COTKU academic quizbowl tournament at UTC 10/21/06

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

Note new e-mail addresses: utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com for standard tournament replies, registration, etc.; steinhice [at] gmail [dot] com for packet submission or anything just for me. (The steinhic at bellsouth dot net address will go away in the next month.) Also, apologies in advance for the dreaded but inevitable cross-posting.

The UTC Academic Trivia Association will host its 9th annual Center of the Known Universe Open on Sat., Oct. 21, 2006, on the UT-Chattanooga campus. This is a collegiate academic quizbowl tournament. Your genial quizmaster Charlie Steinhice will serve as editor-in-chief. Once again this year, it will be followed on Sun. 10/22/06 by the Big Lots Clearance Open trash tournament, a mirror of the ever-entertaining FOGHAT tourney; details will follow in a separate message.

ELIGIBILITY: This tournament is designed for teams of current college students, with all players on a given team affiliated with the same university. If space permits, we will accept mixed-affiliation or purely open (i.e., non-collegiate) teams. However, the field is limited to 36 teams, and collegiate teams will be given first priority.

The tournament field will be divided into two divisions for separate play and awards. Division II will be limited to players in their first and second year of intercollegiate quizbowl play, with an extra year of eligibility allowed for teams from 2-year schools. (Note: due to the difference in formats, prior experience in College Bowl Inc., Honda Campus All-Star Challenge, or tournaments restricted to junior colleges will not count as prior experience when determining Division II eligibility.)

REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS: All we need to know in advance is how many teams you will bring, and in which division(s) they will compete. Please e-mail this information to utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com . Teams are composed of up to four players, with alternates allowed as long as there is substitution only between matches. We do not need to know who's on which team until the day of the tournament, but please note that once the tournament starts, a player may not switch teams. Prepayment is not required; payment is expected on the day of the tournament unless arranged otherwise in advance.

Note: If your team includes players with disabilities or access issues, it will simplify things if you let us know in advance. That way we can take it into account when scheduling (building changes, etc.)

LOCATION AND SCHEDULE: Tournament headquarters will once again be Grote 129 on the UTC campus; see below for directions. Registration will begin at 9 AM EST on Sat. 10/21/06, with announcements at 9:45 AM and play beginning at 10 AM. We hope to be into playoffs by 7:30 PM and finished by 8:30, but we know better than to make any guarantees on the schedule.

PACKET SUBMISSION: We are asking every team to contribute a full packet (25 tossups and 25 bonuses) in a timely manner, with the following exceptions:
a) Schools making their first appearance at a UTC tournament are exempt.
b) Schools making their second appearance at UTC, and any teams from the same school after the first two teams, are only asked to submit a half packet (13 tossups and 13 bonuses.) As a reminder, when there are multiple teams from the same school, each team's packet needs to be blind to the other teams from the same school.
Packet submission is not mandatory, but we will add surcharges for teams that fall short of the above expectations. See below for detailed packet specifications.

FEES:
Base fee: $90 per team; assumes you submit a full packet (25 tossups and 25 bonuses) to steinhice [at] gmail [dot] com by midnight Sun. 10/1/06.
Discounts:
- $5 for a working buzzer system (one discount per team unless we run short of buzzers)
- $5 plus dinner at Provino’s for providing a competent full-time official (for either COTKU itself or the Big Lots trash tournament on Sun. 10/22/06)

- $20 for each full-time official you provide for our high school tournament on Sat. 9/30/06
- $20 for each full packet, or $10 for each half packet, of original questions you submit by Thurs.9/20/06 for the aforementioned high school tournament
- $10 for each team from the same school after the first
- $10 if at least half the team members are also playing at Big Lots on Sunday
Minimum fee after discounts: $60 for the first team from a school, $50 for each additional team. [Exception: Discounts for officials and/or questions for the high school tournament can reduce fees below the minimum, all the way to zero if you provide enough!]

