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Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:11 am
by AKKOLADE
C'mon and vote, people.

Give me your top 25 in order, 1 to 25. Teams will get 25 points for a 1st place vote, 24 for 2nd, and so on. Please indicate the state of the school when including them.

Email them to me at [email protected] . Please include hsquizbowl Top 25 in the subject of your email.

Your ballots will be posted alongside your actual name. Ballots that are bad will be rejected; if I have enough time, I'll prompt you for reasoning and what not.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:34 pm
by master15625
Um, should we judge based on NAQT or PACE or just in general.

This is because many teams are better at a certain tournament based on the types of questions than at others, so I just wanted to point this out.

I will try to do my best for general.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:53 pm
by AKKOLADE
In general. Basically, you're ranking teams on how they'd perform at good quiz bowl in general.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:19 pm
by AlphaQuizBowler
Is there a deadline?

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:39 pm
by AKKOLADE
May 15 sounds good to me.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 8:53 pm
by Joshua Rutsky
I'm interested in how people form their opinions for polls like this, particularly given that the Byko ratings have been down due to tragic crashing action. I know that our team really doesn't get out of the Southeast but once a year, and that's for nationals, so we have only seen the Southeast regional teams, and I am loathe to take wild guesses about 25 teams nationwide based on that. I know a few that surely ought to be ranked in the top ten -- State College, Maggie Walker, Dorman, James Island-- but I don't feel qualified to name them in any order, since I've only seen Dorman play. I know that the teams up in the Northeast area play more often and see each other, and there are plenty of teams who manage to make big events like the WOQ, but we just don't have the money to do that. Would it be possible or worthwhile to simultaneously conduct regional polls or something similar? I know that polls are just that--polls--but we actually use those at times to convince our administration that funding our team is a valuable investment.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 9:44 pm
by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
Why can't you compare the teams results at good events, big wins, big losses, etc. and then make an educated guess? I think that's really what everyone involved does.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 9:51 pm
by Charbroil
I think part of the issue with Coach Rutsky might be that he's worried that his team is better than the poll will read--which is certainly understandable, given how important a high ranking is to continued funding.

To answer that concern...since the issue is presumably funding for the next year, couldn't you wait until after the HSNCT/NSC and then base your appeal on how well your team does there (assuming you're attending)?

And for the general question of how to tell which team is better, to supplement Charlie's response, I also take into account statistics like PPG, P/B, etc. on the same/similar sets to get an idea of how good a team is.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 10:26 pm
by AKKOLADE
Who the hell gets funding based off this poll's results?!

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 10:48 pm
by Matt Weiner
I won't be doing a ballot for this poll since I'm involved in seeding the PACE NSC and I don't want anyone speculating on what my opinions regarding the teams are, but in the past I've focused largely on things like bonus conversion on comparable sets (NAQT, HSAPQ, and nationally mirrored stuff like HFT) and quality wins, and less on how much some team beat their hapless local opponents by. Everyone already knows who the top teams in each region are, since that's what's determined by teams playing each other at every tournament, so I don't see a point to regional polls. Dave's site helped me find the quality wins but I was pulling up individual tournaments' stats to find the numbers.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:54 am
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
Joshua Rutsky wrote:II know a few that surely ought to be ranked in the top ten -- State College, Maggie Walker, Dorman, James Island--
James Island? Really? National top ten?

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 8:32 pm
by ... and the chaos of Mexican modernity
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:
Joshua Rutsky wrote:II know a few that surely ought to be ranked in the top ten -- State College, Maggie Walker, Dorman, James Island--
James Island? Really? National top ten?
:lol: :lol: :lol: Southside is 5 times better. James Island is really good at NAQT due to the heavy Trash and Geography distribution

Edit: I forgot to add that James Island is definitely near the #25 position though, maybe at it exactly.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 9:52 pm
by Charbroil
FredMorlan wrote:Who the hell gets funding based off this poll's results?!
I guess they just go with the overall "We're a good team--->fund us" argument, which I guess makes sense...

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 9:59 pm
by Cheynem
Man, if you're giving out funding based on this poll...

