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St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

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Charlie Dees
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St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

Hello coaches!

I am excited to be able to announce that, thanks to a collaboration between the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance and the St. Louis University Quizbowl team, we will be presenting the first ever St. Louis University Academic Competition to be held on October 30th, 2010, pending approval from SLU's room reservation services. This tournament will be run on Introductory Invitational Series #99A by NAQT, the new official state provider. Introductory IS sets are written to have 3 line tossups on topics that are very accessible, so this event should be very appropriate for all levels of teams. This is being organized at a late enough date that we are going to set a 12 team cap on the field.

This event will use a modified version of the official NAQT format. Each game will have 20 tossups, and each tossup will activate a 30 point bonus, which will rebound. Tossups will use 15 point powers for early buzzes and -5 point penalties for incorrect interrupts. We will try to guarantee as close to 10 games as possible for every team, so you will be able to guarantee your players lots of playing time.

The entry fees are as follows -
Base entry fee for the first team from a school: $60
For each additional team a school registers: $50
Buzzer system discount: -$5 per system, per team. up to $5 off. Buzzers must be functioning for 8 players to count for discounts.
Staffer discount: -$5 per team that brings a scorekeeper the morning of the tournament. This can be a coach, parent, or any other person attending who isn’t playing. We will provide the scorekeeper with a lunch.

To register, please email me at CharlesDeesMOQBA@gmail.com with the name of your school, how many teams you wish to enter, and the best way to contact you with any questions. We will be taking teams on a first come, first served basis. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

We hope to see you on October 30th at SLU!

Charles Dees,
Co-Tournament Director

P.S. We would like to recommend that if you are interested in finding more practice material to prepare for our events, you check out quizbowlpackets.com, which is an archive of hundreds of high school packets.

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octo
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by octo »

There's a chance we will send a team to this.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by L-Town Expatriate »

12 team cap?? I can understand the low number given short notice, but what happens if there's a flurry of demand for spots?

OK, I don't really see that happening, but you never know. It might be a good sign to have teams banging on the door early to get in, but it might not be healthy for teams to find themselves on the outside looking in early on.

As usual, being Jeremy Paxman the arrogant mule quizzing newsmakers on Newsnight before being Jeremy Paxman the arrogant mule moderating University Challenge, both on BBC 2. This ought to be a wonderful tournament. Hope everyone who wants to attend can make it and get in.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

12 team cap?? I can understand the low number given short notice, but what happens if there's a flurry of demand for spots?
Given that we have to ask for a significant part of this tournament's staff to come from other organizations, I can't in good faith guarantee that we will be able to run a good tournament at a larger size than this. If there is that flurry of demand, we will see if it is possible to find more staff and reserve more rooms, but right now this is the most I am comfortable with, because my top concern is running a great tournament.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by L-Town Expatriate »

Of course. I do remember the nightmare Jeff wrought on us with a 60-team tournament at Liberty his senior year. It might have been a logistical nightmare but it was still freakin' awesome to get that many teams competing in the same building. Doubt anyone in the state not named WUSHAC ever wants to get that close in the future.

I'll book this day off and look to help where needed.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

I'll book this day off and look to help where needed.
Cool, thanks.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by DeckardCain »

L-Town Expatriate wrote:Of course. I do remember the nightmare Jeff wrought on us with a 60-team tournament at Liberty his senior year. It might have been a logistical nightmare but it was still freakin' awesome to get that many teams competing in the same building. Doubt anyone in the state not named WUSHAC ever wants to get that close in the future.
Unrelated, but I would totally run a 60-team tournament if I had any prayer of rounding up enough staff.

I'm free that day to help as well as far as I know.

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octo
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by octo »

Actually, I take that back; we probably won't have a team for this. I may be able to help staff, though.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

Field:
Clayton (2) - confirmed
De Smet - confirmed
Eureka - confirmed
Hannibal - confirmed
Hickman - confirmed
Jefferson - confirmed
Oakville - confirmed
Parkway North - confirmed
Rockwood Summit (2) - confirmed
Villa Duchesne - confirmed
Last edited by Charlie Dees on Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:08 am, edited 17 times in total.

