Handing Out Awards From the Big Ten Championships

What a wild tournament! The B1G regular season had some exciting moments, but honestly it was mostly built around consistency. The top guys remained at the top, and I don’t feel like there was a slew of upsets. Sure you’d have an OT match with Vombaur and Mendez, or you’d have a Parco over Lovett result, but that’s about as crazy as it got. Largely I recall the favorites winning where they were supposed to, and that’s just how it seemed to go. 

Not last weekend though. We had ninth seeds placing third (Bouzakis at 133), an eighth seed in the finals (also Ohio State, with Brandon Cannon letting everyone know that he’s for real), the Braunagel’s jumping levels as a family, Edmond Ruth is comfortable at 184 now, and we can all stop being so excited for Gabe Arnold versus Carter Starocci. It’s funny how a tournament like this can provide such definitive clarity, but this is the time of year when results become impactful and lasting historically. This is the time that matters the most. 

For as much fun as the regular season is, you can feel the energy is just different when it’s the postseason. In the wake of the B1G tournament, and on the precipice of NCAAs, let’s walk through my thoughts and rewards from last weekend in Evanston. Some of these rewards seem like they’d overlap a bit, and that may be the case, but sometimes with something as impressive and with such crazy depth as the B1G, we need to find angles to single out greatness. It’ll explain as we go through this.

Freshman of the Year - This is simple enough -  the best Freshman at this tournament. It would seem like a guy like Max McEnelly would be the obvious fit here. An undefeated regular season followed by an OT loss to a guy going for his fifth NCAA Championship. He has clearly proven that he’s a stud and is likely the best freshman, so we can move on right? Wrong. This goes to a guy who won the tournament. That’s my tiebreaker. Winning versus losing. Luke Lilledahl not only won the tournament, but he beat the guy ranked first in the country. A guy who hasn’t lost since last season and has been a consistent presence at the weight all season. Also, Lilledahl is a true freshman. That other distinction goes a long way in me making my decision here. Honorable mention to McEnelly, but this award goes to Luke Lilledahl.

Senior of the Year - Why should we just celebrate the young guys? I’m old, so I want to celebrate the old guys also! Especially when we see that sometimes it’s really hard to be old and make it through the grind of one final college wrestling season. Shoutout to Jacori Teemer, who is clearly hampered by injuries and trying to get through the last couple of weeks of his career. Sometimes careers end with a sputter, and sometimes the end with a bang. 

In this case, Lucas Byrd went out in style. He avenged a loss from earlier in the year, and has been a solid leader on this Illinois team that had a great tournament. Lucas redshirted last season due to injury, and that clearly helped him be able to commit for this final run, which has him positioned for a great run to cap off his final year with the coveted NCAA title. We’ll see if he can finish in Philly as strongly as he did last weekend. Also honorable mention to Ridge Lovett who avenged, in dominant fashion I might add, his loss to Parco from earlier this year. He had a badass tournament getting the championship at 149. A performance as badass as those new combat speeds he was wearing. Those were some nice looking shoes, matched by his wrestling and exciting style. 

Most improved - I wanted this award to represent the guy who really jumped out at me from this tournament, based on what the regular season had looked like. When I decided to add this category, I did it with Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin 125) in mind. He had the very close match with Ramos, ultimately losing in OT, then battling back to place fourth despite being eighth seeded. It was very impressive, but then I looked closer and realized that he only had five losses all year, and remembered that he’s always been dangerous. Sure he’s improved, but he also is just good, so not sure this is where he should be. 

A better person for this is another true freshman who had a great tournament. Branson John of Maryland, the twelfth seeded wrestler at 174, who placed sixth in a solid weight class. He had wins over fifth seed Clayton Whiting of Minnesota, sixth seed Jackson Turley of Rutgers, and eighth seed Brody Baumann of Purdue. This true freshman was not supposed to qualify for NCAAs, but he did the thing and is in position to get the always valuable experience from the big show. Maryland continues to develop their talent, and Branson John is a guy who really put it together last weekend. 

Biggest bummer - It’s not always sunshine and rainbows at these events. With every positive comes a negative. There has to be balance with the force. I don’t want to dwell on anything, or speculate for that matter, but it really sucks that Josh Barr got hurt. He had such an impressive year, and was so close to making the finals in a truly competitive 197 weight class. Barr had put himself in the names you have to mention when talking about NCAA Championship contenders this season. Penn State guys have a documented history of avenging losses from earlier in the year, and he has every bit of ability to have put it together in Philly. I hope he’s able to recover quickly and be a contender in two weeks. Regardless, this is just a bummer.

Best wrestler - I really liked Adam Tirapelle’s tweet using the Matrix as a metaphor for guys like Mitchell Mesenbrink, Keegan O’Toole and Gable Steveson’s wrestling this past weekend. It really is the best way to illustrate just how advanced these guys are compared to the rest. It’s often said that there are “levels” to this, and it’s true, but what they are doing doesn’t seem simply like another level. It seems like a different game altogether. In the end this award goes to Gable, not only for dominating from start to finish, but he also beat an undefeated and defending NCAA champion in as convincing a way as I’ve ever seen. He’s so good that it made me actually wonder if it’s even fair that he’s wrestling in the tournament. You know, the toughest conference tournament in the country with the defending NCAA champion in his weight class. The thought crossed my mind that he was too good to compete here. That’s crazy.

Best tournament - Brock Hardy probably did the most to help himself out long term. He also did it in a weight class full of absolute hammers, including the defending NCAA champion, the number one ranked wrestler, and having to beat a guy in the finals in Vombaur who is wrestling as well as I’ve ever seen him wrestle. Also his pin in the finals was such an exclamation point on his tournament. He left little doubt out there. It sounds weird, but this might be the first time that I’m really considering him as a title contender at 141. In a weight where it seemed like it was going to be one of three guys (Alirez, Mendez, Bartlett), now we have a fourth to throw into the mix. I’d also like to throw out Brandon Cannon as an honorable mention here. Dude made the finals as an eighth seed at a very deep weight class in 157. He beat the number one seed on his way as well. It’ll be interesting to see where he is seeded at NCAAs, but it’s clear that he’s not someone anyone can look past. It’ll be interesting to see how many coaches in Philly recommend that their wrestler doesn’t pick bottom against Cannon. 

Best team performance - Penn State broke their record for team points that they set last year at B1Gs. All season I’ve been predicting that they would do it again at NCAAs this year, but I never even considered B1Gs. I honestly didn’t even know that they had set the points record last year, until they broke it this year. There was even a time during the semifinals when Nebraska had taken the lead in team points and the thought crossed my mind on whether Penn State was having as good a tournament as I thought they were, or not. But then the semis happened and Penn State got several finalists, and their guys on the backside largely came through, and they did it again. Oops. Things might be a little different at NCAAs though. As referenced above, the Josh Barr news is a bummer and the injury is likely going to put a ceiling on what he’s able to do in Philly. Also, Braeden Davis has been a bit up and down at times. Maybe I’m higher on him than I should be, but I am always surprised when he loses. It could also be just unfair expectations when surrounded by the rest of the team's success, but regardless. Somehow, on the heels of setting the B1G record for team points, it feels like they won’t break their own record for points at NCAAs.