Southern California 2023-24 Discussion

[Yaj]

With the new season of Southern California high school quizbowl about to begin next month at Bronco Bowl V and plenty of interest shown in renewing the annual analysis thread, I’m here to start us off with some predictions for the state of our circuit next year.

SoCal is looking much stronger this year, with younger talent having cropped up and many programs that had been dormant or dying having been revitalized. Though some teams will struggle due to the graduation of their talented seniors, it seems that as a whole more teams spent last season rebuilding and will begin to look ahead for more ambitious goals by the end of the season. I was pleasantly surprised by the four teams that made it to the playoffs of the 2023 HSNCT, and hope that we can exceed this in 2024. And who knows? Maybe this year we can have more than one team show up to the NSC.

Del Norte: Coming off a strong T-13 finish at both HSNCT and IPNCT, as well as a 2nd place NASAT run for Team California on top of that, Conner Feng (12) has nothing to prove to the rest of the circuit. His solid generalism and dominance in history, current events, and geography have recently been outdone by his rapid improvement in literature and fine arts. Frankly it is kind of outrageous how little he gets talked about on the national high school quizbowl scene, but he is definitely one of the best players in the country right now. His teammate Jack Bruvold (12) is also a good player all-around and provided many useful buzzes during their HSNCT run. They also inherit the bulk of Oak Valley’s T-13-finishing team, with Jacob Wu (9) and Dylan Zhang (9) probably taking the two final spots on Del Norte A’s roster. The former Oak Valley players will definitely need to work on scaling a bit better though, given their struggles on DART at DNE VI and their severe drop-off in PPB and P/G in the playoffs of MSNCT. Despite that, all of this is much, much more than Del Norte had last season and I would not be surprised at all if they made it to the evening playoff rounds at HSNCT this year. Their strength being mostly in history, science, and modern world may became an issue for them should they choose to compete at PACE NSC, though, where they would have to improve their fine arts and RMPSS coverage.

Canyon Crest A: I feel optimistic about our team composition this year. Though HSNCT and the NSC didn’t exactly go as we had hoped last year, we will probably retain the exact same lineup and have another shot at success. I, Yaj Jhajhria (12), will likely be our lead scorer at most tournaments and provide most of the coverage in history, modern world, RMPSS, as well as some parts of fine arts and science. Claire Wang (11) is a decent generalist but particularly takes care of literature and fine arts for us, while Alex Xu (12) is excellent at science and wherever else the curious wanderings of his mind may have taken him. I would say right now that our greatest weaknesses are certain 1/1 subcategories that we have embarrassingly little knowledge in (ancient history, auditory fine arts, world mythology). Given that our team is made up of three seniors and one probably busy junior, I doubt we will improve much or try to fix these issues until at least after college applications are over. Still, we’ve had decent results in the past and I think together our team has very strong depth and coverage in most of the distribution, especially at high school regular difficulty.

Olympian: Olympian’s rise to the top of SoCal quizbowl was a bit of a surprise last season, but their program’s insane dedication and grassroots growth has brought them so far, as evidenced by their clobbering of Westview in a recent scrim and excellent results at the Wolfpack Invitational. Martin Auriel Costa (12) and Dylan Rafael Yamzon (12) make a strong core duo for the team, with the former taking up fine arts and history while the latter does science and recently literature. They have a strong arsenal of younger players to choose from, and I honestly don’t know who they would put on their A team, but many of them have good enough specializations in fine arts, RMPSS, and modern world that as a team, they are probably a step above the rest when playing full. The issues they may need to fix are their comparatively weak depth in history and generally low bonus conversion. At the rate this team is improving though, they are in shape to go for a deep nationals run by the end of the season.

