2023 Regionals (March 29-April 2)

[cats]

I feel like I don’t really know who deserved to win because the quad box is tiny and hard to follow, and the camera angles were weird.

 

[irichluck21]

Michigan should have advanced with Denver. Oregon State was shockingly best on bars last night which is typically their weakest. They needed a better beam rotation.
LSU is really lucky with the gifts they got throughout the meet.
IMO, from what I saw, it should have been Michigan, Denver, Oregon State, LSU.
But it was really close overall and Michigan was not their typical self on vault. I think that they just never really got the momentum after that bars fall from Wilson.

Good news for Cal though, this definitely opens a pathway to National finals.
Cal, Florida, Denver, LSU- that one is wide open and Florida looks ripe for the picking to be honest.
Oklahoma, Utah, UCLA, Kentucky is going to be exciting. I think Kentucky can compete with Utah and UCLA for that last spot in finals, as long as OU doesn’t implode.

It is likely that Oklahoma is going to win nationals easily, but don’t be surprised if Cal makes a run at the title, IMO they are the hottest team right now in terms of peaking.

 

[cuuf]

Good news for Cal though, this definitely opens a pathway to National finals.
Cal, Florida, Denver, LSU- that one is wide open and Florida looks ripe for the picking to be honest.

Interesting, funny how different perspectives can see different things. Did you not see Cal in the semifinal? I actually am more impressed with Florida. Losing arguably the most important gymnast in college in the middle of 2 day competition, changing line-ups and surprising people with sudden line-up spots, they were rock solid for the most part. Having to count OOB, no Trinity and still were right there with Cal, even though Cal was having a lights out meet. I know historically UF has this shaky post-season tag, but other than OU, their scores throughout the season have been the most consistent (high 197s). Meaning at this point, I dont expect UF to not perform at nationals. Can they perform at their peak? Who knows? But I do know Cal, LSU, and Denver all have been much more variable throughout the season and into the post-season (see semi-finals, conference champs.). My point is, unless Trinity is definitely out of nationals, idk why you would say UF is ripe for the picking, just because UF scored a 197.8?

It really should be one of the most compelling nationals, other than the top spot, lol damn you OU! There are no more off days allowed, no more shuffled landings, counting falls.

 

[irichluck21]

Did you not see Cal in the semifinal? I actually am more impressed with Florida.

I thought Cal had more momentum. Florida did well without Thomas I agree. But, had Michigan State not flubbed their vault landings, Florida would have been eliminated.

 

[cuuf]

And if Florida didnt have to count an OOB or have sat a vault, they would have won the regional. Regardless of “what if” Michigan State would have done. The “what if” game works all different permutations. But I understand that’s your interpretation/feeling of events coming out of regionals.

 

[irichluck21]

And if Florida didnt have to count an OOB or have sat a vault, they would have won the regional. Regardless of “what if” Michigan State would have done. The “what if” game works all different permutations. But I understand that’s your interpretation/feeling of events coming out of regionals

Oh there are always what ifs…but sitting a vault down and the OOB can’t happen at Nationals or they might not make it to finals.

But that is for any team. Just my opinion that Florida is looking a bit “iffy” at the moment.
Hopefully Thomas will be healed in time for Nationals and they purposefully kept her out of regional finals for that region.

I was still surprised she did the AA in regional semi-finals, but then again had Florida not qualified to Nationals in hte final, Thomas would not be able to do AA at nationals had she not competed AA.

 

[cuuf]

Absolutely. No more off nights allowed. I guess you are taking the micro view of going off the last performance while I am taking the macro view of the entirety of the season both are completely reasonable. We will see how it plays out in a couple of weeks. I am very excited for the semifinals, should be intense. I hope all teams have solid meets and we see where everything falls when the dust settles.

 

[irichluck21]

I always look at the post season more than the season itself because teams can get hot and teams can get cold. The parity in gymnastics is so high now that we have a literal regional 4th seed, Denver, qualify to nationals.
Ohio State, Arizona State, and Missouri all put up a fight in their respective regional finals.

In the past, it was pretty clear who would qualify to nationals, but we are now in an era where there is the ability to be upset. IE-Michigan and Auburn.

I also think momentum can have positive effects on a team and California just checked off a win over Florida, who are considered to be a front runner for the team title along with Oklahoma. Cal is going to feel more confident after regionals.

 

[david]

After all that UCLA went through last year, the turnaround is pretty extraordinary. I’m thrilled they made it to nationals. I’m also in awe of their consistency, which has never been a UCLA strength. They only had 3 falls all season long and those falls came from 3 different athletes, so no individual had more than one fall.

