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Minnesota '07-'08

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:28 pm
by Canadajin
Discuss!!!

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:44 pm
by Mitu
I think next year should be another exciting year for MN QB. My thoughts on who'll be competitive next year:

Eden Prairie: They graduate Trevor and Gautam, who are obviously very strong, but they have strong B teamers who can definitely step up to the task. I think they'll be a force to be reckoned with next year.
Wayzata We graduate Rohan, but we have a decent B team and what I think is a strong core otherwise, so I think we'll be competitive next year as well.
Minnetonka Minnetonka graduates no one from their A team, and their 21st place finish at Nationals shows that they'll be very strong next year.

I think these will be the three strongest teams in the state next year. St. Thomas loses Tom, which is really a big hit to their team. Their B teamers might step it up, but I dont think they'll be nearly as strong. DeLasalle loses their top two, Hill-Murray loses Joe, CDH loses Sam and Mike. Thoughts? Comments?

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:51 pm
by Canadajin
Mitu, I very much agree with your assessment. I was surprised by Minnetonka's performance at nationals, but I am glad that they are returning next year to increase the amount of competition in the state. Wayzata will still be good.

We at Eden Prairie hope to improve next year, but we don't know if that is going to happen at this point because Gautam and Trevor were two key players; we shall see though.

I don't really know much about the other teams, except that James Behardus is graduating from St. Anthony. I really hope that some other teams will improve over the summer and return some strong teams next year.

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:07 pm
by Gautam
Someone should go on a mad QB practising schedule and just shock EVERYBODY at a tournament the next year. Man, that would be awesome.

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:35 pm
by Auks Ran Ova
I know that Chaska loses a bunch of seniors but their top scorer at nats (Sam) will be a junior, and they keep another member (Tyler) of their HSNCT team. If they (especially Sam) keep practicing they can definitely be solid.

Speaking of practice, you all should come to practices Tuesday nights at Andrew Hart's. I believe everyone who posts here is on the mailing list.

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 4:04 am
by theMoMA
In case Minnesota people haven't heard, I will be running summer quizbowl practices at my house from 7-9 on Tuesdays, starting on June 12.

If this interests you, email me at [email protected] to get on the mailing list if you haven't already done so. I'll send you more information via internets. As much as I'd love Leo Wolpert to know my home address, I'd prefer to release that information over email.

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:13 am
by First Chairman
Will there be pizza... and a pool??? :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Sorry... oh those days of summer practices for qb and Decathlon of yesteryear...

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:10 pm
by theMoMA
E.T. Chuck wrote:Will there be pizza... and a pool??? :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Sorry... oh those days of summer practices for qb and Decathlon of yesteryear...
BYOP. There will be refreshments and Guitar Hero though.

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:17 pm
by klwalton33
These are great assessments so far from everyone.

Eden Prairie -- yeah OK so I'm their coach, so I am biased. But we do bring back an entire B team and 1/2 the A team. Losing Gautam and Trevor is real tough as the two are as irreplaceable as QB players can be, but we have some very key players who will make an impact as A-Teamers. Igor, Anant, Colin, Sam, Manuel and Parry all have a lot of potential to grab A-Team spots next year. In fact, I think practically all of the above rotated onto the A-team at one point in time this year and did well. I think the same could be said for Jill, Kyle, and Gaurav as well, in fact.

Wayzata -- proved to be the 2nd deepest team this year and they have a LOT coming back, plus they seem to have a very active program. Bigger programs usually mean better programs based on competition during practice. I think Wayzata will be VERY good.

Minnetonka -- I didn't realize they have their whole A team back either... plus Alex will continue to be one of the better individuals in the State. So they will be a definite contender.

Chaska -- Bring back two good players and started to show a lot of confidence at the end of the year. Plus like Wayzata, it's a HUGE program so there's a big pool to pull from.

