Question for Virginia/Maryland/DC area teams

quizbowllee · Post by **quizbowllee** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:26 pm

Assume for a moment that Brindlee Mountain High School will be able to attend ONE tournament in the DC area next year. Taking into consideration that we want to play against the best in the area on the best possible questions, what tournament might you recommend? We'd like to go to a tournament at TJ or Maggie Walker, but we also want to PLAY TJ and Maggie Walker... Are there any good tournaments that draw pretty much all of the big teams in the area?

Thanks in advance.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:33 pm

I'm not DC/MD/VA obviously, but UVa spring seemed to have a phenomenal field from all over.

Stat Boy · Post by **Stat Boy** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:39 pm

Just to give you an idea of the UVA Spring field strength, the field in the final set of round robin games was Maggie Walker, TJ A, TJ B, Dorman, MLK Charter, and Whitman. I think Chatahootchee won the consolation bracket.

Philip Marschall · Post by **Philip Marschall** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:04 pm

Speaking as a player from outside that area, I've found that Maggie Walker, despite not having Maggie Walker teams, runs a very good tournament and has excellent questions. Also, they are close to Extreme Pizza, the best and most hilarious place to eat lunch on a quiz bowl trip.

Frater Taciturnus · Post by **Frater Taciturnus** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:36 pm

Again, I recommend going to either Gov, or one of the tournaments at U.VA. Both are fine tournaments (the only knock on Cav. Open is fewer rounds of play, but it is still very good)

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:58 pm

Excellent high school students may wish to visit the UVA campus anyway and they do put on a fine tournament in a great location. If you want to see both TJ and Walker competing at the same tournament that's probably the best choice.

First Chairman · Post by **First Chairman** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:59 pm

Also, if there is a temptation, I may also try to reprise Patriot Games with the intention of keeping it a small field rather than a huge event. It would likely coincide with the end of March or early April as it would be prime cherry blossom time. It's still tentative so don't count on my event yet.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:21 pm

Here is my list of tournaments that had good pyramidal questions in the greater DC-VA area:

Centennial High School, Ellicott City, MD (house)
Gonzaga, Washington DC (house)
Walter Johnson, Bethesda, MD (NAQT)
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (house)
Thomas Jefferson, Alexandria, VA (1 house, 1 NAQT)
University of Maryland, College Park (house, spring tourney only)

I've left UMCP's fall tournament off the list since it's modeled after the local television show. While a significant percentage of the questions are pyramidal, I don't thing the fall tourney is what you were really looking for.

I'd put Gonzaga and UVa at the top of the difficulty heap, and Centennial after that. I didn't make it to any of the TJ tournaments this year, but their house-written questions in previous years have tended to ratchet up the difficulty as the playoffs progress.

Part of the difficulty you'll have is that TJ and Gov are more than an hour away from each other, so TJ may not necessarily make a trek to a tourney Gov attends and vice versa. I will say, however, that Gov did travel and play in many tournaments in the DC area.

The Toad to Wigan Pier · Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:57 pm

I think your best bet would be UVA's Cav Open. It tends to draw not only some of the best teams in the area, but some of the best teams from all over. That being said, it being a NAQT tournament means that the question set is not as good as some of the house written sets(like Maryland's or Gonzaga's). To put a good word for our tournament, , we are closer to teams coming from the south and we tend to draw a diverse bunch of teams of high caliber.

Lapego1 · Post by **Lapego1** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:01 pm

Our (Maggie Walker's) tournament usually sports a pretty strong and diverse field and is house-written. I'll use this point for a plug--this year's and last year's sets for $20 for an electronic version to be e-mailed to you--e-mail gsacdirector (at) hotmail (dot) com for more info [/shameless plug]. We can promise good, hard questions for the most part, especially if you want to get a diversion from NAQT.

