Nov 10

Cal Cup #1 Results and Analysis

Statistics from California Cup #1 can be found here (varsity) and here (junior varsity).

This write-up contains the top seven varsity teams and the junior varsity teams that placed within the top two brackets.

 

VARSITY:

1st place – Bellarmine A (PACE NSC qualification)

Going undefeated in their first tournament of the season, all-senior Bellarmine A shows that they are once more a force to be reckoned with. Jarek Jankowski and Alejandro Buendia led the team, both sitting at 61.11 PPG and tying for 4th scorer, with 6th scorer Jonchee Kao following closely at 56.25 PPG. Missing their usual fourth player Abhishek Aditham, the team wasn’t at their full balanced strength but still had no problem hitting a PPB of 23.85 and sweeping the tournament. Their closest game of the day was a 365-335 win over “Guilder” A, but this was likely more due to Jarek sitting out half the game than any other factor. Their ability to power 10 tossups in six of their 11 rounds and almost doubling their gets in powers (94/50) reaffirms the likelihood of Bellarmine A winning the varsity Cal Cup series again barring serious improvement by players on Saratoga or other potential challengers.

 

2nd place – Saratoga (PACE NSC qualification)

Bruce Lou takes first scorer in his first tournament of the season with 117.27 PPG, leading his team to a 9-2 record with losses only to Bellarmine A. While Bruce himself is enough to easily take the team to second place, without more support from teammates, he wasn’t able to defeat a partial Bellarmine A (their two rounds ending 330-405 and 230-490), much less a full-strength team.  Saratoga’s PPB was solid at 23.19 and, with less than a neg per game, they shouldn’t have any trouble taking second at any tournament, but it will take some serious work if they want to do any better.

 

3rd place – Dougherty Valley (formerly “Haarlem”) A (PACE NSC qualification)

Dougherty Valley’s first foray into a varsity tournament ends with them placing higher than expected, even missing two of their regular players. Senior Eric Chen takes tournament second scorer at 67.5 PPG and with main support senior Cody Zeng (8th scorer at 42 PPG) gets the team to a very solid 22.66 PPB. Unlike the two teams they placed below, they were unable to get more powers than gets, but only by a little (53/56), and they also beat “Guilder” A by a much larger margin than Bellarmine A (450-275 to 365-335). Ultimately, they upset both “Guilder” A and Palo Alto A (320-290) and placed significantly higher than would’ve been predicted, and it will be interesting to see if they are able to maintain or improve their performance.

 

4th place – “Guilder” A

“Guilder” A shows that they are capable of scaling up to a varsity level, although they certainly have work to do before they can compete against any of the three above teams. They had the tournament’s 4th best PPB at 21.93 but also dropped games to five teams (although four of those were relatively close). Senior Karthik Srivatsan (9th scorer at 41 PPG) and sophomore William Scott (37.5 PPG) once again led the team, this time with the support of senior Alex Lei (30.5 PPG). They were also able to come close to getting the same numbers of powers and gets (52/57), but had neg numbers like those of Bellarmine A and Dougherty Valley A, which they weren’t able to support without getting more tossups. “Guilder” A actually outscored Dougherty Valley A and would’ve had more raw points (excluding bonuses) had they not gotten two more negs, which could indicate a possibility of an upset of the Cal Cup #1 Dougherty Valley A team that may or may not carry over to the team at full-strength.

 

5th place – “Escobar” A

“Escobar” A finishes with the same record as “Guilder” A and Palo Alto A (5-5) led by 3rd scorer Kelvin Lu (66.5 PPG, also highest negs at 16) but had a two point drop in PPB from the team above (19.6). They will definitely need to work on their negs (tournament highest at 24), but they were also able to get more powers than gets (59/42), which shows a good depth of knowledge. With further development of supports Karthik Bharathala (29 PPG) and sophomore Anup Hiremath (14 PPG), there might be some “Guilder” A upsets in the team’s future.

 

6th place – Palo Alto A

Palo Alto A puts up a surprising finish, going just 5-5 with losses to every team placing above them, with the exception of “Guilder” A (305-260 victory), instead losing 250-300 to “Guilder” B. Junior Trevor Filseth has improved the most since Cal Cup #4 (17.5 PPG to tournament 10th at 41), followed closely by last year’s lead scorer senior Max Krawczyk (30 PPG at Cal Cup #4 to tournament 11th at 39). Their PPB was good at 21.18 and with some work, they stand a chance at upsetting “Escobar” A at some point.