Orono -- I can't say for certain but I thought that Kevar (sp?) and Rob were juniors. If that is the case they will be extremely good... plus Larry has put together a great program there over the past two years. They went 5-5 at NCT which is real impressive. The program is getting bigger so I think they will continue to become a MN power.

Armstrong -- I think they have Noah back, plus it's a team that is always very formidable with a very good coach in Matt.

St. Thomas Academy -- sad to say but this will be a down year for the Cadets. They graduate their top three scorers... but Martha is back as is Jeff and I believe Eric... so they do have a good foundation, plus a HUGE contingency of 9th and 10th graders. So next year might be a rebuilding year but you can't expect STA to be out long.

St Anthony -- they are unquestionably the #1 team in Knowledge Bowl and despite losing James, they are the odds-on favorite for the state KB title again next year with all the sophomores coming back and their dedication to that format. They don't take part in a lot of QB tourneys other than the league so that might hurt their overall chances in QB, but they'll be one of the better teams yet again.

Hill-Murray -- I am not sure who is coming back and I believe they lose Joe, but this was the most unheralded team in MN this past year, and they should be very good again next year.

Cretin-Derham -- looks like they return at least 1-2 really good players so I would expect them to be near the top again.

Some of the other really good teams from the past year or two (DeLaSalle, St Paul Academy, Mounds Park) all appear to lose many key players, so it remains to be seen how they will be next year.

I've tried to formulate a lot of this based on the MQBA site on NAQT's page, but what they don't show is the grade for every individual, just underclassmen... I may end up missing a few teams that are stacked with juniors that would be very good. So this is all real unscientific, but perhaps a good look at some teams to watch out for next year. My apologies to all teams I may have missed....

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:26 am
by naturalistic phallacy
It will be very interesting to see how this coming year turns out, for a lot of great players graduated this year that formed the basis of some stellar Minnesota teams. But that will only make next year that much more exciting.

I have to got to say that Minnetonka has a great chance of being great in league play this year because they are keeping all of their A team, which gives them a great chance to develop as a unit even more. EP is going to be a different team sans Gautam and Trevor, but like Kirk said, there are some amazing players waiting in the wings to take over. Plus, they still have Michael, who, I have got to say, was one of the most under-recognized players in the league this year. That boy has talent. Wayzata, with all of its support and with some summer practices, has a great shot at becoming even stronger than they were last year, even without Rohan with the math and science knowledge. They have so many teams that it won't be too hard to come up with someone to fill the void. I trust Mitu's on that right now. In terms of QB, St. Anthony doesn't play that huge of a role, lucky for most of us, but who knows, maybe they'll participate in more tourneys this coming season. I feel horribly for STA for losing Tom Sullivan and two others, but they will never sink below good with Jamie at the helm; he's a great coach with a solid, devoted program. Still, it will be even less of a domination from them than last year, I think. Cretin, I can't wait to see their team next year. Even if they are losing Sam Caldis and co, their program made their mark on the QB scene that won't go away with them.

But, sadly, the only school I can speak about with real confidence in my predictive power is DeLaSalle. Again, I am biased here, being a graduate, now semi-quasi-coach, of the QB program, but De has a huge program. Granted, it's relatively new and inexperiences, but we had seven league teams in 06-07, and we hope to have more people involved in the coming years. Even though three members of A team are leaving (ouch), Eamonn is a great player, and we have a few really strong frosh/sophomores that are promising. We really can't speak much for the fluke that was this year, but we are going to try and grow stronger beyond the chance talent with more practice.

Edit:

At the request of one whom shall remain nameless, I must report that I possess more than Michael!bias towards EP. I think you all know what that means.

Thank you.
:lol:

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 11:53 am
by klwalton33
I didn't realize Eamonn was coming back -- he impressed me a lot this year.

Martin is a GREAT coach too, so I am very confident DLS will be a very good team this coming year and beyond!

