We're in mid-February and it's time to assess the season so far. The first half has gone in a blink of an eye, and the expansive coverage across multiple platforms has made NCAA gymnastics available to a wider and wider audience. Here's a few thoughts so far.
This year's rankings were exceptionally difficult, with a large number of teams battling for the Top Ten and three in close competition for the top spot. Some teams that were in the Top 10 a year ago have fallen out of this year's ranking. In the end, Florida rebounds this year to take the top spot in the rankings.
Leading up to the NCAA finals, a number of articles hit the mainstream press regarding a potential scoring problem in the NCAA. Scoring during the 2023 season became quite uneven and at times, blatantly generous, and it became evident that deductions were not being taken. This was not news to hardcore fans, who had been noticing the wide variation in scoring throughout the season, and the obvious (and not so obvious) missed deductions. So how did we get here and how do we move forward?
The season has completed and once again we are congratulating OU for winning the Women's Title and Stanford for winning the Men's title. Utah's Maile O'Keefe won the AA title, edging UCLA's Jordan Chiles. Chiles won the UB and FX, while O'Keefe took the BB. OU's Olivia Trautman completed a remarkable recovery from knee surgery (patellar ligament) in October to an NCAA Vault title in April. Before we look forward to next season, let's take some time to review some impressions of the past season.
The NCAA transfer portal has been open since Tuesday, March 21st. Here are some of the gymnasts that have declared their intent.
This year's recruiting class features sets of recruits both large and small, and packed with talent. The discrepancies in size between the classes presents a challenge when rating classes. A large class could easily rise up in the rankings, without considering the disproportionate impact of key high scoring gymnasts. The aftereffects of the extra COVID years is still impacting the size of the classes and the new opportunities with Name Image and Likeness (NIL) may be starting to influence recruiting choices. This is also perhaps one of the last classes where many of the commits were made quite early. At…
The NCAA has released the NCAA Code Modifications for 2022-2024. These Code Modifications build upon the USA Gymnastics Women's Development Program (WDP) Code of Points. The WDP Code was also just revised, in a major updated timed for 2022-2026. Many will be disappointed that the NCAA did not strengthen the code and eliminate common loopholes, and help address the record-breaking scores we have been experiencing. However, there are a number of changes, many of which do have the potential to increase variety. Let's break them down. *Editor's Note* This article has been updated a second time with the final set…
Oklahoma won the 2022 NCAA Team title, fending off Florida in the final round, after a superb comeback from a shaky first round in the finale. Here's a few impressions from the season.
We're just over half way through the season, and we are about to transition to final stretch. After a rough first few weeks as many teams worked through various COVID protocols and the resulting cancelled meets, we have settled into a regular pattern of meets. Teams are breaking records left and right, and the average teams scores are on a record pace this season. Here's a few thoughts and impressions about the season thus far.
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