TrenBS

Its one of their most enjoyable in a long while, they still arent as clean as 2021 but are more consistent, and its only a matter of time before they start becoming relevant in the state conversation at the speed they are climbing

Did they play any of the closer or just to the ballad? They got drill pretty late so closer was delayed, glad to hear them doing well!

I had them firmly above Lake Ridge, and from what Ive seen of both recently, would be surprised to see LS not 2nd at this competition

Its one of their color guard members Im 90% sure since they had a mic, but I also agree, either they need to turn her down a tad or band needs to play out

Yeeahh, finals is filled with 5A/6A state finalists, qualifiers, and high area finals contenders, its not the hardest competition, but for anyone in that middle ballpark its a very competitive competition

Definitely can see this happening, I would put Lebanon higher in general personally, I've heard really really good things so could see them 3rd, and for Boyd, it depends nearly entirely on how much the brass can clean up if they get 6th or 4th, they have been getting bad rehearsal weeks that are out of their control (tons of school events and bad weather), so considering they get a completely normal week this time I can see them fixing those mistakes. I can see North flipping with Lovejoy, their show isn't as strong as last year but it's by a small margin, a loss of seniors is noticeable but they are still pretty strong. My current list from last Friday (which Boyd cleaned up ALOT since Wednesday and hearing Lake Ridge/Lovejoy), I would do this: 1. Flower Mound 2. Lone Star 3. Lebanon Trail 4. McKinney Boyd/Lake Ridge 5. Lake Ridge/McKinney Boyd (tie, either way) 6. Lovejoy 7. McKinney North 8. Walnut Grove 9. McKinney High 10. Reedy

Are scores the same weight across classes? It usually is so wouldnt expect it to not be this year

I would recommend personally pasting the area draw orders as you find them and then cutting/placing times based on the schedules, just to save work later, some areas have posted their draws so just throwing this out there

Was talking more about this year, especially with yearly state its changed how bands approach their shows

Its pretty wild how they pull that off fairly consistently but then at state they dont medal, really shows what one week can really do

I agree with all of this, that is all😅

I have 2 predictions for 6A area C taking different things into account, both have same top 3 for early on predictions: 1. Hebron 2. Marcus 3. Flower Mound Ok now the rest, here are my 2 likely scenarios from what Ive seen 4. Prosper 5. Boyd/Wylie (draw) 6. Boyd/Wylie (draw) 7. Wylie East —————— 8. Rockwall 9. Sachse 10. Rock Hill —————— 11. Plano Sr. 12. Lewisville or 4. Wylie 5. Prosper 6. Boyd/Wylie East (draw) 7. Boyd/Wylie East (draw) —————— 8. Rock Hill 9. Sachse —————— 10. Allen 11. Rockwall 12. Lewisville (This explanation is also how I feel with UIL in general, area C is just a good example which explains the long explanation besides nerd shenanigans). The way I see UIL judging that seems to have some logic and consistency is that these finalists/state qualifiers have cleanliness and difficulty factors which separate these bands into “tiers”, so top 3 are on a different level of difficulty with higher levels of cleanliness which causes the point division, where 4-6/7 (depending on if a tie occurs), are on a tier below, which from the shows Ive seen so far, the Wylies, Prosper and Boyd reside, in which the cleanliness decides placements or if they belong in those categories. If we were to say Prosper played a same level difficulty show as Marcus or Flower Mound but due to the jump is significantly less clean, they get pushed down a tier besides the content being on the same level, but would place 4th since they are on that edge of moving up. If a 7th tie advancement to state occurs, I really wouldn't be surprised, and tie breakers can go any way with Boyd and Wylies since I enjoy the writing and direction Boyd has more, while the Wylies utilize more advanced technique, which will end up going to judge preference. For the rest, its just personal opinion and just how I think they would turn out, Allen being in finals is if their new direction with the reduced numbers into a varsity group go well. Rockwall is pushing harder into BOA they could move up more spots, and Rock Hill seems to have taken some heavy hits with Walnut, not saying they are bad, but I personally dont see them on the same level as the bands above them for a little while until they full recover. Some dark horses I can see are Braswell, McKinney High, and Plano West/East, as they would comprise my 13-16, something Ive also noticed is that the score divide from 3rd to 4th has been closing very recently, being 17 and 29 in 2018, 15 and 29 in 2021, and then now merely 17 and 25 this past year, with Marcus losing both of their marching captions to people below them, and while I dont see a major flip happening this year, these top groups at area in particular may have to tread lightly in future years if the momentum of the Prosper, Wylie, and McKinney schools continue, which is always fun. Of course the actual placements are purely opinion, but I like explaining my thought process as if someone else has a different insight on these comps, it give new perspectives that I may have not seen before.

