Gonzaga Tournament- Feb. 11th

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Gonzaga Tournament- Feb. 11th

Post by Magister Ludi »

Date: Saturday February 11, 2006
Cost: $45 for first team; $35 each additional team; $10 discount for each working buzzer system; $5 discount per team if payment is sent with registration before Jan. 31st.
Time: Check-in & Breakfast 8-8:45; Games begin at 9:00.
Format: Two rounds of 15 toss-up questions (pyramid-style) open to both teams, and one 10-question individual “lightningâ€
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Post by bigtrain »

What teams do you have registered so far?
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Post by brownboy79 »

Ted:
Are there going to be a lot of Southeast Teams there? We might send a few. You know Dunbar, if we send one, we'll send 5.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Here is an Updated Field:
Baltimore Polytech x 2
Oakland Mills x 1
National Cathedral x 2
Seton x 2
Robinson x 2
Maret x 3
Madison x 1
Banneker x 2
Whitman x 2
Fallston x 2
WJ x 1
Seton Hall(in New Jersey) x 1
Atholton x 1
Hammond x 1
GDS x 1
TJ x 4
Blake x 1
ER x 1
McLean x 1
Dematha x 2
Total: 33 teams
Note: We have gotten verbal confirmations from RM and Centennial, but haven't gotten their final registration yet.
The deadline for final registration is Tuesday February 7th. To register, e-mail me at [email protected]
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

We (Maggie Walker GS) are trying to arrange a team or two for this tournament. However, we have some conflicts that need to be resolved.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Current Field:
Baltimore Polytech x 2
Oakland Mills x 1
National Cathedral x 2
Seton x 2
Robinson x 3
Maret x 3
Banneker x 2
Whitman x 2
Fallston x 2
Blake x 1
WJ x 2
Seton Hall(in New Jersey) x 1
Atholton x 1
Hammond x 2
GDS x 1
TJ x 4
ER x 1
McLean x 1
Dematha x 2
Wilson x 1
St. Anselm's x 3
Centennial x 3
Annandale x 1
Sidwell x 1
Total: 43
Expressed interest but unconfirmed:
RM

We are looking to get to 48 teams, if anyone is interested please e-mail me at [email protected] as soon as possible
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Post by NotjustoldWASPs »

Is there a plan for the potential "snow event" that may happen?
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Right now we are planning to go ahead with the tournament. The snow(if it happens) is forecasted for the late afternoon, so hopefully the tournament would be close to over by then. If we do decide to cancel we will send out e-mails to all teams by tomorrow night and I will make a post about it on this thread. We would re-schedue for February 25th.
Right now we have 47 teams(RM and Spotswood each signed up for 2 teams) and we hope there won't be any cancellations due to the weather.
See you all Saturday.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

We have officially decided to run the tournament as planned tomorrow. We understand your possible dilemma and ask that you contact us by late afternoon today or tonight to let us know if you are NOT able to come. Contact us either at my e-mail [email protected] or my coach's e-mail [email protected]. Thanks! And hopefully we will see you Saturday
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Sorry about the last post. In light of several school districts that have just cancelled all activities for the weekend, and the late loss of some good schools that were coming from out of the area, we have postponed our tournament and re-scheduled it for February 25th, which seems to be an available date. Please let us know if your school would like to come on the 25th? We apologize for an earlier announcement that said we were going through with the tournament, if that caused you to plan accordingly. We will e-mail you next week to register again. Also we will accept new teams into the field if there is any interest. Thanks
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Post by Howard »

That's an open date for us. I'll reinterview my students this coming week.
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Post by The Toad to Wigan Pier »

Some Virginia teams will not be able to make it because of VHSL States.
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Post by STPickrell »

tachyonwill wrote:Some Virginia teams will not be able to make it because of VHSL States.
Langley will probably drop. TJ -- that'll depend on whether their B-D team wants to play at Gonzaga or watch their A team play at VHSL states.

I don't see why Robinson and Annandale would need to cancel, though ...
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Post by SHP Pirate »

Seton Hall Prep will be attending on the 25th.
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

Maggie Walker will be going to VHSL states on the 25th. There is a slight chance our B team could go to Gonzaga, but we have the problem of finding someone official that would be able to take them. Our regular "sponsors" will be going to Williamsburg.
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

There is also that tournament in Raleigh (St. Mary's) on the 25th. I know a couple of VA teams are going: Spotswood and Collegiate. Raleigh Charter is going there, too. Although, I don't believe any of them had planned to go to Gonzaga anyway.
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Post by bigtrain »

We (WJ) would have been able to make it tommorrow and I'm guessing that we'll most likely be going on the snow date in two weeks.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

