Going into high noon, virtually nothing seemed to stop the Green Wave, although there were some close calls during the morning prelims, such as Ole Miss that came within 50 points of defeating Tulane in their final prelim game, which, coincidently, also go into the championship bracket in the afternoon, along with Texas and Rice.
One of the three triggers that could force me to go in and try to recruit players to Tulane, that is, having a player score 50 PPG or more in the prelims, has failed to trigger. I'm not sure I could spend lunch break at Jesuit next week to make an announcement stating that Tulane quiz bowl needs a specialist in X, Y or Z for next year, and then collect the contact information from interested parties in an attempt to get a Louisiana resident to apply ED to Tulane and then play, but if we place in the top 2, I may as well need to do so, and the interested parties need to make a decision quickly, Imélie muses, while reviewing Tulane auto-admission early decision requirements. When suddenly several players from teams came to her and her players commenting on the size of the turnaround the Green Wave made this year, not knowing what was going on in New Orleans since the last season ended.
"I never expected Tulane to be that good this year!" a returning Ole Miss player comments, while his recollections of the last ACF Fall were mostly about winning against a Tulane squad that struggled to score a hundred points against them in the prelims.
"What made your administration finally pay attention to what was happening in quiz bowl?" a New Mexico State sophomore player asks Imélie, while her own memories of playing Tulane was about playing two close games at ACF Fall, going 1-1 head-to-head.
"I'll be blunt: the administration cleaned house after suffering years of terrible seasons and have players replaced year in, year out with no underlying vision, nor coherent coaching" Imélie answers her opponents' questions.
Is this going to be Tulane's Cinderella quiz bowl season the way 2023-2024 was the Venomous Agendas' back in high school? Bruce ends up thinking after the final preliminary standings are released. Texas is going to play in the championship bracket for the afternoon and therefore play Tulane again. A few minutes before the championship bracket games begin:
"Way to go everyone! We are in a solid position for the championship bracket, and we are going to save this program from closure! Now go out there, finish what you started this morning, and you can keep playing!" the Green Wave coach tries to encourage her players.
Speaking of the championship bracket, both Texas and Tulane go into the final game undefeated (as it relates to the bracket only), and, if Tulane wins this final game will win the tournament by clearing the field. Oh God, I am now forced to consider expanding the Green Wave quiz bowl roster by an additional 3 slots, but which slot will be prioritized for scouting will depend on who will score more points in this game; it could be history and RPMSS as it could be literature and fine arts. If so, Xavier will be, for next year, on the Tulane B team, Imélie keeps musing while going into the final game, Tulane vs. Texas. A rematch of their first game.
"Toss-up number one..."
The clues involve research papers, various theorized causes of this brain disease, when Xavier buzzes in upon hearing about a falsified research paper just before the traditional "For ten points" cue...
"Alzheimer"
"Ten. For ten points each, the war in Ukraine had both sides supported by several countries" the moderator begins the bonus.
As was the case for the first game, Tulane scores the first points, and Texas keeps playing catch-up so, while in the early stages of the game, it may look like it is Tulane's to lose, in the second quarter of the game the Green Wave conceded enough tossups and their associated bonuses to relinquish the lead. At half-time, that is, ten toss-ups, the game officials are required to make a score check...
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"Texas is in the lead, one hundred fifty to one hundred thirty" the scorekeeper announces after half-time has been called.
Relax, it's just 20 points, we can catch that up with no complications. We just need to play well and we will not only win the tournament, but save the program as well! Alyssa keeps to herself, while the eleventh tossup turns into a buzzer race, and she knows deep down that any opportunity to retake the lead must not be squandered.
"Renoir" Alyssa answers after beating the Texas fine arts player by a split-second.
"Ten. For ten points each..."
Meanwhile, Imélie keeps a close watch on who scored what in tossups. While, thus far, the team appeared to be somewhat balanced, she knows that whoever ends up scoring the most overall PPG at the end of this game, will force her recruiting hand going into the LQBA Fall Invitational. However, it seems that the lead, and therefore whoever will win the tournament, is exchanged often, and then it appears that, going into the final toss-up, Texas still has a 20-point lead.
"Final toss-up!"
I will NOT let the Green Wave down! Remember what the coach said last night: always keep an answer primed in your mind, Nolan thinks while he starts hearing about more clues related to a particular event in religious history, about the Islamic schism. But it is then that he realizes that Derek is more likely to get it than he is, so he gives up on the question.
However, Derek is mired in a buzzer race of his own, against the opposing Texas player that knows most about RPMSS, and he could tell Nolan has given up due to his own inability to answer the question, and so did Xavier. Ritual called tatbir, the Battle of Kerbala, the most prominent aspects of the clues dance in his mind as he is about to buzz. His opponent is also about to buzz, it was just a question of reflex time.
"Uhh... Shia Islam?" Derek answers, not quite sure of his answer.
"Ten. For ten points each..."
The Green Wave needs to convert 2 bonuses to win without enduring another tossup. While the first one is very easy to them, the second bonus part takes more effort to attempt an answer on. But to be fair, it was the hardest to them; it's not like high school mathletics, where questions are ordered roughly in order of difficulty in most competitions.
It's all down to this bonus! Our entire quiz bowl future rests on this! Focus, Alyssa, we can win, but we need to answer correctly, or we need to endure one more tossup we have no guarantees over! And I don't want to be responsible for killing Tulane's quiz bowl program despite such a good showing here! Alyssa starts seeing signs of being stressed out because of this ultimatum hanging over the team's heads, but she utters an answer once the final bonus part is read in full. One last question and their tournament is over provided they get it right.
"Our answer is legislative gridlock" Alyssa then directs the Green Wave's answer.
"And that's the game. Tulane wins two hundred eighty to two hundred seventy!"
Shortly after this game ends, the awards ceremony proceeds and it begins with the presentation of the winners, and later the top scorer.
"The 2034 ACF Fall South Central winner is... Tulane University! They also swept division II and undergraduate categories, too!" the tournament director then announces the tournament winner.
"We did it! We won and therefore we secured the future of quiz bowl at Tulane! But just because the future of Green Wave quiz bowl is now secured, does not mean we can rest on our laurels for the rest of the season!" Imélie shouts once the awards are handed out and the Green Wave finally wins something as a team after so many years of collective mediocrity.
I feel comfortable with Alyssa on the "A" team next year, assuming Alyssa is not transferring; she's our highest scorer at this tournament, Imélie reflects on what this victory at the ACF Fall means for the program, as well as for the next season. However, none of the Green Wave players is the tournament's top scorer since the team is not imbalanced enough to lead to a situation where it could lead to one player scoring most of the points. Once Tulane's buzzer system is returned to them, and they return to the car, Imélie makes sure that all the windows are closed before making the announcements...
"Now I am more confident in this team's future going into the Regionals. For Monday, I want you to write a half packet with the same rules and subject assignments as with ACF Fall. With one caveat: at most half the questions you write can be at the level of the ACF Fall, and the other half must be around the difficulty level of the hardest questions on the packets you used thus far for studying. Understood?" the coach then gives her instructions to the foursome.
"Yes" the players then tell in unison.
"One last thing: we will request approval from the University to host the Regionals ourselves. If the University accepts, we will go forward with the bid"