The men’s selection committee will supposedly make their announcement for the men’s world team tonight. They’ve got a really tough task, and I honestly have no idea what they’re going to do.
Below I’ve listed some of the possible teams I could see the committee selecting, with the relative strengths and weaknesses. At the end I’ll boldly give my choice!
Team 1
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Brooks
Tan
Cameron
Strengths: Incredibly strong on rings (Wynn, Tan, and Horton), which is the most stable event and can help alleviate other weak areas; uses our best three guys on p-bars and high bar
Weaknesses: Pommel horse – Cameron is solid, but no one else is really very strong – we’d probably have to use Tan and either Horton or Leyva; we also fail to use our very best guys on floor and vault (Legendre and Ruggeri)
Team 2
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Brooks
Ribeiro
Cameron
Strengths: Stronger on horse than Team 1 because of Ribeiro; still uses our best three guys on p-bars and high bar.
Weaknesses: Weaker on rings than Team 1, as Cameron would have to replace Tan; still fails to use our best floor and vault guys.
Team 3
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Ruggeri
Ribeiro
Cameron
Strengths: Stronger on floor and vault than Team 1 and 2 (because of Ruggeri); uses our best pommel horse guy (Ribeiro).
Weaknesses: Loses Brooks’ scores on p-bars and high bar – but Ruggeri can replace him on high bar and we still have Horton, Leyva, and Wynn for p-bars.
Team 4
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Brooks
Legendre
Tan
Strengths: Incredibly strong on rings (Wynn, Tan, Horton); takes advantage of Legendre’s huge vault and tremendous floor potential; uses our best lineups on p-bars and high bar.
Weaknesses: Pommel horse – Would have to use three questionable scores, such as Tan, Leyva, and Horton.
Team 5
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Brooks
Legendre
Ribeiro
Strengths: Takes advantage of Legendre’s huge vault and tremendous floor potential; uses our best pommel horse guy (Ribeiro).
Weakenesses: Would have to use a weak third rings score (Brooks or Leyva).
Team 6
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Ruggeri
Legendre
Ribeiro
Strengths: Incredibly strong on floor and vault (has both Legendre and Ruggeri); uses our best pommel horse guy (Ribeiro).
Weaknesses: Would have to use two weak pommel horse scores (Horton and Leyva); loses Brooks on p-bars and high bar; would have a weak third rings score (Leyva)
Team 7
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Brooks
Ruggeri
Legendre
Strengths: Uses our best lineup on floor, vault, p-bars, and high bar
Weaknesses: No strong pommel horse workers – would have to use Horton, Leyva, and Brooks or even Legendre! Would also have to use Leyva or Brooks as the third rings score.
Team 8
Horton
Leyva
Wynn
Tan
Ruggeri
Ribeiro
Strengths: Incredibly strong on rings (Wynn, Tan, Horton); uses our best pommel horse guy (Ribeiro); uses Ruggeri on floor and vault.
Weaknesses: Loses Brooks’s scores on p-bars and high bar, although Ruggeri can replace him on high bar and we still have Horton, Leyva, and Wynn for p-bars
Confused yet?
My choice is Team 4. We’d have a gigantic rings total, our best p-bars and high bar lineups, and Legendre’s floor and vault. We’d just have to get through pommel horse the best we could…I’d put Ruggeri and Cameron as the alternates.
It’s impossible to even start to think about this without using numbers. I have no feel for how much we lose on PH versus on PB/HB for instance with a Brooks versus Ribino pick.