There is a possibilty, considering that many Virginia teams can't come that maybe we could find another date for the tournament. We haven't finalized the re-scheduled date yet with our school's facilties director or the caterer who is providing breakfast, so we could still change. Any suggestions on dates in April or May that are free for both Virginia and Maryland? (Other than April 15th).
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

As far as I know, March 4th, April 1st, April 29th, May 6th, and May 13th are the only decent dates after Feb. 25th, but those latter three dates I mentioned kind of run into AP exams and an SAT date. Feb. 25th could work for us (Gov) possibly, as we've split up on VHSL weekends in the past.
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Post by bigtrain »

April 29th is the "It's Academic" semifinal taping date. April 1 is an SAT date. May 6th and 13th both work even though they are during APs. I think a May tournament would be cool. WJ may be able to muster three teams for the February 25th date.
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

^^then it sounds like only March 4th and May 13th work really well. I'm pretty sure May 6th is an SAT date, plus it's in the middle of APs. May 13th is just after APs so that would work, and yea I agree that a May tournament would be cool. But the problem is, as we've seen in the past couple years (with the Doug Freeman and GDS tournaments, most notably), if you host then and something comes up where you have to push back the tournament, there won't be any date left to push it back to. That's why I would suggest March 4th as the most convenient time, and have May 13th as a fallback date (although, once again, Feb. 25 would be difficult b/c of VHSL but it could work).
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

Isn't March 4 Dunbar's tournament?
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Post by Magister Ludi »

March 4th is Dunbar's tournament and some teams from our area(Richard Montgomery) have said they were going to that. Also Gonzaga' campus is booked that day because of a fundraising event. My coach doesn't want to have a May tournament, so the date that we could make work (other than Feb. 25th) would be April 8th. The other dates in March or April we (Gonzaga) already have a tournament on or don't work because the campus is already being used for a different event. Are there problems with an April 8th tournament?
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

^^I believe that's during Spring Break for us and for many schools. That probably shouldn't hurt registration too much since teams have had so long to register and already did so for the Feb. 11th date, but it'll be interesting to see how many players claim they have vacation conflicts...
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

Oh yea, forgot to mention, April 15th would be good too now that NAQT States for VA is the 22nd.
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Post by Apocrypha »

If the date is not changed from February 25th, Centennial will have to withdraw at least two of its teams due to the unlikely convergence of Science Bowl, the science fair, and All-State.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Since April 8th is the beginning of Spring Break for many public schools it doesn't work as a date. We have talked to all of the school facilities people and we can use the school on March 4th. So the final two possible dates are February 25th or March 4th. I realize the 4th is Dunbar's tournament they are the using the same NAQT set as UVA's tournament on the 18th, so I don't think that would be a conflict. I'm really sorry about the flip-flopping on the date. The final two possible dates are definitely Feb. 25th and March 4th. Which one of these works the best?
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Post by DumbJaques »

Since RM is going to Dunbar, I have to vote for the 25th
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

Between those two dates, I vote for March 4th, as I think a lot of Virginia schools will due to VHSL States. Although I have heard of schools successfully hosting tournaments during spring break in the past...
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Post by BuzzerZen »

TJ votes March 4th.
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Post by NotjustoldWASPs »

BuzzerZen wrote:TJ votes March 4th.
Considering that a large contingent of our team will either at VHSL or the Harvard-MIT math tournament, we would definitely prefer March 4. Specifically, if it occurs on the 25th, we will only be able to bring two teams and no buzzers. It's your call, but just letting you know. Thanks.
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

So has it been decided yet? Will the tournament in fact be on the 4th?
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Post by Magister Ludi »

We have rescheduled the tournament for Saturday, MARCH 4th. If you can come on this date, please respond this week as soon as possible to let us know how many teams and buzzers you can bring. If you had originally committed to come, can't make it on the 4th, and would like to buy the questions, contact us and for $20 and we will mail you paper copies of all the tournament questions. We are very sorry for any inconveinces the re-scheduling process may have caused you and we hope to see you there.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Date: Saturday March 4th, 2006
Cost: $45 for first team; $35 each additional team; $10 discount for each working buzzer system; $5 discount per team if payment is sent with registration before Feb. 4th.
Time: Check-in & Breakfast 8-8:45; Games begin at 9:00.
Format: Two rounds of 15 toss-up questions (pyramid-style) open to both teams, and one 10-question individual round; Five preliminary games for all; 16-team playoff. All questions written by Gonzaga teachers or students.
Location: The campus of Gonzaga College High School, centrally located at 19 Eye St. NW, between H and K Streets on North Capitol St. near Union Station, Washington, D.C., with on-campus security parking.
To register, contact me at [email protected]
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Here is the current field. The deadline for registration is this Thursday.

