Everything you need to know about the NCAA women’s gymnastics regionals

The GIST: It’s tourney time! Two of the four NCAA regionals (the first step on the road to the national championship) begin today, with the other two hitting the mat tomorrow. These three-day mini-tourneys feature the nation’s top 36 squads — plus 79 standout athletes from non-qualifying teams who’ll compete as individuals — all hoping to flip to the April 18–20 ’ship.

How it works: Each regional meet (hosted in Fayetteville, AR; Berkeley, CA; Gainesville, FL; or Ann Arbor, MI) has nine squads and three rounds. Think of each regional’s first round as a play-in meet between the two lowest-ranked teams, where the winners advance to the eight-team second round.

• The second and third rounds whittle those eight teams down to two. Those survivors from each of the four regions (a total of eight squads) advance to the April 18th national semifinal meet.

• As for individuals, four all-arounders and four event specialists in each event (bars, beam, floor, and vault) will make it past regionals for a shot at some hardware in Fort Worth, TX. In short, it’s a truly mind-bending amount of gymnastics.

The favorites: The nation’s 16 highest-ranked teams (based on national qualifying score) became the bracket’s top 16 seeds, while the remaining 20 are unseeded. The top four are split among the four regionals, and some have a much clearer path to the natty than others…

• The Fayetteville regional is especially stacked, with SEC rivals No. 2 LSU, No. 7 Kentucky, and hosts No. 10 Arkansas going up against No. 15 Minnesota and Team USA star Jade Carey’s Oregon State — who just missed a seeding as the nation’s No. 18 team.

• On the other hand, the Ann Arbor race is all about the second qualifying spot since No. 1 Oklahoma seems impossible to catch. The three-peat hunting Sooners, led by fifth-year Ragan Smith, are somehow more dominant than ever.