Indiana 2013-2014

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Indiana 2013-2014

Post by something random! »

This will be the thread for tournament announcements and general discussion regarding the state of Indiana in the 2013-2014 season. I'll begin the thread with my projections:

St. Joseph: After a record breaking season, filling the knowledge gap created with the graduation of Chris Agostino and Nicholas Wawrykow will be a formidable task. They do, however, return Nolan Liu, who was right behind Nick in scoring for most of the year and nearly doubled his powers on the MSU/UD housewrite, putting up a stat line of 32/23/8. He also statistically dominated the field at the Indiana Frosh/Soph state championship en route to a close victory over Culver, scoring 126.25 ppg, double that of the nearest competitor. Nolan also has the help of Wilson Barrett, whose geography and current event knowledge will serve him well in the NAQT format, and myself, who specializes in Fine Arts. With a strong summer, St. Joseph will be a top contender in the state and may even surpass their 2012-13 team, which leads me to rank them number 1. Culver will remain in a close second and will prove to be a threat on IS sets especially.

Culver: They will graduate 2 seniors: Franklyn Ndubuisi-Obi and their top scorer, Adam Freymiller. Adam will be a great loss as he put up nearly 63% of all of their tossup points at HSNCT and greatly contributed on bonuses, but they return John Van Duyn who played rather inconsistently this year in comparison to his strong sophomore season, but will be a threat nonetheless with a productive summer. Underclassmen Muriel, Clare, and Daniel, who all scored within the top 10 at Indiana’s Frosh/Soph state championship, will also work to fill the scoring hole, making Culver a threatening young team who will be dangerous in the state. Due to their work ethic and demonstrated ability to improve, I place Culver second behind St. Joseph.

Harrison: Despite their strong showing at NAC and the Traditional state championship, they do not have the depth to match St. Joseph or Culver on an NAQT set. They graduate Surabhi, their best player, and Forster, who was a decent player as well. This leaves Eric, their science player, who put up the only other powers at Rotary state besides Surabhi’s, demonstrating their lack of deep knowledge. While they consistently play well on the QUnlimited format, their disproportionate performances on the pyramidal format hinders their ability to gain respect at the national level. Their continued patronage of QUnlimited is not only hurting their ability to become a quiz bowl powerhouse, but the majority of Indiana as well, who follow their lead. Since they will not match the depth of the young, but experienced Culver and St. Joseph teams, I place them behind Culver in the third spot.

Just to recap:
1. St. Joseph
2. Culver
3. Harrison
Davide Behr
St. Joseph High School IN '14
Indiana University '18
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by AKKOLADE »

I can't speak for other teams, but we at UK would love to have teams from Indiana attend our tournaments whenever possible. I saw some teams from Indiana went to Louisville a couple months ago, which was cool.
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by NLiu »

Now I'll go ahead and beg to differ with the rankings posted by Davide.

1. Culver
I'll simply quote from recent history:
His freshman year, Andrew Van Duyn averaged 40 ppg. His sophomore year, he averaged nearly 80 ppg.
His junior year, Adam Freymiller scored an average of 15 ppg. His senior year, he averaged 80 ppg.
Her freshman year, Muriel Weathers scored an average of 20 ppg. Her sophomore year, she averaged 40 ppg and almost doubled her powers.
Mr. Blessman has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to gather these players and double or even triple their ppg/ability. Moreover, they have shown the ability to double or triple their ppg over the season, as demonstrated by the exponential increase in their scoring against us over the season.
What St. Joseph accomplished over the past year was, essentially, what Mr. Blessman accomplished nearly every year previously. As St. Joseph's talent takes a huge hit with the loss of Nick, I doubt our improvement rate and the amount of available talent will be able to equal what Culver has historically been able to accomplish.

2. St. Joseph
We will do decently. Wilson averaged 6.5 ppg on difficult questions at the HSNCT; Davide Behr put up a very solid 17.7 ppg on the same set while playing behind Nick. I am hopeful that these numbers will translate into approximately 40 ppg for each with some improvement over the summer. Historically our school has been very lax with improvement and tends to wait for one dominant player to emerge and then hang on for the ride.
I averaged approximately 50 ppg this year playing behind Nick; however, I would like to admit upfront that I am primarily a specialist and don't really have the potential to expand to broader categories with any significant chance of improvement. Therefore, I don't see the emergence of any seriously good single player on our part.

