As long as we're all flogging the same horse- I'm looking over the stats from the Route 66 tournament, where Texas Tech was allowed to compete as a D2 team despite having a grad student (who did not participate in quizbowl as an undergrad). We finished 2nd in our division, and everyone who went enjoyed the experience despite averaging 15 ppg or less individually. I earnestly want to be able to compete with programs like A&M, UT, OU, and the like, but we're not there yet, and I don't think that repeated gray-matter beatdowns will get us closer to that goal as much as it will drive people away from competition. We have no desire to hide out in D2, and don't enjoy posting a 200+ point victory against a new team nearly as much as we do losing a close match against a vastly superior team. As Candace mentioned earlier, many grad students come to the game for the first time in grad school. The only coherent argument I've ever heard for automatically placing a team with a grad student in D1 (they're older, and have had more time to learn and "observe" things) would have teams from many community colleges competing in D1 as well, since CC students tend to be older than 4-year students. This can be unfortunate when the grad students are the ones driving the quizbowl program at a particular school yet are not good enough to support a competitive D1 team right out of the gates. I think many newbie tournaments are changing their criteria to reflect that, but I'd be very interested in hearing from organizations/tournaments who have not as to why they feel academic standing is a more important factor than quizbowl experience. Trey Morris Texas Tech
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