Illinois '14-'15

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Illinois '14-'15

Post by schen »

Now that both national championships are over, what are everyone's thoughts/predictions/whatever for the Illinois circuit next year?
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Good Goblin Housekeeping »

NASAT 2014 NEVER FORGET
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Charles Martel »

I predict that Dylan Minarik will dominate the novice circuit in Illinois.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by alexdz »

Sorry to go on a slight tangent here, but just wanted to say I will likely be making frequent trips to the Chambana area this upcoming year and would be happy to help staff a tournament or two in conjunction with said trips.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by MorganV »

I predict that IMSA finishes T-13 for the fourth time in five years
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Dominator »

MorganV wrote:I predict that IMSA finishes T-13 for the fourth time in five years
Can we just stay home and have NAQT mail us a T-13 trophy to save on lodging?
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

Dominator wrote:
MorganV wrote:I predict that IMSA finishes T-13 for the fourth time in five years
Can we just stay home and have NAQT mail us a T-13 trophy to save on lodging?
As long as you pay the extra shipping cost -- and that's not cheap, I'm sure they get a huge bulk discount on that.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by AKKOLADE »

The University of Kentucky will be hosting our Fall Championship on November 22nd, 2014.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by the return of AHAN »

Though not a voting member of the Advisory Board any more, I have it on good authority that the IESA Advisory Board has 2 items on the agenda for tomorrow that propose reducing toss-up timing and asking bonuses one part at a time.
Fingers crossed for incremental change towards better quizbowl...
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

the return of AHAN wrote:Though not a voting member of the Advisory Board any more, I have it on good authority that the IESA Advisory Board has 2 items on the agenda for tomorrow that propose reducing toss-up timing and asking bonuses one part at a time.
Fingers crossed for incremental change towards better quizbowl...
It's 10 seconds for a tossup, right? I'd almost prefer that doesn't change. Sure, it's not what NAQT does or what most Saturday HS tournaments use, but who cares? IESA has bigger problems.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by the return of AHAN »

but who cares?
Obviously, not KCDS.

Currently 15, or 30 for computational toss-ups. Proposal is asking for 5 or 10/15 or 20 for computation.

It'll never get fixed overnight. But I was looking over a packet from 2008 today. Man, oh man, as bad as we kvetch about QG being today, the questions used to be so much worse.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by the return of AHAN »

And... hardly anything got fixed. Brad Fischer and Kristin Burns, if you want to spearhead the founding of an Illinois Middle School Quizbowl Association State Championship Series, with the top finishers qualifying for the MSNCT, I'm listening.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

the return of AHAN wrote:And... hardly anything got fixed. Brad Fischer and Kristin Burns, if you want to spearhead the founding of an Illinois Middle School Quizbowl Association State Championship Series, with the top finishers qualifying for the MSNCT, I'm listening.
I'm pretty sure we've run essentially that thing on MLK day each of the last two seasons. Illinois middle schools? Check. MSNCT bids? Check. More legitimate quizbowl than IESA State? Check.

Do you want us to buy bigger trophies, or what are looking for here? :smile:
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by the return of AHAN »

That's a one-day thing, confined to Rockford. I'm talking about actual regional/sectional tournaments that feed into a state championship.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

the return of AHAN wrote:That's a one-day thing, confined to Rockford. I'm talking about actual regional/sectional tournaments that feed into a state championship.
The regional tournament is "who can get their e-mail addresses to Kristin Burns to be on the mailing list," and sectionals is "who can respond fastest to get their spot in the field, because we cap the tiny field at like 4 teams."

But I hear you, and if I had time I'd be interested in working on this. I can't lead it though. :sad:
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by NLiu »

Saint Joseph (IN) will continue to attend as many Chicago area tournaments as possible, although given that we don't really have a team this year it's more likely that you'll be seeing "The Academy of Carpentry"/me playing solo
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

NLiu wrote:we don't really have a team this year
Eh? Sorry to hear, but what's up?
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Ben Dillon »

When Nolan says "we don't have a team", he means he's not expecting much support from the young'uns, i.e. he expects to be pretty much a one-man team. Saint Joe will still attend as many tourneys as feasible.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

Ben Dillon wrote:When Nolan says "we don't have a team", he means he's not expecting much support from the young'uns, i.e. he expects to be pretty much a one-man team. Saint Joe will still attend as many tourneys as feasible.
Ok, cool -- I was worried you were joining Coach Blessman in Germany!
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Ben Dillon »

Can't speak a word of German, so that would be counterproductive, to say the least :>
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by CometsCoach »

I predict that Greenville High School will have a very solid team next year and make Erika Knolhoff's first year as head coach a successful one.

