NCAA Schedule

NCAA Week 7 – Schedule and Links

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Wednesday, February 13 Scores Stream
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Ithaca @ Cortland LINK FREE
Friday, February 15 Scores Stream
3:00 ET/12:00 PT – GymQuarters Session 1 ([23] Iowa State, Lindenwood, TWU, SEMO) LINK FLO
6:30 ET/3:30 PT – Towson @ Bowling Green LINK
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [13] Kentucky @ [7] Georgia LINK SECN
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Eastern Michigan @ Central Michigan LINK ESPN3
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – William & Mary, Rhode Island @ West Chester FREE
(W&M)
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – UW-Stout @ Gustavus Adolphus LINK
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – GymQuarters Session 2 ([4] Utah, [5] LSU, [15] Missouri, Stanford) LINK FLO
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – UW-La Crosse @ Winona State FREE
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – UW-Eau Claire @ Hamline
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Perfect 10 Challenge ([1] Oklahoma, [18] Washington, [19] Arizona State, George Washington) LINK FSGo
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [21] Arkansas @ [11] Auburn LINK SEC+
8:30 ET/5:30 PT – [2] Florida @ [9] Alabama LINK SECN
8:30 ET/5:30 PT – Maryland @ [16] Minnesota LINK BTN
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [10] Boise State @ [20] BYU LINK FREE
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Temple @ Southern Utah LINK FREE
10:00 ET/7:00 PT – New Hampshire, Sacramento State @ San Jose State LINK FREE
10:00 ET/7:00 PT – Air Force, UW-Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh @ Seattle Pacific LINK FREE
Saturday, February 16 Scores Stream
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Cortland @ Brockport FREE
2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Rutgers @ Michigan State LINK BTN+
FLO
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – [8] Michigan @ [24] Penn State LINK FREE
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – [17] Nebraska @ [22] Ohio State LINK BTN+
FLO
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – North Carolina @ NC State LINK ACC+
5:30 ET/2:30 PT – [25] Arizona @ [3] UCLA LINK P12N
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Illinois @ Iowa LINK BTN
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Illinois State @ [6] Denver LINK DU($)
Sunday, February 17 Scores Stream
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Pittsburgh, Utah State, Cornell @ West Virginia LINK FREE
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Northern Illinois @ Ball State LINK ESPN3
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Towson @ Western Michigan LINK
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Brown @ Yale ESPN+
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Ithaca, Southern Connecticut @ Springfield FREE
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – William & Mary @ Penn LINK ESPN+
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – West Chester @ Ursinus
2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Kent State @ Bowling Green LINK
3:00 ET/12:00 PT – TWU @ Lindenwood LINK FREE
3:30 ET/12:30 PT – [15] Missouri @ [5] LSU LINK SEC+
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – New Hampshire @ UC Davis LINK FREE
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – SEMO @ UIC LINK FREE
5:00 ET/2:00 PT – [14] Cal @ [12] Oregon State LINK P12N
Monday, February 18 Scores Stream
5:00 ET/2:00 PT – [4] Utah @ Stanford LINK P12N

Links will continue to be added as they become available.

It’s a big week for multi-meet weekends, with many teams competing on Friday and then again on Sunday or Monday, including all of the teams in the second session of GymQuarters (LSU, Missouri, Utah, and Stanford), who will be splitting off to have meets just with each other later on where they talk about the other two teams.

Oklahoma on FSGo: Check your streaming availability beforehand to see if the meet is actually available for you. FSGo streaming of OU meets is very limited depending on both your provider and your region of the country.

Meets marked SECN will be broadcast live on TV on the SEC Network and can also be streamed online at the link provided for those who have a log-in from a TV provider subscription—U-Verse, Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish, Xfinity, Verizon, Sling, Hulu, or YouTube TV.

Meets marked SEC+ or ACC+ may be streamed on WatchESPN for those who have a log-in from a TV provider subscription—U-Verse, Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish, Xfinity, Verizon, Sling, Hulu, or YouTube TV.

