Texas 2020-2021 Discussion

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vedul
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Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:14 pm

Texas 2020-2021 Discussion

Post by vedul »

Within the tiers the teams are not ranked in any particular order. I am really sorry if I forgot to rank your team. Odds are I haven't seen enough results/don’t know enough about your teams to make a definitive ranking. Later in the year I might make an update to see how wrong I am with these.
Tier 1
TAG Magnet- TAG Magnet is one of the greatest success stories in quiz bowl. A small club founded (in its current state) just 3 years ago has turned into one of the best teams in the country. Led by Ketan (Science/FA) and Jisoo (Lit/RMPSS), their carding crusade has led them to online supremacy and a good shot at a national title, especially if they are able to lock down history.
St. Marks - St. Marks is led by Ned and Aayush who are two of the best literature and history players in the country. Their addition of Miki Ghosh may help them in science, but If they are able to improve their science coverage they are definitely a contender for national titles.
Tier 1.5:
Greenhill - The Greenhill team has extraordinary coverage across the board, especially on NAQT with Josh’s coverage of trash and geography some of the best in the nation. Gokulan and Shruti excel in science, fine arts and literature. While they are extremely solid, the addition of Nikky will be huge to cover up weaknesses. I don't feel they have the depth of knowledge needed to contend for state and national titles, but this time next year they will likely be an uncontested #1.
Strake A - As is often the case, Strake graduated 75% of their A team, but, as is often the case, they will come back with an extremely strong team with only two seniors. The team will be led by Isean Bhalla, but the team will be extraordinarily balanced with all four players (Dylan, Kile, Ryan) capable of pulling first lines on essentially any difficulty. While the Houston circuit will certainly not be as strong as the Dallas one, it will certainly be very competitive.
Tier 2:
Kinkaid - Connor and I have been grinding all summer at a much faster pace than (probably) all our competitors. Connor has become much more proficient in literature, science, and visual fine arts, while I have picked up auditory fine arts and other fine arts as well as becoming one of the nation’s top RMPSS players (in my opinion) as well as strengthening in history and geography. Our results at Delta Burke were somewhat disappointing, but our more recent results in scrimmages and MOST indicate drastic improvement. In addition to Connor and myself, Vivian is able to pull the random power out of category or in trash.
Plano West A - I don’t really know too much about Plano West A, but I do know that Akshay is a top science player in both Texas and the country. I don’t really know what Matthew, Siddarth, and Alexander do, but I’m sure they will have a very solid lineup; however, I don’t see them challenging for any state/national titles.
Cistercian - Cistercian is a consistent powerhouse in the Dallas circuit. I will not make the same mistake as Ned did of underestimating them last year. They will be spearheaded by Ben Shamai but I am confident that they will once again put out an extremely strong and balanced team, just not quite enough to topple the oligopoly of the Dallas circuit.
Tier 3:
Cinco Ranch A - Cinco can certainly put up high power numbers on IS sets and IS-A with Charles covering history and Aaryan covering literature and Science while Hayden and Dimitris cover the rest of the distribution. I was really considering putting them in tier 2, but I do not think they are able to scale up to higher difficulties. I do commend them on the amount of “real” knowledge they have (they rarely card).
Coppell A: While Coppell has often been hyped up for years, I believe this year might be the real deal. Vishal has become a very solid literature player while improving across the board. He is even able to pick up a surprising amount of science powers. I think their downfall will be the inability to scale beyond regular high school difficulty, meaning I do not see them being especially successful at national or state level.
Wakeland - Wakeland has never played an in person quiz bowl tournament. So why are they here? For being founded in 2020, Wakeland are insanely successful. They are captained by Geetan Madala who has gone on a carding binge, becoming a very solid history player and covering fine arts extremely well from real knowledge. Their only tournament with a full A team was Midsummer Classic, where Geetan put up an insane statline (48/9/6). They are certainly around the level of Coppell, but Wakeland will need more coverage in literature and more depth beyond regular high school difficulty to make a splash at the top. That being said they are a young team entirely made up of the class of 23 who could do big things in 22 and 23.
Taylor - Mitchell Shadden is still good. There’s not much to it. He consistently has been the top scorer on many Houston events. Considering I don’t have much of an idea what Taylor have been doing recently I am reluctant to put them in tier 2.
LASA A- the loss of Schuyler and Chinmay will definitely devastate LASA, but the depth they have on their B and C teams will definitely give them a chance to do well this year, but I have no idea what their lineup will be.
Strake B - I don't know what Strake B will look like this year, but I would imagine it will be the next 4 best players. Knowing the depth of Strake, I would expect this team to be around the top of tier 3.
Plano west B - I don't really know who will be on pwest b, but I can predict that there will be transfers from Jasper and they will be pretty good (also Josh told me they were good).
St Marks B - St Marks B will be made up of the top middle school team last year as well as a couple other earlier members of the B team, but I just don't see the adjustment from middle school to high school nationals difficulty going very smoothly.
Coppell B - I was extremely impressed by Nikita’s (strange) Wolfie Bowl results, but she doesn't have very much support on her team. If she is able to get her teammates to specialise, she could focus more on her core categories and do well at nationals level.
Tier 3.5:
Bellaire - Bellaire is led by Alkiviades Boukas who is going into his senior year, but he is losing his second scorer, Allen Xue. I think Alkis will need to recruit well from the freshman class to form a strong lineup.
Tier 4:
Seven lakes - they graduate their best player but they will probably consolidate their a and b teams. But for now their power numbers just aren't good enough to do well against the top teams.
Strake C? - I have no idea what this lineup will be but it will likely be made up of rising freshmen at Strake, who have always been very good, but unless they're like the class of 22 they belong in tier 4.
Vedul Palavajjhala
Kinkaid '22
WUSTL '26
Piney Point Village, TX
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chartong
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Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2020 12:52 pm

