DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Dormant threads from the high school sections are preserved here.
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Post by closesesame »

On the actual subject of team comparisons, I concur with everyone.
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Post by Gonzagapuma1 »

aestheteboy wrote: BTW, are there any tournaments in this area in November? I get anxious if I don't play quizbowl for more than 4 weeks. I know Harvard is on Nov. 10th, but Whipple probably would not take us.
Gonzaga is also going to no tournaments in November. Were not going to Harvard cause 2 guys on our a team are in a play that day but I don't think there are any area tournaments in November.
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Post by Mike Bentley »

You guys could come to This Tournament Goes To 11 on 12/1. It's technically not November and I have no idea if there are legitimate high school tournaments in the DC area on that date, but we'd certainly be open to any HS teams playing.

You guys could probably also play at TRASH Regionals in Wilmington if you're into pop culture and tournaments written especially for people 15-20 years older than you. But I digress.
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Post by Matt Weiner »

As long as we're pimping our college tournaments for the top high school teams, I'm also still looking for teams for ACF Fall this Saturday at VCU. On a calm Saturday morning Richmond is either 2.5 hours from the Maryland suburbs of DC (Chris Romero school of driving) or 1.7 hours (Sorice-Weiner method). These days ACF Fall is probably easier than the hardest high school events, so you should expect to compete for top spots.
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Post by AKKOLADE »

Cave Spring looks like a very solid team. I doubt they'll be winning any tournaments in the metro area, but they have the talent to compete for playoff spots, and that's saying a lot in this area.
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Post by Gonzagapuma1 »

I was also pretty impressed by Charlotesville at UVA. For a team that doesn't come to many tournaments they were good.
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Post by STPickrell »

Gonzagapuma1 wrote:I was also pretty impressed by Charlotesville at UVA. For a team that doesn't come to many tournaments they were good.
I'm not sure if their coach doesn't want to travel anymore, or if it's just this group of players that doesn't want to travel. They have won three straight VHSL AA titles. In 2003 or 2004, they placed in the top 20 at NAQT.
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Post by Blackboard Monitor Vimes »

Matt Weiner wrote:As long as we're pimping our college tournaments for the top high school teams, I'm also still looking for teams for ACF Fall this Saturday at VCU. On a calm Saturday morning Richmond is either 2.5 hours from the Maryland suburbs of DC (Chris Romero school of driving) or 1.7 hours (Sorice-Weiner method). These days ACF Fall is probably easier than the hardest high school events, so you should expect to compete for top spots.
Gov had a great time at ACF Fall. Greg T., by far the greatest of us sophmores, came in 4th in individual scoring as the second-youngest person there. He was on vacation during MSM, which is why all you DC-MD teams weren't forewarned of his awesomeness. Also, in response to what someone said way back on the first page, I think, half of last year's B Team graduated. Palmer and Andrew moved up to A this year, along with Greg and Anant/Erik. So the new Gov A is a combo of last year's B and C. This will definitely be a rebuilding year for us. Most of the rankings here look reasonable to me (I'm new to this section of the forum, can you tell?).
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Post by TheBoxagon »

So, I admit it. I was vanity Googling. It's finals, forgive me. When I got to the bottom of the search, however, I realized that I was mentioned rather affectionately in this thread, so I thought that I'd join this forum (that I had no idea existed) and tip my proverbial hat to those who have maintained my good name ever since. To those who knew me: spread my gospel and promulgate my legend; proselytize and teach those who live without my word. To you who never knew me or were to young to have met me: ask your elders about me, or simply invent myths of your own and ascribe them to me.

