2008 ICT

The 2008 NAQT Intercollegiate Championship Tournament was held at Washington University in Saint Louis, April 11-12, 2008.

Results

Division 1

Maryland went undefeated to win the championship, defeating Chicago in an advantaged final. Third place went to Illinois.

The top individual scorers in D1 were:

• Jerry Vinokurov, Brown
• Jason Keller, Rutgers
• Mike Sorice, Illinois

The Division 1 Undergraduate championship went to Harvard, who beat Dartmouth in the final. Dartmouth had previously beaten Minnesota in a tiebreaker to play against Harvard in the final.

Division 2

Carleton College took the D2 crown after beating Western Ontario in the second game of an advantaged final. This was the highest placing of a Canadian team at ICT in any division in the tournament's history. Third place went to Dartmouth, who were led by James "BEAST FROSH" Shinn.

The top individual scorers in D2 were:

• Greg Peterson, Lawrence
• Peter Burton, Western Ontario
• Matt Chadbourne, Missouri S&T

The community college champion was Valencia, who beat Chipola in the final.

American Airlines and Travel Disasters

The 2008 ICT was severely affected by American Airlines' decision to cancel several flights only days before the tournament. At least one team, believed to be North Dakota, was totally unable to come (although it has not been confirmed that American Airlines was the root cause of the problem), forcing a seven-team bracket and ensuring that every Division I team that attended the tournament was guaranteed at least one win, if only by forfeit. Unlike the 2006 ICT, the preliminary bracket containing only seven teams did not also contain the statistically two worst teams in the tournament, and anomalous seeding was avoided.

Maryland was also affected by the cancellations, and was informed of a five-hour hold on the American Airlines customer service hotline when they attempted to book new flights. Thanks to some quick thinking and bilingual skills by Charles Meigs, Maryland was able to use American Airlines' Spanish language customer service hotline to book new flights and ultimately all players were able to make the tournament.

Perhaps the team hardest hit by the cancellations was Brown. After preliminary discussions involving flying to Dayton, Jerry Vinokurov flew into Indianapolis and drove from there to St. Louis. Eric Mukherjee, however, purchased a last-second flight believed to cost upwards of $700, and spent the Friday night rounds stuck in the Charlotte airport.

Stats

Stats can be found here.