(GYM) Gymnastics 2023 - 2024

Session 1:

Arkansas regressed to the team we saw in Gainesville.

Stanford reminded me of the plucky Ohio State team that had the fight, but not the athletes.

California scored about like I thought they would in finishing second behind LSU. The tiggers spanked their rears when the meet was on the line.

LSU had its Dr. Jeckyl beam team show up along with their best floor team in the nation. I thought after the meet that LSU could upset Oklahoma if the tiggers stuck some vault landings, but the sooner implosion in session 2 took care of that idea.

Session 2:

ABO! ABO! ABO! Anybody But Oklahoma! ABO! ABO! ABO!

Oklahoma was the only team that could beat Oklahoma all season long. Tonight, the sooners inexplicably beat themselves. Not only that, the sooners looked nothing like the team I watched numerous times this season. To say the sooners performance, lack of performance, was a shocker is a gross understatement. I loved watching every implosion and watching KJ Kindler having to deal with her team melting down to a level that she hasn't seen, well, in I don't know when. Yes KJ, after being treated with more respect than you deserved all season, usually in the .4 to .5 range, your team crashed and burned and got an overdue dose of humility.

Alabama crashed and burned worse than Arkansas. No need to say more.

Utah showed they belong in the final 4. I had the Red Rocks at #3 since preseason. They certainly showed that tonight. The Red Rocks had stellar performances in 3 events coming up short on vault which is their weakness.

Florida did not meet my keys to winning session 2, but the Gators did well enough to advance. The good news is there is room for improvement headed into the final.

Keys:

Maintain Vault - Check
Improve Bars - Check, but only marginally, +.025 over NQS.
Win/Tie Beam - X - Utah hit 49.6375 to 49.4750 for UF.
Score 49.6000 on Floor - X - Scored 49.4500

Should UF meet these keys, the Gators can bring home the national championship. It may take a little help from LSU's Mr. Hyde beam team.

Bottom line, all four teams competing in the final are capable of winning the national championship.

Go Gators!

 

Rotations:
UF: Bars, Beam, Floor, Vault
LSU: Floor, Vault, Bars, Beam
Utah: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor (Olympic Order)
Cal: Beam, Floor, Vault, Bars

UF starting on bars gets UF's weakness out of the way in rotation 1.

LSU is likely going to have a big lead after rotation 1 so the rest of the meet is going to be catch up by the other teams. I'm hoping for LSU's Mr. Hyde beam team to show up in the final rotation. If their Dr. Jeckyl beam team shows up, LSU will be tough to beat. However, I thought the same thing about Oklahoma winning too.

Utah starts on its weakest event too.

Cal is a pretty good beam team.

It's one meet for all the marbles. Go Gators!