Spencer Lee has entered the US Open

[bnwtwg]

Discuss

[MPhillips]

Gives him ten more days to decide.

Edited April 14, 2023 by MPhillips

[El Luchador]

I say he lashes the competition. 

[Eagle26]

I’m excited to finally see him compete in freestyle again. I think he will do well and maybe even win it. He’s in a tough spot with all of his critics though. If he doesn’t do well he will get criticized for that, and if he does do well he will be criticized because he’s “not injured enough” to have taken the MFF

[Ragu]

Wins it if healthy

[VakAttack]

Freestyle is much more suited to his explosive style (and with him not having to worry much about control, just literally turning exposing their backs quickly...I think he'll be great.)

[El Luchador]

If he has a turn for FS he'll be unstoppable. As hard as he cranks on guys he should be able to develop a gut that will finish guys off if he gets on top.

[witherman]

suriano and glory are the only real threats IMO.  I see it suriano/lee final with lee winning if he's 80% or greater healthwise

 

Weight	Name	State	Team
57 kg	John Hernandez	Kentucky
57 kg	Jakob Camacho	North Carolina	Wolfpack Wrestling Club
57 kg	Jakob Lyons	Oklahoma
57 kg	Nick Suriano	New Jersey	Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club
57 kg	Serge Urakhchin	Illinois	Chicago Wrestling Club
57 kg	Yevier Lopez	Florida
57 kg	Juan Diaz	California	North County Wrestling Club
57 kg	Zane Richards	Illinois	Titan Mercury Wrestling Club (TMWC)
57 kg	Patrick Glory	New Jersey	New Jersey RTC
57 kg	Caleb Smith	North Carolina
57 kg	Cooper Flynn	Tennessee	Southeast Regional Training Center, Inc
57 kg	Benjamin Monn	Pennsylvania	Patriot Elite Wrestling Club
57 kg	Francisco Barrera	Oregon	The Factory Wrestling Club
57 kg	Fabian Gutierrez	Tennessee	Cane Nation Wrestling Club
57 kg	Landen Fischer	South Dakota	Wolves Wrestling Club
57 kg	Michael Tortorice	Illinois	Knights RTC
57 kg	Koy Caldwell	Utah
57 kg	Sheldon Seymour	Pennsylvania	Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club
57 kg	Stevo Poulin	Colorado	Northern Colorado Wrestling Club
57 kg	Brandon Meredith	Pennsylvania	Jackrabbit Wrestling Club
57 kg	Dalton Henderson	Virginia	Davis Wrestling Enterprises, LLC
57 kg	Devane Dodgens	Georgia	Morris Fitness Wrestling Club
57 kg	Eathon Rider	California	Shafter Youth Wrestling
57 kg	Anthony Romero	New York
57 kg	Darrion Harris	California
57 kg	Spencer Lee	Iowa	Hawkeye Wrestling Club

[SocraTease]

12 minutes ago, witherman said:

suriano and glory are the only real threats IMO.  I see it suriano/lee final with lee winning if he's 80% or greater healthwise

 

Weight	Name	State	Team
57 kg	John Hernandez	Kentucky
57 kg	Jakob Camacho	North Carolina	Wolfpack Wrestling Club
57 kg	Jakob Lyons	Oklahoma
57 kg	Nick Suriano	New Jersey	Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club
57 kg	Serge Urakhchin	Illinois	Chicago Wrestling Club
57 kg	Yevier Lopez	Florida
57 kg	Juan Diaz	California	North County Wrestling Club
57 kg	Zane Richards	Illinois	Titan Mercury Wrestling Club (TMWC)
57 kg	Patrick Glory	New Jersey	New Jersey RTC
57 kg	Caleb Smith	North Carolina
57 kg	Cooper Flynn	Tennessee	Southeast Regional Training Center, Inc
57 kg	Benjamin Monn	Pennsylvania	Patriot Elite Wrestling Club
57 kg	Francisco Barrera	Oregon	The Factory Wrestling Club
57 kg	Fabian Gutierrez	Tennessee	Cane Nation Wrestling Club
57 kg	Landen Fischer	South Dakota	Wolves Wrestling Club
57 kg	Michael Tortorice	Illinois	Knights RTC
57 kg	Koy Caldwell	Utah
57 kg	Sheldon Seymour	Pennsylvania	Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club
57 kg	Stevo Poulin	Colorado	Northern Colorado Wrestling Club
57 kg	Brandon Meredith	Pennsylvania	Jackrabbit Wrestling Club
57 kg	Dalton Henderson	Virginia	Davis Wrestling Enterprises, LLC
57 kg	Devane Dodgens	Georgia	Morris Fitness Wrestling Club
57 kg	Eathon Rider	California	Shafter Youth Wrestling
57 kg	Anthony Romero	New York
57 kg	Darrion Harris	California
57 kg	Spencer Lee	Iowa	Hawkeye Wrestling Club

Zane Richards has upped his game.   Keep an eye on him.

