Weekly Bookish Question #370 (December 31st - January 6th 2024)

Weekly Bookish Question #401 (August 4th - August 10th 2024)

Weekly Bookish Question #363 (November 12th - November 18th)

Weekly Bookish Question #362 (November 5th - November 11th)

Lone Star Cup

Change: Gambits catch the snitch over UT in pool play, winning 90*-80 instead of losing 110*-60. 

Result: Gambits obtain the #4 seed over UT, SHSU moves to #3 seed, UT drops to #5, Baylor drops to #6. 

The semifinal matchups are literally exactly the same. However, now, UT advances to face LSQC instead of Texas State. The fight is hard, but UT is missing too many key players. The lack of Aryan Ghoddossy forces UT to use Kiki Crawford in the seeker game, resulting in a weakness that LSQC exploits. Texas's beaters, who struggled throughout the tournament no longer dominate the beating game even against an LSQC beating squad that was inconsistent during the tournament.  This game is OSR or very close to OSR in LSQC's favor. 

Texas State runs into a Baylor squad that actually contains more than 14 people. The Bears are eager for a rematch to show that their performance at Diamond Cup was simply due to a lack of chasers. 

Baylor's beaters had been playing out of sync with their chasing game all tournament. Meanwhile not only did Texas State enjoy the best beating game they've ever had, their beaters were clearly the best in the tournament. Texas State struggles to keep up with Baylor's fresher chasers; however, Texas State easily keeps bludger control throughout the game and during snitch on pitc. With excellent seekers in Austin Springs La-Foy and Stevo Gralinski, this game goes easily ISR in Texas State's favor. 

Texas State runs into LSQC in the finals and gets blown out in a similar manner. 

Ranking Result: UT's first loss to the Gambits is strong enough to shake UT out of the clear #2 spot for most people. Baylor's blowout loss to LSQC and loss to Texas State drops Baylor to the clear #4. Now the question becomes: Texas or Texas State. 

Texas showed its vulnerability to be defeated by teams that they should be blowing out. Texas State showed no such vulnerability. Hell, even Baylor showed no such vulnerability. However, Texas also showed the ability to compete with teams ranked higher than them. Texas State showed no such ability. In the end, Texas's loss to a lower team is too serious an offense. The Gambits move up one more rank for defeating UT( this effect is diminished by the fact that UT blew the Gambits OSR in bracket play and that the Gambits never face A&M ) 

I'll posit that as an analyst you cannot NOT love Baylor. Sure, as a player you might argue for a reliance on physicality and man-man marking as being essential for a teams success, or you might be frustrated by their zone play as no doubt countless teams were at WCVII. But the unique defense offers countless analysis opportunities. 

Baylor was ... different and yet the same. A true Southwest team based on their style and skill, and yet, not really a true SW team. These are the statistics about the allocation of offensive drives based on the # of bludgers the offense had to face

(Baylor,Texas,A&M,LSQC, Lost Boys games considered only)

Texas %Drives against 0: 7%1: 41%2: 52%A&M 0: 11%1: 39%2: 51%LSQC0:7%1:40%2: 53%Baylor0: 11%1: 55%2: 34%

Baylor had always run their offense and their defense through their expert beating strategy which in turn fed their zone defense.  A more indepth analysis of Baylor's style can be found here.

That was always the allure of Baylor. Even the World Champion Texas team could never figure them out. Baylor managed in two years to go (4-0) against Texas before WCVII. Only LSQC managed something similar (2-0) in one year. 

So what happened to Baylor? What made them lose OSR to a Texas team they had decimated 150*-40 two months earlier?

Article after article pointed to Baylor's beater David Gilbert getting injured as the key to UT's win, just as they pointed to A&M's Drew Wasikowski getting injured as the reason for UT's success against A&M. This analysis is insulting - to UT, A&M, and Baylor as well. 

An elite team is not determined by one player no matter how good he or she is. Even though Gilbert is arguably Baylor's best player, and while it is true that the loss of Gilbert hurt Baylor, it does not explain the swing in point differential from Diamond Cup (+110 to -70) And while the true reason A&M lost to UT is a story for another day, and while UT's success against Baylor deserves praise, the turnaround can quickly be explained:

Baylor was deteriorating.

That much was evident for anyone who was following Baylor Quidditch this season. This is Baylor's story. 

People may disagree, especially on Baylor - I wouldn't know as I am not on Baylor's quidditch team myself, but this is the story of Baylor as I see it. 

Baylor started out this season beautifully with a 70*-40 win over LSQC, sharply chastising any who dared raise questions about their performance based on their first unofficial tournament. Baylor would fall to A&M OSR at that same tournament, but the game was much closer than the score would indicate. Baylor looked on track to be the #2 team in the SW or the world. 

They reached that status at Diamond Cup, after a 150*-40 thrashing of UT and an ISR game against A&M. They were the masters of a zone defense that had UT on its knees, a 1-0 record against LSQC, an offense potent enough to challenge A&M, and a strong beating game and strategy powerful enough to foil the one team that was a perfect match against them - The Lost Boys. 

Baylor reigned supreme and seemed to be the only one who could take down A&M.

And then... something happened. SWRC happened. Baylor fell to LSQC 90-40,  survived Texas 90*-60,survived a scare by Texas's JV team 80*-30, and was destroyed in OT by LSQC 120-70*. Baylor's OT performance against LSQC is a story for another day, a lesson in seeking beating strategy. But Baylor was clearly failing. They rode into regionals on the backs of their best performance since SWRC last year, and hungry for a matchup against A&M to win SWRC for the second year in a row and prove that they were indeed the best in the SW. They choked, once, twice, thrice, and then four times and were denied even the chance to face A&M. In an instant Baylor's might was humbled. 

Baylor went into WC VII, perhaps with a great thirst amongst its members, but with all the air of a failing team to outsiders. Nevertheless, they performed admirably in pool play, beating all teams OSR with ease, then beating BGSU OSR easily as predicted. 

And then came Texas. 

Not much can be said about this game that has not already been said, but even without Gilbert the Baylor and Texas of Diamond Cup would have played a completely different game. Baylor was behind every step of this game, and even though you could see the worry on every Texas player there while the game was in snitch range(4 losses and 0 wins to the same team is a tough pill to swallow), you could also see the relish and the glee that was prevalent on the Texas side throughout the matchup. You could hear it in the screaming chants issued by the Texas sideline and their JV team - feel it in the nervous energy in the air, see it in the lost, worried looks of the Baylor players. This was not an ordinary Texas-Baylor matchup. 

This was not Diamond Cup 2012, where an eager Baylor team with no doubts about their talent eagerly took down a foe no one expected them to beat. 

This was not SWRC 2013, where Baylor stood with one of the most effective teams in the history of the sport toe to toe with nothing but confidence and fearlessness and went on to frustrate the eventual world champs for the second time in the same season. 

This was not Diamond Cup 2014, where Baylor came in with a loud swagger and pride and crushed Texas as though they were a bottom Tier 2 team without even so much as a flinch

This was not SWRC 2014, where even after all Baylor had been through that tournament their mere presence was enough to make Texas falter and make mistakes.