NAQT-ACUI Region 3 SCT at Princeton University

[SBServer]

Hello all,

Princeton University will be hosting this year's SCT for Region 3. I, Steve Server, will be serving as Tournament Director as Dan Humphrey is occupied with independent work.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012 on the Princeton University campus at a location yet to be determined, beginning tentatively at 8:30am.

Entry Fees are in keeping with NAQT rules: $120 for the first team from a given institution, and $100 for each additional team from the same institution. We will be offering the "New School" Discount, which is a $20 discount for teams from a school that has neither competed in nor hosted a Sectional in the last two years. Further, we will be offering a $5 discount to teams that bring a functional lockout system to the tournament.

An announcement with a more detailed schedule will be posted in early January. In the meantime, please contact me at [email protected] with questions or registration requests.

Best,

Steve Server
Princeton University

[Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill]

Stony Brook will show up with people! At least one team, not sure about more.

[Sima Guang Hater]

Hi I need to register for this but the website isn't working. We'll have 1 DI team and possible one D2 team.

[jonah]

Hi I need to register for this but the website isn't working. We'll have 1 DI team and possible one D2 team.

I responded to your email; this should be easy to work out quickly.

[Important Bird Area]

I just tested it and it worked fine. Are you getting some sort of specific error I can try to diagnose?

[Nerdyninja13]

Has a location on campus been decided yet?
Even just a general area of campus would be useful.
Also, where would be the best place to park?

Thanks and good luck everyone!

Maxwell Spangler
Penn State Quiz Bowl

[marnold]

On a similar note, we're taking the train in the morning and I'm getting the impression from the website that the Dinky train from Princeton Junction to campus doesn't run that early on a weekend. Is there a good alternative way to get to where the tournament will be? Would there be any team with a car perhaps willing to give us a lift from the station to the tournament site?

[SBServer]

The tournament will be held in McCosh Hall, which is on the western edge of campus. I'm trying to figure out an optimum place for parking.

In response to the travel question, you're right that the Dinky doesn't operate that early. So it would be great if someone could give you a lift from Princeton Junction.

Teams that have registered will receive an email tomorrow with more details.

[DumbJaques]

I heard multiple people comment at Penn Bowl that they've extender their (proven and competent) moderating services for this SCT, but haven't heard anything back. That's sort of a generally ominous sign about the organization of this tournament, and I'd like to know that someone there is moving to rectify it (or has already done so).

Also, emails I sent to the address in this post were not returned.

[Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill]

I've been receiving answers to my e-mails, though admittedly one of them took a few weeks to get a response.
I'm attempting to register a second team for Stony Brook so that DII isn't stuck with an odd number of teams.

[Important Bird Area]

I'm attempting to register a second team for Stony Brook so that DII isn't stuck with an odd number of teams.

I have just re-opened registration to allow this.

[Important Bird Area]

I heard multiple people comment at Penn Bowl that they've extender their (proven and competent) moderating services for this SCT, but haven't heard anything back. That's sort of a generally ominous sign about the organization of this tournament, and I'd like to know that someone there is moving to rectify it (or has already done so).

Also, emails I sent to the address in this post were not returned.

I have been in touch with the Princeton team by email today and have received assurances that those moderators will be welcome to staff this tournament.

[Sima Guang Hater]

I heard multiple people comment at Penn Bowl that they've extender their (proven and competent) moderating services for this SCT, but haven't heard anything back. That's sort of a generally ominous sign about the organization of this tournament, and I'd like to know that someone there is moving to rectify it (or has already done so).

Also, emails I sent to the address in this post were not returned.

Unfortunately Sid can't make it :(

[btressler]

where would be the best place to park?

In years past, I have used parking lot 10 which is about a block from McCosh Hall. I think I have also parked in the North Garage, which has always been almost vacant on a Saturday.

Would there be any team with a car perhaps willing to give us a lift from the station to the tournament site?

I imagine I'm one of the few showing up in an otherwise empty car. Send me a note with some contact information and a where and when to be.

[marnold]

I think the entrance on the south side is the open one, fwiw

[Black-throated Antshrike]

Tweeting about this @NAQTSectionals

[Important Bird Area]

Note that there are several later tournaments using SCT questions, so no question content on Twitter, please.

[Black-throated Antshrike]

Note that there are several later tournaments using SCT questions, so no question content on Twitter, please.

I figured as much

[Ugly]

Stats updated here: http://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/86 ... all_games/

My apologies for the combining of the divisions.

[Ugly]

Final Results (Top Three)

Div. I:
1. Maryland A
2. Penn
3. Columbia

Cornell A won the undergraduate title.

Div. II:
1. NYU
2. RPI B
3. Maryland C

Individuals

Div. I:
1. Eric of Penn
2. Chris of Maryland A
3. Aaron of RPI A
4. Michael of Columbia
5. Rafael of Columbia

Div. II (calculated before rebracketing after round 7):
1. Alex of Delaware
2. Chris of Maryland A
3. Max of NYU
4. Qi of RPI B
5. Joseph of RPI B

Thanks to everyone who showed up today! Hope you had fun, and good luck at ICT for qualifying teams!

