A buddy and I were actually talking about
automatic bids on Sunday, and talking about how in many
(though certainly not all cases), the schools that have
the infrastructure to host a good tournament, and the
internal staff to run one, are exactly the teams that are
going to be the most competitive. Then again, though,
if the automatic bids aren't there, what's the
incentive for anyone to host? You'll rarely see the great
teams hosting regionals because of the rule (which is a
good one, IMO) that you have to have two staffers in
each room before you can play a house team.
What we
decided...why not allow a team that hosts the SCT to completely
substitute their performance in the IFT for their SCT bid?
It's certainly not a perfect idea -- since you have a
lot more time to fix team chemistry by the time SCT
rolls around, and the spring tournament is virtually
always going to be a larger, more representative
field.
Or you could just effect the same rule for teams
that have to travel more than 450 miles, because for
most teams holding sectionals, the effect is the same:
it'll take a superhuman effort to actually make it to
*play* at the sectional.
Just mulling, V.