Because of the playoff format, however, there are only six playoff games played per team, with the end result that the game being carried over for playoff standings is the game against which they played in the prelims. Therefore, the Green Wave goes into the playoffs with a 1-0 record by virtue of defeating Princeton B, which they will not play again unless in a tiebreaker or in the final.

The playoff round begins and... wow. Everyone now has a much better idea of how the ACF Nationals would feel like as far as the field is concerned, and there are a lot of tight games being played, decided in the last 3 tossups or so most of the time. But that doesn't prevent teams such as USC from getting close to defeating the Green Wave. Even then the closest game that was decided before getting to the last 3 tossups that the Green Wave ends up playing was still won against Minnesota by "only" a margin of 150 points.

Their only loss during the playoff round comes to the hands of Florida, in a nail-biting final game where fatigue set in and made everyone on the Green Wave not play as well as they should have, losing on a key tossup and therefore forcing the Green Wave to play a final game. Granted, an advantaged final, because Princeton B also lost a playoff game, but they must play another game, nonetheless. In which case Princeton B must win 2 games but Tulane only needs to win 1 to win the tournament.

"Oh, Imélie! I never thought I'd see you here at the ICT!" Sadie runs towards Imélie during the break, surprised to see Tulane in medal contention in Division II.

"How are things for you at school, Sadie?"

"It's not going so well, but I am ABD (all but dissertation) and quiz bowl keeps me going. That said I won the graduate division of the WNCC last year, but I believe it's not in the best interests of women's quiz bowl for me to attempt defending the title" Sadie tells her ex-teammate in high school.

"I am sure you have good reason for you not to. But what do you mean, it's not in the best interests of women's quiz bowl to enter the WNCC again? You didn't write about this decision in For ten points, fix this community, but you regularly write in it, so am I at times.

"It would discourage newcomers from playing if they realize it's the same closed group of people who win all the time. So, for this reason I am editing this tournament instead this year" Sadie explains her decision.

I really hope that Sadie doesn't stay in school just to keep playing for Princeton A! Just how much did she change while in graduate school! But Sadie has a point. What makes quiz bowl exciting to follow in the long run, both in high school and college, is that the competitive balance changes on a yearly basis, or even faster, you could say the same of high school sports, too. Also it appears that Alyssa has become just as good as I, Imélie ponders what Sadie just said about the long-term implications of giving newcomers a chance to play.

At the same time, Sadie doesn't quite know how she feels going into the Division 2 final, especially since her high school friend is playing for Tulane, and that she kept in touch for years, especially in the early stages of undergrad. But at the same time, Princeton A's tournament is over and she can still root for Princeton B. It's tough: even though their prelim game went in overtime, I am not sure if there really is an underdog here.

But just because it's an advantaged final that Tulane is playing does not mean that the Green Wave can rest. They play two bad games and their shots at glory will miss. By all measures, this Green Wave quiz bowl season is exceptional and I will finally accomplish what I couldn't as an undergraduate. And For 10 points, fix this community published a pre-ICT ranking of female and minority collegiate players, with various sub-rankings and I am unranked because of the low number of tossups heard pre-ICT. Alyssa, on the other hand, was, going into the ICT, the top female freshman player in the FTPFTC ranking, top-5 undergraduate female. We must not allow one or two games to ruin the season! Imélie starts thinking about how the advantaged final will impact how she'll view the season. For better or for worse, she feels like the entire Green Wave quiz bowl season will be judged based on this one game.

Speaking of which, the first game is going in overtime, and the Green Wave goes into the third overtime tossup with a 20-point lead. However, Xavier, going into the final toss-up, buzzes in because he is about to vomit; his discomfort leads him to answer some garbage.

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"Carnot cycle" Xavier negs.

"Neg five" the moderator comments while the Princeton B player buzzes in.

"Mitochondrial DNA"

"Fifteen"

Xavier! How could he do this to us? We're back to square one because Princeton has power-vulched the final overtime tossup question! He's so going to be benched if it comes to a second game! Imélie's anger at Xavier becomes visible going into the fourth overtime tossup, before which Imélie asks for a timeout, the first one the Green Wave asks virtually all season.

