Mar 31

Cal Cup #4 Results and Analysis – VARSITY

Varsity statistics from California Cup #4 can be found here.

 

This write up is the first of two and contains only the top five teams in the Varsity division.

 

1st place – Bellarmine A

Bellarmine A goes undefeated for the first time since the first Cal Cup, securing their place as series champions for the second year in a row. As overall third scorer with 73.89 PPG, senior Jarek Jankowski once again leads his team, with main support from fellow seniors Alejandro Buendia (40 PPG) and Jonchee Kao (33.89 PPG). Every member from Bellarmine A managed to have more powers than gets, and individual negs were below .5 a round with the exception of Jarek, who averaged just over one a game. As a team they averaged about 2 negs a game, but that was easily offset by their powers, which always nearly reached or did reach the double digits. Their first game saw them go an impressive 14/1/3 against California Crosspoint A (545-150) and a later game against “Escobar” A saw a stat line of 11/6/1 (640-45). PPB remained at their usual level (23.87), usually hovering around 24 in each game, even hitting 26.5 against “Haarlem” A and never dipping below 22.5. Similarly, total points scored per round never dipped below 405, which was their score in games against both Saratoga A (405-300) and “Haarlem” A (closest game of the day at 405-315, in which they only managed to get ten tossups to “Haarlem”’s nine, but were saved by the aforementioned bonus conversion). Given that the Northern California State Championship on April 11 will be held on an NAQT set, as opposed to Cal Cup #4’s BHSAT, by most predictions the tournament could reasonably go to either Bellarmine or Saratoga, and promises to be an exciting one.

 

2nd place – Saratoga A

Bruce Lou is unable to tie Bellarmine in Cal Cup wins, dropping games to Bellarmine A and Palo Alto A (an extremely close loss with a final score of 320-335) while securing top individual scorer with 146.67 PPG. Impressive enough on its own, but even more so while soloing, Bruce managed just five negs over the course of nine games, but saw a clear drop in his powers (although he still had the most of the tournament, with 47 to Eric Chen’s 36). In his best round, a shut-out victory over a shorthanded “Guilder” A, he managed to go 4/14/1, finishing 625 to their 15. Per usual, Bruce’s gets-to-neg ratio dwarfed the rest of the field at 22.2, with the exception of 5th scorer junior Jason Chen of Amador Valley, who finished with 19. As with his powers, his PPB was also affected by the difficulty of the set, although an average of 22.88 with a peak of 25 is the opposite of a lackluster performance. His powers-to-neg ratio came close to topping the field as an individual (and did as a team) at 9.4, were it not for “Haarlem” junior Gautham Parvar’s 13, although the difference between going 47/5 and 13/1 is significant. Likely due to the difficulty of the set and Bruce’s lack of a team, the difference between Bellarmine and Bruce’s stat lines was far more pronounced than usual (77/42/19 to 47/64/5), and the two will likely be far closer in the upcoming state championship.

 

3rd place – “Haarlem” A

Finishing at third place for the first time since Cal Cup #1, “Haarlem” A finishes 7-2, dropping games only to the teams that placed above them (315-405 in Bellarmine A’s closest game and 215-470 against Saratoga A). Senior Eric Chen places as second overall scorer at 77.78 PPG, more than doubling “Haarlem” A’s second-scorers points. They had the second-best PPB of the field at 23.08, hitting 25.88 in their first game of the day, a 640-30 victory over “Escobar” A in which they went 7/10/1. The increasingly impressive depth and breadth of “Haarlem”’s knowledge is further illustrated by their ability to power more tossups than they tenned except in three rounds, two of which had the same number of powers and tens, and one of which was the aforementioned “Escobar” game, which even legendary powerhouse Bruce did not manage at this tournament. “Haarlem” may have finally addressed their negging problem, managing this time to get the tournament’s second-lowest number (14 to Saratoga A’s 5). As the ways things have gone thus far this season, expect third and fourth place at NorCal State to be contested closely between “Haarlem” A and Davis A.

