Kentucky 2012-13

[FCPanther]

I wanted to get an early announcement/date claim out there.

Fleming County High School will be hosting the 15th annual Fleming County Academic Tournament on January 12, 2013. We plan on using HSAPQ questions again (no word for sure on which set but probably VHSL season sets).

Most of the details should be the same as in years past,(Varsity and "B" divisions, morning pool play) but I am looking at ways to guarantee more games, and avoid the single elimination playoff (ie I will need "volunteers" from attendees in addition to our own folks).


More details as we move forward.

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

I posted a schedule last year and it seemed to go well, so I'll do that again this year. For inclusion on this, just announce your tournament, post in this thread, or PM me.
9/8:
9/15: Ezell-Harding Academic Tournament (Nashville, TN)
9/22:
9/29:

10/6: Madeira Fall Kickoff Tournament (Cincinnati, OH)
10/13: UofL Academic Challenge (Louisville, KY)
10/20:
10/27: WKU Fall JV/Middle School Tournament (Bowling Green, KY)

11/3:
11/10: KAAC JV Challenge
11/17: WKU Hilltopper Invitational (Bowling Green, KY)
11/24:Thanksgiving weekend

12/1:
12/8: Eastern Kentucky History Bowl (Paintsville, KY)
12/15: Glasgow Invitational (Glasgow, KY)
12/22:
12/29: Winter Break

1/5: Western Kentucky History Bowl (Owensboro, KY)
1/12: Fleming County Academic Tournament (Flemingsburg, KY)
1/19:
1/26: KAAC Governor's Cup District

2/2: Dunbar Academic Invitational (Lexington, KY)
2/9:
2/16: KAAC Governor's Cup Regional
2/23:

3/2: UK Academic Tournament (Lexington, KY)
3/9: Ballard-Eastern Academic Challenge (Louisville, KY)
3/16: KAAC Governor's Cup State (Louisville, KY)
3/23: Kentucky History Bowl and Bee (Buckner, KY)
3/30: University of Louisville Spring Invitational (Louisville, KY)

4/6:
4/13: Eastern-Ballard JV Tournament (Louisville, KY)
4/20: NAQT Kentucky State Championship (Bowling Green, KY)
4/27:

5/4:
5/11:
5/18:
5/25: NAQT HSNCT

6/1:
6/8: PACE NSC
6/15:

[Church51907]

We will probably not host until the spring term this year, probably in April.
Matt Church
U of L

[AustinlSmith]

Much to my surprise, the NHBB dates are already up for Kentucky if you feel those are important enough to be included.

[FCPanther]

Any news on when/if Danville will be hosting? And is it safe to assume Dunbar will stay on the same weekend?

[Coach K]

I'm going to get our dates figured out before the end of July, Kent. I'll post as soon as I have them confirmed.

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

In a bit of good news, KAAC has decided to eliminate spelling questions. I don't know if they've gotten around to separating tossups and bonuses (which would make the matches more manageable for moderators), but they've eliminated the clock for the 2nd day of state so all questions will be read.

At this point, question quality will continue to improve if submissions improve. This is largely dependent on good question writers actually contributing to Governor's Cup, which hopefully will happen this year.

[MahoningQuizBowler]

In addition to our tournaments already listed on the calendar, Madeira High School near Cincinnati will be hosting a C set NHBB event on December 15. That school is also hosting a mirror of Ohio's Fall Kickoff Tournament on October 6. The October tournament is, to my knowledge, the first tossup-bonus tournament to be held in Cincinnati since UC hosted Bearcat Bowl in 2004. I'll be directing both events.

[SHM]

Dunbar is interested in sending a team to the tournament in Cincinnati. Where can we contact someone about a possible spot?

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

WKU will be hosting some form of academic tournament on April 20 this year, probably on NAQT questions. We have not ruled out the possibility of this being a two-day event, with the Sunday portion likely to be of a nationals-prep variety with strong incentives for out-of-state teams to attend.

[Grams's Go-Go Boots]

The University of Kentucky's team would like to tenatively claim March 2nd as a day to host a high school tournament. We're still investigating possible conflicts at this time, but if it works out okay, we'll go for it then.

Edit: if this date doesn't work out, we may go for April 6th, but that's still under development.

