Regional finals scores for the Elite eight:

Oklahoma 198.175
Michigan 198.100
Utah 197.925
LSU 197.750
California 197.750
Florida 197.700
Alabama 197.575
Minnesota 197.425

LSU has been an enigmatic team all season. The team which went head to head with Florida in the regular season and which showed up at the SEC meet must present for two nights. The ceiling may be higher for LSU than the other contenders given their score was achieved while having to discount the scores of their two super stars in three separate rotations after falls.

While some have claimed the senior class has not met their expectations its important to note they will be one of the most experienced teams in terms of performing in the finals. This might be crucial as the national lights shine brighter. Will Michigan, California or Minnesota falter in this environment.

Several other factors to consider:

Maggie Nichols ain't walking on the floor for Oklahoma this year.

The Crimson Tide ain't in Alabama any more, Toto.

How healthy will Trinity Thomas be?

Utah won't have the high altitude advantage this time.

It will take an incredible effort for two nights but as we have seen in the NCAA basketball tournament this season like no other nothing can be taken for granted. The team which can focus best, ignore the clutter and trust themselves, their coaches and teammates will leave with the crown. If last night's beam group shows up again and the stars align LSU might finally kick in that door they have knocked on several times.

This post was edited on 4/4/21 at 11:15 am

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Posted by lsugymfann

Seattle

Member since Apr 2020

644 posts

Posted on 4/5/21 at 7:44 pm to tigersbb

quote:
Several other factors to consider:

The Crimson Tide ain't in Alabama anymore, Toto.

Utah won't have the high altitude advantage this time.

I was just thinking about these two factors to consider that you mentioned and my mind kept coming back to the same thing: Podium.

From our semi-final, I may be wrong on this one but, I am about 95% sure that us and Alabama are the only teams who have competed on a podium this season, and since Covid hit. Yes both Utah and OU have girls who've competed on podium in the past, but it has been a couple of years which as we know in general changes things and the way the girls compete. We've seen some power gymnasts struggle on podium and we've seen others thrive, and vice versa with the girls who aren't as powerful. Our regionals finals score was .025 lower than what we did at SEC Champs on podium, with both HB and KJ having an off day. Our entire team of girls who will most likely be in lineups have now competed on podium, and even if Jay makes a change on bars and/or beam, we'll still be ok (Dean competed in 2019 on podium on bars and Alyona has competed on podium during her elite career on beam). If we can handle our nerves on both nights and just be normal, I truly believe that the only team standing in our way of us and the title is Florida, which we know we can beat given how close we came to them during the regular season and the fact that we're better now than we were then.

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