 

4th place – Davis A

Displaced from third in the last Cal Cup, Davis A loses just one too many a game to place higher, finishing in 4th place with three losses in a row to Saratoga A (270-355), “Haarlem” A (285-400), and Bellarmine A (210-420). The first and last of those were very much so the result of too large a number of negs (5 against Saratoga and 6 against Bellarmine), as they usually managed to keep them more under control (but did nearly lead the field with 22, short of “Guilder” A’s 26). Senior Jayanth Sundaresan and sophomore Eliot Williams led the team tied for 10th individual at 38.33 PPG, with junior Anthony DiCarlo closely following at 31.11 PPG and junior Teddy Knox at 26.11. Their PPB was commendable at 22.79, but they also managed to get the tournament’s highest single-game PPB, scoring an incredible 28 PPB in their 6/4/3 396-235 game against Amador Valley A. Davis A also managed to power more tossups in each game than they actually got for ten, and saw their best games come against Palo Alto A (going 9/3/1 for a 470-260 win) and “Cougars” (8/7/2 for a 495-110 win). With the parity between Davis A and “Haarlem” A, and Davis’s strength on NAQT distributions, they may likely take third place or at least give “Haarlem” a difficult fight for it.

 

5th place – Palo Alto A

Similarly, Palo Alto A finishes 6-3, dropping games to Davis A (260-470), “Haarlem” A (210-470), and Bellarmine A (240-450), but upsetting Saratoga A 335-320, in both teams’ closest games of the day. Senior Max Krawczyk and junior Trevor Filseth tie for 6th overall scorer with 41.67 PPG with their remaining teammates both hovering around 20 PPG. With 18 overall negs, they should probably be a bit more careful with their aggression, but usually kept a handle on it with around two per game, with the exception of a lucky game against California Crosspoint A, in which they negged five times but managed to still win 325-255. Their best games came against “Cougars” (6/9/1, 485-75) and “Guilder” A (4/11/3, 465-80), and their best PPB in their loss to Bellarmine A (24.29), although they tended to hover closer to their 20.72 average. Max’s impending graduation should help them curb their negs a bit (his 13 to Trevor’s 3), but for the time being expect a similar finish at NorCal State.

Mar 21

Results: Stratford San Jose Invitational, March 21, 2015

Congratulations to Challenger-Ardenwood A, who defeated Holmes Junior High 355-275 in a one-game final to win the 2015 Stratford San Jose Invitational! Challenger-Berryessa A defeated Harker 320-300 to claim third place. All four teams qualify to attend MSNCT in Dallas.

Complete team and individual stats are available here.

Thanks to our hosts, Maggie Schwartz and Jeff Takemoto from Stratford San Jose, and all the staff who made this tournament possible: Omeed Askary, Ankush Bharadwaj, Neeloy Azad, Larissa Kelly, Hieu Nguyen, Niki Peters, Jayanth Sundaresan, Eliot Williams, and Peter Zhu. Special thanks to Chris Fleitas of Bellarmine for once again loaning us buzzer systems.

Mar 17

Berkeley’s middle school tournament: April 4, 2015

The Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance and Berkeley Quiz Bowl are pleased to announce that Berkeley will host its second annual middle school quizbowl tournament on Saturday, April 4, 2015.

Location: This tournament will take place at UC Berkeley’s Dwinelle Hall.

Questions: We will be using NAQT Middle School Series #12. (For practice material similar to the questions we will use at the tournament, please consider the NAQT New Middle School Package and the 2013 Collaborative Middle School Tournament.)

The top 15% of teams will qualify for the 2015 NAQT Middle School National Championship Tournament, to be held in Dallas, Texas on May 9-10, 2015.

Eligibility: All middle schools (public, private, charter, religious, homeschool, etc.) are eligible to play in this event. This tournament is open to any players who have not yet completed 8th grade, though the questions are targeted at 7th and 8th graders.

Schools are encouraged to enter multiple teams, but please note that players must play for the same team throughout the tournament.

Fees:

Base fee: $70 per team

-$10 second or subsequent team from the same school

-$10 working buzzer system (must accommodate at least eight players)

-$20 experienced moderator

-$10 scorekeeper (We will hold a brief training session during check-in for those volunteers who have never kept score before.)

Payment will be taken at check-in on April 4th. Please make checks out to “Quiz Bowl Club.”

How to register: please contact the tournament director, Jeff Hoppes (jeff.hoppes@gmail.com), on or before Tuesday, March 31st, indicating how many teams, buzzers, and staff your school plans to bring.

The UC Berkeley Quiz Bowl Club is a student group acting independently of the University of California. The student organization is the host of the Berkeley middle school tournament and takes full responsibility for the guests.

Mar 11

NAQT Northern California state championship: April 11, 2015

The Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance and Berkeley Quiz Bowl are pleased to announce that Berkeley will host the 2015 NAQT Northern California State Championship on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Location: This tournament will take place at UC Berkeley. The precise building will be determined closer to the date of the tournament.