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

Kentucky Quizbowl Preview, 2012-13 Season (Part 1)

We're a little over a week away from the first pyramidal quizbowl tournament on the schedule in Kentucky this year, and while teams are already playing quick recall and a handful of out-of-state tournaments, this is a good time as any to make a few "preseason" predictions for the upcoming season. These are rankings in one sense of the term, but I'm not going to be numbering teams like a traditional ranking and will instead place teams into tiers and list them in alphabetical order. I've spent a lot of time looking through stats to find the great players and teams of last year and whether or not they are coming back, but I wouldn't be surprised if I've missed a key returning player or list people who have actually graduated. Because this is mainly to stimulate discussion, I encourage people with more specific knowledge of any team to of course weigh in and tell us more. Keep in mind these predictions mainly just apply to pyramidal quizbowl, and even though I didn't include B teams specifically, please note that Dunbar B and Manual B will probably both place well at tournaments this year. Without further delay, here are my predictions:

Tier 1: Campbell County (Alexandria), DuPont Manual (Louisville), Paul Laurence Dunbar (Lexington)

The last few years have seen teams like Adair County, Grayson County, and Danville attempt to chase down the consistently good magnet schools from the state's two largest cities. The first two programs were doomed by a lack of depth that kept excellent players like Luke Maupin and Scott Blain from leading their programs to the promised land. Adair got closer because they have a good coaching staff that managed to provide Luke a decent supporting cast his last two years, briefly attaining glory with a surprise top ten finish at the 2010 HSNCT. Grayson was hurt by Scott and I only overlapping for one year, and once Scott became the main scorer after my graduation, his supporting cast declined over time. Danville usually fielded a balanced team with at least two highly talented players, but they also had problems getting their best four to go to the same tournament, although when they did they often scared or occasionally upset Dunbar or Manual. This year is different.

Each point of the golden triangle is represented in the top tier now, as Campbell County continues their rise after last year's 2nd place showings at both KAAC and NAQT State. While I felt Dunbar and Manual were definitely a tier of their own last year despite those results, I can't exactly say that about this season. Both Dunbar (Idrees) and Manual (Nick, Meghamsh) lost great players off last year's teams, although they will be reloading with some very good players. I don't think Campbell has closed the gap completely, but with a strong coaching staff and players wanting to improve they may do so. At the very least their separation from the rest of the field warrants them not being relegated to Tier 2. Looking at these teams, there are several players worth noting from each squad.

Campbell continues to be led by Jenna (59 PPG at NAQT State), who is one of the top literature and fine arts players in the state. Clayton (26 PPG) led the field in scoring at our spring novice tournament, and could give this team a second threat to score large amounts of points. They also return Jared (18 PPG), and Trevor (15 PPG) in addition to talented younger players who have been coming out of their high-quality middle school program the last few years. Putting up 18 PPB on an IS set was the most impressive part of their NAQT State performance last year, and with all of that returning they should break 20 PPB on a regular basis this year.

Turning my attention to Manual, you first have to look at the strong performances made at HSNCT by younger players, especially on their B and C teams. David (54 PPG at HSNCT) is the returning scoring champion from NAQT State, and Nivedita performed well at NAQT State and managed to score some points at HSNCT while playing on a team with some excellent players. Jesse (28 PPG at HSNCT), Eliza (27 PPG), Alice (24 PPG), Jiahui (23 PPG), and several other returning players mean this team will continue to be both deep and talented. They will be in contention to repeat at both KAAC and NAQT State tournaments.

If Manual is deep and talented, Dunbar is all of that with another year to grow. They return Vania (38 PPG at HSNCT) in addition to a group of juniors and sophomores who absolutely ripped apart the two JV tournaments we hosted last year. The five youngsters who can potentially make Dunbar a legitimate national title contender in 2014 (if not this year) are John (32 PPG), Athena (31 PPG), Will (25 PPG), Christian (21 PPG), and Valerie (18 PPG). And they have several other young players who could start for many teams as well. While this team has a higher ceiling than the other two, the challenge of replacing Idrees will be interesting to watch.

Tier 2: Ballard (Louisville), Eastern (Louisville), Glasgow

There is enough of a drop to Tier 2 that Dunbar and Manual's B teams will likely place near or above teams in this grouping throughout the year. Even more worrisome for these teams is that Tier 3 is not far behind (I considered placing all three of those teams in this grouping as well) and that there are a number of wildcards and potential surprises who may compete as well. There's a distinct possibility that in a tournament including every team I mention here, these teams could either compete for first bracket spots or not even make the top ten. They each have some players worth looking at:

Ballard is a well-coached program that is often the second best team in Louisville. They return Jack (37 PPG at HSNCT) and Mark (20 PPG) from a team that went 5-5 at HSNCT, although they do lose a couple key players as well. They put up nearly 14 PPB on the way to an 8th place finish at our HFT mirror last year, and broke 16 PPB and finished 3rd at NAQT State. If they successfully replace the people who graduated, they have a shot at making the HSNCT playoffs for the first time since 2009.

Eastern is a similar high school to Ballard, and the two schools often co-host tournaments, a model that other teams in this state should look into duplicating. The bad news for Eastern is they only had one player who scored more than 11 PPG at NAQT State last year, but the good news is that Amos (53 PPG at NAQT State) is returning and will likely be among the top players in the state. Their 17 PPB at NAQT State suggests they have fairly deep knowledge as a team, which is something to like.

Glasgow was a pleasant surprise at HSNCT, where they went 5-5 with nearly 13 PPB before going on a run in the small school playoffs. This team managed to knock off Macomb (IL) during that run, meaning they have the ability to compete against top tier teams in the right formats. They return Jarred (35 PPG at HSNCT) and Olivia (33 PPG), a one-two punch with plenty of room to grow. One potential problem is their tendency to attend too few events, although hopefully that will change.

