The Quizbowl Resource Center

Matt Weiner wrote:Region C results haven't been posted yet, but everything else is up at the tournament page on Facebook. These are the qualifiers/pairings for the last-ever state tournament under the current system:

GROUP A PAIRINGS
George Mason vs. Lebanon
Nandua vs. C2
Honaker vs. Mathews
C1 vs. Manassas Park

GROUP AA PAIRINGS
Western Albemarle vs. Christiansburg
New Kent vs. Rockbridge County
Cave Spring vs. Grafton
E.C Glass vs. Charlottesville

GROUP AAA PAIRINGS
Princess Anne vs. Albemarle
Maggie Walker vs. Robinson
Stonewall Jackson-Manassas vs. Clover Hill
TJS&T vs. Warwick

So, now that we have basically all the matchups, anyone have any predictions for states? I'm going to start with a probably uncontroversial statement that either Maggie Walker or TJ wins AAA.

How do the losers brackets work out (i.e. who gets paired up with who if they lose?)

I'd like to continue the discussion in this thread by saying that I too am interested, as is my team as a whole, in how the bracketing for states is going to work out as far as the losers bracket.

That being said, Honaker and George Mason should end up going head to head again this year, though I haven't really looked very deeply into the stats of A schools.

AAA bracket is of course going to come down to Thomas Jefferson and Maggie Walker, per usual, unless one of the other teams has a very strong showing, which after browsing tournaments seems unlikely.

AA is where it's going to be interesting, this year more than others, in my opinion. I see four very strong teams coming out of the state; in no particular order, Christiansburg, Cave Spring, Western Albermarle, and New Kent. Eric from Western Albermarle posted impressive stats at the Blacksburg invitational -- by himself -- and I can't imagine a team bringing down their scores. New Kent is strong again this year, returning 4 starters from last year. Both Christiansburg and Cave Spring are down due to the losses of Matt Moschella and Michael Zhang, respectively, though both teams still have strong scorers and post good stats.

That being said, AA will be interesting this year. I can say from our team's standpoint that we're excited and ready to play some quizbowl!

I'm interested to see other peoples' takes on the comparisons; with less than 2 weeks to go, let's get some discussion going!

The page was updated today with the last two participants: Radford won Region C for an eighth consecutive and thirteenth overall time. First-time state tournament participant Chilhowie was second.

AA sounds really interesting this year, as it did last year. It's always the most unpredictable of the classes. Based on tournaments I've played at, I can definitely vouch for the abilities of all the teams mentioned this year. Cave Spring is very strong, and James is among the top players in the state without a question. New Kent has been placing well in their tournaments with their full A team, making top bracket with teams like TJ and Maggie Walker in the mix, and Christiansburg has been solid in all of its appearances this year, although being in the same district as Cave Spring didn't help things. As for my school, I can't really gauge our ability at this point, considering all of my playing experiences against these teams have been only regional or me playing solo, but we definitely look forward to playing all the other amazing teams on the 23rd! Does anyone have the scores from the other AA regional games?

Longstride wrote:How do the losers brackets work out (i.e. who gets paired up with who if they lose?)

Really, Venu, it's simple... just don't lose and you won't have to worry about it. :P

But judging from the pamphlet I got from last year's tournament, it looks like the losers of the top two games play each other and the losers of the bottom two games play each other. So, for example, if you lose to Stonewall Jackson, you'll play whoever lost the TJ v. Warwick match. Now, this is not the definitive answer and I'm sure someone who has actually worked the state tournament probably could verify whether this is still true or not. Hope this helps.

Has Stonewall Jackson ever made a VHSL States appearance before?

Venu,

Stonewall Jackson went to State in 2011 as the Northwest Region Runner-up, behind Albemarle. Thus, 2013 marks their second appearance.

Regarding loser's bracket mechanics--in the past, losing teams in first round played the loser in the same half of their bracket. Winner of that match played the loser of the second round match from the OTHER side of the bracket. Winner of THAT match played the survivor of the other half's elimination bracket, with the winner there guaranteed at least third. They then played the team that lost in the winner's third round match, and the winner there gets a crack at whomever has won the first three matches, but needs to win twice to win the championship. Don't know the last time anyone won a championship coming up through the loser's bracket.

Good luck to all as they try to navigate the brackets in Williamsburg.

To add to the chorus of tournaments being covered live today, the VHSL will be tweeting news and pictures at @VHSL_activities and I will post updates in this thread as well.

George Mason won its fourth straight title in A, New Kent won for the first time after a series of intense matches in AA, and Thomas Jefferson won its eleventh championship in AAA.

This year was the last of the current VHSL system and I think this tournament was the best possible farewell to it.

I just got home, so my remarks will be short, but a very hearty congratulations to every team that competed today, and huge congratulations go to New Kent, who ran undefeated through AA to win their first title. This was a great experience and a great way to send off the last year of the VHSL system. Winners, be proud, and like everyone else who participated in the AA afternoon playoff rounds, I think I've had my fill of close games for a while.....