Meets marked P12N will be broadcast live on TV on the Pac-12 Network and can also be streamed online at the link provided for those who have a log-in from a participating TV provider subscription. A number of providers have dropped the Pac-12 Networks recently, including U-Verse, so make sure you still have access even if you did in the past. The Pac-12 Network also provides an international subscription option for those outside the US.

Meets marked FLO may be streamed through a paid subscription to FloGymnastics ($30/month).

Meets marked BTN+ may be streamed through a paid subscription to BTN+ ($15/month) or through FloGymnastics ($30/month).

Meets marked BTN will be broadcast live on TV on the Big Ten Network and can also be streamed online at the link provided for those who have a log-in from a participating TV provider subscription that carries BTN.

Meets marked [School]$ are streamed through school-specific services and require a subscription to that school’s web streaming, which you probably aren’t going to pay for.

Meets marked ESPN3 may be streamed on WatchESPN for those who have a log-in from a participating internet service provider, which is most of them.

Meets marked ESPN+ may be streamed through a paid subscription to the ESPN+ streaming service ($5/month).

Meets marked FREE are free at the link provided.

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Rankings

Week 6 Ranking Notes

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The RQS calculator is up to date, so if you’re keeping your own, you can now download or make a copy of the week 6 update.

1. Oklahoma Sooners

Average: 197.813
Previous ranking: 1

What semi-inadvertently became Oklahoma’s “exploring depth road meet” because of Brenna-Bars-Gate 2019—in which Dowell had a scary moment on bars in the warmup and had to be pulled from the meet—still ended up as a perfectly high 197.700. It certainly wasn’t Oklahoma’s ideal performance and didn’t really get going until beam in the final rotation (and even that rotation had a fall), but for a meet without Dowell, without Showers, and with Nichols still limited to two events, being able to go 197.700 is not a bad thing. It did stretch the limits of Oklahoma’s depth right to the edge, though, with just five usable vault scores, only five people going on bars, and some definite backups in the lineup on floor.

2. Florida Gators

Average: 197.670
Previous ranking: 2

Florida’s 197.850 in a home victory over Auburn proved the big score of the weekend, seeing the Gators gain a little bit of ground on the Sooners in the quest for first place. Save for the first couple positions on vault, which still need to be resolved, I’m looking at the lineups Florida put up in this one and saying, “Yep, that’s the group.” Schoenherr entered the floor lineup with a solid performance that bolstered that six, in addition to following up last week’s vault success with another hit as she looks to be hitting her stride, and of course Trinity Thomas continues to be everything. Vault still lags behind the other pieces in looking sufficiently postseason-y, but we saw continued progress on those landings over the weekend. We’re still being promised some 1.5s that are vaguely side-eye-inducing, but 4-5 10.0s is going to be competitive enough if the landings get there. 

3. UCLA Bruins

Average: 197.575
Previous ranking: 3

UCLA’s performance against Washington on Sunday was speckled with a wholly expected amount of highs and ehs. Ross and Ohashi got 10s on vault and floor respectively (67% of the 10s awarded so far this season have gone to UCLA gymnasts—discuss), but it was almost entirely those couple big-money routines from the stars that got UCLA’s total up to the rarefied 197.6 zone because the rest of the lineups had some issues. Beam was pretty shaky for the majority, and those bars and vault lineups both had some issues in that they were not six-strong with competitive routines, and it’s unclear at this point who would make them six-strong. Well, I shouldn’t say unclear. You want Frazier on vault and Dennis on bars and Anna Glenn on both as needed, but that hasn’t been able to happen.

