

This is my personal top 25 ranking. This isn't endorsed by any organization or anyone else, and is barely endorsed by me. I do not mean to slight anyone by my rankings and, if they cause any offense, I apologize in advance for that. That's the last thing I want to do with this process. At some point, though, I do need to stick someone next to some number.
What I did in preparation for this was review the statistics for the 2010 HSNCT and NSC. I did look at the end of the year tournaments ran on SCT D2, mainly because my attention was called to a particular performance at the Mid-Atlantic one. I also looked at the Midwest & Texas ones as well but, unless I missed something (not that big of a gamble!), didn't see anything that would change other teams in my rankings.
Due to that methodology, there's quite a few flaws that will effect these ratings. Just to rattle off a few...
1) Players not attending HSNCT or NSC
2) Flawed information regarding players who are returning
3) Shadow effects
4) No idea about summer improvement
5) Not taking recent stats into consideration
There's probably a million more issues. My inability to see a number of the teams play would be another big one...
Anyway, before I start talking about teams, I would like to say that I don't think that finishing high at tournaments is the only thing about quiz bowl that matters. In fact, I think that's one of the lesser reasons to do it. I am, by every single standard possible and several that have yet to be discovered, an awful player. The reason quiz bowl is great is because it encourages familiarity with cultural knowledge in such a spectrum of fields that no other activity does. Regardless of if your team has a ppb of 8 or 25, I do believe quiz bowl is an activity with a terrific payoff for players.
I'd like to highlight a couple of teams that came close to getting in, but I couldn't fit in (or else terribly underrated them):
Copley (OH) - had a strong 32nd place finish at NSC
LASA B (TX) - I expect they'll easily be the best B team in the nation, filling the time honored tradition held by B teams of the past like Dorman & Thomas Jefferson
Rancho Bernardo (CA) - Made the playoffs at HSNCT with a 3 person team. I believe Lucas was tied for the sixth most powers for an individual.
Adair County (KY) - I imagine quite a number of people will think about their (tied for) seventh place finish at HSNCT. But this is a solid team and everyone's back from last year's squad.
Lisgar (Ontario) - I'm surprised they didn't get a single vote in the preseason poll. Might be the best team to have that happen this year, though I did not research that line at all.