Texas 2018

[rafaelnadal]

What does everything think about Texas state this year? Any predictions?

Predictions:
1. Seven Lakes - strong placements at MIT (although there were a couple event bombs), plus they are probably motivated to win this year especially after following last year's upset
2. LASA - this team had a similar performance at MIT (however they had far more bombed events, won't hold this against them though), and they usually make it past state to nationals
3. Clements - i'm not really buying into the hype about clements; they are a fantastic team but they do not look as strong as they did last year. anything can happen though
4. Cy-Falls - consistent placings throughout this year and has been competitive against the unstacked big three
5. Tompkins - solid team, good placings at rice

Out of curiosity, what made you ranked CyFalls over Tompkins? As much as I would like CyFalls to do well, top 4 is really really hard (although maybe possible.)

[JT880]

What does everything think about Texas state this year? Any predictions?

Predictions:
1. Seven Lakes - strong placements at MIT (although there were a couple event bombs), plus they are probably motivated to win this year especially after following last year's upset
2. LASA - this team had a similar performance at MIT (however they had far more bombed events, won't hold this against them though), and they usually make it past state to nationals
3. Clements - i'm not really buying into the hype about clements; they are a fantastic team but they do not look as strong as they did last year. anything can happen though
4. Cy-Falls - consistent placings throughout this year and has been competitive against the unstacked big three
5. Tompkins - solid team, good placings at rice

Out of curiosity, what made you ranked CyFalls over Tompkins? As much as I would like CyFalls to do well, I see top 4 as unrealistic

To be completely honest, since I'm not from Texas, I am not that familiar with any teams other than Seven Lakes, LASA, and Clements. With that being said, my predictions for 4th and 5th place are arbitrary if not hard guesses. However, after looking over the other predictions and doing some more digging, I'll probably have to revise my own.

1. LASA - This school obviously knows what they're doing at state - they've gotten 1st overall for the past couple of years and I don't see them getting knocked off
2. Seven Lakes/Clements - While I still believe that Seven Lakes is a stronger team overall, Clements usually underperforms at MIT so it's difficult to discern the relative strengths of each of these schools
3. Seven Lakes/Clements - see above
4. Tompkins - Tompkins got 4th overall last year and they were within 40 pts of Seven Lakes
5. Cy-Falls- At this point I'm not really sure who will take this spot, seeing as the strengths of teams begin to level out from here

[QuantumEcho]

Division B:
1. Beckendorff
2. Kealing
3. Anthony MS
4. Austin Area Home Schoolers

Division C:
1. Seven Lakes - Strong year-round performance
2. LASA - Don't seem to stack in TX, but did exceptional at MIT and Seven Lakes
3. Clements/Tompkins - Were neck to neck at Rice (edge to Clements)
4. Clements/Tompkins

[JT880]

Division B:
1. Beckendorff
2. Kealing
3. Anthony MS
4. Austin Area Home Schoolers

Division C:
1. Seven Lakes - Strong year-round performance
2. LASA - Don't seem to stack in TX, but did exceptional at MIT and Seven Lakes
3. Clements/Tompkins - Were neck to neck at Rice (edge to Clements)
4. Clements/Tompkins

Any specific reason why you rank Clements as around the same level as Tompkins? Tompkins is still a relatively young team while Clements definitely has a lot more experience under its belt.

[QuantumEcho]

Based on what I saw at Rice I thought both teams were relatively close, but I completely agree with you that Clements is more experienced. I think Clements has the edge over Tompkins

[EastStroudsburg13]

I'm a little surprised by the fact that Clements has been unanimously placed at third. Their placements this year are right on par with how they performed last year, and they actually performed better at MIT than last year. I'd say they're on track to be safely in the top 3, and arguably are still the favorite to place second over Seven Lakes.

[rafaelnadal]

I'm a little surprised by the fact that Clements has been unanimously placed at third. Their placements this year are right on par with how they performed last year, and they actually performed better at MIT than last year. I'd say they're on track to be safely in the top 3, and arguably are still the favorite to place second over Seven Lakes.

Well if we're being really honest, it's insanely hard to predict which order LASA/7L/Clements will place at states, although it's fairly safe to say they'll all be in the top 3, with Tompkins being right behind them.

Seeing as Seven Lakes has consistently beats Clements at everything other than State, it's reasonable for some to place them above Clements. Clements seems to underperform before state, so making state predictions is hard until we know the actual results.

Tompkins still needs time to be a contender.

[rafaelnadal]

OOPS double

[yuoto]

3. Clements - i'm not really buying into the hype about clements; they are a fantastic team but they do not look as strong as they did last year. anything can happen though

Their performance last year was for sure a surprise; it feels as though they've lost the momentum though (not just at MIT but also local invitationals like Rice).

Seven Lakes was coming off something like a 12 year nationals streak so they clearly felt comfortable slacking off a bit last year. This year though... The cards aren't looking so good for Clements. With just 2 months left, I'm predicting a 3rd or 4th place at state

[JT880]

3. Clements - i'm not really buying into the hype about clements; they are a fantastic team but they do not look as strong as they did last year. anything can happen though

Their performance last year was for sure a surprise; it feels as though they've lost the momentum though (not just at MIT but also local invitationals like Rice).

Seven Lakes was coming off something like a 12 year nationals streak so they clearly felt comfortable slacking off a bit last year. This year though... The cards aren't looking so good for Clements. With just 2 months left, I'm predicting a 3rd or 4th place at state

If we're going to use results from Rice then I think it'd be more logical to say the LASA would be the most in danger of getting 4th and losing at state. I see everybody using Rice to justify Tompkins being just as good as Clements if not slightly stronger and nobody bringing up the fact that LASA got 10th overall. But obviously that is a ridiculous claim.

The fact of the matter is neither Seven Lakes, LASA, nor Clements arrive at these local invitationals with their stacked teams and instead bring their younger and less experienced members. With that said, I'd be hard pressed to say that Clements would get 4th at state. Their previous performances are likely due to them trying to lay low and stay under the radar so that they would have the element of surprise come April.