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PS

Though this post may be facetious, I would indeed love to have myths told of my It's Ac exploits... preferably positive ones, but any will do.
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Post by aestheteboy »

Now that legends and myths are mentioned in the DC thread, I am compelled to mention the names of our WJ alumni Alex, Andre and Adam. I will leave for Chris to elaborate, however.
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Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

After going to a few tournaments, I have to say the disparity between the 5 or 6 really good teams and everyone else is huge. Has it always been this way, or is it actually balanced sometimes?
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Post by First Chairman »

TheBoxagon wrote:PS. Though this post may be facetious, I would indeed love to have myths told of my It's Ac exploits... preferably positive ones, but any will do.
Two words: wiki page. :cool:
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Post by First Chairman »

NeverHitTina wrote:After going to a few tournaments, I have to say the disparity between the 5 or 6 really good teams and everyone else is huge. Has it always been this way, or is it actually balanced sometimes?
You are certainly welcome to come to PACE Nationals to see the exception... but to your point, I think there is always a separation. I do think that usually there are 5-10 clear leaders over the majority of the field, though within that top group (I'm not including B teams in my head) there may be variability in skill level as well. It does vary a lot, but with the DC area, there are always some very strong programs over the years.
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Post by Djibouti »

It does seem there is a STEEP drop after the top 6 teams in the DC Area. Naturally, there are teams like MLK, Dorman, and many others outside the area that are very competitive, but within the area, after 5-6 teams, the field seems not nearly as strong. Take the Centennial tournament - 48 teams, and Perry Hall was the 7-seed. Yesterday, they went 3-4 I believe at GDS, and they started 0-3 at Maryland before finishing 2-3. Seven on seems to vary heavily this year, but the top 6 teams are always there - WJ, TJ, Gonzaga, Whitman, RM, GDS (7 with TJB, but normally one of the above is hosting). Maybe it was just because I was playing last year, but at any given tournament, there would be at least 16 strong teams playing (esp. Gonzaga's tournament comes to mind), where you had to be good just to make the playoffs. This year, making the playoffs just seems watered down.
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Post by BuzzerZen »

I took the points per game of playoff qualifiers from the 2006 and 2007 TJ fall tournaments, and the means were respectively 337 and 311 points. A t-test revealed no likely significant difference (P=0.4548). FWIW. If anyone wants to spend time collecting more data than that, have fun.
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Post by Whiter Hydra »

Djibouti wrote:Yesterday, they went 3-4 I believe at GDS, and they started 0-3 at Maryland before finishing 2-3.
Though admittedly, Perry Hall did make it to Semis, I believe.

So, TJ/Whitman rivalry, anybody?
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Post by Stat Boy »

IMO it's only from the spring of 2007 to the 2008 nationals that we'll be more than remotely competitive on pyramidals (in the forseeable future). We've had some close games, but rivalries need more time to develop.
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Post by gonzagaeagleahy »

So we're basically half-way through the 2007-2008 season. What does everybody think, having seen what the teams have to offer, of the DC metro area now in contrast to what they thought before the start of the season?
I personally think, as I did before, that
Like most prognostications so far for the DC/Metro area, I believe that the main three front-runners in the area will be TJ, Whitman, and RM, but not necessarily in that order. I doubt that one of them will necessarily be the outright front-runner but that's hard to say because there's the whole summer for all teams to improve.

Basically I still see this, for the three are very capable of beating each other and there's no real, I believe, leader. Other than those three there's a little bit of a drop but one that I think can be healed possibly by time of nationals.
On another note, questionable now is how successful WJ is gonna be, even though they have the dynamic Daichi
I guess I underestimated Daichi. He's been able to, more or less single-handedly, beat our team several times this year, confounding variables or no, and they can still be seen as a threat with an improving cast. TJ and Whitman seem to be constantly battling for first with RM right behind. [/quote]
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Post by aestheteboy »

So I am really bored, bitter at the world, and eager to piss people off. I am going to be more honest than I usually am in hopes of sparking some discussion. (I actually started writing this before Kevin posted but I had to leave for dinner).