I predict that a program will be established at Waukee High School in suburban Des Moines and a circuit will spring up in the Des Moines/Ames area.

I predict that Evan Pandya and Cole Timmerwilke will only get better and that the tall task of playing Rockford Auburn and Team Illinois will become all the more challenging.

I predict that at the December 2015 edition of New Trier Varsity (or some other high level tournament in the Chicago area), Greenville will match up against Waukee (under a head coach who shall remain nameless), and Greenville will win that match in overtime.

Lastly, I predict that the continued excellence of Illinois quiz bowl will continue. It's been an honor to learn from that excellence.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by PBird#48 »

Farewell, Coach Winter. Your dedication and personality will be deeply missed by the South Central Conference. Best of luck in Iowa.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Harpie's Feather Duster »

Northwestern will, pending some sort of major change in plans, continue hosting its usual tournaments under my direction. This includes the return of Wake-Up Call as long as there is sufficient demand.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by garciaja »

I will be stepping down as co-coach of Centennial and handing over all responsibilities to Mike Sorice, a net gain if you ask anyone. As far as I'm aware, Champaign will still host a Kickoff, IHSA Sectional, Masonic Sectional, and NAQT State.

I will be working for an electronic medical records company in the Madison, WI area and may be able to help out at short staffed tournaments near Rockford and select tournaments like NAQT State. jjgarcia77 at gmail.com
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Dominator »

garciaja wrote:I will be stepping down as co-coach of Centennial and handing over all responsibilities to Mike Sorice, a net gain if you ask anyone. As far as I'm aware, Champaign will still host a Kickoff, IHSA Sectional, Masonic Sectional, and NAQT State.
I am sorry to hear that. Centennial HS and central Illinois quizbowl owe you a big debt of gratitude for what you built there. Best of luck!
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by JHuh33 »

My predictions:

1. Auburn: They have half of Team Illinois 2014 and move two strong B-team players up (Steven Vo and Muj). A lot of their losses at PACE were within one/two questions; if Steven and Muj do what they're capable of, Auburn should be national contenders.

2. IMSA: Earlybird 2013 shed light on what this year's squad is capable of. Andrew Salij, Waleed Ali, and Pechi could give Auburn a rough time next year, depending on how hard they have studied. They should be strong in the humanities, particularly history, but probably have a gaping science hole due to Anton's graduation. Plus, they get Pranav and Nathaniel Smith, but idk how that will affect their roster.

3. Bloomington: Alston Boyd is a strong generalist and has teammates who are looking to improve. Apparently, Sam Emmerson won the Science final at ACE and, (from what I read on the forums) Meredith Pounds studies hardcore. With motivated teammates, Mr. Boyd may pull off some upsets this year.

4. UChicago Lab: Adam Fine and Clare Keenan are really good. They eliminated Carbondale A at HSNCT and placed t-21. They'll probably make similar strides this coming year.

5. Hinsdale Central: This group of juniors and sophomores has really cranked up their intensity this year. Placing t-34 at HSNCT and thrashing Fremd in the first round of the playoffs came off as really impressive to me. On top of that, they outpowered St. Joseph (IN). They still seem to have kind of a negging problem, but that means nothing coming from me.

6. Fremd: Jennie Yang is awesome at quiz bowl, but she looks like more of a one-person team than ever. Even though she played HSNCT with just sophomores and freshman, she managed to make playoffs on a fine-arts deprived format. She'll probably be the #1 scorer at every tournament next year.

7. Matea Valley: Avik leads a team of disciplined niche players, and they seem to get good contribution from every one of their players. Maybe this is too high a rank, but I've lost to them pretty much every time.

8. Carbondale: Prerak really carried us last season, so I'm placing us here because it'll take some time to recover. We'll have a definite lineup this season though, so hopefully that plays to our advantage.

