2015 BOA San Antonio Predictions

[Band2013]

I agree on the woodlands they are deadly especially on a nationals year. I am willing to move owasso down to the unsafe zone. As for Bowie i saw their show last Night and wow they are really impressive i can see why they took 2nd. Leander has to be on it's toes just because it won Austin doesn't mean these groups will stop improveing, it only gets harder from here. As for the bottom i believe Vandegrift will be in finals and the question is if Wakeland is better than Cedar ridge which judging from exhibition performance at tmc has really improved i could see them side stepping vandi if they keep it up. Then there is Hendrickson who will probably leap in to finals this year.

[scoobydoo]

I agree on the woodlands they are deadly especially on a nationals year. I am willing to move owasso down to the unsafe zone. As for Bowie i saw their show last Night and wow they are really impressive i can see why they took 2nd. Leander has to be on it's toes just because it won Austin doesn't mean these groups will stop improveing, it only gets harder from here. As for the bottom i believe Vandegrift will be in finals and the question is if Wakeland is better than Cedar ridge which judging from exhibition performance at tmc has really improved i could see them side stepping vandi if they keep it up. Then there is Hendrickson who will probably leap in to finals this year.

I saw Wakeland at  Arlington, they are very impressive. I loved their show.

[knoxisawesome348]

I'll probably look like a fool in 3 weeks, but if I had to pick 3 candidates for a medal with all things considered (show completion, performance scores, etc) in no particular order they'd be:

 

Hebron

Leander

Ronald Reagan

 

To be completely honest these are pretty much the shows I've seen good videos of that are also my favorites. I haven't seen a good video of Flower Mound since Birdville, more than 30 seconds of The Woodlands, or much of CTJ or Bowie. I do safely think these shows will be top 5 or 6 though.  Their performance scores are high and that's what's going to set them apart. If GE judging is anything like the cluster F it was last year (please no), performance will be crucial. I also have a feeling picking caption winners will be like drawing names out of a hat. I'd say there are 7 or 8 good candidates for music performance, 5 or 6 for visual, and 5 or 6 for GE.

[mh1031]

Hendrickson 

 

https://youtu.be/JIzJoAixMdI?t=2m30s

[LKendrick]

Lots of UIL over the next two weeks, we're not going to get much more in terms of scores to go off of any more.  I think I have some early groupings PERSONALLY!  Not for anyone but me.  I got it down to 21.  

 

LOCKS (all these are alphabetical):

 

1. Cedar Park
2. Claudia Taylor Johnson
3. Flower Mound
4. Hebron
5. James Bowie
6. Leander
7. Marcus
8. Ronald Reagan
9. The Woodlands
10. Round Rock
     

Those 10, I would be shocked if any of them missed finals.  Not saying they couldn't potentially place any lower.  But I feel like they've shown they're competitive enough to make the cut.  Cedar Park because they are going to be freakin clean and they sound AMAZING.  Have not seen anything out of CT Johnson, but they've competed very well so far.  Flower Mound because of their huge GE show and obvious music growth taking music over two huge powerhouses in that caption.  Hebron because I think their show is a potential GE Music monster, and they have done some work visually to take that caption yesterday.  James Bowie, because it seems they showed some great growth in their finish yesterday at the TMC. Leander because I think they are a GE powerhouse, and have some truly magnificent HUGE moments throughout their amazing show.  Marcus always sounds amazing and is amazingly polished visually.  Ronald Reagan continues to sit on top in Southern Texas, they're an obvious powerhouse at the moment.  Round Rock finished well yesterday, and sounds like they have a very fantastic visual show, can't wait to have a chance to watch the show!  Have not seen anything but tidbits from The Woodlands.  It's a nationals year, would be shocked to see them do any less than amazing.  

 

HIGH BUBBLE:

 

1. Cedar Ridge
2. Coppell
3. Dripping Springs
4. Friendswood
5. Hendrickson
6. Keller
7. Owasso
8. Vandegrift
9. Vista Ridge
10. Wakeland
11. Westlake

 

Go ahead.  Pick 4.  That's insanely difficult.  Ridiculously difficult.  There are a few bands on there that I was SO close to putting as locks, but wasn't sure.  (Vandegrift, Wakeland, ect.).  All it takes is one bad show, one judge, ect.  It's out of your control.  They have to be on their A game in prelims.  People who don't think this is the most competitive Super of the year are kidding themselves.  And that's not including bands like LD Bell, Westwood, Churchill, ect. that are off competing somewhere else.  Cedar Ridge seems to be handling the director change extremely well this year.  Coppell sounds like they have a pretty dang awesome musical show.  Dripping Springs had a VERY impressive showing this weekend last year in Atlanta tying for 5th with 2013 BOA SAs 6th place band Blue Springs.  Friendswood beat Vista Ridge in TMC prelims yesterday.  Hendrickson has had a very impressive showing, coming off of 1st at Westlake yesterday.  Their show is fantastic, with an absolutely KILLER color guard.    Keller showed some very impressive growth with their 7th finish in Arlington yesterday, it's nationals, so they'll be pushing til the end.  Owasso is a VERY good band that has multiple GN finals finishes under its belt, and 13th last year.  Vista Ridge has an incredibly intense, high velocity show.  Wakeland as well, that closer is insane.  And Westlake always really cleans up late on.  