TEAMS:
1. Whitman - Shantanu and Adam are good; Brezina knows stuff related to politics or geography; Damian is a question mark. Their ability to consistently have the full A team helps.
2. TJ - They are the only team who completely crushed us this year. Unfortunately, that was the only time I saw them play, but I hear they're good. Judging from the stats, they are the most balanced team.
---a big gap---
3. RM - Alas, RM is not what it was in 06 and 07. Although Keith and Jeff alone can make a good team, Hurley shines less with those two, and a solid fourth player is desperately in need. The unprecedented badness of RM B reveals that RM is struggling this year. But they're still RM: good at quizbowl.
---a bigger gap---
4. Gonzaga - Whatever opponents may say, Gonzaga is far weaker without Ted. Zaga is still godawful at science, which was their achilles heel last year. Kevin needs to step it up with literature, Evans with physics.
5. WJ - Consistently loses to mediocre teams. Beats good teams only with luck. Not that as bad this year as expected, though.
6. Gov - I've seen them play only once; they seemed decent but nothing more. This year maybe its rebuilding year, but the sophomore class is really good . . .
---a big gap---
7. GDS - Ian maybe a good generalist but he doesn't have enough depth. As of now, they are impossible to compete with the top teams.

Conclusion: Overall, with the exception of Whitman and TJ, the competitiveness of the region has declined. With teams like Dorman, EP, Stuyv, and NKC better than last year, DC area will be comparatively weaker at nationals.

INDIVIDUALS:
1. Shantanu - He gets some science stuff and some lit stuff shockingly early, and at the same time doesn't know some basic stuff. Good at philosophy and weird things. The best science player I know.
---a gap---
2. Keith - He is starting to score the majority of tossup points for RM and overshadow Jeff. Impressive generalist: good at history, decent at lit, decent at science.
3. Phil - Hail his 19-3-6! I really haven't seen TJ this year, though, so he's a mystery. Apparently, he "teaches history" at TJ.
4. Adam - Good captain. Very good generalist. Probably better at lit but worse at history than Keith.
---a gap---
5. Daichi - Gets most of his points with lit, fine arts, and vulching on bouncebacks.
6. Dan - Generalist. Negs a lot.
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Post by ieppler »

Daichi, I've only played you this year at Centennial, where the questions were below average to say the least. Your rankings are probably correct (although I'm not sure that the gap is as big as you say it is), but I don't think that one game on terrible buzzer-race speed tossups without bonuses is enough to judge GDS as a team or me as an individual.
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Post by Stat Boy »

aestheteboy wrote:and at the same time doesn't know some basic stuff
I wouldn't say this so much as "occasionally thinks the answer is something more obscure than it actually is."
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Post by Megalomaniacal Panda on Absinthe »

Stat Boy wrote:
aestheteboy wrote:and at the same time doesn't know some basic stuff
I wouldn't say this so much as "occasionally thinks the answer is something more obscure than it actually is."
Well, there is a considerable amount of basic stuff that I do not know well, and have few plans to learn, simply because with you around I see little need.

On the other hand, I dislike studying for quizbowl, and if I do read packets these days, it's almost surely something like MLK 2007 or Jerry's singles tournament, so my brain is not all that well attuned to the high school canon. Additionally, I'm all over the place. The only subject I'm consistent on is science, but that's usually about twenty percent of my points, the rest of which is made on fine arts, literature, RMP, or history. Of course, I'm not terribly reliable on any of those topics, mainly eking out subcategory niches, which is what makes me weird and hard to evaluate. Hence I feel a little uncomfortable being ranked above you, Keith, Daichi, or Phil.

I think you underrate yourself and your team, Daichi. Your team is probably better than Gonzaga, and you are at least as good as any of the individuals you put above you.
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Post by Blackboard Monitor Vimes »

aestheteboy wrote: 6. Gov - I've seen them play only once; they seemed decent but nothing more. This year maybe its rebuilding year, but the sophomore class is really good . . .


