RESULTS: WJIAT (3/24) @ Walter Johnson HS (Bethesda,MD)

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RESULTS: WJIAT (3/24) @ Walter Johnson HS (Bethesda,MD)

Post by aestheteboy »

We cordially invite all academic teams to participate in Walter Johnson Invitational Academic Tournament, taking place on Feb. 17th at our high school in Bethesda, Maryland. We will be using NAQT IS-62 question set. This tournament is a PACE qualifier (as well as, of course, a NAQT qualifier).

The tournament format is yet to be decided, but it would likely be similar to last year's format: 5 prelim games, power bracketing for top 16 teams, and single elimination in the end to determine the champion.

Fees:
$50 for the first team
$45 for the subsequent teams
-$10 for each working buzzer system brought
-$10 distance discount for schools traveling more than 100 miles
$15 for a question set

If you would like to register or have any questions, please contact Daichi Ueda at [email protected].
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Post by aestheteboy »

With two weeks to the tournament, we have only eleven teams registered so far.
We would accept last-minute sign ups, but the earlier the more preferable so please register soon. Thanks!
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Post by Djibouti »

Perry Hall for one... we'll send an official e-mail with all the info over the weekend. This will be our complete "A" team, and we will have 1 set of buzzers.
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Post by aestheteboy »

With a week to go, we have 20 teams registered so far.
Bullis
Centennial (3)
Fairfax
Georgetown Day
Howard
JEB Stuart
Quince Orchard (2)
Robert E Lee
Thomas Jefferson (3)
Wilmington Charter (5)
Wootton

RM, Whitman, Blake, and Perry Hall has expressed their intention to come but haven't officially registered yet.

This is a relatively small field considering the competitiveness of the region but a strong one none the less. Again, the registration is still open so just give me an e-mail if you want to come.
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Post by BuzzerZen »

Don't sweat the field size. If I've learned one thing over the years, it's that the week before is a pretty popular time to register for tournaments.
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Post by jbarnes112358 »

BuzzerZen wrote:Don't sweat the field size. If I've learned one thing over the years, it's that the week before is a pretty popular time to register for tournaments.
Also, note that Ocean Lakes at Virginia Beach will be using IS-62. We have committed to this one. We would like to attend WJ, but felt we should support Ocean Lakes in their first tournament, with the hopes of encouraging more Virginia teams to do more tournaments. We like all the Maryland tournaments and all, but it is kind of a long hike for us, the beach being a little bit closer.
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Post by aestheteboy »

Due to MCPS's phobia of snow, we are forced to reschedule our tournament to (tentatively) 24th, the next Saturday. edit: 24th probably wouldn't work either, so it will probably be moved to March or even April.

We had 32 teams signed up, but that might change because of rescheduling.
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Post by Byko »

aestheteboy wrote:Due to MCPS's phobia of snow, we are forced to reschedule our tournament to (tentatively) 24th, the next Saturday. edit: 24th probably wouldn't work either, so it will probably be moved to March or even April.

We had 32 teams signed up, but that might change because of rescheduling.
So is this official notice that tomorrow's tournament is off? Just looking for clarification.
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Post by aestheteboy »

Byko wrote:
aestheteboy wrote:Due to MCPS's phobia of snow, we are forced to reschedule our tournament to (tentatively) 24th, the next Saturday. edit: 24th probably wouldn't work either, so it will probably be moved to March or even April.

We had 32 teams signed up, but that might change because of rescheduling.
So is this official notice that tomorrow's tournament is off? Just looking for clarification.
Yes. It will be hosted on another date.
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Post by Matt Weiner »

-->Pending the approval of the Maryland TDs,<-- I'll invite any "upper tier" players who are looking for some quizbowl in the DC area tomorrow to join us at Maryland for an informal tournament/scrimmage on the ACF Regionals packets. Due to some scheduling issues in the college circuit the tournament itself kind of imploded so it will just be some VCU people and Maryland people playing through the rounds as a chance to hear them.
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ACF Regionals Scrimmage

Post by theBlue88s »

Hey, this sounds like a good idea for any high school players who are interested in seeing what collegiate quizbowl is like. Granted, these questions are on the more difficult side of what one might expect to see (although nothing about them is especially esoteric so much as they require you to actually know stuff), but they generally should be accessible to most players who are considering playing quizbowl in college.

Any interested people should email me ([email protected] - crettere [at] umd [dot] edu) to let me know so that I can have some sort of idea of how many people to expect. There is no need to officially register or await a response from me, you can pretty much just show up, although if too many people do so we might not be able to accommodate everyone.

Anyone who decides to show up should check-in in room 0105 (the small lecture hall in the basement) of Jimenez between 8:30 and 9am tomorrow (2/17). It is near the student union and you can park in Lot 1 (just make sure you read the signs to avoid getting a parking ticket). A map of campus can be found here:
http://www.parking.umd.edu/themap/
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Post by aestheteboy »

I'd like to go, although I wouldn't qualify as "upper tier" depending on the definition.
Thanks for offering this opportunity, as I can feel slightly less guilty for not hosting a perfectly fine day . . . damn MCPS.

