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A Four-Peat in Athens?

What will it take to stop a UGA Four-Peat in Athens in April?  Teams have been hard at work this fall on an answer to that problem, upgrading their sets and improving their execution.  The first task will be to simply qualify to the Regional and National level.  A change in qualifying methodology takes effect this season, resulting in an even higher emphasis on the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS).  This year, teams will qualify to Regionals via their RQS, for a total of 36 teams.  The top 18 will be seeded into different Regions, as before.  Also the same is the fact that the top two teams in each Region will advance.  However, we could see some interesting Regionals develop as the parity is spread across the country, further complicating the task of qualifying to the National meet.  As places and seeds come down to the wire, every step, bent arm and low salto could cost a team a valuable place in the Top 36.  Once again, CollegeGymFans.com takes a preseason look at the top teams, as determined by the Coaches' Preseason Poll.  

It's a bit of déjà vu in 2008, as defending champion Georgia has been picked by the coaches to once again win it all.  Will the GymDogs be able to four-peat?  Last year, UGA defeated runnerup Utah on its home turf.  The Utes last won the title in 1995, when Georgia was hosting, and the last time UGA has finished any lower than third.  Since the NCAA officially began sponsoring the Championships in 1982, just four teams have taken the title: Alabama, Georgia, UCLA and Utah.  Could #2 Florida be the fifth?  A small but talented Gator squad would love nothing more than to defeat their SEC rivals for the crown.  

Last year's perennial Super Six competitor #6 Alabama found itself watching from the sidelines on Friday night.  They'll be surely focused on making the Super Six once again.  The Super Six also marked a big comeback for #5 Stanford and a short-handed #4 UCLA squad.  Both teams failed to qualify for the Big Dance in 2006.  Both squads featured larger rosters that should give a boost of depth that will further enhance their chances this April.  This year's NCAA Code does not feature a large number of changes, but efforts to drive uniform application of execution deductions may have some impact.  Running somewhat counter to an emphasis on execution is a push by many teams to increase their difficulty overall, with a larger number of "D" and "E" skills on each event.  

Location sometimes plays a factor in boosting the confidence of the host teams, and here are the 2008 Regional Host sites:

So without further ado, here is a brief look at some of the top teams, as determined by the Coaches' Preseason Poll.

Teams Ranked 1 through 6

Teams Ranked 7 through 12
 

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