I'd just like to note that the AA rounds were some of the most exciting quizbowl I've ever seen and anyone who wasn't there to see them really missed out. There was a lot of parity among the teams. Western Albemarle, in particular managed to lose to New Kent, beat Christiansburg and then beat Cave Spring on the last tossup in three consecutive games on their way to second place. An intensely thrilling series of matches, to be sure.

What a thrilling finish to the season! My full applause to Western Albemarle for winning two games in a row on the last tossup, and congrats in kind to New Kent for winning a game on the last tossup as well! New Kent's (first!) title was very well-deserved. Congratulations to everyone involved; excellent games today, for sure.

The A rounds were also really interesting! Our team (Radford) lost our first match of the day against Manassas Park, and then were one question away from playing George Mason in Round 6 after winning Round 4 by the skin of our teeth in a re-match against Manassas.

A big congratulations to all winners, and especially to Honaker who knocked us out in overtime, and George Mason who won the A championship!

AA really was full of action, I don't think it could've been much more exciting. Western Albemarle was very impressive, winning late twice to get to the finals, so kudos to Eric and his team. Cave Spring and Christiansburg, last years 1st and 2nd place teams, both played well. They both should have some big time players come back for them next year, so I'm sure they'll be contenders in whatever conference they play in. It was just great and fun quiz bowl, congrats to TJ and George Mason as well.

Out of curiosity, how is the VHSL redistricting going to affect the state championships for scholastic bowl next year? Will the regular season be affected or only the postseason?

How the regular season will be affected will be determined by how your district changes (if it changes).

New District Alignments can be found here. Districts may now consist of teams from multiple classifications at one time. There will be 6 classifications in the new system.

After the regular season concludes, districts may host an optional tournament that has no bearing on the post season.

Teams then move to a conference tournament. The conference tournament will determine which two teams move on to the region tournament. Each region tournament will send 2 teams on to the state tournament. Since there are only 2 regions per classification, the state tournament will have only 4 teams in each classification. There will continue to be 24 teams in total at the state tournament. The state Scholastic Bowl Advisory Committee has determined that state championships will now be determined by round robin play. As has been the case in the last few years, regions and conferences may use either double elimination or round robin format to advance teams to state.

The new conferences and how they align to their corresponding regions within the 6 classifications can be found here.

Note that Maggie Walker and TJ will play up in the 6A classification for Scholastic Bowl. I don't know which conferences they will play in.
The top 4 AA teams from this year will all be in class 3A next year.
George Mason is 2A, while Radford and Honaker are both class 1A next year.

mithokie wrote: Note that Maggie Walker and TJ will play up in the 6A classification for Scholastic Bowl.

Everyone from the VHSL I have asked has told me this motion actually was rejected and that Gov will be in Group 2 and TJ in Group 5, even for Scholastic Bowl. Where did you see that this will be the case?

Frater Taciturnus wrote:

mithokie wrote: Note that Maggie Walker and TJ will play up in the 6A classification for Scholastic Bowl.

Everyone from the VHSL I have asked has told me this motion actually was rejected and that Gov will be in Group 2 and TJ in Group 5, even for Scholastic Bowl. Where did you see that this will be the case?

Urp, glad my school's in the middle then.... Why exactly was this motion rejected?

George,

I just saw the recommendation from the Scholastic Bowl Advisory Committee. It made so much sense that I didn't even consider that it could be rejected. I guess George Mason vs. Maggie Walker should be entertaining in 2A, but it's kind of sad to think that all of the epic TJ vs. MW battles at VHSL states are coming to an end.

Look Here

On page 10 of 11 the document states that MW and TJ should be "considered" for placement in 6A for Scholastic Bowl. I don't know when a final determination will be made.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/vhsl/Boar ... inutes.pdf

Nandua's request to have Maggie Walker removed from Conference 33 in Scholastic Bowl was denied on 2/11.

There exist schools which are as great a dynasty in their sport as MW/TJ will likely be in Scholastic Bowl 2A and 5A. For example, Grundy will likely win the 2A title in wrestling for the foreseeable future, and Christiansburg will win the 3A title. Frank Cox has won several field hockey titles (not sure if they're still unbeatable.)

In Scholastic Bowl's other groups, you've seen George Mason overcome the best Rappahannock County and Honaker can throw at them, year-in, year-out. Charlottesville won several consecutive AA titles once upon a time.

Magnet schools have performed under par in other states -- for example, Whitney Young is a notable non-powerhouse in IHSA Scholastic Bowl. Montgomery Blair is far from dominant in MoCo quizbowl.

TJ/MW's dominance is the result of hard work.

STPickrell wrote: Montgomery Blair is far from dominant in MoCo quizbowl.

Far from dominant???

RyuAqua wrote:

STPickrell wrote: Montgomery Blair is far from dominant in MoCo quizbowl.

Far from dominant???

I'm guessing what he means is that they're not the undisputed top team in the region year in and year out (unlike TJ and Gov, who seem to reload and handily beat their Virginia opponents annually).