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  • Photo: Tony Rotundo

    Photo: Tony Rotundo

    MatScouts Dynasty Fantasy Wrestling Pre-Draft Preview (Jeff Upson)

    2x NCAA All-American Jacob Warner (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)


    If you think back hard enough, you may remember that your timeline was blowing up with random wrestler names and the hashtag #MatScoutsDynasty just over a year ago. That was the inaugural draft of the MatScouts Dynasty Fantasy League.

    Since then, deals were made, duals were waged, and teams were sent to a grand National Tournament in March vying to be the Top Fantasy Wrestling Team in the Dynasty League. We now enter Season 2 of the #MatScoutsDynasty League, so let's catch you up to where all the teams stand.

    As a refresher, here is the basic point scoring rules:

  • For wrestlers competing in dual meets, Standard Dual Team Scoring is used (win by Dec +3, loss by Dec -6, etc).

  • Bonus Points are given when your wrestler beats a ranked wrestler OR if your wrestler loses to a ranked wrestler

    ex: if your wrestler beats Spencer Lee by Dec, your wrestler would get +3 for the Dec and another +6 for beating the #1 ranked wrestler.

    If your wrestler loses by Dec to Spencer Lee, your wrestler is penalized only for -1 pt.

  • One starter per weight with two Flex classes.

  • Two in-season competitions of Head-to-Head Duals and Cumulative Total Points. Each competition brought with it the prize of earning additional team points for the National Tournament. 1st place = +9 team points for Nationals, 2nd place = +8, etc (if you win 1st in the Duals and Total Points, you earn +18 team points for Nationals, etc)

    Team Upson'

    Team Manager: Jeff Upson (@PApowerwrestle)

    How It Started:

    When he's not cleaning up the streets of Pittsburgh, he's researching and writing about Wrestling. Jeff Upson, CEO and Founder of PA Power Wrestling, was the #7 Pick in the draft.


    For Jeff's full draft recap, see the full draft board HERE



    Hindsight Draft Review:

    First Round Pick (#7 Overall): Rumor out of Happy Valley heading into the 2021 season was that 141 Nick Lee (PSU) and Team Upson's #7 pick overall, would be Redshirting the 2021 season. That proved to not be the case and Team Upson had himself a Champion in 2021. Even though he only had six matches during the regular season, Lee finished as the #12 Fantasy Wrestler with 83% bonus rate (five of six wins by bonus).

    Great Picks: 125 Brandon Courtney (ASU) finished the 2020 season as the #15 fantasy wrestler at 125 and #135 wrestler overall in WrestleStat leagues. Given the depth of the lightest weight class prior to season cancellations and pushbacks, Courney kind of got lost in the shuffle. Last season, he finished as the #3 wrestler in Fpts at 125 and the #30 Fantasy wrestler and made his way to the National Finals where he held Spencer Lee to “only” a decision.

    Under The Radar Pick: It's hard to call a known AA contender an “under the radar pick”, but coming into this season 285 Jordan Wood (LEH) was taking the year off. He ended up working his way back onto the Lehigh roster coming back towards the end of the season. And while he was still knocking off the rust, he was a upgrade this season for the other drafted 285 Tate Orndorff who seemed to struggle with the Big Ten schedule at his new school.


    A Miss For This Season: Originally drafted for 184, Nino Bonaccorsi (PITT) was drafted in the 6th round. After the draft however, news broke that Nino would be moving up to 197. That left the heir of 184 on Team Upson to be Rocky Jordan (OHST). Rocky seemed to take a step back from his Freshman season where he was 16th in Fantasy Points at 184. In 2021, he went 4-5 during the regular season with only one bonus win.

    How The Season Played Out:

    Team Upson went on a five dual losing streak before getting two duals in the win column. He ended the dual season with a 2-6 record and took 8th in the Dual Standings. Likewise, he finished in 8th place for Total points as well. With those finished, Team Upson earned 4 additional team points.

    See the full Dual and Total Points Standings HERE

    With his confidence in the draft, very little activity occurred during the regular season to change the Team Upson Roster. He was involved in two trades at the deadline:

    - 3/8/2021: Traded 133 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) to Cael Chips 133 Michael McGee (Arizona State), 184 Chris Weiler (Wisconsin) and 2022 3rd Rd Pick (& Team Upson to drop a wrestler TBD)

    3/15/2021: The Ninnie's Propaganda trades a 2022 3rd Round Pick to Team Upson for 125 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OKST)


    2021 NCAA Tournament

    Team Upson approached the 2021 NCAA Tournament with this End-of-Season Roster:



    And this is the lineup Team Upson entered for Nationals:




    The 121.5 points totaled for Team Upson was good for 4th place in the #MatScoutsDynasty League Standings for the inaugural season.

    Team Upson Entering the 2022 Season Draft



    The upper weights are a bit on the older side, but should be good for another year or two, which will help in restocking the lower weights with depth between 133 and 149. Especially 149 as Degen has had an injury history which would leave the roster without a functioning wrestler at the weight, should something happen this season. 157 and 165 are pretty much set for the foreseeable future, but after next season in losing Nick Lee, Hayden Hidlay, and Jarrett Degen (which could account for 40+ Team points), there will need to be some “backups” stepping up to bridge that gap… or some good drafting.

    Team Upson has the #7 pick in the draft this season on October 18, 2021. Who should he target? Should he drop anyone before the draft? What weights need depth? Should he look to trade? who?

    Let us know!
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