Southern California 2007-08

[ntan]

i was at cal over the weekend, it would be nice if someone could provide a somewhat objective evaluation on how arcadia did. i'd imagine we (arcadia) at caltech wouldve been quite a bit weaker on science.

on another note, where are you guys planning on staying at chicago? perhaps we could get together for dinner or something on friday/saturday night.

[ihavenoidea]

Apparently the freshmen decided not to go. I don't know much about it.

[Julie RS]

Yo...we (La Jolla) went to Caltech, but didn't see the RB team there at all. Something happen? o_o

And grats to Edison for beating us. Tho it was too bad that the playoff format made it so that only one of your teams could qualify, again...still, look forward to seeing you at Nationals.

There was a Play Off game between Edison B and Arcadia A. Edison B won and was able to place third.

Since Edison A won the tournament, Edison B was able to qualify for nationals.

I thought that it was pretty cool that the top three teams only lost one game during the entire tournament.

My husband was reading questions and said that Torrey Pines was an incredibly good team.

[Julie RS]

i was at cal over the weekend, it would be nice if someone could provide a somewhat objective evaluation on how arcadia did. i'd imagine we (arcadia) at caltech wouldve been quite a bit weaker on science.

If I recall correctly, Arcadia was able to answer most of the science questions that were presented to them. Edison B played both Arcadia A and Arcadia B during the tournament.

[manary]

RB canceled at the last minute (actually 9pm the night before). Sorry they couldn't make it.

Micah Manary, Caltech

[edisoncharger32]

I'm David, captain of Edison A. I was the Team A player mentioned by Julie RS (hello!) playing at UCI and it was because of me that they did not qualify for nationals with that third place (ineligibility rules).

Arcadia didn't do so badly. We played both teams, winning 310-90 and 365-320 over B and A respectively. A couple of powers changed the momentum of each game, widening the lead over Arcadia B and setting up the win over A. In my opinion, balance could have been better to cover the subject areas, but Arcadia did just fine. I wouldn't be worried if I were leading Arcadia.

As for Cal Tech being a qualifier, Hentzel agreed to let the Edison B team qualify for the 2008 NAQT HSNCT. This was based on the two teams meeting in the playoffs in the semifinal round. They were already on stand-by anyway, but now they will play for sure. We'll see you guys in Chicago. Dinner on Friday would be nice if we could get enough players to go, I don't get the chance to meet you guys on a regular basis and I would like the chance to get to know the rest of the SoCal quiz bowl enclave better. Several of my players and I will probably hit some fancy restaurant, hope you guys can join us.

As for the rankings of SoCal teams, from a player's perspective, I would rank them like this (higher placing would beat lower placing):
1) Santa Monica A (I've been to nationals before and watched the championship rounds, these guys are Top 10 material, Top 5 maybe...absolute beasts with their big three players)
2) Rancho Bernardo A (You would think that they are a one-man team that would have weaknesses, but Jeff is extremely talented and the Asian girl pitches in enough to make them hyper-competitive)
3a) Edison A (We've had problems in the past having all members fire on all cylinders on the same day, someone's either fasting or sick or whatnot. But at the last competition, Cal Tech, even missing one of our top three, we got in rythym and ran over the field to the win)
3b) Torrey Pines A (Strong team, especially on art and math. We split our games on Saturday, both of them coming down to the last question)
5) Arcadia A (They, along with Rancho Bernardo, seem to switch around teams. But when they're on, their bonus conversion is extremely good when they communicate)
6) La Jolla A (Mr. Wigglesworth, along with whoever is on that day, makes them competitive. I don't think that they are as balanced as they should be. sidenote: Mr. Wigglesworth and I are the last of a dying breed, sports people in Quiz Bowl...it's a shame)
7a) Rancho Bernardo B (They share the same strengths with their A team with art and science, but are found lacking on math and some history)
7b) Edison B (Wow! I can't say enough about our B team. The two freshmen are good and one of our seniors is incredible on math and science. Captainship provided by a good history and politics person and they have a great backup)
7c) Arcadia B ( I can understand why their two teams change players often, they cover the same range of topics for the most part. A is better on their speed and on their bonus conversion)
10a) Rancho Alamitos A (Strong in literature and math, need help on geography and history)
10b) Carlsbad A (Dedicated group who convert bonuses well though they are a step slow on most tossups)
12) Santa Monica B (Young players with attitude. Can become better with seasoning and widening of knowledge)

These are the teams I see most regularly. Hart and San Dieguito were strong in past years but have dropped off this year. Capistrano Valley is trying to return to the scene, but have a couple years yet before catching back up. Tustin's decent and could be better. Sorry to say, but Orange Lutheran, Laguna Beach, and Fountain Valley have been walk-overs this year.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Mr. Wigglesworth and I are the last of a dying breed, sports people in Quiz Bowl...it's a shame)

Haha what?

