Dual Meets after Week 4

[MensGym]

Now that we’ve had 4 weeks of Dual Meets. I have some observations. I watched Nebraska vs Michigan and Penn State vs Illinois.

1. Head to Head

• What I like…
  I like the teams being on the same event for scoring purposes. It is nice to know that after 1, the score is on the same event for both teams. It really does make it exciting to get to High Bar when the teams are close and it could go either way.
  The 2 halves are nice because there is that 6-minute halftime. Some teams are 1st half teams and some are 2nd half teams. The further we get into the season, that could prove very interesting.
• What I don’t like…
  Although the meet time is a tad shorter, I feel as though I’m sitting there longer watching without a break. Like MAGfan said in a previous post, audiences have short attention spans. We are used to hitting pause to go to the bathroom or get some food or a drink refill. You only get 6 minutes to do this at halftime. Or run really quickly between events hoping you don’t miss anything. It’s fine if you are at home watching it on BTN+, where you can hit pause, but in real life, it doesn’t work as well. This brings me to Point 2.

1. No Touch

• There’s nothing I like about the No Touch. I timed both meets between the last salute on the event and the 1st salute on the next.
• Nebraska vs Michigan
  FX to PH- 5:20
  PH to SR- 4:00
  VT to PB- 3:00
  PB to HB- 3:00
  Meet Time- About 2:13 without Line ups, Anthem, and Post-Meet Analysis.

From the end of the 1st warm-up of the top 3 events, including the individual introductions of both teams and the Anthem to the beginning of the 1st Still Ring routine was 1 hour. That means, if you are only in the rings line-up, you have to wait 1 hour for the 1st guy to go on rings. And depending on where you are in the line-up, it’s another couple minutes to 20 minutes.
From the buzzer signaling the end of the 2nd half warm-up session to the 1st guy in High Bar, it was about 35 minutes. The difference is vault goes very quickly as compared to Floor.

• Penn State vs Illinois
  FX-PH- 8:00
  PH to SR- 4:00
  VT to PB- 3:00
  PB to HB- 2-3:00… the broadcast was focused on the women so I’m taking a good guess.
  Meet time- Around 2:05/10

This meet was approximately the same as Nebraska vs Michigan with 1 hour from the end of warm-ups, line-ups, and Anthem to 1st Ring routine. As well as 35 minutes from the end of halftime to the 1st High Bar routine.

For either team, I’m unsure how many exhibition athletes competed. Michigan had a couple. Nebraska had none. It didn’t look like there was any at the PSU/ILL meet. If there are no AA athletes or exhibition athletes, the meet will obviously be shorter.

I feel the reason why the Nebraska vs Michigan meet took a bit longer is there were a lot of falls that eat up 30-1 minute of time per fall.

My suggestion for this is…
While the athletes are waiting for the judges and flashers and all the stuff to be moved from one event to the other, let them touch the equipment. The average time between events is 3:30 to 4 minutes. That’s plenty of time for each of the 10 athletes to touch the equipment. There is no reason for these athletes should be cold going into any event.

What I noticed watching these meets, is the athletes used to be able to be closer to their teammates. In the Nebraska vs Michigan meet, all the Michigan guys were all in one spot by the rings while watching pommel horse, but only the Nebraska pommel horse guys competing could be there. The other teammates were far away on the floor. There’s so much energy that happens when your team is right there with you. This was a definite disadvantage for Nebraska at this meet. It seems that Penn State and Illinois had to stay in their corrals. You didn’t get to see the team spirit with either team at that meet. Is this a new rule for dual meets? If so, I don’t like it.

Also, I wonder how the judges like it. They are used to judging only 3 events at a dual meet. Now, they are judging all 6. Will that make a difference for them? Did they have a say in this change?

I know this is new and there is room for improvement. I hope they can add the safety component back to the sport by allowing them to have a 1 touch. Otherwise head to head is a good change.

Let me know what you think!

 

[MAGfan]

Pretty much agree with all of that. There is a lot of standing around between events, with guys trying to stay loose. That is wasted time.

I do not understand the “corrals” in the dual meets. I watched the same 2 meets you did, plus some of a couple of others. At the “double dual” at Penn State, it was pretty obvious. The women were everywhere, and the men appeared to be stuck in in their corrals, trying to the see their teammates. It was strange to me. Most of the men’s meets, the teams seem to stay on their benches, and at the women’s meets they are everywhere!

I do wonder how the judges feel about this. It would be another perspective to get!

 

[MensGym]

I’ve watched so many NCAA meets. It does seem that Penn State does stay more in their corrals. Michigan is usually in that right near corner, under rings by HB. At Nebraska and Illinois, they seem to follow them to each event, but they do have the room to move around.

 

[MAGfan]

I noticed at most of the meets this weekend, the teams stayed in their corrals for the meet.