Tier 3: Barren County (Glasgow), Daviess County (Owensboro), St. Xavier (Louisville)

This tier consists of teams who have plenty of potential, but haven't quite proved enough to tell how they will be this year. These teams have good players and certainly can compete with the teams in Tier 2, but there also seems to be a lack of stat lines to truly determine how good these teams will be. I'm operating under the hope that all of these schools will attend plenty of events this year.

Barren County is an interesting case for a number of reasons, especially because they are located in the same town as Glasgow. If the two schools combined, they would have an amazing team this year. Barren put up 11 PPB at Hilltopper last year, which was a mirror of the insanely difficult Harvard Fall Tournament. Mattie (39 PPG at Hilltopper) and Matt (14 PPG) are both good players, although they seem like they may be better at NAQT. Hopefully we find out this year.

Daviess County was a team who was quite good last year, although they do lose a good player in Logan. We can't find many stats for them from last year, but fortunately we do have their statline from Danville last fall, where they put up close to 19 PPB on an HSAPQ set. Ella is one of the best history players in the state, and Kaye-Lin's performance at our fall JV tournament (69 PPG) shows they have more talent. This team is well-coached, and may be in for a great year if they go to more events.

St. Xavier has the most well-defined statline of anyone in the third tier, and their performance at NAQT State last year was very promising. Their team of three players put up nearly 16 PPB, and Cole (36 PPG), Will (32 PPG), and Parker (19 PPG) will all be back this year. St. X and their rival Trinity both fit the profile (large and Catholic) of a school that could build a strong program, although they don't travel much. If they go to more events they will do well, especially if they have a capable fourth player.

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

Kentucky Quizbowl Preview, 2012-13 (Part 2)

Question Marks: Oldham County (Buckner), Johnson Central (Paintsville), Pikeville

Oldham County lost Cory to graduation this year, but on paper they should be pretty good. Austin (39 PPG at Hilltopper) was a very good young player who has even improved since then (23 PPG at NSC in a supporting role), and Ajit (18 PPG at Hilltopper) also performed very well at times. An active, well-coached team with two improving good players should be at least second tier. The problem is those two reside in Bowling Green at the Gatton Academy now. While still eligible to play for Oldham County, the possibility that they can't compete full time keeps me from putting them in second tier where they belong.

I don't know a thing about Johnson Central or who is on their team. They're always good at quick recall without fail, and when they venture to good tournaments they usually put up good numbers there as well. If they go to good tournaments, they could be in any of the tiers (yes, even first) I mentioned, but for now: ?

Pikeville is a bit of a combination of the two previous schools. Somewhat isolated and very quick recall focused, Pikeville has always performed well at good tournaments (19 PPB at Danville last year) and similar to Johnson Central they have the potential to compete at a high level again. One more question mark involves their top player from last year, Alex, who is also attending the Gatton Academy. If he plays they'll be good on any format, but Pikeville and Bowling Green are four hours apart.

Traditionally Strong Teams: Adair County (Columbia), Danville, Simon Kenton (Independence)

Team specific previews in this section aren't exactly needed, because all three schools are in a similar state at the moment. These teams have either been strong on a regular basis for years or had strong teams in the recent past. Adair County took the loss of Luke Maupin about like you would expect, but they are well-coached and still quite active. Danville lost Dowell and Rachel but there is reason to believe the cupboard isn't completely empty, especially since they are coached by Rob Kremer. Simon Kenton is still pretty active and usually the second best team in Northern Kentucky, and while they were slightly down last year relative to 2007-2011, they should rebound. Any one of these three teams could be a second or third tier team this season, but there are also decent possibilities they will be middle of the pack.

Teams on the Rise: Bowling Green, Calloway County (Murray), Edmonson County (Brownsville), Henderson County (Henderson), West Jessamine (Wilmore)

These teams all have at least one good, albeit young, player that has made them competitive. Some of these players are unproven on pyramidal quizbowl formats, but performed well enough in quick recall that we can only hope they'll play good quizbowl this year. With the increasing pyramidality of KAAC questions, they are becoming a better (albeit still flawed) indicator of good quizbowl success.

Bowling Green returns Ben, a rising sophomore who led Bowling Green to KAAC State by beating Glasgow, Adair County, and Barren County in the KAAC Regional tournament. Calloway County finished 8th at our fall JV tournament and returns Landon (46 PPG), Hudson (21 PPG), and Cody (19 PPG) this year, although we'll see if they keep improving on varsity questions. Edmonson County used to be really good, somehow didn't have a team last year, but rising freshman Jessica (41 PPG at SCOP, 55 PPG at MSNCT) has the potential to turn their fortunes around. Henderson County returns Hencye (52 PPG) from the team who finished 5th at our fall JV tournament, and he has enough knowledge to potentially lead them to a good record on varsity questions. West Jessamine finished 2nd at KAAC State when they were in middle school, and qualified for high school state last year; while Noah is a good quick recall player, hopefully they will start playing good quizbowl more often.

