Some Semblance of Preseason Discussion

Post by **DumbJaques** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:10 pm

Which of the retirees will make an (unsurprising) comeback? Who's going to be good this year? Will beard lice finally take the scoring title at ACF? Given how well this year's high school preseason thread turned out, can we really afford not to have one?

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:17 pm

Damn it, I was going to make this thread.

Frater Taciturnus · Post by **Frater Taciturnus** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:12 pm

This I believe:

-I have a chance to do well at Sectionals, assuming I can find a CC sectional within reasonable distance.
-Chris Ray will place third at nationals... in team scoring.
-Matt Morrison will 30 every rap bonus. Even the ones the other team gets.
- Matt Weiner's head will pop out its hole, and see the eclipse from its shadow, leading to 6 more years of CBI.
-Charlie will try to play ACF, just because he can.
-Someone will brag about something like CBI, and be crucified for it.
-People will bitch about torneys they didn't even bother to go to.
- I will say stupid things that will lead Chris Ray to strangle me the next time he sees me.

wd4gdz · Post by **wd4gdz** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:20 pm

Is there any reason to think Chicago won't repeat as champs?
Maryland should move up a couple notches.
I hope to get FSU into top-10 territory.

Post by **DumbJaques** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:38 pm

Is there any reason to think Chicago won't repeat as champs?

I believe Susan is retired now? I'm not sure how much the other former members of Chicago A are planning on sticking around (Seth can elaborate on that), but they've certainly got plenty of talent (Seth Samelson, Kannan), so I'd imagine they'll be very good.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:43 pm

prognostication all up in this beeeyatch

In no particular order:

Chicago: They retain at least half of their ACF-winning team in Seth and Selene, so the core is certainly there for another year of championships. Losing Peter Austin is going to hurt them in history in geography; if Susan doesn't play, it won't be as bad, since Seth and Selene are better suited to pick up her questions. Seth Samelson (unless he's graduating?) is definitely going to be a solid addition and give them much needed social science and philosophy coverage. With a solid 4th player, they could win it all again, although I would say they are weaker than last year. I believe Max from Carleton is doing a master's at Chicago, but I don't know if he'll play or what his specialty is.

Illinois: Kelly Tourdot is still at UIUC, as, of course, is Mike. Not sure who their 3rd and 4th players will be. Mike Sorice is definitely a great player, and inevitably Illinois lives or dies by his play. If he's on fire, they can beat any team out there, but can have a bad game once in a while. Endurance is key, but I think it's plausible that they can give Chicago a run for their money again. It's more likely to happen at ICT than ACF Nationals, in my opinion.

Maryland: Could be their year to shine. In Jonathan Magin they have an excellent lit player, and Charles Meigs is probably the best active history player on the circuit. That Chris Ray guy is pretty decent too, I guess. Strong on humanities, they are weak on science coverage and that could hurt them against a team that can split the humanities questions 50/50 with them. Nevertheless, they could be the dark horse of the season. I rate them as outside favorites to win a title; more likely is a top-5 finish.

Harvard: They pick up Bruce Arthur and Paul Litvak as graduate students, in addition to having an active core of solid undergraduate players. Kyle Haddad-Fonda and Julia Schlozman are both pretty good, and while I don't see Harvard winning a title, I think they can definitely finish in the upper reaches of a national tournament with a little luck. I think a 5-th place finish may not be out of reach for them.

Stanford: The bazillion dollar question is whether Andrew Yaphe will play. If he does, Stanford have to be the favorites to win anything, since they have some good science coverage and Andrew is, well, Andrew. If not, they're still going to be very good; I would rate them just slightly below Harvard, but I may be biased because I've only played them once, and I've played Harvard a bunch of times. That one guy, I think his name is Kevin, has some crazy ass music knowledge.

Brown: We're returning our core players. I intend to do nothing all year and then ride Eric Mukherjee's coattails to repeat national titles.

edit: by popular demand, prediction of finishing places at ACF Nationals (assuming Andrew isn't playing for Stanford)
1) Illinois
2) Chicago
3) Brown
4) Maryland

Post by **DumbJaques** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:02 am

I believe (Charles or Jonathan can offer more info, perhaps?) that Dan Suzman is currently affiliated in some way with the University of Maryland. Having him for nationals would be pretty sweet.

Skepticism and Animal Feed · Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:05 am

DumbJaques wrote:I believe (Charles or Jonathan can offer more info, perhaps?) that Dan Suzman is currently affiliated in some way with the University of Maryland. Having him for nationals would be pretty sweet.

As far as I understand, he's been going there for medical school since fall 2005. I played with him at Chicago Open that year, and he kept talking about how it was his last quizbowl tournament ever.