 

7th place – Davis A

Davis A makes their debut in a varsity field, finishing 4-6 with a PPB of 20.1. Junior Anthony DiCarlo leads his team once more with 35 PPG while the rest of his teammates hover in the mid-twenties. They’ll definitely need some work on scaling up in difficulty and facing intense competitors but they can still hold their own against mid-level competitors like “Escobar” A, Palo Alto A, and “Guilder” A, who they narrowly defeated 290-270. I’d expect some shuffling among Davis A and the three teams above them, but they aren’t likely to place much higher without serious improvement.

 

 

JUNIOR VARSITY:

1st place – Chinese Christian A

Sophomore Benson Yi doesn’t lead in scoring for the first time this season, taking second at 106.67 PPG, but he does lead his team to an impressive undefeated finish supported by senior Calvin Chiu, who finishes as 6th scorer at 60.56 PPG. Not once did their opponents manage to score any higher than 250 points on them and their closest game was a 345-250 victory over Bellarmine B. Even more impressive, they managed to power 14 tossups and answer three others in their game against Leland A, and both Benson and Calvin managed to get more powers than 10s in every game they played (overall they nearly doubled their gets in powers [81/49]). This, combined with a PPB of 23.77, indicates very strongly that Chinese Christian A will also be following “Guilder” A and Davis A and making the transition to varsity, where it has yet to be seen how well they will scale up, but will likely perform at the same level or slightly below as the aforementioned teams.

 

2nd place – Bellarmine B

Bellarmine B finishes 8-2, dropping games to Davis B (305-360) and Chinese Christian A and hitting a respectable PPB of 21.64. They show potential to be as balanced as Bellarmine A, with tournament 9th scorer Kevin Chang at 55 PPG and followed by freshman Atul Saha (41.5) and Hieu Nguyen (29.5). While they are definitely competitive, there was a clear gap between their statistics and Chinese Christian A’s, especially in their overall PPG (374.5 to Chinese Christian A’s 522.2). Bellarmine B was also missing Kevin for the last two games, in which the points they scored dramatically decreased. There’s a chance that they could’ve beaten Chinese Christian in their last round had they been at full strength, give how close the game was (250-345). However, once Chinese Christian A moves to varsity, Bellarmine B will almost definitely lead JV fields unless Davis B and Valley Christian improve.

 

3rd place – Davis B

Davis B also finished with a record of 8-2, dropping their only games to “Escobar” B (270-250) and Bellarmine B (close half-packet game at 105-190). Sophomore Eliot Williams once more leads the team as the tournament’s 5th scorer at 63 PPG, supported by two teammates in the mid-20s. They have a solid PPB of 21.36 and with some serious work might manage to upset Bellarmine B at some point in the season.

 

4th place – Valley Christian

Sophomore Omeed Askary leads his team as usual, this time with 54.38 PPG as the tournament’s 10th scorer, closely followed by sophomores Andrew Rao (41.67) and Dhilip Raman (31.67). They had a higher PPB than Bellarmine B (21.75), but they also had more negs than either of the first or second place teams, which is a problem they’ll have to work on. Their loss to Davis B was their one of their closest of the day (255-300, opposite of their win over Dougherty Valley D) and they also out-performed Davis B on bonuses, which may forecast some shuffling between the two teams in future events.

 

Thanks from the NCQBA to all those who played and staffed the largest tournament in Bay Area history!

Oct 29

East Bay Novice 2014 Results and Analysis

Statistics from East Bay Novice can be found here.

This write-up only focuses on teams that placed within the top two brackets.

 

 

1st place – College Preparatory School

College Prep lost their only game of the day by just 25 points to Davis A to finish 9-1 in first place at East Bay Novice, led by seniorAndrew Vaughn (tournament top scorer at 84.5 PPG). For most rounds, they kept their opponents below 230 points, the only exception being Davis C’s 295 to their 335. College Prep attended just NAPOLEON last year and returns only one player, so this team is essentially new to the game, and therefore managed a pretty great PPB of 21.67. With further development of the team and Andrew’s strongest support junior Nikhil Pandit (28.5 PPG), the team could give a pretty strong performance even at varsity levels.