Wildcard: Gatton Academy (Bowling Green)

With several people mentioned in this post attending Gatton now, there's always a possibility they will get together and start playing as a team for their new school. I don't know how likely that is, but I would certainly let such a team compete in WKU tournaments. The talent there makes it likely they would be at least second tier if they became a team, and I wouldn't rule out their ability to compete with those in the first tier.

Teams in Rebuilding Mode: Grayson County (Leitchfield), Madisonville-North Hopkins (Madisonville), Russell

Grayson County lost Scott, John, and Chaz from last year's A team, and Grayson B has been an embarrassment for several years now. Several members of the coaching staff, including myself, are no longer with the team. It's a mystery if they will go to things this year, and there are a handful of decent players on the team, but in the last couple years the program has been pretty unorganized even when Scott was carrying them to good results. I'm not confident that we'll see them at tournaments much this year, although perhaps the members of the circuit who were often frustrated by interacting with the team (Yes, I heard your concerns. No, I didn't have the authority to fix them.) will be happy. I'm blindly optimistic they'll rebuild one day, but you won't see them in any top brackets this year.

Madisonville still has the outer workings of a successful program: They still qualify for KAAC State, they travel consistently, their coaching staff is still intact, and they appear to take themselves fairly seriously. But this isn't 2007, and Madisonville is not what it was then. They had a sharp fall after Aaron Kinney graduated, and last year was not a good year for them, in fact it was their worst year in at least a decade. They are fortunate enough that all of those advantages I listed still exist, but their needs to be some rebuilding before they get back to what they used to be.

Russell didn't attend a pyramidal quizbowl tournament last year to my knowledge, at least not an NAQT tournament. They made the HSNCT playoffs in 2011 and have been consistently successful for a very long time, even after the Knupp debacle damaged their program. I don't know what happened last year, but I hope it was just a blip and they'll be back to top form soon.

Fearless and Probably Wrong Predictions

NAQT State Championship: Manual d. Dunbar
KAAC State Championship: Dunbar d. Campbell County
NASAT Team: David Ferguson, Manual/Jenna Garofolo, Campbell County/Vania Ma, Dunbar/Ella Shipp, Daviess County

[AustinlSmith]

I guess I'll just throw in my two cents for the parts of this that I actually know something about. The thing I know best about is truly Oldham County, and I can say that the graduation of our two best players (Cory and Elias) will hurt us significantly. I personally will be attempting to attend as many tournaments with my team as possible (and dragging Ajit along with me), but there don't even seem to be that many slated as of right now. We're questioning how well we'll do ourselves, and this first tournament at UofL (if we have all our players attending) should be able to clear up quite a few questions for us.

As far as a team at the Gatton Academy is concerned, I can't really say there will be much to come of it. I know that I would've pushed greatly for it, but my home team will probably be attending the WKU tournaments anyway and I will just play for them. If Alex chooses to make one to compete at the tournament, however, I could see them doing quite well. I am polling some interest for a history bowl team, though.

Just a little side note to throw in as well, is Noah from West Jessamine. He attends Gatton as well, and I've talked to him and it seems as if his school really had no interest in ever doing anything quizbowl related.

[FCPanther]

Russell didn't attend a pyramidal quizbowl tournament last year to my knowledge, at least not an NAQT tournament. They made the HSNCT playoffs in 2011 and have been consistently successful for a very long time, even after the Knupp debacle damaged their program. I don't know what happened last year, but I hope it was just a blip and they'll be back to top form soon.

I don't recall seeing Russell at Danville or Northmont and we didn't make it to U of L so I can't speak to those (or other NAQT) events. Russell did, however, attend the FCAT in January. We switched to HSAPQ as a question source, so there is one pyramidal tournament they attended. They were a quarterfinalist along with: Fleming, Campbell, and Lafayette. Semifinalists were: Henry Clay and Johnson A. Dunbar beat Danville in the championship game.

I haven't heard from this yet this year, but they usually do make the trip to Flemingsburg, and we're planning on HSAPQ as a question source again.

[Church51907]

I want to say Russell attended the Rowdy Raider last year, but I may be mistaken. I am looking forward to the tournament at U of L Saturday. Ram is running it for me, since I am still technically on family leave.
Matt Church
U of L

[Rahul0774]

I know that I am posting a question concerning a collegiate tournament on a high school thread, but I vaguely remember reading on an old post that WKU was planning to host a collegiate tournament this school year (2012-2013). Is this tournament going to happen? Because the University of Kentucky will most definitely be in attendance.

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

Russell didn't attend a pyramidal quizbowl tournament last year to my knowledge, at least not an NAQT tournament. They made the HSNCT playoffs in 2011 and have been consistently successful for a very long time, even after the Knupp debacle damaged their program. I don't know what happened last year, but I hope it was just a blip and they'll be back to top form soon.

