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.