 

2nd place – Albany A

Led by 60.5 PPG sophomore Andrew Liu, Albany had one of the highest number of powers in the tournament (second highest at 43), but they also had the highest number of negs (28 to Davis E’s 24), which they’ll need to work on. Their bonus conversion is good for a JV team, with five rounds above 22 PPB. Albany appears to have somewhat recovered from the loss of their top players of last year, although they likely won’t be competitive on a varsity level for at least a season, unless the rest of the team (particularly senior Sean Lin [26.5 PPG]) improves very quickly.

 

3rd place – Moreau Catholic A

Moreau Catholic returns its entire A team, seeing improvement all around but largely from tournament fourth-scorer sophomore Varun Mahadevan (29 PPG at Norcal State to 68.89). His primary support is from junior Omkar Salpekar (39.44 PPG) and they can put up an average of 370.6 PPG (second to College Prep’s 376), so they stand a good chance of being a formidable team through the next few seasons.

 

BRACKET 1 4th – Davis A

Tournament 8th scorer junior Henry Zhang (50 PPG) leads usually-Davis B to a 5-4 finish with 16.46 PPB, down two points from their performance at Sacramento Fall. The team is well balanced (with Bijan Varjavand and Valentin Poliakov at 25.56 and 21.67 PPG, respectively), but they’ll have to work on their bonus conversion in order to be really competitive.

 

BRACKET 1 5th – “Haarlem” A

Led by junior Victor Chan (tournament 6th scorer at 52.35 PPG) and lacking all of their regular A team players, “Haarlem” A finishes with a 5-4 record and a PPB of 15.51. With some PPB improvement, they could have decent finishes at future JV events.

 

BRACKET 1 6th – Davis C

Davis C finishes with a PPB of 17.44, which was the highest of any team in Davis’s remarkably deep bench (six teams without their usual A). While they didn’t return their lead scorer from Sacramento Fall (Eliot Williams) – or actually any of their team from that tournament – they were well balanced and show potential.

 

BRACKET 2 1st – Chinese Christian B

Led by tournament second scorer senior Calvin Chiu (81.11 PPG), Chinese Christian B finishes with just three losses (to Albany B, College Prep, and Davis A) and a PPB of 17.87 – nearly double that of their A team. It would be interesting to see Calvin and Benson play together and it’s likely they would do solidly at a varsity level. However, the team as it stands currently but without Calvin would have a long way to go to be competitive.

 

BRACKET 2 2nd – Challenger-Ardenwood

A team of 7th graders led by power duo Anuj Kothari (tournament 11th, 45 PPG) and Aayush Singh (41.67 PPG), Challenger-Ardenwood finished with a PPB of 15.19 and the tournament’s third highest gets-per-neg ratio. Expect great things from both Anuj (legacy of Bellarmine/Berkeley’s Tanay Kothari) and Aayush as they gain additional experience.

 

BRACKET 2 3rd – “Haarlem” B

“Haarlem”’s second team in the top twelve finished 5-4 with a commendable PPB of 17.22. Freshman Simon Han (tournament 10th, 46.67 PPG) leads a fairly well-balanced team that could do well at the JV level with development over the rest of the season.

 

BRACKET 2 4th – Moreau Catholic B

Moreau Catholic also managed to get a second team into the top twelve, this one under tournament 9th scorer sophomore Abhi Mandalam (48.89 PPG). They definitely have some work to do when it comes to bonus conversion (lowest in their bracket at 10.83), which we will hopefully see in time.

 

BRACKET 2 5th – Davis B

Composed of players from Sacramento Fall’s C team, each of the players saw their PPGs rise, likely as a result of being a three-man team and not having to deal with Eliot’s rain shadow. Their PPB hit 15 at their best but averaged around 12.42, indicating a need for further development before this team could really be competitive.

 

BRACKET 2 6th – Davis E

Davis’s fourth team in the top twelve maintained a PPB of 12.39 but managed to hit a strong 18.57 during their round against Albany A. They had nearly double the negs of the next team in their bracket (24 to Davis B’s 14), largely from lead scorer freshman Ethan Skinner (tournament 7th at 51.11 PPG), but they also managed more powers and gets than Davis B and would’ve had more points from tossups if they didn’t have ten more negs.