Name: Number of Teams Number of Buzzers
Centennial x 2/ x 2
Banneker x 2/ x 1
Edison x 1/ x 0
Whitman x 2/ x 2
Annandale x 1/ x 1
Howard x 1/ x 1
Sidwell x 2/ x 1
Atholton x 1/ x 1
TJ x 5/ x 1
Bullis x 1/ x 1
South Lakes x 1/ ?
Robinson x 1/ x 1
Robert E. Lee x 1/ x 1
RM x 2/ ?
Gov x 1/ ?
St. Anselm's x 3/ ?

Total: x 27/ x 13
Expressed interest but unconfirmed:
WJ
Hayfield
DeMatha
Blair
GDS
Wilson
ER
Seton
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Post by STPickrell »

Is that Robert E. Lee of Staunton or Springfield?
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

Hmm I'm guessing this will be RM's B and C teams since they're at Dunbar this weekend right?

(By the way in case anyone is wondering what the composition of the Gov team will be, Xun can't be there but the rest of the A team will be, and Xun himself will be replaced by one of our best sophomores, Andrew Goodfellow. It was kind of hard to find people beyond the A team regulars to go - National Honor Society and debate tournament conflicts...)
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Post by bigtrain »

No, their school administration didn't let them go. They did not apply for authorization soon enough I think.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Results:
1st- Gov
2nd- RM A
3rd- TJ A
4th- Whitman A
5th- RM B
6th- TJ B
tied 7th- WJ and TJ C

Thanks to everybody who came and made the tournament a success.
Gov beat RM A in the finals by a score of 220 to 190.
TJ A beat Whitman A in the consolation game by a score of 210 to 200.

Please offer your opinions of the questions and format as we are trying to improve the tournament for next year.
I apologize for a few questions that were pororly written.
Thanks for all those who participated.
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

:shock: Wow, we won. Didn't think they would do it without Xun. Nice :cool:


Anyway, are the stats up anywhere?
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Post by DumbJaques »

There really won't be any "stats," I wouldn't think. It was conferring, no bonuses, etc.

In response to Ted, I know you were basically forced into this format and would have supported a tossup/bonus (which I also suggest). There were issues with the format, and the questions, but I know you're going to solve them next year anyway.

Congrats to Gov on pulling a very solid second half in the final. We look forward to many more competitive games against them. TJ B has also come a long way, in my opinion from the beginning of the year. They played very well in our game against them.

Overall, my only real complaint was some bad questions which really didn't affect any outcomes, some problems with pyramidality, and an irate parent who challenged my right to speech. But secretly, I wish we had those at every tournament. They would make things much more interesting.

A good tournament, with good competition. Like I said, I'm looking forward to some great competition in the next few months.


Also, it took me an hour to get out of DC (during which I at various points drove past buildings with curiously round holes, bullet-sized holes in them, saw a man with no pants whatsoever enjoying the cold air entirely too much, and ended up in Anacostia). Take a map with you the next time you got DC.

Or a gun.
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Post by dschafer »

Thanks to Gonzaga for the tournament. I especially liked the distribution (a math question and a good sports question in each round of 15 tossups - I heartily approve).

Also, TJ B defeated RM B by 10 in the 5th place game, rather than vice versa (as the standings above indicate).
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Post by DumbJaques »

Our B team is pretty sure they won by 10. I mean, I don't really think it matters a whole lot, but could we get Ted to check on that?
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

I was pleasantly surprised how well we (MLWGS) did given our unfamiliarity with the conferring-all-the-time format and Xun's absence. But, Andrew filled in nicely. In fact, he got some key answers for us includiing the tournament clinching answer against RM in the finals. Our players adjusted to the format pretty well. In the final game they played more like they would normally play; that is, they just played without a whole lot of conferring anyway.

This was the first time in quite a while that we won a tournament after being seeded first in the playoffs. But it certainly was not easy. St. Anselm B and TJ C both gave us quite a scare and almost knocked us out of the play-offs. RM A was very strong as unusual. It was nice to finally upset them after a couple of years of trying. I thought they might have been bothered a little by the format as well. We were able to get a little momentum going against them in the final section of the championship game, with Mark leading the nice comeback. But, the game could have easily gone the other way. Richard Montgomery is definitely one of the top teams in the nation and has to be considered one of the favorites at nationals. I am just happy we can be competitive with them from time to time.

