2010 NAQT HSNCT

[Unicolored Jay]

There are several states/areas where the only NAQT set used was an A-set, so that problem shouldn't apply in every case. Those tournaments (like one in South Dakota or something) don't have very many teams in attendance to begin with either, so lowering the qualification percentage won't do much there. I guess this would go either way.

[MahoningQuizBowler]

Should we anticipate another field update tomorrow, after the deadline to cancel without penalty has passed?

[Important Bird Area]

There will be an update soon, although I can't promise tomorrow.

[Important Bird Area]

The field has been updated.

[Flash Bomba]

How many spots are still reserved in the field for state champions?

[MahoningQuizBowler]

http://naqt.com/hsnct/reserved-berths.html says championships have to be held on or before 24 April to have a reserved berth, but (if I counted right) there were only 187 teams in the field as of the last update.

[Important Bird Area]

Current status:

187 teams listed in the last field update.

State championships:

Treasure Valley Math and Science (ID) (results) (registered)

Bettendorf (IA) (results) (pending)

La Cueva (NM) (results not on naqt.com yet) (pending)

The northern California state championship was won by Mission San Jose A (results), so that reserved berth is dissolved and we will invite the first team on the waitlist.

The last spot is reserved for the champion of the Oregon Brain Bowl. If we can't get in contact with the winner of that event in the very near future, we will dissolve that reserved berth and invite a team from the waitlist.

[Flash Bomba]

Would you happen to know when the "very near future" is exactly?

Edit: Apparently, it was pretty soon in the future. Thanks.

[quizbowllee]

Field expanded to 200 teams. Hopefully this won't affect the number of rounds we get to play.

[kayli]

Time to find money.

[Important Bird Area]

Field expanded to 200 teams. Hopefully this won't affect the number of rounds we get to play.

The number of rounds remains the same; we added more rooms to meet the extra demand.

[Important Bird Area]

Field update with the expansion to 200 teams.

[etchdulac]

Maybe I'm being arithmetic-deficient, but I'm coming out with 198 on this list... was Fort Mill intentionally removed?

[Important Bird Area]

was Fort Mill intentionally removed?

Yes, they cancelled their registration earlier this week.

[Mechanical Beasts]

Let's not rehash the same arguments about how it's impossible to qualify for HSNCT when it's indisputable that wildcard bids do, in fact, exist. I would be shocked if a team that put up 20+ ppb on any regular-difficulty high school set in the fall couldn't send in a bid and make it into the field based solely on that stat (particularly considering the large part of the HSNCT field that does not get 20+ ppb on regular-difficulty high school sets.

[cchiego]

Just so everyone knows, it looks like I'm going to be liveblogging the HSNCT again this year. Check out the intro post. Feel free to spread the word to anyone (parents, administration, influential bloggers, etc.) who might be interested in following it.

I'd definitely appreciate any feedback or ideas on what people want to see out of the blog this year. I won't have too much time before the tournament, but I do hope to have a few posts introducing some of the contending teams and giving lay people some idea of what the tournament's like.

Last year I followed this basic strategy when covering the tournament:
Friday Night- talked to various people about quizbowl and did some brief interviews (which I hope to post in the lead up to this year's tournament if I can find them on my old computer)
Saturday- camped out in the stats room, reported on results as soon as they arrived (would people prefer I wander between game rooms?)
Sunday- camped out in one playoff room, liveblogged those games, went to the stats room between rounds and talked via Gchat to get the latest info.

Any changes/additions that you might want to suggest, feel free to let me know either via comments or email. Technical comments on the layout of the site would also be appreciated.'

[Edit: Just so nobody needlessly duplicates this effort this year, I've posted a google map showing the location of all the teams at this year's HSNCT]

[etchdulac]

With the recent drops of registered teams (including both Brindlee Mountain teams, Brookville, Juan Diego and Assumption Catholic), it looks like the field sits at 196. If it stays this way, would NAQT re-inflate the field to 200 with standby teams? Or would NAQT run with 196, which I guess isn't hugely inconvenient compared to 200?

[Cheynem]

If it isn't too much work for you, Chris, it might be cool to report on what seem to be particularly interesting games, although the "matching" system of scheduling makes it difficult to know who's playing whom.

[etchdulac]

Theoretically, if you could find a master schedule, you'd at least be able to see in what rooms the top cards would meet as the afternoon went on (still not knowing what teams would have those cards by then). Don't know how hard it would be to run around room to room every round, especially when some rooms may be a bit ahead of others.