[DumbJaques]

Sorry, I think I've missed something. . . shouldn't there have been a finals series played off between NYU and RPI B? Or perhaps, did such a game in fact take place in some previously uncharted recess of McCosh? It seemed like they had identical records within the top playoff flight after the second round robin.

[btressler]

Sorry, I think I've missed something. . . shouldn't there have been a finals series played off between NYU and RPI B? Or perhaps, did such a game in fact take place in some previously uncharted recess of McCosh? It seemed like they had identical records within the top playoff flight after the second round robin.

Actually, there was a circle of death in the top bracket of Div 2: Delaware was also 2-1. I imagine since everyone played the same opponents they are ranked by overall record.

[btressler]

Actually, looking these over I believe a rule wasn't followed. After the initial RR, it appears the records were

NYU 6-1
Maryland C 6-1
RPI B 5-2
Delaware 4-3
Stony Brook A 4-3
Cornell B 2-5
Stony Brook B 1-6
Penn State 0-7

I'm assuming the tie for 4th was broken by PPG or head-to-head. According to the tie-breaker policy that tie for 4th should have been played off before the rebracketing.

[SBServer]

Actually, looking these over I believe a rule wasn't followed. After the initial RR, it appears the records were

NYU 6-1
Maryland C 6-1
RPI B 5-2
Delaware 4-3
Stony Brook A 4-3
Cornell B 2-5
Stony Brook B 1-6
Penn State 0-7

I'm assuming the tie for 4th was broken by PPG or head-to-head. According to the tie-breaker policy that tie for 4th should have been played off before the rebracketing.

Following the initial RR in Div II, we did play a half-game tiebreaker game between Delaware and Stony Brook A. This broke the tie according to the policy above.

[Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill]

Yes, there was a half-game tiebreaker between my team and Delaware. Delaware won 220-30.

[marnold]

Thanks to Princeton for hosting this. I guess I'm still hopelessly naive about tournament start times, but D1 had fine moderators (we heard no fewer than 21 questions all day) which I care more about.

[btressler]

Yes, there was a half-game tiebreaker between my team and Delaware. Delaware won 220-30.

I stand corrected -- didn't know that happened.

[DumbJaques]

But was there just no finals series played in div II? Even if they used overall record, NYU was 8-2 while RPI B was 7-3, right? Shouldn't there have been an advantaged final? Maybe I've just foolishly overlooked something here, so apologies if that's the case.

[Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill]

Thanks to Princeton for hosting this. I guess I'm still hopelessly naive about tournament start times, but D1 had fine moderators (we heard no fewer than 21 questions all day) which I care more about.

I wish I could say the same for D2...

[jonpin]

But was there just no finals series played in div II? Even if they used overall record, NYU was 8-2 while RPI B was 7-3, right? Shouldn't there have been an advantaged final? Maybe I've just foolishly overlooked something here, so apologies if that's the case.

One would certainly use overall record; the teams played the same schedule and it's completely standard procedure to carry over games when a single group splits into multiple groups for playoffs. And to the best of my memory, because I feel like someone brings this up every 2-3 years, SCTs are not required to follow the finals format at ICT. What they are required to do is that if they hold a final, it must obey NAQT's elimination policy. However, they may use a format in which a final is only held if there is a tie at the top of the standings, and not if one team has a single-game lead.

[Important Bird Area]

And to the best of my memory, because I feel like someone brings this up every 2-3 years, SCTs are not required to follow the finals format at ICT. What they are required to do is that if they hold a final, it must obey NAQT's elimination policy. However, they may use a format in which a final is only held if there is a tie at the top of the standings, and not if one team has a single-game lead.

Actually, I brought this up *before* SCT started, and instructed all hosts that there should be an advantaged final played if one team has a single-game lead. (The sole exception being: if 15 packets have already been used, meaning that there would not be enough packets left to play an advantaged final.)

[jonpin]

And to the best of my memory, because I feel like someone brings this up every 2-3 years, SCTs are not required to follow the finals format at ICT. What they are required to do is that if they hold a final, it must obey NAQT's elimination policy. However, they may use a format in which a final is only held if there is a tie at the top of the standings, and not if one team has a single-game lead.

Actually, I brought this up *before* SCT started, and instructed all hosts that there should be an advantaged final played if one team has a single-game lead. (The sole exception being: if 15 packets have already been used, meaning that there would not be enough packets left to play an advantaged final.)

And that's what happens when someone who is five years removed from the general collegiate circuit tries to contribute to an SCT thread.

[Black-throated Antshrike]

Although DII had some slow readers, I was very pleased that this tournament was for the most part run well. I know I'm pretty leery of a tournament starting at 10am but we were done 10 rounds and back in Delaware by 6 so that made me pretty happy.

[Edward Lansdale]

So what happens now? Does NYU get a bid for ICT as the highest placed DII team, or do we still have to play some kind of playoff vs RPI B?

We were willing to play an advantaged final but we were told we don't have to. I admit it was an anti-climactic end to what was a great tournament for us otherwise.