Early Autumn Collegiate Novice Tournament at SC (10/2/10)

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

The Academic Team at the University of South Carolina will be hosting a mirror of the ACF sponsored Early Autumn Collegiate Novice Tournament on Saturday, October 2, 2010 in Columbia. We will meet in room 401 of the Close/Hipp (Moore School of Business) building. Check-in will begin at 9:00 AM, morning announcements will be at 9:45, and play will begin at 10:00. The entire tournament (including awards and playoffs) should be over before 5:00. Each team will be guaranteed at least seven rounds, and there will be finals as necessary to determine the champions.

Please email Eric Douglass at ericd25 at hotmail dot com to register or if you have any questions. Teams must register by e-mailing me prior to the date of the tournament in order to play. Further information is below:

REGISTRATION AND FEES:

Base fee: $15/player [$60 for a 4 person team]
$5 off the base fee for schools per working buzzer system provided
$10 off the base fee for schools per competent moderator
$10 off the base fee for schools for each 100 miles traveled
Minimum fee: $5/player [$20 for a 4 person team]

Please e- mail me at ericd25 at hotmail dot com with the number of teams, buzzers, and staffers you want to bring, and an email address where you can be contacted with details. I will e-mail my team contacts with necessary information as we approach the tournament. Feel free to share this announcement with any schools that you think would be interested in attending.

I should stress that our tournament's success depends in part on veteran players accompanying their teams to volunteer to staff this tournament and for teams from established programs to bring working buzzer systems. We’ll give you lunch money and it will be worth your team’s while money-wise.

ELIGIBILITY RULES:

1. All ACF eligibility rules apply, except when they contradict the rules below. ACF eligibility rules can be found at http://acf-quizbowl.com/documents/acfrules_final.pdf beginning on page 3.
2. This is a tournament for introducing collegiate novices to quizbowl. Consequently, no high school teams or players are eligible.
3. Anyone (who does not break Rules 1 or 2) who has never played quizbowl before is automatically eligible. Other academic competition does not count as quizbowl for this rule.
4. Players meeting one or more of the following criteria must apply to the head editor for special permission to play:
i. If you have already completed your second year of college (calculated from time in college, not credits).
ii. If you were ever on a playoff team at NAQT HSNCT or PACE NSC.
iii. If you have ever scored at least 30 points per game at any college tournament.
iv. If you have ever won any college tournament.
5. Anyone who does not fall into any of the four categories listed in Rule 4 is automatically eligible to play.

LOCATION: We will meet in room 401 of the Close/Hipp (Moore School of Business) building. Check-in will begin at 9:00 and end at 9:45. Following morning announcements, play will begin at 10:00.

DIRECTIONS:

The tournament will take place in the Close/Hipp Building (The Moore School of Business). We will meet in room 401. The address is 1705 College Street. There are a few meter parking lots in the immediate vicinity and several parallel meters along Barnwell, College, and Pendleton streets. The regular meters are not checked on Saturdays, though there are a few 15 minute meters that are. The Cocky mascot is pointing to the building here, and the green represents the metered lots.

Located in the geographic center of South Carolina, Columbia is a fairly short drive from anywhere in South Carolina. It is only 1 hour from Augusta, 1.5 hours from Charlotte, and 2.5 hours from Asheville and Savannah.

QUESTIONS: As the name of the tournament suggests, this tournament is geared specifically to collegiate novices. Thus, the questions will be very accessible and short.

FORMAT: The format will vary depending on the number of teams that register, but we will strive to offer all teams at least 7 games, and we will keep individual statistics. Trophies will be awarded to the top 2 teams, and book prizes will be awarded to at least the top 8 individual scorers.

RULES: We’ll follow ACF rules, which are located at http://acf-quizbowl.com/documents/acfrules_final.pdf

We encourage players to familiarize themselves with these rules prior to the event, and we will have a brief overview of the rules on the morning of the tournament.

METHOD OF PAYMENT: We will accept payment on the day of the tournament by cash or check, and we will provide receipts on site. Please contact me as soon as possible if other methods of payment are necessary so that we can make appropriate arrangements. Checks should be made payable to the “Academic Team at USC.”

TEAM & ROSTER SIZE: There may be a maximum of six players on one team's roster, though only four may play at one time. Each player may appear on only one team's roster throughout the day—no switching from the B team to the A team, etc. Teams may also play shorthanded with as few as one players.

FOOD: We will provide assorted donuts, bagels, juice, and milk the morning of the tournament. Lunch will not be provided. There are a large number of eateries on and around campus, and we will provide teams with a food guide. Lunch money will be provided to outside staffers.

Please e-mail me if you have any further questions. We aim to put on a great event for all teams
who attend.

Field Update:

North Greenville University (1-2 teams, 1 buzzer, 1 moderator)
USC (2 house teams, 1 buzzer, lots of moderators)
Wofford (1 team, 1 buzzer, possible moderator)

[eldermaas]

Is NGU the only team signed up for this mirror?

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

So far! We're doing a pretty extensive mailing campaign to get more people signed up and the editors of this event are apparently doing a mailing campaign as well. So hopefully we'll have a few more people signing up by this time next week. I'll update this thread as more teams sign up.

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

I just wanted to update people on this tournament since it's a little less than two weeks to go. USC will likely have at least 2 teams playing, and North Greenville may be bringing a 2nd team as well.

We just need about 3 teams to sign up to make this happen. I highly encourage teams to sign up for this tournament. You won't find a more affordable, more accessible tournament anywhere. Post here or e-mail me if you're interested in playing.

Finally, I should have a room reservation update today or tomorrow.

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

The tournament will take place in the Close/Hipp Building (The Moore School of Business). We will meet in room 401. The address is 1705 College Street. There are a few meter parking lots in the immediate vicinity and several parallel meters along Barnwell, College, and Pendleton streets. The regular meters are not checked on Saturdays, though there are a few 15 minute meters that are. The Cocky mascot is pointing to the building here, and the green represents the metered lots.

I have updated the general announcement at the top of the page.

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

We have 4 teams signed up for this, which is enough for us to have a tournament. There's still time to sign up though; we'll accept registrations 'til Friday, so contact me at ericd25 at hotmail dot com. Also, I have itunes gift cards for the top 2 scorers and pretty much everyone will get a book. Should be fun.

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

Congratulations to Wofford College for winning the USC Mirror of the Early Autumn Collegiate Novice Tournament with a 7-2 record. North Greenville B was second with a 5-4 record and a higher PPG than the third place team, North Greenville A (Also 5-4). USC's house team rounded out the field.

David Blum of Wofford was the tournament's leading scorer (40.56 PPG), followed by DoRinda of North Greenville A (37.78), Aaron Rangel of Wofford (36.11), Jason of NG B (33.33), and Matt of NG B (32.22).

Stats can be found here.

The performance of the field yesterday was outstanding. Despite its size, this tournament was as exciting as bigger tournaments in terms of the play of its competitors. I hope to see NGU and Wofford at more tournaments in the near future.

Special thanks to the Academic Team at USC for staffing this tournament. Special thanks also to Andrew Hart and the rest of the writers of the tournament. The questions really seemed to engage the field. Frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing another similar tournament in the spring, and it would be really great to have another next year.