crunchycookie3

A bit frustrated by the top-half/bottom-half split for finals. It’s quite likely that there are 5 state advancement spots per usual for this area, and a top-half/bottom-half split would ensure that those 5 bands go last. If it’s anything like BOA, making the jump to top-half is incredibly difficult and rarely happens. Seems that prelims will be incredibly instrumental in deciding who goes to state now.

Woah… OK Lake Travis!! Fun to see an ATX band come up to DFW for a local comp. Excited to see how they stack up against similar echelon groups like SLC, Pearce, and Keller Central.

No--every other block in prelims is judged by a different panel. Each panel admits the 5 highest-scoring bands in their respective panel in prelims, then the next 4 highest-scoring bands advance regardless of panel. This opens up the possibility that a 15th place band advances, though this highly unlikely and has not happened (yet.)

Looking at how the panels are assigned, I only feel comfortable calling Cedar Park, Vandegrift, and Hebron locks for this year. Someone biiiiiig is getting left out of finals for the first time in a long time here.

Vandegrift has now gone a complete year undefeated (pending prelims results, though I have a strong feeling.) Congratulations!

Congratulations to Trinity HS on what I believe is their first BOA Finals placement!

👀

Preposterous that the UIL slammed 5 state finals caliber bands in one area and set it up with a maximum of 4 bands to advance. Struggling to see how the UIL feels that this is equitable compared to other areas across the state. UIL has got to get it together! All it takes is the smallest amount of silly judging and Keller, Bell, or Coppell wouldn't advance. Echoing some sentiment from above, I understand the geographic representation aspect, I really do. I just don't understand why the UIL gives that more weight in state than depth of competition. Maybe the UIL needs to reassess their state advancement policy? It seems like when UIL drafts the areas, they pay very little attention to history of success, which may be good to help keep it balanced. But keeping this area like this for 2 full years is going to be miserable

Forney is 6A based on their numbers in February so it's essentially like they marched a 6A-sized ensemble last year, and it's not like they're going to magically be bigger now that they're classified as a 6A program and I have to imagine that Aledo is nearing a push to 6A very soon thanks to the rapid growth in that area. Having seen both, it's quite neck-and-neck. Forney is certainly loud, but Aledo's visual program is SO impressive. I remember hearing "Full Throttle" as the show title and feeling a bit let down, but consider me now fully-throttled. Hoping to see them rightfully in 5A finals at San Antonio this year.

I actually picked up on a good deal of amorphism, especially when the winds are in a huge block but a featured section is in a blob inside it. Genius visual-musical design IMO. I’m a big fan of the difficulty in Vandegrift’s show, but Amorphous feels like a better overall package to me, at least early season. BIG visual step up for Hebron, especially in design.

I’ll pile on 🫣

Westwood is also going through director changes. In fact, Westlake just got Westwood’s director, and they’re phenomenal this year. Best early season Westlake in recent memory for me.

Phenomenal feels like an understatement. That last block might be the best prelims block of the year

Almost all TX football games are streamed live somewhere… hudl or NFHS are the main two I’ve used

Foster is doing “The Oculus” with some incredibly intriguing red props. Incredible opening hit with double tonguing that’s already pretty darn clean. Clements’ show is “Shades of La Mer” with the music of La Mer by Debussy. It’s cohesive with last year’s fire show but with definite step-up in visual.

Not sure about the title, but Flower Mound’s show is inspired by Yayoi Kusama. Lots of dots! Very, very fun and eye-popping!! They have a great vehicle for their return back to BOASA.

I caught a snippet of Westlake last night, and WOW--they are stunning visually already. They seem, to me, a notch above last year. It appears director changes were what this group needed to push to the next level. I have them as a sleeper pick for top half here, especially with this being so early in the season.

I agree- the schedules this year have been particularly rough. It looks relatively balanced, though, with no more than maybe 2 top-half finalist prospects per block. The second performance slot particularly jeopardizes Prosper's top-half prospects. I have no doubt that they'll be fantastic, but it will be a big challenge to throw a strong number that can remain in the top 6 amongst Bentonville, LD Bell, Rock Hill, Jenks, Wakeland, Marcus, and Keller Central. They definitely have an uphill battle in prelims. Similarly with Lone Star, McKinney, and Boyd--the bubble is so large here and so many other groups have more desirable performance times. Luckily, these schools are all relatively close to Prosper, so early call times shouldn't be AS egregious, and performing in the morning does mean some cooler temps (hopefully not downright cold, though.) I think Wylie can easily make it into finals with a decent run here. They perform at the end of the least-stacked block which also happens to be the dead last performance slot. Good for them! This would mark their first finals appearance at this regional.

I'm not sure this will be the Waxahachie runaway people are predicting--let's not forget Forney passed Leander in finals last year at state, and has only become bigger since then. In fact, I'm currently thinking they're the favorite to win this area in their first year at the 6A level. Of course, Waxahachie always wayyyy places my expectations when it comes to UIL. Even still, I'm thinking we'll have a brand new 6A area champ this year.

Only 4 state spots between: -Coppell -Keller -LDB -Haltom -SLC -TC Yikes.

I think that one year with Lipman will set them up nicely to sweep captions next year. It won't be like 2019--they'll be an unstoppable force by the time they decide to go.

