Live Blog

Sunday Live Blog – February 23, 2020

107 Comments
Sunday, February 23
 Scores Stream
11:00am ET/8:00am PT – Yale, Brown, Penn @ Cornell   ESPN+
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – North Carolina @ New Hampshire LINK ESPN+
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – Western Michigan, Bowling Green, Towson @ West Virginia LINK FREE
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – NC State, Northern Illinois, Temple @ George Washington LINK FREE
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – Kent State @ Ball State LINK ESPN3
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – West Chester @ William & Mary LINK FREE
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – Rhode Island @ Springfield    
2:00pm ET/11:00am PT – [25] Stanford @ [22] Arizona LINK P12N
2:00pm ET/11:00am PT – UW-Stout @ Lindenwood LINK FREE
2:00pm ET/11:00am PT – Brockport, Ursinus @ Ithaca    
3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT – Air Force @ TWU LINK FREE
4:00pm ET/1:00pm PT – [13] Washington @ Arizona State LINK P12N
6:00pm ET/3:00pm PT – [3] Utah @ [3] UCLA LINK ESPN2

In the earlier Pac-12 action, Arizona broke 196 while Stanford had a 2nd-meet-of-the-weekend nightmare on vault to end up with a fairly unhelpful 195.225, which will not be enough to stay in the top 25 on Monday.

In the second meet, we had a close one with no working live scores (FUN!) in which a 9.900 from Leonard-Baker in the final spot for Arizona State on floor clinched a tie with Washington, both teams on 196.875.

Now on to the big one.

In terms of goal scores for Utah and UCLA, it’s…you know…8 billion. As long as the scoring of this meet matches expectations. UCLA needs only beat the 197 mark to make sure the team stays in third place ahead of LSU and Utah (regardless of what Utah scores here), though actual expectations will be much higher than that. UCLA is looking for a new season high, which is currently 197.675.

Utah also has a bare minimum hope of 196.950 here, which would get Utah back ahead of Denver, Cal, and Michigan and at least to fifth place. The next goal is a 197.400, which would ensure Utah goes back ahead of LSU and is at least 4th in the rankings on Monday. But, really, Utah is also aiming for that season high, which is currently 197.550.

Marz Frazier still out of all lineups for UCLA. A problem for them.

Comforte’s Pants Alert. Dom’s Pants Alert.

Rotation 1

Dennis – VT – UCLA – huge full obviously, great position, a slide back, a bit bigger than her usual slide but not large. 9.850

O’Keefe – UB – Utah – toe on to maloney to pak, small legs on pak – a bit short on cast 1/2 on low – strong cast on high – holds the stick on her double arabian, very good. 9.925. It begins.

Kramer – VT – UCLA – Y1.5 – a lock-legged landing but ended up being one of her most controlled landings, a step to the side, the usual bent knees. 9.850

LaBlanc – UB – Utah – blind is a bit late – jaeger, pretty, caught with some close elbows – borderline cast – DLO, stuck landing. Not as strong as O’Keefe’s but a solid hit. 9.900 is quittttee high.

Poston – VT – UCLA – handspring pike 1/2, good improvement, a bounce back but had her chest up way better. 9.850

Isa – UB – Utah – Ray, another close catch with bent elbows – clean bail position – giant full, right on top, to immediate DLO, good landing. 9.925. The second half was truly glorious but they’re not appropriately evaluating these close catches.

Tratz – VT – UCLA – strong secure landing on her full, smallll slide, not her best distance and has a chest-down position on landing. 9.775, that’s more conservative than I expected from this meet, I’ll be honest. Not mad at it.

Paulson – UB – Utah – maloney to pak, some legs on both – giant full, later than Isa’s, double tuck, lunge back. Opened the door for the judges to go lower for this one with a no-stick. Or not. 9.850.

Hano – VT – UCLA – a larger bound forward on her Y1.5 this week – good position – deep in the knees and causing the bound. 9.875 is more the kind of high score I was expecting from this meet.