Conclusion: Overall, with the exception of Whitman and TJ, the competitiveness of the region has declined. With teams like Dorman, EP, Stuyv, and NKC better than last year, DC area will be comparatively weaker at nationals.
One of Gov's major problems this year is that we've yet to field the same A-Team, which is also causing a lot of inconsistency on our B Team. Every A-Team we've played this year has had major weaknesses, and I don't think we'll be able to fix that this year. We're trying to stay as competitive as possible, but this is definitely a rebuilding year for us. I also agree that the whole area will be weaker at nationals; the winner won't come from this region. BTW, I may just be having a blonde moment, but who is NKC?
Edit: I seem to have forgotten TJ's fall tournament while writing this. The A-Team we played there was repeated at the Cav Classic. Still, our team make-up has been highly inconsistent.
Last edited by Blackboard Monitor Vimes on Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Auks Ran Ova »

MLWGS-Gir wrote:BTW, I may just be having a blonde moment, but who is NKC?
North Kansas City (Charlie Dees).
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Post by Blackboard Monitor Vimes »

strifeheart wrote:
MLWGS-Gir wrote:BTW, I may just be having a blonde moment, but who is NKC?
North Kansas City (Charlie Dees).
Thanks. I don't think I've ever seen them play.
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Post by aestheteboy »

Hopper wrote:Daichi, I've only played you this year at Centennial, where the questions were below average to say the least. Your rankings are probably correct (although I'm not sure that the gap is as big as you say it is), but I don't think that one game on terrible buzzer-race speed tossups without bonuses is enough to judge GDS as a team or me as an individual.
My opinion about bad questions may be somewhat unorthodox: it tends to level teams out, but if there is a big gap in the score at the end, it is indicative of a gap in skill. Also, I'm obviously not basing my views on just one game.
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Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

North Kansas City (Charlie Dees).
And the other people who have combined averaged about 50 ppg at the 2 most recent NAQT-esque tournaments we've gone to.
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Post by Xerxes »

Deesy Does It wrote:
North Kansas City (Charlie Dees).
And the other people who have combined averaged about 50 ppg at the 2 most recent NAQT-esque tournaments we've gone to.
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

I agree that there is a gap between the elite teams in the region and Maggie Walker this year as we have been defeated handily on several occasions by the top teams. We have had a few flashes of brilliance, however, such as an upset win over State College at the fall TJ tournament, and yesterday's close game against Wilmington Charter A who we had on the ropes late in the game only to self-destruct a bit, losing by a single question swing.

Sarah may be correct that the national champion will not be from the region this year, but I would not want to bet against the region either. TJ, Whitman, and RM all have a legitimate shot. They have been most impressive every time I have seen them. And if you extend the region a bit, Wilmington Charter and State College will also be contenders. Dorman notwithstanding, I still believe it is wide open this year. I would be a little surprised to see the same team win both PACE and NAQT this year.
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Post by Blackboard Monitor Vimes »

jbarnes112358 wrote: We have had a few flashes of brilliance

Sarah may be correct that the national champion will not be from the region this year, but I would not want to bet against the region either. TJ, Whitman, and RM all have a legitimate shot. They have been most impressive every time I have seen them. And if you extend the region a bit, Wilmington Charter and State College will also be contenders. Dorman notwithstanding, I still believe it is wide open this year. I would be a little surprised to see the same team win both PACE and NAQT this year.
I haven't seen much of TJ, Whitman, or RM this year...so I could easily be mistaken. Of the teams mentioned by Dr. B., I've personally played against State College, Whitman, and Wilmington Charter. Whitman and Wilmington Charter seem pretty close, but I have very limited experience with those teams. I've played in a scrimmage against Dorman, and they seemed scarier. They also were not the only non-DC Maryland area teams I was thinking about (MLK Magnet, Eden Prairie, etc.) However, I'd need to see more teams to call this adequately. I agree that it will be difficult for a team to win both this year.