Impromptu, Impulsive, Premature Player Poll Results

Post by chartong »

Hi everyone,

I recently hosted a player poll (in the middle of February, I know), after seeing other regions do the same. The voting recently came to an end, and the results are as follows.

A note on how scoring works: For the overall ranking, players were scored 50 points for a first place ranking, 40 for second, and so on. For individual category rankings, first place received 20 points, and second received 10. The average of your score would get you ranked. (This means that Ned Tagtmeier received the maximum possible score for overall players and Josh Rubel received the maximum possible score for an individual category, in this case Geography). The points were rounded to the nearest whole number.

The results are as follows:

Best Player Overall:
1. Ned Tagtmeier - St. Mark’s (9 votes, 50 point average)
2. Vedul Palavajjhala - Kinkaid (9 votes, 30 point average)
3. Gokulan Anand - Greenhill (9 votes, 28 point average)
4. Jisoo Yoo - TAG Magnet (6 votes, 23 point average)
5. Ketan Pamurthy - TAG Magnet (6 votes, 22 point average)
Also receiving votes - Geetan Madala (3 votes), Nikita Nair (1 vote), Isean Bhalla (1 vote)

Best lit player:
Ned Tagtmeier - St. Mark’s (9 votes, 16 point average)
Jisoo Yoo - TAG Magnet (8 votes, 14 point average)
Also receiving votes - Gokulan Anand (2 votes)

Best history player:
Aayush Goodapaty - St. Mark’s (9 votes, 18 point average)
Josh Rubel - Greenhill (7 votes, 13 point average)
Also receiving votes - Geetan Madala (2 votes)

Best Science player:
Ketan Pamurthy - TAG Magnet (9 votes, 17 point average)
Connor Blake - Kinkaid (9 votes, 12 point average)

Best RMPSS player:
Ned Tagtmeier - St. Mark’s (8 votes, 19 point average)
Vedul Palavajjhala - Kinkaid (8 votes, 13 point average)
Also receiving votes - Nikky Nandipati (1 vote), Jisoo Yoo (1 vote)

Best geo player:
Josh Rubel - Greenhill (9 votes, 20 point average)
T2. Aayush Goodapaty - St. Mark’s (5 votes, 10 point average)
T2. Nikky Nandipati - Greenhill (3 votes, 10 point average)
Also receiving votes - Isean Bhalla (1 vote)

Best FA player:
Ketan Pamurthy - TAG Magnet (9 votes, 19 point average)
Gokulan Anand - Greenhill (5 votes, 12 point average)
Also receiving votes - Aditya Shivaswamy (2 votes), Isean Bhalla (1 vote)

Best CE player:
Ned Tagtmeier - St Mark’s (2 votes, 20 point average)
Aayush Goodapaty - St. Mark’s (6 votes, 16 point average)
Also receiving votes: Vedul (1 vote), Camron Kinkaid (1 vote), Geetan (1 vote), Isean (1 vote), Nikky (2 votes)
Cole Hartung
kinkaid '24

"You ruined quiz bowl for millions of innocent players" - Arthur Gayden

Suetonius states that Titus, upon realizing he had brought no benefit to anyone during a whole day, remarked "Friends, I have lost a day".
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