NCAA Who Got to Compete This Year on Each of the Top Ten Teams

[ugadawgkat]

There has been some online discussion about highly ranked gymnasts seeing no (or very little) competition time when they join top tier teams like Oklahoma, LSU etc. There has also been some related talk about roster management. This got me wondering enough to look up some stats concerning this. Because I have way too much time on my hands I created this chart to show the number of gymnasts on each of the top 10 teams that competed at least one routine this year. UGA followed closely by Utah did the best at having most of their gymnasts compete while Oklahoma and UCLA utilized a third of their team. While not in the top 10 Denver wins the team roster management prize with 100% of their gymnasts able to see the competition floor this year. Seems like these stats could be a recruiting selling point to teams like Denver, UGA and Utah: "Come to our school and we'll do everything possible to get you on the competition floor."

 

[BB12]

Interesting data set but I don't think it would play that much role in recruiting given there can be many reasons why people do or don't compete in a given season.

More people compete routines doesn't necessarily mean better given it could be due to large amount of injured athletes or inconsistency due to coaching or a preference to not settle lineups which could also be difficult if you are an athlete trying to find your way.

 

[irichluck21]

College Gym News did it for all the teams in case you were interested in a further deep dive into data.

Data Deep Dive: The Most, Least Utilized 2026 Rosters - College Gym News

All the recent articles published on College Gym News, including event coverage, recruiting news, features, data deep dives and more.

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[ugadawgkat]

Agree with all your points. It would suck to be a healthy gymnast and see no competition time at all. They put in all that work in the gym and then they have to ride the bench. Valorie Kondos was really good about having girls who didn't see that much competition time fill in while she rested her best athletes. I wonder if gymnasts consider who they will have to beat out in order to compete. It's definitely something they should think about when they commit to a school.

 

[BB12]

They really should consider it but I dont think enough of them do. Or they don't expect themselves to be the one who isnt making line ups.

But with these giant recruiting classes becoming more common, it's something that parents and club coaches need to be making sure their athlete really thinks about before committing.

 

[makam]

Being a big fish in a little pond has some advantages. Im guessing that the gymnasts who don't make lineups don't get shorter training hours. At least on a mid ranked team you might get some payoff for those hours.

 

[Aeris]

I want to see this statistic in the form of "number of routines worth watching per team".

 

[BB12]

It seems there is also benefit to being on a big name team for a few years before transferring to a lower ranked team. Get two years with top coaching, nationals, the extras that come with known teams etc then if you aren't competing, go somewhere you will with that experience under your belt.

 

[makam]

I guess the money might be better on a higher ranked team. I know no one is raking in livvy money right now (don't think), but it feels like being on Utah or LSU might boost your bank account more than say Arizona or Maryland.

 

[BB12]

Absolutely. At most SEC programs or an Utah level program, every athlete will be getting paid to some degree plus on scholarship. I dont know exact figure but I've heard some programs aim for the figure to be enough to put a big deposit on a house. At one SEC program, athletes were offered a signing bonus if they committed on their visit.

Whereas at an Arizona or Maryland, not everyone will be on scholarship. It adds up.