 

And of course, another thank you from the NCQBA for those staffing or playing at this half of the largest single-day field in the Bay Area.

Oct 09

Palo Alto Novice 2014 Results and Analysis

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!

Sep 24

California Cup Announcement

The announcement for the 2014-2015 California Cup is now on the forums and is reproduced below:

The Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance and Quiz Bowl Club at UC Berkeley are pleased to announce that we will be holding the third annual California Cup. The California Cup consists of four quiz bowl tournaments held throughout the year, and it is widely considered the premier academic competition event in Northern California. The first two tournaments in the series will be held on Saturday, November 1 and Saturday, November 22. The dates for the two events in the Spring are yet to be confirmed and will be announced during the winter.

We hope to attract many teams from across the state and elsewhere. We have previously attracted teams from as far away as Southern California and Mississippi. As we have in the past, we will guarantee teams a high number of games (8 or more) per tournament and ensure that teams are able to play others of the same skill level after preliminary placement rounds.

The top teams at each tournament will qualify for the 2015 PACE National Scholastics Championship (NSC; http://www.pace-nsc.org/nsc-2015/), which will be held June 6-7 at the Reston Hyatt in Reston, Virginia. Additionally, teams that perform well on NAQT sets during the California Cup will qualify for the 2015 High School National Championship Tournament (HSNCT;https://www.naqt.com/hsnct/2015/details.html), held May 29-31 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare hotel in Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago). California Cup tournaments have historically held the highest possible certification from PACE (platinum). Teams that do well at the non-NAQT California Cup competitions can also apply for wildcards to HSNCT, and many have received them. The likelihood is that, for California Cup #1, we will use the Maryland Spring Set for varsity and the Fall Kickoff Tournament set for JV, while California Cup #2 will use NAQT sets appropriate for the varsity and junior varsity divisions. California Cup #3 and #4, while not scheduled yet, will likely use the Brookwood Invitational Scholars Bowl (BISB) and Yale’s Bulldog High School Academic Tournament (BHSAT), respectively, for both divisions.

Registration

Teams may choose to register separately for each tournament within the series, though we recommend registering for all four tournaments at once (the “package”), which ensures a significant discount. We will split the field into junior varsity and varsity divisions and evaluate each separately. After the cup results are tallied, we will crown a California Cup (NorCal) state champion! There will be book prizes and gift cards for the highest-performing teams and individual scorers at each tournament, and other prizes are in store for the top California Cup teams. When calculating final Cup standings, we will count the top three performances by each team, allowing teams to account for extenuating circumstances at one tournament (either a lower-than-expected performance or non-attendance). Only teams that register for the entire series of tournaments will be eligible for the title as well as prizes at the end. With four guaranteed tournaments and plenty of gameplay, this series will offer the best prizes, greatest value, and most national qualification opportunities available anywhere in the country!

Entry Fees:
Base fee per team for package of all four tournaments (paying by cash or check): $270
Base fee per team for package of all four tournaments (paying via Square–how to do this will be explained later): $260
If your school played zero Cal Cup events last year (i.e. new team discount): -$70
Referral discount: An established team can pay the new team price if they refer a previously non quiz bowl-playing school to the California Cup and that school ends up purchasing the package. This will be -$25 if that new school only ends up purchasing a single tournament.
Buzzer discount: -$10 per tournament (We will test buzzers and NOT accept them if they do not have four fully functioning units on each “side,” so do not try to claim discounts on buzzers that are not in full working order. Also, PLEASE LABEL your buzzers with your school/team name so that you can promptly pick them up at the tournament’s conclusion. We will require that the buzzer boxes be labeled for this purpose. Lastly, we will no longer accept buzzers that require a laptop to operate unless we really need them.)
Staff discount: -$10 per tournament for experienced, competent moderator (if needed)
-$5 per tournament for scorekeeper
Travel discount: -$20 per 75 miles one-way (determined by Google Maps)
Registering for a single tournament: $90
New school registering for a single tournament: $65
Minimum entry fee: $20 per tournament

*Buzzers and staff discounts apply on an as-needed, first-come, first-serve basis. When registering, please detail how many staff and/or buzzers you may be able to bring. As the tournament approaches, we will let you know whether they are needed or not. Payment will be taken either online via Square or at registration; please make checks payable to “Quiz Bowl Club”. Note that discounts for future tournaments will NOT be given at any particular tournament. What this means is that if, for example, at the first tournament you claim a buzzer discount for all four tournaments, you must still pay as if you only claimed it for one tournament. Then, for each subsequent tournament in which you actually bring the buzzer, we will refund you $10 in cash. The same goes for the staffer discount. The entire distance discount may be claimed at the first tournament, though (that is, teams more than 75 miles away from UC Berkeley will pay $80 less).

