And so it begins. The live blogging plan is to start with Georgia/LSU for the first hour, then switch major focus to Alabama/Oklahoma while also continuing Georgia/LSU and keeping a quarter of an eye on interesting routines from Oregon State/Auburn. Illinois/Missouri actually should be worthwhile too, but priorities priorities. Continue reading Friday Live Blog – January 6, 2017→
Over the last four seasons, Oregon State has settled into a pattern. The Beavs will spend the year hanging around sort-of-kind-of close to nationals with their chances of advancing largely dependent upon the kindness of the regionals draw. In 2016, Oregon State was OK at regionals, hitting 196 with a performance that would have advanced from at least one other regional if not two, but they got a tough draw and had little chance of getting past LSU and Georgia in Georgia.
The Beavs are not going to suddenly break out of that pattern and wow the world this season, but there are some signs (largely concerning the health of key upperclassmen) that they can improve their scoring potential and control their own destiny more in 2017 than in 2016. Making nationals may remain a borderline prospect, but I’d characterize the chance as better than possible. Continue reading Oregon State 2017→
Oregon State has missed nationals three of the last four seasons and has decided that the newest and best solution is to throw freshmen at the problem. Lots of them. Ten.
OSU does return a number of routines from last season, so the 70 billion freshmen will not exactly have a ridiculous amount of work to do. They won’t have to be all-around stars, but it’s critical that the Beavs aim higher than simply replacing last year’s routines. Last year wasn’t good enough. They’ll need to improve by several tenths, particularly on vault and floor where the 2016 team ranked a dismal 21st.
Operation Soaring Power Linebacker will be led by two of the prominent scholarship members of this class, Bri McCant and Isis Lowery.
Let’s begin with McCant and the concept of a Yurchenko 1.5 because she has one. That should be of tremendous interest to a team that did not really enjoy the change in vault SVs last year and was just holding its breath and petting a therapy dog for 9.825s. This particular edition of her 1.5 is not super high, but I’ll take it. Definitely. OSU might actually have some vaults! McCant is going to be expected to slide into those vault and floor lineups as part of the effort to change Oregon State’s recent reputation as an underpowered team.
We’re less likely to see McCant go on bars and beam. In spite of a fab full-twisting double tuck bars dismount, the legs and handstand positions can get rough, as can the dance elements on beam, typically too much to get a high score in JO. Continue reading 2017 Freshman Preview: Oregon State→
Oklahoma won the national title six whole days ago, which is like a thousand years ago. Sorry, Oklahoma. We’re moving on. What have you done for us lately? Basically nothing? That’s what I thought.
The 2017 season is just around the corner, as long as that corner is really, really far away. We don’t know anything real about 2017 yet, but we do know which valuable gems and enthusiastic leaders in the training gym we won’t see next year, along with which bright new lights full of possibilities and undiagnosed shin problems will be joining the teams in their place.
Detailed looks at each team and roster will come much later, when the season approaches and I actually vaguely know who these JO gymnasts are, but let’s call this a preliminary glance at who’s coming and who’s going on each team now that the 2016 season is closed and locked away forever and the traditional eight-month moratorium has been placed on the terms “parity,” “yurchenko arabian,” “confident leadoff,” and “life lessons.” I’ve placed the top teams into various categories based on the current outlook and added the RQSs for the routines they will lose after 2016.
This is, of course, assuming that people do what they’re supposed to and don’t suddenly turn pro or run off to join a traveling circus or whatever.
The Tigers certainly lose a few critical routines, the most important being Savona’s floor, though they already gained some experience with life after Savona’s vault and floor when she was out early this season (and life after Wyrick’s bars when she didn’t compete in the postseason). They survived, for the most part. Several of these openings should be filled by people already on the roster, and while I don’t think we can have any expectations for Priessman at this point because any week she’s healthy enough to compete is just a bonus, Kelley should do more next year. Add to that this freshman class, and I think there’s every reason to expect LSU 2017 to be stronger than LSU 2016.
Beers – VT – 9.905; UB – 9.690; FX – 9.915
Sims – FX – 9.868
Alabama is in a similar position to LSU in terms of not losing that many routines, though Alabama’s losses carry a bit more significance, especially on floor with the team’s two strongest floories departing. They’ll need some of the upperclassmen like Brannan to step up and be a little more Beersy on those events and a little less middle-of-the-lineupy, but with increased contribution from a potential star like Ari Guerra who didn’t figure at all by the end of the season and the introduction of Maddie Desch and Wynter Childers, Alabama’s first-ever recruit who’s also a citizen of District 1, I’m not too worried about the look of Alabama’s future roster. Continue reading Comings and Goings→