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:15 pm
by Joshua Rutsky
Charlie--

I would certainly make an educated comparison if I was better aware of tournament results and relative question quality at the tournaments people attend, but responses like the one about James Island (who cleaned up at a tourney we attended earlier this year, if memory serves) demonstrate the difficulty in making that kind of call. I really used the Byko rankings more often than anything else to keep track of tourney results, and I could certainly read the tourney results more carefully, but it isn't easy to judge between teams you haven't personally played more than once with any sort of confidence.

Regarding funding, anyone who thinks that public schools are going to preserve funding for quiz bowl teams over other budgetary concerns in times like these is either in one hell of a tax district or deluding themselves. My extracurricular program serves 20-25 of 2200 students, which is NOT a big number. It isn't flashy or money-producing, like football, baseball, or basketball. It is, in my opinion, incredibly important, especially to those who participate, but it doesn't register when the school system is trying to make AYP, it doesn't get much in the way of media coverage, and it doesn't involve nationally traveling coaches showing up to recruit my players with great fanfare. I push my kids' accomplishments as often and as hard as I can, especially since I want nothing more than to see them get the appreciation they deserve, but I'm well aware that if I can't show my principal that the money allocated to our program is producing success, that money will get reallocated at some point, and I'll have to raise the balance to replace it with even more fundraising. A national poll is something non-quiz bowl people can easily understand; tied for 42nd at NAQT Nationals isn't.

Anyway, I think that for now, at least, I'll refrain from participating in a poll like this. I'd rather not give an ignorant opinion of such things, and the few teams I know well enough to vote for will probably receive votes from better-aware coaches and players.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 11:27 pm
by AKKOLADE
I have given thought to doing two things with this poll:

1) Having a short list of teams that absolutely must be included on each ballot. This would only include teams that would be a virtual lock for a top ten spot; as such, at the absolute most, I wouldn't have more than 15 or so teams on here. Basically, omitting one of these teams would be enough for me to consider rejecting your ballot. By posting these teams, I'd be saving everyone some time. My only concern with this is that people would complain about being omitted; my concern isn't so much "I don't want to upset people" as "this is terribly annoying." If people want this option, I'd have to institute some kind of rule where it can't be complained about.

2) I could also highlight top teams from various areas across the country. I've spent a good amount of time looking at stats over the past few months, so I'd be happy to do this. Of course, people would be encouraged to add their own views to areas they were familiar with.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 2:16 pm
by AKKOLADE
Hey, I'm leaving voting open until next week (probably Monday), so keep sending your ballots!

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:04 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
How many have you received so far?

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:09 pm
by AKKOLADE
I have received ten ballots so far. I'll be adding one of my own. Like I said earlier, I may make some suggestions here, but I'm not sure when that would be done.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 7:23 pm
by aestheteboy
I guess this thread is an appropriate place to have some pre-nationals predictions.

I'm not planning to vote in this poll because I haven't followed the national scene closely enough to rank the top 25. However, for a while, I've had the opinion that the there are clear top seven teams in the nation and a relatively large gap between the seventh and eighth teams. I'm willing to bet that State College, Hunter, Charter, Gov, Dorman, GDS, and WJ will all be in the top 8 at NSC this year; if any of the seven teams fails to make it, it'll probably be WJ. Ike, DCC, Auburn, RB all seem to have legitimate shot at making top 8.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 8:54 pm
by Whiter Hydra
I'm going to follow Daichi's lead, since I probably couldn't give you exact rankings.