[mspart]

I'm glad Lee has signed up.   Hopefully he'll be ready and fully healthy.

mspart

[witherman]

1 hour ago, SocraTease said:

Zane Richards has upped his game.   Keep an eye on him.

agreed - missed that one

[mspart]

The bracket is pretty full now.   I suppose there can be more signing up.   26 signed up as of now.    Winner of this faces Gilman at Final X correct?

mspart

[Eagle26]

Freestyle is much more suited to his explosive style (and with him not having to worry much about control, just literally turning exposing their backs quickly...I think he'll be great.)

Agree and I’ll add that freestyle doesn’t require quite as much cardio with shorter matches and no overtime so that’s to his advantage as well.

[VakAttack]

1 hour ago, Eagle26 said:

Agree and I’ll add that freestyle doesn’t require quite as much cardio with shorter matches and no overtime so that’s to his advantage as well.

Agree, it's much more explosion based. Plus Lee had always had a great lace.  That said, presuming Lee gets to Gilman and presuming he gets on top of Gilman, I'm not sure if Gilman has ever gone over in a lace that i remember. He seems ready to let his shins break rather than go over. 

[Eagle26]

33 minutes ago, VakAttack said:

Agree, it's much more explosion based. Plus Lee had always had a great lace.  That said, presuming Lee gets to Gilman and presuming he gets on top of Gilman, I'm not sure if Gilman has ever gone over in a lace that i remember. He seems ready to let his shins break rather than go over. 

Yeah I could definitely see Lee winning the open, but beating Gilman is a different story. I don’t see it happening but I’ve been wrong before and it will be fun to see. 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

My money is on Suriano - straight up.

[de4856]

I am looking forward to seeing Spencer compete. I hope that he does well. 

[scourge165]

17 hours ago, VakAttack said:

Freestyle is much more suited to his explosive style (and with him not having to worry much about control, just literally turning exposing their backs quickly...I think he'll be great.)

We'll see. I think it could be the exact opposite. 

I understand Spencer has won World Titles and he's entered exactly ONE Open and that was 2019 and he looked dominant, but he looks a step slower on his feet and it's easier for guys to not give up that wrist control when they can flatten out. 

This is not me BETTING against Spencer Lee...I did that once because...well, the odds. I'm just saying when he was dominating, he was better on his feet, he was taking people down and immediately transitioning into his turns. 

I think he can get back there(and based on who's already registered alone I might lean toward him) but I think he's still not quite healthy and not quite ready to pick up where he left off 4 years ago.

[Crotalus]

I think Spencer was suffering more from mental fatigue than anything else. He had a long college career where he spent much of his time rehabbing. Working back into shape this season he got on an absolute tear where he looked as unbeatable as ever, but I think he peaked too early and burned himself out. He looked flat and tired going into the post season. A little time to decompress should benefit him. And not only is freestyle his best style, but the international season, with the opportunity to space out competitions, is a huge benefit to him, as well. He can train the way they do for boxing or MMA. Build up training intensity to peak for a single event and then have recovery time after. I'd love to see him and Glory hit at the Open.

[D3 for LU]

Well... all this will come to head within a week for all to see.

D3

[VakAttack]

11 hours ago, scourge165 said:

We'll see. I think it could be the exact opposite. 

I understand Spencer has won World Titles and he's entered exactly ONE Open and that was 2019 and he looked dominant, but he looks a step slower on his feet and it's easier for guys to not give up that wrist control when they can flatten out. 

This is not me BETTING against Spencer Lee...I did that once because...well, the odds. I'm just saying when he was dominating, he was better on his feet, he was taking people down and immediately transitioning into his turns. 

I think he can get back there(and based on who's already registered alone I might lean toward him) but I think he's still not quite healthy and not quite ready to pick up where he left off 4 years ago.

