UNC's Austin O'Connor his second ACC crown before winning the NCAA title two weeks later (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)The Big Ten is the best conference in college wrestling. There is no debate about it. Heading into the 2021 Division I Wrestling Championships at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, the 14 Big Ten institutions accounted for a whopping seventy-six bids in the NCAAs field by virtue of finish at the conference tournament, while 16 others received at-large bids. Additionally, the conference had nine of the ten No.1 seeds at NCAAs.
By the end of the three-day event, the dominance of the conference was still on display. The Big Ten had for six national champions, 10 NCAA finalists, 35 All-Americans, and the top two placewinners in the team race.
That said, the untold story of not just the 2021 NCAAs, but the entire season is the continued elevation of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In fact, 2021 was a historic year for the ACC by many metrics. The conference qualified 33 automatic qualifying bids to this year's NCAA Wrestling Championship, plus an additional six via the at-large bids. With that, the ACC's 39 qualifiers are just two short of the conference record of 41 first set in 2018 and matched in 2019. A respectable thirty-eight ACC student-athletes qualified for the 2020 NCAA Division I Championships, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of note, four ACC-affiliated grapplers reached the finals of the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships, including the Pitt duo of Jake Wentzel (165 pounds) and Nino Bonaccorsi (197), North Carolina's Austin O'Connor (149) and NC State's Trent Hidlay (184).
Still in the hunt ðŸ†
�" ACC Network (@accnetwork) March 20, 2021
Four ACC wrestlers are headed to the @ncaawrestling championships 👀 pic.twitter.com/WaUkisTXZb
Regarding the quartet of ACC finalists, the conference produced a champion at 149 pounds with North Carolina junior Austin O'Connor. The second-seeded O'Connor's 3-2 recorded a win over No. 1 seed Sammy Sasso of Ohio State in the 149-pound final. The victory secured North Carolina's first NCAA gold medal since 1995 and the 20th all-time by an ACC grappler. Prior to 2021, the last ACC grappler to take gold at the NCAA's pinnacle of postseason events was Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis, who did so at 165 pounds in Pittsburgh in 2019.
🚨 AUSTIN O'CONNOR IS A NATIONAL CHAMPION!! 🚨
�" UNC Wrestling (@UNCWrestling) March 20, 2021
No. 2 Austin O'Connor defeats No. 1 Sammy Sasso, 3-2!
O'Connor is North Carolina's first national champion since 1995 (T.J. Jaworsky).
JOB FINISHED! O'CONNOR IS THE 149-POUND NATIONAL CHAMPION!#GoHeels | #WeWantMore pic.twitter.com/Sa6ksdl6Ac
Historically speaking, the ACC had never placed more than three wrestlers in the finals prior to this year, and the 12 ACC wrestlers earning 2021 All-America status are the league's most ever through direct competition. The NWCA designated 14 ACC wrestlers as All-Americans when the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to COVID-19, but the most earned on the mat during Championship weekend prior to this year was 11 in 2016.
For the pair of Panther competitors, reaching the silver medal status was a significant achievement for the Pittsburgh-based program. Pitt placed two in the NCAA finals for the first time since 1963. Additionally, as a team, the Panthers finished the 2021 NCAA Championships in 11th place with 40.5 points. This finish is their best NCAA finish since 1970 (when Pitt finished eighth) and tallied the Panthers' best points haul in the NCAA's current team scoring format.
As a conference, four of the six ACC affiliates (NC State, Pitt, Virginia Tech and North Carolina) finished in the top 16 in the NCAA team standings.
The two other teams in the conference -- Virginia and Duke -- finished 31st and 58th respectively. Virginia All-American Louie Hayes led the charge for the Cavilers, while Josh Finesilver, who fell just one win shy of All-America status, was the lone Blue Devil to take the mats in St. Louis.
With respect to the regular season rankings, the NWCA coaches poll routinely placed five of the six ACCs quads within the top 20 in its weekly team rankings. Both NC State and Virginia Tech spent considerable time within the first five spots of these aforementioned weekly polls as well.