I don't recall seeing Russell at Danville or Northmont and we didn't make it to U of L so I can't speak to those (or other NAQT) events. Russell did, however, attend the FCAT in January. We switched to HSAPQ as a question source, so there is one pyramidal tournament they attended. They were a quarterfinalist along with: Fleming, Campbell, and Lafayette. Semifinalists were: Henry Clay and Johnson A. Dunbar beat Danville in the championship game.

I haven't heard from this yet this year, but they usually do make the trip to Flemingsburg, and we're planning on HSAPQ as a question source again.

Thanks for the correction, although the point that they were less active last does still seem to be true. Hopefully they'll attend more this year.

I know that I am posting a question concerning a collegiate tournament on a high school thread, but I vaguely remember reading on an old post that WKU was planning to host a collegiate tournament this school year (2012-2013). Is this tournament going to happen? Because the University of Kentucky will most definitely be in attendance.

We should host something, we just need to find a set to mirror. Not much is announced yet.

[HopefullyUnknown]

I guess I'll just throw in my two cents for the parts of this that I actually know something about. The thing I know best about is truly Oldham County, and I can say that the graduation of our two best players (Cory and Elias) will hurt us significantly. I personally will be attempting to attend as many tournaments with my team as possible (and dragging Ajit along with me), but there don't even seem to be that many slated as of right now. We're questioning how well we'll do ourselves, and this first tournament at UofL (if we have all our players attending) should be able to clear up quite a few questions for us.

As far as a team at the Gatton Academy is concerned, I can't really say there will be much to come of it. I know that I would've pushed greatly for it, but my home team will probably be attending the WKU tournaments anyway and I will just play for them. If Alex chooses to make one to compete at the tournament, however, I could see them doing quite well. I am polling some interest for a history bowl team, though.

Just a little side note to throw in as well, is Noah from West Jessamine. He attends Gatton as well, and I've talked to him and it seems as if his school really had no interest in ever doing anything quizbowl related.

Relating to a Gatton quizbowl team, the idea has been tossed around but I don't think enough people take it seriously for anything to get off the ground. I have a sneaking suspicion it would be composed of myself, Ajit, Austin, and someone else that's touched decent questions before (Samantha Dinga?) and since they'll be playing for their home school, I'll follow suit.

Also, I have no idea how the statement of me being Pikeville's best player is borne out. Ego is something I've been trying to cut down on.

[Edit to avoid double post] I'll also note that I sympathize with the above sentiment of "there just aren't enough tournaments scheduled." At the very least, there aren't enough that are less than a four-hour drive from Pikeville, which seems to be about 200 miles away from civilization in all directions. It seems like every quizbowl event I've expressed an interest in since last March has fallen through somehow. I do think that we could be quite competitive this year, given our excellent performance at Ezell without me.

[Istadan]

Kentucky Quizbowl Preview, 2012-13 Season (Part 1)

Glasgow was a pleasant surprise at HSNCT, where they went 5-5 with nearly 13 PPB before going on a run in the small school playoffs. This team managed to knock off Macomb (IL) during that run, meaning they have the ability to compete against top tier teams in the right formats..

To further back up this point, we took Northmont to the final tossup at Ezell-Harding. Northmont would later best Chattahoochee to win the entire tournament.

Glasgow's tournament announcement is now its own thread. --Mgmt.

[Grams's Go-Go Boots]

The University of Kentucky's team would like to tenatively claim March 2nd as a day to host a high school tournament.

This is happening. A formal announcement will be up soon.

Edit: It's up now

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

The University of Kentucky's team would like to tenatively claim March 2nd as a day to host a high school tournament.

This is happening. A formal announcement will be up soon.

Just to throw this out there, but the one college event we've bid to host would have to be hosted on March 2nd.

[Grams's Go-Go Boots]

March 2nd is the only date that really works for us hosting a high school event, unfortunately.

[Church51907]

Following from Nick's season preview, I was wondering about a midseason review of Kentucky High School Quiz Bowl. It could focus on the following questions

1. Who are the top ten teams in the state?

2. Who does everyone think will win Govenors Cup and who do you think the top four will be?

3. Does anyone have any picks for suprise or dark horse teams for the Governors Cup title?

4 Who does everyone think will win the Kentucky NAQT?

5. Which Kentucky team will do the best at HSNCT?

6. Who are the best quiz bowl players in the state?

Matt Church
U of L

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

Following from Nick's season preview, I was wondering about a midseason review of Kentucky High School Quiz Bowl. It could focus on the following questions

1. Who are the top ten teams in the state?

2. Who does everyone think will win Govenors Cup and who do you think the top four will be?

3. Does anyone have any picks for suprise or dark horse teams for the Governors Cup title?

4 Who does everyone think will win the Kentucky NAQT?

5. Which Kentucky team will do the best at HSNCT?

6. Who are the best quiz bowl players in the state?

Matt Church
U of L

There's only been one tournament this year, so I wouldn't necessarily call it mid-season yet. After Hilltopper (Saturday), Glasgow (Dec. 15th), and Fleming County (Jan. 12th) I may know enough to do something like that.