We are setting a field cap of 40 teams (overall, not per division). Schools may register multiple teams–there is no limit. We might be able to expand if there is enough interest, but until that point, we will accept teams on a first-come, first-serve basis. Fields can fill fast, so sign up soon to reserve your slot! To register, please fill out this Google Form:
https://docs.google.com/a/berkeley.edu/ … A/viewform
The registration deadline for Cal Cup #1 is Wednesday, October 29. Please bring the cash or check for full payment of the series of tournaments to the first tournament unless you are paying via Square. You can still pay the base fee for three tournaments if you register by the second tournament.

Scoring and Gameplay

The California Cup assigns points to schools based on their performance at the tournaments that take place throughout the year. We have decided to adopt the following scoring system: 10 points for 1st place, 8 points for 2nd place, 6 points for 3rd place, 4 points for 4th place, 3 points for 5th place, 2 points for 6th place, and 1 point for 7th place. Since the scoring automatically drops the lowest result of a team, only three of the tournaments will end up counting in the final evaluation of a team’s standing. Of course, attending all four tournaments will ensure that your team’s worst performance is disregarded. This means, for example, if a team wins the first three California Cup tournaments, they will be declared the California Cup champion for that division. If a team that does not purchase the full package ends up placing high enough on the scoring system, then we will simply skip them in the California Cup overall ranking (but they will still retain their ranking for that individual tournament). At the end of the year, we will break ties by evaluating (1) the performance in the 4th tournament and (2) statistics from each team’s performances throughout the year. We will maintain separate standings for JV and Varsity teams.

We will enforce all the gameplay rules as they are written in Sections D-H of the official rules of the Academic Competition Federation (http://acf-quizbowl.com/documents/official-acf-rules/), so all players must fully familiarize themselves with these rules before playing these tournaments. If you are having trouble remember them, we recommend you print out a copy and refresh your memory immediately prior to the tournament. Pay special attention to timing, pronunciation, and protest guidelines, as players often lose out on points by not knowing these. You can find out more about what quiz bowl is here: (https://www.norcalquizbowl.org/?page_id=18) and you can find more quiz bowl-pertinent resources here (https://www.norcalquizbowl.org/?page_id=51). Teams that owe the Berkeley club money from last year must reimburse us before paying for this tournament.

Contact Information

Thank you for your interest, and please spread the word to other high schools that are interested in quiz bowl or are heavily involved in other academic events like debate, AcaDeca, or Science Bowl. We look forward to another exciting year of academic competition!

Please contact us at californiacupquizbowl@gmail.com with any questions that you have or to register. There will be a section on the NCQBA website (https://www.norcalquizbowl.org/) specifically devoted to the California Cup as well.

Field (Nov 1):
Varsity:

JV:

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 California Cup and takes full responsibility for the guests.

Sep 14

Sacramento Fall 2014 Results and Analysis

Statistics from Sacramento Fall 2014 can be found here.

This write-up only focuses on teams that placed 1st-9th out of the 14 that attended.

1st place – Davis A (HSNCT and NSC qualification)

Junior Anthony DiCarlo (54.38 ppg) leads a team of ex-B players, following Davis’s graduation of their entire A team. He has strong support, with his teammates Jayanth Sundaresan (senior), Teddy Knox (junior), and Alex Chen (senior) scoring 43.75, 34.38, and 22.5 ppg, respectively. With a PPB of 23.02, they led the field, with the closest competitor sitting at 19.46 (Valley Christian A), and the same goes for powers (54 to Chinese Christian’s 34). They shut down Chinese Christian both times they played, winning first 445-75 and again 440-170. Overall, Davis A put on a strong opening performance that should be a launching point for the rest of the season.

