I personally always though the whole having them scuba out was stupidly panned as to the danger. I'm a diver and a caver. While I have not done any real underwater caving that required scuba diving, both things are not really that difficult when you have a guide that tells you what to do when and where and have support and equipment. I never saw a real issue with getting them all out with scuba gear. It wasn't like they were diving on their own and needed to do decompression calculations and what not and didn't have any guides as to where to go and help with tank changes if needed. It was simply breathe from this regulator and follow/be pulled along...
I would have to disagree some. While the danger was somewhat over-hyped, a brand new diver exposed to enclosed, zero viz conditions is someone who is going to be prone to panic. I was a professional diver for fed.gov and did many a cavern and drunk/high/stupid commercial fisherman sunk his boat dives in enclosed and zero viz conditions. Even I got a little freaked sometimes, especially in zero viz when I got hung up on something.
The good thing was that they had them in full coverage face gear, which pretty much eliminated the spitting out and/or losing the regulator scenario. Also, AFAIK, everything was very shallow and mostly short distances for the submerged portions. I didn't fully read up on it, but I'm not sure how one of the rescue divers died. I read that he ran out of air, which seems a bit far-fetched.
Anyway, respect to each and every one of those kids.