MEN'S LP and the CHAMPIONSHIP

[dorispulaski]

The winner always gets to go, so Czisny would always have gone. I don't ever recall a 2nd place skater who hasn't gone, so I would expect Mroz and Jeremy to go. The question is the 3rd place skater, and the 3rd place skater has been bumpted from time to time. However, Mroz did not skate that well on the GP. Both Ryan and Johnny did better there than he did. This was mainly because Brandon was in crappy shape early in the season. He was a total mess at Liberty in July, some what better by Oct.

There are 3 spots. Last year, Johnny was 3rd, and Stephen Carriere was 10th, for 13 points, the magic number. Jeremy Abbott was there and finished 11th, which would not have done the trick.

In these situations, as Scott said, the guy responsible for the 3 spots may get to go, particularly if he is injured at nationals. If Johnny had filed for a bye, he would probably have gotten it. Johnny was visibly thin and in unfortunate health. So I would expect Johnny, Jeremy and Brandon to go to worlds. I would not let Johnny go to 4CC's, mainly because he isn't healthy anyway. 4CC's should be Evan, Jeremy & Brandon, and Ryan as alternate. In fact, a skate off for the 3rd spot between Evan, Ryan and Brandon, if Jeremy decides not to go to 4CC's, would be a great idea, if Johnny still isn't fit when it comes times for worlds.

Fact is, Evan's axel is in trouble & he does not have a quad. Both Ryan and Brandon have good axels and a quad. Evan did only just OK on the GP this year and did not go to worlds last year. Evan is a victim of the new strictness of rules on jump technique, just as some of the US girls are. It is not an easy problem to fix.

 

[demarinis5]

Congrats to Jeremy, Brandon and Evan. What a surprising competition.
If you had asked me last week about Brandon Mroz I would have said who
the junior skater. Well he proved he can skate with the senior men today. I will have to see more of him to see if he is consistent but he did impress me today.. I think the World Team will be the top three finishers just like all of the other disciplines that have already been chosen. With the exception of B/A
who will be goingt to Worlds on their bye.

 

[paralegalmkfan]

That won't work. Johhny said he wasn't ready for this competition as he had lost a lot of training time due to illness. The 4CC is in a week and that doesn't give him much time to make any significant difference.

Oh ~ I didn't realize that 4CC was so soon. I was just throwing that out for the sake of argument as some think Johnny should be named to the team in favor of someone else. If it were up to me, I would send the top three finishers.

 

[1795]

You're confusing "rules" with "tradition". There is nothing in the rulebook that says the skaters that place 1-2-3 are automatically the world team. TRADITION has been that that's how they were chosen. But the USFSA is slowly going more the way of their European and Japanese counterparts and using other competitions plus the nationals standings to choose the big team.

true....but how annoying and legitimately "unfair" to be replaced by a past good one....when you worked your tail off to get the spot (aka mroz's position)

who can say if weir will have a disaster and say "oh i lost another 8 lbs *cough*" ?

 

[Hsuhs]

Fact is, Evan's axel is in trouble & he does not have a quad.

The exact same can be said about Johnny.

 

[yelyoh]

Well we should know who's going and to what in a couple of hours right?

 

[enlight78]

The mens field get more and more unpredictable. I think the your might as well send top three. Johnny has been the most consistant skater the pass two years. While Jeremy gain his consistancy this year Evan "lost" his. Brandon is a one hit wonder this season(so far) but I wouldn't have in my heart to deny him after his national performance. Evan had the most time to prepare for nationals and he still didn't have the goods. I say logically Jeremy , Brandon, Johnny are the best choice. If stephen carrieare and Adam and Ryan get there act together. Nationals will be even more insane.

 

[lmarie086]

When I said I would like Johnny to be at Worlds rather than Evan I didn't actually mean I'd want that. Based on his showing here at Nationals, he definitely has not earned it. And whether that's due to poor health or what, I would rather the top 3 finishers go.

But if they did give the spot to Johnny I don't know that I'd complain too much. When he hits the 3A it's at least 10x better than Evan's.