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Machina
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Machina »

Villa Duchesne is interested in this.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Jason Loy »

As is Tuscumbia.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

The field is now half full.

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ZhangC1459
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by ZhangC1459 »

You probably know this already but I'm staffing/willing to staff.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

This event is MSHSAA sanctioned.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by AShoaib »

Why are there no Parkway schools on this team roster? I'm looking at you Central. I'll have to get Mohamed to nag his brother to make them go now...

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ZhangC1459
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by ZhangC1459 »

AShoaib wrote:Why are there no Parkway schools on this team roster? I'm looking at you Central. I'll have to get Mohamed to nag his brother to make them go now...
Our team lost pretty much every active member after last year.

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dividebyzero
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by dividebyzero »

Well, yes and no, Chris. We don't really have many seniors (as in class of 2011) who are very active, but there are quite a few younger guys who could potentially step up and help the team. (That would include the brother Abdullah mentioned above, he's a sophomore). At any rate, Abdullah's right. PCH really should be signed up for this one. I'll remind my brother about it if I can.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

The field has filled. If you would like to come, I can put you on a waitlist, just email me at CharlesDeesMOQBA@gmail.com.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

The playoff teams are Villa Duchesne, Eureka, Oakville, Clayton A, Parkway North, and De Smet, we will begin those rounds at 1.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Jeffrey Hill »

Clayton A went 3-2 in the playoffs to earn third place.

Oakville ended the playoffs with a 5-0 record, with Villa Duchesne at 4-1. This put the two teams in an advantaged final (Oakville with the advantage). Villa Duchesne won the first game 330-235. The second game is in progress.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Jeffrey Hill »

After an intense game, Oakville emerged victorious with a final score of 345-310. See twitter.com/moquizbowl for several score updates from this exciting game.

Congratulations to both teams on qualifying for both NAQT HSNCT and PACE NSC as a result of their stellar performances!

As a friendly reminder, discussion of question content on this board, facebook, etc, is prohibited until July 1.
Last edited by Jeffrey Hill on Sat Oct 30, 2010 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: i fail at bbcode - twice

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by dividebyzero »

Let's see. Very good tournament overall. It was my first time moderating, and I'm glad it was at a well run tournament with (generally) good questions. Thanks to everyone for putting up with my moderating, especially Jefferson and whoever else I read for 3 times. Which reminds me, it was very heartening to see so many newer/younger teams building up their programs. Hopefully Missouri's program will benefit from the growth.

Congratulations to Oakville for a great performance, especially for a relatively new (second year?) team. Regardless it was impressive to watch a team I've never given a second thought to do so well today. I applaud Ms. Christina Carter for her efforts in starting up a successful program.

Nevertheless, it's interesting to note that no one team dominated the tournament today. With the incredibly close final match (not to mention the fact that Villa won the first of the two final games by a decent margin), I don't think either Villa or Oakville definitively proved themselves as being much better than everyone there (at least from my perspective, we'll see more clearly when full stats are posted).

[Ideas on how teams seem to be falling out and what they need to do to improve later, if I get the chance/don't just tell people personally]

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

As has been noted above, congratulations to Oakville, 3 three person runner-up Villa Duchesne, and third place team Clayton A. The top 2 teams received bids to both NAQT and PACE nationals. The finals were some of the most enjoyable games I've ever read for, and I continue to be impressed by the overall level of play we're seeing from teams this year. I thank everyone for coming and bearing with our difficulties keeping on schedule, and I am especially thankful to all the staff that volunteered to make this happen, as this was entirely run by MOQBA finding volunteers. Particularly, Abdullah Schaiob found us the rooms and helped do a lot of the legwork for this tournament and is the reason this tournament could happen.

The statistics are forthcoming, possibly tomorrow. Please remember not to discuss the specific contents of the questions anywhere public online because they are being used elsewhere.

Good job again to all the teams.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by bt_green_warbler »

U. Lou Sthagaim wrote:As a friendly reminder, discussion of question content on this board, facebook, etc, is prohibited until July 1.
Specifically: public discussion of question content is prohibited until I give the all-clear that the year's schedule of tournaments is over. This usually happens in mid-June; I'll post a thread for question-specific feedback here when that time comes (and on the national forum as well).