But those are famous last words.

millionwaves · Post by **millionwaves** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:14 am

grapesmoker wrote:
Kelly Tourdot is still at UIUC

Not true, actually. Kelly is, to the best of my knowledge, not affiliated with any university this year.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:35 am

millionwaves wrote:
grapesmoker wrote:
Kelly Tourdot is still at UIUC
Not true, actually. Kelly is, to the best of my knowledge, not affiliated with any university this year.

Huh, I thought she was in the library science program. Does that mean she's graduated?

millionwaves · Post by **millionwaves** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:38 am

grapesmoker wrote:
millionwaves wrote:
grapesmoker wrote:
Kelly Tourdot is still at UIUC
Not true, actually. Kelly is, to the best of my knowledge, not affiliated with any university this year.
Huh, I thought she was in the library science program. Does that mean she's graduated?

Yes, I think so.

vandyhawk · Post by **vandyhawk** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:18 am

With Chicago losing Peter and (assuming this is true) Susan, I think Brown would actually be the favorite for ACF, especially if Eric and Dennis continue to improve. Anything past that depends on a lot of things: will A&M still be able to field a strong team? Is Weiner done playing? Will Andrew compete at Nats? Will Bruce and Paul play at Harvard? Can Maryland overcome a team with a strong science player? Also, did Patrick graduate from Carleton? We could theoretically field the same team next year that finished 7th this year (and a 10 pt prelim loss away from perhaps 3rd or 4th), but not sure how likely it is Robert would make another re-appearance.

For NAQT, I actually like Maryland's chances more so than for ACF, given Charles' geographical abilities and that I think they're good with trash. Who knows though.

vandyhawk · Post by **vandyhawk** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:19 am

hooray server errors leading to double post

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:28 am

Playing solo, Jason Mueller will win ACF Nationals with an astounding 900 ppg.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:43 am

Patrick did graduate from Carleton, and I'm pretty sure A&M is finished, while Matt is graduating from VCU.

Post by **DumbJaques** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:46 am

1) Brown: Dennis and Eric are an increasingly better supporting cast to an ever-dangerous Jerry. Maybe a four person team, even, is on the horizon.
2) Chicago: Seth and Selene alone were more than impressive in the lit tournament, and I hear they don't suck in general, too. Whoever the other two spots consists of (likely, one of them being Seth S.), this team will be very tough. If Susan returns, I can't see them not repeating.
3) Illinois: Losing Kelly hurts. Donald Taylor's winged chariot of victory will surely propel this squad.
4) Maryland: My negging will keep us from getting much higher than this.
5) Vanderbilt: I thought the ACF squad was extremely impressive, most notably when the demolished us by about 200 points.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:53 am

What about the other brown people like Micha?
How are they?

Sima Guang Hater · Post by **Sima Guang Hater** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:13 am

charlieDfromNKC wrote:What about the other brown people like Micha?
How are they?

Micha's really good, but he's busy. Something about "real life" or some such nonsense.

I predict:

1) Chicago. Seth will destroy everyone, and selene will negate any advantage I provide by beating the hell out of me to all of the bio/chem. Their physical representation of the AS-AD curve will win them finals of ACF nationals 2008.

2) Illinois: Like Samson, Sorice's hair will provide him with the ability to beat almost anyone. Almost.

3) Maryland: Mike will hack the scoring system to turn chris ray's negs into powers, but someone figures this out during the playoffs and fixes them.

4) Brown: After writing some ungodly amount of questions, Dennis' head will unfortunately explode during the first round of playoffs, and the resulting supermassive black hole will take me and Jerry with it. Only the lice in Jerry's beard will remain to play. Actually, this really doesn't affect the teams performance much, meaning they finish a solid fourth.

Mike Bentley · Post by **Mike Bentley** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:09 am

ToStrikeInfinitely wrote:
charlieDfromNKC wrote:What about the other brown people like Micha?
How are they?
3) Maryland: Mike will hack the scoring system to turn chris ray's negs into powers, but someone figures this out during the playoffs and fixes them.

Fun fact: I think I was the one that accidentally gave Chris 15 negs in that one round.

ktour84 · Post by **ktour84** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:26 am

I did graduate and currently looking for gainful employment at any place that will hire me.

Kelly Tourdot

Dartmouth College Bowl · Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:52 am

Wow, the Northeast is gonna be scary good this year. Brown and Harvard are looking like powerhouses. Rutgers is definitely not too bad either with Jason Keller and Kevin Costello, same can be said of Yale with Wehrman and the vastly underrated Mike Bilow. Wah-wah-wah.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:19 pm

No more Wehrman at Yale.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:51 pm

Kevin Costello has finished his Ph.D. so I don't think he'll be playing for Rutgers anymore.

Post by **DumbJaques** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:12 pm

Unless they're fielding some mystery grad student, I'd say Dartmouth will contend pretty seriously for the undergrad title - the team we faced at ICT was very balanced and seemed like it had four players committed to improving. An Andrewless Stanford, unless I'm mistaken, would also be a pretty good undergrad squad.