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 1:24 pm
by klwalton33
Hey just as a heads-up to all the MN folks, we at EP are hoping to do the Pop Culture Tournament again this coming year. Last year we did it over President's Day weekend and might shoot for that again. For those of you that may have attended, what did you think? Is that a good weekend? Any other ideas for how to make it better?

Thanks,
KW

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:03 pm
by Mitu
I enjoyed the Pop Culture tournament and it would be cool if you guys ran it again. My only qualm was that a couple of the of the questions seemed like hoses (there was one I remember that seemed like a question on Longhorn and then suddenly turned), but there weren't too many of those.

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:28 am
by Gautam
Heh, I'll volunteer to help edit the questions this year...

Kirk: you should start a database soon, so you can work on them over the whole year! :-p

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:47 am
by Auks Ran Ova
I'll also be more than happy to help edit for EP pop culture next year.

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:41 am
by naturalistic phallacy
If you want a female opinion, I'll be glad to help. And I promise I won't divulge questions regardless of how well people bribe me, Kirk. :lol:

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:42 pm
by klwalton33
Yes!! That is the kind of integrity we need! :lol:

Actually, I suppose it's never too early to get a jump on question writing, like Gautam said. I sure as heck would appreciate the help this coming year, it got really tough last year! (plus, we also fell into the tournament having 70% of the questions being "stuff that Kirk knows or cares about" and try as I may, I probably missed out on a bunch of stuff that would be enjoyable for those who would actually compete in the tourney).

If any grad is interested in writing questions (Bernie, Gautam, Trevor, Rob, Andrew, etc.) perhaps we could connect over e-mail and get a jump on things?? That'd be very cool.

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:50 pm
by Gautam
Heh... I've started writing questions already. I hope I become semi-culturally literate in that process. :-p

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:01 pm
by theattachment
gkandlikar wrote:Heh... I've started writing questions already. I hope I become semi-culturally literate in that process. :-p
I never got around to saying this. I'm not playing EPIC this year but intend to write all of the music.

Colin O'Donnell

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 10:37 am
by David Riley
I have no idea whether or not Minnesota teams have a travel budget, but we in Illinois would love to hav you attend some of our tournaments. Go to http://www.ihssbca.org and look at the link to our tournament schedule, or send me an email t [email protected] have siome type of tournment every weekend excluding Thanksgiving and winter Holidays.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 3:43 pm
by klwalton33
Thanks for the message David. We at EP might be looking outside of the state this year if travel budgets will allow.

Here's a question for you -- do you think teams from IL would be interested in traveling to MN for an All-Pop Culture Tourney? We'd love to open it up to teams from outside MN if there are some who are interested. Please let me know!

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 5:49 pm
by David Riley
Some of my students would love an all pop culture tourney; depends on when it is.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:03 pm
by klwalton33
Right now it's either President's Day weekend, or the weekend before, or the weekend after.

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:35 am
by David Riley
The last weekend then is our state Regionals, I'll check our schedule before that and let you know.

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:46 pm
by klwalton33
It looks like we have to do Feb 23rd now, based on other tourneys. Hopefully it would work out for some teams, it would be great to have some outstate folks!

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:20 pm
by segregold
Requisite opinion of Mid-Atlantic dude: I met a couple of guys from Eden Prairie at ACE MSM, and they should be pretty good next year.

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:49 pm
by aestheteboy
I believe he only met one. Nonetheless, EP should be very good.

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:55 pm
by Gautam
aestheteboy wrote:I believe he only met one. Nonetheless, EP should be very good.
Yea.. people here have *started* to attend quiz bowl camps. woohoo! I hope a few more people from EP do it next year; otherwise, it might create sustainability issues.

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:41 pm
by Mitu
It's definitely a valuable learning experience, Im hoping more Wayzata kids go next year.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:56 am
by naturalistic phallacy
Way to represent, Michael :)

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:10 am
by naturalistic phallacy
Now that the polls are out and three Minnesota teams have made an appearance, let's discuss.