Penalties:
+ $10 for A and B teams submitting a half packet (13/13) by the 10/1/06 deadline
+ $10 for submitting a full packet (25/25) after 10/1/06, but by midnight Sun. 10/8/06
+ $20 for submitting just a half packet (13/13) after 10/1/06, but by midnight Sat. 10/8/06
+ $30 for full packet submitted between 10/8/06 and Sat. 10/14/06; accepted only if extension is requested by 10/8/06
+ $40 for no packet submission for A and B teams from the same school
+ $25 for no half packet submission for subsequent teams from the same school

PACKET SPECIFICATIONS
EXCLUSIVITY:
First and foremost, *the questions you submit must be blind to all other teams, including other teams from your school.* In some cases, when the teams will be in different divisions, we can make an exception, but PLEASE check with me first. At present we have no mirrors scheduled, but we still need to be sure the questions are blind to teams elsewhere in the country. Please do not play-test them online in advance.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Because we expect at least half the field to be Division II teams, we want questions considered moderately easy by current 4-year invitational standards. While not beginning with giveaway clues, most tossups should be answerable by most teams by the end of the question. Bonuses should be such that a novice team stands a good chance of getting at least 10 pts., a good team 20, and the best teams all 30 pts. If you’re just dying to ask something that’s pretty obscure, at least confine it to one bonus part. Anyone who would like sample questions, please let me know and I'll e-mail you some.

FORMAT:
In a change from our style in past years, *please arrange questions separately by category.*
Please e-mail the packet as either an MS Word or RTF file, with the essential parts of the answer in bold and underlined.
Make sure the words “for ten pointsâ€

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

As you probably know, UTC is hosting two tournaments later this month, COTKU (collegiate academic) on Sat. 10/21/06 and Big Lots (trash) on Sun. 10/22/06. Below are the fields for each tournament as we have them so far. Please review and make sure we have your respective schools noted correctly. Send any corrections to us at utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com; feel free to cc: me at SteinhiceC [at] comcast [dot] net as well.

Because of conflicts with some of our usual rooms, we may need to cap the field at around 32 teams, meaning we have limited space left. If you're coming but haven't told us yet, please do so. [Or if you can't bring a team, we'd be glad to have more officials. E-mail me if interested and I'll go over the bribes available.]

For COTKU, the number in brackets is the number of packets we've received to date.


The story so far:

COTKU (24 teams -- 9 Div. I, 7 Div. II, 8 Div. TBA)
Georgia Tech 2 (1 Div. I, 1 Div. ??) [1]
Dalton State 1 (Div. II)
Tennessee 2 (1 Div. I, 1 Div. II) [2]
Berry 1 (Div. ??)
North Greenville 2 (both Div. II)
Virginia Tech 2 (1 Div. I, 1 Div. ??)
Florida 3 [1 Div. I, 1 Div. II, 1 Div. ??) [1]
Emory 1 (Div. ??) [1]
Furman 1 (Div. ??) [1]
Georgetown College 1(Div. II)
Tulane 1 (Div. ??)
Vandy 2 (both Div. I) [2]
Kentucky 2 (both Div. I)
UTC 1 (Div. I)
Oxford College 1 (Div. II)
Wofford 1 (Div. ??)


BIG LOTS (6 to 8 teams)
Confirmed teams:
Va Tech 2
Dave Leach et al. 1
GPC 1
Tulane 1
Louisville 1
Maybes: Sam Matson et al. 1
UTC 1
Also, Matt Glover is offering his services as a free agent.

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

Here are the fields we're expecting at present for this weekend's tournaments at UTC. Please take a moment to check and make sure we have you down right. Also, for those who are coming, please let me know if you plan to bring a buzzer. Also also vik, if you're coming to read Sat. and/or Sun., we'd like to know that too. Please contact us at utcquizbowl (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks!


COTKU: 23 teams (12 Div I + 1 open, 9 Div II, 1 Div ??)

Berry 1 (1 Div I)
Dalton State 1 (1 Div II)
Emory 1 (1 Div I)
Florida 3 (1 Div I, 1 Div II, 1 Div ??)
Furman 1 (1 Div I)
Georgetown 1 (1 Div II)
Georgia Tech 1 (1 Div I)
Kentucky 2 (2 Div I)
North Greenville 2 (2 Div II)
Oxford College 1 (1 Div II)
Shorter 1 (1 Div II)
Tennessee 2 (1 Div I, 1 Div II)
UTC 1 (1 Div I)
Vanderbilt 2 (2 Div I)
Virginia Tech 2 (1 Div I, 1 Div II)
South Florida open (will play in Div. I)



BIG LOTS: 9 teams

GPC
Hendry/Kearney et al.
Leach et al.
Louisville
Matson et al.
Shorter
UTC/Dion
Va Tech A
Va Tech B

Free agents: Dren Rollins, Matt Glover, possibly Eileen Steinhice

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

Congratulations to Vanderbilt Black and Florida B, winners of Divisions I and II (respectively) at the 9th annual Center of the Known Universe Open, held at UT-Chattanooga on 10/21/06. Hats off as well to the open team from South Florida for an undefeated run through Division I. Full results and stats follow below, but first some thanks are in order.

