<p>“Wonder what it is”</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a judging pattern preferring male groups necessarily. All-male groups are where a cappella came from. The oldest, most established group on every campus is likely to be an all-male group. There’s still a huge preference in the pop world for all-male bands…coed rock and pop groups are still the exception. All-male groups tend to get huge campus support, fan base, groupies, etc. As long as you have a deep enough audition pool (a big if), all-male groups probably have the easiest path to sounding good. That being said, it may just be chance that all-male groups ended up at the top of the tournament. </p>
<p>ICCA overwhelmingly attracts younger groups. For the most part, you won’t see the granddaddy groups (male, female, or coed) participating. So you generally won’t see the groups that have had 30 years to perfect their sound, even at the finals.</p>