Indiana 08-09

[evilmonkey]

Might as well start this up, since Panasonic really doesn't matter (and as far as I know, Ben Davis doesn't do anything not involving TV or PAC).

Who are going to be the top teams next year? I've realized while trying to make a ranking that too many of these teams don't DO enough to figure out where they are.

Best Teams:
St. Joe's (Arnav is a beast, and if he had been at HSNCT, they would have torn it up)
Penn (3rd top freshman at HSNCT, fairly balanced team, very few seniors IIRC, first Indiana school to make NAQT playoffs)
Washington
Center Grove (Does anyone know anything about them? How many seniors?)

Good teams
Culver(Kirsten and Eric are pretty good, and they always seem to pick up at least one strong player a year)
Adams (Who did they graduate?)
Hamilton SE (?)
Andrean (?)

For the first time since I started quizbowl, I do not think Harrison will among the top teams in the state. Like, for reals... they weren't that great this year, and I believe they are losing what scoring they did have. This is the end of an era in Indiana quizbowl. (However, I will hedge this prediction by noting that they DID win the F/S tournament over St. Joe's, DCC, and Culver).

As a whole, Indiana is not very good at travelling to tournaments - only Culver, St. Joe's, Harrison, and lately Lakeview Christian travel to tournaments outside their immediate region. What can we do to eliminate this problem (assuming, of course, that we do see it as a problem). Also, as far as I know, the only people involved in Indiana HS on these boards are Mr. Dillon, Mr. Blessman, and myself, so that conversation might be better suited to e-mails.

[leapfrog314]

Also, as far as I know, the only people involved in Indiana HS on these boards are Mr. Dillon, Mr. Blessman, and myself, so that conversation might be better suited to e-mails.

I am henceforth declaring myself involved in Indiana HS quizbowl as well, at least a little bit.

Also, maybe we can look into hosting more tournaments and in more places. NAQT IS, possibly? (Or is A-level more suitable for the less-active teams?)

[Tegan]

I am henceforth declaring myself involved in Indiana HS quizbowl as well, at least a little bit.

TRAITOR!!!

[Irreligion in Bangladesh]

A-level seemed pretty well suited for some of the upper teams in the state this year, as teams like Harrison seemingly missed a ton of reasonably easy stuff on the A-levels at Culver in January.

[evilmonkey]

I am henceforth declaring myself involved in Indiana HS quizbowl as well, at least a little bit.

Also, maybe we can look into hosting more tournaments and in more places. NAQT IS, possibly? (Or is A-level more suitable for the less-active teams?)

Great!

Right now, Culver and St. Joe's host all the pyramidal tournaments in the state. IS is an appropriate level - Harrison has seen a pretty big fall-off recently, but I think the better teams in the state can handle it. Perhaps an A-level for those that aren't nearly as good - but the problem isn't recruiting not-so-good teams, its getting more teams to play pyramidal stuff. Teams will travel across the state to play 4-quarter tournaments (Brownsburg, State Championship), but won't travel so much to play NAQT (Culver's tournaments, State NAQT Qualifier). The South Bend schools have shown a willingness to come out and play tournaments in South Bend and Culver. I think shifting tournaments towards Indianapolis will be good for the state - Many teams are from that area, and will be more willing to drive the hour to IU than 2.5 to Culver or South Bend.

[harpersferry]

evilmonkey wrote:
Also, as far as I know, the only people involved in Indiana HS on these boards are Mr. Dillon, Mr. Blessman, and myself, so that conversation might be better suited to e-mails.

I am henceforth declaring myself involved in Indiana HS quizbowl as well, at least a little bit.

Me too. Being here around Indy kids who don't even know that TU/Bonus is the standard quizbowl format has shown me that IN quizbowl has a LONG way to go. (Yet yesterday someone knew about the Byko ratings) As far as I know, there doesn't seem to be an imposing bureaucratic mess as in IL or Missouri, but there seems to be a lack of impetus on a wide basis to change. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, since I have not had much experience yet.

I think shifting tournaments towards Indianapolis will be good for the state - Many teams are from that area, and will be more willing to drive the hour to IU than 2.5 to Culver or South Bend.

We shall see. I think the test will definitely be the NAQT qualifier at IU this year. I'm thinking about trying to get recent graduates of teams that play bad quizbowl around Indy to tell their coaches to come to that tournament.

[David Riley]

There used to be a sprinkling of teams in the Gary/Hammond area as well. And Greenwood (in suburban Indianapiolis) used to regularly attend NAC, they might be swayed also.

And by all means, whatever you guys can do to ensure that Indiana DOESN'T get into a bureaucratic mess will be all for the best.

[pblessman]

Just thought I'd say "Hi!" I haven't been on this forum yet... and my goodness, this is more traffic than I would expect on the Indiana page in a year or so... based on the results up to this point, I'd say Adams, Penn, St. Joe's, and Culver are pretty evenly matched, and Harrison is a bit lower. We haven't seen much of the other teams.

User was banned for 8 days for this post due to failure to enable signature, fourth ban.

[Ben Dillon]

I'll add Andrean from the Duneland conference, since they're undefeated over there but haven't played anything else.

I'll defintely add New Palestine from the White River league. They won the Brownsburg Dogfight and seem to be the best of that league right now.