285 @ NCAAs Discussion

[peanut]

Predictions and discussion here.

[peanut]

Brackets here.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Pretty nice draw for Kerk, but I'll take Bastida. Hendrickson won't make the finals, but will win the Gorriaran Award.

[MPhillips]

Feldman beats Trephan this time and is rewarded with Kerk...

[SocraTease]

Does Bastida (like Salazar) have that look of suspicious acne on the face?  The guy goes from a 6th place finish at B12s, an 18-9 record at 197,  a less than 30 percent bonus rate, a round of 16 qualifier, and a 2-2 finish at NCAAs up a great weight increase where he is undefeated, ranked 2nd, muscled as hell, more than 70 percent bonus rate, and a wrecking ball..   Hmm. Reasonable minds wonder.  

 

'

[wrestle87]

Oh, c’mon, we know tren-bolony sandwiches are a staple at the highest levels of physical sport.  Especially with NIL on the line nowadays, hells yes PED use will be on the rise, and evident on the faces, of athletes.

Dead giveaway is the white t-shirt test.  Have homie complete a practice in a white t-shirt and see what color it is after.  If it’s on the face, it’s likely on the back and shoulders too.

But I would like to be clear here, this is not to specifically point a finger at any one wrestler.  NCAA is a for money league now, the stakes have been raised (even more), and we know guys were definitely on before money was on the line, now the percentage is just going to be higher.

Edited March 14 by wrestle87

[BloodRound]

Bastida semi slides to a 6th place finish - we get a rather uninteresting Kerk/Wyatt final.  God continues to laugh at the plan he set in motion for Penn State.

[pokemonster]

4 hours ago, wrestle87 said:

Oh, c’mon, we know tren-bolony sandwiches are a staple at the highest levels of physical sport.  Especially with NIL on the line nowadays, hells yes PED use will be on the rise, and evident on the faces, of athletes.

Dead giveaway is the white t-shirt test.  Have homie complete a practice in a white t-shirt and see what color it is after.  If it’s on the face, it’s likely on the back and shoulders too.

But I would like to be clear here, this is not to specifically point a finger at any one wrestler.  NCAA is a for money league now, the stakes have been raised (even more), and we know guys were definitely on before money was on the line, now the percentage is just going to be higher.

Good points. I just don't understand why more athletes don't out their colleagues who are on gear. It's gotta be pretty common, hell, I knew plenty of dudes in high school on the stuff. 

[wrestle87]

1 hour ago, pokemonster said:

Good points. I just don't understand why more athletes don't out their colleagues who are on gear. It's gotta be pretty common, hell, I knew plenty of dudes in high school on the stuff. 

Same, I knew a few who used them in HS as well.

I think some of the trick is it’s an individual decision and it also tends to be below the surface and stay to whichever social groups exist within teams.  

There’s a lot of personal risk involved in reporting a teammate, 1) bc it’s the worst teammate thing you could possibly so, and 2) People know, so when big changes magically happen, and nobody does anything about it, you also as an athlete just learned what kind of atmosphere you are in and what adults care about in winning vs long-term health and safety.

Any coach who isn’t completely rock solid at their school also won’t say anything, bc that goes out of their way harm their own career and endanger their position within the school, bc they are the individual responsible for the team in that situation. 

[gromit]

Does the NCAA still routinely test for PEDs at the NCAA tournament?  I know they used to.  When is the last time somebody got popped?

[MidwestMan]

Back when I was coaching, I opened the weight room for all our athletes in the summer.  I taught at the middle school level, and some frosh classes.  I saw these kids early on and saw their progression.  I was competing in powerlifting (always clean and nothing spectacular) and some of the HS kids were competing.  I saw a few of the kids make huge strength jumps and add size and would question what they were doing.  The most common answer was creatine.  Our HS football program was very successful and many of our grads were playing college ball.  They would come in and lift and I would be very leery from seeing all the stretch marks and unbelievable gains in size.  I was pretty close to most these kids and lectured them on PEDS and the consequences.  That was almost 50 years ago.  I watched many of those kids become grandpas dealing with all the consequences of their choices.  At what point do coaches ethically "not turn a blind eye?"

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

39 minutes ago, gromit said:

Does the NCAA still routinely test for PEDs at the NCAA tournament?  I know they used to.  When is the last time somebody got popped?

A guy I knew pretty well was a finalist, was tested, and had used a banned substance and was worried about test results.  He never heard his results, so we assume he did not pop.   This was quite a ways back.

