<<There is a loophole in NAQT rules which allows much older and much more experienced players to play in a bracket meant for new ones.>> Again, though, it really has to be considered as to how juniors and seniors who could really make a difference on a team would have failed to qualify for the ICT at any point in their previous couple years. I'd be interested to see the stats, frankly, although they'd be almost impossible to compile. Of the juniors and seniors playing in Div II at this year's sectionals, how many: a) Were in their first or second year of college competition, thus making them as (or less if we include the HS experience of many freshmen) experienced as their underclass competition? b) Led their team in scoring and/or put up more than 20-30 ppg? It's my sneaking suspicion (and Paul Tomlinson's comments, and to a lesser extent Eric Hilleman's, would tend to support this) that very few Div II teams consisting mostly of juniors and seniors consist mostly of *experienced* juniors and seniors, thus making the difference negligible. At any rate, if the point is to "develop," playing against one, two, or even three "experienced" teams out of 20 or so (okay, other sectionals won't be as large as the Midwest one, but all the same) shouldn't kill you. The bulk of the competition, from schools that are going to field competitive teams routinely, is still going to come from freshmen and sophomores. Put it this way: I'm a sophomore who lost his DII eligibility as a freshman. This means I, in just my second year of college competition, must consistently play against teams full of grad students. Gosh, that's really unfair! NAQT should create a third division (we'll call it D-Zero) for ONLY grad students to play. Or maybe, grad students with more than a year or two of experience? Clearly this isn't going to happen, and there's no need for it to. Just because my team was good enough to qualify for ICT in my freshman year (and barely, at that) doesn't mean that I'm equipped to do very well against teams full of grad students. Still, it's worth noting that the team that beat us the worst on Saturday was Carleton (520-150... ouch), which of course has no grad students whatsoever. In other words, class means nothing. Last year, our Div I team went 0-14 at sectionals despite being composed of a grad student in his final year and four seniors. This year we went a respectable 8-6 despite being composed of two juniors, a sophomore, and a senior who was attending just his third tournament in two years. It's not the class that counts, it's the quality of the players - I'd worry more about the really good freshman/sophomore teams (like Carleton's) than the teams with four juniors or seniors who do okay (like Wisconsin or Iowa).
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