What Willie's Watching (1/26/2024)

5. Your Whacky Weekly 125 Watch 125 is so nutty that almost every bout among the top twenty-ish guys has a reverberating effect. A #18 beats a #3? Wouldn’t even be surprising at this point. It’s as if we have one giant tier of 20 capable guys. Here are the best-anticipated matchups at the weight this week. #8-Jore Volk, WYO vs. #17-Stevo Poulin, N. Colorado #14-Michael DeAugustino, MICH vs. #24-Brendan McCrone, tOSU #6-Cooper Flynn, VT vs. #29-Spencer Moore, UNC #13-Brett Ungar, Cornell vs. #21-Diego Sotelo, Harvard #11-Pat McKee, MINN vs. #16-Dean Peterson, RU #7-Noah Surtin, MIZZ vs. #13-Brett Ungar, Cornell #3-Eric Barnett, WISC vs. #12-Caleb Smith, NEB 4. Ohio State Hosts That Team Up North Ohio State is ranked 7th in our Dual Meet Rankings. Michigan is 13th. Both are a little below their preseason expectations. tOSU has been ravaged by injuries to Sammy Sasso, Carson Kharchla, and Gavin Hoffman (that’s three AA’s if you’re counting). Michigan still has the pieces but they haven’t been at full power often. And yet this dual is going to be awesome. For me, the most interesting match is at 174 with Shane Griffith, who was at Stanford, and Rocco Welsh, who was in high school, one year ago at this time. Griffith is a former National Champ and a perennial contender while Welsh was thrust into starting action by the loss of Kharchla. Already ranked #11, Welsh is 12-1 with his only loss coming to #3-Edmond Ruth (2-1). 3. Missouri vs. Cornell There are only two non-conference duals this weekend and this one is a doozy. Missouri has looked great in beating Virginia Tech and nearly blanking ASU. Ranked #3 in our Dual Rankings, they travel to #9-Cornell in what should be a thrilling matchup. Nearly every single bout is ranked-on-ranked. And despite the six-position differential in rankings, Cornell matches up with the Tigers quite nicely. Wrestlestat has it 17-15 for the Big Red. Let’s assume Vito Arajau is in and break it down: 125: #7-Noah Surtin, MIZZ, vs. #13-Brett Ungar, COR 133: #27-Kade Moore, MIZZ vs. #2-Vito Arajau, COR Note: Moore just pinned #11-Sam Latona (Virginia Tech). 141: #23-Josh Edmond, MIZZ vs. #13-Vince Cornella, COR 149: #25-Logan Gioffre, MIZZ vs. #28-Ethan Fernandez, COR 157: #5-Brock Mauller, MIZZ vs. #12-Meyer Shapiro, COR 165: #1-Keegan O’Toole, MIZZ vs. #2-Julian Ramirez, COR 174: #6-Peyton Mocco, MIZZ vs. Benny Baker, COR 184: #11-Clayton Whiting, MIZZ vs. #9-Chris Foca, COR 197: #3-Rocky Elam, MIZZ vs. #8-Jacob Cardenas, COR 285: #6-Zach Elam, MIZZ vs. #18-Lewis Fernandes, COR My Pick: 17-16 Tigers 2. Can Keckeisen Hold Serve? When it was revealed that both Aaron Brooks and Trent Hidlay were moving up, I thought, ‘Keckeisen at 84. Next topic. That feeling was only strengthened when Keckeisen beat Bernie Traux at the All-Star Classic and won CKLV with multiple Top 10 foes. But there’s a big difference between my pick in August or November and getting the job done. This weekend offers Keckeisen the latest test in his preeminence as he’s set to face #2-Dustin Plott. There are four other 184’s ranked in the Top 11 that all reside in the Big 12. So Parker’s work is cut out for him. But this individual bout is the biggest of the weekend and will go far in how the weight is perceived going into conference weekend. Speaking of Northern Iowa, my #1 storyline of the weekend is… 1. Big 12 Bonanza Most weekends during dual season, the Big Ten steals the headlines. And while there will be plenty of great action there, I think the most interesting group of the week is what is essentially a round-robin of duals with #4-OK State, #5-Iowa State, #18-Oklahoma, and #20-Northern Iowa. UNI wrestles OK State on Friday while Iowa State is at OU. 24 hours later, UNI goes to Norman and ISU skips on over to Stillwater. Here are some of the best individual bouts from those four duals: #6-Cael Happel, UNI vs. #9-Tagen Jamison, OKST #14-Ryder Downey, UNI vs. #18-Teague Travis, OKST Note: Downey recently beat #9-Peyton Robb; Travis knocked off #7-Ed Scott. #15-Tyrell Gordon, UNI vs. #9-Konnor Doucet, OKST #8-Anthony Echemendia, ISU vs. #22-Mosha Schwartz, OU #3-Yonger Bastida, ISU vs. #11-Josh Heindselman, OU #20-Troy Spratley, OKST vs. #25-Kysen Terukina, ISU #3-Daton Fix, OKST vs. #7-Evan Frost, ISU #9-Tagen Jamison, OKST vs. #8-Anthony Echemendia, ISU #17-Sammy Alvarez, OKST vs. #10-Casey Swiderski, ISU #18-Teague Travis, OKST vs. #13-Cody Chittum, ISU #4-Izaak Olejnik, OKST vs. #3-David Carr, ISU #2-Dustin Plott, OKST vs. #10-Will Feldkamp, ISU #9-Konnor Doucet, OKST vs. #3-Yonger Bastida, ISU #6-Cael Happel, UNI vs. #22-Mosha Schwartz, OU #23-Wyatt Voelker, UNI vs. #2-Stephen Buchanan, OU #15-Tyrell Gordon, UNI vs. #11-Josh Heindselman, OU

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