Czisny may be inconsistent, but Zhang is unproven. Just like Rachel was, but she delivered at Worlds. That's what I meant. This would have been Caroline's first Worlds. How would she have handled it? How would the other competitors have responded? Questions that we cannot answer pop up. Look what happened at Junior Worlds.
My point is that we have a skater who is inconsistent, night and day, and we have another skater who is new to the scene, and is unproven. Look what happened to Ashley Wagner last year. So much promise, but she went to worlds and struggled big time. placement-wise she did even worse than Czisny this year (12th). THAT's what I mean when I say Zhang wouldn't necessarily have been all that much of a slam dunk like many of you seem to think. And keep in mind that I'm saying all this WHILE I believe that Zhang probably should have been at worlds instead of Czisny.
At the same time, the same 7-T performance at TEB barely gave her over 100 points. Keep in mind that Nationals was BEFORE 4CCs and JW, so at the time it seemed like Caroline's best may not have really been good enough for top 5/6 in the World. But it's possible that missing out ignited a fire in her and she felt she had something to prove, leading to the strong showing at 4CC, and fighting back at JW. Had she gone straight to the Worlds, we don't know if the same Caroline would have shown up. The X-Factor, as I have called it in the past, rears its ugly (?) head again.
Now, this is all moot, coulda-woulda-shoulda stuff.
I agree, but then again, it's something out of my control (and yours as well) so we'll just have to deal with it. The one thing we can hope is that the USFS learns its lesson and thinks twice now about putting Czisny on any World or Olympic team from now on. I don't envy Alyssa right now, that's for sure.
Zhang is unproven only if you're talking about senior Worlds. She has competed against big names at major events with huge crowds (GPF and 4CC) and done remarkably well. I don't really think there was a lot of difference between this year's 4CC and Worlds in many respects, for instance. Czisny, OTOH, has only been to senior Worlds once before, and is proven, yes -- proven to be unreliable at major competitions, that is. Even if you negate the proven/unproven factor, Zhang should still have been sent over Czisny because of her stronger performance at Nats.
Zhang's jumps looked the worse I've ever seen them at the start of the season, TEB included. It was reported that she had been growing and was recovering from an injury. Even then, it is a testament to Zhang's consistency that she stayed upright during TEB and was credited with at least 5 triples in her LP. From Nationals on, her jumps looked superior and the scores reflected that. And yes, USFS decided to name the World team straight after Nats, which I think was another boneheaded decision, as 4CC would've served as a better indicator of competitiveness, given that the top guns were competing there. But again, if you want to go solely by their performances at Nats, Zhang was vastly better than Czisny in the LP and should've been sent to Worlds instead. As mentioned by others, Alissa would not have received such unearthly PCS anywhere other than Nats.
Bottom line: Caroline has been tested before at major events and showed competitiveness and consistency. Caroline also had a much better LP than Alissa did at Nats and should have beaten her overall.
Alissa has been tested before at major events and showed herself to be mostly unreliable. Alissa also had a much worse LP than either Rachael or Caroline, and should have been below them in the final standings at Nats. Her SP was not so superior that she should have received that much of a cushion. Despite all of this, she was still crowned National champion and sent to Worlds.