Tag Archives: Kentucky

Uncategorized

Washington Regional Preview

11 Comments

It’s time to get rid of some people! Phew. None too soon. After enduring eleven weeks of not being allowed to care who wins and who loses because we’re all just one big happy family that’s learning life lessons together, we have finally entered the elimination round.

Elimination round. Add that to the list of names that would be better than “regionals.” Knockout stage. National quarterfinals. Potluck hoedown. The end of days. Of course, it’s not a true knockout stage because half the teams that advance will have lost their meets. But you know…progress?

Let’s begin the previews with the top-seed Oklahoma Sooners and their trip to the long-anticipated, inevitably contentious Washington regional.

April 1, 2017, 7:00 ET/4:00 PT

Teams (starting event)
[1] Oklahoma (bars)
[12] Kentucky (vault)
[13] Washington (bye before floor)
[24] Utah State (bye before bars)
[32] Stanford (beam)
[34] BYU (floor)

Individuals
Alexis Brown, UC Davis (AA)
Caitlin Soliwoda, Sacramento State (AA)
Lauren Rice, Sacramento State (AA)
Kaitlin Won, San Jose State (AA)
Ariana Harger, Seattle Pacific (VT, FX)
Julia Konner, Sacremanto State (VT)
Yonni Michovska, UC Davis (UB)
Rachel Heinl, San Jose State (UB)
Yasmine Yektaparast, UC Davis (BB)
Taylor Chan, San Jose St (BB, FX)

The favorite – Oklahoma
While we should still expect the Washington regional to fulfill the ancient prophesy of excitement and competitiveness when it comes to Washington and Kentucky (and…Stanford…?) competing for the second spot, Oklahoma will be about a point better than any other losers in this competition and should run away with it. It would take Oklahoma counting two falls to start getting interesting, but there are nonetheless aspects of Oklahoma’s performance that will be telling moving toward nationals.

Keep an eye on vault. That’s the one event where Oklahoma is not currently ranked #1, and it is a potential vulnerability in the title chase with LSU, a team with equivalent ability, one extra 10.0 start, and superior stickitude displayed over the last couple weeks. Oklahoma needs to begin getting sticks out of Dowell and Jackson more regularly because even a hop forward for 9.875-9.900 may mean losing ground at nationals. On the other hand, if Nichols, Dowell, and Jackson are all going 9.950, that minimizes or eliminates any advantage LSU might gain because of vault and would put less onus on OU’s bars to create a margin of victory. Things to keep in mind for next month.

It’s also imperative that Nichols get back to the AA for Oklahoma truly to be at title strength. The staff has been conservative with her on the leg events this month because of a sore knee, but clearly she showed no rust in her return to vault at Big 12s. You know, a 10, NBD. She’ll come back on floor at regionals, and similar lack of rust will need to be shown to give Oklahoma the full complement of competitive 9.9+ routines. Continue reading Washington Regional Preview →

Meet Preview

SEC Championship Preview

14 Comments

The arrival of the conference championships marks the beginning of the onset of the opening of the first stage of an NCAA gymnastics season’s march toward maturity, like a disgusting larva transforming into a slightly less disgusting larva.

Results still don’t really matter, but this is the last time results won’t matter. And that’s something. Also blah blah blah, bragging rights. The SEC coaches are always eager to tell us that winning the SEC Championship is harder than winning the national championship, which is just blatantly false and dumb to say, but also…a trophy? Hooray! Winner and losers! Life is happening!

Here, I break down prospects for victory and what I’ll be watching at the SEC Championship for each of the teams.

The championship will be conducted in two sessions, the first at 2:00 ET and featuring Kentucky, Missouri, Auburn, and Arkansas, and the second at 6:00 ET and featuring LSU, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. Teams will compete in seeded order in each session, so LSU and Kentucky begin on vault, Florida and Missouri on bars, Alabama and Auburn on beam, and Georgia and Arkansas on floor.

Session I – Kentucky, Missouri, Auburn, Arkansas
It’s not impossible to get a high score out of the first session. Last season, Georgia totaled 196.850 even with a mild beamtastrophe. Jay, Rogers, Box, and Schick all hit the 9.9 zone on at least one piece, and Jay scored high enough to finish third overall in the AA. So, there is precedent for a useful total.

At the same time, since the SEC went to a two-session format, no team has hit the 197 mark in the first group. With regional seeding and placements riding on how Kentucky and Missouri score in this meet, attempts to hold down the scores in the first session to leave room for the better teams in the second session (reasonable) will have implications for all the teams in the final season standings, not just the teams in this meet. Continue reading SEC Championship Preview →

Live Blog

Friday Live Blog – March 3, 2017

85 Comments
Friday, March 3
 Scores Watch
6:00 ET/3:00 PT – Kent State @ Bowling Green LINK FB
6:30 ET/3:30 PT – West Virginia, Michigan State, Towson @ Pitt LINK ACC
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Arkansas @ [11] Kentucky LINK SEC+
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Beatification of St. Nastia LINK NBC
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Rutgers, TWU @ SEMO LINK FREE
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – UW-Stout, Gustavus Adolphus @ UW-Eau Claire
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [18] Auburn @ [15] Missouri LINK SEC+
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Stanford @ [5] Utah LINK P12
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – NC State @ [21] Southern Utah LINK FREE
11:00 ET/8:00 PT – Centenary @ Alaska LINK FREE

Opening the SEC slate today is Arkansas’s visit to Kentucky, where Mark Cook has stated that the goal for Arkansas is to get five people up on each event, which is also the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard.

Something I hadn’t realized until now, because wins and losses don’t matter in the slightest, is that Auburn remains winless this season. Still might be nice to get one of those win thingies? It’s doable against Missouri, even on the road. Scores also remains a concern for Auburn. Theoretically, Auburn could move as high as #14 this week, but Auburn also has the lowest max RQS of any team in the top 20, meaning their ranking is at the mercy of the other teams. Continue reading Friday Live Blog – March 3, 2017 →

Live Blog

Friday Live Blog – February 24, 2017

60 Comments
Friday, February 24
 Scores Watch
6:00 ET/3:00 PT – Maryland, Temple, Southern Connecticut, West Chester (@ Philadelphia, PA)
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [13] Missouri @ [3] Florida LINK SEC
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [8] Denver @ [20] Ohio State LINK OSU $
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [18] Washington, [22] Illinois, Northern Illinois @ [11] Kentucky LINK SEC+
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – William & Mary @ North Carolina LINK ACC
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Rutgers @ Towson LINK FREE
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Ball State @ Eastern Michigan LINK ESPN3
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Air Force @ [23] New Hampshire LINK FREE
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – UW-Whitewater @ UW-La Crosse FREE
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – UW-Eau Claire @ UW-Oshkosh FREE
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – UW-Stout @ Gustavus Adolphus LINK
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [7] Georgia @ [1] Oklahoma LINK OU $
8:30 ET/5:30 PT – [2] LSU @ [14] Auburn LINK SEC
8:30 ET/5:30 PT – [12] Boise State @ [4] Alabama LINK SEC+
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [10] Oregon State @ Stanford LINK P12
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [17] Iowa @ BYU LINK FREE
10:00 ET/7:00 PT – Sacramento State, San Jose State, Seattle Pacific @ UC Davis LINK FB

For today, the top four in the rankings are set and will not move regardless of result. Tomorrow, it will be possible for both Utah and UCLA to challenge Alabama depending on how everyone does. The 4-6 teams could end up in any order in Monday’s rankings, but no lower teams can challenge that group of six for this week. Continue reading Friday Live Blog – February 24, 2017 →