Sayeth Joon:
"With 7 div 2 bids now to go
with 8 div 1 bids, can there be any doubt that the NE
SCT was the strongest, most competititive, and
best-looking of all the SCTs? :)"
Sayeth I:
Yes,
but two of those bids are artificial. Harvard
received 3 bids instead of the 1 they were entitled to
because they chose to play 3 teams. This isn't bad if
they can afford it, but indications from people there
were that they couldn't. No team running a tournament
where they are under no obligation to play should
decide to stack more teams in and tell people to help
staff during their bye rounds. A host school's first
obligation is to running the tournament. However, if the
reports I've gotten are overstated, I'll listen for
Joon's reply.
Andy
(who thinks this was a bit
worse than Maryland playing in and winning their own
tournament because at least Maryland had people sitting
around with nothing else to do)