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Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:35 am
by thebigbossandy
Hi:

The Brainstormers of Half Hollow Hills West, on Long Island, New York, are hosting our 18th annual academic tournament. This year it will be an NAQT tournament on Saturday, January 7, 2012. This is one of the largest academic quiz bowl tournaments in the North-East. Usually around 75 to 80 teams attend each year. This tournament will be using packet 112A. Trophies will be awarded to the top 32 teams.

NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT: We have changed the playoff format this year. Instead of straight single elimination for the top 32 teams, we will have single elimination for the top 32 until there are eight teams remaining. These eight teams will then compete in a two-bracket round robin, with the top two teams in each bracket going on to the semi-finals. The winner of each semi-final round will then compete in the final round.

Costs are as follows:
1st Team: $90
Additional Teams: $80 each
Buzzers: -$10 each

Registration is from 8:00 to 8:30 and we expect to end by 7:00.

Please e-mail the team at [email protected] to tell us if you can come and if so, how many teams and buzzers. We have already mailed registration packets. However, these registration packets had the packet number listed as 111. WE WILL BE USING PACKET 112A. If you do not know if you are on our mailing list and would like a packet, please email us at the above address.

Thanks,
George Margulies

This is the field update as of January 4, 2012 at 10:03 PM.

Registered: 102
Ardsley (2)
Bergen (2)
Bishop McDevitt (1)
Bloomfield (3)
Deer Park (2)
Edison (1)
E.O. Smith (1)
Georgetown Day (2)
Great Neck North (1)
Great Neck South (6)
Half Hollow Hills East (2)
Harborfields (2)
Horace Greeley (1)
Hunter (2)
Irvington (3)
Kellenberg (3)
Kings Park (3)
Lenape Valley (3)
Livingston (3)
Mansfield (1)
Mattituck (2)
Mineola (2)
Morristown-Beard (1)
Mountain Lakes (1)
North Babylon (3)
North Shore (2)
Our Lady of Mercy (1)
Phillipsburg (1)
Plainedge (3)
Port Jefferson (2)
Ranney (1)
Ridgewood (4)
Roslyn (1)
Saint Anthony's (4)
Saint Joseph's (3)
Saint Peter's (2)
Scarsdale (1)
Seton Hall (2)
State College (2)
Team Tribeca (3)
Valley Stream South (5)
Ward Melville (3)
Wheatley (3)
White Plains (4)
Woodlands (2)

Waiting List:
Plainview (1)
Farmingdale (1)
Morristown-Beard (+1)

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:30 pm
by Important Bird Area
thebigbossandy wrote:This tournament will be using packet 113.
Just a note that IS #113 is not available for this tournament (its first use is scheduled for the weekend of January 21st). Please contact us (hosting (at) naqt.com) and we will figure out which set will work best for your field.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:11 pm
by Great Bustard
thebigbossandy wrote:Hi:

NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT: We have changed the playoff format this year. Instead of straight single elimination for the top 32 teams, we will have single elimination for the top 32 until there are eight teams remaining. These eight teams will then compete in a two-bracket round robin, with the top two teams in each bracket going on to the semi-finals. The winner of each semi-final round will then compete in the final round.
This sounds great - just one question - what's the planned schedule, especially for the playoffs? This tournament is always lots of fun, but often runs late, even with straight single-elim playoffs. I'm happy to help with organization & reading, btw on the day of the tournament. And Ridgewood will be there with 4 teams.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:21 pm
by Edward Powers
Any clarification of the Set that will be used here, since both 111 and 113 seem to be unavailable?

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:25 pm
by Important Bird Area
We haven't confirmed a set yet. The likely possibilities are IS #111 and IS #112A.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:39 pm
by Edward Powers
I assumed that the use of 111 would infringe on Millburn's exclusive rights to use 111 in March. Since HHH West is only about 50-60 miles away from Millburn, isn't this the case? Of course, if I am incorrect here, I apologize for seeming to interfere, for that is not my intention. I just hope this can be worked out so that there are TWO tournaments available for teams in the region instead of merely one due to what seems to be an avoidable set conflict within the very same region.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:45 pm
by Important Bird Area
Edward Powers wrote:I assumed that the use of 111 would infringe on Millburn's exclusive rights to use 111 in March.
It doesn't (because of the state line). It would, however, reduce HHH West's likely field to just Long Island teams, which they will probably wish to avoid.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:22 pm
by Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
Well, also Westchester, but the point still stands.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:34 am
by Great Bustard
Who's using 112a at the moment in the NYC area?

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:36 am
by Important Bird Area
nationalhistorybeeandbowl wrote:Who's using 112a at the moment in the NYC area?
I don't believe anyone has claimed 112A around NYC. (According to our files, the closest is the Albany Masterminds league.)

