Every year, quizbowl brings new players, new teams, and amazing buzzes. But another tradition of the game of quizbowl is the rankings, and this year, NJQBA will be publishing a new set of rankings at the conclusion of every season. These rankings take into account stats, record, the team’s ability to scale, and the eye test. Seeing as the eye test is not a variable that one can gauge, these rankings are subjective! These are based on the early takeaways from the season and will probably change throughout the year. Let’s begin!
1. JP Stevens
JP Stevens is the biggest surprise of the season, finishing as the top NJ team in both tournaments they played in, and taking home the trophy at PHSAT. Their two-headed monster of Nishanth Bhargava and Kushal Aluru is averaging a combined 5.15 P/G, and they seem to up their game against better teams - their wins over DCDS, Hunter(twice), Ridgewood, and High Tech show that they’re better than their stats(which are already quite good). The real question, however, is whether their lit coverage(Sophia Pan and Lauren Sun) will hold up at higher difficulties. It’s safe to say that at regs difficulty, they cover history, science, literature, and fine arts very well, but come HSNCT time, will they be putting up powers on the latter two? As of now, their balanced approach to the game is paying off, and they begin the season in the #1 spot, a big rise for a team that wasn’t ranked at the beginning of last season.
2. East Brunswick
East Brunswick hasn’t played much this season, and when they have, they’ve split their teams. But their A Team of Tanuj, Lillian, Simon, and Amitav should scale well to nationals, and their stats suggest that when they’re playing full they will be able to compete with any team in the country. Furthermore, last year’s East Brunswick B(Tanuj, Lily, Simon, and Chinmay) put up devastating stats at Hawk’s Nest, and Amitav put up some crazy stats on the A Team. If these stats suggest anything about their play this season, East Brunswick definitely has an argument for the #1 ranking.
3. Ridgewood
Ridgewood had a rough start to the season, finishing in a mediocre 9th place at PHSAT, and then bouncing back with a 5th place finish at LIFT. While they have been putting up the best stats among teams in NJ, I’m less confident in their ability to scale up to nationals. While Aiden covers every subject at the regs level(97 powers on RAFT), I’m not sure how well he’ll cover subjects outside of history and literature at HSNCT. At this moment, Aiden is the clear #1 player in New Jersey(up to nats difficulty), and likely top 4 - but he needs to find support in the categories he doesn’t cover as well. Teams like JP Stevens and East Brunswick are able to have “bad games” and still win because of their balance, but Ridgewood can’t afford to have even one because it could cost them playoffs. Overall though, Aiden is having a historic season - putting up nearly 10 powers per game by yourself is really mind blowing, no matter what the difficulty is - and I’m confident that he’ll be ready to play the top teams at nationals.
4. High Tech
High Tech faces a similar dilemma, although Max has better support in Sid(who put up a respectable 15 powers at PHSAT). I put them at #4, however, because they took a tough string of losses to JP Stevens, East Brunswick A, DCDS, and Hunter, at PHSAT. While Max is the country’s best fine arts player(and it’s not particularly close), I’m unsure of his team’s support above regs difficulty. However, High Tech has been a powerhouse for many years now, and I’m sure that they’ll regroup quickly and adjust for nationals.
5. Livingston A
Livingston has been a mainstay in the NJ quizbowl circuit for a while, but their team is full of fresh faces. The graduation of Rosa, Caro, and Veena left holes in their A Team, but freshman and lead scorer Robert Wang is doing his best to put his team back into the conversation. Along with stellar science player Jeffrey Hu, this team should be back in the mix next year.
6. Edison A
Edison is by far the most confusing team in the state - their stats don’t stand out - but they’re a threat on almost every subject. Furthermore, their player’s stats seem to heavily vary between every tournament. So far, however, I’m only confident in their ability to compete with the top tier on A-Sets, as they struggled against Hunter, Manheim, Ithaca, and Darien at PHSAT. Having played them in the past, however, I can guarantee you they’re no easy out. Once college applications end, they’ll be a team to watch.
7. Millburn A
Most people had Millburn counted out prior to the season, mainly because of the loss of star science player Ben Hu - a key player on the old Millburn powerhouse teams. However, they surprised everyone at PHSAT, picking up a win over JP Stevens in the process. Their lead scorer Zachary Turinsky put up respectable stats(a solid 16 powers). Millburn is a young team - not many of their players are seniors - so it’s important for them to remain determined and keep studying. In a couple years, they may be back at the top again.
8. JP Stevens B
JP Stevens B still hasn’t played this season, with the closest we’ve gotten being their 3 person LIFT team. As of now, however, it looks like they’ll be solid, with a deep roster that includes Mihir Tadeparti, Girish Subramani, Tijil Kiran, and others.
9. MCA A
MCA and lead scorer Thomas Catuosco played well at Philly Fall, finishing first in the novice division. While they will have trouble scaling up past regs, they’re a new team, and therefore have time to grow and find players. Past iterations of MCA have done well, and Thomas is a great player with experience winning tournaments, so that will come in handy.
10. East Brunswick B
East Brunswick B will definitely consist of lead scorer Saketh Mandayam along with other players from East Brunswick’s deep roster. However, it’s unlikely that the team will be as competitive as years past unless they do some serious recruiting.
Top 5 Players(in no order)
Aiden Dartley (Ridgewood)
Aiden has come into his own this season, putting up some absurd stats at the last three tournaments he went to (97 powers on RAFT). As of right now, up till nationals difficulty, he’s the clear cut number one player.
Max Brodsky (High Tech)
Past nats difficulty, however, Max is able to do more damage, due to his deep knowledge of fine arts(best in the country). Max has been in the mix of top players for a couple seasons now, and his senior year campaign will be an impressive one, no doubt.
Tanuj Chandekar (East Brunswick)
Tanuj might be the best history player in New Jersey, a circuit where history players are in abundance. His depth of knowledge has led him to the finals at National History Bee, US History Bee, and pretty much every history competition there is to offer. His power counts are nothing to scoff at, as he put up 41 at PHSAT. If he can deepen his knowledge in other subjects, he has a chance to rise into the first tier of players.
Kushal Aluru (JP Stevens)
Kushal is the best science player in New Jersey, and perhaps the best in the northeast region. He put up a strong 3.6 P/G at PHSAT, going on an incredible stretch of four games in the playoffs where he powered all four science tossup against his opponent. Past his science ability, though, he has remarkable depth at history, religion, and fine arts, but is shadowed by his teammates. Kushal went on a deep study grind this past spring and summer, learning physics and chemistry at deeper levels than he did last year(he was already quite good). If he can get his negs under control, JP Stevens can rise up to further heights.
Nishanth Bhargava (JP Stevens)
Nishanth has put up some remarkable stats to begin this season, finishing as lead scorer at LIFT with a 30/30/5 statline. His ability to buzz very early and finish tournaments with little negs is underrated, as he’s never finished a tournament with more than 8 negs total. Furthermore, his knowledge of history(specifically US History) and trash(he’s extremely scary - definitely among the top players in the country) has him in the top 5. I will say this though - most players have to face the test of leading their team at nationals for the first time, but Nishanth was a heavy lead scorer on a 49th place team at HSNCT last year, and he’s gotten much better.