 

That's leaving off 4 (Aledo, Keller Central, Oak Ridge, and Plano East) that I think have competed well early on, and more that are FANTASTIC bands in an insanely deep regional.  

[snares]

I'll take a stab at finals PLACEMENT predictions. I haven't ever gotten a single prediction right. Ever. So let's see how this goes.

14-11) Wakeland, Cedar, Dripping Springs, Vandegriff (to me Wakeland is the best of the bubble bands)

10) Round Rock

9) Cedar Park

8) Marcus (call me crazy, just a guess)

7) The Woodlands

6) Claudia Taylor Johnson

5) Ronald Reagan

4) Hebron

3) Flowermound

2) Bowie

1) Leander

 

Music- Reagan/Leander/Bowie, maybe even Hebron

Visual- CTJ

GE- Hebron, Flowermound

 

I honestly think the top 8 could be the completely opposite of what I predicted. That's how tight I think this year will be.

A few thoughts:

The only bubble band I'm confident in is Wakeland. Love their show.

The captions are a wild guess, I think Reagan and Hebron have the best single movements (both of their ballads are literal perfection) helping their music cause but still I have no idea.

Marcus- they are clean as always, they're going to score highly in music and visual, but I think their GE might be a little behind compared to Flowermounds ear. The 7-10 picks were more of just a range. Marcus will always be one of the best bands of the state (probably will medal at state for the next 1000 years or so) but I think UIL suits them better than BOA. Again just my opinion, I still need to see a final product as that might completely change what I think.

 

I think the top 6 will be within 1.5 points. That's how close this will be.

 

I think it may come down to visual, obviously I would put Hebron out of the picture if that was the case but they just best two of the cleanest visual bands in the state so what do I know.

 

The only reason I think Leander will win is because their whole show is just a gorgeous big choral work (pun intended). I really want to see a new winner for the fourth straight year? Or third I can't remember.

 

I LOVE REAGAN. I absolutely love that they are back on top. But it's a different game than it was 10-15 years ago. Completely different. It will be crazy to see what this competition spits out.

[guardgirl17]

BOA is going to be bloodbath for sure. There are TOO many good bands!!!

[guardgirl17]

 

I'll take a stab at finals PLACEMENT predictions. I haven't ever gotten a single prediction right. Ever. So let's see how this goes.

14-11) Wakeland, Cedar, Dripping Springs, Vandegriff (to me Wakeland is the best of the bubble bands)

10) Round Rock

9) Cedar Park

8) Marcus (call me crazy, just a guess)

7) The Woodlands

6) Claudia Taylor Johnson

5) Ronald Reagan

4) Hebron

3) Flowermound

2) Bowie

1) Leander

 

Music- Reagan/Leander/Bowie, maybe even Hebron

Visual- CTJ

GE- Hebron, Flowermound

 

I honestly think the top 8 could be the completely opposite of what I predicted. That's how tight I think this year will be.

A few thoughts:

The only bubble band I'm confident in is Wakeland. Love their show.

I haven't gotten to see Wakeland's show yet, do you have a video of them?

[Nwneal98]

All of Wakeland's shows are on YouTube.

[bandperson1997]

I'll just go ahead and predict the top 25

 

1) Flower Mound

2) Reagan

3) Leander

4) CTJ

5) Marcus

6) Bowie

7) Cedar Park

8) Hebron

9) The Woodlands

10) Round Rock

11) Hendrickson

12) Vandegrift

13) Wakeland

14) Cedar Ridge

15) Copell

16) Friendswood

17) Owasso

18) Dripping Springs

19) Anderson

20) Westlake

21) Keller Central

22) Brazoswood

23) Aledo

24) TWCP

25) Spring

 

Well, this is just my opinions based on scores and early BOA's (Austin, etc)

[Bonelife]

Westlake also didn't make finals at BoA Austin last year and went on to place 12 at BoA San Antonio and 11 at UIL 6A state. We're big on the late season cleaning. 

[guardgirl17]

All of Wakeland's shows are on YouTube.

I watched and I loved it! That's just from the video, I bet seeing them in person would be even better! Can't wait to go watch all these amazing bands at BOA in a little more than 3 weeks! 

