Bergen Open Academic Tournament (April 4; Hackensack NJ)

[jonpin]

[Sorry, please disregard the previous post. We didn't quite have all levels of input from within the team.]

Bergen County Academies Quiz Bowl in Hackensack, NJ is hosting a tournament on April 4th, 2009, using HSAPQ set #3. For those not familiar, these packets will be standard QB (20 tossups with 30-point bonuses); I'm not yet sure if there will be powers.
Registration Fees
$80 for first team
$70 for additional teams
$10 discount for each buzzer system (up to 3) or moderator (no limit)

Checks should be made out to BCA Quizbowl.

Either find us at Bloomfield this Saturday, SHPrep on Mar 21 or Livingston on Mar 28, or send payment to:
Bergen County Academies, Care of Dan Baker
200 Hackensack Avenue
Hackensack, NJ 07601
We will also accept the check, or cash, the day of the tournament provided you let us know ahead of time.
The field will be capped at 32 teams. At the moment, we are planning to have 7 rounds of preliminaries, followed by a 16-team single-elimination playoff (the exact details may vary depending on field size).

Since we've been asked to be out of the building by 4:30-ish if possible, we are beginning a little earlier than other tournaments. Registration will begin at 7:00 AM in the auditorium and will last until 8:00 AM, followed by introductions, rules, and breakfast. Round 1 will begin no later than 8:30 AM. We'll play 5 rounds, break for lunch (you can place an order with us for pizza [details pending] or eat at any number of nearby restaurants), and then pick up at about noon for two more rounds. Then we'll have playoff announcements and individual awards, followed by the four playoff rounds. We intend to have trophies for at least the top 3 teams and medals for the top 5 individuals.

Register by contacting Jon Pinyan at pinyan AT gmail DOT com. If you have previously emailed Chris, he's forwarding your information on to me.
School Name
Address
Contact info (person, phone #, email)
Number of teams attending (for now, we're limiting to 3, but you can put additional teams on a waitlist)
Number of Buzzers you are bringing
Registration Cost

Thank you very much and we look forward to seeing you April 4.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

...using HSAPQ set #3.

You changed the question set from NAQT IS-84A. We were thinking about going but now definitely can't, unless you want us to do extra-exceptionally well at this tournament. In other words, we already heard these questions at VCU last month.

Good luck running your tournament; hope to see you in the future.

[Sir Thopas]

...using HSAPQ set #3.

You changed the question set from NAQT IS-84A. We were thinking about going but now definitely can't, unless you want us to do extra-exceptionally well at this tournament. In other words, we already heard these questions at VCU last month.

Good luck running your tournament; hope to see you in the future.

That's a pity. I think it's for the greater good, really, though.

[Blackboard Monitor Vimes]

...using HSAPQ set #3.

You changed the question set from NAQT IS-84A. We were thinking about going but now definitely can't, unless you want us to do extra-exceptionally well at this tournament. In other words, we already heard these questions at VCU last month.

Good luck running your tournament; hope to see you in the future.

Nevermind, I lied. Confused my sets. For some reason I thought VCU used #4...but double-checking has shown me that they used #3.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

...using HSAPQ set #3.

You changed the question set from NAQT IS-84A. We were thinking about going but now definitely can't, unless you want us to do extra-exceptionally well at this tournament. In other words, we already heard these questions at VCU last month.

Good luck running your tournament; hope to see you in the future.

Nevermind, I lied. Confused my sets. For some reason I thought VCU used #4...but double-checking has shown me that they used #3.

Robinson is the one that's going to use #4.

[jonpin]

Could we get Word From On High one way or the other? HSAPQ's page says VCU was #3 and ROHIT is #4, and the ROHIT thread says it's playing #4. In either case, I assume they consider Virginia and northern NJ far enough away that they get different sets (I remember having this problem while in college in the Midwest).

In any event, my apologies, Mr. C. We didn't want to take an A-series, especially with the short notice, as a low turnout would cost us more due to the pricing structure, and we wanted a more challenging set this late in the season. Next year, if I have anything to do with it, planning will occur earlier in advance to avoid this kind of situation.

[jonpin]

Field Update and News

Registered
Kellenberg (2-3)
Wilmington Charter (2-3)

Expressed interest
Bloomfield (1)
several other teams at Bloomfield's tourney; I don't recall which ones exactly.

Due to limited room space, we are reducing the field cap to 24 teams. To re-iterate, we're limiting schools to 2 teams at first (that is, through next Sunday March 22). After that, we'll take additional teams from a school with registration closing Sunday March 29. Please send me an email at your earliest convenience so that we are sure we, y'know, have a field.

[SHP Pirate]

Put SHP down for 2 teams. We may have more teams for the waitlist soon.

