The Pac-12 moves to the forefront today, and Alabama’s inability to reach 197 yesterday has presented the opportunity for both Utah and UCLA to move ahead.
Saturday means it’s the Pac-12’s turn. The number to beat is 198.350. AH HA HA HA STAB.
The big showdown with UCLA/Utah is later, but before that, we have Stanford’s visit to Arizona State, which is interesting for a number of reasons. And by interesting, I mean harrowing. Stanford has three road meets remaining, and its current road scores are 194.175, 194.150 and 193.800. None of those can be allowed to count, so we’re into the land of urgency starting today. Today really needs to be at least in the 195s. That should be asking nothing of this team (Price! The McNairs!), but we know from experience this year that it’s asking a lot.
Meanwhile, Arizona State got a season-high 195.100 last week, and the scores do appear to be on the upswing. The team-high during the reign of Rene the Impaler was 195.375, so while ASU’s numbers aren’t high enough for regionals contention at this point, beating that score seems an attainable short-term goal. Continue reading Saturday Live Blog – February 18, 2017→
Today’s action features Cal and Utah facing off in a tribute to the walking wounded as Utah goes on without Schwab and Tessen and Cal attempts to go on in the wake of Toni-Ann Williams’ torn Achilles. It’s hard to see how the floor lineup remains competitive without Williams. Continue reading Saturday Live Blog – February 4, 2017→
Cal is most certainly a thing now and will continue to be one in 2017, having lost zero postseason routines from last year while adding some critical freshmen who will see competition time and reinforce several lineups. And yet, the lower-seed splatfest that was the 2016 national semifinals saw Cal finish an unexpected 7th, even with a sub-196 total, leading to the odd expectation that the team will be better in 2017 than in 2016, but will actually finish worse. This is a very good team, though probably not a true Super Six contender quite yet.
Still, we can expect Cal to be more frequently 196+ in 2017, notch a few more upsets, and return to nationals. Now that it has happened once, it’s supposed to happen every year. Continue reading Cal 2017→