I've heard Matthew from Barrington has been putting in work so I expect them to do quite some damage. I'm sure there are a lot of other teams that I have left out, and I apologize in advance.

These rankings could be really wrong so feel free to bash me.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by heterodyne »

Dominator wrote: I am sorry to hear that. Centennial HS and central Illinois quizbowl owe you a big debt of gratitude for what you built there. Best of luck!
Just going to wholeheartedly second this sentiment.


Since nobody seems to be posting, I'm going to and hopefully say some terribly wrong things that will get people to post.

Predictions:
Auburn: Evan and Cole come back and are going to dominate. With Evan having picked up some science, they don't have any holes, and basically have a lockdown on several subjects. I'm not sure if members of last year's Auburn B will be joining them or if they will try to maintain that Auburn B squad as a self-contained item. Either way, the clear frontrunner for the state.

IMSA: Will also be very good. Dan Pechi and Waleed Ali both know their categories quite well, and the generalist/RMP knowledge of Andrew Salij will only fill out their coverage. Pranav is presumably going to have the unenviable task of filling the science and geo gap left by Anton's departure. They also gain Nathaniel Smith, who has history knowledge, psych knowledge, some lit, and total lockdown on Christianity. He will likely lead another successful IMSA B. I don't know about their coaching situation.

Fremd: Jennie Yang now has even better science coverage! This team's weakness will probably be history and social sciences, and I'm not sure if Jennie has mustered up teammates who will get non-trash things. Jennie is obviously a terror on fine arts and will get other things.

UChicago Lab: The one-two punch of Adam Fine and Clare Keenan is pretty scary. Adam knows a lot of things, especially science, and Clare is a killer lit specialist. Will do well at things.

Carbondale: They lose Prerak and I'm not sure what they plan to do about that. Hopefully Jonathan Huh will actually get some playing time. They didn't come to that much with their full team last year. Hopefully that can change.

Metea Valley: They didn't go to much next year but showed promise when they did, and they're young. Could be strong if they attend things.

Wheaton North: I think they graduate most of their scoring? I really don't know.

Stevenson: They graduate most of their lineup, retaining Jonathan Mishory. They had one person at ACE whose name is totally escaping me who did pretty well.

Latin: They retain some people, but do lose Yinga. I'm not sure what their rebuilding plan is.

Newman Central Catholic: Eliot (sp?) was quite impressive at ACE and I really hope that they can attend things!
I probably forgot a bunch of teams, so sorry.

EDIT: HINSDALE! They return everyone and can hopefully neg less.
Edit part 2 electric boogaloo: Conrad Oberhaus was the Stevenson person!
Last edited by heterodyne on Mon Jul 14, 2014 10:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by jonah »

JHuh33 wrote:Meredith Pounds studies hardcore.
JHuh33 wrote:I've heard Matthew from Barrington has been putting in work
Based on observations at DONTQUIT, I can confirm both of these statements.

Does anyone know what next year holds for the existence and tournament attendance of the IMSA team?
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by NLiu »

Idk if i'm exactly qualified to post on this thread, but I'm going to justify it with the fact that my team attends three times as many tournaments in your state as in our own. Feel free to tear these projections apart...

1. Auburn. I don't think there's much to discuss here; Evan and Cole are both beasts at quizbowl, and cover most categories very well even playing as a two-man team. That plus the help from players moving up from their B-team (which was very formidable last year, playing us relatively closely the last few times we played) should make them easily favorites for the #1 team in the state. They did show some weaknesses last year on the NAQT format, and IMSA will remain at the very least a presence depending on their rate of improvement, but for now Auburn should be very comfortably occupying the top spot.

2. IMSA. They return Waleed and Dan Pechi, both very solid players who (if history has proven anything about the IMSA program) will only get much better. I believe Salij and a few other players from their B-team, which we eliminated from HSNCT, will be moving up; this will give them some generalist knowledge and history, although they will still be hard-pressed to find anyone who can adequately fill Anton's shoes with regards to Geo/Science. At present I don't see them beating Auburn, although I'd also note that it's never a good bet to underestimate this team or its improvement ability.

3-T. Bloomington. Alston is a good generalist--that and the fact that he appears to have teammates to support him in science will make him a strong contender in-state, with the possibility of upsetting either of the top two teams given the right circumstances.