The wrist isn't necessary anymore. That's my point.  He can just explode thru turns without having to hold anybody on their back, which I think is by far more tiring.  It plays into his explosion and fast twitch muscles. 

[scourge165]

1 hour ago, VakAttack said:

The wrist isn't necessary anymore. That's my point.  He can just explode thru turns without having to hold anybody on their back, which I think is by far more tiring.  It plays into his explosion and fast twitch muscles. 

My convictions on this are NOT strong. It's just...seems unlikely he's going to be able to gut Gillman or Fix and he's not elite on his legs.

But I honestly never have been able to figure out HOW Lee is so good. He gives up more TDs than other dominant Wrestlers. He was taken down by Vespo from PSU! 
He's not like a huge looking '25 or '57, his quickness doesn't seem to be RBY/McGee/Vito level. 

I guess he must just have incredible grip, core strength. And then the one thing that seemed obvious, he has this preternatural feel for Wrestling. It's like when you're watching a guy and it's SO easy to say from a distance WHAT they should do(even the best Wrestlers) and he just has that feel. 

So I'm not placing any bets against Spencer Lee, I guess...maybe curious to see how he does coming back to Freestyle at the Sr Level would be a better way to word it given how he's wrestled the last 4 years in Folkstyle.

[scourge165]

9 hours ago, Crotalus said:

I think Spencer was suffering more from mental fatigue than anything else. He had a long college career where he spent much of his time rehabbing. Working back into shape this season he got on an absolute tear where he looked as unbeatable as ever, but I think he peaked too early and burned himself out. He looked flat and tired going into the post season. A little time to decompress should benefit him. And not only is freestyle his best style, but the international season, with the opportunity to space out competitions, is a huge benefit to him, as well. He can train the way they do for boxing or MMA. Build up training intensity to peak for a single event and then have recovery time after. I'd love to see him and Glory hit at the Open.

I can't speak to burning himself out, but I don't believe he peaked too early. I think he needed more 7 minute matches, to be tested a little more. He was sticking too many guys in the 1st period and that doesn't allow you to work on your conditioning in a real match situation. 

All the rest, I agree with. Spending time coming back from two ACLs and the rehab...PLUS the pressure of being a 4X Champ and the 1st 4X Champ in Iowa History, I think he had more pressure on him than anyone else. 

 

I'd also venture a guess that nobody wants to see Glory vs Lee more than...Lee. 

[Crotalus]

4 hours ago, scourge165 said:

I can't speak to burning himself out, but I don't believe he peaked too early. I think he needed more 7 minute matches, to be tested a little more. He was sticking too many guys in the 1st period and that doesn't allow you to work on your conditioning in a real match situation. 

All the rest, I agree with. Spending time coming back from two ACLs and the rehab...PLUS the pressure of being a 4X Champ and the 1st 4X Champ in Iowa History, I think he had more pressure on him than anyone else. 

 

I'd also venture a guess that nobody wants to see Glory vs Lee more than...Lee. 

I think he peaked mentally more than physically. He clearly wasn't in top shape cardio-wise, but that wasn't going to improve all that much regardless. But when he pinned his teammate and went on that fall streak, he had an intensity to him. Granted it was one match at a time and not a big tournament, but at that point I think he was unbeatable. By the time the post season came around, he looked bogged down mentally. I'm sure the pressure had a lot to do with it. No doubt he wanted to win, but I think he also just wanted it to be over. 

[scourge165]

3 hours ago, Crotalus said:

I think he peaked mentally more than physically. He clearly wasn't in top shape cardio-wise, but that wasn't going to improve all that much regardless. But when he pinned his teammate and went on that fall streak, he had an intensity to him. Granted it was one match at a time and not a big tournament, but at that point I think he was unbeatable. By the time the post season came around, he looked bogged down mentally. I'm sure the pressure had a lot to do with it. No doubt he wanted to win, but I think he also just wanted it to be over. 

That makes sense. I'd say the cardio could easily have improved...it can always improve. But mentally, sure. The pressure, the rehab, all of it, I can imagine...HAD he won, it would have felt like more of a relief than the...reward or thrill that it SHOULD be. I suspect it was similar for Yianni. He wrestled far worse than normal. A healthy Gomez vs Yianni match at the NCAAs may have been interesting. 

A reminder, maybe we shouldn't pencil in Starocci in quite yet(or even Brooks if he moves up to 197, I think a guy like Elam could make things difficult).