Special thanks to registrar Nikki Poarch and stats demigod Wally Edmondson, and to our house readers and other tournament staff: John Kilby, Tom Michael, Chuck Pearson, Dave and September Leach, Wes Eddings, Eileen Steinhice, Shannon Edmondson, and Dren Rollins. Thanks also to Stephen Taylor for editorial assistance, to Mehdi Razvi and Ray Anderson for blind science questions, and to Ray Luo et al. from UCLA for providing an eleventh-hour backup round.

A reminder to those present: Some COTKU questions will be used at this weekend's TTGT11 tournament, so please don't discuss specifics revealing any question content till after then. After 10/28, COTKU packets will be available for sale for $15/set, or for trade for either another full tournament set, or for a blind round for our future use (be it a high school, college, or trash round.) E-mail us at utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com if you're interested.

TEAM RESULTS

Each division held a full round robin; for Division II, which had a smaller field, there were three additional rounds using modified Swiss pairings. Team standings were:

DIVISION I

Team Name Division Win - Loss Points Opp Pts Diff/GM
South Florida I 10 - 0 2860 1465 139.50
Vanderbilt Black I 8 - 2 2945 1595 135.00
Kentucky Seth I 8 - 2 2900 1425 147.50
Vanderbilt Gold I 7 - 3 2855 1570 128.50
Georgia Tech I 6 - 4 1875 1940 -6.50
Florida A I 6 - 4 2350 1745 60.50
Virginia Tech A I 4 - 6 2080 1965 11.50
Furman I 3 - 7 1320 2140 -82.00
Kentucky non-Seth I 2 - 8 945 2775 -183.00
Emory I 1 - 9 775 2735 -196.00
UTC I 0 - 10 1000 2550 -155.00

South Florida's was an open team and thus technically ineligible for the title, but their performance was extremely impressive nonetheless. (It was even more impressive in light of cumulative points: USF was outscored by two other teams and finished just five points ahead of a third; in recognition of this unusual feat, the USF crew played at Big Lots as the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates.)
So the only trophy that was clinched by the round robin results was third place, by Vandy Gold. Vanderbilt Black defeated Kentucky Seth 385-85 to take 1st place, while Georgia Tech edged Florida A 230-225 for fourth.

DIVISION II

Team Name Division Win - Loss Points Opp Pts Diff/GM
Florida B II 9 - 0 2335 480 206.11
Berry II 7 - 2 1225 1030 21.67
North Greenville II 4 - 5 800 930 -14.44
Virginia Tech B II 4 - 5 745 1270 -58.33
Oxford College II 3 - 5 710 810 -12.50
Shorter II 2 - 6 395 950 -69.38
Dalton State II 1 - 7 325 1065 -92.50

North Greenville and Virginia Tech B split their head-to-head matches, so North Greenville (at their first UTC tournament) took 3rd and Virginia Tech B took the 4th place trophy on the basis of average points per game.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

The top seven players in each division -- [*] for Div. I, [**] for Div. II -- were recognized with All-Star awards.