[Church51907]

Sorry Nick, I was going off of Governors Cup. I agree question should be held until after the Fleming tournament.
Matt Church
U of L

[dwd500]

You all seem to be the people to ask - what kind of state is Breckinridge Co.'s (my alma mater) team in?

I graduated in '96 after we had placed 4th at Governor's Cup. I know my coach (Wanda Tate), my former elementary principal and teammates' father (Ints Kampars), and one of my former teammates (Tim Weatherholt) are in the KAAC Hall of Fame. But I don't know anything about the team now.

After graduating from Murray State I moved out to Missouri, where I am now. The trip back for Thanksgiving has got me wondering how things are going.

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

You all seem to be the people to ask - what kind of state is Breckinridge Co.'s (my alma mater) team in?

I graduated in '96 after we had placed 4th at Governor's Cup. I know my coach (Wanda Tate), my former elementary principal and teammates' father (Ints Kampars), and one of my former teammates (Tim Weatherholt) are in the KAAC Hall of Fame. But I don't know anything about the team now.

After graduating from Murray State I moved out to Missouri, where I am now. The trip back for Thanksgiving has got me wondering how things are going.

I'm from Grayson County (my house is actually two miles from the Breck County line), so it's glad to see another person from the area on the forums. I'm sorry to say that Breckinridge County is not exactly in the best shape, or at least they haven't been in recent years. There is some glimmer of hope though, because their middle school team placed highly in KAAC competition a couple years ago. They have no involvement in good quizbowl that I know of, although hopefully they'll go to a tournament at some point.

[dwd500]

I'm sorry to say that Breckinridge County is not exactly in the best shape

That's too bad.

I remember how QB (and in particular, Governor's Cup) was back in that time, and it's light years removed from what my students do now. There was always plenty of talent in the area, and it sounds like it's still the case (at least coming up.)

So...two miles? I grew up about 10 miles outside Rough River, are we talking more that direction, or on the Cave Springs/259 side?

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

I'm sorry to say that Breckinridge County is not exactly in the best shape

That's too bad.

I remember how QB (and in particular, Governor's Cup) was back in that time, and it's light years removed from what my students do now. There was always plenty of talent in the area, and it sounds like it's still the case (at least coming up.)

So...two miles? I grew up about 10 miles outside Rough River, are we talking more that direction, or on the Cave Springs/259 side?

Well, two miles as the crow flies is what I've always heard. I've never actually tested that because I'd be more likely to fall off a cliff than walk anywhere meaningful. My family lives a couple miles off 259, near a whole bunch of people named Dennis coincidentally.

On a more general note in regards to what teams are looking like at this point in the season, here are the stats from our tournament this weekend: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/1056 I think there are a number of schools (Pikeville, Woodford, and Corbin immediately come to mind) who have shown they are going to be very good this year.

[FCPanther]

More on this in the tournament post, but here's an update on the Fleming County tournament: still sorting out who's bringing varsity or "B" squads, but with a round of emails today here's the field:

Fleming Co. (1 varsity, 1 "B" team)
Dunbar (2-2)
Johnson Middle (0-1)
Campbell Co. (1-2)
Bishop Brossart (1-?)
Menifee Co. (1-0)
Russell (1-2)
Conner (1-?)
Pikeville (?-1)
Daviess Co. (1-?)
Henry Clay (1-?)
Woodford Co. (1-1)

Expressed Interest:
Johnson Central
Ashland
Simon Kenton
Mason Co.
Bourbon Co.
Danville

Still about three weeks until the FCAT and there are some schools we're waiting on. Hopefully I can start putting pools together first week of January.

We do still have room for several teams.

We'll use HSAPQ's VHSL sets for toss up with single part bonuses (20 toss up halves, with bounce backs).

[Peabody]

The Glasgow Scottie Invitational took place this past Saturday and went well. I don't have all the statistics compiled yet, but here are some general results:

Champion: The Plastics (DMHS)

Runnerup: Dunbar B

Semifinalists: Dunbar A
Russell B

Quarterfinalists: Bowling Green
Corbin
Johnson Central A
Pikeville

Thanks to all of the staff and the coaches who made this tournament run so smoothly.

Todd Garrison
Glasgow High School

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

WKU is hosting the Kentucky NAQT State Championship on April 20. I'll have an announcement up sometime this week.

EDIT: Here ya go: http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13921

[Grams's Go-Go Boots]

So, four spots are all that currently remain available at the UK Spring Championship on March 2nd. We've got a great field with teams from Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina and Michigan attending, in addition to all the Kentucky ones.

The good news is that even if you can't make it this year, we'll be trying to hold even bigger tournaments next year!