 

[irichluck21]

After all that UCLA went through last year, the turnaround is pretty extraordinary. I’m thrilled they made it to nationals. I’m also in awe of their consistency, which has never been a UCLA strength. They only had 3 falls all season long and those falls came from 3 different athletes, so no individual had more than one fall.

UCLA could win nationals.

McDonald is a clear game changer who immediately shifted the culture and team environment.
Selena Harris is clutch and IMO their best gymnast (sorry Jordan) who is impressive as a freshman. I honestly think she could win the all around at Nationals. But yeah Harris and Chiles are a strong 1-2 punch.

Oklahoma is obviously the favorite, but really any of the 8 teams could win nationals on any given day.

 

[cuuf]

I agree, but I worry that people are reading too much into UCLA and their performance this year. Yes, Janelle has and should be credited with changing the environment around the program to get these results, but at the same time, its not like she is taking a bunch of misfits and molding them into all-stars. UCLA on paper has one of the most talented group of gymnasts ever. Lets give her 4 years, see how she recruits and develops talent. Obviously 1st year results are encouraging.

I dont think Kentucky or Denver have a realistic shot at winning nationals. Great teams and excited for them to be there, but I just dont see them with enough to top any of the other 6 if those teams are solid in their competition.

 

[cats]

McDonald has a hard job ahead with the conference change. Those long trips are going to be very hard on the athletes. (And everyone else who travels with the team, herself included).

 

[irichluck21]

I dont think Kentucky or Denver have a realistic shot at winning nationals. Great teams and excited for them to be there, but I just dont see them with enough to top any of the other 6 if those teams are solid in their competition.

I didn’t say anything about odds, I said on any given day any of the 8 teams could win and I stand by that statement. It is unlikely that Denver, LSU, or Kentucky will win, but they have the ability to do so if the stars align.

Technically, California enters as the #1 seed based on their 198.075 with Oklahoma and Utah at 198.050 tied as 2nd, UCLA with 197.925 4th, Denver 197.875 in 5th, Kentucky 197.850 6th, Florida 197.800 7th, and LSU 197.750 in 8th.

Obviously there are different judges at each regional so some of these scores might not be comparable, especially since three hosted and had home scores.

This is how they would have been seeded when there were 6 regionals and the top 2 qualified to nationals.

I do think it will be Oklahoma and UCLA advancing and also Florida and California advancing.
But Utah is neck and neck with UCLA, it could come down to less than a tenth. Kentucky could sneak into finals if there if they drill vault and bars landings. They have the routines to contend with Utah and UCLA. Denver and LSU are also within chance of knocking out Florida or Cal. If Florida doesn’t have Thomas back and they have some faulty vault landings or like we saw, OOB on floor, Florida could be eliminated. Cal could also be eliminated if they don’t have a secure vault rotation.

This is truly a different era of NCAA gymnastics where any of the 8 teams could actually win.
Compared to the days when it was just UCLA, Utah, Bama, and Georgia, and occasionally Michigan might be in the mix.
You knew going into the Super Six which teams were likely to be in the top 3, at least 87-early 2000s.
1997 was the outlier in those years and that was shocking because both Utah and Alabama failed to make the Super Six, leaving only Georgia as a former winner and allowing UCLA to win, but it was also wide open for the other teams as well. Florida and Michigan had the ability to win the whole thing, and Arizona State came close too. That really hadn’t happened before.

 

[RedBirdie]

I’m going to give the slightest edge to Utah over UCLA. Pac12s and Regionals, Utah beat UCLA at both.

 

[Sasha]

This stuff really gets my goat. I get that travel is inevitable, but they could at least try to cluster teams into geographically-sensible conferences. The athletes are students, after all, and already have a lot to juggle.

 

[MaryClare]

It’s also not exactly eco friendly

 

[arabiandoublefront]

It’s all about the money for football and men’s basketball. They don’t care how hard it’ll be on the rest of the sports.

 

[Sasha]

Don’t get me started on that.

 

[Orange]

The basketball team is going to be paying the price for that extra money though. It’s the sports that play twice a week and have a longer season that the travel is really going to be a problem for. The women’s sports are probably going to get it worse because I suspect they have less access to the private plane. The football team is getting off easy.

UCLA had only four road conference meets this year plus the Pac-12s, so that’s really not that bad. Maybe they could double up one weekend and compete against both Michigan schools or something.

The conference realignment has completely gotten out of hand. At this rate we are going to end up with two conferences.

 

[RedBirdie]

UCLA had only four road conference meets this year plus the Pac-12s, so that’s really not that bad. Maybe they could double up one weekend and compete against both Michigan schools or something.

They will likely try to pair up some meets like you suggest. I suspect we’ll also see more tri and quad Big10 meets.