Hazards - There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty. Miss that, though, and you're pretty much doomed.

Arrogance - The best leaders inspire by example. When that's not an option, brute intimidation works pretty well, too.

Her degree of difficulty has been lifted from 7.30 to 7.85, which is pretty high. But we also want to make sure her performance is stable.

After his first dive, I was pretty far behind. I knew I had degree of difficulty on him. I knew if I could hit, I could overcome him. After the second dive, it was pretty close.

We were pretty solid all the way through. I'm pleased with where we are in terms of our difficulty. We just have to get a little cleaner and a little tougher. I felt like we were right there ... on floor and beam, we were pretty close on bars and fairly close on vault. The teams that beat us just performed a little better.

I'm pretty confident at the moment. The minutes I'm getting in games are helping build my confidence. I feel ready for (conference play).