Santa Monica: Ever the enigma among SoCal quizbowl teams, Santa Monica emerged from the shadows to finish T-65 at HSNCT last year. Del O’Dea (12), Naomi Gage (11), Eames Weeks (11), and Govind Raman (10) all return this year, so I assume they should be pretty strong this season. If they go through with their Strake Jesuit merger, they will be particularly formidable…

Francis Parker: Though they never put up the highest power counts or PPB stats, Francis Parker is one of those teams that just gets the job done with consistency and a deep roster. I saw them win PPT VI off simply being able to convert more tossups and having better stamina than their opponents, and even though they lose one of their top players, I see nothing standing in their way from doing it again this year. The graduating Nina Mohanty once covered history for them, but they already had so many players backing her up in that category that I don’t see it being very difficult for them to patch that up fairly quickly if they are committed. Jonas Brown (11) improved significantly during his sophomore year, finishing high at IPNCT and leading his team in scoring at HSNCT. The same can potentially be said about Abhi Manda (11), Grant Cardosa (12), and Mark Blair (10). I will admit that I know very little about their category coverage, but their deep bench is what makes them strong enough that if any other team gets complacent or has a bad packet against them, they will likely capitalize on it.

Westview: Westview is probably the team on this list that suffered the most from the graduation of their seniors. Richard Lin was the integral piece of their machine last season, and losing them means they will need to start over their coverage of history and science ground-up. Fortunately, it seems like their team is willing to put in the effort to do so. Adarsh Venkateswaran (12) and Rahul Jogadhenu (12) already did most of the literature for last season, and Rahul appears to be branching out into fine arts and RMPSS. They bring in Parsa Pourghasem (12) as a science specialist, who will probably bring some solid cloud chamber knowledge along with information about weird Margaret Atwood novels. Anvit Watwani (11) is probably finally done with playing JV tournaments and will supplement their strength overall. If they successfully manage to split up history among all of their players and collectively focus on rebuilding quickly, this senior-heavy team can probably make one last shot at nationals.

Rancho Bernardo: I don’t know how much RB intends to focus on quizbowl this year, since the only returning members from their HSNCT team are Bolun Thompson (12) and Andrew Nucci (12), who will probably be doing senior things until the spring. But Bolun was already a very good history player, and perhaps the large TD team for Bronco Bowl V is indicative of increased interest among newer members to focus up and study quizbowl. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a while to see their debut performance this year since they are hosting the season opener, but there’s a lot of promise in their program and it’d be sad to see it go.

Canyon Crest B: Reeling from HSNCT last year, I’ve seen our B team members get more involved in quizbowl studying and try to come back again next year. Ishank Kadadi (10) has undoubtedly been the clearest manifestation of this, having gone from <1 PPG at PACE NSC to possibly CCA’s strongest literature player in less than two months. It is honestly astonishing to see him get ridiculously early buzzes in practice. In my opinion, he is going to be the best sophomore in SoCal and will perhaps lead this team in scoring. Shail Bhatmuley (11) showed his ability to scale well at HSNCT last year and is very good at modern world and history, while Lorenzo Lesmes (11) does the same. Austin Xu (11) will likely round out the roster with science coverage. This team has good big three coverage but will likely need to do some improvement in fine arts and RMPSS before they can become a top team in the region.

There’s a couple other teams whose rosters I am very unfamiliar with but should also be on the radar for varsity tournaments. La Jolla’s Sidarth Erat (11) was a strong player, especially in history and science, but probably needs to either branch out more or get more support from his teammates before they can make it to HSNCT playoffs. His teammates David Abell (11) and Zac Schmidt (11) did pretty well without him at SoCal States though, so this may already be in the works. Del Norte B, with the remaining former Oak Valley players and other members of their club, have a lot of potential. Carlsbad and Irvine both showed up last year and made decent improvements throughout the season. Conrad Hansen (12) will be a talented player for Poway as they hopefully begin to show up to more tournaments.

These are my thoughts on most of the teams I expect to reliably attend varsity tournaments and potentially attend nationals. As always, feel free to reach out if you would like me to fix anything in this post. Thanks to everyone who are coming back to participate in and help run another great season of quizbowl in Southern California, and I hope to see many of you on September 23 in Rancho Bernardo!

[theripeplum]

With the school year slowly starting and the season slowly coming alive, it seemed like as good a time as any to write one of these SoCal analysis forum posts. This analysis will be split up into “S-Tier” (teams that will almost certainly make a deep playoff run and I believe have the best chance of somehow winning nationals), “A-Tier” (teams I believe can make a deep nats playoffs run), "B-Tier" (teams that can make playoffs with some effort and a bit of luck), "C-Tier" (teams that played relatively few tournaments last season but have potential), and “Other Teams” (teams I know little to nothing about and that won't get full analysis). The teams are ordered by how I believe they rank within their tier.