[~ME~]

Out of the group of bands that I think will have a shot at medaling (Flower Mound, CTJ, Leander, Reagan, Woodlands, Hebron, Marcus, Bowie, and maybe Round Rock), I can't narrow down 3 that I feel will have the strongest chances of winning. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how Flower Mound, Leander, CTJ, Reagan, and Marcus will be at San Antonio, but I don't know how to compare them to the rest because there's too many factors about those other bands I just don't know. The Woodlands, Hebron, and Round Rock are all going at Grand Nats pace so we aren't really going to have an idea of what any of those 3 groups will look like at San Antonio until the day of. And Bowie could turn out to be a late season bloomer and show up to the Alamodome a much stronger group than people would've thought. Throw the BOA judges' varying personal opinions into the mix and you have a contest that's impossible to predict. And I'm not even going to try to give finalist predictions, that's even more impossible. At this rate, there is going to be like 30 medal contenders in a few years lol!

[LHSax]

Predictions were so much easier 10 years ago when I could say - 1. Marcus, 2. LD Bell....everybody else. But this is WAY more fun. 

[dylan123]

I think friendswood has a shot at making finals. they really cleaned up there show the past two weeks and beat vista ridge in prelims yesterday at TMC. They also got 17th last year at BOA and 14th at state in their first year of 6A.

[clarinetnerd]

I've noticed that Westlake seems to be falling a bit on the short end here on the predictions because of the whole BOA Austin incident, I wouldn't count them out, given their history, and their show this year is really GE Driven. Even better than last year's, personally. Like some people have said above, they typically bloom late in the season, so obvioulsy by the time BOA rolls around they'll be milestones better. I think Westlake is a top contender for the last few spots in finals. But hey, thats just my opinion! 

[Samuel Culper]

So we have one guy that doesn't have Vista Ridge in the TOP 25? And two more pointing out Friendswood beat Vista in prelims at TWC.

 

Ok. I would point out, however, that Vista performed at 9:15am in prelims, third overall. And then they beat Friendswood handily in Finals.

 

Food for thought.

[LKendrick]

So we have one guy that doesn't have Vista Ridge in the TOP 25? And two more pointing out Friendswood beat Vista in prelims at TWC.

 

Ok. I would point out, however, that Vista performed at 9:15am in prelims, third overall. And then they beat Friendswood handily in Finals.

 

Food for thought.

I'm well aware. However that goes with one of the points I was making. A performance time is another factor that in a regional so competitive, can be another factor when it is so close. In a perfect world it shouldnt be, but unfortunately it can be. If there had been 4 more bands at the level of the top groups performing at the level or higher than Friendswood and performed well later they woulda potentially been out. Vista was probably the better band in prelims or maybe wasn't as strong in their first run. But that's another factor. Hence why I include them in the same grouping.

 

Also, Friendswood is a band that I wouldn't be ashamed of being beat by. They're very good every year. Wasn't bringing it up in a negative way to Vista......

[jake_tuba_03]

I am surprised to see that some people don't even have Friendswood in their top 20, after being 3 spots away from finals in 2014. I got a chance to watch them at TMC and was impressed with the difficulty of the show. Bravo. I have them at 15th place.

[principalagent]

So my thing about "my band did a b c and therefore deserves x placement / y finals spot / any consideration better than its currently receiving" is that when everyone says it - and we have three different examples on the prior page alone - it seriously diminishes any individual claim to that argument. For now, all we can do is predict based on the scores (and probably more important, the scoring patterns) that we've been given. That's going to advantage how certain bands are and aren't predicted. At the end of the day, it's not worth being bothered by what some band nerds (me included) predict about some show at whatever contest. Just go and perform your show to the best of your abilities and inspire your bandmates around you to do the same. Then, the results will fall where they may, and possibly you won't feel you *have* to defend your group on here next season.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Hey! The live webcasts are returning for the Super Regionals and Grand Nationals!

 

http://www.musicforall.org/blog/news/live-webcasts-announcement

[jake_tuba_03]

1) Reagan

2) James Bowie

3) CTJ

4) Marcus

5) Flower Mound

6) Leander

7) The Woodlands

8) Hebron

9) Cedar Park

10) Round Rock

11) Hendrickson

12) Vandegrift

13) Wakeland

14) Cedar Ridge

15) Copell

16) Friendswood

17) Dripping Springs

 

Extremely tough to place. So many exceptional bands this year! 

[Marcato]

1) Reagan

2) James Bowie

3) CTJ

4) Marcus

5) Flower Mound

6) Leander

7) The Woodlands

8) Cedar Park

9) Hebron

10) Hendrickson

11) Vandegrift

12) Wakeland

13) Cedar Ridge

14) Copell

15) Friendswood

 

Extremely tough to place. So many exceptional bands this year! 

Round Rock not making the cut this year?

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Round Rock not making the cut this year?

Guess not!

[L2@uX.IPO]

Its going to be a tough super regional for sure this year. But holy cow, Flower Mound winning BOA Arlington. I finally got to see their show in finals and was completely blown away. I immediately saw why they won in Prelims, Finals, and took so many captions. Flower Mound is steadily rising to the top, and is definitely a band to be watching out for at San Antonio. Their GE is absolutely ridiculous, visual is impressively clean for this early in the season, and their music...you've just got to hear it live to believe it.