NCAA Schedule

National Championship – Schedule and Links

39 Comments

And so we arrive at nationals. Three more competitions to decide the 2021 champion. Friday will bring us both of the national semifinals, from which the top 2 teams at each advance to Saturday’s team final, which will be live on free TV in the US for the very first time. So take that, hockey and golf.

Let’s get to the schedule. In addition to TV broadcasts, each competition will have the four-event view and specific event streams on ESPN3. I always use the four-event stream because it’s best for live blogging, but I know that’s too much stimulation for a lot of people.

Friday, April 16
 Scores Stream
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – Semifinal I
[1] Florida
[4] Michigan
[5] Cal
[8] Minnesota		 LINK ESPN2
4-event
VT
UB
BB
FX
Spanish
6:00pm ET/3:00pm PT – Semifinal II
[1] Oklahoma
[3] LSU
[6] Utah
[7] Alabama		 LINK ESPN2
4-event
VT
UB
BB
FX
Spanish
Saturday, April 17
 Scores Stream
3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT – Team Final

 LINK ABC
ESPN3
4-event
VT
UB
BB
FX
Spanish

The team final on ABC will be broadcast live on TV for anyone in the US. There will also be access on ESPN3 for those who have been able to watch ESPN3 competitions in the past.

The semifinals on ESPN2 will be broadcast live on TV and can also be streamed online at the link provided for those who have a log-in from a TV provider subscription that gets ESPN2, which is all of them.

All remaining streams will be on ESPN3 and may be streamed on WatchESPN for those who have a log-in from an internet service provider.

Here is the rotation order for the semifinals and individual athlete assignments. All the individual titles are awarded on Friday based on scores at the semifinals only.

39 thoughts on “National Championship – Schedule and Links”

  1. If it’s helpful to anyone, the “BT Sport ESPN” channel in the UK will be taking all three above feeds live.

    1. Ditto!!! Session 2 is going to be a nail biter, thinking it’s the toughest session. I’ve already bit off three if my longest nails lol. I will be glued to the TV, don’t anyone bother me lol.

  3. Does anyone know if the streams will be available after the fact on ESPN3? (Like they were for all the regionals competions?)

  4. Thank God the final is available on ESPN3 because we don’t get ABC.

    1. If you do not get ABC, you must get a comparable channel to ABC such as a sister channel. In any event (no pun intended), enjoy the meets!!

  6. So excited for this weekend! I can’t watch the second session live because I’m getting vaccinated (woohoo), but it will give me something to watch later.

    I’m hoping a new team breaks through to win a title (ideally Minnesota). I want more than 6 teams to have won NCAAs!

    1. Agreed! MI, AL, and UT might do it…but again it’s anyone’s meet…who will rise (and fall) to the occasion? Will ALL scoring in both the semis and the final be FAIR?? Will all scores in both semis and the final be close?? All good questions, hopefully good answers to follow #semifriday #finalfriday #onewinner #ncaa

      1. In the second session 3/4 teams have won the national championship before. In the first session only 1/4 has, so we’re guaranteed at least one team in Four on the Floor who’s never won it all before.

        Exciting weekend ahead!

  7. LSU gymnasts could defecate on the beam and go 9.925 so it’s probably theirs to lose. I don’t know what Jay Clark had done to get these scores but probably a bit.. icky.

    1. Oh thank God. I was worried no one was going to shit on LSU today. Glad you had it covered. Please keep us posted on your many insightful comments throughout the weekend. You’re a true asset to society

      1. Apparently you were blind as to the ridiculous scores LSU received in the regional final. Totally get that you are an LSU fan but you could at least recognize the favoritism that LSU had going for them. It was clear as day that the judges determined that LSU was going through to Nationals before the meet began. It isn’t wrong to question if that will happen again. No one would have to make LSU comments at this point because they shouldn’t have qualified to Nationals based on their last performance.

    2. Pooping on the beam would actually be really difficult, probably a J in the JO COP.

    3. I am trying to remain optimistic that there will be some kind of a judging resent for nationals and certain teams (mainly Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama) will have a rude awakening that the generous judging they have been seeing all season isn’t there for them anymore. I really, really hope it is an even playing field given how balanced these teams are.

  8. Does anyone know if the AA rotating-in gymnasts scores count toward the semi-final team score they are rotating with? Example: does Lynnzee’s scores count towards the team she is rotating with? I truly do not believe their scores should count as they are not a team member.