Reinstadtler – UB – Utah – toe 1/2 , a bit late, lovely jaeger – bail, little leg break, good toe point – final cast is solid – FTDT, bounce back. 9.900

What is happening? She had minimum a tenth on the dismount landing alone.

Ross – VT – UCLA – nailed the landing on her Y1.5 – her best of the season, very strong. That was an “I guess I have to do it all myself” vault.

Tessen – Ub – Utah – strong piked jaeger, solid bail, just a bit of feet – FTDT, stuck landing, good. I mean, it’s a normal good pretty routine, but since every little thing is a 9.9…

9.950 for Tessen

After 1: Utah 49.600, UCLA 49.375

Utah with some very strong landings in that bars rotation to establish a lead early, definitely their best bars of the year, the scores are also truly bonkers there. UCLA basically scored as well as it could have expected on vault given the landing control issues, but Ross saved the score with a very strong one. Her best of the year.

Rotation 2

Soloski – VT – Utah – secure landing on her full, not assss open as we’ve seen sometimes, chest forward, good control. 9.825. Vault def tighter than bars today.

Hano – UB – UCLA – Ray, mistimed it and falls immediately. Was going to catch super close, but couldn’t end up catching at all – Redoes it into overshoot, fine – a bit shoer cast on high – giant full, late with some feet, double tuck, bounce back.

Hall – VT – Utah – struggles to control the landing on her Y1.5 today, deep sit with two lunges back. 9.650

Kooyman – UB – UCLA _ maloney with legs into pak, hit – cast 1/2 on low, not bad – very strong cast on high bar – DLO, good height, comes in just a little chest down, small hop. One of her best ever bars. Nice. 9.900. Higggggh.

Reinstadtler – VT – Utah – pretty full in the air, large bounce back as we’ve seen on most instances this year. 9.800 high.

Flatley – UB – UCLA – higgins to jaeger, beautiful – toe on with some arch into bail, toes are a dream – a bit short on final cast hs – does the DLO 1/1 today, chest forward and a step. She had been struggling to control the DLO but the full does seem to be inviting deductions. 9.825

Isa – VT – Utah – solid control on her full, small slide back, good chest up – maintains her layout position well. 9.800

Steele – UB – UCLA – maloney to pak, small leg breaks on both – cast 1/2 on low bar was OK – fab Zam-stand on the high bar – DLO, a bit whippy but stuck landing. She’s also coming along with that routine. Good. 9.925

Burch – VT – Utah – Y1.5 – tries to fake it on the landing control, but she rises up onto her toes and step-salutes – not bad form, a bit deep on landing. Good. 9.900

Kocian – UB – UCLA – stalder shap to pak, pretty pak position – strong cast 1/2 on low bar – I like that UCLA is paying better attention to those cast 1/2s on low than most teams – FTDT, ooooof large lunge back, barely saved that from being a fall. 9.750

Tessen – VT – Utah – somehow she always manages to find the landing here despite having zero amplitude – great landing, stuck – 9.900

Ross – UB – UCLA – maloney to bail, perfect – shoot to high, strong – great cast hs on high – DLO, hop back. She was obviously going to have a 10 if she stuck. 9.925

After 2: Utah 98.825, UCLA 98.700

Not great rotations from either team in the second. The high bars scores were there for UCLA, if they had snatched them, just like they were for Utah, but UCLA had that early fall and gave away some important ground on landings. Utah pretty bouncy on a couple important ones there in the middle. And vault judging not as loose as bars.

Rotation 3

Kathy had a BATTLE OF THE BEAMS thing all ready to go and Bart kept talking and she was basically like, “I HAVE A THING BUDDY.”

G Glenn – BB – UCLA – bhs loso series, secure, good extension – aerial to split jump, lovely as well and as always – switch to split, strong – bhs gainer full, stuck. Excellent and also her usual.