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by scphilli »

dividebyzero wrote:Let's see. Very good tournament overall. It was my first time moderating, and I'm glad it was at a well run tournament with (generally) good questions. Thanks to everyone for putting up with my moderating, especially Jefferson and whoever else I read for 3 times. Which reminds me, it was very heartening to see so many newer/younger teams building up their programs. Hopefully Missouri's program will benefit from the growth.

Congratulations to Oakville for a great performance, especially for a relatively new (second year?) team. Regardless it was impressive to watch a team I've never given a second thought to do so well today. I applaud Ms. Christina Carter for her efforts in starting up a successful program.

Nevertheless, it's interesting to note that no one team dominated the tournament today. With the incredibly close final match (not to mention the fact that Villa won the first of the two final games by a decent margin), I don't think either Villa or Oakville definitively proved themselves as being much better than everyone there (at least from my perspective, we'll see more clearly when full stats are posted).

[Ideas on how teams seem to be falling out and what they need to do to improve later, if I get the chance/don't just tell people personally]
Seriously?

You didn't notice Oakville last year when they were fourth at Rolla Spring? Or their performance at the qualifier? Now is when you give them in your condescending words a "second thought"? Maybe you're not really paying attention and maybe then you shouldn't give "ideas on how teams seem to be falling out and what they need to do to improve."

By the way Villa only clinched the first final on tu 18 and won by 95 points. Both games were insanely close. And saying that neither team "definitively proved themselves as being much better than everyone else there" is just ridiculous. That's like saying you guys at last year's Rolla didn't definitively prove yourself as being better than NKC bc you beat them by 5 points on the final question or that your narrow win over Ransom Everglades at WUHSAC XII was somehow inconclusive as to place your team as finalists in that tournament. I mean come on, way to congratulate someone on a wonderful accomplishment and somehow take away from it at the same time. I mean really just so classy I have a tear in my eye.

On a much much more pleasant note, I did greatly enjoy today. It was interesting for me to participate at a tournament at my other alma mater and I congratulate all who came and engaged in a spirited day of competition on their involvement and look forward to seeing you all in the future. I would like to particularly acknowledge Charlie Dees' running of the event as being quite professional despite some technological/logistical hiccups (i.e. a truculent computer, and my room which decided to lock itself). Over the last few years he has come into his own as one of our best and most committed tournament directors and my hat's off to him.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by dividebyzero »

scphilli wrote: Seriously?

You didn't notice Oakville last year when they were fourth at Rolla Spring? Or their performance at the qualifier? Now is when you give them in your condescending words a "second thought"? Maybe you're not really paying attention and maybe then you shouldn't give "ideas on how teams seem to be falling out and what they need to do to improve."

By the way Villa only clinched the first final on tu 18 and won by 95 points. Both games were insanely close. And saying that neither team "definitively proved themselves as being much better than everyone else there" is just ridiculous. That's like saying you guys at last year's Rolla didn't definitively prove yourself as being better than NKC bc you beat them by 5 points on the final question or that your narrow win over Ransom Everglades at WUHSAC XII was somehow inconclusive as to place your team as finalists in that tournament. I mean come on, way to congratulate someone on a wonderful accomplishment and somehow take away from it at the same time. I mean really just so classy I have a tear in my eye.
That's not quite what I meant. We played Oakville once in the first round. NKC beat them by a wide margin in the semifinals. As a result (to clarify) I didn't give them a second thought as a contender to win the tournament. We didn't send a team to the qualifier last year, so I didn't see them play. So yes, I did not consider them as a threat to beat us last year. Yes, other people could and should have noticed how well they did. But because of the games I was at and what I saw, Oakville was not a top team in my mind (which is in no way inconsistent with what everyone else has said in other threads in General Discussion). The point I was trying to get across was that Oakville has improved a lot from last year, especially since they just started up recently. In no way am I trying to demean their performances, and I don't think that was implied in my post either. I'm sorry if someone feels that I am being condescending and insulting, and would be open to the people who feel I offended them telling me so.

