NY Discussion 2011-12

[Nun's puffs]

Because why not?
White Plains returns four of the five members of its A team from Hills West, and two of them (Adam and Aneesh) will have been on the A team for 3 years running. There is no reason why they shouldn't be one of the top teams in the nation ( doesn't count as a valid reason). Ardsley returns its #1 player, and assuming Ryan manages to get the team outside of Westchester more often, they should do pretty well. Horace Greeley returns only one A team member, so presumably they have to rebuild a bit. As for Long Island schools, Great Neck South should remain pretty strong, Hills West brings back its captain, and I think Kellenberg can manage to lose Nik without too much pain. Oh yeah, there's also some school in NYC called Hunter that people keep talking about for some reason.

[The Predictable Consequences]

Let's see what I can contribute about Westchester schools.

White Plains does return everyone except Alec, although he was their #2 scorer and by far their best lit player. The biggest problem I see with White Plains is their lack of topic diversity. Adam, Aneesh, and Eric are all very good players in their own right, but all are much stronger in history than really any other subject. That's why I think the loss of Alec will hit them hard--without him, I predict they'll struggle to get non-history tossups against other good teams. Jens becoming a full-time A team member will help them with this, but I really think they need some work if they are to become a national contender.
As for other teams, Greeley lost everyone but Kamil, so while they won't be awful, they should not be anywhere near as good as they were two years ago. Irvington was a very deep team this year; both their A and B teams had strong seasons, including very good finishes at the NHBB. I don't know who in particular they return, but they should be strong. Hastings played impressively this year with an all-junior team, showing real knowledge in lit and history; they could do very well if they go to tournaments. Edgemont needs to find a new advisor, but they have a history of going to LI for tournaments and have a strong team every year, and I belive Scarsdale returns the top scorers from their A and B teams.
We return three of the four people (and almost all of the points) who went to Chatham last year, and have a couple of strong players who were unable to go. Assuming we practice and go to tournaments, I wouldn't be surprised to see us get a lot better as the year goes on. Our team seems to be particularly science-heavy, but there's a desire for improvement there and real potential.

Oh and Hunter should be ok.

[WSchneider]

I think Kellenberg can manage to lose Nik without too much pain.

I have to entirely disagree with you. Kellenberg has relied on Nik for basically the last 5 years. They also lose John (IIRC), and that really just leaves them with B team powerhouse Joe, who is a very good player in his own right, but I just don't see enough points coming from the rest of the team to make up for Nik and John. I would not say that they would be a weak team next year by any means; Brother Nigel is a wonderful coach who knows how to get his kids to get stuff done, but I can't say they'll be the same team that got in the top 5 at 6 of the 7 NAQT events they attended (just the most available stats, I know for a fact there's more).

As for the island... I keep hearing rumors that Ward Melville is coming back, but nobody ever backs those up... I'd love to see them playing again, they're always a regional force.

North Babylon will be losing its 2 top scorers Peter and Kevin, which will almost certainly nerf them a considerable amount. This year in particular they had less and less B team action, so it remains to be seen who's going to fill in those holes.

Great Neck South has my vote for the best team on Long Island. Both GNS A and B are formidable teams, bringing back (as far as I know) the majority of their players. I'm certain GNS B was all underclassmen, and they will definitely be strong next year.

Kings Park (IMHO) has a lot of potential, but a lot of rebuilding to do. They lose 3/4 of their A team including their top scorer (erm, hi), and their primary science and literature buffs... Without compromising my own former team, I can comfortably say that there are strong players coming together for next year that have an amazing potential to perform next year

Hills West is rebuilding too, but they at least get to keep George (captain and top scorer). They also have a significant-but-lesser amount of strength out of presumable A team candidates Caitlyn, Alex, Abigail, and Arthur (In no particular order). I wouldn't put them ahead of Great Neck South, but they will be right up there once they get together...

---------
A few teams I want to see more of:
--Great Neck North: A team who came to our tournament as their first academic event ever, and handed a nice loss to Great Neck South.
--Valley Stream South: A team who is a "stereotypical Long Island team" who only goes to LIFT and HHHW, but they have a history of significant performance and it would be nice to see them travel a bit.
--St Anthonys: Should be called "Kings Park~ish" because their A team composition is almost universally KP residents, and they have a knowledge base that is deep, diverse, and matching the quizbowl arcana; they just need to practice properly and they can be good
--Northport: Still paying off the debt it cost them to get their buzzer system (BS), they make less and less appearances at local tournaments... They were this past year, by all means, a quizbowl team (despite playing shit quizbowl), and if they can get some money it would be nice to see them back on the circuit.

[Nun's puffs]

Some Challenge digging reveals that Hills East's entire A team was juniors this year. Now if only they did actual quiz bowl...

[o'b]

While I have to agree that Kellenberg will be taking a step back next year, I would never write Joe off as merely a B-team powerhouse. Although he negs more than any person I can remember being in the club, he is still a strong history buff who dabbles in some literature. The reason this was not reflected in his PPG this year was because he was normally placed on a team where those two areas were already covered. On a similar note, this is the same young man who was nearly ranked as one of the top Freshmen at HSNCT when he was still in seventh grade. So, while this will be a rebuilding year for Kellenberg, they will by no means be the weakest team in any tournament bracket.

Also, best of luck to Hunter, who will rank, undisputedly, as the best team in New York (possibly even this side of the Mississippi?) in this upcoming season.