And she got a 10.000. If for nothing else, we get to stop talking about how there has never been a leadoff 10.

Pauson – FX – Utah – double pike, bounce back – frontlay to front full to stag, stag was an afterthought, solid series – switch full, around – back 1.5 to layout, strong. 9.800

Sakti – BB – UCLA – loso loso series with a check correction, a bit smaller than last week – switch 1/2 with check, breaks connection into beat, switch and split, arm wave – side aerial to full, stuck. Not quite as hesitant as last time but not as smooth as she can be. 9.800. (The 9.850 judge was feeeeling it there)

Isa – FX – Utah – double tuck, really strong, chest up – back 1.5 to layout, good lift – switch side to popa, overturns the switch side, finishes in the right place – double pike, no comedy this week, strong routine. 9.925

Flatley – BB – UCLA – aerial with a slight hesitation into back pike, so we’ll see, lovely individual element s- side aerial, smooth – L turn, excellent today – switch to split – bhs to 1.5, little hop. 9.825

Randall – FX – Utah – double tuck, some lack of control this time with a slide – switch side to popa to wolf jump full, also not quite showing a distinct finish position in each one – solid positions – double pike, crisp, nice – back 1.5 to layout, controlled fine but kind of low. 9.900

Shapiro – BB – UCLA – switch to switch combo, solid this week, good 180s – bhs bhs loso series, right on – full turn tight but fine – side aerial to full, holds the stick with a stagger. Well, that’s definitely the best routine Nicki Shapiro has ever competed. 9.900

Hoffman – FX – Utah – better DLO, controls the landing, just some chest down position – good split positions, again sort of in between elements when she lands – back 1.5 and got no punch out of it to connect to a layout, tried to tuck it but even that she couldn’t get around – fall.

Hano – BB – UCLA – bhs lay-pike series is secure today – switch 1/2, tight position and an arm wave correction – split jump 1/2 from side, hit – switch to split jump, back leg – 1.5, good height, solid landing. Some deduction moments but also a lot of improvements, i.e. the series. 9.825

O’Keefe – FX – Utah – double pike, hit, some chest position and a slide back – front lay to front full, strong – switch to split leap 1.5, around, great split positions – Is Kim Tessen holding a picture of a whale at her? – nearly had the same problem as Hoffman on her 1.5 to front, lost her knees and had some sliding in arching it around. 9.900 is way high. One judge went 9.950 for that. I have nothing.

Ross – BB – UCLA – bhs loso series, right on – switch ring to beat, great – aerial to beat is smoothly done – side aerial to a stuck full. Great one. 9.975 for her.

Soloski – FX – Utah – DLO, secure landing today – front lay to front full, tucks her knees on the layout – 1.5 to layout, good height, a little slidey. 9.950 with a 10 from one judge with a tucked layout and a slide on the final pass. UCLA’s floor rotation scores are going to be special.

UCLA 49.525 on beam, Utah 49.475 on floor.

After 3: Utah 148.300, UCLA 148.225

So. So so so. How many 49.8s in this last rotation?

Also, check out the scoring ranges on Utah’s floor routines. What is even happening with this sport? One judge had that rotation at 49.350 and the other at 49.600. Those are…very different rotations that you two saw. Almost like we need a code of points to get this stuff in order.

Rotation 4

LeBlanc – BB – Utah – switch to split 1/4, strong – bhs loso series with an arm wave check and some knees – aerial to a high split jump – 1,5 dismount, step. 9.800

Flatley – FX – UCLA – front lay to rudi, good height and control, a tad soft in layout – front 2/1, gets it around with a hop to present – switch ring to switch 1/2, pretty shapes – back 1.5 to a good straight layout. Very nice start. Let’s watch the score. 9.925

Burch – BB – Utah – smooth full turn – hits her loso series comfortably – split to stag ring, secure – cat leap to aerial, smoothly done – I think some of her choreography is pulling one of those magician scarves out and I’ll allow it – gainer full, very small adjustment. Good one. 9.950 is….a lot. One judge gave it a 10.

