PackFansXL said:
dj, how does the postseason work for Gymnastics? Your comments about the team earning a 3 seed or 4 seed makes me wonder if the teams compete one-on-one with other teams like a basketball tourney? I guess I was assuming we would be in a large competition with the judging of all teams and the best scores are ranked. My expectation was more like a track meet than a basketball tourney. How is this done for Gymnastics?
PackFansXL,
Here is how the postseason works for gymnastics. There are 36 teams that make the NCAAs. They are divided into 6 regions. Those regions will each have one 6 team meet. In the meet, the top 2 teams advance to nationals, which is a 12 team event. The 12 team event, I believe is two 6 team meets that act as a semifinals, and then the top 6 teams compete in a championship. Don't quote me on what happens once you get down to 12 because we've only been there once, and I haven't really followed exactly what they do.
Anyway, back to regionals, teams are bracketed based on regional qualifying score, like this. I'll use the actual regional names as an example.
Penn State - #1, #12, #13, a 4 seed, a 5 seed, a 6 seed
Columbus, OH - #2, #11, #14, a 4 seed, a 5 seed, a 6 seed
Raleigh - #3, #10, #15, a 4 seed, a 5 seed, a 6 seed
Salt Lake City - #4, #9, #16, a 4 seed, a 5 seed, a 6 seed
Minneapolis - #5, #8, #17, a 4 seed, a 5 seed, a 6 seed
Tuscaloosa - #6, #7, #18, a 4 seed, a 5 seed, a 6 seed
edit: If you read what I wrote 10 minutes ago, I was wrong, so I deleted it...this is updated...
The 4, 5, and 6 seeds are placed completely based on geography. So, there really is no difference between being 24 or 25. I thought they grouped the 4 seeds as 19-24, 5 seeds as 25-30, 6 seeds as 31-36, but that isn't the case.
So I'm wrong about 4 seed and 5 seed. The only thing that matters is top 18, and then geography.
If I was bracketing right now for the Raleigh regional, we would get 3 of the protected seeds, like 3-10-15. But the other three seeds would be up the in air. #20 Georgia, #23 NC State, and #28 Maryland is possible. However, Maryland is closer to Penn State, and Georgia is closer to Tuscaloosa. Plus there are very few West Coast options.
Salt Lake would probably get #19 BYU, #30 Southern Utah, and Utah State if they sneak into the top 36.
We could end up with #23 NC State, #27 Stanford, and UNC if they sneak into top 36.
But like I said, I thought those 4, 5, and 6 seeds had to be chosen from a certain ranking group, but last year it was just anyone between 19-36 for that group.