- MTZ

[Edward Powers]

Any update on the field besides Kellenberg, Wilmington, Seton Hall and Saint Joe's??

Ed Powers
Coach
Saint Joseph's Academic Team

[jonpin]

I was going to hold off on a field update until after talking to teams at states tomorrow, but I guess that won't be happening.

As of right now [Tuesday evening March 24], I have registrations from
Half Hollow Hills West (2 teams)
Jonathan Dayton
Kellenberg (2 teams)
Seton Hall Prep (2 teams)
St. Joseph's (2 teams)
Wilmington Charter (3 teams)

I'm officially opening up registration to third teams from a school. To make some more comments about what we're doing:
* Field is limited to 24 teams due to room space.
* Format will either be prelim groups followed by single-elimination or prelim groups followed by cross-bracketing (if the field is less than 16 or so teams). Obviously once we know for certain how many teams there are, we'll know what the exact format is.
* Every team will get at least 6-7 games.
* Important note: All rooms we have are on the second floor. If any member of your team needs access to an elevator, let us know so we can make sure we can operate them.
* We have PACE affiliation. Depending on the field and how many games we can get each team, we may be gold-certified, so anywhere from 2-6 teams may receive bids to the PACE NSC.

Registration is open through Sunday March 29 (this means you can give us a registration form if you see us at Livingston) or until we hit 24 teams. Send me an email at pinyan AT gmail DOT com with the information mentioned in the first post of the thread. We hope to see you in two weeks!

[btressler]

Any updates?

[jonpin]

[e-mail just sent to coaches of registered teams]

Dear Coaches,

Thank you for signing up for this weekend's BOAT. This is to confirm your attendance. Please read and respond, so we can be certain exactly how many teams will be attending by midday Thursday. Also, please include a phone number that you or a member of your team can be reached at on Saturday.

This is the list of currently registered teams and supplies. If any of this information is wrong, or you would like to change it, please let me know.
Wilmington Charter, 3 teams, 2 buzzers, Coach Tressler can moderate.
Kellenberg: 2 teams, 3 buzzers, Brother Nigel can moderate.
Seton Hall Prep: 2 teams, 2 buzzers, Coach Zinmeister can moderate.
St Joseph's: 2 teams, 2 buzzers.
Half Hollow Hills West: 2 teams, 1 buzzer.
Jonathan Dayton: 1 team
Mount Saint Mary: 1 team
All schools are invited to add additional teams (up to 4/school), as though there may be a few more teams that register, we are unlikely to hit our cap. If we end at an awkward number (such as, say, 13), we reserve the right to enter a freshman team.

Check-in, Breakfast and Lunch
Please arrive no later than 8:00am, as we would like to start round 1 at approximately 8:30am. If you cannot bring payment with you on tournament day, please advise us in advance. We will provide bagels/donuts, OJ, coffee, etc for breakfast. At check-in, teams will also have the opportunity to order a pizza for lunch at $10/pie. They may also bring their own lunch or go to Boston Market, Burger King, or other nearby restaurants. Lunch is scheduled to last about an hour; if the tournament is running behind, it may be cut to ~45 minutes.

Probable Format
If we have 14-16 teams: Two groups of 7-8 play round-robin (7 rounds). Top 3 in each group advance to a championship round-robin (each team plays the teams from the other group); remaining teams play consolation round-robins. Final if top two teams are tied.
If we have 17-18 teams: Three groups of 5-6 play round-robin (5 rounds). Top 2 in each group advance to championship round-robin (each team plays the teams from the other groups); remaining teams play consolation round-robins. Final if top two teams are tied.
If we have 19-20 teams: Most likely, we fill the field up to 21 teams (which earns 2 additional qualifiers to PACE NSC and provides a format more probable to finish before 5pm)
If we have 21-24 teams: Three groups of 7-8 play round-robin (7 rounds). Top 4 in each group advance to 12-team single-elimination bracket.

Questions
The question set has been received from High School Academic Pyramid Questions (HSAPQ). There are powers. The questions (we will use 10-11 rounds out of the 15 packets) can be purchased for $10. Let us know at the beginning of the day if you intend to purchase them, so we can make enough copies of the unused packets. You MUST pick up your questions at the end of the tournament, we are not permitted to email them to you.