I don’t know what I’m watching.

Lashbrooke – FX – UCLA – double tuck, chest a bit forward there – back 1.5 to layout, solidly around, a bit loose – double pike, secure landing as well but chest well down. 9.900. Sigh. Quite high. No separation from Flatley either, who had the superior routine.

O’Keefe – BB – Utah – side aerial to loso with a leg-up check correction this week – switch to split, very nice extension – side aerial to full, stuck landing. The rest was fab.

9.900 with that leg-up check.

Dennis – FX – UCLA – front loso through to double tuck, a little slide this time, good chest up position – split leap full to split jump full to straight jump, better clearly defined landing positions this week, of course the actual split positions are great – front full to layout, nailed the landing – rudi to split jump with some travel back.

Nia miming dying, which is a treat.

The 9.975 with a slide back on the first pass and travel on the last pass is less of a treat. We have gone beyond and are in a mirror universe. Leave me behind please.

Isa – BB – Utah – candle, strong – kickover to beat, solid – bhs loso loso, little arm wave check, minimizes it well – stuck bhs gainer full. Nice job. 9.950 with a check.

Kramer – FX – UCLA – front 2/1 to front pike, a tad bouncy this time – back 1.5 to layout to shush is perfect this week – switch side to popa, good splits, slightly ill-defined landing position – rudi to stretch jump, good. I think is one was stronger than Dennis’s, so…

LOL. I’m hearing the telltale 9.975 boos…

Randall – BB – Utah – full turn, good – bhs loso series, solid and secure – bea tto sheep, nice sheep position, secure landing – sissone – hits rulfova well – 1.5, nearly stuck it but couldn’t hold it with a slide back.

9.975 with a non-stuck dismount. More coolness.

Hano – FX – UCLA – DLO, solid landing but chest forward – front full to 1/2 to Hano stag – split leap full to wolf jump full, solidly around – double pike, maybe the smallest movement of the front foot, when was the last time that mattered

Only a 9.950?!?!?! Did she die during her routine?!?!?!

Paulson – BB – Utah – side aerial to loso, solidly hit – switch with a small hesitation into split jump – beat to side aerial to full, stuck. Good. If she gets a 10, Utah will have the win.

And she does. Nothing matters.

198.075 for Utah.

Ross – FX – UCLA _ whip to double tuck, very strong – back 1.5 to layout, a little out of control – double pike, controls it.

49.775 is a Utah beam record.

Waiting on the 10 for Ross now. I mean score. Waiting on the score.

Oh, a 9.975 for Ross. A shock.

FINAL: Utah 198.075, UCLA 198.025

49.800 for UCLA on floor is actually not a program record. Because 2004.

That final rotation was so inappropriate, you guys. Honestly one of the worst displays of unprofessional judging. It doesn’t matter that it benefited both teams equally. Those are not the rules. You ignored all of them. All of those scores were too high. And not debatable too high, like obviously more than a tenth too high on each instance.

I hereby pledge to replace “SEC scoring” with “Utah/UCLA scoring” for the rest of the season. Because this was the worst one.

107 thoughts on “Sunday Live Blog – February 23, 2020”

  1. I can’t believe today’s OUTRAGEOUS over-scoring at this UCLA gymnastics meet!! We knew the scoring would be ridiculous, but NOBODY ever could have imagined that it would reach this level of absurdity.

    What?? The meet hasn’t even started yet?

    OK, never mind. Will check back later.

    1. Any international links? Please? The ESPN2 link still has basketball until 4pm.
      Arghh Pac12 Network we needed you!

      1. ESPN’s gym coverage is so much better than the PAC. Meets move quicker and the still shots after routines are a great touch.