3-T. Fremd. Jenny is very good at quizbowl and will dominate in lit, fine arts, and many other things, although I perceive that her lack of serious support and a hole in history will affect consistency and her ability to consistently place at the top, team-wise, and particularly in the NAQT format.

3-T. UChicago Lab. They were very good when we played them last year, and placed above us at HSNCT in (what I believe to be) their first year of seriously playing quizbowl, so I believe this is a squad that has the potential to seriously explode with improvement this year. Adam and Clare are phenomenal players and will continue to improve, making this squad a threat with a lot of potential. They will win things.

6. Hindsdale. To be honest, they will fluctuate between 3rd and like 9th unless they get their negging problem under control. However, they do have some incredibly deep knowledge and can beat good teams, if they can get their volatility under control.

7. Carbondale. They lose Prerak, but Jonathan and company should be enough to make them a relatively decent squad. I really don't know much about this team, but they've had a good program for some time and I'll predict some substantial improvement over the course of the season, particularly if they can keep an organized team in attendance at more tournaments.

8. Metea Valley. I don't know much about this team; we've beaten them handily both times we've played, so I don't know how much is hidden below the surface or how much improvement they'll see over the summer. At present I see them going almost even with Carbondale or even Hindsdale on a bad day.

With regards to us, it's just me and some freshmen and sophomores whose only experience with quizbowl has been on NAQT middle school questions against other schools in the south bend area. A few of our kids did go to ACE which I'm somewhat proud of but they overlap with me too much to be of any use this year. I've attempted to absorb the Fine Arts and RMP that Davide covered for us, but this has come at the expense of my lit and history core and I don't see myself getting much deeper at anything. Therefore, I predict that I will be the one-man-team to end all other one-man-teams and will vie with Jenny for that top-scorer spot at most tournaments, but ability and team-wise I see us placing around (if not below) Hindsdale and Carbondale.

Other teams have probably been left out and I don't doubt some huge surprises are going to jump out at us once actual tournaments get rolling, so I apologize for missing anybody in advance.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by kievanrustic »

jonah wrote: Does anyone know what next year holds for the existence and tournament attendance of the IMSA team?
As far as I know, Dan Pechi has been seeing if 1507 (his and Waleed's residence hall) Residence Counselors would be willing to coach. If that plan falls together, then the IMSA team should exist. If not, there's always going unaffiliated to nearby tournaments. Mike Etzkorn, Dan Pechi, and I all live in the Chicagoland area, so going to tournaments is certainly feasible.

As for a specific tournament schedule, I don't know. There are still too many variables that could change in the coming months.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by PBird#48 »

Wow... It seems as if the Masonic Tournament has gone to three classes.

http://www.masonicbowl.org/

I wonder what the new cut off enrollments will be. Maybe they will wait for the majority of the schools to register and then decide classes based on participating schools' enrollments in an IHSA-ish style, but heck if I know.

Also, the website's new look is pretty nifty. :smile:
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

I talked with Dale Thayer -- the cutoffs aren't decided yet, as they're waiting for more knowledge of who's gonna be in the tournament (don't want to cut it off at an odd number of schools in two classes if you don't have to!).
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by dtaylor4 »

in on these shenanigans wrote:I talked with Dale Thayer -- the cutoffs aren't decided yet, as they're waiting for more knowledge of who's gonna be in the tournament (don't want to cut it off at an odd number of schools in two classes if you don't have to!).
I can confirm this, as I was at the committee meeting in April where this was initially brought up. Anything further, I am not at liberty to discuss. It was made clear to me that information I was privy to was not to be discussed publicly. Since Reinstein took over (I have contributed to every Masonic set he's been in charge of), I have had good relations with Dale and the rest of the Masons, and I would prefer to keep it that way.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by thrillhouse »

Well, if the Masonic meet mirrors the IHSA's three tiered system, it would look something like this:

1. Schools with enrollments of 0-728.00 will be Class 1A
2. Schools with enrollments of 728.01-1657.00 will be Class 2A
3. Schools with enrollments of 1657.01 and-above will be Class 3A