I'd also like to add yesterday's B Team win over Gonzaga to the flashes of brilliance list. This :shock: pretty much sums up our reaction. Quint's response to Cameron's text message was ?!
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Post by Angry Babies in Love »

aestheteboy wrote: The unprecedented badness of RM B reveals that RM is struggling this year. But they're still RM: good at quizbowl.
:w-hat:

Are you talking about Gonzaga-beating, RM A-beating, Hammond-winning RM B? Then again, I don't know how good RM B was in previous years, but still...
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Post by Stat Boy »

rmgeokid wrote:I don't know how good RM B was in previous years
They were one of the best B-teams in the country last year--not as good as Dorman B, but they went 6-4 at NAQT Nationals. Imagine this year's team plus Stephen Hurley. IMO, Daichi's "unprecedented badness" is relative, but he could correct me if I'm wrong.
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Post by aestheteboy »

rmgeokid wrote:
aestheteboy wrote: The unprecedented badness of RM B reveals that RM is struggling this year. But they're still RM: good at quizbowl.
:w-hat:

Are you talking about Gonzaga-beating, RM A-beating, Hammond-winning RM B? Then again, I don't know how good RM B was in previous years, but still...
Uh . . . yeah. Congrats on winning Hammond, but winning that tournament I didn't really think was an indication of competitiveness on speed questions.
Seriously, RM B was really good my freshman and sophomore year.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by segregold »

It's been a really long time since anyone has posted anything here, but I figure since with the close of the 2007-2008 season it's appropriate to reflect back on how each of the teams played, what the actual consensus on who was best is, and, to a lesser extent, what's going to happen next year.

I guess I'll start with my top rankings for the D.C. region and then explain:

1. TJ A
2. Whitman A
3. RM A
4. WJ A
5. Gonzaga

The other unequivocally good teams in the region I'd say are Gov A and GDS. Wilmington Charter from what I've heard and occasionally seen is quite good, but I don't think they go to tournaments here enough to be really considered a DC Metro area team (although, that could just be my fuzzy memory talking) and I don't remember exactly how the games I've played against them went. Can't argue with 2nd place at Nationals, though.

I've been reading what Daichi posted above back in January and I agree with his general points. This year, the DC region was weaker than I recall it being as a freshman or a sophomore. There was a very steep drop off after TJ and Whitman; I say that my team was third best in the region, and I think that's a fair statement based on our record, but we couldn't consistently beat either of those teams for most of the year. I'm not entirely sure why the area has been weakening (although it's not necessarily bad that the national tournaments will no longer be completely dominated by teams from only one part of the country), but it might have something to do with the comparative dearth of tournaments this year. RM didn't go to every tournament held in the area, but even so it certainly didn't seem like there were as many as in years past.

Anyway, individual team analysis:

TJ A: I didn't have the pleasure of playing TJ A more than a few times this year, but even so I feel confident in saying that they were the best team in the region and probably the best team in the country as well. Their team has a balance and an ability to consistently get all types of questions that is rare in a team not dominated by a single player; moreover, in contrast to some players, TJ's members always struck me as genial, reasonable people who didn't take quizbowl too seriously while still managing to be really, really good. I love playing against them, because whether RM wins or loses it's always a great game and we can shake hands without grimacing at the end of it.

Whitman A: The Whitman/TJ dichotomy was a pretty big split this year, and which one you think is better is a pretty close call. I just read that Whitman won PACE against Dorman, and TJ previously took home the trophy from NAQT Nationals. I think that TJ is generally a better team because their abilities are more spread out. Whitman benefits a great deal from Shantanu Jha, who is terrifyingly good. If there are a lot of hard science tossups in the packet, and Shantanu's playing well, Whitman wins. That's not to say that they win only because of Shantanu (Daniel Brezina and Adam Marshall are also very good, and Damjan, the weakest of the four, is still only weakest on a great team and doesn't just sit there soaking up others' work) but the stats from the years and from NAQT Nationals seem to suggest that TJ can take them on basic pyramidals. That said, RM's loss to Whitman today at PACE was the first time I've lost a game by 200 points since I was on our B Team as a freshman, and was easily the most humbling quizbowl experience I've had. Good job to both of the above.

