Minnesota 2023-3024

[arjunvivekraj21]

Since the season is gonna be starting soon, and I am really excited and bored, I'm going to be starting the Minnesota discussion for 2024! This season is gonna be weird and fun since a ton of seniors and teams who were at the top of MNQB last year are gonna be graduation including, Irondale, Mounds Park, SPA and others! I'm gonna be ranking by tiers

The Crown

Wayzata A
Like pretty much for the past 5-10 years, Wayzata is gonna be at the top. With Nathan, Samarth, Aneesh and Rick graduating, Rushil, Richard, Nithin (and one more person not entirely sure about it) are gonna be on A. Rushil had a very impressive HSNCT performance and his generalism is great. Richard is an amazing science player and Nathan is a good player, however I don't know much about him compared to Richard and Rushil

The Rest
This season is so open so I'm just going to be taking guesses from this point

Wayzata B
I'm basing this off last year's state tournament and by looking at that, it looks like B could be with players of Ben, Sriram, Liam, Abhinav and Aadhaya. I'm not exactly sure this will be the team, but I'm sure Zata B will be great as always due to their history and their coach, Lucas.

Hudson A
Aaron Marchand is amazing history player who does other categories as well. Hudson A just needs to surround him with speciality players and Hudson could possibly be at the very top this year

Eden Prairie A
I think Eden Prairie will be back at the top 5 next year. Losing Lucas Wagner and Eleanor Fine really hurt as because they pretty much did History/Geo/Ce which we could possibly struggle in. But our A team can do a lot better this year than last year. Vineel is a great player who does Lit but also branches to Myth and can do CE. Aish is also a good player who does mainly Fa and does myth as well. Aaron Masih is another player who can do Religion, Sci and History and somehow knows the most random things on bonuses. I (Arjun) do Lit but am branching onto FA and trying to be a generalist. Depending on how well we can do either History or Science, we can definitely be a great team this year.

Spectrum
This is a really weird pick but I think Spectrum can be maybe shocking next year. At state, although they didn't place high, in the game when we played against them they played well against us and all of their players are freshman/sophomore so most likely they will be better and could possibly play high next season. They also have a player who avg 44 at MSNCT last year who is going to be a freshman this year, Samuel Fanucci.

Burnsville
Burnsville can be a very good team next year. They were almost top 5 and barely lost to Eden Prairie B (who went on to be top 5) at Roses. Their juniors who are gonna be seniors of Collin, John, Jack and Mark are all gonna make a good team that can place high.

Alright, this is all I can research for now, I definitely missed a couple of teams but this season is gonna be amazing because of how open it is and I'm very excited for it :D!

User was reminded to enable a signature. --Mgmt.

[Vainglorious yet Victorious]

A brief top 12:
1. Wayzata A
2. Wayzata B
3. Minnetonka A
4. Hudson A
5. Burnsville A
6. Eden Prairie A
7. Hudson B
8. Spectrum A
9. Wayzata C
10. Irondale A
11. Mounds Park A
12. Providence A (no bias whatsoever)
I look forward to the season!

[Halinaxus]

Here's my preseason top 10. This is probably going to be significantly less verbose than my posts from past years, since I haven't seen a lot of these teams play and have to go mostly off of stats.

1. Wayzata A
*Stifles yawn*

I will note that this is the first time since 2018 that Wayzata has to replace their entire A team all at once, so they might be more vulnerable to upsets than usual.

2. Wayzata B
With Rushil, Richard, Nithin, and Sriram presumably headed to Wayzata A, the keys to the B team will now be handed to Ben Stras and Liam Buck, who each improved quite a bit over the course of last year. They will likely be joined by some combination of Abhinav Kamatgi, Ritwik Gaur, Aadhya Subramanian, and whichever underclassman inevitably decided to go on a mad carding binge this summer. I expect this year's Wayzata B will be pushed by the state's other top teams, but I think they will win more than they lose.

3. Minnetonka A
Although Tonka graduates the John/Inba/Jerry core that returned them to prominence, they return a solid team centered around rising seniors Andy Petouvis and Gautham Venkatesh. What's more, the Skippers have arguably the best prospect pool in the state right now, with players like Cooper Dobbins, Jacob Roach, Rian Matthew, and Tyler Dodge set to keep their program relevant for years to come.

