Let this be the repository of all the information you could possibly need for each of this week’s regional competitions.
Beginning with the links and viewing instructions. And remember, don’t shoot the messenger.
| Thursday, April 4 |
Scores | Stream |
Info |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT Georgia Play-in [31] NC State [34] New Hampshire |
LINK | ESPN3 | |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT Michigan Play-in [29] Illinois [30] Central Michigan |
LINK | FLO | |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT LSU Play-in [35] George Washington [36] Lindenwood |
LINK | ESPN3 |
Rotations |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT Oregon St Play-in [32] Iowa [33] Arizona |
LINK | FREE | |
| Friday, April 5 |
Scores | Stream |
Info |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT Georgia Semifinal #1 [8] Georgia [9] Kentucky [19] Missouri [22] Iowa State |
LINK | SEC+ | |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT Michigan Semifinal #1 [7] Michigan [10] Alabama [23] Penn State {26] Ohio State |
LINK | FLO | |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT LSU Semifinal #1 [6] Utah [11] Minnesota [17] BYU [20] Arkansas |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT Oregon State Semifinal #1 [5] Denver [12] Boise State [18] Washington [24] Southern Utah |
LINK | FREE (main) FLO (events) |
|
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Georgia Semifinal #2 [1] Oklahoma [15] Cal [28] Maryland Play-in winner |
LINK | ESPN3 | |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Michigan Semifinal #2 [2] UCLA [14] Nebraska [27] West Virginia Play-in winner |
LINK | FLO | |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT LSU Semifinal #2 [3] LSU [13] Auburn [21] Arizona State Play-in winner |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations |
| 10:00 ET/7:00 PT Oregon State Semifinal #2 [4] Florida [16] Oregon State {25] Stanford Play-in winner |
LINK | FREE (main) FLO (events) |
|
| Saturday, April 6 |
Scores | Stream |
Info |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Georgia Regional Final |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Michigan Regional Final |
LINK | FLO |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT LSU Regional Final |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
| 10:00 ET/7:00 PT Oregon St Regional Final |
LINK | FREE (main) FLO (events) |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
- The Georgia and LSU regionals will be broadcast online on the WatchESPN platform, with the sessions involving SEC teams on SEC+ and the sessions not involving SEC teams in ESPN3. Access requires a log-in from your TV provider.
- The Oregon State regional sessions will have a main feed on the Pac-12 network website that is free to access and will bop around from team to team. Dedicated event feeds will be on FLO behind the paywall.
- The Michigan regional sessions will be exclusively on FLO behind the paywall.
It’s getting rough out there. And by there, I mean Twitter. The news that the Michigan regional is exclusively on FLO has not gone over well—particularly because the NCAA used to enforce a rule that streams on services that are normally behind a subscription paywall had to be free for regionals. No more, apparently. It’s almost like the NCAA shortsightedly cares only about money in the immediate sense, and not so much the growth and exposure of women’s college gymnastics and fan access. Or something. Just spitballing here.
Among the reasons we were sold on the change in the postseason format was the desire to make these meets more broadcast friendly in order to improve exposure. (I was in it more for the increased number of rounds of competition and increased stakes that come with making it harder to advance to nationals, and also the elimination of those stupid-ass byes.) It’s a very noble and necessary goal, increasing exposure of the championship meets, and something had to be done about these unwieldy regionals that have been stuck in the purgatory of web streams even as TV exposure of the normal, random regular season meets grows every year.
It’s the most bizarre situation—an early-season February dual with Michigan and Nebraska is live on big ESPN even though it ultimately matters 0%, and then when the meets actually matter for elimination purposes, it’s like, “Here’s a fuzzy live stream of a 1/4 of a beam routine hosted by Shard Brockingdude, and he will call the gymnasts players.” We need to get these elimination regional meets to a much better state of exposure. Why isn’t the Oregon State regional on the Pac-12 Network like every other meet this season? Why aren’t the Georgia and LSU regionals on the SEC Network like every other meet this season? That’s where we need to go. Like soon. Like now. And I do think the new format makes it more likely to get there. And maybe selling to Flo and showing that there’s a market is a stepping stone on that path? I don’t know. But in the short run, it’s so bad and aggressively undermines the goal of more eyes and more visibility.
All I can offer you is a live blog.
**We obviously don’t have the actual rotation order for the Saturday regionals yet because we don’t know who’s competing in them, but the rotation order will be as follows:
Vault – Semifinal #2 Runner-up
Bars – Semifinal #1 Runner-up
Beam – Semifinal #2 Winner
Floor – Semifinal #1 Winner
With the new format, there are fewer meet conflicts than during regionals in past years when we often had five sessions going on at once, but Friday will still be pretty jammed. What I mean is, you’re still going to want a rotation schedule.