ETA: I can't wait to see Adam's LP. And I can't wait to see him next season after he's had more time with Orser, I think we'll see a major difference.

 

[1795]

The exact same can be said about Johnny.

but not brandon!

 

[merrywidow]

If it were all up to me I'd hold off deciding who all gets to go to Worlds until after 4CC's. I would then send Brandon, Ryan & Adam Rippon to 4 CC's. If Brandon skates this well & medals at 4CC then I'd send him to Worlds along with Jeremy & Evan. If he doesn't medal then I'd put Johnny on the World team as his replacement & Brandon as alternate in case Johnny still isn't strong enough by March.

 

[yelyoh]

If it were all up to me I'd hold off deciding who all gets to go to Worlds until after 4CC's. I would then send Brandon, Ryan & Adam Rippon to 4 CC's. If Brandon skates this well & medals at 4CC then I'd send him to Worlds along with Jeremy & Evan. If he doesn't medal then I'd put Johnny on the World team as his replacement & Brandon as alternate in case Johnny still isn't strong enough by March.

ITA with this 100%..

 

[bekalc]

If it were all up to me I'd hold off deciding who all gets to go to Worlds until after 4CC's. I would then send Brandon, Ryan & Adam Rippon to 4 CC's. If Brandon skates this well & medals at 4CC then I'd send him to Worlds along with Jeremy & Evan. If he doesn't medal then I'd put Johnny on the World team as his replacement & Brandon as alternate in case Johnny still isn't strong enough by March.

There's an argument for putting Johnny on the world team because he was sick and has performed well all season... But what is Evan's excuse for losing to Mroz tonight? And Evan's scores have been slipping all season long too.

For me the whole other events should be taken into to account, is EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES. There's extenuating circumstances with Johnny, but there's no extenuating circumstances for Evan. There's no extenuating circumstances for Bradley either to lose to Mroz.

 

[Tenorguy]

Are Johnny's SP and FS strong enough to withstand international competition?

Personally, I don't believe that Johnny's programs bring much to the table - but that's just my opinion as I do not know enough about the COP scoring in use at the Worlds.

It seems the US team needs at least 1 man who can land a quad.... am I wrong to think that is not a sensible strategy?

Someone said earlier that Evan's quad is gone; yet in the warm ups Evan landed a beautiful 4/3 combo. Has Even landed that combo in any recent competition?

 

[Kikigirl]

It seems the US team needs at least 1 man you can land a quad.... am I wrong to think that is not a sensible strategy?

Nope. Johnny can do one (albeit a two-footed one), Jeremy can do one, Brandon can do one (he did in his LP tonight), and Evan can do one.

 

[dorispulaski]

And if you're going by quads alone, Ryan has landed more of them in competitions than any of the others, oddly enough. He landed one or two in every competition he was in this year, Liberty, SC, TEB, US Nationals.

Not that you should go by quads alone.

 

[kate]

Nope. Johnny can do one (albeit a two-footed one), Jeremy can do one, Brandon can do one (he did in his LP tonight), and Evan can do one.

Yes, but much, much more often than not Evan falls and badly under-rotates his quad in competition. Honestly, at this point, I think he's better off not trying it.

 

[turtle]

Not that you should go by quads alone.

Yes, especially with the increased penalty for a failed or under-rotated quad this season. In the GP several skaters who unsuccessfully tried a quad lost to another skater who didn't even try one. Unless you can land it rather consistently and can fully rotate it, it is just not worth it. If I remember correctly Kozuka net zero point for his failed quad in one competition.

 

[turtle]

They have announced the world team:
Jeremy, Brandon, and Evan. Johnny is the first alternate and Ryan the second.

 

[Tenorguy]

They have announced the world team:
Jeremy, Brandon, and Evan. Johnny is the first alternate and Ryan the second.

Good team - I believe this is a fair decision IMHO. .... :thumbsup:

 

[lmarie086]

They have announced the world team:
Jeremy, Brandon, and Evan. Johnny is the first alternate and Ryan the second.

I can agree with that, Jeremy and Brandon definitely earned it. I think Evan did too but I really hope he works on that 3A and other jumps.