The schedule generally comes out a week or 2 before the comp, so expect it soon

Area B is in my opinion the toughest, but its a close second honestly, the top 3 battle each other than the next 5 is a bloodbath, area B is a bloodbath between the top 5 and a bloodbath between the next 4 haha

100% prediction definitely aint gonna happen lol, but I do have confidence in McKinney schools, at least Boyd and North since they are significantly better than last year as of now, High has improved but they need a few more years, I had like 3 paragraphs written out but felt like a bit much, if anyone wants my reasoning I would rather dm than make a wall of text🙃

Yall know Wylie East isnt going to this right? 😅 Ive also seen the McKinneys, Prospers, Keller, L.D, and Wakeland, so Im fairly confident with at least the finalists, could be wrong though since its an opinion

1st: L.D. Bell (GE) 2nd: Wakeland (Music) 3rd: Keller (Visual) 4th: Waxahachie 5th: Timber Creek 6th: Robert E Hendrickson 7th: Southlake Carroll 8th: McKinney Boyd 9th: Prosper 10th: Timber Creek 11th: McKinney North 12th: Duncanville A champion: Whitesboro(All captions) AA champion: Lovejoy(All captions) 2nd: Grapevine 3rd: Poteet AAA champion: Wakeland(All captions) 2nd: McKinney North 3rd: Forney AAAA champion: L.D. Bell (GE/Music) 2nd: Keller (Visual) 3rd: Waxahachie

Something I think people dont realize is that theres a huge difference between 4A competition and 5A competition, where Argyle was the end all say all best in 4A in recent years to realistically, not making state had Wakeland made a 1 at region, not discrediting any 1-4A bands at all, but I dare you to put Hebron, Vandegrift, Cedar Park, Cedar Ridge, Rouse, Leander, or any others in 4A state and tell me thats a fair fight, if that makes sense lol

I mean Ive heard their fine arts director is really trying to bring the plano bands to their former glory, so honestly if more than one showed in finals I wouldnt put it completely out of the picture

Gonna revive since its honestly a pretty good competition despite normal finalists not showing, but if anyone has any more info on bands appearing then would be dope

Personally I dont see Plano Sr. in top 6, but dont get me wrong, there would be nothing more amazing than experiencing the total shock with not only a massive dark horse, but it being a Plano school which hasnt dominated since like the 90s-2000s, so Im all for it lol

Should mention that crown is 1st, Boston is 2nd, and BD is now at 3rd in terms of average scores, with crown having the second highest overall score as of now, if itll stick that will be up to time but looking good for crown right now

I think its a good thing honestly to have these spots open, it may make the high level competition smaller, but it give multiple bands the opportunity to make finals at this comp when they couldnt even dream of it previously, so it gives many students the experience they normally wouldnt be able to, and we could see with these spots opening more bands reaching this level of excellence

My bet is like 1. Wakeland 2. North/Lone Star 3. Lone Star/North 4. Lebanon/Colony/Argyle/Melissa Lebanon was a decent margin ahead of Argyle so I dont see them placing in the top 4, top 5 is much more reasonable for Argyle