Questions: We will be using NAQT Invitational Series #146. No computational math will be read.

The top 15% of teams will qualify for the 2015 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament, to be held May 30-31 near Chicago. In addition, the highest-finishing team that has not yet qualified for the HSNCT will qualify at this tournament (whether or not that team places in the top 15% of the state championship field).

This tournament has been platinum-certified by PACE; the top 25% of teams will qualify for the 2015 NSC, to be held June 6-7 near Washington, DC.

Eligibility: All high schools (public, private, charter, religious, homeschool, etc.) are eligible to play in this event.

Schools are encouraged to enter multiple teams, but please note that players must play for the same team throughout the tournament.

Fees:

Base fee: $80 per team

$10 discount: second or subsequent team from the same school

$10 discount per working buzzer system (must accommodate at least eight players)

$20 discount per experienced moderator

$10 discount per scorekeeper (We will hold a brief training session during check-in for those volunteers who have never kept score before.)

$30 discount: new to quizbowl (your school played no pyramidal tournaments before September 1, 2014)

$20 discount: teams that travel 60 or more miles one-way (distance measured from your high school to UC Berkeley by Google Maps)

Payment will be taken at check-in on April 11th. Please make checks out to “Quiz Bowl Club.”

Register here!

The UC Berkeley Quiz Bowl Club is a student group acting independently of the University of California. The student organization is the host of the 2015 NAQT Northern California State Championship and takes full responsibility for the guests.

Mar 11

Stratford San Jose Invitational: March 21, 2015

The Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance and the Stratford School are pleased to announce that Stratford will host its fourth annual middle school quizbowl tournament on Saturday, March 21, 2015.

Location: This tournament will take place at Stratford Schools San Jose, 1718 Andover Lane, San Jose, California.

Questions: We will be using NAQT Middle School Series #13. (For practice material similar to the questions we will use at the tournament, please consider the NAQT New Middle School Package and the 2013 Collaborative Middle School Tournament.)

The top 15% of teams will qualify for the 2015 NAQT Middle School National Championship Tournament, to be held in Dallas, Texas on May 9-10, 2015.

Eligibility: All middle schools (public, private, charter, religious, homeschool, etc.) are eligible to play in this event. This tournament is open to any players who have not yet completed 8th grade, though the questions are targeted at 7th and 8th graders.

Schools are encouraged to enter multiple teams, but please note that players must play for the same team throughout the tournament.

Fees:

Base fee: $70 per team

-$10 second or subsequent team from the same school

-$10 working buzzer system (must accommodate at least eight players)

-$20 experienced moderator

-$10 scorekeeper (We will hold a brief training session during check-in for those volunteers who have never kept score before.)

Payment will be taken at check-in on March 21st. Please make checks out to Stratford School.

How to register: please contact the tournament director, Jeff Hoppes (jeff.hoppes@gmail.com), on or before Monday, March 16th, indicating how many teams, buzzers, and staff your school plans to bring.

Mar 06

Cal Cup #3 Results and Analysis PART TWO – JUNIOR VARSITY

Junior varsity statistics from California Cup #3 can be found here.

 

This write-up is part two of two write-ups and contains only the top seven junior varsity teams.

 

1st place – California Crosspoint

California Crosspoint leaps back to a first place finish after third in their last tournament, with sophomore Benson Yi taking 4th scorer and leading his team with 74.09 PPG. As usual, he had significant support from senior Calvin Chiu (47.73 PPG), who actually powered more tossups than any other player, but the team only managed a PPB of 18.49, likely a result of the difficulty of the set since they were the highest in the field. Benson will need to work on his negs (15, second to only Albany’s Sean Lin with 22), but they had the most powers of the field (42 to “Escobar” B’s 34) and managed to only drop one game, a 270-280 loss to Crystal Springs Uplands, in which they still managed to answer 9 tossups. In their best game, they went 5/13/1 against Dougherty Valley C (510-15 win), and the rest of their games reaffirm quite well the skill and ability California Crosspoint possesses. However, this still might not be enough once Albany (Cal Cup #2 champion) has a full roster once again, so they should without a doubt continue improving.