4. DeLaSalle A
DLS quietly turned in some really nice numbers in the extremely competitive east division of league last year, and their performance at HSNCT was solid as well. And although they graduate captains Joseph Merrigan and Nyah Massey, everyone else is back and I suspect likely promotions Amy Kaisaki and Owen Caputo Sullivan will be more than capable of picking up the slack. With traditional east division powers Irondale, Mounds Park, Mounds View, and St. Paul Academy all in line for rebuilds, DeLaSalle is primed for a breakout.

5. Hudson A
Aaron Marchand might be the second-best generalist in Minnesota this year, and although a lot of Hudson's secondary scorers from last year are gone, they do return Aaron's longtime teammate Graham Close, along with rising sophomore Austin Clark, who is probably the future of the Hudson program. This year's Hudson A might resemble last year's Mounds Park A: a very good team capable of making noise deep into tournaments, but held back at times by their reliance on a single player.

6. Spectrum A
Remember back in the Covid days when Spectrum was dominating the middle school circuit? Well, Spectrum's high school team is finally starting to reap the benefits. Not only are Marin and Brycen putting up good numbers with two full years of eligibility left, but Joe Ambrose and Sam Fanucci have been making cameos on Spectrum A when they have time off from slaughtering middle school tournaments. This is another team with a very bright future.

7. Edina A
For the second year in a row, Edina teased its potential at SOCIAL and league, then ghosted the rest of the quiz bowl season in favor of Knowledge Bowl (except for sending a couple of players to IPNCT). I expect something similar out of them this year, although I think they're easily a top-10 team whenever they do show.

8. Burnsville A
Burnsville has been mired in a rebuild ever since their Cinderella run to a state title in 2021. It looks like they started to turn a corner last year, at least at lower difficulties, and most of their current players are now seniors, so if they're going to make some noise, this is probably the year is happens.

9. Eden Prairie A
EP is once again beset by graduations, although probably not quite as badly as they were in 2022. Still, their depth is really going to be tested this year. Vineel is a strong player, and the support he's going to get from Arjun and Aish makes Eden Prairie more well-rounded than most Minnesota teams in categories like literature and fine arts. If they can find at least one more complementary scorer, EP could make a push back up the rankings.

10. Wayzata C
Oops, almost forgot to rank Wayzata C.

Honorable Mentions
Orono A returns their top two scorers from a team that had some really strong single-game performances last year.
Irondale A and Mounds Park A are still going to be good.
Northfield A is a wild card. They haven't attended any tournaments since fall 2022, but would immediately be a top-10 team if Allie ever returns to quiz bowl.

Good luck to everyone this year! I'll be watching with interest from Indiana (and will hopefully be able to staff whatever tournaments fall over my breaks)!

[Vainglorious yet Victorious]

I should note that I forgot about DeLaSale and Orono A. My bad!

[arjunvivekraj21]

Man I did not realize about Minnetonka at all, they 100 percent deserve to be in the upper tier and I also forgot about DLS and Orono, oops

[BenWeiner27]

The University of Minnesota is tentatively planning to organize and host the following high school tournaments during the 2023-24 season:

• Gopher Fall Tournament using SHOW-ME More on November 18th, 2023
• Gopher Invitation Tournament (GIVNIT) on NAQT IS-222 on December 2nd, 2023
• Minnesota Pre-nats/Gopher Spring Tournament on a TBD set sometime during Spring semester

We have reached out to Carleton Quizbowl's new leadership and they are enthusiastic about bringing SnowCAT back to Northfield this year so we intend for UMN's hosting of the tournament in 2023 to be regarded as a temporary measure when looking ahead to the coming season.

[The_Impaler_]

SOCIAL XVIII will be hosted on November 4th, 2023 at Burnsville High School using IS-221A.

[arjunvivekraj21]

Social Happened at Nov 4, 2023 (Today!)

Congrats to Wayzata A who won the finals against Wayzata C in the Varsity Division!

Top 5 Scorers Awards:
1. Aaron Marchand (Hudson A)
2. Arjun Vivekraj (Eden Prairie A)
3. Zain Ali (Mounds Park A)
4. Vineel Panyala (Eden Prairie B)
5. Rushil Murikinati (Wayzata A)

Providence Wins in JV Division against Wayzata G, thought there were not awards but the top Individual Scorers were

1. Amory Kaufman (Providence)
2. Jonathan McMerty-Brummer (Benide-St. Margaret's A)
3. Jacob Roach (Minnetonka C)
4. Anthony Cubias (Burnsville B)
5. Selena Thach (Savage Area Academic Team B)

Here are full stats :
https://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament/s ... t_id=15173

[The_Impaler_]

SCATTER will be hosted on December 9th, 2023 at Eagle Ridge Middle School in Savage, MN using MS-47. Experienced high school players are invited to staff.

