Bookend finals losses for Penn State?

[AgaveMaria]

Watching RBY struggle on bottom is painful.

Seeing Parris has one worrying about Kerkvliet in the match.

Game plan all you want. RBY is not looking dominant and struggles like a HS Frosh on bottom. Wrestling a long bodied tough opponent who can step over to counter a whizzer may be the death of him.

Parris has the athleticism & drive to win at Heavyweight even with Cael & Co's game planning. Don't see it as Cassar vs Steveson. See it as Parris taking it to him. Kerk does not seem to like agressive opponents.

Penn State might end up with two Champions this time if Haines can't counter the buzz saw he faces. Doubt that last minute heroics will be his saving move this time.

[Rassling]

1 minute ago, AgaveMaria said:

Game plan all you want. RBY is not looking dominant and struggles like a HS Frosh on bottom. Wrestling a long bodied tough opponent who can step over to counter a whizzer may be the death of him.

Honestly - I think you're right. I'm quietly thinking Vito may upset RBY tonight. Actually as a fellow Long Islander, I'm pulling for Mr. Araju.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

As a Penn State fan I would love to see 5/5 in the finals again.

But I expect RBY, Haines and Kerk to lose.  So yes, there will be bookend losses.

Starocci and Broooks win it though.  Oh well, I'll have to console myself with the fact that Penn State only won NCAAs by 50 points over Iowa.

[CHROMEBIRD]

8 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

As a Penn State fan I would love to see 5/5 in the finals again.

But I expect RBY, Haines and Kerk to lose.  So yes, there will be bookend losses.

Starocci and Broooks win it though.  Oh well, I'll have to console myself with the fact that Penn State only won NCAAs by 50 points over Iowa.

Looks reasonable. You don't think Haines's style is a bad matchup for AOC? At a minimum I think Haines is the 3rd most likely from PSU to win a title tonight.

[Pinnacle]

This may be true, or maybe not. Remember that Nagao rides everyone tough and McGee just also rode Fix and didn't he win by that riding time point? 

The other part is every time they count PSU out the opposite tends to happen. You never know, though. Why they wrestle the matches. 

I never thought Quentin Wright would chop down that Oak tree named Dustin Kilgore who had not been taken down that year. Wright took him down 3 times. 

[goheels1812]

6 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Looks reasonable. You don't think Haines's style is a bad matchup for AOC? At a minimum I think Haines is the 3rd most likely from PSU to win a title tonight.

I’ve watched AOC wrestle every match in his career at UNC and if you asked me to tell you a bad style for him to match up against, I wouldn’t be able to. He’s so positionally sound from all 3 phases of wrestling. He never overextends and he can execute a game plan to perfection. 
 

Personally I’m very nervous, because it’s penn state in a national championship. There’s a very real chance O’Connor loses, but I can’t imagine it’s a style thing. No specific style really bothers him or throws him off what he is going to do in the match. 

[CementMixer]

Lol. The Haters still hatin

[Scouts Honor]

i like alirez and would really love to see him win...but come on

[scourge165]

13 minutes ago, Scouts Honor said:

i like alirez and would really love to see him win...but come on

That's Woods. 

RBY has Vito Arajau who majored Fix last night. 

I THINK RBY will win, but he could certainly lose.

I picked RBY, Haines, Starr, Brooks and Kerkvliet, but I'm not feeling good about the last one.

 

[Scouts Honor]

oh yes.. i guess it could happen... thanks... 

alirez may very well win... 

[bnwtwg]

Hope Haines took some advil because AOC is going to do his best to grind him into dust banging that front head 

[jross]

1 hour ago, Scouts Honor said:

i like alirez and would really love to see him win...but come on

Scope creep.  The last time Woods and Alirez wrestled it was entertaining.

 

[CHROMEBIRD]

2 hours ago, goheels1812 said:

I’ve watched AOC wrestle every match in his career at UNC and if you asked me to tell you a bad style for him to match up against, I wouldn’t be able to. He’s so positionally sound from all 3 phases of wrestling. He never overextends and he can execute a game plan to perfection. 
 

Personally I’m very nervous, because it’s penn state in a national championship. There’s a very real chance O’Connor loses, but I can’t imagine it’s a style thing. No specific style really bothers him or throws him off what he is going to do in the match. 

I appreciate the analysis, great stuff. My thought was that Haines will funk it up and give AOC looks that he's rarely encountered before. Combine that with pushing and pace and it could spell trouble. I wonder what the Vegas line on this match is. It feels like such a toss up.

[Threadkilla]

I coiuld see PSU with 2 champs and could also see them with 5.   I  Could definately see Vito beating RBY and Kerk losing like you said.  Haines and AOC seem pretty evenly matched. I could see it going either way.  I feel 90 percent confidence in Brooks and don't see Starocci losing after destroying Labriola at B10's.  

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Star and Brooks have each beaten their finals opponents  before...they most likely will win.

I give Haines a 25% shot of beating AOC, a defending champ.  Kerk a 10% chance of beating Parris, who is just a bigger, stronger, faster version of himself with more of a gas tank.  I give RBY a 50/50 with Vito given Vito's domination of Fix.

[VakAttack]

Not going to make a whole lot of money betting against Penn State in the finals.  They're not as fun to watch as they used to be, but they still win constantly.

[Threadkilla]

4 hours ago, Threadkilla said:

I coiuld see PSU with 2 champs and could also see them with 5.   I  Could definately see Vito beating RBY and Kerk losing like you said.  Haines and AOC seem pretty evenly matched. I could see it going either way.  I feel 90 percent confidence in Brooks and don't see Starocci losing after destroying Labriola at B10's.  

Good call dude.   You are obviously the smartest person on these forums.  

[goheels1812]

I’m a pretty superstitious person so there was no way I was posting this pre match and jinxing it, but I had a high level of confidence that AOC would beat Haines. It was nothing personal in the slightest to Haines, but AOC is just bigger, stronger, and better from all 3 positions. I sort of alluded to that in my post here above. Haines will have a great career, but I was feeling good when AOC got past Humphrey’s. I did find it interesting most of the board started skewing towards the Haines pick in the other thread. AOC was an absolute buzzsaw all year.