Al Whited wrote: "Those (B) teams should not be denied their legitimate shot at the championship; all the others are just taking up space that should--for the social and political reasons described above--be reserved for A teams from waitlisted schools." Who is to decide which of these B teams have "legitimate shots at the championship"? I was under the impression that this was the function served by NAQT's magic formula. If a team performs well enough at their Sectional tournament, they earn the right to compete at the ICT. There were 6 B teams and 1 C team at the ICT last year and there are 3 teams currently invited this year. Last year, Maryland B finished 12th. It seems that with the slimming of the field by NAQT, the number of B teams has decreased. I have no problem with this. However, I do have a problem with inviting a team that doesn't deserve to be at a national championship simply because a good team comes from a school with an even better A team. The effect of inviting inferior teams to the ICT is watering down the championship. I don't think anyone wants that. -Todd Gregory As an afterthought, the NAQT sectional tournament would become just another tournament to every B team that attended it if no B teams were allowed at the ICT.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:42 AM EST EST