    2. It took 3 rotations, but they got there in the end. How many 10s can be thrown for 12 routines?

  2. The ASU meet had literally a new low in scoring. Leonard Baker got a 9.9 on a routine worth 9.9, despite missing a leap she needed for a second D (and up to the level). She was trying a wolf 1 1/2 and ended up doing a (bad) wolf full. She even shook her head after the mistake.

    1. You mean a “new high”? :p The vault round was really troublesome, too. Hoffa’s vault a 9.8? Yikes.

      Cairo’s bars though were incredible, though.

    2. I guess someone told the ASU judges to benefit the home team when they give impossible scores since the Peng Peng Lee incident!

      That 196.875 was definitely too high (the highest since Spini left!), but it was also definitely their most complete meet so far this season.

  3. UCLA’s announced starters in today’s lineups vs Utah include three freshmen Kooyman, Steele, Lashbrooke and returnee Shapiro.

    2. Kooyman is a sophomore.

      Also, three freshman isn’t a rare thing. It’s actually pretty normal.

      1. OOPS. Kooyman is a Jr, but this is the first year she has frequently been in a line-up. Great job by Kooyman, Steele, Lashbrooke, and Shapiro today.

  4. I’m honestly shocked how real the scoring for UCLA’s vaults has been for the first half of the lineup?

    1. Which might be unfair in the vacuum of this meet unless Utah gets similarly scored because those Bars scores for Utah are the definition of crack!!

    2. We’ll have to see how Utah gets scored before we can say anything honestly. If UCLA gets “real” scores while Utah gets overscored, then UCLA’s “real” scores suddenly becomes unfair in this vacuum. Utah’s bars scores were the definition of crack, so we’ll see how UCLA fares…

  5. One of the things I appreciate the most about Kyla’s gymnastics is how she gets her block before she starts twisting on her Y1.5

    1. Yeah. Just looked; she hasn’t competed since Feb 1st. Although looks like 1 out of her 4 routines was out of the park, so who knows could be either. Seem like she has some old injury flaring up…back maybe?

  10. Mad props to Grace Glenn. She said she wanted to score a beam 10 from lead-off (never been done in history) rather than be moved to later in the beam line-up (which would have improved her chances for 10s instead of her recent 9.975s)

  11. Interestingly, if you mouse over the judge splits for Utah on floor, there’s a big spread between Judge 1 and Judge 2 scores. Judge 2 is consistently giving Utah very enthusiastic scores … 10.00 for Syndey Soloski, 9.95 for Cristal Isa, 9.9 for Paulson … except Judge 1 gave 9.95 to O’ Keefe while Judge 2 only gave 9.85. In almost all other occasions, Judge 2 gave 0.2 less than Judge 1 did.

  16. Whoever comes in this blog talking about Utah does not get overscored, just go ahead and sit the next few weeks out because WHEW.

      1. Yes, but people specifically said Utah has earned their scores and do not get overscored. Thus why I made that statement, Susan! Thanks.

      2. Utah was worse across the board, although maybe not that much because I think I’d give the meet to them still.

  17. I can’t even enjoy this meet with this cracktastic scoring! What is happening??????

  19. They seem fair to me. They are in a class above any other team on this event in their performance and should be rewarded.

    1. Well then you should probably learn a little bit more about NCAA judging and the deductions that are supposed to be taken for various visible errors.
      I also enjoy UCLA FX but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be judged at all.
      Utah scoring even more bananas.

  20. lots of great gymnastics in this meet, but I dunno wtf to make of the scoring. It seemed to me that Utah got more of a bump throughout, which is just … weird.

    Really happy for Glenn finally getting her 10.

  21. That was something . . .

    Your move SEC. You have Florida at Georgia this week to match this crazy scoring.

    1. Watch Rachel Lukacs get a 10 to lead off bars next meet vs Florida, which leads to a 49.850 team bars score. 😂

  22. Post-gymnastics ESPN is always a trip. Apparently now we’ve got people trying to walk up some slippery stairs…

    1. my sister just said, “when I see things like this, I think America deserves Trump”

  23. I’m sorry but Kyla’s beam routine was better than some of the other routines getting 10s from judges in this meet. The scoring was bonkers for both teams, but a routine with a non stuck dismount got a 10 from a judge.