Secondly, I still stand by my previous point. Precisely because the last two final games were so close (the second one relatively closer, apologies for my earlier ambiguous description) neither team was able to completely dominate the other. I'm not saying they're not good, I'm saying that no single team is so good that the season cannot be competitive. Of course Oakville deserved to win, and they did. But that doesn't mean that they are much better (much meaning by a very very large degree) than the other teams. As to your point, no we did not prove ourselves a lot better than NKC when we beat them by 5 points as evidenced by them beating us twice at pre-nationals in Columbia shortly thereafter. A narrow win against Ransom Everglades does not does not make our appearance at the finals inconclusive. But at the same time, I couldn't guarantee that we were so much better that we could best them in another game if the opportunity arose. If someone made those points, I would in no way contest them.

I never said I could give advice to everyone, I know I didn't watch/haven't watched enough to do that. But that doesn't mean if there's a team I'm friendly with and I have seen them play since last year that I cannot notice where they still have a significant gap and could possibly improve. Believe it or not, when I'm at a tournament watching/reading games, I actually notice when a team tends to miss a certain category of questions. If you have an issue with me doing that publicly, I'll keep it private between people who don't mind.

Overall, I am not and never was trying to take anything away from anyone. Full congratulations are still due to Oakville as I always intended and said. All I wanted to note was that a lot of teams are doing well and it's going to be a very competitive season, since nobody is blowing everyone out of the water.

I don't write professionally. Maybe my points are a little unclear or some of the words I use are ambiguous enough to be misinterpreted. Constructive criticism is great, but please don't come paint me as being biased or not accepting the winners as accomplished.
Summary in the spirit of what I meant to say: Everyone did great. Congrats to the top teams. Work hard because the season is still open to everyone.
Please don't read too much into it.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by AShoaib »

I'm going to play the role of Chris Zhang and say this: The internetz. its serios bizness.

I had fun, and I really hope we pull it off next year.

I'd never seen Oakville play before, so I can say I am surprised. Villa's great, as per expectations. I'm a bit disappointed in my alma mater. William's great, but I think the team as a whole could've been better. Clayton A was good too, and B was as well.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Machina »

One word -- INTENSE.

Oakville, major congrats. You all are developing into a major competitor. In a way, your team structure reminds me of PCH in the last few years. All of you can contribute and have deep knowledge on a variety of topics. I had looked at your stats from Rolla last year, so I was expecting you all to be good this year. I wasn't expecting you to be this good! :P Fantastic job, and keep up the good work.

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by scphilli »

dividebyzero wrote:I don't write professionally. Maybe my points are a little unclear or some of the words I use are ambiguous enough to be misinterpreted. Constructive criticism is great, but please don't come paint me as being biased or not accepting the winners as accomplished.
Summary in the spirit of what I meant to say: Everyone did great. Congrats to the top teams. Work hard because the season is still open to everyone.
Please don't read too much into it.
I'm feeling a touch of deja vu, perhaps because I think I might have said almost verbatim something like this to Zhang on these boards, but as I am too lazy to look it up here is what I will say:

Always state the positive in public. Do not state extraneous comments that will be interpreted negatively. And as far as constructive criticism goes, that was my definition of that. Believe me, I've been a lot crankier at a lot less. Welcome to the big leagues kid;).

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by OakvilleHSCoach »

No offense taken by these comments. :)

I understand that most people would not expect a second year team to win a tournament. (Heck, most teams have never even heard of us!) I don't take that personally- it is unexpected for such a new team to do so well. As a coach, I can tell you that I was stunned by our performance at the tournament- we were up against some very competitive teams and I will agree that Villa Duchesne could have easily taken the tournament just as we had.

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Charlie Dees
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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Charlie Dees »

After a veritable comedy of errors involving my inability to get a hold of a Windows machine to run SQBS on, I finally have statistics!
Preliminary standings - http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings
Playoff standings - http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings
Combined statistics. Note that they do not actually reflect the true order of finish - http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by Machina »

Sabrina is incredibly pleased. :D

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Re: St. Louis University Academic Competition (10/30/2010)

Post by ZhangC1459 »

@Abdullah I have never posted such a terrible butchery of the English language on these boards, ever.

@Sean Yeah, you probably have. Please don't turn this into another Gibbs vs. Zahid case, though.

Veritable comedy of errors aside...

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