3. Harrison
Surabhi is gone. Eric and Austin W. will remain competent players with the ability to put up astonishing points on Chip and A-sets but little else. Frankly as Chip continues to decline in spread (I believe that we will join Culver in abandoning the format for the State Championship this year) and influence, Harrison may have to seriously rebuild their program or else vanish into obscurity.

4. Clay
Clay is hobbled by the South Bend Circuit, which prevents them from traveling extensively. That being said Noah Henderson is an excellent player who will probably put up 60+ ppg and the Noble brothers will support him to a solid team that probably win AA state/come in third at AAA at Rotary.

5. Riley
Riley's coach has shown serious and deep interest in improvement, going so far as to bring a team of young players to frosh-soph state this year. I believe that they show very good long-run potential, but don't really see enough of any talented or dedicated players right now to place them very high on the rankings.

6. North Miami
Their coach is also very interested and dedicated to quizbowl. However, they do lose Dan Musselman who provided the dominant portion of their scoring. Thus far they seem to remain a team that is interested in bringing a large number of players to tournaments and failing to move out of Culver's shadow/actually work to develop deep knowledge.

The Rest
might as well play :chip:
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by pblessman »

Thanks for taking the time to write about Indiana Quizbowl! I know there are not many people who care! St. Joe had an awesome year 2012-2013, and Nolan and Davide will make sure they're ready for anybody who wants to challenge them this year. The defending champs are ALWAYS the team to beat, so I'd say St. Joe are the favorites, but a young Culver team will be ready to pounce. Oh... and other teams play quizbowl or similar games as well, but will not factor in to this.
Phil Blessman- Culver Academies Head Quizbowl Coach
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by jonah »

If anyone in the Indianapolis area (broadly defined) is interested in hosting a tournament on Saturday, November 16, but doesn't know how, please get in touch with me. I'd like to run one, and I can do as much or as little of the work necessary, and teach you how to TD. If it's as little as you providing the rooms, that's great.
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by Great Bustard »

We'd love to have someone join St. Joseph and Culver in their annual showdown at Culver in the Indiana History Bee and Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 8. Not sure if any other schools in Indiana read the boards, but email me if you're interested.
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by AKKOLADE »

Hi everyone,

The University of Kentucky is hosting a Pre-Nationals weekend on May 10 and 11th on our campus in Lexington, Kentucky. On Saturday, we'll be using NAQT SCT DII with HSNCT rules, and on Sunday we'll be using the Minnesota Undergraduate Tournament with NSC rules.

We'd really love to have teams from Indiana attend!

For more details on fees and such, check our announcement at http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewto ... =1&t=15460.
Fred Morlan
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by NLiu »

As we reach (roughly) the half-way point of the season for most teams, I'd like to revisit and recap what's been going down in state.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Mr. Keister at North White for hosting the Kickoff--we had a record attendance with many new teams on good questions, which is always good news for this state. At this point the Kickoff (and possibly Rotary) seems to be the dominant tournament with representation from both Northern and Southern parts of Indiana, which makes it very important to continue to grow and develop as we work to introduce new teams to good questions and formats.

In the world of more "established" quiz bowl, I'd like to thank Mr. Blessman for organizing yet another excellent Culver Invite; the organization and readers were again excellent, and Northmont's attendance provided us with an element of out-of-state competition that we would like to encourage. It is to be hoped that we can continue this trend in future tournaments, of bringing in top national teams to compete against Indiana's top tier and develop them.

There really isn't much that's changed rankings-wise. Saint Joseph has played four matches against Culver A; 2 scrimmages and 2 games, and won all four by comfortable margins. Culver has dominated their league yet again and easily outclassed Harrison, which appears in a bit of a flux with their A-team losing to their B-Team at the kickoff. However, a Culver-Saint Joe final at Rotary is practically guaranteed at this point. History Bowl and Frosh-Soph State will be much more open, though.