[Nun's puffs]

I keep hearing rumors that Ward Melville is coming back, but nobody ever backs those up... I'd love to see them playing again, they're always a regional force.

I can confirm that there are plans to coach a Ward Melville team at SBU. They're currently planning to go to LIFT and possibly the Hunter FNT.

[The Infanta]

I would like to point out that although losing Nik will definitely be a setback for Kellenberg, it wasn't as though he was a one man team for the past 5 years as someone here previously implied. He was the lead scorer on more balanced teams from '06 til about '10, and even in Nik's last year, John contributed a significant amount of points to Kellenberg A's score. As for Kellenberg's future, Joe can outgrow his negging (as Nik did) and he's shown intitiative in improving. I'm not sure how they're doing with regards to recruitment, but I'm optimistic.

[ProfessorIanDuncan]

Any thoughts as we reach the middle of the season? Have certain teams disappointed? Have certain teams done better than expected?

[felix]

Stuyvesant seems to have done fairly well, considering both their recent Hills West results as well as their History Bowl win in the fall. Kellenberg has held up nicely; they could easily return to being one of the best teams in New York next year. Great Neck North has some underclassmen that could excel once they start playing more NAQT.

Other than that, I don't think there have been any major surprises or disappointments. It looks to me like most teams matched their expectations going into the season.

Another thing to note: I don't know much about Westchester, but it does seem like that region has generally been stronger than Long Island this year, which makes sense considering the group of seniors that graduated from Long Island schools in 2011.

[ProfessorIanDuncan]

I don't know much about Westchester, but it does seem like that region has generally been stronger than Long Island this year, which makes sense considering the group of seniors that graduated from Long Island schools in 2011.

The good Westchester performances are based on a few key players and most of the notable players from Westchester are seniors (Ryan, Adam, Sam, Kamil, Evan, Andrew). For example White Plains A Ardsley A and possibly Scarsdale A at HHHWHSIXVIII (Half Hollow Hills) were entirely compised of seniors.

Kellenberg has held up nicely; they could easily return to being one of the best teams in New York next year

I agree Kellenberg definitely has a very strong "JV" team with its top scorer, Joe, being a freshman and second top scorer, Mark, being a sophomore.

It looks to me like most teams matched their expectations going into the season.

Ardsley has been a pleasant surprise, but maybe that 's just me being in denial about how good Ryan really is.


As for Great Neck South, I think you guys are having a wonderful season and I wish you the best of luck.

[Scaled Flowerpiercer]

I don't know much about Westchester, but it does seem like that region has generally been stronger than Long Island this year, which makes sense considering the group of seniors that graduated from Long Island schools in 2011.

The good Westchester performances are based on a few key players and most of the notable players from Westchester are seniors (Ryan, Adam, Sam, Kamil, Evan, Andrew). For example White Plains A Ardsley A and possibly Scarsdale A at HHHWHSIXVIII (Half Hollow Hills) were entirely compised of seniors.

For an assessment of Westchester that would be a bit more meaningful for someone who "doesn't know much about Westchester"

The top teams in Westchester are, fairly evidently, White Plains, Scarsdale, Ardsley, Irvington, Horace Greeley and Hastings.
Hastings has, to my knowledge, not competed in a pyramidal quizbowl tournament ever.

The statement that "[Westchester] has generally been stronger than Long Island this year" seems pretty much true, in the two tournaments where both Westchester and LI teams were in attendance (Half Hollow Hills and LIFT), the only LI team which outperformed an A team from Westchester was GNS A; At HHH, the tournament outside of Westchester that the most teams travelled to so far this year, Ardsley got 5th or 6th place, White Plains got 3rd or 4th, and Irvington, Scarsdale, and Horace Greeley were tied for 9th, with prelim finishes of 11th, 13th, and 14th, respectively.

As for the future of Westchester, White Plains A, headed by Adam Jaffe, is 100% seniors this year, though their B team is showing some promise and may be able to continue to be impressive next year. To my knowledge, all of Scarsdale A is also seniors, I know for certain that at least their top scorers Andrew and Evan are. Ardsley's A team, headed by Ryan Rosenberg, though with significant help from the rest of the team, is also all seniors. Hastings I really don't know about. Horace Greeley's captain/high scorer is a senior, Kamil, though a sophomore team member, Max Smiley may be very good in the coming years. As for Irvington, I, Sam, am the teams top scorer, though next year the team may be able to remain strong with Alec, Aidan (who powers every non-sports trash question and every dinosaur question), Jesse (who is our Lit player despite not yet attending a pyramidal tournament), and whoever else steps up to the A-team plate next year.

So, there is my assessment of Westchester, and as for a rudimentary attempt at ranking within Westchester, I would say all teams are rather close in ability when playing at full strength, but Ardsley and White Plains seem to be consistently a little bit better than the rest of Westchester.

[ProfessorIanDuncan]

though their B team is showing some promise and may be able to continue to be impressive next year.

Their B team is all seniors also, to my knowledge at least, so their C team will likely become their A team. However, if the B team shows anything it is that White Plains can put in inexperienced seniors and have succeed with them.

Hastings I really don't know about.

I believe Hastings is all seniors also but it doesnt really matter to anyone outside Westchester unless they play in the NAC as they only play bowl.

All in all. I predict that in future years, next year and the year after, the teams to beat will be Horace Greeley and Scarsdale because their younger players show real promise.

If you want to look at how some of the lower skilled schools of Westchester do see Woodlands when HHH results come out.