1. Cy-Fair 2. Bridgeland 3. Cy-Woods --- 4-6: Jordan, Seven Lakes, Tompkins (complete toss-up) 7. Katy 8. Cinco Ranch 9. JET 10. Langham Creek If 4 schools in addition to all of the KISD and CFISD schools earn 1s at region, then we'll see 5 state spots, but certainly not 6. Otherwise, we're looking at 4 spots to state from this incredibly stacked area. Right now, I'd put money on Jordan in 4th due to the school's young age and rapid growth, though last year Tompkins came out swinging at area and Seven Lakes is always hard to count out. Can't wait to see what these programs have in store this year!

Whew… that last block!! It’s looking like bubble central. Finalists in that first block (TC, LDB, FM, Coppell) should be fine. Looks to me like the fight for bottom half will heat up with the weather. Seeing everyone in the schedule, this is a crazy good contest. The two BOA North Texas regionals are no joke this year!

I agree—Cain and Clements need to be lit up to hold a finalist spot. That last block is STACKED!

Here's what I'm thinking pre-season: 1. Marcus (GE, Music) What can you say about Marcus that hasn't already been said. They'll no doubt have the cleanest, most refined show at this contest. They're coming off an excellent season last year, and I'm certain they're only looking to ramp it up for this year. Look out for them to possibly be back on top of the Lewisville Trio this year. 2. Bell (Vis) Similar to Marcus, Bell had a banner year last year--their best in over a decade--and don't forget: they outright won Prosper prelims last year. I was very impressed by how those kids moved last, especially by end-of-season, though Wakeland or Marcus could easily nab that vis caption on the strength of ensemble vis. Regardless, I think Bell is notching out a fresh identity for this historic program, and the judges seem to love it. 3. Wakeland Last year, Wakeland surged early season before having a lower than expected placement in San Antonio. I think their show this year is again relatively unoriginal, following a trend they set last year. While not necessarily presenting the freshest of concepts, they always find a way to steal my heart with their drill. 3A captions are theirs for the taking, unless Lone Star comes out swinging. 4. Bentonville Coming off a great season with Arkansas' first-ever GNats finals appearance, there's no reason to assume this group won't be in top-half. Truthfully, I don't even know the title of their program this year, but I can't wait to see this group and I think it would be awesome to see some non-TX bands finish nicely here. 5. Jenks Similar to Wakeland, Jenks also seemed to have a great start to their season last year that didn't translate to full-season dominance. At BOA Bedford last year, they enjoyed a top-half finish among some of the biggest names in TX, even beating groups like LD Bell, Timber Creek, and Keller Central. I think the OK and AR groups will have to come out swinging in vis this year to compete with the music scene here. 6. Lone Star This is the most difficult group to place for me. Given the rapid growth in the city of Frisco and their incredible music book last year, I think 6th place is well within reach. Would love to see them in top-half and continue to contribute to the growth of Frisco ISD as another powerhouse district. 7. Prosper Prosper always seems so volatile in their placements to me, especially on their Nats years. Just when you feel like counting them out, they go and have an absolutely monster run in Nats Semis, though I think we're on the verge of seeing Cartwright-designed shows falling out of vogue. TX groups that go to Nats tend to have a later surge in their season than those that don't, and I anticipate seeing that reflected in scores here. 8. Keller Central I'm really excited to see this show! Last year, they had one of my favorite visual programs, and I could see them being a sleeper pick for top-half this year. They've been good for a long time, but recently I've started to feel that they're becoming great. I love seeing Keller ISD becoming a force to be reckoned with in the band world. 'Another Time, Another Place' will probably be one of the most unique shows in finals here. 9. Wylie East This is where it gets a bit dicey, since there are a million bands in this 9-12 echelon for this contest--it will come down to splitting hairs. I'm hoping that Wylie East's show this year will be a little more concrete than last year's to lock into finals. With how the new Area J is looking, it will be really difficult for anyone outside of LISD to punch a ticket to state, so they will all be fighting tooth and nail for this finals appearance. 10. Rock Hill Also incredibly difficult to place. This program is so young compared to the rest on this list, and they had an incredible finish in top-half here last year. I could be way off-base thinking they'll be as low as 10th, but their weaker results toward the end of the season have me a bit hesitant to predict them toward top-half this year. 11. McKinney North In their state run last year, I was shocked by their sound--I could have sworn I was listening to a DCI hornline. Seeing them miss 5A finals was a complete shock for me, and I'm thinking they'll turn up the dial even more this year. The only weakness I picked up on was size, something that will continue to grow as the city does. I anticipate them being noticeably larger than last year, which will hopefully translate to a second, consecutive finals appearance here. 12. Wylie I have been blown away by the quality and cleanliness of their shows for the past two years, and I'm a bit taken aback that they aren't rewarded by judges like I think they ought to be. Personally, I think they should be scoring much higher than 12th here, and I often struggle to find one thing to critique about them. Hopefully this is the year the begin receiving the recognition they deserve! I have Mustang and Southlake Carroll just outside of finals. Ultimately, it comes down to how much Mustang can beef up their music program to compete with these TX groups in their first trip down and how clean Southlake Carroll can be by this point. I also think the prelims schedule will have a big impact when the bubble is this large, and Azle, Aledo, Rockwall, and Braswell will all certainly be on fire.