A few wild-card teams that have emerged this year: Nick F from Avon has emerged as a strong player on A-sets, beating our B-team and barely losing to Culver. He may make a run at Rotary, though it will be interesting to see how he plays as the difficulty and competition increase. Clay from our league also played our A-team relatively closely on A-sets, and their coach should consider moving them up a class to 3A at state especially as Riley High School, their dominant competitor, goes through a rebuild year.

Overall though, it's important to note that there's been little decrease in the quality of the Indiana circuit this year, which is excellent considering the loss of talent with graduating stars like Adam Freymiller, Surabhi, and Nick Wawrykow. I'm looking forward to Rotary!
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by something random! »

Harrison A won the Indiana Freshman/Sophomore State Championship on Feb. 22nd with Saint Joseph A and Culver A rounding out the top 3
Davide Behr
St. Joseph High School IN '14
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by Father Comstock »

After an undefeated NAC season for Harrison's Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Freshman teams, Harrison continued on to defeat St. Joe's JV A team by 40 points, claiming the title of NAQT state champions vs. an opponent obviously more well-versed in the questions. St. Joe's suffered this loss after defeating the Harrison JV B team by a narrow margin of 20 points, this being the second time they faced the B team in the championship, even though the first they time, St. Joe's beat Harrison JV B by a wide margin of 400 points. St. Joe's obviously deteriorated as the day went on. This may have been due to fatigue, though one would suspect that as St. Joe's proceeded through the day, they would have become more awake and aware, causing them to become better. They certainly entertained the notion that they were getting better, but this was not the case. It is clear that even when you button the top button on your collar (and don't forget the tie!), it is still possible to lose to mere t-shirts.
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by AKKOLADE »

Father Comstock wrote:St. Joe's obviously deteriorated as the day went on. This may have been due to fatigue, though one would suspect that as St. Joe's proceeded through the day, they would have become more awake and aware, causing them to become better. They certainly entertained the notion that they were getting better, but this was not the case. It is clear that even when you button the top button on your collar (and don't forget the tie!), it is still possible to lose to mere t-shirts.

user was reminded to enable a signature --the mgmt
what
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

#based
Charlie Dees, North Kansas City HS '08
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by jonah »

Grams's Go-Go Boots wrote:
Father Comstock wrote:St. Joe's obviously deteriorated as the day went on. This may have been due to fatigue, though one would suspect that as St. Joe's proceeded through the day, they would have become more awake and aware, causing them to become better. They certainly entertained the notion that they were getting better, but this was not the case. It is clear that even when you button the top button on your collar (and don't forget the tie!), it is still possible to lose to mere t-shirts.

user was reminded to enable a signature --the mgmt
what
I think they're trying to talk about this (but what they're trying to say about it is a mystery).
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by Father Comstock »

jonah wrote:
Grams's Go-Go Boots wrote:
Father Comstock wrote:St. Joe's obviously deteriorated as the day went on. This may have been due to fatigue, though one would suspect that as St. Joe's proceeded through the day, they would have become more awake and aware, causing them to become better. They certainly entertained the notion that they were getting better, but this was not the case. It is clear that even when you button the top button on your collar (and don't forget the tie!), it is still possible to lose to mere t-shirts.

user was reminded to enable a signature --the mgmt
what
I think they're trying to talk about this (but what they're trying to say about it is a mystery).
Ah thanks for the clarification
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by something random! »

Father Comstock wrote:After an undefeated NAC season for Harrison's Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Freshman teams, Harrison continued on to defeat St. Joe's JV A team by 40 points, claiming the title of NAQT state champions vs. an opponent obviously more well-versed in the questions. St. Joe's suffered this loss after defeating the Harrison JV B team by a narrow margin of 20 points, this being the second time they faced the B team in the championship, even though the first they time, St. Joe's beat Harrison JV B by a wide margin of 400 points. St. Joe's obviously deteriorated as the day went on. This may have been due to fatigue, though one would suspect that as St. Joe's proceeded through the day, they would have become more awake and aware, causing them to become better. They certainly entertained the notion that they were getting better, but this was not the case. It is clear that even when you button the top button on your collar (and don't forget the tie!), it is still possible to lose to mere t-shirts.
How is this relevant?
Davide Behr
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by NLiu »

in any case I think Fishers High School may have something to say about the "undefeated" part...
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by NLiu »

With the conclusion of Rotary (the last real quizbowl tournament going on in-state) I believe we'll wrap this thread up with a recap of the season.