Who's on UVA this year? Seems like a lot of high school talent has migrated there recently.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:31 pm

Like Will Butler. Will he be playing?
Other notable migrating high schoolers I think will be Ted Gioia to Harvard, Marc Guerci to William & Mary, Nick M. & Carlo are reactivating Indiana's team, Evan Silberman will be somewhere in Amherst, it sounds like Saran Raju could be a good science player for Northwestern.
Who else is going to show up in college following successful high school play? It seemed like most of the top players last year (besides Gov and SC) are returning though.

BuzzerZen · Post by **BuzzerZen** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:32 pm

Just for the record, "somewhere in Amherst" means Hampshire College, where I will not be founding a quiz bowl team anytime soon, or perhaps ever.

Awehrman · Post by **Awehrman** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:33 pm

No more Wehrman at Yale.

No, Mike will be at Yale this year, although it should be his last. I'm not sure how much time he will have for quizbowl, however.

The Toad to Wigan Pier · Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:46 pm

charlieDfromNKC wrote:Like Will Butler. Will he be playing?

I am going to give it an attempt, but I am not sure if I will stick with it or not.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:12 pm

Awehrman wrote:
No more Wehrman at Yale.
No, Mike will be at Yale this year, although it should be his last. I'm not sure how much time he will have for quizbowl, however.

Oh, hearsay told me they thought he was basically done with quizbowl.

grapesmoker · Post by **grapesmoker** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:35 pm

BuzzerZen wrote:Just for the record, "somewhere in Amherst" means Hampshire College, where I will not be founding a quiz bowl team anytime soon, or perhaps ever.

I hope you have a good excuse for this travesty.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:12 pm

What happened to the combo team?

Trevkeeper · Post by **Trevkeeper** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:59 pm

charlieDfromNKC wrote:Nick M. & Carlo are reactivating Indiana's team,

Yeah, we'll see how that goes. My only goal for the season is to pretty much get the program started and make it to a few tournaments.

bigdogstalfos · Post by **bigdogstalfos** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:01 pm

Oh yeah, and I'm planning on forming (at least I haven't seen any record of a team) at North Dakota. I hope to get to a few tournaments, although we'll see how that goes.

Jeremy Gibbs Sampling · Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:47 pm

grapesmoker wrote:Illinois: [...] Not sure who their 3rd and 4th players will be.

Jeff Crean is starting a political science Ph.D. there, but I have no word on if he's playing.

Zip Zap Rap Pants · Post by **Zip Zap Rap Pants** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:52 pm

charlieDfromNKC wrote:Marc Guerci to William & Mary

Jesus Christ I just got at least 40 new recruits today who all played in high school, putting our total incoming recruit count near 60. True story.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:30 am

Damn.

cvdwightw · Post by **cvdwightw** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:48 am

Andrew Yaphe will play for Stanford, resulting in them sweeping the D1 and D1 Undergrad titles at ICT.

Charles Meigs will ruin Jordan Boyd-Graber's weekends by stealing every neg crown on the mid-Atlantic circuit. An envious Chris Ray will then ruin Maryland's national championship hopes by going 5-15 in every ACF Nationals game.

Ray Luo will write yet another India theme packet and lure David Farris out of semi-retirement by promising to include 10/10 Bollywood.

I will suck. I am aspiring to a Ryan Westbrook level of sucktitude, but I will probably have to settle for less.

Cardinal Classic will happen. Unless someone at Stanford reins it in, it will continue its slow southbound path toward Cardinal Classic 2010 in Tijuana.

Simon Fraser and UBC will each send four one-man teams to NAQT SCT Northwest in the hope of someone obtaining an automatic bid. People will complain.

UTC tournaments will get incrementally better. People will complain.

Matt Weiner, owing Chicago Open players a trash tournament, will write TRASHionals. People will complain. No, not the same people as above.

Minnesota will win CBI. People will complain.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:13 am

charlieDfromNKC wrote:Other notable migrating high schoolers I think will be Ted Gioia to Harvard

My recruiting class, so to speak, is headlined by Ted Gioia of Gonzaga, Andrew Watkins of Shady Side, and Meryl Federman of Livingston.

setht · Post by **setht** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 5:55 pm

People starting programs at Indiana and other places relatively close to Chicago should get in touch with David Seal (dseal AT uchicago DOT edu) regarding the EFT mirror on October 6th. It should be a great tournament for new teams.

Chicago's getting John (not Max) from Carleton. He's interested in playing, and his specialty is 40'ing bonuses at ACF Nationals.

I'll go out on a limb and say that Texas A & M will win ACF Nationals if they play--after all, they represent most of the editing crew. Or are we talking about some younger TAMU team?

-Seth