[FCPanther]

Congratulations to Dunbar. They defeated Campbell County in the championship game to capture the 15th annual Fleming County Academic Tournament title.

We did things a little differently this year in the FCAT. After morning pool play the top 8 teams were seeded into two championship pools. The best record from those pools were then placed in the championship game.

Final standings for the varsity field:

1. Dunbar 7-0
2. Campbell Co. 6-1
3. Johnson Central 5-1
4. Russell 4-2
5. Daviess Co. 3-3
6. Simon Kenton 3-3
7. Corbin 3-3
8. Lafayette 2-4
9. Ashland 4-2
10. Henry Clay 3-3
11. Woodford Co. 3-3
12. Dunbar B 1-5
13. Conner 2-4
14. Bishop Brossart 2-4
15. Menifee Co. 1-5
16. Fleming Co. 1-5

Thanks again to everyone that made it out to the tournament. The varsity field was the strongest we've had yet.

"B" division results will be posted soon.

[FCPanther]

"B" Team results from FCAT 2013:

Prelims and playoff pools were handled the same way as in the varsity pool.
Congratulations to Dunbar on sweeping the championship matches.

Results:

1. Dunbar 7-0
2. Russell--6-1
3. Johnson Central 4-2
3. Pikeville 4-2
5. Russell-B 3-3
5. Campbell A 4-2
6. Campbell B 3-3
6. Woodford Co. 2-4
9. Johnson Middle 4-2
10. Simon Kenton 3-3
11. Ashland A 2-4
12. Bishop Brossart B 1-5
13. Ashland B 3-3
14. Lafayette 2-4
15. Brossart C 1-5
16. Fleming Co. 0-6

[FCPanther]

Thanks again to everyone that participated in FCAT 2013. Hopefully it was a good experience for everyone. It was our largest tournament to date with 32 teams spread between the varsity and "B" divisions. This was also our first attempt to reseed pools rather than resort to single elimination. As with every previous iteration we learned some things, and found some things we really liked.

Hopefully the attempt to blend better pyramidal toss ups, and still retain the best of Governor's Cup worked to folks' satisfaction, and was a good tune up for upcoming district competition.

As always I welcome any constructive feedback.

thanks and good luck,

kg

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

I think I've seen enough to do some sort of mid-season review. By my rough count, 36 schools have participated in at least one varsity pyramidal quizbowl tournament so far this year. That may be off a bit, but in general I analyzed eight events for the purposes of this post: Ezell-Harding, Louisville, Northern Kentucky League, Tippecanoe, WKU, Rowdy Raider, Glasgow, and Fleming.

Lack of available statistics hurt any effort to do a proper ranking, and too many tournaments have incomplete or missing stats. If anybody needs help figuring out how to collect, organize, and enter stats into SQBS, please let me know. Teams gain a lot from seeing full statistics (especially points-per-bonus and individual statistics), so it would be great if people could post full stats reports after their events.

There rankings are definitely not perfect. Please nobody take these as personal, they are simply a mixture of statistical analysis, guesswork, and opinion. I would be happy if other people posted their own rankings to prove me wrong:

1) Dunbar
Dunbar won at FCAT yesterday, along with solid finishes at Glasgow and Ezell. Their performances out-of-state lead me to believe that at full strength they are probably on top for now. A Kentucky team winning a tournament in Illinois is always an accomplishment worth noting.

2) Manual
Manual is perhaps the most efficient team in this analysis, as they played four tournaments and recorded the following finishes: 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 1st. Their win over Dunbar at Glasgow makes me wonder if they deserve the top spot, but for now they're second.

3) Pikeville
Pikeville won our tournament and was very impressive in the process. Not only did they have comparable statistics to Manual, they beat them twice head-to-head. They made the quarterfinals at Fleming and Ezell, which adds to a solid resume.

4) Campbell
While Campbell got knocked out early at Ezell, they bounced back to win Louisville, their league tournament, and come in second at Fleming. Four different teams have won the four in-state tournaments so-far, and Campbell could rise in these rankings with continued success.

5) Johnson Central
Johnson Central finished third at Fleming County, which is a strong performance in addition to good finishes at Ezell and Glasgow. They've yet to win a tournament this year, but they had solid performances everywhere they've competed.

6) Russell
Earlier this year I said that Russell was in rebuilding mode because they hadn't gone to a whole lot last year. I was completely wrong, and they have a mix of younger and more experienced players that finished in the top ten at Ezell and Tippecanoe, and in the top four at Glasgow and Fleming.

7) Ballard
I've only got two statlines for Ballard, but it does show that they finished 3rd at Louisville and 7th at Rowdy Raider. Their finish in Ohio seems more impressive because they put up 20 PPB on an IS set and did very well in a tough field of good teams.

8) St. Xavier
They finished in the top ten at Louisville, Tippecanoe, and Rowdy Raider and put up pretty good stats along the way. They haven't been able to field their full A-team at most events it seems, which indicates they can be even better.