[Important Bird Area]

With the recent drops of registered teams (including both Brindlee Mountain teams, Brookville, Juan Diego and Assumption Catholic), it looks like the field sits at 196. If it stays this way, would NAQT re-inflate the field to 200 with standby teams? Or would NAQT run with 196, which I guess isn't hugely inconvenient compared to 200?

We'll add standby teams as needed to make 200; anything other than multiples of eight breaks the card system.

Theoretically, if you could find a master schedule, you'd at least be able to see in what rooms the top cards would meet as the afternoon went on (still not knowing what teams would have those cards by then). Don't know how hard it would be to run around room to room every round, especially when some rooms may be a bit ahead of others.

Chris, let me know what (if any) components of the scheduling machine you'd like to look at.

[cchiego]

It looks like I'm gong to stay in the stat room for the most part but may move out around lunchtime (rounds 6 and 7) to see a few matches if I can figure out the card system and the room locations (yeah Jeff, please send me whatever info you have so I can figure out where some of the best cards might be playing those rounds). If anyone who isn't busy staffing wants to be a volunteer "roving reporter" a la Chris Carter last year, let me know and we can plan out having you liveblog/report on some matches.

Also, thanks to everyone who's visited the blog so far; we're up to 1,400+ hits since I started it again this year, which is waaay more than we had at this time last year. Please feel free to send out the link to other websites who might be interested in the competition. [By the way, something like 1/3 of all the hits are coming via facebook; are people really posting links to this on their FB profiles?]

I am finding out, of course, that the more schools you mention the more controversial you get. Perhaps next year I'll sacrifice quantity for more in-depth profiles of the consensus top teams (or at least wait until after the "official" pre-Nationals poll comes out so I have some "objective" measure to work with).

[Rufous-capped Thornbill]

It looks like I'm gong to stay in the stat room for the most part but may move out around lunchtime (rounds 6 and 7) to see a few matches if I can figure out the card system and the room locations (yeah Jeff, please send me whatever info you have so I can figure out where some of the best cards might be playing those rounds). If anyone who isn't busy staffing wants to be a volunteer "roving reporter" a la Chris Carter last year, let me know and we can plan out having you liveblog/report on some matches.

Also, thanks to everyone who's visited the blog so far; we're up to 1,400+ hits since I started it again this year, which is waaay more than we had at this time last year. Please feel free to send out the link to other websites who might be interested in the competition. [By the way, something like 1/3 of all the hits are coming via facebook; are people really posting links to this on their FB profiles?]

I am finding out, of course, that the more schools you mention the more controversial you get. Perhaps next year I'll sacrifice quantity for more in-depth profiles of the consensus top teams (or at least wait until after the "official" pre-Nationals poll comes out so I have some "objective" measure to work with).

I like how you're mentioning a lot of teams. The top teams are discussed enough already, it's nice to see the "other guys" get some press.

Keep up the good work.

[Tanay]

I like how you're mentioning a lot of teams. The top teams are discussed enough already, it's nice to see the "other guys" get some press.

Keep up the good work.

Agreed. Perhaps it might be a good idea, though, to wait until after the HSQB "pre-nationals" poll, although this year, it's not coming out in time for this to be feasible.

[Boeing X-20, Please!]

I like how you're mentioning a lot of teams. The top teams are discussed enough already, it's nice to see the "other guys" get some press.

Keep up the good work.

Agreed. Perhaps it might be a good idea, though, to wait until after the HSQB "pre-nationals" poll, although this year, it's not coming out in time for this to be feasible.

Plus I think it might be good to look at non-NAQT results as well, since doing good at good quizbowl does in fact help you at NAQT, and like Andy said in the Studying for Trash thread if you beat teams to most of the academic stuff in a packet, you will win most of the time even with the 5/5 or whatever CE/Geo/Trash.

[cchiego]

I like how you're mentioning a lot of teams. The top teams are discussed enough already, it's nice to see the "other guys" get some press.

Keep up the good work.

Agreed. Perhaps it might be a good idea, though, to wait until after the HSQB "pre-nationals" poll, although this year, it's not coming out in time for this to be feasible.

Plus I think it might be good to look at non-NAQT results as well, since doing good at good quizbowl does in fact help you at NAQT, and like Andy said in the Studying for Trash thread if you beat teams to most of the academic stuff in a packet, you will win most of the time even with the 5/5 or whatever CE/Geo/Trash.

