Posted February 29, 2008
Correction appended
After a disappointing Pacific Coast Classic, the Michigan men's gymnastics team found a new sense of purpose.

The mentality will face its biggest test Sunday when the Wolverines square up against No. 1 Stanford at Cliff Keen Arena. And to beat the Cardinal, practically every Wolverine needs to have a strong showing.

While individuals have shone at different times this year, they have not put it all together in a single meet.

As a result, Michigan had a tough week of training in Berkeley, Calif. After the workouts, junior Kent Caldwell said, "Everyone just wants to pass out." But the gymnasts look more consistent, and consistent hits will be the key to beating Stanford.

"When you put our top four scores up for the entire season, on each event, then you come up with a team score that's (around) 361 - comparable to theirs," Caldwell said. "I think that proves that if we all are hitting routines well, then we have the potential to be on that level."

The Cardinal has not had the elusive "perfect meet" either. But their start values significantly higher than Michigan's across the board.

On most events, the majority of Stanford's routines have a 16.0 start value or higher and a 16.0 is roughly equivalent to a perfect 10 in the old scoring system.

The Cardinal rank in the top four nationally on all six events.

And Stanford no longer lives and dies by the scores of their top four competitors on each event. Six quality freshmen joined a group of upperclassmen who all competed under the intense pressure of NCAA team finals last season. Its team confidence is at an all-time high.

"In previous years we needed the top four guys on the team to hit, and if the top four didn't hit, then our team score suffered," fifth-year Stanford senior Dylan Carney said. "And this year we don't necessarily need the top four to hit for us to throw out a big team score."

Carney said he thinks the Cardinal's strength on pommel horse and parallel bars is a big part of the team's success, as most squads nationwide struggle with those events.

Stanford is also eager to get out on the road - while Michigan has had just one home meet so far this season, this will be Stanford's first foray out of California since its season-opening win at the Windy City Invitational in Chicago.

But the Wolverines are thinking less about their upcoming opponents than their own performance.

"We came in fourth place at (the Classic) and we didn't say, 'We lost to these teams,' " Caldwell said. "We did that to ourselves. It really is a personal and team struggle to be ourselves and not those old habits, and reach a new team high."

Sunday will be the time for the talk about potential to become reality.