By no means do I mean any offense to people by where I place them. I simply believe that this is how the QB teams in SoCal rank in terms of skill, and these rankings are very likely to change as the season progresses on. Please let me know if any of the player lineups I've written are incorrect and I'll adjust this post accordingly!

S-Tier Teams

Kinkaid: Cole Hartung (12), Ali Hamzeh (11), ???

Need I say more?

Del Norte A: Conner Feng (12), Jack Bruvold (12), Vinay Rajagopalan (12), Alex Tan (12), Anay Sabhnani (11)

I believe I'm justified in predicting that Del Norte A will be the top team this season. Conner Feng remains one of the top players in the circuit. His generalism is second to none in SoCal, having finished T-13 at last year’s IPNCT and having led Del Norte to a T-13 finish at HSNCT. The loss of Kinish and Madhumita may leave them a tiny bit less well off in history and literature, but usually Conner’s generalism (which likely has improved over the summer due to the threat of Yaj Jhajhria) is enough to ensure Del Norte A’s success at tournaments. His other teammates provide steady support, with Jack Bruvold proving during SCUBA and Triton Winter X that he himself is a formidable player in his own right. Vinay, Alex, and Anay also manage to get the occasional buzz and their help on bonuses is invaluable to Del Norte (as attested to by Conner at HSNCT last year).

Canyon Crest A: Yaj Jhajhria (12), Claire Wang (11), Andrew Tsui (12), Alex Xu (12)

I have no doubt that Canyon Crest will be a top contender this season. They retain Yaj and Claire, their two top scorers at HSNCT last year, with Yaj grinding Anki for hours on end and spending an insane amount of time to get better at quiz bowl. Yaj is definitely one of the best players in the circuit, proving his skills at the 2023 PACE NSC. Yaj will likely be responsible for covering history, geography, and religion while Claire will keep a hold on lit and fine arts. The loss of Chris Jung may leave them a bit worse off in science, but I know that Alex Xu and his deep science knowledge (particularly in chemistry) will work wonders in CCA’s favor. Andrew Tsui’s VFA and Biology knowledge will also help to cover anything that Claire and Alex might lack in. This full A-team lineup seems poised to dominate Bronco Bowl this year, and I'm excited to see how well they'll perform throughout the course of the season!

A-Tier Teams

Olympian: Martin Auriel Costa (12), Dylan Rafael Yamzon (12), Dantae Garcia (11), Iris Elmido (10) or Arjay Graslie (10)

With Olympian retaining Martin and Dylan, they have the best chance out of all the other SoCal teams of joining CCA and Del Norte in the S-Tier. Martin and Dylan were able to win two back-to-back overtimes against RB and Del Norte at PPT VI. Their improvement throughout the course of last year was remarkable. Last year I was doubtful of their ability to scale, but they put up insane numbers at ReKT, with Dylan and Martin getting highest and third highest PPG respectively on the Scottie, a notoriously difficult regs+ set. Martin, who has apparently made massive strides while studying history, seems to be one of the best fine arts players in SoCal (save perhaps for Claire Wang). Dylan, whose science knowledge likely makes him the best sci-main this season, has also become a well rounded generalist with a particular emphasis in literature, as he proved at the Wolfpack Summer Invitational, where he led the field in both lit and sci. Having played QUADRUPLET with him, I can attest that he has some insane lit knowledge, powering on some DUOS clues I had never heard of before, and easily has a case for best lit main in SoCal. Dantae Garcia gives them great backup coverage on history as well. While I don't know much about Arjay or Iris, I've heard that Iris has improved tremendously in RMPSS, holding her own on a two-dot set scrimmage, and has developed some FA knowledge to complement Martin. Arjay, on the other hand, was the leading scorer on Olympian B at ReKT last year, but struggled to scale to regs+ at States. However, both of them have likely improved and are equally worthy of taking up Olympian's fourth spot. The biggest obstacle I see this team having to overcome is their lower PPB that makes it harder for them to accrue a lead. If they can improve their PPB, they stand to be a serious threat. However, I'll have to wait until I see how they fare against the likes of Del Norte and CCA before they can be placed in S-Tier.

