Matt W. wrote: "I only played D1 at sectionals because several cancellations in the week before the tournament caused us to compact from an originally planned three teams (D1 + 2 D2) to two. Had all members of Pitt QB been able to go, I would have played D2, several of the people who did end up playing D2 (and doing so quite well) would have played D1, and we still would have qualified one team in each division. As of the Wednesday before sectionals, I was scheduled to play D2. The division-switching was a last minute stopgap created to deal with an unexpected situation." But then the question is, Matt, why did _you_ specifically have to play in D1? If all those cancellations were from players scheduled to compete in D1, fine, but I could have sworn Eric said in a previous message that only two Pitt players had to play in D1 in the first place. So when you consolidated the teams, if your intention was to play in D2 at the ICT, why didn't other Pitt players take the roster spots on D1? "Situations such as this are, I would guess, the reason that NAQT allows for same-year switches. Also, keep in mind that NAQT attempts to bring new teams into the circuit; a team at its first NAQT tournament which qualifies for ICT should not be penalized for not knowing exactly which players are the strongest on the format." And how does this affect Pitt? Pitt's not a rookie NAQT program; I can remember a bad thrashing Pitt gave to a good JHU team at the 1999 CCT. :P Besides, teams have an opportunity to tweak their rosters at the IFTs (unless they are hosting). "In conclusion: Don't assume that other teams' internal decisions are designed to bend the rules, or that your own team has a divine right to succeed, and that there must have been foul play afoot if it did not. If you wanted to go to ICT, you should have played better at sectionals." The point others are trying to make, Matt, is that while teams who get edged out at Sectionals earned their way onto the waitlist, they do not take kindly when qualifying teams field _substantially weaker_ squads at the ICT. I'm not convinced that that same 5-10 Pitt D1 squad at the ICT would have qualified at the Mid-Atlantic SCT. Last year's Hopkins team did not qualify for the ICT based on SCT performance, yet we went 6-8 at the ICT -- the power-matching format is designed so that the bulk of the field finishes somewhere near .500, thus 5-10 is not all that special. This is a loophole NAQT had in place this year, so it would not have been right to change midstream. It seems, however, that a lot of people want this rule to be changed. -Adam Fine
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