If you want to play against the best next year, then you'll probably want to play against TJ. They do run good tournaments, though. Fall is NAQT and spring is house-written. At UVA's spring tournament, Cavalier Open, you are pretty much guaranteed a strong field from both the region and beyond. They use NAQT, so avoid the set if you plan to play at that one.

jbarnes112358 · Post by **jbarnes112358** » Tue May 01, 2007 11:25 am

Things to consider:

Charlottesville and Richmond are both a couple of hours closer to you.

Though TJ usually has an excellent tournament, I believe you want to have the opportunity to play against them. I will be surprised if they are not one of the best in the nation next year, possibly the best.

Maggie Walker is something of a question mark for next year as they will graduate their entire A team, and half their B team.

Maggie Walker's December tournament is subject to bad weather. In fact, all the tournaments in late fall through early spring are subject to bad weather around here.

I agree that Cav Open or GSAC are your best bets.

Maybe all the power teams can make early commitments so you will know where you want to go for the strongest competition. Maybe if the southern power teams will agree to make the trip, the DC/MD powers will show up, too. Maybe DCC and State College and others will come too. It would be quite a party.

quizbowllee · Post by **quizbowllee** » Tue May 01, 2007 1:04 pm

I really appreciate all the suggestions. It is still VERY tentative that we'll be able to make a trip like this. Being my team's senior year, I'd like to take them somewhere big before nationals.

We'll have to see if we have the money to come.

We'll probably be leaning towards the Cav Tournament at UVA.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Tue May 01, 2007 1:08 pm

Lee, I know this is not totally related, but would you ever consider coming up north like, say, Wash U in St. Louis or something?

quizbowllee · Post by **quizbowllee** » Tue May 01, 2007 1:50 pm

charlieDfromNKC wrote:Lee, I know this is not totally related, but would you ever consider coming up north like, say, Wash U in St. Louis or something?

That's surely a possibility. Truthfully, it is probably more likely than us making it to Virginia. But, every year my team begs me to take them to a tournament in Virginia, but we've never had the funds. I'm going to do everything in my power to get them there this coming year.

-Lee

No Sollositing On Premise · Tue May 01, 2007 4:40 pm

Howard wrote:University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (house)

UVA holds three tournaments each year - the house-written Cav Classic in the fall, the NAQT-written Cav Open in the spring, and the NAQT-written NAQT VA State tournament open only to Virginia schools. The Cav Open tends to have the strongest field, as everyone here has already said.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:23 pm

Thanks for clarifying, laszlow. I had forgotten about that.

I had pretty much assumed you'd be flying in. If driving, I agree you'll want to stay to the south as much as possible. If you're flying, your most convenient bet will probably be Gonzaga. The school is within a few blocks of Metro (DC's subway), and there's a metro station at National Airport as well.

vandyhawk · Post by **vandyhawk** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:33 pm

I normally don't venture into this forum, but am procrastinating, so thought I'd point out to Lee that we typically swap questions with UVa for our fall tournaments, so you wouldn't be able to attend theirs and ABC. Obviously there would be no issue with their NAQT one in the spring, which seems to be the one southeastern teams like to go to anyway.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:54 pm

vandyhawk wrote:Obviously there would be no issue with their NAQT one in the spring...

unless that would prevent you from attending an NAQT tournament in your area using the same questions.

BuzzerZen · Post by **BuzzerZen** » Tue May 01, 2007 8:51 pm

Howard wrote:
vandyhawk wrote:Obviously there would be no issue with their NAQT one in the spring...
unless that would prevent you from attending an NAQT tournament in your area using the same questions.

Ordinarily I would agree with "don't ever travel far away for NAQT questions", but the Cav Open is one of the best tournaments of the year, and IMHO would be the one to go to, Lee. The competition will be fierce.

quizbowllee · Post by **quizbowllee** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:58 pm

The only problem is that - at least this year - the Cav Open was the same weekend as our ASCA Regional Tournament. While ASCA kinda stinks, it is our state organization and is, therefore, sort of important. I guess we'll have to look at scheduling as well as budget before we make a decision.

Thanks again.