Much has been debated on blogs across the wrestling nation about the "fairness" of Robles in this weight class due to his upper body strength advantage. Regardless of where you land in the discussion, if you watch him wrestle and listen to him in interviews, you cannot help but admire and be inspired by the guy. Total domination is about the only way to describe his season! McDonough is the defending national champion and has had the kind of season that could have easily earned him the No. 1 seed as well. (See article) The semifinals should end up with two storylines: The undefeated Robles against undefeated No. 4 James Nicholson (Old Dominion) and the fourth match of the year between McDonough and No. 3 Brandon Precin (Northwestern).
133: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) over No. 3 Andrew Long (Penn State)
This is one of the more difficult weight classes to predict in my opinion. The top five or six are all very close and this should lead to some excellent matchups in the quarterfinals. How does Oliver vs. Devin Carter, Ruggirello vs. Graff, Long vs. Ramos and Hochstrasser vs. Futrell/Peterkin strike you? Long has looked very good in his shortened season and the final should be a good one!
141: No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) over No. 2 Mike Thorn (Minnesota)
This weight class should be worth the price of admission alone from the quarterfinals on! Kellen Russell has made me a believer this year with three wins over Thorn, three wins Alton, two over Kennedy (one by pin) and a win over both Marion and Novachkov. I think he and Thorn will square off one more time in the final but there should be some great match ups in the preceding rounds. Montell Marion (Iowa) and Zach Kemmerer (Penn) in the quarterfinals should be action packed and the upset watch should be on high alert in this round when Matt Bonson (Lock Haven) toes the line with No.3 Novachkov. (For other potential bracket busters, check out article)
149: No. 2 Frank Molinaro (Penn State) over No. 4 Kyle Dake (Cornell)
I may be completely wrong about the No. 1 seed Darrion Caldwell from North Carolina State, but I do not think he is in top form heading into the national tournament. He is undefeated in an injury-shortened season and has been dominant against inferior competition, but has not looked as good against better wrestlers. In the ACC tournament, he took injury time in both of his matches, was cautioned multiple times for stalling and gave up a stalling point with the clock stopped in the final against Derek Valenti (Virginia). Given that this is the same guy that nobody expected to be able to hang with Brent Metcalf two years ago, it may sound far-fetched to hear my prediction of No. 9 Donny Vinson (Binghamton) pulling the upset in the quarterfinals. I see the semifinals as Dake avenging an earlier loss to Vinson and Molinaro edging No. 3 Kevin LeValley (Bucknell).
157: No. 3 David Taylor (Penn State) over No. 1 Adam Hall (Boise State)
Wow! Just when you thought the tournament couldn't get any better, along comes the 157-pound weight class. Three undefeated wrestlers and another two or three that have legitimate shots at the title! You could argue all day about which of the three without a loss has had the tougher schedule, but this is going to get settled on the mat! I expect Taylor and No. 2 Steve Fittery (American) to cruise into a semifinal showdown on the bottom half of the draw. Taylor has been unstoppable all season and has hardly been pushed, but he has not wrestled anyone that can compare to Fittery. That said, I have had the David Taylor Kool-Aid and expect him to follow in his coach's footsteps as a four-time NCAA champ. I am predicting a small wrinkle in the top half with No. 5 Jesse Dong (Virginia Tech) upsetting No. 4 Bubba Jenkins (Arizona State). Dong has only three losses all season with one of them a meaningless forfeit to team-mate Pete Yates, another to Taylor by decision (at the time the only wrestler to not lose by bonus points) and a "head scratcher" to Corey Mock (North Carolina).
165: No. 1 Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) over No. 3 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma)
Burroughs will finish the season 36-0 and win the title but will have a great semifinal match against No. 4 Josh Asper (Maryland). The other semi-final will also be a tight one with Caldwell edging No. 2 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin). Caldwell wrestled part of the season at 174 with losses against top tier guys Mack Lewnes (Cornell) and Colby Covington (Oregon State). Two of his three losses at 165 came to Burroughs with the last by a 2-1 score.
174: No. 2 Ed Ruth (Penn State) over No. 1 Jonathan Reader (Iowa State)
Ruth got everyone's attention at the Southern Scuffle by beating then No. 1 Mack Lewnes (Cornell) and No. 2 Chris Henrich (Virginia). His only loss in 33 matches came to the current ACC champion Mike Letts (Maryland). I expect the semis to be Reader vs. No. 5 Henrich and Ruth vs. No. 3 Lewnes.
184: No. 4 Travis Rutt (Wisconsin) over No. 2 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh)
I have Rutt getting to the final by way of a victory over No. 9 Quentin Wright (Penn State), who has been hot and cold this season but was hot in winning the Big 10 and seemed to be wrestling with a lot of confidence. He will upset No. 1 Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro) in the quarterfinals but, Rutt will get revenge for his loss to Wright in the Big 10 tournament. Hamlin will beat No. 3 Steve Bosak (Cornell) for the third time this season in the other semifinal before facing Rutt, who he lost to by one point in their regular season match.
197: No. 1 Cam Simaz (Cornell) over No. 3 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin)
Simaz will beat the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between No. 5 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa) and No. 4 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State). I see Brandvold having a fairly straightforward road to his semifinal matchup with No. 2 Clayton Foster (Oklahoma State) who is also undefeated. Ultimately, Simaz wins the final due to his edge in quickness and athleticism.
285: No. 1 Zachery Rey (Lehigh) over No. 3 Ryan Flores (American)
After not having a national champion since Troy Letters in 2004 (now an assistant with Penn State), Lehigh gets its second of the night. Rey reaches the final by defeating No. 4 D. J Russo (Rutgers). Flores beats No. 7 Blake Rasing (Iowa) in the bottom half of the draw.
Top Five Teams:
1. Penn State
2. Cornell
3. Iowa
4. Wisconsin
5. Oklahoma State
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