Okay, here we go. No puns, no jokes, just rankings.
10 additional teams to watch for, in alphabetical order: Darien A (CT), Detroit Catholic Central C (MI), Dunbar A (KY), Early College at Guilford A (NC), Edmond Memorial A (OK), Glasgow A (KY), Hannibal A (MO), Saratoga A (CA), St. Joseph A (IN), St. Thomas A (TX)
50. Culver A (IN)
49. Village A (TX)
48. Utica Academy A (MI)
47. Collins Hill A (GA)
46. Albemarle A (VA)
45. Sidney A (OH)
44. Hoover A (AL)
43. Thomas Jefferson A (VA)
42. Buchholz A (FL)
41. Flowery Branch A (GA)
40. Bethlehem A (NY)
39. Palo Alto A (CA)
38. Westminster A (GA)
37. Hunter A (NY)
36. Brookwood A (GA)
35. LASA B (TX)
34. Detroit Catholic Central B (MI)
33. Millburn A (NJ)
32. Quince Orchard A (MD)
31. Corona Del Sol A (AZ)
30. NCSSM A (NC)
29. East Brunswick A (NJ)
28. Arcadia A (CA)
27. IMSA A (IL)
26. Pikeville A (KY)
25. Fremd A (IL)
24. Hinsdale Central A (IL)
23. Alpharetta A (GA)
22. duPont Manual A (KY)
21. Copley A (OH)
20. Dorman A (SC)
19. Bloomington A (IL)
18. Hallsville A (MO)
17. University of Chicago Lab A (IL)
16. Montgomery Blair A (MD)
15. North Hollywood A (CA)
14. Harmony Science Academy – North Austin A (TX)
13. Wilmington Charter A (DE)
12. Auburn A (IL)
11. Colonel By A (ON)
10. Georgetown Day School A (DC)
9. Maggie Walker A (VA)
8. Centennial A (MD)
7. Bellarmine A (CA)
6. Detroit Catholic Central A (MI)
5. Farragut A (TN)
4. Richard Montgomery A (MD)
3. Northmont A (OH)
2. Western Albemarle A (VA)
1. LASA A (TX)
HSQBRank 
I feel as if Caleb Kendrick and Norman North (OK) should get a mention.
Ithaca A has an argument to at least make the honorable mention list here, as well, if not the actual top 50. Bethlehem’s Eric Wolfsberg is probably the best high school quizbowl player in New York State this year, with excellent support from Ben Weinstein, but Ithaca A has two sophomores, Casey Wetherbee and Daniel Xu, who are each probably about 90% as good as Eric and were both among the top 5 players at this year’s Kutztown ACE camp, another sophomore, Andrey Shakhyazadan, who was among the top 20 players at that camp, and a senior, Jesse Yuan, who was a solid contributor to Ithaca’s HSAPQ state championship team last year, and covers some current weak spots for the “super sophs” quite competently – science and trash. Bethlehem may be the preseason #1 in upstate NY, but if they are, Ithaca is certainly #1A. I actually think you could reach into a bag, pull out either team, and not go wrong either way. They’re that tightly matched.
I must admit my confusion as to Bethlehem’s inclusion on this list. We have attended exactly one all-subject tournament other than Masterminds, at which we went 3-6 (2-6 against teams that were present for longer than the final tossup) and placed 11th, causing us to be reasonably placed 185th, which increased to 180th by the beginning of summer for whatever reason. While I would say that I’ve improved to a significant degree over the summer, I don’t know whether my teammates have done the same, and you certainly don’t know, except perhaps through other people, how good qualitatively my teammates or I are. I’m not saying that our team is terrible, but that the ranking that we’ve been given doesn’t seem reasonable based off of our past tournament result. While I think that our team will be good this year, I think that you shouldn’t think that until tournament results start coming in.
Na, You’re at least that good. And I am not at all Biased 🙂
I’m With Scott. I would love to see the analysis on Bethlehem. It is true that there was no resistance to them winning the NYS Masterminds tournament, and they did beat St. Joes A at Prison Bowl; But, as my son mentions, you are not working with a whole lot of Data.
IMSA A is miles better than 27th. We won Earlybird just a few hours back (http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16259&sid=0bb289aa12d8f005feda93a664bab66b), going undefeated and defeating Hinsdale Central (24th), Bloomington (19th), UChicago Lab (17th), and finally Auburn (12th) in both the final playoff round and the advantaged final — without Waleed, our best history player. My past high school team, Barrington A (not ranked), has beaten all the teams mentioned above except Auburn A, and in addition has beaten Fremd A (25th). Your placement of Auburn A makes sense, but the rankings of all the other Illinois teams are inaccurate.
lol
With the graduation of Anton, the outside expectation was that any talent brought in to replace him shouldn’t be expected to fill those shoes immediately. Regardless, pre-season rankings are just a parlor game to spur discussion. If you feel slighted, feel free to use that as motivation to play even better.
Thank you, Mr. Price!