"Timeout" She then turns to Nolan. "You're going to play, Xavier has gotten sick"

It's do or die time once again; we lose this game, the following game will be the most nerve-wracking quiz bowl game of our lives! Nolan muses while he gets seated in the ballroom for that one tossup. Everyone playing knows that that, whoever gives the correct answer first wins, but interrupts can also make whoever eats it lose. It also turns everything into a buzzer race. All the more tempting to attempt a buzzer fake for either side. The fine arts question makes everyone nervous, even well past the power mark. Even past the for ten points cue.

"Chagall" the Princeton player answers after buzzing in.

"Ten. And that's the game. Princeton B wins, meaning we will need to play one more game to determine the winner"

Why couldn't I be faster on the buzzer? What went wrong? I could have gotten that question! Alyssa thought, while wracked by guilt over the question that she let slip, going into the second game of this advantaged final.

"This is it! The final round of the 2035 ICT Division II, pitting, once again, Tulane and Princeton B"

Everyone's nerves are put to the test, not only the players', but also the moderator's as well as the audience. But the people watching are mostly people that played earlier in it, with relatively few people watching in the ballroom that had no involvement with the tournament. One last game, which promises exciting buzzer races, powers and all the good things about watching quiz bowl in person.

As they expected based on the last two games between the two teams, they fight tooth and nail to hold on to the lead, which is traded often during that game. Neither team gets much of an opportunity to hold on to it for very long. By now, however, the Green Wave is used to these clutch moments. Trailing by 35 points with one tossup to go, they know what's at stake and how they can win the game and therefore the championship. Clues include references to the Crusades, a Muslim-Mongol battle and, before the power mark...

"Franco-Mongol Alliances" Nolan responds after buzzing, scoring his only power at the ICT.

"Fifteen. For ten points each..."

Glad to see that the Green Wave is still in the running. We can defeat Princeton B here and now, provided that we convert all 3 bonuses. We convert 2, we will need to endure 3 more tossups. We convert 1 or none, we have lost, Alyssa cogitates with all speed; the first bonus part is converted by her easily enough by her teammates.

The second part is where the pressure starts to mount on them, and they end up crushed under the weight, and that part goes dead when they fail to answer.

When the third part arrives, every Green Wave player try to remain focused on the law question. Focus, Alyssa, here's my chance to make up for the last game! She then proceeds to buzz in.

"Our answer is legal doctrine" Alyssa answers.

"We are entering overtime for the second time in a row. Grab your seats, here's the first overtime tossup!"

The first two overtime tossups are answered at the rate of one each per team, but with neither team powering them. Going into the third overtime tossup, they are once again back to square one, as that happened so many times during this game and the previous one that it has become tiresome to everyone playing. Can this nightmare of an advantaged tournament final end already? Imélie starts thinking, all the more nervous now that they are in a sudden death situation, and, in the previous game, they squandered any advantage they might once held going into this final.

The Green Wave wasn't intent on repeating it, and the first clue talks about, which causes Imélie to shake the buzzer and press it, well before the power mark. To the onlookers in the audience, it looks as if she had convulsions affecting the entire upper body; she is shaking in her seat.

"Enthalpy" Imélie answers, with her body still shaking.

"Fifteen, and that's the game. Score?" the moderator asks the scorekeeper.

"Three hundred thirty to three hundred fifteen"

"Congratulations to Tulane, the 2035 ICT Division II champions! This is the first victory for Tulane at the ICT, playing the tightest Division II final in many years, and it's also historic in that Tulane is the first team to win the ICT with more than one female player on its roster"

Finally, Tulane has won a major quiz bowl competition! For our male players, their season is over, and, for Nolan, his career as a collegiate player has finished with a bang! I'm overjoyed, but I'll respect his decision to leave the team, Imélie then jumps for joy after dropping the buzzer, but before shaking hands with the moderator as well as with the Princeton B players.

And yet, neither Imélie nor Alyssa earned all-star honors for the tournament, since both of them only scored in the high-30s for PP20TUH, but it shows that it's better to have a balanced team to win, than to rely on one player.