RM A: RM... we're a funny program. It has seemed to me at least last year and this one that our team always begins the year very strong, but then fails to improve over the course of it. Thus, as a sophomore and junior I've been on teams that have won TJ I but lost TJ II. In all fairness, our talent drop was not as noticeable as last year. Stephen Hurley got considerably better by May, and Feldman (our last-minute addition to the A Team for PACE) played very well. Generally, when I think of RM, I think of a team that is great at history and good at lit, but always struggles on science and math. Until we get better at those things, particularly at science, we're always going to be second fiddle to TJ in the region.

WJ A: Daichi's supporting cast generally fails to do him justice, but he himself is a damn good player and can carry games with nothing but brute determination and limitless fathoms of lit knowledge. The fact that his one-man team is easily as good as single-player beasts like NKC and Hunter is, I believe, generally overlooked by the fact that he competes in a region with three or four teams that enjoy the advantage of more than one fantastic player. But he's never easy to beat and is certainly a local force to be reckoned with. Kudos for holding on in a situation that must be maddeningly frustrating for someone of his talent.

Gonzaga: Gonzaga is sort of like Wilmington Charter in that they're a good team that I don't see regularly enough to feel comfortable judging. But since Gonzaga does go to a lot of DC tournaments (I just always seem to miss playing them), they can't escape a mention. Gonzaga sans Gioia is, as Daichi pointed out, Gonzaga reduced, but they're far from terrible and Dan Puma is another of our many strong DC players. They played well this year and deserve recognition.

The other mention I'd like to make is of Gov, since Gov 2006-2007 seems to already be regarded as one of the best teams of all time. I think I only played Gov A once or twice this year, although we did just play them today at PACE. They're good- not like the team that existed last year, but always a factor in DC tournaments.

And I'm going to get a jump on wild predictions for next year as well:

TJ A: I have no idea. I don't know who on TJ's team is a junior and who is a senior (I think I heard they're all seniors, but I'm not sure). Regardless, TJ always feel really good teams and definitely seems to be the most consistent of our local institutions in churning out higher performers.

Whitman A: Everyone on Whitman's A Team is graduating except Daniel Brezina, including the irreplaceable Shantanu. I almost lost a game at UVA against Whitman B, and Daniel is good, but I expect that they will need most of next year to get close to the level they're playing at today.

RM A: RM is returning three of our best players (me, Abiola and Raj), which I think is more than any other team, so we should maintain our traditional beginning-of-the-year-awesomeness. I'm not going to lie, though; our B Team did not excel this year, and we don't have an Instant A Team waiting in the wings like we did before. At the moment, we're also trying to find a replacement sponsor/coach for our regrettably departing Daniel McKenna. RM's period of decency seems to coincide pretty strongly with his tenure as coach, and he'll be greatly missed. I think how good we are next year is going to depend a lot on whether we can resolve this year's endless fundraising problems and how we play with a new coach/possibly no coach at all. Hopefully TJ 06/07 "Chicken Without a Head Syndrome" doesn't set in.

WJ A: Daichi is, I suspect, really going to shine next year, given that aren't going to be a lot of returning players on any of the Big Three to block him out. I hope that we can keep this RM/WJ friendly rivalry going and turn it into some sort of Yankees/Red Sox epic.

Gonzaga: I just found out, like, last week that Dan Puma is actually a junior and is going to be back next year. I think Gonzaga is still probably going to be the weakest of the top five teams I listed, especially if Charter comes down here more often or Gov improves, but they'll probably at least be able to knock out a much weakened Whitman.

