The 2009-10 Power Poll

[Mock and Awe]

Mr. Hartsfield of Northwood won't be apart of that "company" until January.  Also, Illinois- Chicago won the Scarlett and Gray, not Illinois.  So which one is ranked #31?

Mr. Hartsfield returns from his study abroad in mid-November.

[Exact]

So...how many teams would like to fly to PULLMAN, WA?

The Zags have a program, right?  Eastern too, as I recall.  Get Gonzaga to host and then you and the folks from Cheney can help out.  Or you could book a courthouse/convention center and host from afar, kinda like GAMTI.  Call it the "Inland Empire Invitational" or something.  Bet you could convince every school in Washington and a few in Oregon to make that flight, or heck, drive; Portland to Spokane is only six hours by car.

It can be done!  No excuses!

[LetTheRecordReflect]

It can be done!  No excuses!

A little much don't ya think? I would like to add that if you tell people that you need funding and that you want schools to come to you, they will. People in mock trial are pretty helpful. If you reach out to teams and people they will come and they will help you. 

[Exact]

A little much don't ya think?

Yeah probably.  Point is, being an hour and a half away from a decent airport hasn't stopped schools in the upper Midwest from holding invitationals and being competitive in the postseason.  Seems like the Pacific Northwest has potential to do something similar, provided they can get a community in place as you suggested.  They're 25 years behind, but still...

[The Gelf]

I was wondering when someone would tell me to start my own invitational. So...how many teams would like to fly to PULLMAN, WA? We're 90 minutes from the Spokane airport. So you can rent a bus, that shouldn't be too expensive...oh yeah, not too many hotels over here either in these vast wheat fields. 

What you don't realize is that we are not in a metropolitan environment like LA. It's easier said than done too. I would love to host an invitational and in fact we have thought about the idea. In no way do I want you to think I'm complaining, we try to make it work. My only point for bringing it up in the first place was that when power polls, such as this one, claim east coast superiority, I don't think people always see the whole picture. Most of the teams in the "most privileged zone," as Rhodes Strasbe calls it, are at the top of the power poll. Lias clearly pointed it out by saying the Northeast takes the cake with 8 teams in the top of the poll.
   

So build your own airport.   Jeez, man, show some initiative!

[LetTheRecordReflect]

So build your own airport.   Jeez, man, show some initiative!

Call it the mock trial airport.

[iceman]

Call it the mock trial airport.

While I'm at it I plan to build my own city with a plush downtown, all the amenities, and a mock trial building as the central hub. I'll call it the Mock Trial Utopia. You're all invited.

[Rhodes_Strasberg]

I'll call it the Midlands City.

fixed

[LetTheRecordReflect]

While I'm at it I plan to build my own city with a plush downtown, all the amenities, and a mock trial building as the central hub. I'll call it the Mock Trial Utopia. You're all invited.

I'm so there when that's completed. You must do it in a year. That's all the time you get!

[nar_capone]

Winning in AMTA is all about talent, coaching and the ability to beat good teams.  You can’t be number one at anything by just beating mediocre teams.  Based on that:

Three great teams being overlooked even though they are going to be amazing:

Georgetown.  This team was within a one ballot of the final round.  Ryan Guptil is awesome.  I’ve seen him in trial three times.  Georgetown split with UCLA, the team most people thought was the best.  Georgetown won its regional, dominated its ORC, and got two teams to Des Moines.  They are going to be even better this year.  They’re motivated and ready to win.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they make the final round in Memphis.

Miami.  This team is really good.  They are coached by Dan Hoy and Dan Heronn, two of the greatest coaches in AMTA.  They are also coached by Hilton and Iowa’s coach Neil Schuett.  Plus the students are excellent.  Everyone is coming back.  Pavel and Gus are an unstoppable combination.  Both of the Miami teams won at least 4 ballots at Iowa championship last year; if they combine/stack those teams this year, that could be 8 ballots.  Plus the year of experience will make all of their returners better.

Harvard.  They took a year off and now they’re back.  Their coaches will have them motivated. This year they will destroy everyone at ORCS and Memphis.  They will play either Miami, Georgetown, George Washington, Bellarmine, UCLA, NYU, Furman, Virginia, or Iowa in the final round.

Three teams people are hyping only because they haven’t seen them, but will fall flat on their faces:

Columbia.  I’ve seen them and they’re so overrated.  Okay, so Vines is good.  Then what?  Can anyone even name a second person at Columbia?  Mia Eisner-Greenberg is a good coach but you need to have talent.  There is a reason this team lost to Northwood at Des Moines last year by 26.  26!  This team might get better but it won’t get 26 points better.  Even Vines didn’t win an all-American last year.  You can’t build a team around one person.  If they only go 6-2 at Penn State there is no way they will beat the good teams.  They don’t have the talent.