Top tier: Charter, Dorman, Gov, Hunter, State College, WJ. These six teams all have a legitimate shot of winning the championship, and I believe that all six of them have beaten each of the other five at some point this season.
Charter: They have started out string, and Henry Gorman is a beast. However, their dominance has started to wane somewhat, and Henry has been known to be inconsistent at times and vulnerable to the effects of momentum.
Dorman: To be honest, I haven't seen a whole lot of Dorman, but they have improved a lot since the start of the year. I remember that we beat them soundly at GSAC, but they have certainly proved themselves worthy of contention. They're a very balanced team, and they have one of the best (if not the best) science players currently active.
Maggie Walker: Like Dorman, they have improved in leaps and bounds. They have three high-quality players, and their active participation in the college scene will certainly help them with the harder questions at nationals. While they have proved worthy of competing among the best, they may still need that little boost in order to make it to the top this year.
Hunter: Guy Tabachnick has come from being a very good player to arguably the best player in the circuit. Plus, he has support, which will take him a long way. If I were to pick a team to win NSC, I would give it to Hunter. Unfortunately, we won't see them at Chicago.
State College: The top two people at Mahfouz Lit Singles were both from State College. That by itself says a lot. Furthermore, they have proved to be very good all-around and will probably benefit the most by the presence of powers in both national tournaments.
Walter Johnson: Daichi is probably the best player on the circuit today and has improved a lot since his 186 PPG at NSC last year. He is certainly a force to be reckoned with (and has been essentially promoted to demigod status by some of the younger members of TJ). However, the fact that he is essentially a one-man team may prove to be his downfall (though, on that note, Kuo-Kai is himself starting to get really good).

Second tier: Auburn, GDS, Gonzaga, Ike, Rancho Bernando, TJ. All of these teams have proven to be good in their own right, and all of them have the ability to beat any of the top tier teams, but they will probably have to be content to making the top 16. I'm not familiar with a couple of them, but here are my thoughts on some of them.
GDS: The duo of Ian Eppler and Matt Jackson makes GDS probably the best among these teams, and they could easily finish ahead of a couple of the top tier teams. EDIT: Actually, I would consider GDS above the second tier, though I'm dubious about putting them in the top tier yet. Then again, I have been wrong before.
Gonzaga: Gonzaga and GDS started the year about even, though it seems that the former has stalled a bit, especially since Dan Puma hasn't been as active as it once was (or so secondhand reports say). Still, they could end up performing rather well.
Ike: Ladies and gentlemen, your ACF Nationals DII champion! However, he lacks the breadth to do the same on high school nationals questions, as is the case for a one-man team. Still, he is a deadly foe.
Rancho Bernardo: Located about 2,000 miles from all the other teams, they are the wild-card here. I could easily see them surprise everyone and do really, really well, or they could end up falling in the middle of the pack. We'll see.
TJ: As much as I hate to say it, TJ is no longer the powerhouse it used to be. In the future, people who believe that team chemistry is important for a good team will look back to this TJ team. On the other hand, if the stars align, TJ can win some games against the top teams.

Anyway, my $.02. Feel free to disagree or to mention omissions.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:07 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
I won't make a comment on every team, i just wanted to point out Detroit Country Day School. I've been following this team the last couple months, curious about their ability after seeing some impressive results, and i've noticed that basically DCDS has been pummeling all teams in Michigan and almost always beats Detroit Catholic Central too (good dudes who are awesome in their own right). So this is my vote for a sleeper team that could really shock some people, because they don't seem to have much of a following here. Looking at the stats for DCDS, they have, as far as i can tell, at least a 52-1 record on NAQT questions this year, which is just absolutely ridiculous.

EDIT: Also, last year, they were 5-2 after their first 7 games at HSNCT... then proceeded to lose the last 3 by a total of 85 points to barely miss the playoffs. They will be back for vengeance.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:14 pm
by lagazzaladra
I'm relatively new to the circuit, so I don't know enough to make a semi-accurate top 25 list, but looking at everyone's rankings so far, I couldn't help but notice that no one mentioned Whitman. I mean, they're obviously not as strong as last year, but I from the few times I've played them this year, I would say that they have a chance against GDS, Gonzaga, and TJ at least.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:28 pm
by Quantum Mushroom Billiard Hat
Both Detroit Country Day and Catholic Central have very legitimate shots of making the top 10-15. I could see Country Day going on a run like East Lansing did last year to a top 5 finish, though I certainly won't expect it.
I admit that I have not seen the top teams outside of Michigan this year, but I have seen the top teams the last 3 or so years. Country Day compares very well with what I remember. Catholic Central seems just as good as some of their past teams who always seem to play well at Nationals.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:36 pm
by Whiter Hydra
lagazzaladra wrote:I'm relatively new to the circuit, so I don't know enough to make a semi-accurate top 25 list, but looking at everyone's rankings so far, I couldn't help but notice that no one mentioned Whitman. I mean, they're obviously not as strong as last year, but I from the few times I've played them this year, I would say that they have a chance against GDS, Gonzaga, and TJ at least.
Whitman has shown the occasional hint at greatness, but I'd say that they have a ways to go before lumping them with TJ and Gonzaga and the like.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:41 pm
by ihavenoidea
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:EDIT: Also, last year, they were 5-2 after their first 7 games at HSNCT... then proceeded to lose the last 3 by a total of 85 points to barely miss the playoffs. They will be back for vengeance.

