(GYM) Gymnastics 2023 - 2024

Have an additional thought this morning, it's the SEC vs. the PAC 12 in the national final.

SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! It just means more in the SEC.

 

My order of national champion preference:

1. Florida
2. LSU
3. Utah
4. California

Can't help rooting for the SEC. In this scenario, the Gators get to break the tiggers hearts to boot.

LSU has sky high expectations right now which can add pressure. The Gators have nothing to lose and everything to gain. UF has already met my expectations as I had the Gators at #4 in preseason. Nationals is reminding me a bit of the Gainesville Regional for UF. The Gators improved from the semifinal to the final. This can happen again and hopefully with the same result.

I have been almost as resentful of California's ranking all season as I was Oklahoma being overscored all season. The Golden Bears were the anointed team in the PAC 12 and often received scores that way. Utah came along to upset that apple cart by winning the PAC 12 championships exposing California as likely not the team worthy to beat Oklahoma.

 

Perform like we did in the Gainesville Regional and we'll be fine. We don't want any part of that passionless performance that was put up in the SECs in New Orleans. The only good thing about that meet is the SEC teams got to use a platform floor at the end of the season which was excellent preparation for nationals, minus bama falling off the beam 4 times.

Gators Gymnastics on X: " #GoGators | #WeChomp https://t.co/hEqRrl15YD" / X (twitter.com)

Ellie looked fine after the meet last night.

 

Gators Deliver to Keep Dreams Alive:

Locked In: Gators Deliver to Keep Dream Alive at NCAA Championships - Florida Gators

CJR: "Control the controllables."

Also pointed out in the article is Jade Carey of Oregon State performing as an individual with UF's rotations. Jade and Riley McCusker are close friends. Riley trained with Jade in Texas at Jade's father's gym before coming to UF. Riley was leading the Gators in cheering on Jade. How cool would it be if Jade decided to transfer her final year to compete as a Gator on what will be a dynamite 2025 Gator team. Jade has been totally committed to her beaver team as shown by putting her team above her elite aspirations, but her collegiate talents will have come and gone without the opportunity to perform on a team with a legitimate chance to win a team national championship. Chance of happening, not likely, but I can dream.

EDIT: This got posted on the Gators X site:

Gators Gymnastics on X: "Thank you, @jadeacarey for rotating with us last night #GoGators | #WeChomp https://t.co/EZBjNMoQ1d" / X (twitter.com)

Jade responded back that she is cheering for the Gators.

Jade Carey @jadeacarey 4h

thank you for welcoming me! cheering for you guys

 

Close to as bad as Oklahoma in the semifinal, UF failed to advance to nationals in 2019 when Alicia Boren and Megan Skaggs fell off the beam causing UF to use a fall score of 9.275, final score 196.700.

Final Results - Florida Gators

Denver (197.375) and Oregon State (196.900) advanced and the Gators went home. It was the first year of the new NCAA format.

Oklahoma chose just the right time to implode. With a normal OU score, the Gators would have been going home today with the sooners and red rocks advancing to the final.

 

home or away judges did the same. it didn't stop until ncaas

EDIT:

This is my conspiracy theory. For whatever reason, the media and judges, judges mean involved coaches which had to include KJ Kindler buying in to the BS, Oklahoma was the anointed team to win the national championship and to be the first team in history to score 199. They almost pulled it off too when the sooners scored the highest score ever in NCAA women's gymnastics.

It didn't matter, home or away, the fix was in for Oklahoma. Consistently the sooners were scored from .4 to .5 over what their actual team score was by the judges ignoring .025 and .050 deductions throughout OU's lineups. Ignore deductions enough and you end up with an inflated score on a consistent basis.

Having my opinion on this, it does not mean I don't think Oklahoma was the best team in the nation in 2024. The sooners performed almost all events consistently at a high level. Some of the routines were not the most difficult, but what was put out met the performance rules and was done as close to perfection as possible.

Oklahoma's implosion proved to me that the only team that could beat Oklahoma was Oklahoma. That's why I'm thankful for the implosion. With a typical and correctly scored low to mid 198s by the sooners, the Gators would be in Gainesville today, not Dallas.

 

Gators Geared for Their Shot at National Championship:

Gators Geared for Their Shot in Wide-Open NCAA Championship - Florida Gators

Go Gators!

BTW, that's Jade Carey standing between CJR and Leanne Wong celebrating after the meet. Hmm..........

 

Courtney Kupets-Carter Out at Georgia:

BREAKING: Courtney Kupets-Carter Out at Georgia - College Gym News

Georgia announced today, April 19, that Courtney Kupets-Carter will not return as head coach.

The decorated Gymdog alumna took over the program in 2017 and led it to a No. 18 finish this season, headlined by Lily Smith’s individual nationals appearance in the all-around. Georgia hasn’t finished higher than seventh under her tenure.