 

2nd place – Davis B

Davis B takes second after Saratoga B forfeits a semi-final and they lose 150-370 to California Crosspoint. Incredibly balanced, all three of Davis B’s players were either at 36.36 (junior Henry Zhang) or 33.64 (senior Zach Hertz and freshman Ethan Skinner) PPG, a winning combination that allowed them to drop just one other game, a 255-110 loss to Northgate. There’s definitely some work to do in terms of PPB (14.65) and negs (five in two rounds and four in two others), but the latter will at least be ameliorated by Zach’s graduation, since he contributed most of those. Their negs were also likely the primary factor behind their closest game of the day, a 215-205 win over Escobar B, in which they had five, as well as that previously mentioned game against Northgate. Aside from some slight choking issues (abnormally low-scoring games here and there), Davis B is likely to remain a significant JV contender, although they will have to find someone to replace Zach (but that shouldn’t be too difficult given the depth of Davis’s bench).

3rd place – Saratoga B

Two-player Saratoga B also drops just one game to California Crosspoint (170-310) to take third with 7th scorer senior Ethan Ngai (60 PPG) and sophomore Bryant Chang (44.44 PPG). [Note: they were supposed to play Davis B for a chance to play California Crosspoint, but left before they had that chance] Their inexperience shows in a PPB of only 13.98, but they did hit 18.33 on two occasions. They had a great handle on their negs with just 9 in 10 rounds, but also a similar number of powers (11). Their closest game of the day appears to be pretty anomalous, a 180-135 win over Washington A, but for the most part, they managed to maintain pretty large margins over their opponents in each game they played.

4th place – Valley Christian A

Valley Christian A finished 8-2, dropping a game to Davis B (200-325) and being upset by Esobar B (150-265). Sophomore Omeed Askary leads the team as usual, securing 8th individual at 59.5 PPG. Per usual, the majority of his support came from fellow sophomores Andrew Rao (44 PPG) and Dhilip Raman (25.5 PPG). PPB for Valley Christian A ranked third in the tournament at 16.57, not a bad number given the difficulty of the set, but always something to be improved upon. Their negs were usually not a problem, with the exception of three rounds with 3, 4, and 5 of them, the latter two of which were the aforementioned losses, also their closest rounds of the day. While they’ve definitely got more of a handle on their negss from previous tournaments, they consistently neg more in important rounds, a dangerous combination they’ll have to address as quickly as possible.

5th place  – Crystal Springs Uplands

A relatively inactive team, Crystal Springs Uplands ties for fifth place in their first junior varsity tournament of the season (after previously playing varsity once), led by junior Shasta Ramachandran (32.5 PPG) and Justin French (30.59 PPG). They dropped close games to Saratoga C (220-245) and Dougherty Valley D (225-250), both likely due to their four negs in both games, while their loss to Saratoga B was by quite a larger margin (145-285). They did, however, manage to beat first place team California Crosspoint in an extremely close game (280-270). Their PPB was quite good with respect to the field (second-highest with 17.11), but their inactivity manifested itself in the abundance of close games they narrowly managed to win. They’ll definitely need to put some work in on curbing their negs, getting four or five in four games over the tournament, but once that is taken care of and the team develops more, we might see a strong new JV contender emerge.

5th place – “Escobar” B

Missing their normal lead scorer junior Druv Muley, junior Alvin Hsu and sophomore Trevor Wu (39.47 and 31 PPG) lead “Escobar” B to tie with Northgate for 5th place, dropping just three games over the course of the day to California Crosspoint (190-415, where “Escobar” notably went 6/1/2), Lowell, and Davis B. Their loss to Lowell (125-200) was almost no doubt due to their negs, of which they had six that round, while their loss to Davis B was extremely close (205-215). They managed to beat Northgate in the round they played, although not by a very large margin (290-225). They averaged about two negs a game outside of their games against Lowell and Leland A (four), although they were luckier in the latter and managed to win by over 100 points. While their PPB of 15.6 wasn’t too special, they did had the best power-to-get ratio of the entire field, being the only team to power more than half the number of tossups they answered (34/66). Depending on their grade levels, it will be interesting to see if this team can develop into a well-balanced junior varsity or varsity power.

5th place – Northgate

Also dropping just three games, Northgate ties with “Escobar” B with a close loss to them (225-290) and two significant losses to Valley Christian (125-295 and 180-385). Sophomore (?) David Leynov leads with 37 PPG, closely supported by sophomore (?) Josh Quiambao (29 PPG) and Max Kohn (24 PPG). As was the case in Sacramento Fall earlier this season, they definitely have more work to do on the breadth of their knowledge, which has some clear holes as illustrated by their PPB of only 12.69. They have quite a ways to go, but they have definitely improved since the beginning of the season, and it will be interesting to see where the team could go, depending on the grades of the players.