Keep in mind, too, the IHSA uses a multiplier for certain schools as well. I am not sure how closely the Masonic participation mirrors that of the IHSA's (I assume it is smaller in terms of numbers), but I figure this estimate would be altered. I wonder, though, how much this would impact the sectional locations due to size and geography.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by jonah »

thrillhouse wrote:Well, if the Masonic meet mirrors the IHSA's three tiered system, it would look something like this:

1. Schools with enrollments of 0-728.00 will be Class 1A
2. Schools with enrollments of 728.01-1657.00 will be Class 2A
3. Schools with enrollments of 1657.01 and-above will be Class 3A

Keep in mind, too, the IHSA uses a multiplier for certain schools as well. I am not sure how closely the Masonic participation mirrors that of the IHSA's (I assume it is smaller in terms of numbers), but I figure this estimate would be altered. I wonder, though, how much this would impact the sectional locations due to size and geography.
The IHSA's class cutoff vary each year and for each activity (in order to ensure that each class has about the same number of schools participating in the sport/activity), so this might not be very telling.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by dtaylor4 »

thrillhouse wrote:Keep in mind, too, the IHSA uses a multiplier for certain schools as well. I am not sure how closely the Masonic participation mirrors that of the IHSA's (I assume it is smaller in terms of numbers), but I figure this estimate would be altered. I wonder, though, how much this would impact the sectional locations due to size and geography.
The past couple years, Masonic participation has floated around the 300 mark. Given that IHSA features 32 sectionals that require teams to win single-elim regionals of ~8 teams, it is clear that even after 30+ years, some teams simply don't want a (mostly) free shot at money.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Harpie's Feather Duster »

Northwestern is officially hosting Wake-Up Call again this year on October 25th. We will be using an NAQT A-Set and the same eligibility guidelines as the IHSSBCA for the definition of a "novice" player. Expect a full announcement in the appropriate forum either tonight or tomorrow.

EDIT: This has been moved to the 25th to avoid the conflict with Earlybird.

EDIT PART 2: The thread can now be found here.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Good Goblin Housekeeping »

Earlybird is happening people should come
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by On a lurgid bee »

Just some thoughts on various teams in no particular order. I am going into sophomore year so forgive me for some gaps in my knowledge that a more experienced player might know.

IMSA: Obviously they will be good as usual, although they appear to have a bit of a science hole. I know Pranav well enough to know that he can fill the geo/astro holes left by Anton's departure but the key for the IMSA team will be whether or not he can fill the rest of the science.

Auburn: Yeah, two returning all-staters including possibly the best player in Illinois. That's pretty good. Obviously Evan and Cole are amazing players, but Steven Vo should help them fill up their science a bit.

Bloomington: Alston is a great player and he is getting some nice support from his teammates. Meredith should crush FA, while I believe Sam won the science tournament at ACE.

UChicago Lab: They could be a team that becomes top five in Illinois. Adam Fine is a great player and Clare Keenan is an elite lit player.

Carbondale: I think Prerak leaves (?) but I believe they return everyone else. I have only played this team once (Loyburn) so I don't know a ton about them.

Latin: Loses Yinga but I think returns everyone else in what was a very balanced attack.

Wheaton North: I think they graduate everyone but they return a talented B team.

Hinsdale Central: They have three talented players and they should be great at science (they have a lot of real knowledge). I'm just going to go ahead and stop there before I mention their problem with you-know-what.

Fremd: We played Fremd a lot last year. Everyone important (Jennie) returns. Jennie appears to have improved both her science (got second at ACE in science tournament) and her lit knowledge.

Stevenson: They lose Jason and Jeeho from their amazing performance at HSNCT. They move Mishory and Pease into bigger roles. A player that they gain is freshman Conrad Oberhaus who is a history player with insane geography skills. I don't know if he will be on varsity though.

Barrington: This would be the team that I play for. We will probably be better at IHSA due to comp math which Bryce Cai is absolutely dominant in.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Emil Nolde »

Fr. Lorinskas told us yesterday that apparently SIAC (our conference) is switching/has switched to Questions Galore as their question provider. Since she is no longer the conference chair, the only way we can really express our malcontent is to threaten non-attendance, which probably won't do much since (at least on good questions) the circuit would be significantly more competitive without us, and since I can't see canceling the only non-Kickoff dates on which we play teams any other student group at Carbondale competes with (not to mention the sheer distance) endearing us to the administration, that won't work. It's just so frustrating to see the state of quizbowl go backward, considering we've been on NAQT for the last 2-3 years, if I remember correctly.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by mahir256 »

Like the rest of my team, I am absolutely disgusted at the questions that our conference is using. The unwillingness of teams near us to use quality material puts us at a disadvantage in terms of what experience we can cultivate south of I-70.

