Quick Recall
Pool Play Draw
The State Finals draw will be posted to the KAAC YouTube channel at 4 PM Eastern Friday, March 11.
High School
Match Timing
Sunday's matches consist of 40 questions or 12 minutes, whichever comes first. Rounds 4 and onward are untimed, with 50 questions read per half.
Sunday Play
At the High School level, each team has been drawn into a four-team pool. Each pool contains two Regional Champions and two Regional Runners-up. Each pool plays what amounts to a double-elimination bracket, except the loser’s bracket champion does not return to play the undefeated winner’s bracket Pool Champion.
Sunday schedule:
- Round 1: 4:00 PM
- Round 2: 5:15 PM
- Round 3: 6:30 PM
- Following Round 3, we will draw to place pool runners-up into Monday's Round 4 in the Student Lounge
In Round 3, Pool Champions play each other in Sectional Championships:
- Section 1: Pool A Champion v Pool B Champion
- Section 2: Pool C Champion v Pool D Champion
- Section 3: Pool E Champion v Pool F Champion
- Section 4: Pool G Champion v Pool H Champion
This yields the following setup for Monday's Round 4:
- 8 Pool Runners-Up
- 4 Section Champions
- 4 Section Runners-Up
Teams who finish as a Pool Runner-Up to a Section Champion will be paired against a Section Runner-Up. Teams who finish as a Pool Runner-Up to a Section Runner-Up will be paired against a Section Champion.
Teams will not be drawn in the same grouping as a team from their pool, and the earliest they could face off is in the semifinals. For example: the Pool A Champion also wins the Sectional match and is now a Section Champion. The Pool A Runner-Up would play the Section 2 or 3 Champion, thus preventing a second round match against a team from the same pool.
Monday Play
Monday's "Smart 16" is a single elimination bracket.
Round 4: 8:30 AM
Round 5 Quarterfinals: 10:00 AM
Round 6 Semifinals: 11:30 AM
Round 7 Finals/Consolation: 1:30 PM
Middle Grades
Match Timing
In Rounds 1-3, Middle Grades matches consist of 30 questions or 10 minutes, whichever comes first. Rounds 4 onward are untimed, with 40 questions read per half.
Sunday Play
At the Middle Grades level, 46 participating teams yields 10 pools of four teams and two pools of three teams. The four-team pools play Rounds 1-3 using the same modified double elimination format as the High School pools above, but without the Sectional Matches. The three-team pools play a round robin.
All pools play according to this schedule:
- Round 1: 10 AM
- Round 2: 10:45 AM
- Round 3: 12:30 AM
- Draw for Round 4 after Round 3 in Student Lounge
- Round 4 immediately after draw
Four-Team Pools
Three-Team Pools
In the round robin pools, won-loss record determines the Pool Champion and Runner-Up. If all three teams have a 1-1 record, the following tiebreaker methods are applied sequentially:
- Cumulative point differential
- First half points
In the extremely unlikely event that ties remain after first half points are considered, the advancing team(s) will be chosen at random by chance.
Single Elimination Bracket
After three rounds of pool play, we are left with 12 Pool Champions, and 12 Pool Runners-up. These teams draw into a 24-team single elimination bracket in Sunday's final round, Round 4.
In a 24-team single elimination bracket, eight teams get a “bye.” Those eight teams are chosen by blind draw from among the twelve Pool Champions. The remaining sixteen teams–the four Pool Champions which did not draw a bye, plus the twelve Pool Runners-up–play in Round 4 Sunday. Pool runners-up must be placed in the bracket opposite their pool champions. The eight teams that win Round 4 matches advance to Monday's Round 5.
Monday Play
Monday's "Smart 16" continues the single elimination bracket.
Round 5: 9:15 AM
Round 6 Quarterfinals: 10:15 AM
Round 7 Semifinals: Noon
Round 8 Finals/Consolation: 1:30 PM