[ntan]

Hey David, I would agree with your choices for the top 2 teams in the SoCal region, as for the rest of your rankings, specifically (3-5) are somewhat debatable. I felt that we (arcadia) were better than torrey and edison for the earlier parts of the season. While it's fantastic that Edison has now been able to reach full strength, I believe the only times Arcadia's team A (the legit one) have played together were at UCLA's Winter Tournament and at UCLA's TWAIN. Even without our full team A, which at this point comprises jacqueline, derek, sean and myself (you probably wouldnt recognize our names too well i think) we managed to place well at UCI's CBCT (2nd) and at USC's tournament (where jacqueline, derek, and sean managed to beat torrey, finish with the same record and place 3rd to their 2nd). I believe our team B at CBCT also managed to beat Auroni's Torrey team. I think the decline of our performance the last few months can be attributed to overgenerous servings of Sci Bowl, Ocean Sci Bowl and Sci Oly. At this point, I certainly wont mind playing a full strength edison squad. Torrey is a pretty good team as well, but I believe that our recent losses to them were the result of overzealous negging (i'd imagine my 31 negs at state champs could be some sort of record for socal quizbowl...albeit in a very undesirable category). Spots 3a/b-5 I wouldnt be so sure about, although I think that La Jolla shouldn't be as highly rated. I find that Rancho B is a superior team with regard to speed and bonus conversion, although they can be careless with negging at times. I believe the only time our team A played La Jolla we beat them by quite a large margin on some random IS set.

we have also had a pretty high ppg >350 for sure at all the tournaments in which our actual team A have participated. I recall averaging in excess of 400 at UCLA's winter tournament, but that was an A set. i do agree that our bonus conversion isn't too shabby; however, i also agree that our poor communication (due to lack of practice and playing together) coupled with a poor grasp of buzzing strategy have cost us many points this year. with that said, i feel pretty good about how we have done despite being a pretty informal club.

and yea, that's my case for arcadia being ranked a little higher...but to be fair, we have been very poor as of late, while torrey and edison seem to have improved since we last met.
as for predictions for HSNCT performance, i think that edison and torrey definitely have the speed to compete with many other teams-i'm just a little concerned with their p/b, which at times seems slightly low for teams of their caliber

[edisoncharger32]

Fair enough. I can see where your coming from. If we were ranking for the entire season, I would change things up a bit. But I'd rather do a current power rankings where at current strength, who would beat who. Therefore, I've just used the last few tournaments to get a grasp on who has the advantage. Arcadia A - Torrey Pines A - Edison A has really been a triangle this year and I ranked it thus because of the last few tournaments, it doesn't reflect missing players or other commitments, just current strength. I'm sure you will get stronger at nationals, as will we, with the return of and practice with your regular players. As for the Rancho Bernardo B and La Jolla A thing, we've played both and I felt that La Jolla was a harder matchup. Perhaps it is different for you when you play them. I agree that on any given day, these can become more fluid and possibly La Jolla could drop down up to three or four spots.

I can't speak for Torrey Pines, but I agree that our bonus conversions are sometimes poor and I would say that is more to distraction than to knowledge. A lot of times, we hear the answer and are like "*!@*#%$" because either due to our inattention or the moderator's mushmouthing, we didn't hear enough or think enough to figure it out. I'm sure it's the same for other teams.

I think that we will give a pretty good showing at nationals this year. I think that four, maybe five or six teams, with the right scheduling, can move into the second day. This will be boon to SoCal Quiz Bowl as that will probably be our best showing yet as a region. But I guess that means no dinner on Saturday night...haha.

[First Chairman]

Just making sure... I don't have any CA teams going to PACE NSC. Are there any teams actually interested in attending?

[edisoncharger32]

There might be some NoCal teams going. But because of the dearth of PACE events in SoCal and the emphasis on NAQT, it's not very likely that SoCal will have a heavy representation. Most of the top SoCal teams feel that they are more familiar and comfortable and have a better chance of doing well at NAQT and are heading to Chicago. I don't know about the teams who haven't qualified for NAQT, they might be up for it.

[Auroni]

Mr. Wigglesworth and I are the last of a dying breed, sports people in Quiz Bowl...it's a shame)

yeah, only one person on our team (and that's Philip Lin, who unfortunately couldn't make it to technophobia jr.) has any real sports knowledge.

[ntan]

my sports knowledge only covers football aka soccer and the lakers. but since i notice pace being mentioned a couple posts ago, and would like to express my utter disappointment about not being able to try out pace in hs. it seems as if many teams here have a pace phobia or something, or at least it seems that way after two successive pace tournament cancellations two years in a row

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

OK, it seems like there is a big misunderstanding here of what PACE is. It is not a company that provides lots of questions to tournaments around the country like NAQT. PACE is a looser organization of people involved in quizbowl who are interested in promoting more and better quizbowl, and who happen to produce one set of questions every year for their national championship. There are a few PACE style tournaments every now and then, but they are mostly just mimicking the format and are not like IS sets or some mass produced batch of questions. Almost any tournament can be PACE affiliated and qualify for their nationals, no matter what the question source/format is, unlike NAQT.

[ABCLMN]

I know allot of teams in the area do the KMO Great Auk in the spring, So how did everyone do?

Also since I think all of the events for the year are done, who qualified for nationals and how many teams?