As for the the requested comments on the tournament:

positives:
- Very nice facilities
- Convenient Lunch (Union Sta.)
- Excellent question content. The length and rich content of the questions rewarded teams with depth of knowledge and minimized the "buzzer races." This was a good tournament for learning information.
- The simplicity of the format: Here are a bunch of quality questions - no negs, no powers, no bonuses. Now, lets just see which team can answer the greater number of them.

negatives:
- conferring on toss-ups, though I realize it is standard practice in It's Academic and so has local appeal.
- A few questions needed better structuring. In some questions it was impossible to buzz very early because the question would not get to the point about the type of answer they were going for.
- The category rounds were not always even in difficulty, but they were more even than they are in most tournaments. In general, we are not very fond of directed category rounds for this reason.


All-in-all the positives definitely outweighed the negatives and we would be inclined to return to a Gonzaga tournament in the future.
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Post by West Branch »

Matt Morrison wrote::shock: Wow, we won. Didn't think they would do it without Xun. Nice :cool:


Anyway, are the stats up anywhere?
Individual stats were not even kept.
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Post by bigmac »

It was nice to finally upset [RMA] after a couple of years of trying. . . . I am just happy we can be competitive with them from time to time.
Competitive with us?! Mr. Barnes, you are being way too modest here about GOV A. Two years ago, with the legendary Wren and co., you beat us three out of 5 including the win that advanced you to the final against TJ at PACE. Last year, I think things tipped slightly in our favor, but only slightly. The game we played at NAQT nationals I remember quite vividly because we needed a last-second math power with full bonus conversion to pull it out. Gov beating RM would never be considered an "upset." Our games over the past few years have been close, well-played, and, usually, late in the playoffs. This year, I believe we have split our games and the team you had on Saturday (with a new lineup?) was pretty scary.

Overall, Gonzaga ran a good tournament. Certain subjects came up more than usual -- religion, mythology, biographies, NY Yankees (I enjoyed those) -- but only to the point that it gave the tournament a distinctive flavor. The readers in the playoffs were clear and knowledgeable about rules, etc. I have never really found a good reason to do individually directed rounds, especially when there are so many points at stake. If they make a difference in the game, they seem somehow unfair. If they don't, they seem unnecessary. Having said that, they mattered in only one game I saw and that was a prelim game. Perhaps due to the format of straight toss-ups, the team that could find a rhythm was usually able to win against an equal opponent. We managed to do this against TJ, but definitely not against Gov.
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

bigmac wrote: Competitive with us?! Mr. Barnes, you are being way too modest here about GOV A.
Thanks for your kind comments. I hope you are right. The team HAS started to play much better in recent weeks. Hopefully, we can keep it up and have some more competitive games against you and all the other big dogs. Maybe we are starting to see a degree of parity that this sport has not seen in quite a while.

We have been trying different lineups on our team. This is definitely the deepest team we have ever had, so we can usually bring up an excellent player when a regular has to be absent.
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

bigmac wrote: This year, I believe we have split our games and the team you had on Saturday (with a new lineup?) was pretty scary.
Last year the A lineup was usually Xun, Mark, Angela, and Lydia, but now that Ev(i)an and Will have developed nicely, they've moved up from B to A in exchange for Lydia and Angela (the first tournament with this lineup was UVA). Since the A team now has the best players and since both teams are now well balanced and competitive (as opposed to B finishing 3rd and A losing in the first round of the playoffs at TJ), we'll probably stick with this lineup from now on, when everyone shows up that is. At Gonzaga Xun was gone for some NHS stuff, and C teamer Andrew, who knows a completely insane amount of US history, was his replacement. As far as I know, it looks like the only times non-VA competition will face anything close to the regular A team before nationals will be at UMD and WJ, and even WJ is kind of iffy right now I think.
Last edited by Zip Zap Rap Pants on Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Magister Ludi »

Is Gov going to come to RM on May 13th?
Last edited by Magister Ludi on Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

^^Sure 'nuff, but the lone team will probably be Evan, Will, Mehdi, and I, a.k.a. Gov A beta version 2.01, which will probably be the same team at Duke and maybe Maryland (though I think Mark is now coming to that so that puts me on B team, if we take multiple teams). May 13th is sort of a bad date for us, prom is that night and there might be some other conflicts...

Hope that answer was long enough :wink: . Sorry...
Matt Morrison, William & Mary '10, Tour Guide &c., MA in History '12?

"All the cool people eat mangoes while they smoke blunts and do cannonballs off a trampoline into my hot tub..."
-Matt Weiner

“In beer there is strength,
In wine is wisdom,
In water is germs.”
-Unknown

new email: mpmorr at email dot wm dot edu
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