Mar 03

Cal Cup #3 Results and Analysis PART ONE — VARSITY

Varsity statistics from California Cup #3 can be found here.

 

This write-up is part one of two write-ups and contains only the top six varsity teams.

 

1st place – Bellarmine A

Led for the first time this season by senior Jonchee Kao (4th scorer at 50 PPG, Bellarmine for the most part retains their characteristic balance, with strong support by seniors Jarek Jankowski (7th scorer at 40 PPG), Alejandro Buendia (10th scorer at 37.5 PPG), and Abhishek Aditham (25.5 PPG). They had the field’s highest PPB of 23.12, although they did manage to hit 26.36 in one round. In three rounds, they powered 9 tossups, while their highest scoring round saw them go 10/6/1 in 595-115 win over Amador Valley B. Their only loss of the day came in an uncharacteristic 235-415 loss to Davis A, which probably could be largely attributed to their four negs. Bellarmine A did, however, manage to beat Saratoga A in their last game of the day, going 9/1/1 to walk away with 360-305 win, also their closest game of the tournament. While the uptick in difficulty between earlier NAQT sets and this tournament’s BISB is evident in depressed PPGs all around, it’s likely a safe bet to assume that Bellarmine A will be able to take the Cal Cup championship once again, although there is always the chance that Bruce rallies Saratoga A to win the last Cal Cup and a further tie break will need to be held.

 

2nd place – Saratoga A

Senior Bruce Lou once more takes top scorer with 134 PPG, leading his team to finish with just two losses, both to Bellarmine A (first round by a decent margin 295-385, the latter in Bellarmine A’s closest game of the day, mentioned above). Saratoga A and Bellarmine A had extremely similar tallies by the end of the day, with Bellarmine going 70/55/14 and Saratoga going 73/52/12, further illustrating how close in caliber the two teams find themselves. Saratoga A’s own closest game came against Davis A in a 355-325 win that was actually initially a win for Davis A, until Davis brought a moderator error to light. Saratoga A’s PPB also saw a slight dip due to increased difficulty, although at 22.64, it was still the 4th highest of the tournament (2nd-4th place teams all had PPBs of 22.xx). Saratoga A’s highest scoring game came against Escobar A, with the insane statline of 12/5/0 (a 650-95 win). While Bellarmine A still has a chance of winning the last Cal Cup and undisputedly taking the championship, Saratoga A again shows that they are a very real contender.

 

3rd place – Davis A

Led by 9th scorer junior Teddy Knox (37.78 PPG), Davis A too finishes with two losses to take third place. One loss, as previously mentioned, was initially a win over Saratoga, but the players of Davis A brought a moderator error to our attention, giving up what would have been an extraordinary addition to their victory over Bellarmine A, and for that, we at the NCQBA would like to express our appreciation for their integrity. Davis A had a PPB of 22.77, third-highest of the tournament, hitting 25 in two separate games. They gave Saratoga A their closest game of the day (the aforementioned 325-355 loss), while their closest came in a 370-365 win over Palo Alto A. They were extremely well-balanced (all players between 37.78 and 26.67 PPG)but did, however, lose to Dougherty Valley A by a very significant margin (205-405). This, as well as that earlier close game against Palo Alto A, could definitely have been a result of their four negs in each game – this is an issue they’ll definitely have to work on, especially as set difficulty increases. However, their upset of Bellarmine A and near-upset of Saratoga A shows that Davis A will definitely be a force to contend with upon the graduation of the previous teams’ players.

 

4th place – Dougherty Valley A

Led by tournament second-scorer senior Eric Chen (53.89 PPG), Dougherty Valley takes expected losses to Bellarmine A (230-445) and Saratoga A (180-495, exacerbated by four negs) and is upset by Palo Alto A (215-415, probably partially due to their three negs), but also manages to upset Davis A by the same margin (405-205). Eric has some support, mainly from senior Cody Zeng (30.56 PPG), but the team definitely will need to do some rebuilding after this season. For now, though, they did have the second-highest PPB of the tournament at 22.83, and even managed to hit 25 in two rounds. They will, however, need to address their negging problem before they can pose more of a challenge to the teams that placed above them.