Yeah I've tried to bring in other tournament results (Harvard Fall Tournament, Prison Bowl, I think I have a GSAC link too), but the NAQT results dataset is much easier to navigate than a bunch of separate files (even on Scobowl you can't see all of a team's results at once I don't think). Also, Tanay might be right about waiting for the poll to come out so I don't unduly bias any voting with my prognostication, unless of course I have a hidden agenda and hope to achieve something in life by biasing high school quizbowl polls.

[kayli]

I like how you're mentioning a lot of teams. The top teams are discussed enough already, it's nice to see the "other guys" get some press.

Keep up the good work.

Agreed. Perhaps it might be a good idea, though, to wait until after the HSQB "pre-nationals" poll, although this year, it's not coming out in time for this to be feasible.

Plus I think it might be good to look at non-NAQT results as well, since doing good at good quizbowl does in fact help you at NAQT, and like Andy said in the Studying for Trash thread if you beat teams to most of the academic stuff in a packet, you will win most of the time even with the 5/5 or whatever CE/Geo/Trash.

Yeah I've tried to bring in other tournament results (Harvard Fall Tournament, Prison Bowl, I think I have a GSAC link too), but the NAQT results dataset is much easier to navigate than a bunch of separate files (even on Scobowl you can't see all of a team's results at once I don't think). Also, Tanay might be right about waiting for the poll to come out so I don't unduly bias any voting with my prognostication, unless of course I have a hidden agenda and hope to achieve something in life by biasing high school quizbowl polls.

Next issue of the Quizbowl Tribune: BETTING SCANDAL AT HSNCT!

[Rufous-capped Thornbill]

Chris, are you still planning to do a Small School preview?

[cchiego]

Chris, are you still planning to do a Small School preview?

Yes, but I'm going to wait until Wed and post it with the poll results. I'm a bit behind on real-life stuff.

[jdeliverer]

What are the practice rounds on Friday usually like? Is it organized, or do people just play with whomever? How many schools usually participate? I guess the same questions about consolation matches on Sunday.

[Unicolored Jay]

What are the practice rounds on Friday usually like? Is it organized, or do people just play with whomever? How many schools usually participate? I guess the same questions about consolation matches on Sunday.

They try to keep it organized so that they know how many rooms are available and how many teams are around. Last year, I think they assigned teams randomly. We had to keep going back to the basement to get our next room assignment. And usually people play with their team. I don't know how many teams participate though. As for consolation matches, they sort-of do the same thing (although I didn't do hat last year, so I don't know much about it).

[etchdulac]

Another tournament format question: Are the 6-4 teams getting one loss or two on Sunday this year?

[Rufous-capped Thornbill]

Another tournament format question: Are the 6-4 teams getting one loss or two on Sunday this year?

The entire tournament is double elimination, but 6-4 teams start with one loss going into the playoffs. Same with 4-6 Small schools.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Hey,
So, duPont Manual B will NOT be at HSNCT due to the Shabaricon mishap. I’d make a joke here [like: They're all tied up] but I’m sure we’ll get enough of that this weekend

-Meghamsh
duPont Manual A

Comment by Meghamsh — May 27, 2010 @ 4:38 pm | Reply

I had a feeling some schools would drop out. Why, exactly, is their administration okay with letting some people go and not others?

[dtaylor4]

Hey,
So, duPont Manual B will NOT be at HSNCT due to the Shabaricon mishap. I’d make a joke here [like: They're all tied up] but I’m sure we’ll get enough of that this weekend

-Meghamsh
duPont Manual A

Comment by Meghamsh — May 27, 2010 @ 4:38 pm | Reply

I had a feeling some schools would drop out. Why, exactly, is their administration okay with letting some people go and not others?

It's probably a parental consent issue.

[Cheynem]

I will vouch for Chris as a delightful young man who will probably not harm your kids.

[Auroni]

I will vouch for Chris as a delightful young man who will probably not harm your kids.

Chris is pretty cool. You want him to liveblog your games.

[Sir Thopas]

Hey kids. Once again I have made the last minute decision to attend HSNCT and be the roving reporter of your dreams. I will have Chiego feeding me where the best games should be, but if you are a top team and you know me personally, feel free to shoot me an email with a contact phone number that I can text to see where your team is/will be going. This doesn't guarantee I will see any match of yours, but it's good to have people in the field letting us know where they are.

Of course, stranger danger and all that, if you don't know me, don't send me your number. If you are terrified of me, don't send me your number.

Christian Carter
Emerson College

Boom boom boom boom, I want you in my room.

[at your pleasure]

I will vouch for Chris as a delightful young man who will probably not harm your kids.