Are you sure you're not talking about RB?

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:50 pm
by at your pleasure
, I couldn't help but notice that no one mentioned Whitman. I mean, they're obviously not as strong as last year, but I from the few times I've played them this year, I would say that they have a chance against GDS, Gonzaga, and TJ at least.
While I have been pleasantly suprised by this year, I'm not sure about that. We have very little science knowledge and serious gaps in other categories, which kills us on teams with good humanities players(notably, all the top teams I've seen).
With respect to the poll, my subjective impressions place Daichi Ueda ahead of Henry Gorman.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:54 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
Let's look at Whitman's losses this year, from what i know.

9/21 RM - (stats were never compiled for this one... curious.. O WAIT ITS RM LOLZ)
Maryland 9/28 - lost to Hunter (by 490), Georgetown Day, Hunter again (by 285), Gonzaga (by 210)
TJ 10/18 - lost to Dorman (by 360), Dunbar (by 285), State College
GDS 11/8 - lost to Kellenberg (by 250), Walter Johnson
GSAC 12/6 - lost to State College, Thomas Jefferson (by 250), Georgetown Day (by 245), State College
Charter 12/20 - lost to Gonzaga (by 210), Gonzaga again
MOHIT 1/10 - lost to Maggie Walker, State College (by 345), Walter Johnson (by 350), Georgetown Day
WJ 2/14 - lost to Gonzaga, Maggie Walker, Georgetown Day
WoQ 3/14 - lost to State College (by 380), Maggie Walker (by 235), Hunter, Brookwood, Chattahoochee (by 200), Georgetown Day
WoQ 3/15 - (Daniel wasn't there so i won't count this day)
Maryland 5/2 - lost to Hunter (by 305), Charter (by 310), Walter Johnson, and almost to us! :smile:

That's a lot of losses to good teams, some of them kinda big... and those are only the tournaments i know about (and i may be missing more). To Whitman's credit, of course they're a good team, very good in fact, and have beaten other top teams at times... but i would not put them solidly in the top 10.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:58 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
ihavenoidea wrote:
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:EDIT: Also, last year, they were 5-2 after their first 7 games at HSNCT... then proceeded to lose the last 3 by a total of 85 points to barely miss the playoffs. They will be back for vengeance.

Are you sure you're not talking about RB?
Ha, wow, yeah... you lost those last 3 games by a total of only 65 points. You guys, i'm sure, will be out for blood in a couple weeks. :smile:

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:14 pm
by AKKOLADE
California teams whose stats stood out to me: Mission San Jose A & B, Rancho Bernardo, Arcadia, Santa Monica, La Jolla, Edison, Berkeley and Bellarmine. No particular order.

Texas' best teams appear to be Bellaire, LASA and St. John's. Bellaire B is probably right behind them.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:20 pm
by Salt Lake Dream
Just to comment on some of our results so far.
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:Let's look at Whitman's losses this year, from what i know.