[gromit]

19 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

A guy I knew pretty well was a finalist, was tested, and had used a banned substance and was worried about test results.  He never heard his results, so we assume he did not pop.   This was quite a ways back.

was the test performed by a Dr. Rodchenkov by any chance?

Edited March 14 by gromit

[NM1965]

On 3/13/2024 at 11:57 PM, SocraTease said:

Does Bastida (like Salazar) have that look of suspicious acne on the face?  The guy goes from a 6th place finish at B12s, an 18-9 record at 197,  a less than 30 percent bonus rate, a round of 16 qualifier, and a 2-2 finish at NCAAs up a great weight increase where he is undefeated, ranked 2nd, muscled as hell, more than 70 percent bonus rate, and a wrecking ball..   Hmm. Reasonable minds wonder.  

 

'

I've known lots of guys with shitty complexions like that who weren't taking steroids, 

[NM1965]

I'm tempted to go with Bastida over Kerkvliet. I think Bastida is the better wrestler, the question is whether he can compensate for Kerkvliet's power. 

[Gus]

1 minute ago, NM1965 said:

I'm tempted to go with Bastida over Kerkvliet. I think Bastida is the better wrestler, the question is whether he can compensate for Kerkvliet's power. 

What makes you think Bastida is the better wrestler? Kerk is a returning finalist and one of the best mat wrestlers at the weight. His outside step high crotch is also probably the best leg attack of anyone at heavyweight. Yonger has incredible defense. 

[bnwtwg]

18 minutes ago, Gus said:

What makes you think Bastida is the better wrestler? Kerk is a returning finalist and one of the best mat wrestlers at the weight. His outside step high crotch is also probably the best leg attack of anyone at heavyweight. Yonger has incredible defense. 

Kerk's mat wrestling consists of "can I overpower you with a turk?"

If yes, turn and use raw horsepower

If no, lay there wondering when the freestyle ref is going to end par terre so we can go back to our feet.

Kerk is a lot of great things but a proficient mat wrestler is not one of them. And I say that as a big fan of his who has waited many years for him to get around to jumping levels.

Edited March 20 by bnwtwg
Autocorrect

[NM1965]

8 minutes ago, Gus said:

What makes you think Bastida is the better wrestler? Kerk is a returning finalist and one of the best mat wrestlers at the weight. His outside step high crotch is also probably the best leg attack of anyone at heavyweight. Yonger has incredible defense. 

Bastida is quicker and I think has better stuff offensively. He's strong enough to hang with strong heavies without getting thrown around, and quick enough to get some points either on offense or defense. Kerk is a good HWT, and it's basically his turn to be HWT champ, but he's never wrestled Bastida before.  I don't think Bastida has the power to pin Kerk or bully him around out there, but I think it's very possible he gets an easy go around for 3 points or comes out on top in a scramble. Kerkvliet has always looked a bit clumsy to me when compared to the more nimble guys like Davison. But he is coached by Cael and is a tank with pretty good basic technique. It's going to be awesome to watch. 

That's all assuming Bastida and Kerk make it to the finals, obviously. Maybe they'll be wrestling in the consolation finals

[Gus]

18 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

Kerk's mat wrestling consists of "can I overpower you with a turk?"

If yes, turn and use raw horsepower

If no, lay there wondering when the freestyle ref is going to end par terre so we can go back to our feet.

Kerk is a lot of great things but a proficient mat wrestler is not one of them. And I say that as a big fan of his who has waited many years for him to get around to jumping levels.

Kerk pretty much rides/turns all of his opponents and gets ridden by no one. That is the definition of proficient mat wrestling. Saying anything else is disingenuous. In fact he out mat-wrestled Wyatt Hendrickson to beat him in the semis at nationals last year. I am not saying that Kerk's style of mat wrestling is exciting but it is one of, if not the most effective in this weight class. It is very reminiscent of Starrocci's mat wrestling. 

[Warm Up Champ]

Bastida.  Solely based on the bad assness of this post he made:

 

[PortaJohn]

The Bastida over Kerk picks are as nutty as the previous Caliendo over Mesenbrink fantasy 

[nhs67]

9 minutes ago, PortaJohn said:

The Bastida over Kerk picks are as nutty as the previous Caliendo over Mesenbrink fantasy 

It's actually worse.

At least Caliendo had horsepower and size on Mesenbrink.

Bastida doesn't have either on Kerk.

[nhs67]

[AgaveMaria]

If illegal & performance enhancing drugs are a problem have everyone tested the week before the tournament. Winners after.