[Vainglorious yet Victorious]

Some takeaways from the first tournament of the year:
I. Wayzata is still Wayzata. I (personally) thought that they might take a step back this year due to the departure of some outstanding players, but I seemingly forgot about their absolute stranglehold on Minnesota quiz bowl-however, they did in fact lose a game, which brings me to
II. Eden Prairie actually beat Wayzata A for the first time since 2021(?). Definitely a team to watch for the rest of the season-
III Wayzata A is far more aggressive than they usually need to be. Given what I've seen from Rushil Murikinati, this is no surprise (he's always been an outstanding example of a high-risk, high-reward player), but it could lead to some surprising victories if teams can continue to use this fact to their advantage.
IV. This will be another great year of Minnesota quiz bowl, and I look forward to the rest of the season!

[arjunvivekraj21]

Gopher Fall Tournament happened today!! (Nov 18, 2023)

Congrats to Wayzata A who won against Wayzata B in the finals

Top 10 Scorer Awards:
1. Arjun Vivekraj (Eden Prairie A)
2. Aaron Marchand (Hudson A)
3. Joey Marianni (Orono)
4. Gautam Venkatesh (Minnetonka C)
5. Navin Herbert (Wayzata E)
6. Rushil Murikanti (Wayzata A)
7. Jack Dowell (Irondale A, Or New Brighton Academic Team)
8. Kevin Qiu (Wayzata C)
9. Austin Clark (Hudson B)
10. Richard Lin (Wayzata A)

Here are the full stats:
https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8 ... standings/

[arjunvivekraj21]

I should rephrase the last statement, Wayzata A, B and C all tied in the playoffs, I didn't read the stats correctly, that is my fault oops.

[Vainglorious yet Victorious]

Can I just say that my team (Providence) was REALLY underrated? Providence wasn't even considered before the season, but we just capped a 11-0 tournament on an IS set with victories over Wayzata A and B, Hudson, Minnetonka A, and Spectrum. Definitely a team to look out for (and acknowledge) for the rest of the season.

[Vainglorious yet Victorious]

Gopher Invitational Tournament
Final stats:
https://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament/s ... t_id=15064
1. Providence A (11-0)
2. Wayzata A (10-1)
3. Minnetonka A (8-3)
Hudson A (8-3)
5. Spectrum (7-4)
Wayzata B (6-4)
Top 5 individuals:
1. Aaron Marchand (23/62/20; 78.64)
2. Zain Ali (8/64/10; 71.0)
3. Gautam Ventakesh (14/35/9; 64.38)
4. Amory Kaufman (19/42/13; 58.18)
5. Andy Petouvis (12/42/4; 55.24)

[arjunvivekraj21]

Can I just say that my team (Providence) was REALLY underrated? Providence wasn't even considered before the season, but we just capped a 11-0 tournament on an IS set with victories over Wayzata A and B, Hudson, Minnetonka A, and Spectrum. Definitely a team to look out for (and acknowledge) for the rest of the season.

Bruh you had your team at the 12th spot before the season even started

[arjunvivekraj21]

Although I didn't go to GINVIT I think there were many interesting things in this tournament that could be talked about.

First, Providence pulled out a massive win which was wild, luck definitely played a huge role in them winning the tournament but it is still super impressive. Amory Kaufman was great, but his teammates gave him a ton of support, they had two players top 10 in scoring.

Second, that is probably the worst we're gonna see Zata A this year, and they still went 10-1, managed above a 20 PPB and still led the tournament in powers, that is wild.

Lastly, with the growth of Providence that has been shown in this tournament what could happen Rat Race and Run for the Roses. Results are gonna be very interesting to see

[big richard]

wayzata without big richard is a cult without its personality

[arjunvivekraj21]

So true Richard!!!!

[oriley]

Can someone outside the city of Plymouth win a tournament in this state

[Vainglorious yet Victorious]

Can I just say that my team (Providence) was REALLY underrated? Providence wasn't even considered before the season, but we just capped a 11-0 tournament on an IS set with victories over Wayzata A and B, Hudson, Minnetonka A, and Spectrum. Definitely a team to look out for (and acknowledge) for the rest of the season.

Bruh you had your team at the 12th spot before the season even started

That’s fair-I didn’t think about that.