4. Utah Utes

Average: 197.196
Previous ranking: 4

Another week, another 197.1 for Utah to stay steady in the 4th position. Utah’s streak of all these low 197s to start a season is both record-breaking and frustrating at the same time—the college gymnastics special. On the one hand, it has never happened before (there’s always been some manner of 196), but on the other hand, these scores are a fall lower than what the top 3 teams are regularly being awarded, even when just kind of OK. Vault reigned as the big highlight for Utah on Saturday. Those landings were excellent and are farther along than most teams at this point in the season (just keep them for April…), but we’re still seeing a lack of non-Skinner 9.9s on bars and floor, with some uncharacteristically short handstands (I think about 5 people in the bars lineup had a deduction on the opening cast hs) keeping bars as the lowest-scoring event over the weekend.

5. LSU Tigers

Average: 196.850
Previous ranking: 5

LSU was able to hang onto 5th this week despite the performance that shall not be named for 196.025 against Kentucky. Still, the Tigers are falling well behind the top four and are nearing danger of being caught by those in the lower half of the top 10. Last season, LSU didn’t have a score lower than 197.575 as part of its RQS numbers. This year, LSU’s peak score is 197.450. With 7 meets remaining, we’re now in crunch time. The team has to start eradicating these weak performances, otherwise they’ll manifest in a rough postseason seeding. This week, it was a counting fall on bars and three OOBs on floor that eliminated LSU from contention for a usable score, despite what were some impressive fulls on vault and a couple pretty hits on beam.

Continue reading Week 6 Ranking Notes →

Live Blog

Sunday Live Blog – February 10, 2019

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Sunday, February 10 Scores Stream
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – West Virginia, Temple, Bridgeport @ Penn LINK ESPN+
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Central Michigan @ Kent State LINK FREE
1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Southern Connecticut, Rhode Island @ Brown LINK
2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Iowa @ [10] Michigan LINK BTN+
FLO
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – [1] Oklahoma @ [7] Denver LINK DU($)
6:00 ET/3:00 PT – [3] UCLA @ [15] Washington LINK ESPN2
6:00 ET/3:00 PT – [24] Stanford @ [19] Arizona State LINK P12N

It’s one of our better Sundays. This is a very solid slate. I’ll be starting with Iowa and Michigan and then going straight through. Continue reading Sunday Live Blog – February 10, 2019 →

Live Blog

Saturday Live Blog – February 9, 2019

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Saturday, February 9 Scores Stream
11:00 ET/8:00 PT – Ursinus, West Chester @ Cortland LINK FREE
3:00 ET/12:00 PT – [14] Cal @ [4] Utah LINK P12N
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Pittsburgh @ NC State LINK ACC+
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Towson @ North Carolina LINK ACC+
4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Brockport, Ithaca @ Cornell ESPN+
5:00 ET/2:00 PT – UIC @ Illinois State LINK FREE
5:00 ET/2:00 PT – Gustavus Adolphus @ UW-Eau Claire
6:00 ET/3:00 PT – [18] Minnesota @ [16] Nebraska LINK ESPNU
6:00 ET/3:00 PT – UC Davis @ Alaska LINK FREE
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [25] Penn State @ Rutgers LINK BTN
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [21] BYU, Seattle Pacific, Springfield @ Air Force FREE

The mid-season blues. A time-honored tradition. We saw LSU and Georgia succumb to cases of the blahs yesterday in their bars-fall performances, and those likely won’t be the last cases we see this weekend. You’re probably feeling it too. Continue reading Saturday Live Blog – February 9, 2019 →