Why EP in the top 25 and not Wayzata or Minnetonka?
Why Minnetonka with only two votes?
Can EP be beaten by Wayzata or Minnetonka?
Can EP be beaten by anyone?
Was anyone left off the list that deserves at least a mention?

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:49 pm
by Canadajin
Why EP in the top 25 and not Wayzata or Minnetonka?
Why Minnetonka with only two votes?
Can EP be beaten by Wayzata or Minnetonka?
Can EP be beaten by anyone?
Was anyone left off the list that deserves at least a mention?
I think/ am sure it is because we at EP have more exposure to the other teams, and we jave better past results, plus it doesn't hurt that we are returning nearly everyone from our team. There are probably lots of people who can beat us, but I hope we have a long streak in Minnesota (I have my fingers crossed). I also really hope that there are other buzz worthy teams in our state, but, unfortunately, I can't think of any that would be...

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:47 pm
by DumbJaques
For what it's worth, Wayzata was in my top 25.

Eden Prairie returns not only the extremely capable Michael Wright but also what looks to be a seasoned and solid supporting cast. They have a lot of higher-level ability, which obviously carries the most weight come nationals.

Certainly there are numerous teams out there which could probably beat Eden Prairie. Those teams could also probably be beaten by Eden Prairie, which belongs in any top listing of teams. At this point nobody has pulled away from the field (it's September, come on).

Minnetonka has a lot of potential, but they came away from NAQT with only one or two quality wins despite a solid enough finish. They also had some pretty bad losses and a low ppg, which probably hurt their votes (most voters have little more than stats to go on). They return a full lineup, however, so I would certainly expect they could make a serious run down the line. I hope to see them (and other MN teams) join Wayzata in their attempts to make it to the Weekend of Quizbowl.

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:16 pm
by Mitu
Like Chris said, Eden Prairie makes the top 25 because of Michael being amazing and having a pretty good supporting cast. As for if anyone can beat them, I'd certainly like to think that Wayzata has a chance, but, talk is cheap and I'll wait until there are some actual stats before I start making Michigan thread-esque sweeping predictions.
As for Minnetonka, they are a good team, but most of their depth comes in "Social Studies", while it is somewhat lacking in literature, science, fine arts, etc. I personally think that they have the ability to be a Top 25 team, but, as stats were all the voters had to go off of, it's understandable that they only received two votes in the poll.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:47 am
by naturalistic phallacy
DumbJaques wrote: Certainly there are numerous teams out there which could probably beat Eden Prairie. Those teams could also probably be beaten by Eden Prairie, which belongs in any top listing of teams. At this point nobody has pulled away from the field (it's September, come on).
That question was intended towards Minnesota teams being EP, but it is really good to find out how they fit into the national scene in more detail than a line in a poll.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:13 am
by OctagonJoe
Having missed out on the fun of most of this discussion, here are my soon to be disregarded thoughts. This year's field is going to be a lot different in its depth. Eden Prairie is still going to dominate because they have Michael and Igor "OMG IT'S BERNINI" Luzhansky, so number 1 in the state is set. Wayzata is a not so close second, as their A team has been developing together pretty much since sophomore year and are preparing for battle this year, but losing Rohan is a big hit. Minnetonka is an even more distant third, as Alex Friedman is naturally talented in most of the social studies area in quiz bowl, but there isn't much depth and breadth on the team from what I've seen. Bubble teams seem to be both Chaska and Orono, from whom everyone has seen strong performances, but just how well they'll do I'm not sure about. Beyond that point I both know less and don't see much in terms of big time contenders. Many teams sent their best players to college last year, so schools like Armstrong and St. Thomas won't play near where they played a year ago.
As for
Why EP in the top 25 and not Wayzata or Minnetonka?
Why Minnetonka with only two votes?
Can EP be beaten by Wayzata or Minnetonka?
Can EP be beaten by anyone?
Was anyone left off the list that deserves at least a mention?
I do believe the top 25 was correct in its representation of how Minnesota will play out this year. I also believe this year EP will not go undefeated for as long a stretch, for, despite their remaining strength, they are not as strong without Gautam and Trevor.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:59 am
by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
And you are...?