Chris is pretty cool. You want him to liveblog your games.

Thirded. Chris is a fine gentleman and a pleasure to be around. There is no reason I can imagine to be terrifed of him.

[Frater Taciturnus]

I will vouch for Chris as a delightful young man who will probably not harm your kids.

Chris is pretty cool. You want him to liveblog your games.

Thirded. Chris is a fine gentleman and a pleasure to be around. There is no reason I can imagine to be terrifed of him.

He does have that nasty habit of eating the navels of children. And the drums he carries around are far too large.

[The King's Flight to the Scots]

I will vouch for Chris as a delightful young man who will probably not harm your kids.

Chris is pretty cool. You want him to liveblog your games.

Thirded. Chris is a fine gentleman and a pleasure to be around. There is no reason I can imagine to be terrifed of him.

He does have that nasty habit of eating the navels of children. And the drums he carries around are far too large.

STOP MAKING HARD CLUES EASY

[Kwang the Ninja]

In case anyone isn't following the HSNCT live Twitter feed, Maggie Walker beat State College in a prelim meeting, becoming the last undefeated team, before losing to Dorman the next round.

[Whiter Hydra]

So it looks like after the prelims, DCD, State College, Gov, and Dorman all finished at 9-1, while Walter Johnson, LASA, GDS, and a few others are 8-2.

[jdeliverer]

It won't make a difference, since we didn't make the playoffs, but I'm pretty sure we were credited with a loss somewhere that we won, since Latin was 5-5 and we were listed as 4-6.

[Auroni]

This spreadsheet has the accurate statistics for the Saturday rounds:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key ... IVEE&hl=en

[gaurav.kandlikar]

So I hear from the Eden Prairie B team members that they went 6-4 today, but the posted standings show them has going 5-5. Who can we contact to settle this discrepancy?

Thanks,
Gaurav Kandlikar

[marnold]

So I hear from the Eden Prairie B team members that they went 6-4 today, but the posted standings show them has going 5-5. Who can we contact to settle this discrepancy?

Thanks,
Gaurav Kandlikar

They went 6-4. They beat Ladue the last round in our room, so Ladue should be 5-5.

[Unicolored Jay]

Our individual stats do not match up with the scoresheet's:

I calculated this from my scoresheets.

[etchdulac]

If they turned in an end-of-day record card with a contact number, and there is a discrepancy, they should've gotten a call. Can't offer any more info than that.

[Stained Diviner]

Teams Eliminated From Playoffs:
NOTE: This is mostly accurate. People who have figured out what happened after this should add on. The last undefeated team is Maggie Walker, and their last two wins came over State College and Bellarmine. GDS and LASA each took their first loss in Round Four.

Round I
Santa Fe by Everglades
GPN by Chaska
Novi by Cistercian
Carbondale by Loyola
EP by CR
Tippecanoe by Seton Hall
Churchill by Livingston
Grand Junction by Culver
MLK by Adair
Wilm Charter B by DCC B
Rocky Grove by Lisgar

Round II
University by Olmsted Falls
Walton by Walnut Hills
St Ignatius by Quince
Parkview by Santa Monica
South Range by Dunbar
Arcadia by Kellenberg
New Trier by Centennial
St Paul by Seven Lakes
Glenwood by Bergen
Cheshire by Brophy
DeLaSalle by Pensacola
Lisgar by Berkeley
WJ by Adair
DCC B by Dorman B
Culver by St Thomas
Livingston by Bernardo
Seton Hall by Hooch
CR by Auburn
Loyola by Hoover
Cistercian by La Jolla
Chaska by St Joseph
Ransom Everglades by MSJ

Round III
Raleigh Charter by Centennial
TJ by Seven Lakes
Olmsted Falls by duPont
Walnut Hills by LASA B
Quince by T Pines
S Monica by EP
Dunbar by Stevenson
Kellenberg by Hume Fogg
Bergen by Solon
Brophy by St Marks
Pensacola by MSJ
Dorman B by La Jolla
St Thomas by Auburn
R Bernardo by Hoochee
Hoover by Adair
St Joseph by Berkeley

Round IV
OPRF by Adair
Centennial by Stevenson
Auburn by Dorman
St Marks by EP
duPont by MSJ
Berkeley by LASA B
La Jolla by DCD
HF by Seven Lakes
Solon by Torrey Pines
In addition, there should have been a match involving Hooch, DCC, and/or Wilmington Charter.

[Whiter Hydra]

I know that DCD and DCC both finished tied for 7th.