Live Blog

Friday Live Blog – February 8, 2019

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Friday, February 8 Scores Stream
6:00 ET/3:00 PT – Western Michigan @ Eastern Michigan LINK EMU($)
6:30 ET/3:30 PT – Ball State, Lindenwood @ Bowling Green LINK
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [12] Auburn @ [2] Florida LINK SECN
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [20] Ohio State @ Maryland LINK BTN+
FLO
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – New Hampshire, Yale, William & Mary @ George Washington LINK FREE
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Winona State @ UW-Stout LINK FREE
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Southern Utah @ [23] Iowa State LINK ISU($)
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Northern Illinois @ SEMO LINK FREE
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – UW-Oshkosh @ UW-La Crosse LC($)
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [8] Alabama @ [22] Arkansas LINK SEC+
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [6] Georgia @ [13] Missouri LINK SEC+
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – UW-Whitewater v. Hamline (Milwaukee, WI) LINK
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Michigan State @ Illinois LINK BTN+
FLO
8:30 ET/5:30 PT – [5] LSU @ [17] Kentucky LINK SECN
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [11] Oregon State @ [25] Arizona LINK FREE
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [9] Boise State @ Utah State LINK FREE
10:00 ET/7:00 PT – San Jose State @ Sacramento State LINK FREE

Today is mostly an SEC kind of Friday, but it will also be worth getting a look at OSU/Arizona and Boise State once the SEC action concludes.

Auburn is slated to return Abby Milliet on her three events today as well as get Gracie Day back in the floor lineup, where she has been absent since the first week. Pulling out all the stops today. Continue reading Friday Live Blog – February 8, 2019 →

Stuff and Nonsense

Things Are Happening – February 8, 2019

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A. Skinner 2020?

MyKayla Skinner says there is a 70-80% chance she’s going to defer the 2020 season at Utah to try for Tokyo. Well now. On the one hand, that would suck for Utah’s 2020 chances even with Abby Paulson and Jaedyn Rucker coming in as they’d mostly just have to do replacement work in making up for the Skinner, MMG, and Lee scores. On the other hand, Utah’s 2021 roster would be kind of stacked with Skinner, O’Keefe, Soza, and Paulson.

[Edit: Maile O’Keefe says she is joining Utah’s team a year early for the 2020 season. So, looks like someone is planning for Skinner’s absence…]

The nominative individual event qualification route is made for an athlete like Skinner (and if it had been in place in 2016, she would have gone to the Olympics), but it’s also more-than-onerous to try to jump into that process at this point. While there will still be four apparatus qualification events held from November 2019-March 2020, in order to meet USAG’s outlined nonsense options and be eligible to go to those competitions, Skinner would have to qualify to 2019 nationals, compete there, and either win an event on day 1 (so, beat Simone on vault or floor, good luck) or make the 2019 worlds team and go on to win a medal in an event final at worlds. And even then, she’d have to go to the remaining apparatus qualification events and do well enough at 3 of the 4 to win the series on either vault or floor, beating everyone else that has had an extra year of opportunities to get good results, including Jade Carey. So…like…hard. Not theoretically impossible, but really tough and starting soon.

Skinner does not have to go that route, though. She has other options that involve a little bit more time and peaking for the 2020 nationals and trials process. Skinner could aim to be selected for a non-nominative individual spot at the Olympics, one earned by the US from the 2020 all-around world cups or continental championships. That spot (or spots) can be given to anyone and will be assigned at 2020 Olympic Trials like the rest of the team. Skinner at 2016-elite level would be a compelling option for one of those spots.

But to do that, she would really have to root for Jade Carey to be unsuccessful in her quest for a nominative spot. If Carey does get her spot through the apparatus world cups, not only would that mean there’s only one individual, non-team spot remaining for everyone else instead of two, but it would mean that the US would already be compelled to send Carey as a VT/FX gymnast to the Olympics in an individual role—so why send another VT/FX gymnast in the other individual spot? It would be overkill.

The remaining option would be for Skinner to up her bars and beam in addition to bringing vault and floor back to elite difficulty, aiming for one of the four AA spots on the main Olympic team. It’s not out of the question. Skinner did finish 4th AA at Trials in 2016, and she wouldn’t suddenly need crazy scores on bars and beam, just enough to be usable as a first-up in qualification. But of course, the spots on the main team of 4 are so limited that they’ll be extremely tough for any non-Simones to get, and the same considerations of event strengths/weakness that kept Skinner off the team in 2016 in favor of a gymnast with a big bars score could be in play again. Continue reading Things Are Happening – February 8, 2019 →