Santa Monica: Delaney O’Dea (12), Naomi Gage (11), Govind Raman (10), Eames Weeks (11)

Santa Monica came to NONE of the SoCal tournaments last year ( ), meaning that I never got to witness their play style and that I can't comment on which categories each player specializes in. However, their T-65 finish at HSNCT shows that they are a very capable team. Delaney O’Dea has been a formidable varsity player since 2020, playing a key role in the Santa Monica B team that would consistently place high during the online tournaments. Naomi Gage showed during the 2021-2022 season that she was a very capable player when it came to the novice canon and has clearly put in work to become familiar with the regs canon, having come 6/21/14 at HSNCT. Govind Raman has also proven to be an impressive player, going 5/18/2 at HSNCT. Eames Weeks made his quiz bowl debut at HSNCT and he performed very well all things considered, going 1/16/1. I wish I could say something other than "they had great statlines at HSNCT," but I just don't know the team well enough. However, the fact that they’re keeping this HSNCT lineup leads me to keep them in A-tier and above other schools who've historically fielded great teams but whose rosters have drastically changed due to graduating seniors.

B-Tier Teams

Francis Parker: Jonas Brown (11), Grant Cardosa (12), Jason Ohta (11), Abhi Manda (11)

Francis Parker's performance at PPT last year was remarkable, but the loss of Nina Mohanty will surely leave a gap in their history coverage that will need to be filled. Jonas Brown seems to have stepped up to become a well rounded science-based generalist, proving his abilities at IPNCT last year, and the other members of FP A seem to have worked hard in order to give Jonas stable support. DNE last year showed that Francis Parker had an issue with scaling, but they seemed to step it up at HSNCT, where Abhi Manda and Grant Cardosa were able to provide decent support, with Abhi nearly matching Nina's PPG. I believe the players of Francis Parker have tremendous potential and likely have only improved over the summer. Additionally, most of their roster are juniors, meaning they will have plenty of time to continue improving and potentially dominate the circuit next season.

Westview: Rahul Jogadhenu (12), Adarsh Venkateswaran (12), Parsa Pourghassem (12), Anvit Watwani (11), Vasu Kashipara (12)?

I think the losses of last year’s seniors will hurt this team a lot. The absence of Richard Lin and Pramod Shastry will expose some massive gaps in their history and sci coverage. Richard Lin was an insane generalist who knew biology like the back of his hand, and Pramod’s in-depth history and geography knowledge was generally able to secure the win for Westview (their performance at Triton Winter X last year was remarkable). Those two were also responsible for Westview’s insane PPB. However, I do know that the rest of Westview is dedicated to improving. Rahul has made strides to improve in VFA, and Adarsh has shown that his lit knowledge is forever growing. Anvit proved that he was capable of playing regs last year, but his ability to scale was questionable, putting up 12 ppg on DART. He has supposedly been carding geography and Rahul has told me that Anvit will be a massive asset on NAQT sets, but we'll have to see whether that changes anything during the course of the season. Vasu Kashipara showed that he has decent generalist knowledge at ReKT last year and might have inherited the job of covering history, but his lack of powers makes me question his depth of knowledge. Parsa put up decent numbers at Triton Winter and looks to be Westview's new science main with a great base of physics knowledge and a willingness to card for his weaknesses. With what Rahul’s told me about how Westview is focused on improving, I believe that they stand a chance to remain competitive.

Rancho Bernardo: Andrew Nucci (12), Bolun Thompson (12), Bokei Thompson (12), Aarya Baheti (10) or Haley Nguyen (12)

