University of Illinois head coach Justin Spring debuted his new "Match Play" scoring system for NCAA men's gymnastics with a win over visiting Minnesota.
This meet was the first of it's kind which followes the current 5-up, 5-count for NCAA men's gymnastics, but simplifies meet scoring for the fans. The innovative meet format, which was created by head coach Spring and assistant coach Daniel Ribeiro, features five head-to-head contests on each apparatus with no set lineups. Each matchup was worth one point. The first team to 16 points wins the meet.
The Fighting Illini secured the victory on parallel bars in the fifth rotation. The final "Match Play" score was Illinois 21, Minnesota 9, while the final traditional score was 430.60 to 420.650.
"I think it was an overall great meet format," Spring said. "The fans got it, and they were buying in. 'Point Illinois' made sense to them, and there was a lot of great energy when the score was close. It was exciting, and I really enjoyed it."
Ron Noe of Stick It Media wrote, "Reviews were mixed, but it certainly added some excitement, at least in the first three rotations."
"I believe this format deserves further investigation, because it does show some promise. I’m not sure if a complete conversion will ever happen, but at the very least, the idea has caught the imagination of the fans."
The biggest complaint, he notes, is that the judges withheld the traditional scores from the fans. Instead of posting the scores they just raised a flag noting the winning team for each match.
Watch Coach Spring's recap of the event:
The meet will air on tape-delay Monday night, 3/11 @ 8:00pm ET.
Links:
- Meet Recap on fightingillini.com
- Meet Review on Stickitmedia
- Match Play Meet Results
- Traditional Meet Results
- More on the inspiration for Match Play Scoring
Did you watch the event? If so, what did you think of the new scoring?