Stronger teams

[quiz4life]

Hi All,

My school will be attending the MSNCT I am wondering what teams are generally considered the stronger MS teams, say top 20 or so. Is there a ranking, similar to Fred Morlan's? Are there teams that are perennial powerhouses? I am a long time quiz coach but I have not coached MS previously so I reach out to those more knowledgeable than I. FYI-I believe we will be the first international school to attend the MSNCT.

But we have had a alumni that has done a little in quiz, maybe you know of him. . Yes, Mr. Ken Jennings himself graduated from Seoul Foreign School.

[the return of AHAN]

Hi Michael,
I'm curious why you are hoping to see a ranking of teams. If I tell you that, say, Hopkins or Churchill (both California schools) are the best, will that affect how you prep your team? If so, I'm interested to hear your theories. Whatever you do, it occurs to me the toughest part of prepping is simulating live action if you don't have opponents better than you nearby. Your best bet is to have your team listen to the MSNCT podcasts. This works especially well if you buy copies of the MSNCT questions from NAQT for your team, and have them read along and see where teams are buzzing vs. where they can honestly say THEY would've buzzed. https://www.naqt.com/podcasts/podcasts. ... nt_id=7399
Longfellow (Falls Church, VA) and Middlesex (Darien, CT) seem to make the top ten every year, despite the fields getting deeper and tougher every year. Kealing (Austin, TX) was the gold standard for a while, winning the 1st 3 of 5 MSNCT's, but seems to have fallen on hard times (relatively speaking), finishing in the bottom half of the MSNCT field the last two years.
AFAIK, I'll concur your team will be the first IS to play MSNCT, unless I've overlooked one.
Anyway, here's the closest thing to what you're looking for; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

Best of luck, and be sure to say 'hi' when you come to Chicago!

[quiz4life]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks very much for the detailed and helpful response. Your idea of using the podcasts is great. I will certainly do that. Right now to give my MS team a challenge I have them playing my HS team. Actually just this weekend two of my MS teams played in a HS tournament, that we hosted which used the "A" set. Both schools, a total of 9 teams were new to quiz. My HS team is just underclassmen, where as the other school was almost exclusively upperclassmen. It was a fun and challenging day for my MS and HS players. FYI-that was the first NAQT tournament in Korea.

I asked about a ranking just to help me answer my question, who are the better teams. This will allow me to see how high the PPB is for the better teams. In March I will be hosting the first MS NAQT tournament in Asia, so that along with the results from this past Saturday's tournament will help give me a better idea of where we will finish at MSNCT. Trust me I am under no illusion that we will be among the top even 50 teams.

In addition showing the kids what the better teams do will have them study more in preparation to compete. I will say my kids are a very competitive bunch.

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you in Chicago!

[the return of AHAN]

Having that competitive spirit is important in taking that next step. All it takes is one or two kids that are truly driven and the next thing you know, you'll have a contender.
Don't get too hung up on PPB when comparing teams in NAQT format (or any format where bonuses don't rebound). Over the past couple of years, my team nearly always has the best PPB at any given tournament, but we've finished no higher than 3rd place at any tourney in the past two years since really good teams can 20+ on bonuses AND beat you on the toss-ups. The extra 2 or 3 PPB is meaningless when your opponent controls 12 of 20 bonuses. Exhibit B? Last year's MSNCT champion, Shiva Oswal (yes, he solo'd and won) went 21.39 PPB, ranking 21st.

[quiz4life]

I agree PPB is not the deciding factor but just one of a few factors.

I am looking forward to having my team participating at an MSNCT. I have taken my teams from Shanghai American and Singapore American plus the Community School of Naples (FL) to HSNCT and PACE-NSC but MSNCT will be something different. Actually my Shanghai team was the first international school to attend an HSNCT that was back in 2005.

Shiva Oswal was he the "Pi-oneers" team? And wow finishing first as a one person team is so impressive!

Good luck at MSNCT!

[iarehavethestupid]

Mr. Price beat me to it, but yes, the ranking he posted (which I am a part of) may be of some use to you. Our second edition will probably be coming sometime in early March, so stay tuned for that.

More info can be found here: http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=22252

[quiz4life]

Hi Ethan,

Thank you for your reply and for the work you and others have done to help develop this MS ranking.

[iarehavethestupid]

Hi Ethan,

Thank you for your reply and for the work you and others have done to help develop this MS ranking.

No problem. Me and some other MSers were inspired by the HS Groger Ranks and thought we'd give it a crack.

We like to be able to post HS statistics as well, so if you have any stats with a MS team playing a HS set,(like what you said about your team playing an A set) feel free to send them to us as [email protected]

[quiz4life]

Hi Ethan,

At your suggestion I sent the stats.

Thanks,