Player Team Div 10 -5 Points Rounds PPG
[*] Seth Kendall Kentucky A I 109 10 1040 10 104.00
[*] Rob Fernandez South Florida I 59 3 575 10 57.50
[*] Matt Keller Vandy Black I 65 18 560 10 56.00
(We neglected to announce this at the time, but with 18 negs, Matt also earned the John Drennen Wiley Rollins Award for Outstanding Achievement in Buzzer Aggression.)
[*] Paul Gauthier Vandy Gold I 60 15 525 10 52.50
[**] Jay Dunkelberger Florida B II 42 4 400 9 44.44
[**] Joel Cox Berry II 39 0 390 9 43.33
[*] Sarah Mahood VA Tech A I 35 1 345 10 34.50
[*] Jacob Vannucci UTC I 37 7 335 10 33.50
[*] Travis Vitello Florida A I 30 4 280 9 31.11
[**] Ryan Taber Kentucky B I 35 10 300 10 30.00
[**] Ben Wasmuth* Florida B II 19 4 170 6 28.33
(Ben was also recognized as top scorer among players at their first tournament)
[**] Melissa Munkel Florida B II 28 6 250 9 27.78
[**] Jessica Bauldry Oxford II 19 0 190 7 27.14
Nap Napolitano South Florida I 29 4 270 10 27.00
Solomon Stein Emory I 29 6 260 10 26.00
[**] Michael Craft North Greenville II 24 2 230 9 25.56
Robert Scott GA Tech I 27 5 245 10 24.50
Shae Williams GA Tech I 25 3 235 10 23.50
Michael Hundley VA Tech B II 24 9 195 9 21.67
Jack Hartz Vandy Gold I 22 2 210 10 21.00
Zach Harper Florida A I 20 3 185 9 20.56
Martin Davis VA Tech A I 27 13 205 10 20.50
Alex Wein Oxford II 18 8 140 7 20.00
Zachary Deuerling North Greenville II 14 0 140 8 17.50
Tony McCall Vandy Black I 21 7 175 10 17.50
Doug Robeson Florida A I 17 3 155 9 17.22
Taylor Kulp GA Tech I 19 5 165 10 16.50
Ruth Furman I 20 9 155 10 15.50
Sarah Whitfield Florida A I 15 3 135 9 15.00
James Furman I 16 2 150 10 15.00
Jeremy Rasmussen South Florida I 18 9 135 10 13.50
Catie Eisel Shorter II 14 7 105 8 13.13
Nathan Smith Dalton State II 12 3 105 8 13.13
Jeffrey Harris Vandy Black I 15 4 130 10 13.00
Clint Higginbotham Shorter II 12 4 100 8 12.50
John Chudill* Dalton State II 7 2 60 5 12.00
Tom Hirsch VA Tech B II 13 6 100 9 11.11
Gerald Patton Kentucky B I 18 15 105 10 10.50
Nathan Furman I 16 11 105 10 10.50
Jordan Gartenberg Emory I 12 6 90 9 10.00
Molly Nelson Berry II 10 2 90 9 10.00
Ruth Jackson UTC I 11 2 100 10 10.00
Tim Hildebrand Vandy Gold I 14 8 100 10 10.00
Bryan Roper VA Tech A I 11 6 80 8 10.00
Greg Hanthorn Berry II 11 6 80 9 8.89
Adam Chin VA Tech A I 5 1 45 6 7.50
Haley Gambrell North Greenville II 5 0 50 7 7.14
Alessandro Allegranzi Vandy Black I 7 0 70 10 7.00
Patrick Lavigne Florida B II 4 1 35 7 5.00
William Hendrix Furman I 6 3 45 10 4.50
Patrick Guild VA Tech A I 3 1 25 6 4.17
Nick Bendler GA Tech I 5 4 30 10 3.00
Anthony Weaver Florida B II 2 1 15 5 3.00
Lindsey Mangham Berry II 1 0 10 4 2.50
Hillary Olivier Oxford II 1 0 10 4 2.50
Ashleigh Watts* Shorter II 1 0 10 4 2.50
Jonathan Parramore Oxford II 2 1 15 7 2.14
William Werner Vandy Gold I 8 12 20 10 2.00
Skyler Kea* VA Tech B II 2 1 15 9 1.67
Harvin Bedenbaugh North Greenville II 1 0 10 6 1.67
Jessica Lanuper North Greenville II 1 0 10 6 1.67
Jesse Doyal Dalton State II 2 2 10 8 1.25
Krystin Fain Shorter II 2 2 10 8 1.25
Lauren Smith VA Tech B II 3 6 0 9 0.00
Kaitlin Magrannis Berry II 0 0 0 3 0.00
Wes Warren Berry II 0 0 0 2 0.00
Shawn Tucker* Dalton State II 1 2 0 5 0.00
Matt Baumgartner Oxford II 1 2 0 6 0.00
Nathan Liss Shorter II 0 0 0 4 0.00
Tiffany Massingall* Dalton State II 0 1 -5 6 (0.83)