It should be noted that four out of fifteen regions (Chicago's,
Michigan's, Oklahoma's, and Minnesota's) account for 12 out of 17
wildcards since 1977, while seven regions (1, 2, 9, 12, 13, 14, and
15) have never received wildcards. Also, consider that Illinois-
Chicago received the wildcard as recently as 1996, and that Region 8
has gotten it three times in the last seven years, while again,
Region 12 and other regions have never gotten the wildcard.
Speaking of Region 12, congratulations to Baylor for winning the
double-elimination tournament and, thus, the Region 12 championship.
If NAQT or ACF chose to use a tournament format that renders round
robin performance moot (except for seeding in the playoffs), they
would be lambasted. Now, we at Arkansas get to feel firsthand the
sting that Florida must have felt last year at Nationals. However, we
all did know the tourney format in advance. Also, congrats to circuit
newcomers LSU for a splendid performance that included putting us in
the loser's bracket; they're gonna be pretty good pretty soon. Also,
kudos to NAQT for announcing their tourney format in advance this
year and for using a format that is tried and true.
See ya at ICT,
Joshua Hill
Arkansas Quiz Bowl
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