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:39 am
by Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
FaCT used 110A, and Kings Park is planning on using 114A, so it appears the answer is no one. It sounds like Hills West is intent on using an IS set though.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 12:35 am
by thebigbossandy
We are either going to use Packet 111 or 112A. Our decision will be posted by Monday. It would be greatly appreciated if each team would let us know whether they would attend if we used 111 or 112A. Thanks so much.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 12:50 am
by ryanrosenberg
Ardsley would be more likely to attend (and with multiple teams) if Packet 112A were used.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:47 am
by Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
I imagine throwing a large part of your potential audience (that is, New Jersey) into a set conflict would hurt attendance at your tournament (not to mention Millburn's), so I'd go with 112A.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:10 am
by Adventure Temple Trail
Furthermore, if teams from the New York area are attending MITBAT as they have in past years (and they ought to!), 111 is an even worse idea. 112-A seems to be emerging as the best option.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:18 pm
by BroNi
Kellenberg votes for set 112A.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:20 pm
by Great Bustard
Ridgewood votes strongly for 112a. Aside from it just being more appropriate for a tournament that attracts a lot of NJ schools who would like to play at Millburn (including us), it's also shorter - and anything shorter at this tournament is a good thing, so it doesn't end really late, and will be more fun for the many teams that almost always show up here and very rarely to anything else on Long Island (hopefully, they'll come to our NHBB tourney, though!). Also, I strongly recommend HHH to have a look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12443&p=230900#p230900 and consider adopting the Chatham approach (or something close to it).
I think this tournament should have 3 divisions, imho. Elite, standard, and JV (I'd include 6-10th graders in that). Also, if you have a JV division, you might appeal to some middle schoolers. In that instance, Ben Franklin and possibly George Washington from Ridgewood might be interested in coming too. It's too early to have a separate middle school division, but you could include middle schools in JV and possibly get a few (including at least BF, your own district and Brother Fox, I'd think).

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:41 pm
by jonpin
Bergen will attend with 1 or 2 teams if and only if you are using 112A.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 9:30 pm
by ryanrosenberg
I received confirmation today that 112A will be used.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:21 pm
by thebigbossandy
We will be using packet 112A.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:29 am
by Great Bustard
Can we get a list of registered / interested teams?

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:14 am
by Edward Powers
Ditto!

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:27 pm
by rpirrie
Hello--a list of teams would be nice. Thanks.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:13 am
by Great Bustard
Any limit on the buzzer discount? I could bring 20 if needed. Please let me know asap.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 7:04 pm
by thebigbossandy
nationalhistorybeeandbowl wrote:Any limit on the buzzer discount? I could bring 20 if needed. Please let me know asap.
Sorry for the late response. 20 buzzers would be great.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 6:00 am
by Great Bustard
20 buzzers it is! I'm giving them all names of historical conquerors to keep track of. Is this clever or disturbing? How else can I help out? I want to help this tournament run as logistically smoothly as possible.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 9:11 am
by thebigbossandy
I think it is a great idea. Maybe we should tell everyone to name their buzzers before they arrive. Sounds like a much easier way of keeping track of them.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:41 pm
by JGargiulo
Kings Park would like to bring one extra team making it three (3) teams in total. Thanks and can't wait to see you all January 7th!

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 12:50 am
by Scaled Flowerpiercer
I think our coach will be getting back to you soon, but Irvington is interested in signing up a third team, changing the (2) to a (3).

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 2:55 pm
by ryanrosenberg
This looks to be a small, intimate gathering.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:14 am
by Great Bustard
My 20 buzzer systems, NHBB propaganda, and awesome chair and desk rearranging skills can all come at 3pm Friday after school to help out should you want them / need them.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:16 am
by Great Bustard
Also, has this tournament ever hit 100 before? For that matter, has any qb tournament ever in the Northeast?

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 11:03 am
by Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
There were 90 teams a couple years back, and I think that's the highest it's ever been.
Funny, I still think Long Island's underrepresented here.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 2:50 pm
by thebigbossandy
Here's hoping for 100!

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 11:26 pm
by SHP Pirate
Inching ever closer to 100! SHP will have 2 teams, 2 buzzers, and at least one mod. I will get final numbers on Tues. AM when we return to school. I may be able to grab a 3rd team and up to 2 more experienced moderators.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:35 am
by ProfessorIanDuncan
While i think it would be awesome to have at least 100 teams at this tournament, 96 would be a really good number of teams as there would be 16 groups of 6 and the top two (or four if you add an extra round) in each group would make playoffs.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 2:18 pm
by BroNi
HHHW history
2011: 65 teams, 27 schools
2010: 90 tm, 38 sch
2009: 56 tm, 24 sch
2008: 88 tm, 40 sch
2007: 90 tm, 38 sch
2006: 78 tm, 38 sch
2005: 68 tm, 31 sch
2004: 80 tm, 40 sch
2003: 100 tm, 45 sch
2002: 80 tm, 33 sch
etc.....