Also, admin, could you change the title to "to be rescheduled" or something appropriate?
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Directions

Post by stevengfeldman »

I have never actually been to UMD so could someone please post directions to the location of the scrimmage.

Thank you very much in advance for all of the help.
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Post by Mike Bentley »

The easiest way to get to UMD is to get off of 495 at exit 27 (Route 1 North towards College Park). You then stay on Route 1 until you see the big gates for the University on your right (it's about two or three miles down the road). Turn into the gates there (this will be Campus drive), and go straight the the traffic circle with a large "M" on it. You'll go up a hill and see the large student union building on your right. Jimenez hall is directly across from the Stamp Student Union, right behind the University Health Center.

If you're parking, you'll want to keep going past the Student Union and bear right as the road forks. You'll come to a very large parking lot, where you can park in any spot in Lot 1.

Check the Campus Map and the Univeristy's website (http://www.umd.edu) for more detailed directions.

Also, don't worry about being upper tier or not. A lot of the people playing on the Maryland team (myself included) probably wouldn't qualify as being in the upper tier of the high school circuit these days.
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Post by Howard »

ikillkenny wrote:...(Route 1 North towards College Park).
You definitely want to head south on US 1 from I 95/495 to get to College Park.
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Post by aestheteboy »

The tournament will take place on March 24th.

We're asking teams to re-register even if you had registered already.
Of course, teams who hadn't registered for the original date are also welcome.
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Post by aestheteboy »

The new field update:
Wilmington Charter (5)
Fairfax
Robert E. Lee
Thomas Jefferson (3)
George mason
Langley (2)
Walt Whitman (2)
Richard Montgomery (3)
Gonzaga (B-team)
Rockville (2)

Again, send an e-mail to izumickk at hotmail.com to register.
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Post by STPickrell »

Those playing at home: George Mason won the VHSL Group A title; no one came within 80 of them all season, including Rappahannock County who have attended several tournaments this year. Mason wanted to go to one of the national tournaments; of course I recommended PACE and NAQT and going to a few tournaments to "stay in shape."

I'm assuming it's R.E. Lee-Springfield and not R.E. Lee-Staunton (have the latter traveled from Staunton for anything other than Spotswood this year?) The other VA teams are familiar faces to quizbowl fans in the region.
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Post by btressler »

Field Update?
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Post by aestheteboy »

27 teams:
Blair (2)
Blake
Eleanor Roosevelt (2)
Fairfax
George Mason
Gonzaga
Howard
Langley
Richard Montgomery (3)
Robert E. Lee
Rockville (2)
Sherwood
Thomas Jefferson (3)
Whitman (2)
Wilmington Charter (5)

I'm hoping some more teams sign up.
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Post by BuzzerZen »

TJ will probably bring a 4th team if that's OK.
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Post by aestheteboy »

The 2nd WJIAT, attended by 26 teams total, went pretty smoothly.
I hope teams had fun and were satisfied with the experience. We definitely thank them for coming, and it was a pleasure to host. I'd like to also thank our readers, especially Jessie (and the guy who came with her) and Dan Puma.

The final ranking:
1. RM A
2. TJ A
3. Whitman A
4. RM B
5. Whitman B
6. Blake
7. George Mason
8. Wilmington Charter A

Interestingly, the top 8 after the 5 prelim games looked very similar:
1. RM A 5-0 474 PPG (28, 39, 21) 24.85 PPB
2. TJ A 5-0 439 PPG (24, 43, 18) 22.31 PPB
3. Whitman A 5-0 422 PPG (21, 41, 7) 22.90 PPB
4. RM B 5-0 329 PPG (17, 41, 18) 18.45 PPB
5. Blair A 4-1 405 PPG (12, 53, 6) 20.69 PPB
6. Blake 4-1 366 PPG (13, 45, 5) 20.86 PPB
7. George Mason 4-1 347 PPG (10, 48, 8) 19.74 PPB
8. Wilmington Charter 4-1 A 314 PPG (8, 51, 13) 17.03 PPB

RM A crushed everyone. I think their closest match was 470-160 in the final against TJ. Keith either plays really well when I see him or he is the best high school player I know.

Unfortunately, the full stats won't be ready until Monday afternoon, but most of the things you would probably be interested in is, I think, provided above.

Criticisms, constructive or not, are welcome. I'd like to apologize for not having even a small prize for the consolation winner (Wilmington Charter D) and the individual leaders (David from Blair A, Raja from Charter A, and Adam from Whitman A).
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Post by bigmac »

Congrats to WJ on a well-run tournament. When you can play 10 games against strong MD/VA/DC competition and be home to put the children to bed (or another less exciting Saturday activity), you have to be happy. We especially liked the power-bracketing and our A-B semifinal, a repeat from last year.

Overall, the readers were good, though the 3rd place game ended on a strange buzzer malfunction/wrong answer that could have been easily handled by a more decisive reader. Don't get me wrong, Whitman deserved to win the game (I see them as a serious sleeper team in Chicago), but both teams would have liked to have a better idea about what happened at the end.