[arjunvivekraj21]

Can someone outside the city of Plymouth win a tournament in this state

It will happen soon Owen >:)

[arjunvivekraj21]

Eden Prairie High School is excited to announce our first installment of SOAR! More details about the tournament can be found here- https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic ... 13#p397913

[PunaEkka64]

The Mid-season poll was recently conducted and the result are as follows:
1) Irondale A
2) Wayzata B
3) Wayzata A
4) Minnetonka A
5) DeLaSalle A
6) Mounds Park A
7) Saint Agnes A
8) Eden Prairie A
9) Hudson A
10) Edgewood A

Any other results released to the public were manipulated by nefarious figures I will not name (however their names might rhyme with Baron Budson and Barjun BP).

[big richard]

If you’re looking for the real results (Pekka must have had a fever dream), they can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... yyknA/edit

A summary of my takeaways:
Tier One:
1. Wayzata A
2. Wayzata C
Wayzata A remained almost everyone’s top choice, and as I mentioned in my ballot, they have proven themselves to excel on harder packets, as long as negging is in control. Wayzata C will be scary as players like Kevin and Owen continue to gain experience.

Tier Two:
3. Providence
4. Wayzata B
5. Hudson
6. EP A
7. Minnetonka A
These are all legit teams and have proven that they can take down the teams in the “first tier”. Definitely strong teams that could get scary if they continue to improve.

Tier Three:
8. De La Salle A
9. Spectrum
10. Wayzata D
Teams that can use more experience or haven’t played in enough tournaments to make a good ranking.

Thanks for a great fall season; I’m excited for winter!

[big richard]

Do we know what the field for SOAR will be?

[arjunvivekraj21]

Just posted about something related to SOAR, it will be delayed to sometime in March.

[BeckettP]

Here's my preseason top 10. This is probably going to be significantly less verbose than my posts from past years, since I haven't seen a lot of these teams play and have to go mostly off of stats.

1. Wayzata A
*Stifles yawn*

I will note that this is the first time since 2018 that Wayzata has to replace their entire A team all at once, so they might be more vulnerable to upsets than usual.

2. Wayzata B
With Rushil, Richard, Nithin, and Sriram presumably headed to Wayzata A, the keys to the B team will now be handed to Ben Stras and Liam Buck, who each improved quite a bit over the course of last year. They will likely be joined by some combination of Abhinav Kamatgi, Ritwik Gaur, Aadhya Subramanian, and whichever underclassman inevitably decided to go on a mad carding binge this summer. I expect this year's Wayzata B will be pushed by the state's other top teams, but I think they will win more than they lose.

3. Minnetonka A
Although Tonka graduates the John/Inba/Jerry core that returned them to prominence, they return a solid team centered around rising seniors Andy Petouvis and Gautham Venkatesh. What's more, the Skippers have arguably the best prospect pool in the state right now, with players like Cooper Dobbins, Jacob Roach, Rian Matthew, and Tyler Dodge set to keep their program relevant for years to come.

4. DeLaSalle A
DLS quietly turned in some really nice numbers in the extremely competitive east division of league last year, and their performance at HSNCT was solid as well. And although they graduate captains Joseph Merrigan and Nyah Massey, everyone else is back and I suspect likely promotions Amy Kaisaki and Owen Caputo Sullivan will be more than capable of picking up the slack. With traditional east division powers Irondale, Mounds Park, Mounds View, and St. Paul Academy all in line for rebuilds, DeLaSalle is primed for a breakout.

5. Hudson A
Aaron Marchand might be the second-best generalist in Minnesota this year, and although a lot of Hudson's secondary scorers from last year are gone, they do return Aaron's longtime teammate Graham Close, along with rising sophomore Austin Clark, who is probably the future of the Hudson program. This year's Hudson A might resemble last year's Mounds Park A: a very good team capable of making noise deep into tournaments, but held back at times by their reliance on a single player.

6. Spectrum A
Remember back in the Covid days when Spectrum was dominating the middle school circuit? Well, Spectrum's high school team is finally starting to reap the benefits. Not only are Marin and Brycen putting up good numbers with two full years of eligibility left, but Joe Ambrose and Sam Fanucci have been making cameos on Spectrum A when they have time off from slaughtering middle school tournaments. This is another team with a very bright future.

7. Edina A
For the second year in a row, Edina teased its potential at SOCIAL and league, then ghosted the rest of the quiz bowl season in favor of Knowledge Bowl (except for sending a couple of players to IPNCT). I expect something similar out of them this year, although I think they're easily a top-10 team whenever they do show.

