NCAA Pre-Season 2025-2026

[Amber]

Never got the fuss over Nola Matthews. She’s like Eythora. It’s just way too theatrical and OTT

Don't forget Hernandez, always found her fake and way over the top

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I've been very disappointed, but not surprised, at the level of tumbling from the top teams so far. The code encourages and rewards this sort of tumbling. Combine that with the judges not adequately using the deductions in the code to provide the separation they should, then there's no sense in taking risks with big tumbling or 3 passes.

It's the same thing with bars. Boring, low-skill routines that all look alike.

And I suspect that, as much as I agree that the NQS system needed and overhaul, counting 9 scores is just going to further entrench doing these low-difficulty safe routines.

I'm at the point where I don't know if I'll watch NCAA as closely this year.

 

[RedBirdie]

I'll probably watch it when there's nothing else on. Decent enough way to spend a Friday evening. But I view it more as fluffy entertainment, definitely not something to take seriously.

 

[cuuf]

Ah the eternal debate on forums like this, to go more elite or not to in NCAA. To me, the effort and focus should be on judging and getting judges to take appropriate deductions versus changing the code (sure, some thoughtful minor tweaks like 2 versus 3 pass routines). I think we need to remind ourselves that the population on a board like this represents about 5% of the people who view/follow college gymnastics. Many on here know and can name the specific skills and combinations to achieve bonuses. That is just not the general public. I think we also have to keep in mind that the majority of NCAA gymnasts are not elite level gymnasts, moving the code closer to elite skills would most likely lead to more of a concentration of athletes in a limited number of teams and even less variability than currently exists, which makes for a poor TV product. Focusing on judging keeps NCAA gymnasts accessible to the broader athlete pool to be competitive and still have a compelling product.

 

[RedBirdie]

I'd be perfectly happy if they just used the level 10 code as it currently is, with the current NCAA yurchenko full 9.95 SV.

 

[GEMINAM]

Ah the eternal debate on forums like this, to go more elite or not to in NCAA. To me, the effort and focus should be on judging and getting judges to take appropriate deductions versus changing the code (sure, some thoughtful minor tweaks like 2 versus 3 pass routines). I think we need to remind ourselves that the population on a board like this represents about 5% of the people who view/follow college gymnastics. Many on here know and can name the specific skills and combinations to achieve bonuses. That is just not the general public. I think we also have to keep in mind that the majority of NCAA gymnasts are not elite level gymnasts, moving the code closer to elite skills would most likely lead to more of a concentration of athletes in a limited number of teams and even less variability than currently exists, which makes for a poor TV product. Focusing on judging keeps NCAA gymnasts accessible to the broader athlete pool to be competitive and still have a compelling product.

I agree with this so much. I am reading these posts on here degrading these gymnast because their bar routine is boring.. not thinking that these girls have been putting wear and tear on their bodies for over 10 years before they even got there! I mean they do want to be able to not be crippled by the time they graduate college. Even a simple tweak on bars doing single rail releases can impact gymnasts elbows, wrists, etc. Also, don't forget the mass majority of the girls aren't getting these 3.5 million dollar NIL deals just to be on the team like the football players. Time to put some perspective on college gymnastics. At the end of the day it is for fun since 99.9% of them are done after their stint in college. Its not like they can use their gymnastics to become a lawyer or a nurse. Whilst these football players/ basketball can go pro and make millions. Perspective people.

 

[KristyJ]

Here we are using television and "for fun" as our descriptors for the goal of sport? That seems like we've traveled far off base from the intention of what sport should be.
There are more level 10 gymnasts in the US than there are college gymnasts, and every one of those level 10s is aiming for a code that becomes easier in college. I think upping the requirements slightly is not an insane ask. Will there be less parity? Maybe, but it's a sport, not a tv special or afternoon rec or a pageant, it's supposed to be competitive.

 

[blake]

Preseason poll. 39 first place votes for OU!

2026 Preseason Rankings • USA Gymnastics

usagym.org

Florida's hype night. Eleven 10.0 SVs on vault plus Emjae who didn't vault. Skye's lopez is Biles/Andrade level.