9/21 RM - (stats were never compiled for this one... curious.. O WAIT ITS RM LOLZ)
We beat Maggie Walker in our first game against them, and lost to them after being up on the last tossup in our second. We also lost to TJ on the last tossup.
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:TJ 10/18 - lost to Dorman (by 360), Dunbar (by 285), State College
We beat GDS by 195, and lost to State College after being up coming into the last tossup.
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:GDS 11/8 - lost to Kellenberg (by 250), Walter Johnson
Both of these losses came in the playoffs, after one of our players left.
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:GSAC 12/6 - lost to State College, Thomas Jefferson (by 250), Georgetown Day (by 245), State College
We only had three players for GSAC.
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:WJ 2/14 - lost to Gonzaga, Maggie Walker, Georgetown Day
As with GSAC, we only had three players.
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:WoQ 3/14 - lost to State College (by 380), Maggie Walker (by 235), Hunter, Brookwood, Chattahoochee (by 200), Georgetown Day
We were up coming into the last tossup against Hunter.
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:Maryland 5/2 - lost to Hunter (by 305), Charter (by 310), Walter Johnson, and almost to us!
We only had two players, and neither of us knows much science.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:31 pm
by dxdtdemon
There are a few Kentucky teams that are just outside of the top tier, but could still finish in the top 15 or 20. I'm thinking of Dunbar, Dupont Manual, and Simon Kenton. Also, there's a team just across the Ohio River (Walnut Hills) that is pretty good, too, and seems to do a lot better than expected at HSNCT's that occur in odd-numbered years.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 8:06 am
by btressler
I think Harry's analysis was dead on.

I will point out that the Maryland Fall, MOHIT, and Maryland Spring tournaments were all Charter/GDS finals, with some of the other mentioned teams in attendance. So I definitely give them credit for a good year.

I predict we will finish higher at HSNCT than NSC due to geography, current events, and trash. Neeraj was like the #16 scorer at TRASHionals this year. (I don't know the final ranking because they didn't publish it.)

I also find it interesting how the top California team(s) are the wildcard every year. Last year Santa Monica was in the 7-0 vs 7-0 match on Saturday.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 4:06 pm
by master15625
Well, I might as well post my thoughts on Nationals before hand.

We didn't go to any tournament outside of Michigan, so that is why many won't know about us. But we are not a bad team, and we hope that we can make it to the playoffs after a disappointing run last year.

But yeah, the top teams seem to be teams from the east, as I have witnessed on the Hunter prison high school tournament and the mirror at Walter Johnson. I think the top teams from that tournament will be all capable for semifinals. However, those questions created were not NAQT, so that could also cause problems for some of these great teams.

Also, I believe that this year's HSNCT is going to be GREEEEEEEEEEAT. I really can't wait for this to happen. See you there.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 8:29 pm
by Gonzagapuma1
hwhite wrote:especially since Dan Puma hasn't been as active as it once was (or so secondhand reports say).
You have some bad secondhand sources, bro.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 8:36 pm
by Whiter Hydra
Gonzagapuma1 wrote:
hwhite wrote:especially since Dan Puma hasn't been as active as it once was (or so secondhand reports say).
You have some bad secondhand sources, bro.
Well, I might be biased that I haven't played you guys in a while.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 8:59 pm
by AKKOLADE
I have finished my ballot and am in the process of counting teams up. I will release the individual ballots next week; I hope to get overall results up tonight.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 9:03 pm
by AKKOLADE
Oh, and if your name is not in this list below but you submitted a ballot, let me know ASAP.

Graham Moyer
George Stevens
Neil Gurram
Chuhern Hwang
Charlie Rosenthal
Andrew Chrzanowski
William Horton
Matt Jackson
Brother Nigel
Matt Hawlik
Bryce Durgin
Isaac Hirsch

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 9:26 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
That's not a lot of people... oh well.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:03 pm
by AKKOLADE
I'm actually going to keep voting open over night, since I'm waiting on a couple of revised ballots and people thinking about making ballots. If you want to submit your ballot, go ahead and do so following the directions in the first post.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 12:08 pm
by AKKOLADE
We received additional votes from Matt Weiner and Raymond Taralia. I'll be announcing the results soon.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 3:56 pm
by Tower Monarch
I did not submit a real ballot because I don't particularly care about the teams that are going only to HSNCT, but I thought some of you would like my top 19 (due to the way I did my tiers) for NSC (I don't think there are more than 6 or so HSNCT-only teams that would enter in this list, but definitely order would change for HSNCT):