9) Corbin
This team had never been to a tournament two months ago, but since then they've finished 4th at WKU, 5th at Glasgow, and 7th at Fleming. Kieren put up great stats at our tournament and seems intent on improving. If his teammates step up, they'll be a tough team to beat.

10) Woodford County
I wanted to rank this team over Corbin because they edged them out at our tournament, but their overall resume doesn't seem better than Corbin's. This program does a very good job of getting experience for their younger players, which should mean continued success.

Honorable Mentions: Oldham County, Glasgow, Eastern, Conner, Henderson County
All of these teams have put up some strong performances so far this year. Glasgow did well at Ezell, Henderson County did well at WKU, and the other three did well at Louisville with Oldham putting a strong performance at WKU as well. Hopefully future tournaments will tell us just how good they are.

[Warlockoftheeast]

Fleming was, I think, was the first tournament Lafayette attended this year. They were very young and very solid. They are going down to SC for Dorman's Tournament. I think in the future they will be very strong.

[Peabody]

Lack of available statistics hurt any effort to do a proper ranking, and too many tournaments have incomplete or missing stats. If anybody needs help figuring out how to collect, organize, and enter stats into SQBS, please let me know. Teams gain a lot from seeing full statistics (especially points-per-bonus and individual statistics), so it would be great if people could post full stats reports after their events.

Just what the doctor ordered! I tried to set up and use the SQBS for my tournament and could not figure it out. I have sent in some bare statistics to NAQT but have told them I would send updated stats if I could figure out the SQBS. Thanks for any help you can give me. Perhaps a phone call with me at the computer one day would be appropriate.

Todd

[Grams's Go-Go Boots]

Lack of available statistics hurt any effort to do a proper ranking, and too many tournaments have incomplete or missing stats. If anybody needs help figuring out how to collect, organize, and enter stats into SQBS, please let me know. Teams gain a lot from seeing full statistics (especially points-per-bonus and individual statistics), so it would be great if people could post full stats reports after their events.

Just what the doctor ordered! I tried to set up and use the SQBS for my tournament and could not figure it out. I have sent in some bare statistics to NAQT but have told them I would send updated stats if I could figure out the SQBS. Thanks for any help you can give me. Perhaps a phone call with me at the computer one day would be appropriate.

Todd

Todd, if you're going to Dunbar next month, I'm planning on reading there. I could go over SQBS in person if there's time.

[dtaylor4]

Lack of available statistics hurt any effort to do a proper ranking, and too many tournaments have incomplete or missing stats. If anybody needs help figuring out how to collect, organize, and enter stats into SQBS, please let me know. Teams gain a lot from seeing full statistics (especially points-per-bonus and individual statistics), so it would be great if people could post full stats reports after their events.

Just what the doctor ordered! I tried to set up and use the SQBS for my tournament and could not figure it out. I have sent in some bare statistics to NAQT but have told them I would send updated stats if I could figure out the SQBS. Thanks for any help you can give me. Perhaps a phone call with me at the computer one day would be appropriate.

Todd

There are a number of people on the boards (myself included) who are adept at using SQBS. A few years ago, Dwight Wynne and I co-authored this guide. If you haven't, walk through this while trying to use it. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Fred or I.

[Peabody]

Todd, if you're going to Dunbar next month, I'm planning on reading there. I could go over SQBS in person if there's time.

I will be at Dunbar actually, so I'll look you up. Thanks!

[Peabody]

There are a number of people on the boards (myself included) who are adept at using SQBS. A few years ago, Dwight Wynne and I co-authored this guide. If you haven't, walk through this while trying to use it. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Fred or I.

This is very helpful. I'm going to give it another shot this afternoon. Thanks a million!

[Church51907]

In terms of the rankings, I believe St. X actually beat Manual at the Class Act tournament

Matt Church
U of L

[bt_green_warbler]

Thanks, everyone, for helping out with SQBS; stats for Glasgow's December tournament are now available here.

[Peabody]

Thanks, everyone, for helping out with SQBS; stats for Glasgow's December tournament are now available here.

I also wanted to thank everyone for the help as well!

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

Quick and easy guide to upcoming varsity pyramidal quizbowl tournaments in Kentucky:

February 2nd: Dunbar Academic Invitational (Lexington, KY)
March 2nd: University of Kentucky Spring Championship (Lexington, KY)
March 9th: Ballard-Eastern Academic Challenge (Louisville, KY)
March 30th: University of Louisville Spring Invitational (Louisville, KY)
April 20th: NAQT Kentucky State Championship (Bowling Green, KY)

There is also NHBB State on March 23rd at Oldham County High School in Buckner, KY.

[Church51907]

Nick, Ballard/Eastern are hosting a JV pyramidal on 4-13-13.
Matt
U of L

[Sulawesi Myzomela]

Added it. I think the spring schedule is pretty full up, unless somebody wants to host a nationals-prep tournament in early May.