So that's my report. On another note: To save money/possibly improve the quality of our local tournaments, I think it would be a good idea to form some sort of "DC Quizbowl League". Is there interest in this? I didn't realize until this year how prohibitively expensive quizbowl has become; RM at least cannot afford to shell out $80 every time we send two teams to a tournament. Would any local teams be interested in an arrangement where we have free access to each other's tournaments and coordinate dates so that there's at least one every month? We can make a new thread for this.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by closesesame »

I am a junior. Also, the final was Whitman over TJ, 440-390 in overtime after being tied at 360.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by ragnarok2012 »

I am not from this region, but next year, with Naren, Henry, Daichi, Dan Puma, and the guy from RM returning, all the respective teams are easily in my top 15 if not 10. Those are 5 individuals who could easily put the hurt on any team by themselves, and they still have a year to go.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by aestheteboy »

08-09 should be a good year for this general area. I think most of the very best teams in the nation will come from the east coast (specifically, between NY and SC), unlike this year when MLK, NKC, and EP were all top-tier nationally.
The top players from TJ, RM, Zaga, GDS, and Whitman will all be in their senior year next year, and while some are better than others, they should all be very good. Right now, I would put those teams (I have no clue how good TJ C people actually are) below Charter and Dorman, but all of them could be top 10 if things work out. Gov and State College should also be good, although I'm not really sure how good.
As for WJ: Back at HSNCT '06 (my freshman year), when I felt like I let down the seniors whom I respected so much, I pledged to myself to win nationals for theirsake. It sufficies to say that this goal/promise continues to be very important to me . . .
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by closesesame »

As for next year, TJ's A team will include me and likely someone you might have played at some point this year, Josh Hahm. He was on A team a couple of times this year as a stand-in, including at GDS's NAQT tournament which we won. He was our lit person there (Mohit was on B to qualify it). In addition we will move up some people from our C team who know philosophy, European history, and the like. So while Charter returns the venerable Henry Gorman and my good pal Todd Faulkenberry heads up Dorman A (this year's Dorman B), I have no reason to doubt that we at TJ will be able to field a really competitive team on the level of Charter and Dorman next year.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by Whiter Hydra »

I also have a feeling that we will be better at NAQT than at PACE again. Especially if NAQT retains Math Calc.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by Dachspmg »

Wait, Daichi, who's a junior on Whitman A? I'm confused.
closesesame wrote:In addition we will move up some people from our C team who know philosophy, European history, and the like.
Hopefully the person concerned remembers his European history; with a nickname like "Shafto" you never can tell.

The fact that TJ is graduating such a huge senior class (they all just sort of followed me and Keshav in...don't know why, but it seems to have worked out fairly well) is definitely going to hurt us. We're going to lose a huge chunk of our lit and our history next year, not that the latter at least wasn't horribly erratic, and although Naren is trying to batter his way through the entirety of Durant's Story of Civilization* I don't think that'll be enough to cover the deficit. But watch out for our mathness, astronomy, fizzix, and the other stuff that TJ ought to be better known for, considering our name.

* A book highly recommended for those attempting to learn history and literature up to about 1820 as fast as they can.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by Salt Lake Dream »

Dachspmg wrote:Wait, Daichi, who's a junior on Whitman A? I'm confused.
Me, Daniel Brezina, the one with red hair. I will be captain next year.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by closesesame »

Yo Phil. Daniel Brezina is a junior on Whitman A. You haven't assimilated that by now?!

The role you played in being the god of all things history is something that we are going to aim to subdivide next year, theoretically such that I could cover ancient history, Harry could cover all those pesky monarchs, and Casto could cover some European history. I am pretty good with US history, and I think the other guys tentatively set for next year's A team are as well. So no one person will be the go-to guy for military history and all that jazz like this year, but we will at least try to cover the deficits. In terms of lit, though, you're absolutely right. We have some major weaknesses in literature (and to a smaller extent music and fine arts) in our new A-team for next year. That being said, maybe we will actually practice instead of go play basketball like you scrubs :grin:
In any case, I'm going to write lots of questions on lit and fine arts, and I'll get on Hahm's case to develop his lit skills. We'll see how next year turns out, but I see no reason to think that TJ will either turn out to be a one-man army or a team less competitive than Charter or Dorman.