Good things: more teams continued to become exposed to good questions, with record attendance at the Kickoff this year and both St. Joe and Culver swearing off of Chip "State," arguably destroying any vestige of this tournament's legitimacy; Fishers also attended Rotary this year amid an excellent showing from Indy teams; it is to be hoped that increasing numbers of teams show up to this as we attempt to wean this state off of QUnlimited. As of now, however, top teams in this state are still travelling and are remaining nationally relevant, which is always good.
5 teams from Indiana actually are attending the HSNCT, with 2 that will probably make the playoffs!!! This is very good news for the future and a state record I believe; good luck to all of them.

Bad things: :chip: still exists, although I see signs that his iron grip may be loosening at last...

Final rankings:

1. St. Joseph
With our varsity playing we haven't dropped a game to an Indiana team all year, with the closest margin being a 50-point game against Fishers this season. Our ppbs have not been quite as impressive as last year, although we still put up over 22.5 with a full A-team on NAQT and around 23 on mACF and average 8 powers a game. Davide Behr has proved himself to be one of the greatest players in school history and arguably the second-best player in the state, and Michael Oei, Ryan Mackey, and Wilson Barrett have also contributed consistently over the course of the season. Going 7-3 at the HSNCT is definitely a possibility.

2. Culver
There is very little to argue about here, as they have consistently beaten every other team in the state by comfortable margins. Although their numbers and rankings on paper may not match last year's squad, Muriel, Clare, and Daniel are three very young and balanced players who put up excellent games against us at Rotary and have shown great capacity for improvement over this year. They are definitely well on their way to becoming a power next year, especially as we graduate 80% of our team and 40% of our points. Although they've not been as consistent on mACF and through the beginning of the year, I can definitely see this team going 6-4 at HSNCT and quite possibly notching a playoff win or two on the way.

3-T. Fishers
I may be somewhat biased here, but this team put up very good power numbers and the tightest game we've faced from an in-state team all year at Rotary; that and their winning their league tournament (albeit on Chip) and their third-place finish at Rotary makes me rank them as the best team in southern Indiana. This is a squad that could probably become very dangerous should they decided to migrate to good questions.

3-T. Clay
They put up decent games against us on A-sets in the league and won 2A state, which is more than enough to put them in a tie for third. Noah Henderson is a very good player, although his graduation (with, I believe, Jacob Noble) makes their future somewhat doubtful. They are attending the HSNCT this year which is very good, and it'll be very interesting to see what they could do there. 5-5 seems very likely for a first outing, with a 6-4 and a playoff berth not quite out of reach.

5. Avon
Nick F. has become a very strong player, one that gave us a decent game at Rotary and who played very well at North White. Since I don't know if he's a senior I can't really say what will happen to this team in the future, although if they increase their attendance at good tournaments they should continue to improve and perhaps extend the influence of good quizbowl in southern Indiana.

6. Harrison
I'm really ranking them just for tradition's sake, I suppose. I don't really know what to say about this team; they are allegedly undefeated on the NAC and will probably go on to win yet another "State Title" on that format this year, but their A-team lost to their B-team at the Kickoff and they scored -15 points against us on tossups at State. They did win F/S state so there may be some younger talent arriving on this squad, but their ability to remain relevant amid the intensifying competition at the top will become increasingly unlikely if they continue to patronize Questions Unlimited and confine themselves to southern Indiana.
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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by Ben Dillon »

Team Indiana tryouts are complete. The team will consist of the following...

Arts: Davide Behr (Saint Joseph HS)
History: Kyle Pratt (Fishers HS)
Literature: Nolan Liu (Saint Joseph HS)
Sciences: Michael Oei (Saint Joseph HS)
Alternate: Benjamin Eby (Mississinewa HS)
Ben Dillon, Saint Joseph HS

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Re: Indiana 2013-2014

Post by AKKOLADE »

The University of Kentucky will be hosting our Fall Championship on November 22nd, 2014.
Fred Morlan
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