 

5th place – “Guilder” A

“Guilder” A ties with Palo Alto A with a record of 5-4, dropping games to every team that placed above them by expectedly large intervals. Senior Karthik Srivatsan once more leads the team and also secures the title of third-overall scorer with 52.78 PPG, but has the benefit of balanced support from the rest of his teammates, all between 26.11-28.33 PPG. There was a clear drop in PPB from the leaders of the field (21.580), but they did manage to score above 22 in four rounds and hit 25.7 in another. “Guilder” A will also need to work on curbing their negs, but their biggest issue will likely be finding someone to replace Karthik upon his graduation.

 

6th place – Palo Alto A

Palo Alto A ties with “Guilder” A at 5-4, led by tournament 8th scorer junior Trevor Filseth (40 PPG) with not insignificant support from teammates. They dropped the expected games to the teams that placed above them, with the exception of their upset over Dougherty Valley A by 200 points. They had several close games (365-370 loss to Davis A and 285-275 win over Amador Valley A), the latter of which shows how little separation there is between Palo Alto A and some of the lower teams of the field. Again, another notable PPB drop from the rest of the field can be seen (20.94), but they too managed to hit 25 PPB in one game. It will be interesting to see if Trevor and teammates can improve enough before the next season to continue distinguishing themselves from th

Feb 20

Wildcat Classic Results and Analysis

Statistics from Wildcat Classic can be found here.

 

This write-up contains only the top four varsity and junior varsity teams.

 

Please note that individual scoring ranks are not separated by division (varsity and junior varsity individual results were compiled).

 

VARSITY

1st place – Saratoga

Senior Bruce Lou solos and takes both first place team and individual at 146.25 PPG (once again nearly double that of the second-place scorer) with an expectedly impressive statline of 59/31/5. His PPB of 23.33 reaffirms the depth and breadth of his knowledge, and he even managed to hit 26.67 in his game against Amador A, his closest of the day with a 365-360 win. In no game did he power less than 6 tossups, and his first game against “Guilder” A saw him go 9/1/0. That game, however, was only determined by 50 points (365-315), and he had another close game against Bellarmine A (370-315), which goes to show that – in light of Cal Cup #2 results and given some serious improvement by the opponents – an upset might be possible, but appears more and more unlikely as Bruce continues to improve. If any more proof was needed of Bruce’s domination of the circuit, this was it. Expect similar performance through the rest of the season.

 

2nd place – Davis A

Missing usual lead scorer junior Anthony DiCarlo, the remainder of Davis A stepped up well, capturing second place under sophomore Eliot Williams (tournament 5th at 60.56 PPG, notably without negs), closely followed by senior Jayanth Sundaresan (10th scorer with 46.67 PPG). They lost by only 50 to Bellarmine A in their first game (260-310) and managed to upset them in their second round, winning 360-295. Their only loss of the day came at a 110-point margin to Saratoga, while they defeated “Guilder” A and Dougherty Valley A (usually their B team) by sound margins (415-210 and 510-5, respectively). Hitting a maximum PPB of 25.45 in that game against “Guilder” A, they averaged around a 22.78, an improvement over Cal Cup #2. Overall, their finish was a solid performance that reaffirms Davis A’s rightful place among the top teams of the circuit (interestingly, they outscored Saratoga in raw points [61/48 to 59/31] but their 19 negs to his 5 landed them in 2nd place).

 

3rd place – Bellarmine A

Three-man Bellarmine A by senior Jarek Jankowski (3rd scorer at 79.5 PPG) goes 7-3, dropping games to “Guilder” A, Davis A, and Saratoga. Their loss to “Guilder” A came in their first game, 275-430, while they managed to rally and narrowly defeat them 316-280 in their last game of the day, and the opposite happened with Davis A, Bellarmine A defeating them 310-260 first and later losing 295-360. Taking into account the absence of Bellarmine A’s normal fourth player senior Abhishek Aditham, future rounds between these teams aren’t likely to be as close. Bellarmine A would certainly benefit from having Abhishek (or even other players) present at more events, given they saw a nearly 3-point drop in PPB as a partial team, even though they did manage to hit 24 at one point (notably in their game against Dougherty Valley C that they won 725- -5). Since both teams were lacking a crucial member, it’ll be interesting to see Davis A and Bellarmine A face off when they are both at full strength (notice that Bellarmine A outscored Davis A in terms of raw points, going 69/52/11 to Davis A’s 61/48/19).