Directions
From the south: Take the Garden State Parkway north to exit 161 (Route 4 east, Paramus). Take Route 4 three miles to Hackensack Ave. Take the first Hackensack Ave exit (south, towards Hackensack).
From NYC and Long Island: Take the George Washington Bridge. Just after entering New Jersey, take the exit for Route 4 (west, towards Paramus). Take Route 4 five miles to Hackensack Ave. Take the second Hackensack Ave exit (south, towards Hackensack).
From upstate New York: Take NY Thruway exit 14A for the Garden State Parkway. Take the Parkway south to exit 163 (Route 17 south, Paramus). Take Route 17 one mile to Route 4 east (Fort Lee). Take Route 4 two miles to Hackensack Ave. Take the first Hackensack Ave exit (south, towards Hackensack).
Once on Hackensack Avenue: Move into the left lane, as the school is immediately on your left after Route 4. After the message sign but before the traffic light, make a left into the parking lot. Signs will be provided from the parking lot to the upstairs cafeteria.
If you get lost, if you must cancel, or if there is some other emergency coming to the tournament on Saturday, call me at [REDACTED, e-mail me if you need my phone number].
If you need directions from any other location, let me know (or look them up; our address is 200 Hackensack Ave, Hackensack NJ).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Jon Pinyan
Assistant, BCAQB

[Ondes Martenot]

The questions (we will use 10-11 rounds out of the 15 packets) can be purchased for $10.

Why would anyone purchase questions that will eventually be online for free?

[BuzzerZen]

The questions (we will use 10-11 rounds out of the 15 packets) can be purchased for $10.

Why would anyone purchase questions that will eventually be online for free?

To have them faster, and conveniently in paper form? It happens.

[SHP Pirate]

Jon,

I never received your e-mail. We will not be bringing a check with us. I will have the business office process one as soon as possible.

Any chance you have room for a third SHP team?

- MTZ

[jonpin]

Jon,

I never received your e-mail. We will not be bringing a check with us. I will have the business office process one as soon as possible.

Any chance you have room for a third SHP team?

- MTZ

That's because I misspelled your name (as can be seen above) and thus your e-mail address (though it never got bounced back to me).
I've fixed the glitch and am forwarding the e-mail to you.

Short answer: Yes, there's room for a third SHPrep team.

[lchen]

Field update please?

[jonpin]

Final field update (as of Friday, 6pm)
Seton Hall Prep (3 teams)
Wilmington Charter (3 teams)
Half Hollow Hills West (2 teams)
Hunter (2 teams)
St. Joseph's (2 teams)
Mount Saint Mary
Jonathan Dayton
Kellenberg
House team

We have for 16 (2 groups of 8). 7-round prelim round-robin, followed by 3-round crossover in 3 playoff groups, and then a final.

Teams should be sure to arrive by 8am so we can set up and have our intro meeting and start play at 8:30am.

Our goal is to be efficient enough to start the playoffs by 2:15pm, which will happen if we start on time and keep rounds at 35 minutes or less. If we can do that, we'll be able to hold an advantaged-final. Otherwise, our need to be out of the building by 5pm will mean we could only hold a one-game final (if the top two teams are tied). This will be explained more fully Saturday morning.

[Judson Laipply]

Kellenberg will be at a strength somewhere between A and B. Probably closer to B than A.

[Sir Thopas]

Kellenberg will be at a strength somewhere between A and B. Probably closer to B than A.

Yeah, Hunter will be more or less B and C, although perhaps a bit better.

[jonpin]

Charter also told me their A team is not available. I've taken this into consideration when seeding the preliminary brackets. By the way, I'm gonna send out an email tonight about it, but try not to arrive before 7:30am tomorrow. It turns out the custodians don't unlock the building until at least 7, and we might not be able to get in before 7:15.

[jonpin]

Insta results

Yacht Bracket
Hunter A 4-1
Kellenberg 3-2 (1510 pts)
Hunter B 3-2 (1475 pts)
Charter B 3-2 (1455 pts)
Hills West A 2-3
SH Prep A 0-5

Tiebreakers (10 tossups)
Hunter B 155, Charter B 135
Kellenberg 175, Hunter B 145

Championship
Game 1 (Hunter advantage) Kellenberg 365, Hunter A 235
Game 2 (winner-take-all) Hunter A 390, Kellenberg 200

Hunter A wins the tournament.

Skiff Bracket (one round left I have to add in)
Charter C 4-0
Charter A 3-1
St Joseph A 3-1
Pingry 1-3
SH Prep B 1-3
Hills West B 0-4

Canoe Bracket
St Joseph B 2-0
Jonathan Dayton 1-1
SH Prep C 0-2
Mt St Mary [left after preliminaries]

Individual Top 5
Lily (Hunter A) 85
Matt (HHHW A) 73
York (Hunter B) 71
David (Charter B) 64
Jimmy (SH Prep A) 61

[jonpin]

Semi-complete results

Preliminaries
2 groups of 8, round-robin.

