Statistics from Palo Alto Novice can be found here.
This write-up only focuses on teams that placed within the top half of the brackets.
1st place – “Guilder” A
Still in the first year of their existence, “Guilder” A doesn’t disappoint, led by senior Karthik Srivatsan (4th best overall with 78.3 PPG) to an undefeated win in their first tournament of the season with strong support, especially from sophomores William Scott (10th best overall with an impressive 21/21/0 statline) and Brandon Herren (58.33 and 28.89 PPG, respectively). Aside from a commendable 24.21 PPB (next best Saratoga 21.19), they notably led the tournament in powers (68 to Saratoga’s 39) and moreover had more powers than gets (68 to 65) and averaged just over a neg per game. Normally, I’d predict a former-Davis-A-esque performance for the rest of the season, but this will be “Guilder” A’s last appearance in a novice tournament and they will be competing varsity for the remainder of their tournaments. It remains to be seen how they will scale up, but a full-strength A team could expect top 5 finishes in almost any regular tournament.
2nd place – “Escobar” A
“Escobar” A was one of the most balanced teams at the tournament with three players in the 30-40 PPG range. The all-sophomore team put up about 400 points per game (except their loss 150-475 to “Guilder” A) and a PPB of 21.06, just short of second-best. The development of the team over the next few years could see “Escobar” A becoming a strong varsity challenger.
3rd place – Saratoga
Saratoga proves to be a formidable team without senior Bruce Lou at the helm, losing their only two games of the day to “Guilder”s A (315-360) and B (335-230) and achieving the second-highest PPB at 21.19. Seniors Ethan Ngai (5th individual, 69.44 PPG) and Nitya Sampath (53.85 PPG) led a team that had an impressive six negs over nine games, nearly securing them a field-highest gets-per-neg of 16.83 (highest was “Teen Titans” B with a 3/20/1 statline) and actually getting them a field-highest powers-per-neg of 6.5 (next best “Guilder” A, 5.67). They will be playing future competitions as varsity when Bruce joins them.
4th place – Menlo-Atherton A
Menlo-Atherton’s A team features just one returning player, Griffin Kardos (18.57 PPG, BELLOCO) who led his team with 47.22 PPG. His team members were roughly balanced (31.67 and 24.44 PPG) but their PPB needs improvement (15.36). Their three-person B team is also worth a mention because of Mason Seymour, the tournament’s 6th scorer at 69.38 PPG, who will likely be playing in the future for what has the potential to be an extremely well-balanced team.
BRACKET TWO 1st – Bellarmine A
Bellarmine A actually outscored Menlo-Atherton A in every way at this tournament, but unfortunately for them, that also included negs, which landed them in the second bracket, where they finished with the same record (6-3) as Cupertino. Usually the B team, they had a PPB of 20.06 and three players between 25-40 PPG, but lacked expected lead Bryant Cong. Once they get Bryant back and work on their negging problem (tournament highest 23), they’ll do solidly at a JV level.
BRACKET TWO 2nd – Cupertino
Cupertino finished tied with Bellarmine A at their first tournament ever, putting up a solid-for-their-experience 18.96 PPB under lead scorer and tournament second scorer sophomore Mihir Khambete (85 PPG). If Mihir and another teammate or two continue to improve as they gain experience, Cupertino could soon place high in JV events and perform strongly in varsity events.
BRACKET TWO 3rd – “Guilder” B
Led by tournament 7th scorer sophomore Tom Gabrielson (68.75 PPG) with strong support from junior Jessica Chen (39.38), “Guilder” B entered playoffs undefeated, including a victory over Saratoga by 105 points. Putting up a decent 19.94 PPB, they more notably nearly matched their numbers of powers and gets (38/41), coming the closest to “Guilder” A’s record of any other team at the tournament. If anything, Tom will have to work a little bit on his negs, but if he improves in other areas, the need may be offset. “Guilder” B will continue to play as JV and will likely finish solidly in future events.
BRACKET TWO 4th – Bellarmine B
All-freshmen Bellarmine B, led by 65 PPG Atul Saha, performed incredibly in the two matches I moderated, shutting down Menlo 425-0 and “Teen Titans” A 410-20. They have some gaps in their canonical knowledge, but they have quite a while to improve that and are starting in a great position, finishing the tournament with a commendable 16.52 PPB. Atul will definitely be a name to watch out for over the next few seasons, and the team has the potential to be a strong one in time.
BRACKET THREE 1st – Valley Christian A
Valley Christian A finishes 6-2 led as usual by sophomore Omeed Askary (3rd scorer, 79.38 PPG), but without his main support from Sacramento Fall, Andrew Rao. Their bonus conversion fell a little over a point to 18.26 since their last tournament, demonstrating once again that they still have some basics to work on. Omeed’s PPG has increased by about 20 since Sacramento Fall, but this is likely because of Andrew’s absence, so any sense of improvement will have to be gauged at a later time when both are playing again.
BRACKET THREE 2nd – Palo Alto
One-man (for the majority of the tournament) house team Haruhiko Kuramochi led the tournament in PPG, scoring 87.78, and finished with an impressive 6-3 record and 18.62 PPB. He notably lost to Leland by just 5 points and Valley Christian A by only 40, although he did allow Bellarmine A to score 440 on his 160 in their match. Once the rest of his team gets to play instead of staff/TD, Palo Alto will almost assuredly find themselves among the most competitive teams in the Bay Area.
BRACKET THREE 3rd – Leland
Going 4-4 in their first ever tournament, Leland could be a serious contender with some development. Interestingly, they had their two best players (Alex Luo 34.67 PPG and Clifford Zhang 31.82 PPG) switch in and out with each other, which I can only attribute to it being their first tournament, as they should definitely keep them both in all the time at their next competition. They’ve got to work on their bonus conversion (16.78) and also on their canon knowledge, but that’s a given for any new team and should be easily mended if they continue to recruit and develop.
BRACKET THREE 4th – Valley Christian B
Valley Christian’s B team went 3-5 at Palo Alto Novice, finishing with a PPB of 10.22. They need improvement to be competitive, but as a young B team they have time and certainly a good player to learn from in Omeed. Their two best players, sophomore Max Guo (28.12 PPG) and freshman Zachary Coleman (25 PPG) could be strong players in the next few years.
A big thank you from all of us at NCQBA for those who staffed or played at this half of the largest single-day field in the Bay Area!