 

4th place – “Guilder” (formerly Homestead) A

Regaining their lead scorer senior Karthik Srivatsan (7th scorer at 52.22 PPG), “Guilder” A drops games to Davis A, Bellarmine A, and Saratoga twice. Their loss to Davis A came at a pretty large margin (415-210), as did one game against Saratoga (300-435), but the others were close (280-315 against Bellarmine A, who they had earlier defeated, and 315-265 against Saratoga). Karthik’s presence had a clear impact on PPB, raising it from 19.03 at Cal Cup #2 to 23.26, even managing 25+ in three rounds. Their best game of the day came against Valley Christian A, a 570-75 win in which they finished 10/6/0. They have a little bit of a negging problem, still, but only in the sense that it is not sustainable on the number of tossups they are correctly answering. With the increase in number of correct tossups or a little neg curbing, that should be taken care of.

 

Junior Varsity

1st – Bellarmine B

Lead scorer freshman Atul Saha (tournament 8th with 48.33) with main supports sophomores Hieu Nguyen and Kevin Chang (both 36.67) lead Bellarmine B to an undefeated finish to win the junior varsity division of the tournament. In addition to the highest PPB of their division (18.2, managing at one point to hit 25 against Davis B), they also had one of the lowest numbers of negs (tied with three others for 2nd lowest at 7), which were confined to only three of their nine games. Not once did they score lower than 265, which they did in their closest game of the day, a 25-point win over Davis B. The team has large shoes to fill next year, but with steady improvement they stand a chance at seeing similar results by most of their senior years.

 

2nd – Archbishop Mitty

Archbishop Mitty’s junior Siddharth Kulkarni once again leads his team, this time as the tournament’s 4th scorer with 70.62 PPG. Their PPB of only 15.32 highlights some weak spots in his knowledge that isn’t being adequately supported by his teammates, but they are answering tossups, so he isn’t completely on his own. They averaged about a neg per round, and managed to score more than 300 points in every round they played except for their game against Bellarmine B, a 130-390 loss. Other than that, their closest game was a 365-170 win over Davis B, demonstrating that there is a clear divide between these two top teams and the rest of the teams in the circuit. Ideally they’ll move on to varsity as their players get ready to graduate, but whether they will or not remains to be seen.

 

3rd – Davis B

Davis B finishes 5-3, dropping games to Bellarmine B (240-265), Archbishop Mitty (170-365), and Bellarmine B once more (160-295), all by significant margins. Freshman Ethan Skinner once more leads the team with 57.86 PPG (6th scorer), followed closely by 8th grader Daniel Zhu (42.86). Their PPB is two lower than Archbishop Mitty’s, averaging 13.16 with a high of 17.5. As expected from a junior varsity team, their power ratio could be improved upon, but they seem to manage their negs pretty well, usually getting two a game. Ethan and Daniel both demonstrate that they will without a doubt be names to watch over the next few years, a testament to the potential within Davis’s impressively deep bench.

 

4th – Davis C

Tournament 9th scorer sophomore Roland Li (46.88) leads Davis C to a 4-4 finish, supported mostly by sophomore Dante Yasui (28.75 PPG). They dropped two games to Archbishop Mitty and a game each to Davis B and Bellarmine B by large margins, as expected. Their PPB took another 2 point drop from the team above them, averaging just 11.11, although they did manage to get 16.67 in their round against Davis B (also Davis B’s highest PPB round). To their credit, their closest game of the day came in their first loss to Archbishop Mitty (145-330), while their best game saw them finish 225- -5 over Dougherty Valley E. Given that Roland usually plays for Davis B, the C team has a while to go before they are at the caliber of the former.

 

Thanks from all of us at the NCQBA to those who staffed and played!

Feb 20

Sacramento Winter Results and Analysis

Statistics from Sacramento Winter can be found here.

 

This write-up focuses only on the four teams that placed within the Finals and Playoffs brackets.

 

Because rosters were so anomalous, there isn’t much to be gained with future performance predictions by these specific teams, so they’ve been left out.

 

1st place – Davis B

A mix of players from Davis’s usual A and B teams, a well-balanced Davis B is led by senior Jayanth Sundaresan (4th scorer at 47.5 PPG), junior Teddy Knox (6th scorer at 40.42 PPG), and sophomore Eliot Williams (7th scorer at 38.33 PPG) to a 10-2 finish, dropping games only to “Haarlem”’s A and B teams, both by pretty large margins (210-415 and 250-375, respectively), probably due in part to their negs (6 and 4, respectively). However, they also managed to win games against both teams, beating “Haarlem” A 325-245 and “Haarlem” B 315-220. These results can be attributed to “Haarlem”’s similar decision to mix their usual A and B players. Narrowly managing the second-highest PPB of the field, they average 20.21 (compared to “Haarlem” A’s 20.45), they did top 22 PPB in five rounds over the course of the tournament. Their closest game of the day came in a 240-200 win over “Haarlem” B, and they managed to power 10 tossups and answer 3 others in their 460-70 game against Rio Americano. Their main issue of the tournament was their negs, of which they had the most of any team at 31 (compared to “Haarlem” B’s 29).