    1. I was going to say the same. With all the 10s thrown out, Kyla’s beam more than deserved it.

      1. I’m honestly surprised they didn’t throw three 10s at Kyla. Last season all she had to do was sneeze and the judges were like “TEN” and this season no matter what she does they give her a 9.975. I’m not saying that all of those 9.975 routines should be 10s (although I would’ve went there for tonight’s beam) but her routines were clearly better than routines that scored the same or better. Kyla has had several routines on bars in past weeks that were legitimate 10s, i would’ve given it to her on beam from this meet and she’s had 10-worthy floors this season too (not tonight) but for whatever reason they’re not giving it to her like last season, even when the judges are clearly willing to go 10 like they were tonight. Not sure what to make of that.

      2. Yeah if anyone got screwed at this meet, it wasn’t Utah or UCLA, but Ross. Half those Judge-1 10s for Utah should’ve gone to her.

    2. I so agree. I’m a Utah fan but this whole meet needs to be tossed. Rotations 1&2 were pretty reasonable it was bonkers nuts after that. I do love that Grace Glenn got a 10. She has deserved it many times in the past. Judges. Slides and bends count. Please take the deductions. The last half of the meet was painful.

    3. I so agree. I’m a Utah fan but this whole meet needs to be tossed. Rotations 1&2 were pretty reasonable it was bonkers nuts after that. I do love that Grace Glenn got a 10. She has deserved it many times in the past. Judges. Slides and bends count. Please take the deductions. The last half of the meet was painful.

  25. I actually think it’s kind of nice Utah got to benefit from some major crack scoring. They haven’t had too much this year so why not? Every other top 10 team has received as many gifts. And, ESPN got their show.

  26. Even though this was an overscored meet, at least there was good gymnastics (cough, unlike Georgia’s bars).

    1. But overscoring is overscoring… I can fully appreciate a really good 9.8 routine when it scores 9.8. not all attractive or exciting routines are deduction free think through crack scores take away from them.

      A 9.7 going 9.8 is no worse than a 9.85 going 9.95. and when everything gets ignored back of lineup and end of meet scoring becomes a joke. Judges start using scores like ordinals as opposed to a reflection of what was performed.

  28. I’m so angry UCLA deserved to win this meet. What a shame Utah got overscored tonight compared to UCLA. I may be a little biased since UCLA is my favorite team but WOW were those floor bars and beam routines a little generous… it’s a shame none of the UU gymnasts have personalities compared to the UCLA girls.

    1. Is this Miss Congeniality or an athletic competition?

      I’ll join you cursing the scoring but deciding one team is too uncool to merit consideration is not my gig.

    2. I agree that UCLA was better and Utah got more crack scored than UCLA, attacking the personalities of the Utah girls is a really idiotic argument for that.

    3. Yes, you are biased. Realistically, the overall performance of both teams was very similar, and the meet could have gone either way. The fact that the vast majority of all scores given throughout the meet were noticeably high further complicates any effort at comparing the two teams’ performances. Regardless of who won and who lost, what resulted was a major win for both teams since this is exactly what they were looking for in the interest of getting optimal RQS scores. No sense getting all worked up over who should have won by a small amount.

      As far as your comment about personalities, that’s uncalled for. I highly doubt that you know any of these women, let alone all of them. I’m sure they all have many wonderful qualities. I get that you’re upset your team didn’t win, but there’s no need to be rude and personal about it.

      2. and I’d take pretty much take anyone’s personality over any Utah gymnast’s personality any day. without question

  29. couldn’t agree more with Spencer. one of the worst displays of judging in years. these judges should actually be reviewed(I know we say this all the time but in this case it should be true)

    1. They need to fire 80% of the judges in the NCAA, starting with the two idiots that gave Maggie Nichols a 9.975 on beam in their Arkansas duel.