TJ was missing a regular or two, though their prelim stats were still impressive. Wilmington Charter A was also down a player or two, from what I heard.

As for the questions, they were uneven for an NAQT set. Did anyone else have this impression?
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Post by Bigfoot isn't the pr »

bigmac wrote: TJ was missing a regular or two, though their prelim stats were still impressive. Wilmington Charter A was also down a player or two, from what I heard.
You are correct. Three-fourths of Charter A was attending World Quest nationals
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Post by Frater Taciturnus »

bigmac wrote:

As for the questions, they were uneven for an NAQT set. Did anyone else have this impression?
We played this same set at Ocean Lakes, and I found that it would be fair to at least call some of the rounds "quirky"
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Post by aestheteboy »

Complete stats from prelims:
http://in.geocities.com/izumickk1/WJIAT_standings.html

The playoff scores will be edited in after I get home.
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Post by DumbJaques »

Too many pseudonyms. Also, mostly bad pseudonyms. I propose a ban list for certain pseudonym topics, like Star Trek or the variously unintelligible stuff TJs A-D use. If you feel the need to proclaim your love for playing as Pichu on Super Smash Brothers Melee, at least also include your real name so someone looking at the stats will have some semblance of an idea what's going on.

And yeah, I know, I used pseudonyms all through playing in high school. But that was when like 7/8 of the top teams didn't also, I chose stuff like Thwomp. If you want to try to prove that you're cooler than Thwomp, good luck.

EDIT:
Actually, I think I had to give 'Thwomp' to a teammate to convince him not to use star trek pseudonyms. Whatever. Main point still stands.
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Post by fool_by_compulsion »

Hey, man, don't be knocking the Star Trek...if I had my way, my whole team would use Star Trek pseudonyms, but they always stop me and I end up using my boring old real name...*sigh* What's the use of being a geek if you don't get to show it off?

Well-run tournament overall -- I had a good time and the games were efficient and well-organized. I agree that some of the questions in the packets were kind of odd -- we had a whole game where events in 2006 were referred to in the future tense, which amused our reader and kept everyone slightly off-balance. There were also some pop-culture references that seemed a bit obscure even for NAQT.

Otherwise good, though. Congrats to RM A on another victory. :wink:
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Post by dschafer »

DumbJaques wrote:... at least also include your real name so someone looking at the stats will have some semblance of an idea what's going on.
Doesn't that defeat one of the main points of using pseudonyms, which is to remove the possibility of intra-team competitiveness?
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Post by DumbJaques »

I guess if you have four raging egomaniacs on your team, sure. But then, one of the nice things about team competitions is that it discourages that behavior. Plenty of teams (in all types of team competitions) deal with that without pseudonyms.

I don't really care about that anyway. It's just lame when half the field does it.
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Post by aestheteboy »

This is all of the playoff scores I have. Actually, I have more but I will not post them up. Please note RM B's eerie ability to bring down the total score of a game.
http://in.geocities.com/izumickk1/playoffbracket.xls

Also, please take a look at what is possibly the most kick-ass trophy (?) ever awarded in a quizbowl tournament. These should be a huge incentive for you to come to next year's WJIAT, which will also feature similarly kick-ass awards.
I'll come up with something else if deLta from Wilmington Charter A claims his right to the second scorer trophy.
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Post by DumbJaques »

I demand a retroactive pumpkin
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Post by bigmac »

Please note RM B's eerie ability to bring down the total score of a game.
I certainly have . . . all year. They seem to have invented the ball-control offense. I know that typically even I frown on sports analogies in quiz bowl, but I can think of no other way to describe what they do. Their strengths (tossups) depress the other team's score; their current weaknesses (negs, bonus conversion) depress their own.

As for pseudonyms, I prefer when players use them. Lets face it, for more than a few players, seeing your name on the top of the scorers' list is tantalizing. In addition, NAQT individual scores do not give an accurate view of a player's contribution to a team. If there had to be a measure, a better one would involve two numbers: 1) net tossups per game -- total tossups (not counting bouncebacks) minus negs and 2) powers per game. Even that would not take into account the vast difference in achievement between racking up 8 tossups against a team that averages 140 points and the vastly more difficult task of coming up with 2 powers and a tossup against a team that averages 440 points a game.
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Post by STPickrell »

Is there any reason to even keep individual stats?

I can see why a coach would want to for his own team's development and placing, but as far as a tournament is concerned, it just makes the score keeper's job somewhat harder.
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Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

I've made the point before on the Missouri forum, I think that the only award to really matter is the team trophy. Individual stats are pretty much meaningless for gauging quality.
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Post by Zip Zap Rap Pants »

No high-scoring awards maybe, but they will abolish neg awards over my dead body!
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Post by Jeremy Gibbs Lemma »

seriously ... someone used the pseudonym "Meatwad" ..... that just strikes fear into the hearts of all who come up against them
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