 

2nd place – “Haarlem” B

Likewise composed of mixed A and B team members, “Haarlem” B is led to a 9-3 finish under 65.42 PPG senior Cody Zeng (tournament 2nd scorer), with most of his support coming from Bibhav Poudel (24.58 PPG). They had a PPB of 18.71 but topped 20 in five rounds, one of which saw them answer 15 tossups (465-85 win over Davis D). In rounds with a similar result, they went 8/7/2 against Rio Americano and 5/8/3 against Folsom. They finished with the second-highest number of negs of the field with 29, but my guess is that this – as well as the other abnormally high neg rates – can be attributed to the unorthodoxy of the tournament thanks to the abnormal rosters.

 

PLAYOFFS 1st – “Haarlem” A

“Haarlem” A went 7-3 under tournament top scorer Eric Chen (108 PPG), who played largely without support barring some from grade Gautham Pavar, dropping games to “Haarlem” B and Davis B by relatively large margins, but only losing closely to “Haarlem” B in their second round (205-265). Notable games saw statlines like 7/6/4 (win over Davis A), 8/6/0 (win over Davis C), 7/6/4 (win over Folsom), and 10/5/1 (win over Rio Americano). They had the highest PPB of the tournament at 20.45 and managed 23+ a few times, which serves as a testament to Eric’s knowledge.

 

PLAYOFFS 2nd – Davis A

Going 4-6 for the day, Davis A finishes second in the Playoffs bracket led by usual A team lead scorer junior Anthony DiCarlo (56.5 PPG, tournament 3rd scorer). They had a reasonable PPB of 18.04 and while they topped 21 in a two rounds, the overall result from this experiment probably supports the idea of maintaining stacked A and B teams. As expected from the lead scorer, Anthony had the majority of the team’s negs, which at 27 were something that could probably have been curbed. They got 6 negs in one round, which was likely the result of that being a loss to Davis B (170-375). Their closest game was a 230-245 loss to “Haarlem” B, which also wasn’t helped by their 4 negs that round, while they were able to win by 20 points over Davis C (270-250) because they only had 2 negs.

Thanks on behalf of all of us at the NCQBA to those who staffed and played in Sacramento Winter.

Feb 18

California Cup #4 flyer

High School Quiz Bowl tournament @ UC Berkeley (Mar 7, 2015)

 

What: Quiz Bowl is a team buzzer competition (similar to science bowl and history bowl) that features questions in all academic subjects (such as science, history, literature, etc). Each team is composed of 4 students from the same school. There will be teams competing from the Bay Area, Sacramento, and Monterey. This tournament will be the 4th tournament in our series of 4 HS tournaments held during the 2014-2015 school year. Called the California Cup, it is the most prestigious series of quiz bowl events in California. We have a Varsity division for experienced teams and a JV division for newer teams. Our tournament in late November featured 49 teams! More information about how Quiz Bowl works can be found at our website, https://www.norcalquizbowl.org/.

 

Where: Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley

 

When: Saturday, March 7. Registration will begin at 8:15AM. The competition will begin at 9AM and run until (about) 5:00PM. We will have a lunch break in the early afternoon (there are many places to get food close to campus on Telegraph Avenue).

 Eligibility: All current high school students are eligible to compete.

 

Fees:

$65 entry fee per team for new schools. Schools are welcome to enter multiple teams.

$10 discount per buzzer

$5 discount per scorekeeper (coach, parent, teacher, friend, etc)

$20 discount per 75 miles traveled one-way (according to Google maps)

Minimum entry fee per team: $20

Payment (cash or check) will be taken on-site at registration.

How to register: Please email us at californiacupquizbowl (at) gmail (dot) com if you are interested in playing or having any questions.

Thank you and we hope you will be able to join us at the tournament!

 

Nicholas Karas and Aseem Keyal

Co-Presidents, UC Berkeley Quiz Bowl

 

The UC Berkeley Quiz Bowl Club is a student group acting independently of the University of California. The student organization is the host of the quiz bowl tournament and takes full responsibility for the guests.