Tonight could be bad for Penn State

[Pinnacle]

Two FALLS in a row. Bad for PSU opponents. Good for PSU.

[Psalm 1 guy]

My vote for most impressive match of the day goes to PJ Duke against Mechler from Wisconsin. Six TD's and a pin in 1:36 is about as dominant as you can get. For those who have ESPN+, the match is at the 1:22 mark on Mat 4.

[SocraTease]

18 minutes ago, Psalm 1 guy said:

My vote for most impressive match of the day goes to PJ Duke against Mechler from Wisconsin. Six TD's and a pin in 1:36 is about as dominant as you can get. For those who have ESPN+, the match is at the 1:22 mark on Mat 4.

Agreed.  Duke just seems to be on another level.  Smooth, powerful, confident, fearless, and fluid.  It's like he is slicing through butter.  

[WrestlingRasta]

My boss is an all around sports guy (we work in Athletics) but just getting familiar with wrestling.   He was texting asking about Penn State last night.  It’s interesting to see opinion about their dominance from people with absolutely zero skin in the game.  We were talking about Minto because he went to HS right down the road from our home base. He asked if the 1 seed in his weight was Penn State to which he responded “go figure”.  I told him they have 7 1’s, a 3,9, and 12.  His response was holy cow.  I then told him how next year is going to be worse because they only lose the 174, but have a kid who is redshirting but was the 1 seed as a freshman last year that they will shuffle in to fill that hole.  The 12 seed is at 141 but they have a senior world champ redshirting who they can shuffle the lineup and fill that hole.  And the 9 seed is a HWT freshman who has been improving as the year has gone by. To which he simply responded “JESUS”.  He asked if any other college sports program has ever been this much just on an other level than the rest of the country. 
 

Again, just interesting to see the reaction from someone who has zero emotional attachment but is just looking at the data. There have certainly been major dynasties in college sports, but current Penn State is just insane. I don’t have a “favorite team” or particularly root for any particular team, more so individuals I have some sort of ties to.  But I enjoy watching them wrestle and appreciate how they have gotten to be simply on their own level. 

Edited March 20 by WrestlingRasta

[juniorvarsity]

12 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

125 Lilledahl could very well get upset by Strickenberger, who dominated Witt who Lilledahl struggled to beat earlier this year

141 Davis is likely getting bonused by Hardy, again.  Hopefully he keeps his cool and doesn't lose a team point.

149 Frost is looking very good, coming off a pin.  If Van Ness falls behind early to Frost he may not be able to come back.

165 Mesenbrink will win, but Gallagher might actually keep him from bonus.

HWT Keuter is going to be Mirasola again, who doesn't seem to be at the top of his game.

 

If more than 2 of these matches end up as losses (Davis losing is almost assured), then the points record will officially be safe for this season.  Penn State still runs away with the team title barring a complete derailment, but I think we could easily see 3 losses out of those 5 matches I mentioned above (Lilledahl, Davis, Mirasola).

So Miraolsa and and Davis lost. I know your style, but is this what people really think about the situation related to a record score?

I don't know at all how to evaluate that, so I need to look at last year.

10 guys in the quarters, 4 of them lost. All 4 came back to place, 3 got 3rd, 1 got 5th. 

6 guys in the semis, 3 of them lost, 2 got 3rd, 1 got 6th

3 in the finals, 2 got 1st, 1 got 2nd.

3, 5, 3, 3, 3, 1, 3, 1, 2, 6

Back to this year, 8 in the quarters and every wrestler is favored. Yeah, the record is still attainable. Getting that many guys to place 3rd was a hell of a feat, but I think they'll have more than 3 in the finals. 

[WrestlingRasta]

7 minutes ago, juniorvarsity said:

So Miraolsa and and Davis lost. I know your style, but is this what people really think about the situation related to a record score?

I don't know at all how to evaluate that, so I need to look at last year.

10 guys in the quarters, 4 of them lost. All 4 came back to place, 3 got 3rd, 1 got 5th. 

6 guys in the semis, 3 of them lost, 2 got 3rd, 1 got 6th

3 in the finals, 2 got 1st, 1 got 2nd.

3, 5, 3, 3, 3, 1, 3, 1, 2, 6

Back to this year, 8 in the quarters and every wrestler is favored. Yeah, the record is still attainable. Getting that many guys to place 3rd was a hell of a feat, but I think they'll have more than 3 in the finals. 

In addition to, 7 of their 8 wins last night were bonus.  Multiple falls. 

[Rassling]

6 hours ago, SocraTease said:

Agreed.  Duke just seems to be on another level.  Smooth, powerful, confident, fearless, and fluid.  It's like he is slicing through butter.  

Is it me or is Duke wrestling far more aggressively lately vs earlier in the season?

[Nak21]

7 minutes ago, Rassling said:

Is it me or is Duke wrestling far more aggressively lately vs earlier in the season?

I think he’s back to wrestling how he was early in the season. Mid season there was a little hiccup where he didn’t seem as aggressive. Now? Yikes. He’s wrestling like an animal, the Taylor loss seems to have a lit a fire in him. He keeps wrestling like this I don’t see anyone beating him.

[Rassling]

6 minutes ago, Nak21 said:

I think he’s back to wrestling how he was early in the season. Mid season there was a little hiccup where he didn’t seem as aggressive. Now? Yikes. He’s wrestling like an animal, the Taylor loss seems to have a lit a fire in him. He keeps wrestling like this I don’t see anyone beating him.

Nak

[Pinnacle]

40 minutes ago, Rassling said:

Is it me or is Duke wrestling far more aggressively lately vs earlier in the season?

 

30 minutes ago, Nak21 said:

I think he’s back to wrestling how he was early in the season. Mid season there was a little hiccup where he didn’t seem as aggressive. Now? Yikes. He’s wrestling like an animal, the Taylor loss seems to have a lit a fire in him. He keeps wrestling like this I don’t see anyone beating him.

 

I think the first year guys that get into that "train thru" part of the year you can see their bodies are not used to it, but when they come out the other side they are hell on wheels. Duke is now on the other side of it. His quarter match will tell us a lot if he just smokes Cannon like he did at Big 10.