Mrs. Basket Case and I have been to almost all the home meets, and it's been a frustrating year.
Our ladies are perfectly capable of scoring with Oklahoma or Florida or anybody. The difference is that they're also maddeningly inconsistent.
Last night, we were tied with Florida (#4 in the country) after two rotations. Then we face-planted on the beam -- several significant wobbles, a fall, and ended up having to count a near-fall at 9.5. Which might as well have been counting a fall.
Had a nice score on the floor, but so did Florida. And Florida knocked out of the park on the beam. We still ended up with a good score -- 197.4 -- but it could have been pushing 198.
Strange in gymnastics, but winning or losing a meet doesn't mean that much. It's your scores that get you into the post-season. So last night was actually a good thing, even though we lost by almost 6 tenths of a point.
The frustrating part has been the inconsistency. Some nights it's the beam. A couple of weeks ago it was vault. Before that it was floor. If we ever put it all together, we're a threat to win something that matters. But so far we haven't done that.
Contrast with the truly elite teams. We've seen Oklahoma and Florida in Coleman this year. The difference between us and them is that they just don't screw up. And even if one of their gymnasts has a 9.6 or so on one event, it won't count because the other five pick up the slack. They rarely have to count a score below 9.85, and never one below 9.7. Most of their counters are between 9.85 and 9.95.
Whereas we have endless woulda coulda shouldas.
Our ladies are perfectly capable of scoring with Oklahoma or Florida or anybody. The difference is that they're also maddeningly inconsistent.
Last night, we were tied with Florida (#4 in the country) after two rotations. Then we face-planted on the beam -- several significant wobbles, a fall, and ended up having to count a near-fall at 9.5. Which might as well have been counting a fall.
Had a nice score on the floor, but so did Florida. And Florida knocked out of the park on the beam. We still ended up with a good score -- 197.4 -- but it could have been pushing 198.
Strange in gymnastics, but winning or losing a meet doesn't mean that much. It's your scores that get you into the post-season. So last night was actually a good thing, even though we lost by almost 6 tenths of a point.
The frustrating part has been the inconsistency. Some nights it's the beam. A couple of weeks ago it was vault. Before that it was floor. If we ever put it all together, we're a threat to win something that matters. But so far we haven't done that.
Contrast with the truly elite teams. We've seen Oklahoma and Florida in Coleman this year. The difference between us and them is that they just don't screw up. And even if one of their gymnasts has a 9.6 or so on one event, it won't count because the other five pick up the slack. They rarely have to count a score below 9.85, and never one below 9.7. Most of their counters are between 9.85 and 9.95.
Whereas we have endless woulda coulda shouldas.
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