[ihavenoidea]

ABCLMN,

I know these following teams qualled for sure:

Ranch Bernardo (2)
Edison (2)
Arcadia
Santa Monica
Torrey Pines
La Jolla

[Julie RS]

I know allot of teams in the area do the KMO Great Auk in the spring, So how did everyone do?

Also since I think all of the events for the year are done, who qualified for nationals and how many teams?

The official date for the Great Auk is April 23rd, so many teams haven't participated yet.

[mcalmvp]

Congrats, btw, to RB for the NCAL sweep. [It was also great to see the Inland division absolutely dominate the Varsity playoffs] Sorry to Torrey Pines though for losing to eventual runner up Westview

[ihavenoidea]

Thanks mcalmvp, we were all very excited.

[ntan]

it seems like SoCal had a pretty good showing at hsnct this year, but man, Auroni, how did you get to be so beastly!? anyway, congrats to TP and SaMo for placing 11th and to the 7? teams Cali sent to the playoffs. if posters from other states actually read this thread, I have my money on RB A doing very well next year. Their hsnct record had absolutely no correlation to their ability.

[cvdwightw]

If the website can be believed, the two Rancho Bernardo teams went 11-9 despite neither one having Jeff. If RB A had Jeff, they almost certainly would have won one of those last three games (seriously, losing the last three games by a total of 65 points has really got to hurt, especially when the website is telling me that one team got into the playoffs by beating a 3-6 team).

I'm not sure what we're looking at next year - Santa Monica's B team hasn't been as good as it has been in previous years, but it looks like enough that they'll either stay #1 or a close second behind RB; Edison looks like they'll have to rely on their younger players, so they might be a year away from dominant; I'm not too confident that Torrey or Arcadia has the younger players to rebuild quickly. Is it really a wide-open race behind SaMo, RB, and maybe Edison?

[ntan]

if they keep up their current pace, a zhao/anurag combo could become pretty bloody good. not to mention a decent supporting cast as well, oleg, kevin, jarred, etc. they would be better than samo; however, samo's coach is amazingly good at training new members to be on the same page as their veterans, especially at sci bowl and ocean sci bowl

lol if arcadia's new captains manage the team correctly, and force several promising underclassmen to study...they could become decent. i'm not too sure how torrey will do, but i have to agree that edison will be a top 4 team in socal next year, albeit likely on a lower tier than rb and samo

but yea, for the foreseeable future, i'll see rb and samo battling it out for the top team status, with edison, torrey, and arcadia a step behind

[ihavenoidea]

Auroni, props to you. Nothing else to say, but you were pretty awesome.

It was pretty shocking to see our A team go 5 - 2, then drop three straight matches, all decided on the last question. Torrey Pines, Garfield Heights, Dunbar. I would have to say that RB A definitely deserved to go to the playoffs, while RB B should have finished 5 - 5

As for what will happen next year, Derek from Arcadia will be very good. Edison will be very good. SaMo will somehow manage to find a way to be a contender for the top spot.

[ntan]

oh, i forgot about vivek (i think that's spelled right?) from torrey b. the only time i played him he was very impressive getting 2-3 amazing powers (well within the first sentence) and a bunch of other tossups. if he improves, torrey should find itself in the mix as well. i'd say that next year will be pretty wide open. samo appears to have relatively promising players (Max...who i think is the guy with the baseball cap?) as well as another pretty promising lit specialist on their team b who rocked us at SoCal State Champs

i would agree with ihavenoidea about RB A though. they seemed really prepared and were definitely on par with torrey during the tournament, although possibly slightly more erratic than usual. anurag singlehandedly kicked our butts by scoring a whole slew of powers, but that said, that particular packet didn't play to our strengths too well.

out of the california teams, i think we had one of the tougher playoff draws, and might have done as well as kellenberg (T11th as a 6-4 team i believe) had we avoided State College and MLK.

sorry for the tangent, but yea, the pressure's on you RB, i expect you guys to go pretty far in next year's hsnct and represent the region well

[First Chairman]

And maybe one of your teams will make it out to PACE. ...

[ihavenoidea]

Ntan, thanks for shifting the responsibility =D

I completely forgot about Vivek too wow... This changes my rankings

1. RB - Dwight, I think you're underestimating how good Anurag is. He is definitely catching up to Jeff in the lit category, but is weaker, as of now, in the history category (which I hope will be taken care of by another person....lets see how much he studies)
2. Edison - see State Champ record for proof
3. Arcadia - As I said before, Derek will kick butt. A team of him, Sean, and others demolished Anurag, Oleg, and I at USC.
T4. SaMo - the reason I rank them here is because Aaron and Marino are not as potent at Evan and Ilan (perhaps due to shadowing) and their bonus conversion at State Champs (B team) was not top tier. Only time will tell however.
T4. TP - I seriously do not know how good TP is without their seniors and Auroni. Vivek is definitely good though, and perhaps their younger players will develop. They, like Santa Monica, always find a way to be a contender.

[ntan]

And maybe one of your teams will make it out to PACE. ...

you might want to contact edison and find out if they're interested. they're likely to be one of the top 3-4 teams in the region (at least), and they seem to be considerably better funded than most of the team from this region and thus probably more likely to attend two national competitions.