A statistical breakdown of All-Americans by conference in 2021
*Note: Percentages utilized rounding*
Big Ten
Automatic Qualifiers: 76
At-Large Qualifiers: 16
Total Participants: 92
Portion of participant field from conference: 30%
All-Americans: 35
All-Americans by Percentage: 38% (35/92)
Portion of All-Americans by Conference as a Percentage: 44% (35/80)
ACC
Automatic Qualifiers: 33
At-Large Qualifiers: 6
Total Participants: 39
Portion of participant field from conference: 12%
All-Americans: 12
All-Americans by Percentage: 31% (12/39)
Portion of All-Americans by Conference as a Percentage: 15% (12/80)
Pac-12
Automatic Qualifiers: 19
At-Large Qualifiers: 8
Total Participants: 27
Portion of participant field from conference: 8%
All-Americans: 8
All-Americans by Percentage: 30% (8/27)
Portion of All-Americans by Conference: 10% (8/80)
Big 12
Automatic Qualifiers: 45
At-Large Qualifiers: 16
Total Participants: 61
Portion of participant field from conference: 18%
All-Americans: 16
All-Americans by Percentage: 26% (16/61)
Portion of All-Americans by Conference as a Percentage: 20% (16/80)
MAC
Automatic Qualifiers: 35
At-Large Qualifiers: 6
Total Participants: 41
Portion of participant field from conference: 12%
All-Americans: 6
All-Americans by Percentage: 15% (6/41)
Portion of All-Americans by Conference as a Percentage: 7.5% (6/80)
SoCon
Automatic Qualifiers: 13
At-Large Qualifiers: 8
Total Participants: 21
Portion of participant field from conference: 6%
All-Americans: 1
All-Americans by Percentage: 5% (1/21)
Portion of All-Americans by Conference: 1.3% (1/80)
EIWA
Automatic Qualifiers: 45
At-Large Qualifiers: 4
Total Participants: 49
Portion of participant field from conference: 15%
All-Americans: 2
All-Americans by Percentage: 4% (2/49)
Portion of All-Americans by Conference as a Percentage: 2.5% (2/80)
What the data means
The above data sets were created as a way to both standardize and ultimately compare the rates at which these seven conferences were able to take a qualifier and turn him into an All-American in 2021 (bolded). It can also tell you which conferences "overperformed," "performed well," and which may have "underperformed."
The bottom percentage also takes things a step further to tell you what portion of the 80 total All-Americans belong to which conferences during the 2021 season.
If we look at the highlighted column, titled All-American by Percentage we will see that the ACC ranked second (38%), just behind powerhouse Big Ten (44%) in terms of successful converting a qualifier to a top-8 placewinner and ultimately an All-American -- a testament to the level of talent in Division I wrestling's smallest conference. Granted these figures would be subject to some variability if the EIWA was competing at full strength with its Ivy League affiliates. Nonetheless, this is still an impressive and noteworthy accomplishment for the ACC.
As the data indicates, the ACC may be a small conference, with just six total schools, but it is arguably the deepest conference with respect to top-to-bottom strength and overall parody within the conference. While the ACC likely never reaching the prestige of the Big Ten, it can be said with certainty that the ACC is no longer the fledgling laggard of a conference it once was. This fact is evident by the conference having just 12% of the participant pool, and crowning 12 All-Americans.
Generally speaking, as a conference the Pac-12, Big Ten and Big 12, and MAC overperformed as the both had All-American rates that exceeded their percentage of the participant pool. The ACC performed well (arguably very well given its small conference size), earning one All-American per percentage point of the overall field. Conversely the SoCon and EIWA were big underperformers with All-American percentages far below their respective participant pool percentages.
The efforts and the on-mat successes of these six programs, which are led my some truly remarkable coaching staffs, are helping rewrite the narrative of ACC wrestling. As we have seen in previous seasons, and again in 2021, the ACC is a conference that can produce champions.
On the rise �"�@QKessenich caught up with #PackerAndDurham ahead of the @ncaawrestling championships 👠pic.twitter.com/6IPJDRCZqz
�" ACC Wrestling (@ACCWrestling) March 17, 2021
The ACC is certainly a conference that is on the rise within the college wrestling sphere.
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