Believe it or not, Chuck Conners was the first NBA player to shatter a backboard, albeit he did so during a pre-game warmup with the Boston Celtics.  Conners, you may recall was more famous for his television role as "The Rifleman."  Well, Illinois’ Tyler Williamson became the first gymnast to break one of the rings in an NCAA championship.  When a player shatters a backboard during a college or NBA game, sure there is a delay, but it really doesn’t have much of a mental effect on any of the players.

Unlike backboards, new rings have to be broken in, so imagine the anguish suffered by several gymnasts who ended up peeling off the new replacement rings and were ultimately given another chance to do their routines.  Thankfully, Williamson prevailed in his quest to become an All-American on rings.  He placed 2nd (15.15) behind champion Brandon Wynn (15.90).  Speaking of Ohio State’s Wynn, nobody has dominated an event like he has this season.

Gymnastics Examiner Blythe Lawrence, had the best and most complete coverage of the 2010 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships.  So all we can do here is make some observations about the meet.  It was certainly a marathon of a meet, lasting five hours.  ESPN’s coverage will require quite a bit of editing.  Six different gymnasts won event titles.  Seven if you include Chris Cameron’s All-Around title.  Only one senior, Michigan’s Ryan McCarthy (high bar), won an event title.

This year’s crop of freshmen really produced, as two newcomers brought home the gold.  Stanford’s Eddie Penev won on vault (16.45) and placed a strong 2nd on floor (16.00).  Oklahoma’s Alex Naddour is the new NCAA pommel horse champ (15.425) and he also placed in the all-around.  Teammate Jake Dalton also placed on two events, as he took 2nd on vault (16.10) and was 4th on floor (15.675).  Here are the freshmen who earned All-American status:

• Jake Dalton (Oklahoma) – AA (7th), FX (4th), VT (2nd)
• Alex Naddour (Oklahoma) – AA (8th), PH (1st)
• Eddie Penev (Stanford) – FX (2nd), VT (1st)
• Christian Monteclaro (Cal) – VT (6th)

Michigan definitely proved that their big team scores in March were no flukes.  There was no quit in this team, and it was almost like this team felt like destiny was on their side, especially after their surprise 2nd place finish last season.  Michigan had an average team score of 360.23 over their last five meets.  Junior Chris Cameron showed why he deserves to be on the Senior National Team with his gritty performance, and Mel Anton Santander put together a resounding senior finale to place 3rd in the all-around.  Cameron will soon be on his way to a well-deserved trip to Melbourne, Australia to compete in the Pacific Rim Championships.

Michigan, Stanford and Oklahoma proved for most of the season that they had the most depth.  Illinois, as Coach Justin Spring remarked, needs to "figure out how to put together a more consistent last meet."  On paper, the Illini are phenomenal and have incredible depth.  Once again, they won the Big 10 title, but were unable to put it all together when it counted the most.  We are unlikely to see much change next season in the composition of the six teams that qualified for last Friday’s team finals.  Michigan (Sam Mikulak and Jordan Gaarenstroom) and Illinois (CJ Maestas and Cameron Rogers) will arguably have the top incoming freshmen in the fall, and none of the top six will suffer any castastrophic graduation losses.

Stanford will be adding Chris Turner and Sean Senters, while Presten Ellsworth will be welcomed by Oklahoma.  Penn State, due to their strong freshman class this season, will be a lot more experienced, plus they will have freshman Wasef Burbar who will contribute right away.  The Nittany Lions could very well make it back to the Super Six.  Still, the top five will likely remain unchanged, and the only uncertainty will be the order of finish.  Next season’s senior class will be one of the greatest in Division I history, and the battle for the Nissen-Emery Award will be among the fiercest ever waged.

Set your DVRs for Friday, April 23 @ 1:30pm EDT, as ESPN2 will broadcast the team and all-around finals.  Look for rebroadcasts on ESPNU.

Follow StickItMedia on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StickItMedia

Be Sociable, Share!

•