  30. couldn’t agree more with Spencer. one of the worst displays of judging in years. these judges should actually be reviewed(I know we say this all the time

  31. Bring on the robot scoring, because this makes me want to die. Seriously, if they were using the code correctly, we’d see 9.7 as a strong routine.

    Until then, it’s not even a competition, it’s a lottery. WTF ever.

  32. And through the wonders of RQS Utah beats UCLA and drops behind them in the standings. Explain that to a casual fan.

    1. Tell them UCLA was replacing a lower score so they gained more ground accross a six score average. If they understand a team with a fall winning because it was the low/dropped score, they’ll understand NQS or whatever the heck we call it now.

      1. Can you think of any other team/gymnast/sport where a feature segment is a breakdown of who is replacing a key player from the prior year – gym or otherwise? Just seems weird to me and somehow diminishes what this team is doing. Even it is a Myk plug – it takes 8 gymnast to replace her 4 routines – Probably just the mood I was in when it came on.

      2. The WAR statistic in baseball is the inverse of this…it synthesizes a player’s stats into a single value that shows the number of additional wins that player’s team got above and beyond what they would have gotten with a replacement player in that spot. It’s widely used.

    2. A large portion of sports talk about how teams will replace players from college to professional. That is a narrative consistently talked about throughout all team sports.

  34. Biggest surprise of the night for me was that Ross came out of this crackfest without a 10. I was just sure she was going to get one with the way scores were flying. I’m not particularly upset about it; she’s gotten plenty of 10s, and I am not one of the people who is of a mindset that she should go 10 for every routine she does without an overt error. I’m just really surprised it didn’t happen.

    1. Through eight meets in 2020, UCLA’s Perfect-10s-Multi-Gym-Slammer Kyla Ross has 25% of a 2020 gym slam having scored 0 tens on Vault, 2 tens on Bars, 0 tens on Beam, and 0 tens on Floor.

      Most of Kyla Ross’s career tens have come at Away meets, not at Home meets. She had never scored a ten on bars at home until once this year.

      Scoring may be tighter on Ross in this 2020 season as she has been given numerous 9.975s, but very few 10.0 totals.

      The predicted number of 10s coming to UCLA was way overstated.

    2. The thing is though, it’s unfair to be okay with her not getting a 10.000 if others are getting 10.000s for the same or inferior routines. Those Utah 10.000s mean Kyla should’ve gotten 10.000. I don’t think her routines are auto 10.000, but if you give those Utah routines 10.000s, you have to go 10.000 for Kyla considering her routines were superior. She got lowballed in this meet and I feel injustice for her.

      1. Was the ranking and separation of routines correct tonight? No, of course not. There were all sorts of head-scratchers in terms of ranking routines and score separation. Ross had a better beam routine than some of the other athletes who got a 10 from at least one judge. When I say I’m “not particularly upset by it,” I mean that it wasn’t a great display of ranking routines, but it’s not all that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Ross has been rewarded plenty of times for her 10-worthy routines. She has even occasionally been rewarded with a 10 for routines that had errors. She is more likely than other athletes to get the benefit of the doubt when she has a borderline deduction. I’m far more sad for someone like Taylor Houchin who has never had a 10 in her entire career and puts up numerous beautiful stuck vaults without getting a 10 while others across the country are getting 10s for vaults that aren’t as good as hers.

  35. What will senior day meets look like this year? 40s for everybody who doesn’t fall (& 9.7s if you do)?

  36. At this point, might as well move NCAA into Elite scoring. Hopefully we would see differentiation in the scores. They can flash the execution score to the audience and then add it to the difficulty score for a total routine score. That way if a bunch of gymnasts score a 9.950 execution score, they will be separated by difficulty.