 

[irichluck21]

Florida has if anything the depth.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Here we are using television and "for fun" as our descriptors for the goal of sport? That seems like we've traveled far off base from the intention of what sport should be.
There are more level 10 gymnasts in the US than there are college gymnasts, and every one of those level 10s is aiming for a code that becomes easier in college. I think upping the requirements slightly is not an insane ask. Will there be less parity? Maybe, but it's a sport, not a tv special or afternoon rec or a pageant, it's supposed to be competitive.

I will never understand the kid gloves so many fans (not nearly as prevalent here) have with coaches, athletes, and teams in this sport. Absolutely zero criticism of anything allowed in many corners.

These are literally the toughest athletes in the world.

 

[GEMINAM]

Here we are using television and "for fun" as our descriptors for the goal of sport? That seems like we've traveled far off base from the intention of what sport should be.
There are more level 10 gymnasts in the US than there are college gymnasts, and every one of those level 10s is aiming for a code that becomes easier in college. I think upping the requirements slightly is not an insane ask. Will there be less parity? Maybe, but it's a sport, not a tv special or afternoon rec or a pageant, it's supposed to be competitive.

But the point is that while yes it is a sport, it is different in that these girls are not circus acts to be put on display for our entertainment. It's not the hunger games to see how far they can go until they get injured. Pushing for harder skills is just asking for injuries. Its not if they are going to get injured its a when they will get injured. There is a study somewhere that shows the amount of impact some of these skill have on their bodies, its insane. So, just because fans think* that they should be doing harder skills either have never been a gymnast, talked to a gymnast, or have a perspective on what it does to their bodies.

 

[KristyJ]

But the point is that while yes it is a sport, it is different in that these girls are not circus acts to be put on display for our entertainment. It's not the hunger games to see how far they can go until they get injured. Pushing for harder skills is just asking for injuries. Its not if they are going to get injured its a when they will get injured. There is a study somewhere that shows the amount of impact some of these skill have on their bodies, its insane. So, just because fans think* that they should be doing harder skills either have never been a gymnast, talked to a gymnast, or have a perspective on what it does to their bodies.

I don't think anyone here is asking for it to go fully to the elite code? There is a balance between difficulty and wellbeing in any sport, a slight increase here and there isn't making them circus acts. A single bar release isn't the equivalent to a trapeze routine....
The whole point of sport is to improve and strive in a competitive environment, harder skills are a part of that. While I get that the 10.0 code also encourages mastery and perfection of current skills, many of these athletes downgrade their skill level for the college level. Should we also encourage runners to slow their times a bit, so that they don't risk injury? Basketball players to move in the free throw line? Also your comment that "*fans think" kind of disregards that many or most of us here did this sport for a large percentage of our lives, and often other sports as well, and have an intimate understanding of the demands sport puts on our bodies.

 

[BB12]

Ah the eternal debate on forums like this, to go more elite or not to in NCAA. To me, the effort and focus should be on judging and getting judges to take appropriate deductions versus changing the code (sure, some thoughtful minor tweaks like 2 versus 3 pass routines). I think we need to remind ourselves that the population on a board like this represents about 5% of the people who view/follow college gymnastics. Many on here know and can name the specific skills and combinations to achieve bonuses. That is just not the general public. I think we also have to keep in mind that the majority of NCAA gymnasts are not elite level gymnasts, moving the code closer to elite skills would most likely lead to more of a concentration of athletes in a limited number of teams and even less variability than currently exists, which makes for a poor TV product. Focusing on judging keeps NCAA gymnasts accessible to the broader athlete pool to be competitive and still have a compelling product.

Completely agree, particularly about the elite part.

The vast majority of these athletes are lvl10s and the code should reflect that. I am all for making the requirements slightly harder so it matches the lvl10 code or requiring extra skills in routines that can be a lower difficulty but make routines longer. Some small examples of things I'd consider - requiring a turn on floor, needing an extra element on beam, SBR or having to move up/down on the bars a certain number of times.

But I am completely against any changes that favours elites or give any extra bonus to skills only really performed by elites because that would work against what the majority of the talent pool is and provide an unfair advantage to only a very select number of teams.