***** Tier 1 (in order, 1-6): ** Hunter (my reasoning here is WoQ; they consistently showed dominance over the course of a long weekend; Guy alone warrants top 12, while the rest of the team only gets better),
** State College (the fact that VCU has difficulty playing them shows there depth of knowledge, and there complete grasp of the literature canon will keep them in the top 6 even on bad days),
** Dorman (they've are getting better faster than pretty much all of these, and I think they would win if this was held in August),
** Maggie Walker (right now they need Greg and Tommy to have amazing games at the same time rather than alternating; that doesn't happen enough, but it is clear that Sarah separates them from 2-person teams like GDS),
** Walter Johnson (I was more impressed with Daichi's Regionals performance than that of Gorman, yet MW now consistently beats WJ),
** Wilmington Charter (definitely going to do better than this at HSNCT, but NSC plays way to well to the strengths of the above).
***** Tier 2 (in order, 7-12): ** DCC (They have definitely improved from last year's team that notably beat MW B last year; GDS and even top tier teams know what it's like to be down to these guys),
** GDS (I didn't know how to weigh the Maryland tournament, so I didn't, but Matt and Ian will definitely challenge any of the above 6 this weekend; like I said above, they can even keep up with Tommy and Greg, but MW has a better team),
** RB (these guys obviously have the advantage of surprise, but glances at comparable stats suggest it would still be an upset if they beat the top 6 teams),
** James Monroe (Chuhern only gets better, so he deserves a top ten spot, but they haven't played enough to demonstrate the skill of DCC and GDS),
** Stow (Ike is scary when the difficulty goes up [his placement at ACF Nationals vs this tournament will show how deep high school knowledge is this year], but when he is not the only one in the room who has heard of things, I don't know that he can consistently beat the top tier teams),
** Rockford Auburn (Illinois definitely has East-Coast quality teams this year, but the East Coast features some of the best high school teams in recent history, so I think Ike will be able to beat them with deep humanities knowledge and possibly split the science)
Tier 3 (in order, 13-19): **Dorman B (they impressed me so much that I believe there lack of place is just a lack of familiarity),
** Gonzaga (if Quint and I can take advantage of Dan's negs, then so can any of the top 12 teams; inconsistency will definitely hurt them),
** TJHSST (I have no idea on any given day whether they will be "8th best TJ" or "30th best TJ" thanks to inconsistencies, so I put them here),
** Walton,Chattahoochee,Brookwood, Dunbar (I will lump these guys together saying that what I've seen of the middle 2 and games among the four of them tells me they would consistently beat Cosby, for example, but WoQ showed that they probably won't break into the second tier often)

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 4:10 pm
by aestheteboy
Hey Fred, can we do another pre-NSC prediction game/thing like last year? It was pretty fun.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 4:37 pm
by AKKOLADE
I hope to have that up tonight.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 8:36 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
Hm, why can't i post in the results thread... there's no "reply" button at the bottom...

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 8:48 pm
by Kouign Amann
Caesar Rodney HS wrote:Hm, why can't i post in the results thread... there's no "reply" button at the bottom...
There is for me. Perhaps someone has been spending too much time staring at the screen while on the forums and has ruined his eyes.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 8:55 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
Nah, probably has to do with my warning level never being decreased from being an imbecile a while ago. No problem. I just wanted to comment to find out what clown voted for us in this thing! Really now.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 9:15 pm
by Nine-Tenths Ideas
It was really a ceremonial thing recognizing how much better you guys have gotten over the year- besides, once you get down to 25, it's much harder to differentiate between teams.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 9:23 pm
by Down and out in Quintana Roo
Well thanks. :) And i kinda still think you're a clown, but you're cool enough to take my sarcastic insult. You're a good dude.

Re: Pre-Nationals High School 2009 Poll

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 9:24 pm
by Self-incompatibility in plants
It was really a ceremonial thing recognizing how much better you guys have gotten over the year- besides, once you get down to 25, it's much harder to differentiate between teams.
Thanks, Isaac. However I still feel it is undeserved, we certainly appreciate the recognition. Looking forward to seeing you soon, good luck preparing!

Also, you indeed are not a clown...