Normally, a podcast is a person or two sitting in balmy Studio K, BQnet HQ, a live video of an AACS finals team, or some other crazy thing. This time, West and Poston decided to record a phone conversation about the relative merit of valuing AACS more than other majors and who should end the year #1. A fascinating discussion, and, at the very least, an appetizer for a Thursday preview. Click here to download the entire podcast. WARNING, it is almost THIRTY minutes.
Comments 2
First, I want to say a big thank you to what you two men add to the excitement of BQ by taking the time to interact like this. I know from the perspective of our program your investment adds a great deal to the aura of BQ.
Second, I am of the mindset (and have said so) that AACS is losing its luster, and yet I want to give an illustration of why it still means something. Samuel didn’t even come to Athens and didn’t make it till the middle of the second quiz of the second day of CI and clearly wasn’t ready to contribute. We targeted this week because there were two majors left and he has worked like crazy the last 6 weeks. SCQANIT was almost like trying to get his legs under him. In the quiz that sent us to Thursday he had 80 of our 110 points. He could totally lay an egg in the first round today and our entire team could and we be the first team out. But my point is that until something else is “the” last tournament where major teams compete, AACS will continue to hold some prestige.
It seems like a few years ago Falls won SCQANIT and then didn’t compete in AACS. Have their been other years like that? How did it impact rankings? I know that year we got beat at state by Mukwonago and so weren’t at AACS either. We didn’t even come to SCQANIT but because of some quizzing earlier in the year we felt we might have been better than Falls; the team that won SCQANIT.
Again, I am just saying that as flawed as AACS is, until something replaces it, the debate will continue and AACS can’t be ignored.
I thought I should add that I don’t think one day at AACS should be regarded as greater than the body of work that programs like Athens and Temple have established over the course of the year.