 

[GEMINAM]

I don't think anyone here is asking for it to go fully to the elite code? There is a balance between difficulty and wellbeing in any sport, a slight increase here and there isn't making them circus acts. A single bar release isn't the equivalent to a trapeze routine....
The whole point of sport is to improve and strive in a competitive environment, harder skills are a part of that. While I get that the 10.0 code also encourages mastery and perfection of current skills, many of these athletes downgrade their skill level for the college level. Should we also encourage runners to slow their times a bit, so that they don't risk injury? Basketball players to move in the free throw line? Also your comment that "*fans think" kind of disregards that many or most of us here did this sport for a large percentage of our lives, and often other sports as well, and have an intimate understanding of the demands sport puts on our bodies.

>>Also your comment that "*fans think" kind of disregards that many or most of us here did this sport for a large percentage of our lives, and often other sports as well, and have an intimate understanding of the demands sport puts on our bodies..

Did you not get that i said FANS, I did not say the specific group of people on this particular site... and how do you know most or majority of people on here did this sport? I never said a single bar release = a trapeze routine, but where does it stop? Do we just start increasing difficulty until that difficulty bar is then "boring" or not cool enough to watch any more and raise the bar again? At the end of the day this isn't the Olympics or even Elite gymnastics. Its college gymnastics. As far as basketball or any other sport for that matter they aren't moving the finish line constantly just because the fans are bored of watching. I mean then maybe we should ask the basketball players to use their bad arm to make a basket so we now can be entertained and the score wont be so high... or football players to wear eye masks to make it more interesting...

 

[cuuf]

I don't think anyone here is asking for it to go fully to the elite code? There is a balance between difficulty and wellbeing in any sport, a slight increase here and there isn't making them circus acts. A single bar release isn't the equivalent to a trapeze routine....
The whole point of sport is to improve and strive in a competitive environment, harder skills are a part of that. While I get that the 10.0 code also encourages mastery and perfection of current skills, many of these athletes downgrade their skill level for the college level. Should we also encourage runners to slow their times a bit, so that they don't risk injury? Basketball players to move in the free throw line? Also your comment that "*fans think" kind of disregards that many or most of us here did this sport for a large percentage of our lives, and often other sports as well, and have an intimate understanding of the demands sport puts on our bodies.

Many of these athletes are NOT downgrading their skill level for college level. Again most college gymnasts come from the L10 ranks. These skills are at level for maybe the top 10% of L10 athletes and the rest have never competed them. Now for the elites in college, yes, the small number of them it is a downgrade. Ultimately, I think we are somewhat saying the same thing, just different angles. But I would also say it is a bit naive to completely wave away the TV and entertainment aspect. And like all of this, it is a balance. But the sport cant grow and continue to evolve without the support of fans and television. If no deference was made to what is going to draw eyes with the general populace, we would have a sport conducted in empty gyms with a handful die-hards and parents watching, fighting for relevance. I also appreciate we dont want the "tail to wag the dog" either and get to a point where the "sport" is more show. That's why I think focus on improving judging first priority, and then second look at some small changes that might incentivize some variety in routine construction. I think some of the suggestions around 2 versus 3 pass routines could be considered, along those lines.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

or football players to wear eye masks to make it more interesting...

As long as they are hydrating eye masks I am in favor of this. Some of these NFL players are in desperate need of a skincare routine.

 

[Aizheng]

To me, it’s not about more difficulty, but less cookie-cutter routines. Introducing something on novelty and creativity would help a tremendous amount. I also was quite struck how some of the lower-ranked schools used to have a lot more variety and more interesting skills when I watched last year, so introducing something like this could even increase „parity“.
To me, this is an issue with any code that has basically stayed unchanged for a relatively long time. Gymnasts and coaches will gravitate towards an „easy“ way to get maximum points. If you do not want to fiddle significantly with the code every four years the way elite has done (even before the open-ended code), a bonus for virtuosity, novelty and creativity could work. Of course, there needs to be some way to define what would get the bonus and what it would entail.
Since they do not want to get rid of the marketing aspect of the perfect 10, allowing a bonus to increase the max starting value to 10.1, so you can absorb one „error“ seems like a possible way.

 

[JaJa]

Whilst these football players/ basketball can go pro and make millions. Perspective people.

The vast majority of NCAA football and basketball players will never get the opportunity to go pro.