 

2nd place – Chinese Christian (HSNCT and NSC qualification)

Sophomore Benson Yi makes his expected big entrance for the circuit, leading both his team and the tournament in scoring (106.1 ppg), although that alone isn’t good enough to carry him to victory against major competitor Davis A. As he expands his knowledge (especially science), he has potential to go the way of Hidehiro Anto, but he’ll need to work on his bonus conversion (16.7) and would do well to find some teammates to support him.

 

3rd place – Valley Christian (HSNCT and NSC qualification)

Sophomore Omeed Askary doesn’t disappoint, taking 2nd place scorer at 61.8 ppg and leading his team to a commendable finish, mainly supported by Andrew Rao (43.1 ppg). They need some work on their bonus conversion (19.46), but it was still second-best in the field. They also very narrowly lost to both Chinese Christian (220-290) and Davis A (285-215), indicating potential for an upset at some point in the season, especially if Omeed and Andrew improve.

 

4th place – Rio Americano

Rio Americano competed in just a few tournaments last year, with no remarkable performances, but they appear to have brought an almost entirely new team this year led by Jonathan Gutmann (47.5 ppg). They have good history/geography knowledge from the part of the round I saw, but also need to work on their bonuses (18.62). They look like they might have potential to finally give Davis some healthy competition in the Sacramento area, although there doesn’t appear to be any possibility of upset.

 

5th place – Davis B

Led by junior Henry Zhang (56.25 ppg), they have a PPB just under that of Rio Americano (18.25) and lost only 200-295 to them. If Kap Pandey (15 ppg) and Bijan Varjavand (20.62 ppg) improve, they could displace Rio Americano as 4th best in the Sacramento area.

 

6th place – Northgate

Northgate went a commendable 5-3 in their first ever quiz bowl tournament. Josh Quiambao (45.7 ppg) leads a team with great history/current events knowledge, but almost no science. With a PPB of 17.4, they could be a formidable team with some development.

 

7th place – Davis C

Commendable as a C team with a 17.2 PPB, they also claim the tournament’s 3rd-best scorer, sophomore Eliot Williams (60.6 ppg), who has potential to lead the B and eventually A teams during the next few seasons.

 

8th place – “Haarlem”

Sent a team of entirely freshmen who went a decent 3-5. Lead scorer Simon Han (45.6 ppg) shows potential in the JV circuit this year, and definitely in varsity over the next few seasons.

 

9th place – Folsom

Another team that made their quiz bowl debut and went a respectable 4-4. They had a decent PPB of 17.29 and lead scorer Ryan Lu (51.8 ppg) is supported by Danny Yang (35.6 ppg) and two 13 ppg teammates. They showed some strong base knowledge and could become quite good with development.

 

From all of us at NCQBA, thanks for helping make this one of the largest tournaments in Sacramento quiz bowl history. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

Sep 10

2014-2015 Season Preview and Cal Cup #1 Predictions

TEAMS EXPECTED TO BE GOOD:

Saratoga – dark horse that finished 4th in the top bracket of their last quiz bowl tournament (BELLOCO) with Bruce Lou leading both his team and the tournament in scoring (78ppg). Bruce also led his team to a second-place finish at the National History Bowl tournament this year and has been studying since leading Team California at NASAT this summer (30ppg) and is expected to carry the team to first in the circuit.

 

Bellarmine – loses Sameer Rai but shouldn’t see too much of an impact on their performance due to his lack of activity in the high school circuit last year. Retains a strong A team capable of winning NorCal State 2014. Last recorded at 51ppg (NorCal State), Jarek Jankowski is expected to lead a well-balanced team to second in the circuit. Expect strong performance from their B team if Bryant Cong (47.5 ppg, Cal Cup #4) isn’t moved to A.

 

Palo Alto – retains a strong A team capable of achieving third in the circuit, dependent not only on how much they’ve improved but also on how much “Guilder” has improved.

 

“Guilder” – graduated all of their A team but last had strong new player Karthik Srivatsan leading the non-senior team at the last JV Cal Cup (69.5 ppg) and putting up decent points (35 ppg) while playing with now-graduated lead player Niki Peters at Napoleon.  Depending on how much studying the A team has done this summer, they could displace Palo Alto as third best, but will likely sit at a comfortable fourth.

 

TEAMS EXPECTED TO BE DECENT:

Davis – graduated their A team but should not be left too undeveloped. B team managed to beat the A team once (NorCal State) but may or may not have been a fluke. Should have solid performance for this season, with a large program and a good chance of getting stronger next year.

