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jinri- Posts : 14
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Join date : 2022-12-12
What if TBC existed in 2016?
Sun Dec 24, 2023 3:40 pm
As the holidays quickly approach, there's still one question that lingers in my mind, one that keeps me up at night: What if Trial by Combat existed in 2016?
This post isn't made with the intention of giving an exhaustive list of locks for the competition, but rather some competitors who I think would be likely to get spots. I took into account the individual's success, as well as their program's success around 2015-16. Specifically, I looked to competitors who received All American attorney awards at NCT 2016 and/or NCT 2015. Additionally, I put preference on programs that had high TPRs at the time.
Of course, I didn't even know what Mock Trial was in 2016, so I'm sure I missed a few people along the way. Please feel free to add any suggestions, and I preemptively apologize if I missed a legend or an obvious lock.
Locks
Daniel Stern (Yale): We all saw it coming... He has 4 All Americans and closed in 2 consecutive final rounds. Stern is an absolute lock, and I think he would excel at TBC's format. He's incredibly responsive and dynamic. I don't know if he can witness, but hey, his attorneying could probably carry him to the final round. Of course, if he couldn't make it, Raymond Zhu or Sarah Cohen would absolutely warrant their own spots.
Deanna Oliver (NYU): Oliver has 5 All Americans--3 attorney awards and 2 witness awards--and is widely considered an AMTA GOAT. She's a fantastic witness and an even better attorney, so if she wanted a spot, I think she'd get one, especially given NYU's success that year.
Jordan Alston-Harmon (Harvard): With 2 All Americans (1 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC). Harvard had won NCT just a year earlier, so it would've been likely to see one of their competitors make an appearance. Alston-Harmon's presence is incredible, and his charisma would definitely make him a contender.
Katie Villany (Virginia): Villany has 4 All Americans, including 1 as a witness, and of course, she closed against Stern in the 2016 final round. If she wanted a spot, she would get it. UVA has historically done quite well at TBC (see Grandhi, Peale, Durrani). Her polish, as well as her witnessing skills would likely take her quite far. Allie Piacenti would also have been a great pick if Villany were unavailable.
Kyle DeCamp (UCLA): DeCamp has 3 All Americans and sets himself apart in that most of his experience is in opening. Openers have historically succeeded at TBC (Grandhi, Mehta, Castleberry, Jones), and he is incredibly clean. I don't know if he can witness, but similar to Stern, his attorneying skills are hard to beat.
I don't have as much to say about the following competitors, because I have never seen round footage of most of them.
Jasmine Stein (Wheaton): Stein has 3 All Americans, 2 of which were from 2016 NCT.
Laura Brodkin (Michigan): Brodkin has 2 All Americans.
Nick Zurawski (Columbia): Zurawski has 3 All Americans (2 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC).
Contenders
Jennifer Bitterly (Rhodes): Bitterly has 2 All Americans (1 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC). I think given Rhodes's success as a program historically, she would have been a likely competitor to see at TBC.
Sarah Stebbins (Georgia Tech): Stebbins has 4 All Americans (1 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC). Georgia Tech came very close to the final round that year, and although Stebbins was but a mere sophomore, sophomores from successful programs at TBC are not anomalies.
Carlos Zapata (Florida State): Zapata has 1 All American. Florida State was an incredibly dominant program at the time, and with Zapata having just won an All American, I think he would have had a good shot.
Craig Vincent (Duke): Vincent has 1 All American. Similar to Florida State, Duke performed extremely well in the 2015-16 season, and given Vincent had just won an All American, I would have considered him a serious contender.
Shannon Cherney (Furman): Cherney has 1 All American. Furman was a top 15 program at the time and, of course, hosted NCT.
Ellie Wallace (Delaware): Wallace has 1 All American. Delaware made their first NCT appearance in 2016, and Wallace earned herself an All American while she was there.
Laura Bach (Cornell): Bach has 2 All Americans. Similar to other programs mentioned, Cornell was very dominant, which makes Bach a near lock.
Kevin Gu (Berkeley): Gu received an All National at the LA ORCS. Berkeley was a top 10 program at the time, sending 2 teams to NCT.
Maria O'Keefe (Miami): O'Keefe has 2 All Americans. I know she was a character witness (one of the best of all time, IMO), but I'm not sure if she ever competed as an attorney. I decided to include her because of how stellar of a program Miami was (and is). We saw Tunceli go to NCT having spent most of his career witnessing, so I thought, why not. Of course, Dani Kunkel could have taken a spot as well.