EDIT: Heeded Mgmt.'s warning.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Stained Diviner »

The Masons want to have the same number of teams in each class. The approximate cutoffs based on last year are:
Class 1A – enrollments of 306 and smaller
Class 2A – enrollments of 307 to 844
Class 3A – enrollments of 845 and larger
They are using the IHSA multipliers to determine enrollment.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Aaron Goldfein »

Since we're no longer strictly confined to a collegiate winter break date, we're looking at possibly moving the date of the Niles West Varsity this year (if we decide to hold it at all). Holding the tournament on our previous very early January date meant we were usually during most schools' winter breaks, as well as usually competing against at least one other tournament (usually Kaneland). Looking at the IHSSBCA calendar, February is almost entirely open. I assume some of these dates will be filled in by existing but not-yet-scheduled tournaments. Do any TDs have intentions to hold their tournaments around that time that aren't yet reflected on the IHSSBCA calendar?
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by no ice »

On the 1 year anniversary of my very first post on the forums, I would like to inform everyone that I have been unbanned and I hope to contribute productively in the future.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by NHBBCoord »

The National History Bee and Bowl will be hosting our Northern Illinois regional tournament on Saturday, January 24 and the Illinois State Championship on Saturday, February 28. The Northern Illinois regional will run on our B-Set of questions and the State Championship will run on A-Set.

Both events will run at sites yet to be determined. If you have interest in hosting, please contact David Madden at [email protected].
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by remake20 »

I'm just looking at the tournament IHSSBCA tournament calendar and I can't help but notice the lack of dates. Is there a reason we are down around 10 or so tournaments? It's still a bit early, but there were more tournaments listed on September 23rd of last year than there are now (according to archive.org).
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by David Riley »

In many cases, I think it's probably due to coaches retiring, transferring schools, or leaving education, and their successors might not be interested in continuing the tournament. If the successors are new to the school, I can understand their opinion that hosting a tournament might be a bit much for their first year unless they have sufficient help.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Great Bustard »

NHBB is excited to announce that its 2014 Northern Illinois History Bee and Bowl will be held on Saturday, Dec. 13 at Loyola Academy in Wilmette on our B Set of questions. Registration is at www.historybowl.com/registration and will open for this tournament later today once our webmaster gets it up on the site. Out of state teams are of course welcome, though due to Illinois state regulations, we regret that middle school teams are not able to attend. We will have a Middle School Bee and Bowl in Illinois later this school year, though.
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by mhasquin »

My principal informed me that the proposed changes for the length of season for IHSA Scholastic Bowl was voted down in the town hall meeting on Monday. Was that just one town hall meeting? I noticed that there are still other meetings that need to take place, so I'm hopeful that what he stated is not the case and there is still a chance for the season limitations to be changed...
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Re: Illinois '14-'15

Post by Stained Diviner »

That vote was not a binding vote. There are several meetings to discuss the proposals, and that was just one meeting. After those meetings, a determination will be made as to whether it is worthwhile to take a vote of principals across the state. If the consensus at several meetings is to turn down the proposal, then there will not be an official vote this year. If the consensus is more mixed or positive, then there will be a vote.

We will find out before Thanksgiving whether or not there will be a vote. If there is one, then we will find out in early January whether or not it passed.

IHSSBCA has endorsed the amendment, which will significantly increase the number of allowed competition dates in exchange for counting 4-on-4 as Scholastic Bowl. It is a difficult sell, because many principals mistakenly believe that the current competition date limit saves them money and the changes will cost them money--the actual limiting factor that keeps teams from competing more is the willingness of students and coaches to compete more. The impact of the amendment would be small, with the biggest change being the simplification of record-keeping because people will no longer need to keep separate records for 4-on-4 as opposed to 5-on-5.
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