    1. No. The individual qualifiers just count for themselves with no impact on the team they are rotating with. Would be amazing if Lynnzee wins the AA! It will be interesting. She typically leads off Denver’s beam but will essentially be the anchor. Does she lead off because it’s too stressful to be later in the lineup or is it purely to start with a good score for Denver? Meaning, will she be in a good headspace going last or does it not even matter? I do think rotating with Florida will set her up for success!

      1. Thank you for your response! I wonder why a gymnast feels more comfortable being a leadoff or anchor. If they have overall confidence, I would think it shouldn’t matter where they are in a lineup. Yes Lynnzee has been phenomenal but Ramler/MN has been a bit more consistent, yet there’s always a sleeper…not sure if Ona Loper is in the AA…there’s several girls that definitely have the chance to win. Can’t wait for tomorrow and Saturday, so excited!!!

      2. Ona Loper is in the AA and has been all season. She has been a little less consistent than the top contenders, but she did beat Ramler twice early this season.

      1. There are no dumb questions. People not asking questions never learn. Keep asking.

  9. my dream champions are
    team: Florida
    AA: Lynnzee Brown and Trinity Thomas (tied)
    vault: Haleigh Bryant and Ona Loper (tied)
    bars: Trinity Thomas
    beam: Maile O’Keefe and Alyssa Baumann (tied)
    floor: Lynnzee Brown and Trinity Thomas (tied)

    I hope I get at least a few right hehe

    1. My dream:

      Team: Michigan, Cal, Minn, or LSU (want someone new)
      AA: Lexy Ramler
      VT: Loper
      UB: Schoenherr and Davis
      BB: Baumann and O’Keefe
      FX: Brown and Blanco

  10. All great picks, but just not sure about Trinity since she is injured, unless she competes AA in pain?? It’s been a great year, sad to see some great seniors graduating. Will definitely be a new breed of high visibility gymnasts next season so already wondering who will be the breakout gymnasts for their respective teams. Yep we shall see which of your picks are correct 🙂 Ramler should be in there somewhere, I’m guesstimating 🙂

    1. oh it was hard to leave out Ramler because she is a great gymnast but I prefer those I mentioned. Also, I think Rowland said right before nationals that if they make it, Trinity will compete all-around, so I think (hope) she is okay

      1. Hopefully Trinity will be well enough but I hope she doesn’t reinjure herself.

      2. I believe Maggie Nichols ankle was taped when she competed AA in 2018. Don’t like seeing injured gymnasts compete but then again they can bite the bullet when it comes to crunch time….and it’s time!

  11. So, for the AA title, I think it is going to take at least a 39.7 score to win, more likely a 39.8. The last few years, the winner has been in this range and with the way scores have been flying this season, I am expecting high scores at Nationals.

    If we assume that the winner will have had to have scored a 39.8+ score already this year, that gives us five leading contenders for the AA title – Thomas, Ramler, Webb, Blanco, and Brown (listed in order of their highest score). However, someone could have the meet of their life at Nationals, like McMurtry did (and she also hadn’t competed a lot of AA before NCAAs that year). Hambrick and O’Keefe have both scored above 39.7, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility for them to get 0.1 higher.

    If we want to expand the field a little wider and either assume a 39.7 does it or that it’s not impossible for someone to raise their score nearly 0.2 this year, that adds a number of contenders. Wojcik, Brooks, Isa, Trautman, Bryant, Loper, Wilson, Johnson, Campbell, DeSouza, and Skaggs have all scored 39.6 or higher.

    Note – I left out Kyana George, who has been out of the Cal bars lineup for a while with a shoulder injury. And De Jesus won’t be at Nationals. But otherwise they would also be in that last group.

    So that leaves us with 18 potential AA winners. Which is pretty impressive because in 2019, only 20 people even competed AA.

    1. Blanco on fire all season, Ramler reminds me of Sarah Finnegan/former LSU…thus Ramler exquisite leg extension and toe point, simply gorgeous!

  12. Spencer…this is decidedly NOT the first time NCAAs are broadcast on network TV! Many of us lived and died by the coverage in the 80s. (Oh my god am i old? Corrinne Wright…Kim Hamilton… Rachelle Fruge…Lisa Mitzel…Tina Hermann…Dee Dee Foster…Kelly Garrison-Steves…feels like yesterday!)

    1. Those weren’t live though. They were tape delayed. It’s the first time it will be live on network TV.

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