 

Amador Valley – graduated top scorer Jerry Li, but retains a team of solid now-juniors who should be able to keep their team afloat.

 

“Haarlem” – retains top scorer Eric Chen (53.5 ppg, NorCal State 2014), if he and a teammate or two have improved over the summer, expect some solid finishes through this season and the next.

 

TEAMS TO WATCH OUT FOR:

Valley Christian – retains all notable players and stands a good chance of finishing solidly led by sophomore Omeed Askary who rapidly improved throughout the last season (finishing with 49 ppg, NorCal State) and is expected to continue on that path.

 

Chinese Christian High School – new team gaining Benson Yi formerly of Albany, who put up decent points at last month’s VCU Open (8.5 ppg) and led his team at NorCal State 2014 (47.5 ppg). Expect decent performance under Benson while they develop.

 

TEAMS THAT NEED TO REBUILD:

Menlo – graduated 138 ppg (NorCal State) player Hidehiro Anto, nothing remarkable expected for a season or two.

 

Mira Loma – loses seniors and top scorers Yash Farooqui (37.5 ppg, NorCal State 2014), Hoon Min (47.5 ppg Cal Cup #4), Matt Kempster (32.5 ppg, Cal Cup #4), and Jared Sun (32.5 ppg, Sacramento Winter). Retains Yoon Min as expected lead scorer (53.33 ppg at Sacramento Fall 2013 and 10 ppg at Cal Cup #4).

 

Foothill – loses NASAT Team California player Bryce Hwang from a purportedly dead program, will need time to rebuild if they will be able to at all.

 

Albany – loses top scorer Benson Yi to CCHS and graduates second- and third-best Lucas Kampmann (43 ppg, NorCal State 2014) and Catheryn Li (14 ppg at NorCal State 2014).

 

Cal Cup #1 Predictions:

Varsity – (1) Saratoga, (2) Bellarmine A, (3) Palo Alto

Junior Varsity – (1) Davis, (2) Chinese Christian, (3) Valley Christian

Sep 09

Stratford Santa Clara Invitational: December 13, 2014

The Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance and the Stratford School are pleased to announce that Stratford will host its third annual middle school quizbowl tournament on Saturday, December 13, 2014.

Location: This tournament will take place at Stratford Schools Santa Clara, 890 Pomeroy Avenue, Santa Clara, California.

Questions: We will be using NAQT Middle School Series #11. (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: $60 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 December 13th. 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, December 8th, indicating how many teams, buzzers, and staff your school plans to bring.

Sep 05

East Bay novice tournament: October 4, 2014

The Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance is pleased to announce that our Bay Area season for 2014-15 will begin with two new kickoff tournaments specifically intended for players new to quizbowl. Both UC Berkeley and Palo Alto will be hosting on Saturday, October 4, using NAQT’s Invitational Series #139A; please sign up for the site most convenient to your school.

(Bellarmine College Prep’s long-running novice event will take place later this year; expect a mid-January date for that tournament.)

Here’s East Bay’s announcement (cross-posted on behalf of Varun Govil from Amador Valley):

AVHS Quizbowl and DVHS Quizbowl are proud to announce that we will be hosting a Novice Tournament on October 4, 2014 at UC Berkeley! The purpose of this tournament is to encourage new teams from around the Bay Area to come and experience the feel of a trivia competition that is among the most enriching and fun activities that high schools can offer. The tournament will be run in order to provide an introduction for newcomers. 

The tournament set will be National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ (NAQT) Invitational Series 139-A, which is aimed at teams with little to no experience. We have rented out space for a field cap of 30 teams (15 rooms) and strongly encourage all eligible teams to sign up! All players/teams will be eligible, except for those who have played at any national quiz bowl tournaments (HSNCT/PACE NSC). Please be aware that the majority of teams will be teams with new players.

Tournament Logistics: The tournament will be held at UC Berkeley 

We project that the tournament will run from 9 until about 4:30pm, with a break for lunch in between. Depending on the number of teams who register, we will change the format of our brackets and further decisions for number of rounds played will be determined within a week or so (we hope to get 8 rounds or so). Registration opens at 8 30 and includes an introduction for novices covering basic rules and guidelines, and we hope to begin by 9 am. For lunch, we will be ordering pizza. 