UC-Irvine.  I’ve seen them and they’re even just as overrated.  The reason they win so many individual awards is that it’s easy to stand out when you’re teammates aren’t very good.  They don’t have the talent.  The worst kept secret in AMTA is that this team is poorly coached and only beats bad teams.  Can anyone name a good team they’ve beaten?  I’m sure they will get to Memphis by beating soft easy teams, and then get thrashed by the real contenders.

MTSU.  I’ve seen them and they’re terrible (and not very physically attractives).  My team crushed them last season (judges split but one of the judges was an idiot).  Has anyone actually seen this team?  Can anyone named a good team they’ve beaten?  Another poorly coached team that only beats bad teams.  This team might be talented but still.  Overrated. 

Bonus prediction:

Brown.  This team could go either way.  They could be excellent or terrible, no way to know until the tournaments start.

[Rhodes_Strasberg]

mmmmmmm speaking in absolutes at the beginning of november

[iceman]

My team crushed them last season (judges split but one of the judges was an idiot).  Has anyone actually seen this team?  Can anyone named a good team they’ve beaten?  Another poorly coached team that only beats bad teams.  This team might be talented but still.  Overrated. 

One of the judges was an idiot...way to revert to the usual cop-out. It may have been true to some extent, but you still did not "crush" them. I cannot remember the last time I heard a good team complain about a judge's intelligence. I wonder why? Oh, maybe because they're able to adapt.

Also, how can you judge the quality of coaching from schools like MTSU and Irvine? Do you even have personal knowledge of their coaching styles? Or are you just shooting from the hip and trying to prognosticate under false pretenses? I love it when people enter the perjuries world and with their first post they make absolutist claims with little to zero support.

[The Gelf]

Winning in AMTA is all about talent, coaching and the ability to beat good teams.  You can’t be number one at anything by just beating mediocre teams.  Based on that:

Three great teams being overlooked even though they are going to be amazing:

Georgetown.  This team was within a one ballot of the final round.  Ryan Guptil is awesome.  I’ve seen him in trial three times.  Georgetown split with UCLA, the team most people thought was the best.  Georgetown won its regional, dominated its ORC, and got two teams to Des Moines.  They are going to be even better this year.  They’re motivated and ready to win.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they make the final round in Memphis.

Miami.  This team is really good.  They are coached by Dan Hoy and Dan Heronn, two of the greatest coaches in AMTA.  They are also coached by Hilton and Iowa’s coach Neil Schuett.  Plus the students are excellent.  Everyone is coming back.  Pavel and Gus are an unstoppable combination.  Both of the Miami teams won at least 4 ballots at Iowa championship last year; if they combine/stack those teams this year, that could be 8 ballots.  Plus the year of experience will make all of their returners better.

Harvard.  They took a year off and now they’re back.  Their coaches will have them motivated. This year they will destroy everyone at ORCS and Memphis.  They will play either Miami, Georgetown, George Washington, Bellarmine, UCLA, NYU, Furman, Virginia, or Iowa in the final round.

Three teams people are hyping only because they haven’t seen them, but will fall flat on their faces:

Columbia.  I’ve seen them and they’re so overrated.  Okay, so Vines is good.  Then what?  Can anyone even name a second person at Columbia?  Mia Eisner-Greenberg is a good coach but you need to have talent.  There is a reason this team lost to Northwood at Des Moines last year by 26.  26!  This team might get better but it won’t get 26 points better.  Even Vines didn’t win an all-American last year.  You can’t build a team around one person.  If they only go 6-2 at Penn State there is no way they will beat the good teams.  They don’t have the talent.

UC-Irvine.  I’ve seen them and they’re even just as overrated.  The reason they win so many individual awards is that it’s easy to stand out when you’re teammates aren’t very good.  They don’t have the talent.  The worst kept secret in AMTA is that this team is poorly coached and only beats bad teams.  Can anyone name a good team they’ve beaten?  I’m sure they will get to Memphis by beating soft easy teams, and then get thrashed by the real contenders.

MTSU.  I’ve seen them and they’re terrible (and not very physically attractives).  My team crushed them last season (judges split but one of the judges was an idiot).  Has anyone actually seen this team?  Can anyone named a good team they’ve beaten?  Another poorly coached team that only beats bad teams.  This team might be talented but still.  Overrated. 

Bonus prediction:

Brown.  This team could go either way.  They could be excellent or terrible, no way to know until the tournaments start.

If the purpose of this post was comedy value, then mission accomplished!  By the way, that bonus "prediction" is bad ass.

[PJG2001]

I just think it's awesome that s/he misspelled the names of every single coach s/he name-checked. Though, in all fairness, s/he didn't provide Mr. Hilton's first name. So far so good.

The notion of any Justin Bernstein coached team as being "poorly coached" is simply laughable--as are many of this newbie's contentions.

[TheHamborgler]

Its difficult to call Gus and Pavel an unstoppable combination when they have never been on the same team. That being said I think they will be awesome once Pavel gets back from his first semester abroad.

just saying...