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 3:18 pm
by Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
Heh. By the way, would you mind filling in this article with the stats you have?
http://www.qbwiki.com/wiki/HHHW_Invitational

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 4:24 pm
by Great Bustard
BroNi wrote:HHHW history
2011: 65 teams, 27 schools
2010: 90 tm, 38 sch
2009: 56 tm, 24 sch
2008: 88 tm, 40 sch
2007: 90 tm, 38 sch
2006: 78 tm, 38 sch
2005: 68 tm, 31 sch
2004: 80 tm, 40 sch
2003: 100 tm, 45 sch
2002: 80 tm, 33 sch
etc.....
1998 was 57 teams. Remember it like it was yesterday. We had two epic wins against Millburn B and Millburn A in succession in the quarters and semis before getting smacked by State College in the finals. I think we finished at 11pm that year, but still, one of the most enjoyable days of my life. I hope that doesn't sound too pathetic. Also, I wonder how many of those "down years" were caused by snowstorms.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 4:36 pm
by Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
2009 was caused by a blizzard. I know that because our team (which would have already been a scab team on its original date) couldn't go due to it being rescheduled to our midterm week.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:35 pm
by WSchneider
Congratulations to Half Hollow Hills West for hosting the largest tournament in the history of New York Quizbowl :party: :party: :party:

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:50 am
by jonpin
Worth noting, if we get to 107 teams, then 15% is greater than 16. By NAQT's qualification metric, all teams "tied for 17th" (i.e. all 32 playoff teams) would get HSNCT bids.

I find it likely that this is not that, but does anyone know what the record is for largest non-HSNCT tournament is?

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:40 am
by Rococo A Go Go
jonpin wrote:Worth noting, if we get to 107 teams, then 15% is greater than 16. By NAQT's qualification metric, all teams "tied for 17th" (i.e. all 32 playoff teams) would get HSNCT bids.

I find it likely that this is not that, but does anyone know what the record is for largest non-HSNCT tournament is?
I don't know if this is the record, but Brookwood in Georgia had 168 teams in 2000.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:49 am
by WSchneider
jonpin wrote:Worth noting, if we get to 107 teams, then 15% is greater than 16. By NAQT's qualification metric, all teams "tied for 17th" (i.e. all 32 playoff teams) would get HSNCT bids.

I find it likely that this is not that, but does anyone know what the record is for largest non-HSNCT tournament is?
IIRC a conversation with Alan Blayne, the field was capped by the school administration at 100, and pushing to the fair-er 102 margin was a headache itself

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:52 pm
by Scaled Flowerpiercer
WSchneider wrote:
jonpin wrote:Worth noting, if we get to 107 teams, then 15% is greater than 16. By NAQT's qualification metric, all teams "tied for 17th" (i.e. all 32 playoff teams) would get HSNCT bids.

I find it likely that this is not that, but does anyone know what the record is for largest non-HSNCT tournament is?
IIRC a conversation with Alan Blayne, the field was capped by the school administration at 100, and pushing to the fair-er 102 margin was a headache itself
It's kind of weirs thinking that a tournament of this size still had a field cap, but this sounds rather unfortunate, especially with those three teams on the waiting list that probably won't be able to attend.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:38 pm
by jonpin
WSchneider wrote:
jonpin wrote:Worth noting, if we get to 107 teams, then 15% is greater than 16. By NAQT's qualification metric, all teams "tied for 17th" (i.e. all 32 playoff teams) would get HSNCT bids.

I find it likely that this is not that, but does anyone know what the record is for largest non-HSNCT tournament is?
IIRC a conversation with Alan Blayne, the field was capped by the school administration at 100, and pushing to the fair-er 102 margin was a headache itself
I can completely understand that. I'm hopeful that the competition will be able to run smoothly. I guess it will be 17 groups of 6, with two second-place teams on the short end of the stick?

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:55 pm
by Great Bustard
Ridgewood can (and indeed, it would be easier for us) to go three. We can do 4 if really needed, but 3 would be easier, so that might allow someone else to get a spot.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:59 pm
by Great Bustard
Actually, hang on, I'll email you privately - we can still do 4. -D.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:43 pm
by Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
I am back from moderating. The tournament was going remarkably smoothly for a 101-team tournament (plus one Team USA to round out the brackets), with the first 5 rounds done by 2 PM. Perhaps it will be of interest to note that computational math toss-ups were crossed out; computational math bonuses were left in.
The eight teams remaining when I left were:
(1) Ardsley A
(2) Saint Joe's A
(3) White Plains A
(4) Georgetown Day School B
(5) State College A
(6) Bergen A
(7) Georgetown Day School A
and... (9) Great Neck South A! Upset!

How the brackets were arranged I do not know.

Re: Half Hollow Hills West Invitational (Dix Hills, NY 1/7/2012)

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:55 pm
by Francis the Talking France
Production of Watchmen wrote:I am back from moderating. The tournament was going remarkably smoothly for a 101-team tournament (plus a house team to round out the brackets), with the first 5 rounds done by 2 PM. Perhaps it will be of interest to note that computational math toss-ups were crossed out; computational math bonuses were left in.
The eight teams remaining when I left were:
(1) Ardsley A
(2) Saint Joe's A
(3) White Plains A
(4) Georgetown Day School B
(5) State College A
(6) Bergen A
(7) Georgetown Day School A
and... (9) Great Neck South A! Upset!

How the brackets were arranged I do not know.
No Hunter at all?
Edit: Actually never mind. I think someone said that Hunter would be sending their C and D teams for this, so I guess that is plausible.