Blahtah held their Red Rocks preview and it looks like it may be time to panic for the Marsdens. The current roster is performing as expected: dismally. It isn't so much that we've seen so many mistakes from them, but the quality of gymnastics is simply not there. There are all sorts of form errors, sloppy execution, bad technique and missed handstands. They are a team without true stars. The majority of the lineup looks like they'll score around 9.825 on a good day.
Gael Mackie appears thinspired for her senior year. Corrie Lothrop and Steph McAllister will be strong contributers, but they cannot do it alone. Jacq Johnson and Cortni Beers are back in the lineup, but look positively sluggish.
Val Kondos produced wonderful quotes about not ever being able to replace athletes, but the truth is, scores need to be replenished from somewhere. When Jamie and Jeanette graduated, UCLA brought in Tasha. Utah graduated Ashley Postell, Nina Kim, Kristina Baskett, Daria Bijak and Annie Diluzio over the last few years. Unfortunately, they have no been able to replicate their performances or scores. Corrie Lothrop is a positive addition to the team, but she is incapable of holding up the team on her own.
I think that Greg gave gael a scholarship because of the hype on GGMB. I knew she would never amount to anything. She has done better then I thought she would.
ReplyDeleteMiss Val listens to the ggmb hype as well and it has rewarded her with a lot of injured kids. Amazing is the fact that her stars were the ones that were not hyped up before.
No one hyped Gael after 2004. Miss Val had zero interest in her due to her low tumbling.
ReplyDeleteWhy did val recruit LVE? She made Gael look like the world tumbing champion.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm deluded and biased as a Utah fan, but I think you're exaggerating. Completely agree with your comments of not having star quality. There is no Ashley Postell, Kristina Baskett, Nicolle Ford etc. on this team. But I would still place Utah as the #4 team in the country, obviously behind UCLA, Florida, Bama. I am actually feeling a lot better about the upcoming season than I was before the preview. I'm worried about depth on Vault. But other than that I think they're looking good on the other 3 Events.
ReplyDeleteWhy was Kyndal not on Vault & Floor, is she injured?
ReplyDeleteGeorgia looks much better than Utah.
ReplyDelete"Why did val recruit LVE? She made Gael look like the world tumbing champion."
ReplyDeleteIn hope that bringing one Wogette to UCLA would result in some top-level wogettes following LVE to UCLA. That would also be why Val took Allison Taylor. To say the least, this strategy hasn't exactly worked the way Val was hoping for.
Do these coaches actually read that junk on GGMB? I mean, most of that board is delusional fantasy & unadulterated spite. I would think that these coaches have way too much going on in their lives to even read the rantings of the clearly disturbed Abomb and his syncophants, much less take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely no way that Utah is better than Georgia or Oklahoma. This team is ... IMHO #6-10 range in the country. That first girl on floor...wow. Talk about uninspired choreo and labored tumbling
ReplyDeleteI agree that the problem with Utah is that the quality just isn't there. They're not bad by any means, but they just seems like a team full of role players. With the exception of Robarts on vault, there isn't an ideal anchor anywhere in the lineup. Beam looks like it may be better than last year though.
ReplyDeleteI also cant put Utah in the top 4 with the other practice videos that we have seen. UF, Bama, OU, and UGA all look better (and I'm sure UCLA will).
Well anything can happen in these meets. Consistency is the key. sadly for utah some other teams have figured out this strategy. Anyway I think that Utah can still win but they will need to rely on mistakes by others. But then again this can be said for all of the teams. I am not saying that I think that they will win this, but they could with errors. They are still a wonderful team and I hve never seen Gael look as good as she has this year!
ReplyDeleteLVE was among the best, and prettiest in the world on bars and beam in her day. Nothing is amiss about Val recruiting her. AT ... just sucks the fat one in the sky. I don't know how she internally justifies not forfeiting her scholly to Mizuki.
ReplyDeleteWhy can I not figure out who LVE is??
ReplyDeleteLindsey Vanden Eykel
ReplyDeleteIn her day LVE was among the best with out a doubt. Sadly her best was when she was in seventh grade.
ReplyDeleteAT was decent but has contributed nothing to the team, if she was with any other club team, she would be history. It is sad that Michelle Conway contributed more then Taylor and yet Conway was cut after one year while Taylor sat on her ass for four years. It is cute how they still pretend that she is going to have this breakthrough and contribute.
LVE was recruited to be good on bars and beam. She was good on bars for most of her freshman year but was always a bit shaky on beam.
ReplyDeletePlease explain to me how Georgia looks better than Utah when we've yet to see a full routine posted of any Georgia athlete. Thanks...
ReplyDeleteOklahoma has only posted 3 or 4 routines on each event, while those routines are great, we don't know anything about their depth yet.
ReplyDeleteThe overall quality of Georgia is vastly superior. Utah's quality isn't great.
ReplyDeleteAnd you came to that conclusion based on?...
ReplyDeleteGeorgia has some quality athletes, the question is will they be healthy, or in good enough shape to contribute.
ReplyDeleteI just watched the floor routines, and the performance quality is awful. If the E passes pan out, they'll have decent difficulty, but the performance has to get better, much better. The first routine bored me to tears. Dirty Orchestra is a great piece of music for college gym, but she looked like she could not care less about performing. To say that they miss Baskett, Postell, Bijak, and Kim is an understatement.
ReplyDeleteI was being way too nice during this post. I really should've gone gymnast by gymnast.
ReplyDeletePlease, please do another post with that. I would kill to see your take on this.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as a Georgia fan, I'd love it if you'd do a post on their pre-season progression etc.
I don't think anyone's denying that Utah has a lot of work ahead of them. What is apparent is how hard they've worked so far and how much returning athletes have improved. I'm confused what makes UGA fans think they're special. We have yet to see a full routine posted of any UGA athlete. If you're going to claim Georgia has the quality to beat Utah you should have something upon which to substantiate your claim. I've yet to see anything.
ReplyDeleteI'd think that Georgia fans would be promoting their own program vs. ripping on Utah's, oh wait, nothing to promote... oh snap!
ReplyDeleteGeorgia is better than Utah though neither will win this year.
ReplyDeleteI guess we will find out Jan. 15th my money's on Utah.
ReplyDeleteUtah is the cure for insomnia.
ReplyDelete