NQS data courtesy of Balance Beam Situation
National Qualifying Score (NQS)
The NQS is each team’s top six scores after it’s been spun in a simple formula.
The NQS Formula:
* Find the team’s top 6 scores
* Make sure at least three of them are road scores
* Drop the highest score
* Average the remaining 5 scores.
* Viola… Your NQS!
Cool cool… what does the NQS do?
Regionals:
The top 36 teams, according to NQS rankings, advance to the postseason and are placed in one of four regionals. The top 16 teams are “seeded” and grouped according to their ranking.
Group 1: 1, 8, 9, 16
Group 2: 2, 7, 10, 15
Group 3: 3, 6, 11, 14
Group 4: 4, 5, 12, 13
Regional locations are predetermined for the quad:
| 2023 Denver Oklahoma Pittsburgh UCLA |
2024 Arkansas Cal Florida Michigan |
2025 Alabama Penn St. Utah Washington |
2026 Arizona State Kentucky LSU Oregon State |
Teams outside the top 16 are placed geographically where possible. In some instances there might be a host conflict based on how a team finishes. In these instances, “the lowest seeded host in the group will be exchanged with a non-host that holds a spot not greater or less than two seeded positions (and preferably one position) when possible,” according to NCAA postseason rules.
