is a much-needed tool if coaches and other people in the QB community are going to vote intelligently for polls, awards, whatever. NAQT keeps very comprehensive stats but is limited to its own events. The data base at http://hdwhite.org/qb/stats/ is useful but not complete, either. So, thank you, John, for allowing us to do one-stop shopping. Please expand it and keep it going!

Some suggestions about what I'd like to see, but I'm curious to hear what others say:

(1) This database can certainly be led by one student, but a few others from around the country should assist in compiling stats and consulting on any issues that may arise. One of the glories of being a bright, somewhat obsessive high school student is the freedom to delve into arcana to your heart's content. True, there are a lot of coaches and QB folk who spend considerable time looking into this stuff, but even obsessive adults are limited by grown-up responsiblities like families, jobs, studies, etc. HS seniors, especially, have a lot more free time than adults and college/grad students.

(2) I wouldn't allow the database to be easily amended. Any suggested addition or correction should be submitted only on the forum, where everyone can see it, and vetted by the HS student(s) who assemble the numbers.

(3) If you get more helpers, John, perhaps you could add a spreadsheet or two with other stats, as well as tournament records and possibly wins-losses against other top teams. I agree that PBB is the easiest way to compare teams across the country and to tell which teams have the most pure knowledge... but winning matches and tournaments also means being able to beat your opponents to the buzzer, so PBB doesn't tell the whole story.

(4) While this is an OK place to tell people about which kids have been playing/not playing for certain teams in certain tournaments, I don't think this should be taken into account in stats or rankings. It's just too complicated. Teams should live with their "A" team's results, no matter who is playing at a given tournament. For example, I am currently rotating all but one of my players back and forth between my A and B teams to get everyone more experience, so there is certainly some variability in results, but that is all part of this QB experience.

(5) A database for individual players would be nice, but not necessarily... necessary. Comparing players on great, rounded teams, like DCC, to players who dominate their teams will always involve subjective judgment.

(6) For my money, a student-informed and student-run poll is still a great idea. While you guys might ask the advice of Gabe and other knowledgeable adults, I see no reason why you couldn't start this and maintain the poll on your own. I am a coach and a teacher and am in favor of almost anything that confers more responsibility on the players themselves.
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by username_crisis_averted »

I would certainly be willing to help with stats. Sign me up!

Relatedly, I tried to go in that direction a little bit ago with this website and this one, but I wasn't too happy with how either one turned out. If there's any interest in the continuation of those projects, let me know.
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

I, too, have lots of free time and would definitely be willing to help compile stuff, but I think some non-Illinois staffers would be quite useful. If you haven't already, I could help transfer stats from Mr. White's database.
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by Rather Wild Indeed »

I don't like free time so sign me up too!
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by dnlwng »

A little late, but there is a great website that gives a lot of information about the SoCal circuit and tournament results at http://www.socalquizbowl.org, look under "Tournament Results"

I definitely agree that Westview is the strongest team here, followed by Canyon Crest (by a decent margin). Unfortunately there have only been three tournaments in which both teams played at full strength (TPAIN, Bronco Bowl, IHOP). I believe that two of these ended with very close WV v CCA finals.

It also doesn't seem like there will be any more tournaments featuring both of us, as the next two tournaments will be hosted by CCA and Westview, respectively.
Daniel Wang
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by AKKOLADE »

Y'all slept on Davis.
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by Antrobus63 »

Time for another one yet?
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by browen »

Antrobus63 wrote:Time for another one yet?
I presume Gabe will wait until after the Texas Invitational. There's at least eight Top 15 teams playing in it (maybe more depending on who the teams playing under a pseudonym are).
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

browen wrote:
Antrobus63 wrote:Time for another one yet?
I presume Gabe will wait until after the Texas Invitational. There's at least eight Top 15 teams playing in it (maybe more depending on who the teams playing under a pseudonym are).
*9. "Ohio Country" is me.
Jakob M. (they/them)
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by browen »

JakobeanEra wrote:
browen wrote:
Antrobus63 wrote:Time for another one yet?
I presume Gabe will wait until after the Texas Invitational. There's at least eight Top 15 teams playing in it (maybe more depending on who the teams playing under a pseudonym are).
*9. "Ohio Country" is me.
I know who Ohio Country and Preston Hollow are, but I wasn't trying to give away any hints. Normally with pseudonym teams the more people who don't know the better.
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Re: Midseason Poll

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

browen wrote: I know who Ohio Country and Preston Hollow are, but I wasn't trying to give away any hints. Normally with pseudonym teams the more people who don't know the better.
Eh. The rest of my team already knows and no one from my school's staff views this board.
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Michigan State '21, Indiana '2?
"No one has ever organized a greater effort to get people interested in pretending to play quiz bowl"
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