Once again, we have been graced with a totally necessary selection show to announce which 19th-36th ranked teams have been distributed into which regional championships (I CAN'T WAIT). It was originally supposed to begin at 3:00 ET but was bumped to 3:30 ET because that's how we roll in the world of NCAA gymnastics. Fashionably late. Or just late. Without telling anyone.
Here is what we learned:
1) The NCAA really loves an over-dramatic opening montage. Selecting the regionals is like the Olympics x every important moment of your life + a million. Lesson learned.
2) Also, some regionals or whatever.
EVENING SEMIFINAL:
OKLAHOMA REGIONAL:
[1] Oklahoma
[12] Oregon State
[13] Penn State
Southern Utah
Missouri
NC State
AUBURN REGIONAL:
[5] Alabama
[8] Auburn
[17] Minnesota
Iowa
Maryland
George Washington
IOWA STATE:
[4] LSU ("Lymeenis Hall"?)
[9] Nebraska
[16] Denver
Washington
Michigan State
Iowa State
AFTERNOON SEMIFINAL:
WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL:
[2] Florida
[11] Stanford
[14] Illinois
Arkansas
New Hampshire
West Virginia
(Tsikhanovich from Bridgeport is in this regional)
OHIO STATE REGIONAL:
[6] Michigan
[7] UCLA
[18] Arizona
Central Michigan
Kentucky
Ohio State
CAL REGIONAL:
[3] Utah
[10] Georgia
[15] Boise State
Cal
Utah State
BYU
Thoughts:
It's a pretty straightforward distribution. There are threats in every regional, but that West Virginia one may be the most interesting. Florida, Stanford, Illinois, and Arkansas all together. Stanford is going to have to get on those beam routines. Also, Cal was always going to be the most dangerous of the unseeded hosts. They'll attempt to sink their claws into Utah, Georgia, and Boise State, and could be a real threat if Georgia is having one of those Georgia beam days.
The semifinals look like they're pretty well balanced, but Auburn and Nebraska won't love that setup should they advance to nationals because Oklahoma/LSU/Alabama is a pretty tough trio to break into. If all the regionals seeding go to plan, the second semifinal looks like the one with more upset potential.
I'll have more thoughts as we get closer. Regionals will take place throughout the day on April 4th.
That Cal Regional is going to AMAZING!!!!!!!! The West Virginia one also looks to be fun, and of course Oregon State and Penn State could really go either way, that will be a nail bitter to the end. -Jacob
ReplyDeleteI suspect we won't see too many upsets, if any. Oregon State v. Penn State is a toss up and if Stanford has an off night, which is completely possible, Illinois and Arkansas (if Ark can actually hit beam) have a shot. I know people are loving to hate on Georgia right now, but I like their draw and I think they'll get through. Out of the Cal regional, I'm most interested in seeing how Utah performs. How much will the Tory Wilson injury impact them? They also shown signs of struggling on the road, so it'll be interesting to see how they perform at Cal.
ReplyDeleteI also find it amusing that Michigan as a top seed in a regional is forced to compete at Ohio State. Yes, they'll make it through, but I've never experienced a more fierce rivalry than Ohio State v. Michigan. I know in gymnastics it's not as a big of a deal as other sports, but I guarantee the Ohio State gymnasts are hoping they can somehow pull off the upset of the year over that "Team Up North."
If I told you one of the top 3 won't be in Dallas, who'd your money be on?
ReplyDeleteFlorida or potentially Utah. I think Florida is the most likely of the top 3 to have a single event melt down and they have more threatening teams in their regional. Utah, however, doesn't compete as well away from home as they do at home. They are now competing without Tory. They have the girls to come in and step up, but it will be hard to fill her vault and bars scores. UGA has already beat them once and if Cal or Boise have the meet of their lives, maybe they could sneak in.
DeleteThe Florida and Utah regionals will definitely be the most intense because there are four teams that have a shot to advance, and I don't think any of the other regionals have four legitimate contenders. Both Florida and Utah will have to rally from a disappointing conference championship (Florida due to the beam meltdown, Utah after losing Tory). Florida and Stanford, the two top teams in Morgantown, are both capable of being amazing or having meltdowns. I don't think we've seen the best performance from either one yet and hit meets from Florida and Stanford would shut the other teams out. However, both Illinois and Arkansas have a history of being a regionals spoiler and taking advantage of mistakes, and Illinois particularly can nail beam under pressure.
DeleteI could actually see any combination of Utah, Boise, Cal, and Georgia advancing from Berkeley. All of those teams have had beam issues, and it may come down to who stays on. Utah's looked better on beam, but will have to revamp their lineup.
As for Ohio State pulling off an upset, Michigan could count 3-4 falls and still finish ahead of them. IMO Ohio State has the lowest scoring potential of any team at regionals and had yet another injury at Big Tens. I would love to see Ohio State build up their program more so that the Ohio State-Michigan gymnastics meet would have the appeal of a Georgia-Alabama SEC meet and draw in big crowds. Maybe one day... :)
Oklahoma being upset would be on par with a 16 seed beating a 1 seed in the NCAA tourney
DeleteOhio State will never be in a position to build up their program as long as Fagan is at the helm....
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to see meets in the Big 10 have "the appeal of a Georgia-Alabama SEC meet and draw in big crowds" but I'm not sure the culture of the Big 10 (in gymnastics at least) would be on board with that...we were at the Big 10s IN Michigan at the Crisler Center this past weekend and while it was a good crowd, it wasn't sold out or packed like you see at a Utah or an Alabama meet...and there were some excellent teams in the 2nd session. Even at home. Michigan had a respectable rowdy crowd but it wasn't like the place was sold out to see them repeat as Big 10 champs....not sure if it was spring break week up there but it wasn't like the townspeople filled the stands either (like they do in Utah) ....and my feeling is Michigan is pretty darn good and if you can't sell them out to see them, I'm not sure what it would take...
ReplyDeleteBig Ten schools often field about 30 varsity sports (Ohio State has 37), compared to the 15 or so at SEC schools (Florida has 17). Thus, the amount of funding gymnastics programs receive in the Big Ten is likely less compared to the SEC programs and fans have so many more sports to cheer for and support.
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