There are plenty of others who would have likely been contenders, and I'm sure I missed quite a few. This was all just an idea I had, and it's all in good fun!
This post isn't made with the intention of giving an exhaustive list of locks for the competition, but rather some competitors who I think would be likely to get spots. I took into account the individual's success, as well as their program's success around 2015-16. Specifically, I looked to competitors who received All American attorney awards at NCT 2016 and/or NCT 2015. Additionally, I put preference on programs that had high TPRs at the time.
Of course, I didn't even know what Mock Trial was in 2016, so I'm sure I missed a few people along the way. Please feel free to add any suggestions, and I preemptively apologize if I missed a legend or an obvious lock.
Locks
Daniel Stern (Yale): We all saw it coming... He has 4 All Americans and closed in 2 consecutive final rounds. Stern is an absolute lock, and I think he would excel at TBC's format. He's incredibly responsive and dynamic. I don't know if he can witness, but hey, his attorneying could probably carry him to the final round. Of course, if he couldn't make it, Raymond Zhu or Sarah Cohen would absolutely warrant their own spots.
Deanna Oliver (NYU): Oliver has 5 All Americans--3 attorney awards and 2 witness awards--and is widely considered an AMTA GOAT. She's a fantastic witness and an even better attorney, so if she wanted a spot, I think she'd get one, especially given NYU's success that year.
Jordan Alston-Harmon (Harvard): With 2 All Americans (1 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC). Harvard had won NCT just a year earlier, so it would've been likely to see one of their competitors make an appearance. Alston-Harmon's presence is incredible, and his charisma would definitely make him a contender.
Katie Villany (Virginia): Villany has 4 All Americans, including 1 as a witness, and of course, she closed against Stern in the 2016 final round. If she wanted a spot, she would get it. UVA has historically done quite well at TBC (see Grandhi, Peale, Durrani). Her polish, as well as her witnessing skills would likely take her quite far. Allie Piacenti would also have been a great pick if Villany were unavailable.
Kyle DeCamp (UCLA): DeCamp has 3 All Americans and sets himself apart in that most of his experience is in opening. Openers have historically succeeded at TBC (Grandhi, Mehta, Castleberry, Jones), and he is incredibly clean. I don't know if he can witness, but similar to Stern, his attorneying skills are hard to beat.
I don't have as much to say about the following competitors, because I have never seen round footage of most of them.
Jasmine Stein (Wheaton): Stein has 3 All Americans, 2 of which were from 2016 NCT.
Laura Brodkin (Michigan): Brodkin has 2 All Americans.
Nick Zurawski (Columbia): Zurawski has 3 All Americans (2 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC).
Contenders
Jennifer Bitterly (Rhodes): Bitterly has 2 All Americans (1 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC). I think given Rhodes's success as a program historically, she would have been a likely competitor to see at TBC.
Sarah Stebbins (Georgia Tech): Stebbins has 4 All Americans (1 at the time of the hypothetical 2016 TBC). Georgia Tech came very close to the final round that year, and although Stebbins was but a mere sophomore, sophomores from successful programs at TBC are not anomalies.
Carlos Zapata (Florida State): Zapata has 1 All American. Florida State was an incredibly dominant program at the time, and with Zapata having just won an All American, I think he would have had a good shot.
Craig Vincent (Duke): Vincent has 1 All American. Similar to Florida State, Duke performed extremely well in the 2015-16 season, and given Vincent had just won an All American, I would have considered him a serious contender.
Shannon Cherney (Furman): Cherney has 1 All American. Furman was a top 15 program at the time and, of course, hosted NCT.
Ellie Wallace (Delaware): Wallace has 1 All American. Delaware made their first NCT appearance in 2016, and Wallace earned herself an All American while she was there.
Laura Bach (Cornell): Bach has 2 All Americans. Similar to other programs mentioned, Cornell was very dominant, which makes Bach a near lock.
Kevin Gu (Berkeley): Gu received an All National at the LA ORCS. Berkeley was a top 10 program at the time, sending 2 teams to NCT.
Maria O'Keefe (Miami): O'Keefe has 2 All Americans. I know she was a character witness (one of the best of all time, IMO), but I'm not sure if she ever competed as an attorney. I decided to include her because of how stellar of a program Miami was (and is). We saw Tunceli go to NCT having spent most of his career witnessing, so I thought, why not. Of course, Dani Kunkel could have taken a spot as well.
There are plenty of others who would have likely been contenders, and I'm sure I missed quite a few. This was all just an idea I had, and it's all in good fun!
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