    1. My guess is about 10-15 programs would be gone within five years if that happened.

  37. Spencer, what do you hope to accomplish from continually complaining about scores?

      1. There really is no need for that type of language. They were just asking a question.

      2. They’re not going to change. We had that decade from 2005-2015/16 where gymnasts were harder pressed to get 10s and judges payed a little more attention to detail but since then the scoring has been gradually getting closer and closer to 2004 levels of crack, and when all of the Tokyo Olympians/hopefuls come in next year, it’s only bound to get worse.

      3. – Judging has changed before, so I don’t know why they are suddenly deemed incapable of doing so.

        – Anonymous is “just asking a question” that is “asked” every single post with no interest in an answer – just people complaining about people complaining about scores.

        – Whether or not complaining changes anything, this is Spencer’s blog and an open comment section. People have every right to complain about a sport that doesn’t play by its own rules. This desire to shut people up about it is baffling to me.

      4. As the previous poster said, they’ve cracked down before and presumably will again once we get back to 2004 territory. It feels like we’re just about there.

    2. College Code of Points. With the deductions for each mistake clearly in it; also accountability for the judges. Judges who judge at tonight, and at LSU/Florida and at Arkansas/OU should have to face punishment for their level of unprofessionalism.

    3. Nothing beyond venting in his own blog where he can say whatever the hell the wants? He knows things likely won’t change, but it doesn’t mean he, or any of us, needs to be quiet about it. Stop policing other people’s opinions, specially when this is their own site and not a social network lol.

      1. Plus this is considered a pretty reputable blog that I imagine is read by a lot of stakeholders. College Gym Fans has shed its last remaining vestiges of analysis, Dvora Meyers is paywalled now, and the mainstream sports publications don’t cover NCAA gymnastics much beyond “OMG look at this floor routine!” It’s basically just Spencer and College Gym News now.

  38. Also the gymnasts are better than the scoring system which doesn’t really help matters.

  39. UCLA’s freshman bars worker Kalyany Steele is still holding her handstand and is being asked to come back down so people can go home. 😉

  40. I’ve seen this comment before about ESPN’s meets “feeling” faster than PAC-12 telecasts but the math doesn’t support that assertion. ESPN mandates 25 seconds between every routine because they do one or more replays after every performance. PAC-12 controls the start of each performance and more than half the time they do not show a replay resulting in just ten seconds from the end of one routine to the flag being given to the next athlete. Timings by one PAC-12 school’s meet director showed that PAC-12 meets go over the 25 seconds an average of once per meet (unless there is a hold for judges’ deliberations). Since the very first routine occurs about six minutes after the show begins for both entities and there is the standard six minutes between rotations (which do not include exhibitions), PAC-12 shows should be shorter.

  44. QUESTION:

    Is UCLA’s Grace Glenn the first NCAA gymnast to score a 10 from the leadoff position on ANY event (V/UB/BB/FX) or just for Beam?

    In other words, has a NCAA leadoff 10 ever been scored on Vault or Bars or Floor?

    Has a leadoff 10 ever been scored in NCAA Mens Gymnastics?

  45. How can we get the NCAA to pay attention to the rules and take our concerns seriously? It’s getting to a point where I am starting to not care about watching college gymnastics, because the judges don’t seem to care about accurate scoring.

    1. *we* can’t. Coaches and administrators possibly can. Unfortunately the ones with the most influence are the ones with the least incentive to rock the boat.

      Marsden could be a leader here. I’m sure Val DGAF.

  46. 1. A fan, coach or judge with access to a huge follower base (like here, gymcastic or gymternet) starts a petition and gets huge numbers of signatures to submit to the powers that be.
    2. A gymnast with a huge following brings attention to it by breaking down their own routines post meet. Since overscoring is the issue, it’d look pretty humble saying you deserved less.

    I’m not an expert, but it’s clear to anyone that knows the deductions for steps, hops and balance checks that even obvious ones like that are being ignored.

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