The SCTs in the East, Northeast, South, Southeast, Southwest, and West
did not have enough undergrad teams present (the minimum is 4) to
award autobids to the undergrad champions. That's not exactly "hush
hush"--it's on NAQT's rules pages. (Also, I think the Rochester bid
on the waitlist is probably due to Fred Bush's performance at the SW
SCT rather than their undergrad team's performance at the East SCT).
All of the teams you mentioned who didn't win titles but received bids
had bonus conversions in the top 30% or so of the field, unlike Baylor
(27th of 66 teams) or UTC (54th of 66 teams). While the S-value takes
other factors into account, bonus conversion is as good as any method
of comparing teams from different regions.
I find it sillier that a team like SFU B (8.51ppb, 59th of 66 teams)
gets a bid over schools like Baylor. (I mean no offense to SFU in
saying this.) I imagine this idea wouldn't go over well, but I think
it would be great if NAQT changed its rules on bid distributions such
that champions only got bids if their S-values fell in the top 30% or
so of the field.
Susan