(Warning: this paragraph is the longest, and my placement of RB could be a reflection of my own personal biases. I’m an alumnus of RB, go figure) Rancho Bernardo A will definitely feel the loss of Adam Smith and Jackson Rudolph. Adam's generalist knowledge accounted for the majority of our powers, with his specialization in science proving particularly useful both to RB and to the California NASAT team. Jackson, on the other hand, and his scarily deep history knowledge gave us great coverage in that category and (in conjunction with Bolun's knowledge) helped us to lead the field in terms of history PPB. However, I do have faith that Rancho Bernardo can continue to be a competitive SoCal team. Bolun, likely the team's tom scorer, remains a great history and geography player who was able to carry us on both fronts at HSNCT. Bolun also has decent science knowledge which he was able to show off at SCUBA. Having taken classes with Andrew, I can attest that he too has very fair science knowledge which he never really got to display due to being on the same team as Adam. However, because of that he ended up carding AFA, and thus may retain some decent AFA knowledge. Unfortunately, much like last year, literature will likely be the Achilles’ Heel of this team. Bokei told me she would study literature and seems to have a decent grasp on the subject according to Rahul, who modded a few of her games at ReKT. Of course, that was on SCOP Novice, and I question how well she’ll scale to regs and above. The last member of the team could be between Aarya Baheti and Haley Nguyen (or both). According to Bolun, Aarya specializes in history, which could prove useful in covering holes that Bolun might have. She proved that she was able to scale up to regs reasonably well at SoCal States, although her PPG may have been inflated due to the lower level of competition in the Standard division of SoCal States (her lack of powers supports this theory). Of course, the overlap between her and Bolun might do more harm than good. Aarya is also scarily good at trash, making fun of us for bageling bonuses about football and Taylor Swift, and she has some pockets of Myth and Religion. I have also made a bet with Aarya, where if she manages to get a 100+ ppg at a tournament (across the whole duration of the tournament, no subbing, at least 8 games played), I will pay her $100, which could very well motivate her to study. Haley told me she would study Fine Arts and RMPSS, but I’ve yet to see her put up higher than 20 ppg on a novice set. However, she told me she would grind during the summer, so I guess only time will tell. My other concern would be with how everyone scales, especially since only Bolun and Andrew have been exposed to sets harder than regs. However, with such coverage and assuming a reasonable level of knowledge in each player, I see no reason why RB A can’t be a competitive team this year.

(P.S. you all should definitely sign up for Bronco Bowl V! They've been working hard to make this tournament happen and I heard a rumor that they'll be selling ice cream sooooo :) )

Del Norte B: Jacob Wu (9), Dylan Zhang (9), Nikhil Maturi (9), Kasra Kermani (9)

I’m not entirely sure whether Del Norte plans to have this be their official B-team lineup or whether they plan to put some of these players on their A-team. However, assuming that Del Norte B is the 2022-2023 Oak Valley A team, they have a lot of potential to be a powerhouse. It goes without saying that this team is already very good at quiz bowl, having come T-13 at MSNCT last year. During DNE last year, they were able to beat La Jolla and come to a 50 points loss against Westview during the prelims and get a 15 point loss against La Jolla in the consols bracket. Category stats show that Jacob provides great lit and fine arts coverage, coming third and fourth respectively across the tournament, and that Dylan provides great sci coverage, coming fourth. Kasra also provided decent backup in terms of history points. However, against stiffer competition like that of SUNSET, they faltered and didn't perform as well. Of course, that was one of their first tournaments against high level competition. These players are still phenomenal, and are certainly good enough to warrant being on Del Norte A, but if they remain as a squad, I’m sure they’ll be able to acclimate to the high school circuit and perform phenomenally.

Canyon Crest B: Shail Bhatmuley (11), Lorenzo Lesmes (11), Ishank Kadadi (10), ???

Canyon Crest was the only SoCal school to send a B-team to nationals last year. I’m not sure if CCA plans on constantly fielding a B-team in the varsity divisions this season, but I figured I would write about them either way. This very team trailed behind the other A-teams at SoCal States last year in terms of P/G and PPB, but they seem to be making up ground very quickly. Shail and Lorenzo have proven to be a formidable duo, leading their team to sweep the JV field at DNE last year. Lorenzo showed that he has broad generalism knowledge at the novice level, having solo’d SCOP Novice in the JV division of ReKT last year. However, there’s apparently a lot of overlap between Shail and Lorenzo which I’ve heard they’ve been aiming to fix. Having modded for a CCA scrim, I can attest that Ishank is becoming a monster at lit, powering against the likes of Shreyank Kadadi and Chris Jung. If Shail and Lorenzo have been grinding as hard, I can see this team making it far. Canyon Crest has had a history of producing very able teams, and I believe the members of Canyon Crest B have the potential to become great, but I'll have to see how they perform before I move them into the A-tier.