Fees
base fee: $50 per team
–$5 for all additional teams from the same school
–$20 for teams from new schools 
–$10 per working buzzer 
–$10 per staffer (must stay whole day)
For payment, please bring cash or checks made out to the Quiz Bowl Club at UC Berkeley.

We urge teams attending to bring buzzers and staffers if available. We will enforce all the gameplay rules as they are written in Sections D-H of the official rules of the Academic Competition Federation, so all players must fully familiarize themselves with these rules before proceeding. Pay special attention to timing, pronunciation, and protest guidelines.

Registration: email me (Varun Govil, varun28.govil@gmail.com) before Tuesday, September 30th, 2014 with the proper information (team name, roster, how many teams, number of buzzers/staffers to be brought, the amount to be paid, and contact info). 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sep 05

Palo Alto novice tournament: October 4, 2014

Cross-posting on behalf of Max Krawczyk from Palo Alto quizbowl:

 

The Palo Alto Quiz Bowl Team will be hosting a novice quiz bowl tournament on October 4th, 2014 at Palo Alto High School, in Palo Alto, CA! The tournament will be run in order to provide an introduction into quiz bowl without any prior experience necessary and to demonstrate what a truly fun activity quiz bowl is! We highly encourage teams from around the Bay Area to come. 

The tournament set will be National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ (NAQT) Invitational Series 139-A, which is aimed at teams with little to no experience. We have rented out space for a field cap of 30 teams (15 rooms) and strongly encourage all eligible teams to sign up! All players/teams will be eligible, except for those who have played at any national quiz bowl tournaments (HSNCT/PACE NSC). Teams will be restricted to at most 6 players, with 4 players playing at any given time and 2 on the bench. Please be aware that the majority of teams will be teams with new players.

Tournament Logistics: The tournament will be held at Palo Alto High School at 50 Embarcadero Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94303 in the second floor of the 800 building, in rooms 850-864, located at the northeast of the campus near the train tracks. The control room will be in 850. Here’s a printable map of the Palo Alto campus.

We project that the tournament will run from 9 until about 4:30pm, with a break for lunch in between. Depending on the number of teams who register, we will change the format of our brackets; however, we will try to get all teams to be able to play at least 8 rounds of quiz bowl throughout the day, either in a round robin or some other format. During lunch, there are many wonderful locations across the street from Paly at the Town and Country Village for food options.

On the day of the tournament, please report to the control room (850) by 8:30am. We will have a brief introduction to quiz bowl for novices, and we plan to begin the first round by 9:00.

Fees
base fee: $50 per team
–$5 for all additional teams from the same school
–$20 for teams composed entirely of students that have not competed at a pyramidal quiz bowl tournament before the 2014-15 school year: “pyramidal quiz bowl” does not encompass other academic/trivia competitions like Science Bowl or Quiz Kids
–$10 per working buzzer 
–$10 per staffer (must stay whole day)
For payment, please bring cash or checks made out to Palo Alto High School.


We urge teams attending to bring buzzers and staffers if available. Though we do not expect that teams have played tournaments previously, we will enforce all the gameplay rules as they are written in Sections D-H of the official rules of the Academic Competition Federation, so all players must fully familiarize themselves with these rules before proceeding. Pay special attention to timing, pronunciation, and protest guidelines.

Registration: email me (Max Krawczyk, max.j.krawczyk@gmail.com) before Tuesday, September 30th, 2014 with the proper information (team name, roster, how many teams, number of buzzers/staffers to be brought, the amount to be paid, and contact info). 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sep 05

Sacramento Fall Tournament: September 13, 2014

NCQBA and Rio Americano HS are pleased to announce that the Sacramento Fall Tournament will be held on Saturday, September 13, 2014.

Location: This tournament will take place at Rio Americano HS, Sacramento, California. Registration will begin at 9:30AM and we hope to start round 1 at 10:00AM. We will have a field cap of 12 teams.

Questions: We will be using NAQT IS-137A.

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: $65 per team

-$10 second or subsequent team from the same school

-$15 schools playing their first quizbowl tournament

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

-$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 September 13. Please make checks out to Rio Americano HS.

How to register: fill out this form, on or before Wednesday, September 10, 2014, indicating how many teams, buzzers, and staff your school plans to bring.