Lusitania Bracket:
Hunter B 7-0
Half Hollow Hills West A 6-1
Seton Hall Prep A 5-2
Wilmington Charter C 4-3
Wilmington Charter A 3-4
Pingry 2-5
St Joseph B 1-6
Jonathan Dayton 0-7

Maine Bracket:
Kellenberg 7-0
Hunter A 6-1
Wilmington Charter B 5-2
St Joseph A 4-3
Seton Hall Prep B 3-4
Half Hollow Hills West B 2-5
Seton Hall Prep C 1-6
Mount Saint Mary 0-7

Individual Awards
Lily (Hunter A) 85/gm
Matt (HHHW A) 73/gm
York (Hunter B) 71/gm
David (Charter B) 64/gm
Jimmy (SH Prep A) 61/gm

David (Charter B) 12 negs
James (Kellenberg) 11 negs
Jack (St Joe A) 10 negs

Playoffs
We crossed over top 3 with top 3; next 3 with next 3; bottom 2 with bottom 2. MSM left after the prelims, so the bottom bracket just played a round-robin.

Yacht Bracket
Hunter A 4-1
Kellenberg 3-2 (1510 points in the five "playoff" games)
Hunter B 3-2 (1475 pts)
Charter B 3-2 (1455 pts)
5. Half Hollow Hills West A 2-3
6. Seton Hall Prep A 0-5

Skiff Bracket
7. Charter C 5-0
8. Charter A 4-1
9. St Joseph A 3-2
10. Pingry 2-3
11. SH Prep B 1-4
12. HHH West B 0-5

Canoe Bracket
13. St Joseph B 2-0
14. Jonathan Dayton 1-1
15. SH Prep C 0-2
16. Mt St Mary [left after preliminaries]

Tiebreakers for a spot in the final (10 tossups)
Hunter B 155, Charter B 135 (Charter B finishes 4th)
Kellenberg 175, Hunter B 145 (Hunter B finishes 3rd)

Championship Series
Game 1 (Hunter advantage) Kellenberg 365, Hunter A 235
Game 2 (winner-take-all) Hunter A 390, Kellenberg 200

Hunter A wins the tournament, Kellenberg takes second. Both earn (another) invitiation to PACE NSC.

A SQBSized website will be up circa Tuesday or Wednesday; the advisor's laptop wasn't connecting to our school's webspace for uploading purposes.

[gabjoh]

Something we found on the Monday after: In the Latin room, a team left a buzzer with a green "BUZZ IN!" sticker on it. Not a system, a buzzer. If this is anyone's, we would like to give it back as soon as possible. Thank you.

[The Infanta]

That sounds like a Kellenberg buzzer...

[jonpin]

Depending on what Gabe means by "the Latin room", that may very well be the case. Email me and we can try to figure out if we'll see each other at any tournaments between now and nationals.

In the mean time, oh, standings and stats and SQBS and such. Sweet.
Prelims. Playoffs.
All pages should be interlinked. I can't guarantee that I'll have Ramapo webspace for more than another month, so if someone could let me know how to get these onto a centralized QB results site, that'd be sweet.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Your friend and mine Jeffrey Hill from Rolla created this website that should work just fine - http://scobo.net/tc.aspx

[jonpin]

Thanks Charlie. I was pretty sure I had seen it mentioned that someone at Rolla had done that, but I didn't remember the name of the person or the site.

Done and done (though no longer interconnected). Both available from this launch page.

[Judson Laipply]

That sounds like a Kellenberg buzzer...

Marisol, Every single buzzer from that company has the "Buzz in" sticker on it.

[btressler]

We're really enjoying the round where Charter B went 11-9-3 against St Joe's.

[jonpin]

We're really enjoying the round where Charter B went 11-9-3 against St Joe's.

Oh bleh. I meant to check that before leaving for holiday weekend, but I didn't get to it until just now. As I (and most likely you) suspected, David did not really have 10 powers in that game, but just one. I don't have access to the laptop where the SQBS is, so here are the updates I'll manually make to the HTML later this week:

David (Charter B) had only 44 PPG. Jimmy (SH Prep A) was actually 4th scorer and James (Kellenberg) 5th.
For the round, Charter B had 170 bonus points on 11 bonuses (15.45), not 35 on 20 (1.75).
Round 6 total bonus conversion was not a tournament-low 13.56 but a tournament-typical 15.54.
Charter B's bonus conversion was not 1470/92 = 15.98, but 1605/83 = 19.34.

This is, by the way, the #2 reason why I don't particularly like using bonus conversion as a tiebreaker (though I understand why it is used when comparing teams with different schedules). In a nutshell, it's too easy to screw up royally. One typo changed a team's bonus conversion from 4th-best to 7th-best, because it's doubly damaging (the typo reduced the team's bonus points while increasing the number of tossups = bonuses heard). Obviously, the solution is "Don't make typos" (and I don't know if SQBS gave a warning to a game where the teams combined for 27 tossups correct), but it's food for thought.