8. Burnsville A
Burnsville has been mired in a rebuild ever since their Cinderella run to a state title in 2021. It looks like they started to turn a corner last year, at least at lower difficulties, and most of their current players are now seniors, so if they're going to make some noise, this is probably the year is happens.

9. Eden Prairie A
EP is once again beset by graduations, although probably not quite as badly as they were in 2022. Still, their depth is really going to be tested this year. Vineel is a strong player, and the support he's going to get from Arjun and Aish makes Eden Prairie more well-rounded than most Minnesota teams in categories like literature and fine arts. If they can find at least one more complementary scorer, EP could make a push back up the rankings.

10. Wayzata C
Oops, almost forgot to rank Wayzata C.

Honorable Mentions
Orono A returns their top two scorers from a team that had some really strong single-game performances last year.
Irondale A and Mounds Park A are still going to be good.
Northfield A is a wild card. They haven't attended any tournaments since fall 2022, but would immediately be a top-10 team if Allie ever returns to quiz bowl.

Good luck to everyone this year! I'll be watching with interest from Indiana (and will hopefully be able to staff whatever tournaments fall over my breaks)!

I like that Number 7, we actually got mentioned!

User was reminded to enable a signature --Mgmt.

[AaronMarchand]

Thank you Richard for posting poll results, I have been busy selling my soul to the Common App along with grinding world lit on Qbreader. I would like to add that Minnesota Quizbowl has found the Kryptonite to Wayzata qualifying tons of teams........... Wisconsin

[PunaEkka64]

Wayzata's kryptonite is a competent circuit (or a 12-year-old).

[big richard]

(or a certain someone having to take the SAT)

[PunaEkka64]

Goatbhinav and the #1 Weezer fan are just too good.

[big richard]

PAAT begins this season as champions! Hopefully this new addition to the circuit brings about the downfall of the cruel and tyrannical reign of Wayzata Quizbowl!

[arjunvivekraj21]

SOAR has been rescheduled to March 2nd!

[arjunvivekraj21]

SOAR finished today, here are all the stats- https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8615/. Wayzata B won the tournament with Wayzata A coming second and Minnetonka A coming third.

I want to thank a couple of people for the help of this tournament. Vineel (co-td and staffer for this tournament Ms. Anderson, and Aish, one of EP's captains, Sankalp and Atharva, two freshman from EP who were willing to help for this tournament. Ai, Luke, Isaac, Avery all staffed for the tournament. Erik Nelson helped me set up Modaq, Young Fenimore Lee for helping me with Yellowfruit, Blake Andert guided me in a lot of things to set up for this tournament. All the coaches from the schools that game today. Thank you all for helping me run this tournament!

[BenWeiner27]

SOAR finished today, here are all the stats- https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8615/. Wayzata B won the tournament with Wayzata A coming second and Minnetonka A coming third.

I want to thank a couple of people for the help of this tournament. Vineel (co-td and staffer for this tournament Ms. Anderson, and Aish, one of EP's captains, Sankalp and Atharva, two freshman from EP who were willing to help for this tournament. Ai, Luke, Isaac, Avery all staffed for the tournament. Erik Nelson helped me set up Modaq, Young Fenimore Lee for helping me with Yellowfruit, Blake Andert guided me in a lot of things to set up for this tournament. All the coaches from the schools that game today. Thank you all for helping me run this tournament!

Thanks for running SOAR Arjun! It's really great to see more mACF tournaments on housewrites getting run in the state (in addition to just more HS regs-level tournaments in general), and it sounds like SOAR went well so congrats on organizing a successful event!

[Vainglorious yet Victorious]

I would like to second this. SOAR was very enjoyable, and Arjun and the other Eden Prairie staffers-as well as the moderators/readers-should take a well deserved bow on a tournament well done. I hope I can participate in a second installment next year!

[AaronMarchand]

Post season poll now available for completion

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link

[big richard]

The post-season poll has concluded! Stats can be found at the link below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Thanks for a great season everyone!

[big richard]

arjun, aaron, andy, and i are considering running a scrimmage-like tournament that'll run sometime in april. in a nutshell, you'll be able to play with friends and people from other schools against other participants. its just a way to play with and against some new teams and meet some new people (and prepare for nats). were thinking about running it on a weekend in april somewhere in the metro area.

please fill out this form if you're interested:
https://forms.gle/JVQe6juQmEKAeVd56