La Jolla: Sidarth Erat (11), David Abell (11), Elena Grilli (11), Zac Schmidt (11)

La Jolla retains Sidarth Erat, a player who took some buzzes off of stiff competition at IPNCT last year. IPNCT showed that Sid has relatively good science and geography knowledge, having come ninth and eleventh in those categories respectively. David Abell has shown that he also has fair knowledge at ReKT and Triton Winter last year. David and Zac were able to put up decent numbers at SoCal States last year, albeit with a noticeable lack of powers. Unfortunately, my knowledge of La Jolla is fairly limited, but if they can find a way to complement the strengths of Sid, they'd shape up to be an intimidating A-tier team. Considering that this team is also composed of juniors, they have plenty of time to grind and become a powerful team.

C-Tier Teams

Carlsbad: Demetrios Dresios (11), Marianthe Dresios (11), Vassilios Dresios (11), Lily O’Neill (10)

Carlsbad made a surprise appearance at SoCal States last year after some recruiting from various NCAL teams. All things considered I think they performed rather well. Their biggest weaknesses are their power count and their PPB, an issue that, while inconsequential when going up against B-teams, might give them trouble as they advance to play the best of the best in SoCal. The four people listed above are the top four scorers from SoCal States. Considering that none of them are seniors and that SoCal QB is slowly growing back to its pre pandemic size, Carlsbad could easily end up being a viable SoCal team. This team ranks higher than other teams in the C tier as they're the only team in the tier that has played on regs (SoCal States was held on SSNCT-23).

Irvine: Catherine Li (10), Grace Dougherty (12), Alexis Tran (12), ???

Irvine popped back up at various tournaments last year for the first time since NEGFIVE in 2019. While Catherine Li does seem to be their primary point scorer, the rest of the team is still composed of upper classmen, meaning that this might have to be a rebuilding season for Irvine. Their roster has only ever played junior-varsity divisions so I question whether or not they’ll scale up to regs and above. The only knowledge I have of their abilities on varsity would be the one round against Rancho Bernardo B where they went 0/5/1 and 8 PPB after accidentally being read the Scottie. However, considering that Catherine is the captain and is still an underclassmen, I think that it’s certainly possible for Irvine to slowly build up a competitive team.

Arcadia: ???

Unfortunately, I don’t know much about Arcadia after the departure of Amogh and Ryan. I know that the few times they fielded an A-team to a varsity division last year, the roster was entirely seniors. I’ve also heard that their leadership had lost motivation. Thus, they may have to take this season to rebuild. However, if their player base can take the time to study, they certainly can become competitive. ReKT showed that they had a solid base of novices that they could use to rebuild. However, SUNSET showed that they have a ways to go before they can compete with tough competition at the high school level. Arcadia has had a long history of having very powerful A-teams, such as their 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2022 lineups, so I wouldn't count them out just yet. Unfortunately, I don’t see them being the dominant force they once were this season.

Poway: Conrad Hansen (12), ???

Poway made a surprise appearance at ReKT last season and managed to sweep the entire consols bracket. They’re led by Conrad Hansen, who is their primary point scorer and seems to have decent generalist knowledge at the novice level. I don’t know whether this team plans to play varsity and I question how well Poway will be able to scale to regs and above. However, I've heard through the grapevine that Conrad is interested in participating in quiz bowl more. Anything is possible, and Poway could certainly have a breakout performance this season.

Other Teams

There are other teams that I know virtually nothing about. Scripps Ranch showed up to a few tournaments last year, but aside from SRIRACHA, I never saw much of them other than in the occasional JV division. Viewpoint proved to be a solid team at PPT last year, but I don’t know where the team will go after the loss of Zach Gor. Sage Creek also showed up at States but would likely benefit from competing on a novice set to acclimate to quiz bowl. Other teams such as Our Lady of Peace, St. Margaret's Episcopal, and Mt. Everest I’ve only seen or played once and know nothing about.

Final Thoughts

The SoCal circuit seems to be waking up from its post-pandemic slump and the circuit seems to only be growing stronger overall. I hope that this forum post proves informative and I'm excited to see how these rankings change as the season progresses!

[htownmark]

If Cole and Ali transplant themselves from Texas to California, that is going to completely open up the Texas State Championships....

User was reminded to enable a signature. --Mgmt.