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:31 pm
by Mitu
That's Carsten, my teammate.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:05 pm
by naturalistic phallacy
Is that what your name got changed to? Wow.

I would have to agree with Carsten's assessment there.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:53 pm
by Mitu
The greatest thing about this thread is that we get to speculate all the way until October 27th. Yay MN QB.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:04 pm
by Canadajin
The greatest thing about this thread is that we get to speculate all the way until October 27th. Yay MN QB.
My god...this is the most truthful statement I have ever read on this forum as of late. Why does the QB season in Minnesota start so late? Anyway, I can only agree with Carsten wrote, but I am going to avoid vaunting my teams abilities...

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:11 pm
by Mitu
It's even worse that our first non A series tournament isn't until December. It would be nice if R. and NAQT could organize something a little earlier, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen in the near future.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:17 pm
by DumbJaques
Is this some odd Missourinois-esque rule? If not, isn't there nothing preventing individual schools from hosting house-written/naqt events? Or is there some obstacle to that happening?

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:25 pm
by The Atom Strikes!
Or would it be possible for schools to travel to tournaments elsewhere?

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:40 pm
by Mitu
@ Chris:
No HS here has ever house-written a tournament, so if we started doing so, we would need a good group to edit the packets. I know Carsten and I talked about the possibility of house-writing a tournament at Wayzata, but the other main issue would be getting interest from teams to attend. Most of the schools here are used to Knowledge Bowl (an apparently horrible format, I wouldnt know, Wayzata doesnt do KB) and NAQT Invitationals, so if a solidly academic tournament was written, I dont know how much interest there would be.
As for NAQT tournaments hosted by schools, Mr. Hentzel has always directed them here. If an individual school was to host and direct one, I think the main issue would be getting experienced moderators and enough buzzer systems.
@ Henry
There isn't anywhere most MN teams can travel short of about 400 miles, and we don't really have a generous travel budget, meaning that any out of state travel would have to come out of players' pockets (at least this is the case for Wayzata, maybe other schools have generous budgets).

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:44 pm
by naturalistic phallacy
SwissBoy wrote:Or would it be possible for schools to travel to tournaments elsewhere?
That would probably have to be the best option for seekers of early season QB, for, like Mitu pointed out, there probably would be little interest in a house-written packet outside of the top contenders in Minnesota (which amount to three or four teams). Still, you do also have to consider travel costs and the seemingly low level of HSQB interest in the Upper Midwest.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:53 pm
by The Atom Strikes!
I understand that it would be a long way, however, I had just been seeing how Dorman and MLK Magnet seem to both be going to ridiculously faraway places to compete. I figured that a large high school with a competitive team (like Eden Prairie) would be able to get enough players to chip in some money to go to tournaments that are further away. Once or twice, some people on my team (myself included), offered to contribute some cash to help pay for tournements, and we (as players), will be paying for our accomadations for our overnight stay at LIFT this year.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:47 pm
by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
Coming up in 3 weeks is a tournament at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, that's house written and as far as I know will be somewhat difficult, and will be pyramidal. If you're one of those 3 or 4 upper tier schools that is wanting more and willing to travel a little, this might be a decent season opener for you guys. Kirksville is in northern Missouri and is 6 and 1/4 mapquest hours or 400 miles from Minneapolis. Announcement here

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:51 am
by Gautam
Hmm, Almost Dewey is a good option for you guys, IMO. The drive is a little shorter than the one to Chicago...

--Gautam

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:10 pm
by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
Yeah, plus the Illinois tournament isn't even in Chicago, its in Urbana (farther south).