But do the judges even know how to judge PCS? I am not an expert follower but just looking at the scores for the Shibs for Interpretation/Timing:
8.00 9.00 8.75 9.25 8.00 7.25 9.00 8.25 7.00
That is a 2.25 point range with 10 increments between them. What is the max spread supposed to be before someone gets called out as either cheating or incompetent? I haven't seen the performances so I can't say if the high numbers are more correct or the lower numbers, but clearly the judges don't know either or the spread wouldn't be so wide. The other PCS marks show similar variation. I/Z have similarly strange marks from the 7s to the 9s in the same category. And while I know they aren't new skaters, they are a new team so some judge is saying that they have the same skills as the long-standing teams. Do they? Because then the talking heads need to stop forcing the "It takes a new team time to gel. Davis and White and Virture and Moire have been skating together since the beginning of time, that's why they are so far ahead of the rest!" line. Other skaters scores are more consistent across the board and between components which frankly is more troubling--all teams have equally good skating skills as their interpretation skills? Not a single team is a 9 pointer in choreography but only a 6 or 7 in Footwork? Once you hit that 7ish level in one thing, you are that in every thing?
In conclusion: I think the judging system sucks. At least in gymnastics, you know that the gymnast got 8.9 because of three small steps, one large step, a leg separation, and a fall out of a spin and can add them up and get approximately the same number the judges gave. This seems like they just throw numbers around (or have pre-decided what level the skater is at) and then just give those scores.
Maximum spread should ideally be between 1-1.5 points range between the highest and lowest.
Noone is going to get punished though. If the judge over or undermarks yet remains consistent, it's ok because their imput would either be averaged out or be taken off before being averaged.