Come to think of it, at the moment most of the teams people would consider to be contenders for next year - TJ, Charter, even WJ and Hunter - are at the moment viewed by 90% of the quizbowl community as one-man armies. The problem is the other 3 members of each of these teams next year are currently unknown quantities that really can't be gauged until an actual game of quizbowl.
Last edited by closesesame on Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by vcuEvan »

Hey guys I predict that Gov will be competitive but not great at the beginning of the year. However, because that team will have over four people who are dedicated and want to improve, by the end of the year, Gov will be a force to be reckoned with. And the year after that, their A team won't lose any people and they will unite both national tournaments.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by closesesame »

So Evan Adams, I predict that in 2 years, Sarah Angelo and Greg Tito will be bestial.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by ragnarok2012 »

closesesame wrote: Come to think of it, at the moment most of the teams people would consider to be contenders for next year - TJ, Charter, Dorman, even WJ and Hunter - are at the moment viewed by 90% of the quizbowl community as one-man armies. The problem is the other 3 members of each of these teams next year are currently unknown quantities that really can't be gauged until an actual game of quizbowl.
You are probably right about the others, but very few ppl who have seen and played against Dorman B view them as a one man team. I don't know if dorman ever had a one man team. The dorman factory run by eric huff spits out good balanced teams every year. Todd is good at lit. Freddy is good at science. Kevin and Kleve i think cover the history and etc.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by closesesame »

ragnarok2012 wrote: You are probably right about the others, but very few ppl who have seen and played against Dorman B view them as a one man team. I don't know if dorman ever had a one man team. The dorman factory run by eric huff spits out good balanced teams every year. Todd is good at lit. Freddy is good at science. Kevin and Kleve i think cover the history and etc.
You're right about that. Dorman has an edge in that it has had its A team for next year practice together and play together as its B team this year. All the rest of us have some of our B or C team members moving up, which is a bit unpredictable compared to the stability coming out of Dorman. Definitely I see the "Todd squad" (if I may :razz: ) as strong contenders next year. Mr. Huff has some magic powers that he uses to transform Dorman teams, anyway. Still I think that there are a preponderance of strong individual players on several teams next year and how strong teams will emerge out of that is, obviously, yet to be seen.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by ClemsonQB »

closesesame wrote:Come to think of it, at the moment most of the teams people would consider to be contenders for next year - TJ, Charter, Dorman, even WJ and Hunter - are at the moment viewed by 90% of the quizbowl community as one-man armies. The problem is the other 3 members of each of these teams next year are currently unknown quantities that really can't be gauged until an actual game of quizbowl.
No offense to my good pal Todd, but he is nowhere close to a one man team as both Freddy and Kevin usually average above 40 ppg. His high ppg on Saturday at NSC most likely was the result of his own skill coupled with the complete lack of a science player thanks to Paolo's "Let's kick some ass" Affair.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by aestheteboy »

Calling teams like Charter, TJ, Hunter, RM, Zaga, GDS, or us (EDIT: I missed an important word here - one-man team) next year would be akin to calling RM '06 a one-man team. I mean, it'd be really unfair for Raja, TJ C, Tony et. al, Abiola, Griffin, Matt/Nut etc. They'd be scoring well if they didn't play with ridiculous teammates. Dorman will definitely be one of the more balanced teams next year.
Maybe someone could start a thread for next year. I'm wondering if the East Coast would be as dominant as I'm thinking, or if I've missed some key teams.

Edit: Sorry, I always mix them up . . .
Last edited by aestheteboy on Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by The Atom Strikes! »

Actually, we're losing Raja. Fortunately, we'll be keeping Neeraj Vijay, who was our 2nd-highest scorer during prelims at NAQT and PACE, and we'll be moving up science super-specialist David Huang (who was the leading scorer on the B-team at NAQT)
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Re: DC/Metro Area 2007-08

Post by closesesame »

My intent in the "one-man army" comment was that no one really knows what the teams for most schools next year are going to be aside from the few players who were at nationals this year and are recognized by most of the quizbowl community. There is no doubt that there are plenty of good players out there who will help fill the void and round out full teams. My point was that aside from Dorman B (ostensibly next year's A), these full teams and how they would play together are not really known at all right now.
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