Here are the final two entries in our season preview. Plus, our season preview should be up on Labor Day at 8 a.m. See you then!

 

20. Detroit Catholic Central A (MI)
141. Detroit Catholic Central B (MI)
160. Detroit Catholic Central C (MI) – Well, this past year DCC was a team that rotated rosters more than often than Bill Nye’s head on the Youtube window of a nostalgic 90s kid. As best as I can figure it out: everyone returns. From every single DCC team listed above. DCC A will be a real title contender, DCC B might be the best B team in the country, and DCC C might be a top 50 team.

Expected season performance: Up

19. Farragut A (TN)
110. Farragut B (TN) – Everyone returns from Farragut B. Two players graduate from Farragut A, but they combined for 12.5 PPG at the Bobcat Challenge; contrast that with their other two players who combined for 134.37 at that same tournament. This is another potential title contender.

Expected season performance: Up

18. Carbondale A (IL) – Whew, finally, a team that doesn’t return all of its major scorers. Instead, they only return two of their three major scorers. That’ll teach ‘em.

While they do lose Prerak Trivedi, they retain James Zetterman and Mahir Morshed. I don’t think I’ll have them on the preseason 50 just because of concerns of the effects of losing Prerak, but with shadow effects, I would not be shocked for this to be a team that I vastly underrated.

Expected season performance: Down

17. Auburn A (IL) – Retaining their top three scorers, Rockburn’s finest should be a great position to make deep runs next year.

Expected season performance: Up

16. Oak Ridge A (TN) – Showing that playing a bunch of tournaments isn’t everything, Oak Ridge finished an impressive 23rd at NSC while only attending three regular season events. Unfortunately, they lose their main scorer from last year, so I’m certainly not expecting them to match their 2013-14 performances.

Expected season performance: Down

15. Richard Montgomery A (MD)
179. Richard Montgomery B (MD) – Of their eight best players from their best A & B team performances last year (avoiding overlap), RM returns seven of them. Their A team could very easily be better than it was last year, but I’ll play it a little conservatively and “only” say they could be around 15th next year. The B team could flirt with the top 100.

Expected season performance: Sideways (for A team)/Up (for B team)

14. St. Joseph A (NJ) – While St. Joseph had a great, they do lose their 100+ PPG scorer Jack. Without a nationally strong B team to draw from, I’m dubious about their approaching the top ten this year.

Expected season performance: Down

13. Chattahoochee A (GA) – With the loss of two major scorers last year and coach Elliott Rountree, it’s unclear just how they’ll do next year. But they do have enough players leftover to be capable of at least top 100 finishes next year.

Expected season performance: Down

12. Wilmington Charter A (DE)
56. Wilmington Charter B (DE) – Of their three major scorers from their A team last year, they only return one. But despite the loss of Naman and Jamie, they do get everyone back from their B team. They should be able to put in another season near the top 10 again.

Expected season performance: Sideways

11. Maggie Walker A (VA)
114. Maggie Walker B (VA) – Retaining top scorer from their A team, MW A does lose two solid secondary players. Everyone is back from the B team (2014-15 might as well be “The Year of Entire B Teams Returning to Haunt High School Quiz Bowl Again, So Prepare to be Tortured By the Collective Accumulated Strength of Previously Well Established Programs,” if you’re not into that whole brevity thing). I don’t know if they’ll improve on their performances, but they shouldn’t have a big problem with top 25 finishes.

Expected season performance: Sideways

10. Arcadia A (CA)
61. Arcadia B (CA)
130. Arcadia C (CA) – Their A & B teams both return three players and their C team returns two scorers. I’m hesitant to call them a top 10 team again, but they could easily have two teams in the top 50 by the end of the season.

Expected season performance: Down

9. Northmont A – When three players come back from your A team, that’s usually good. When one of them is Sam Blizzard, that’s definitely good. Just because of how stacked this year is, I don’t know if they’ll hit the top 5, but they should easily be top 10 again.

Expected season performance: Sideways

8. IMSA A (IL)
78. IMSA B (IL) – Okay, so this is the most complicated team in this preview. First, they lose their coach Dr. Prince; then, there are whispers that there won’t be a replacement or a team next year. But they return two scorers from their A team and all of their B team, plus they pull in name from Barrington. Plus, the truest representation of their B team is one that would not have been strong enough to make the top 200 last year.

I can’t foresee if teams cease playing quiz bowl; I certainly would hope that’s not the case with IMSA. If they do play, though, I would expect both teams to play very well. B should be top 150 again, at least. A could be top 25, but getting definitive at this point with all the question marks is a fool’s errand.

Expected season performance: Sideways

7. Western Albemarle A (VA) – See Eric Xu buzz. See Eric Xu power. See Eric Xu guide WAHS to 2nd at NSC and 4th(?) at HSNCT. See Eric Xu return for next season. Eric Xu good.

Expected season performance: Sideways

6. Dorman A (SC)
69. Dorman B (SC)
144. Dorman C (SC) – Okay, so. Let’s go through this.

A team: everyone graduated. That’s easy. Got it.

C team: everyone’s back. That’s also easy. Okay.

B team: 3 of top 4 return, 3rd scorer graduates (but that player managed 33 PPG at Collins Hill).

They should have at least one top 50 team next year, possibly two. If I had to guess, they won’t reach the top 10 this season, but should have a real great season all the same.

Expected season performance: Down

4. High Tech A (NJ)
80. High Tech B (NJ) – After writing all of these previews where teams have everyone coming back, it’s weird to come across one that loses a bunch of firepower. That’s High Tech: of 266.73 individual PPG from their top A team performance & top B team performance last year, they return 49.82 of those points. They won’t be a top fifty team again, but if they maintain a presence in the top 200 (or even higher), that will essentially be proof that another top quiz bowl program has been established.

Expected season performance: Down

3. St. John’s A (TX) – After doing 196 of these, I’m starting to get excited when I don’t have to do a B team. St. John’s graduated all of their A team, and their B team wasn’t making the same impact that other teams mentioned in this space did. Barring significant player improvement over last season, I don’t see this as a top 50 team.

Expected season performance: Down

2. Ladue A (MO) – After multiple years of dominance behind Max Schindler and Ben Zhang (and the establishment of Zhang as possibly the clearest example of just how real shadow effects are), Ladue is in full fledged reload mode. With Missouri still being Missouri, I don’t know if we’ll see them in the top 100 this season, but it’ll be good news for the state of quiz bowl in the region if they are.

Expected season performance: Down

1. LASA A (TX)
5. LASA B (TX)
134. LASA C (TX) – Well, there’s some good news here for non-LASA teams as their entire A team graduated. The bad news is that their B team, strong enough to get into the finals at HSNCT and come real close at doing the same at NSC, returns everyone. Oh, and their C team, which was ranked in the top 200, returns everyone as well. I fully expect their new A team to be #1 preseason. I very much doubt their B team will be top 10 this year, but they will be around the top 25, if not in it, and will be capable of making very real runs at tournaments, both local and national.

Expected season performance: sideways for A/down some for B