Who will win OTTs at 57kg, 65kg, and 74kg?

[peanut]

Who will win OTTs at 57kg, 65kg, and 74kg?

[Truzzcat]

who would be bigger at 65kg zain or Caleb Henson

[lu_alum]

Spencer
Zain
Dake


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Zane Richards

Tiny Suds Dubler 

Jordan Burroughs

[de4856]

I don’t know who will win at 57, but I think Lee has the best chance if he’s healthy. 
At 65, wow, I don’t know, maybe Nick Lee, but I do wonder about Alirez. 
74, I’m sure KOT will be a huge factor, but I think it’ll be Dake or Nolf.

[misterchonger]

What a crazy list at 74kg.  Of the young guys, KOT, Carr, Messenbrink, and Shapiro are all Junior World Champions.  Add Mekhi Lewis if he qualifies.  

Edited March 26 by misterchonger

[SocraTease]

Marstellar isn't going 74 kg

[mspart]

SL

NL

JB

There you go.  

mspart

[SocraTease]

Borroughs final match at Olympic Trials:

[wrestle87]

Gimme Vito, Yianni, Dake

I think Spencer has the best game in town when he’s healthy, but he’s like Gomez at this point, knees are always a concern.

Yianni, I’m hoping, is back from his dinged noggin.  Nick Lee has a very strong anti-Yianni style, but Yianni has the tools to go further.

Dake…is Dake.  It’s his weight class and, even though the weight class is deep, he’s a generational talent and its his time.  Dake was very smart in that he adapted his style to be easier on his body.  This was JB’s downfall I believe.  10K reps of ploughing his face into the faces and chests of the strongest people on the planet takes a toll.

[Bigbrog]

9 hours ago, SocraTease said:

Borroughs final match at Olympic Trials:

He looks fat

[Truzzcat]

Vito

Alirez 

KD but I think he could wrestle KOT and not JB in the finals 

DT

Snyder (I hope Aaron moves up but probably a pipe dream for this year)

Large Greg

[Elevator]

10 hours ago, wrestle87 said:

Gimme Vito, Yianni, Dake

I think Spencer has the best game in town when he’s healthy, but he’s like Gomez at this point, knees are always a concern.

Yianni, I’m hoping, is back from his dinged noggin.  Nick Lee has a very strong anti-Yianni style, but Yianni has the tools to go further.

Dake…is Dake.  It’s his weight class and, even though the weight class is deep, he’s a generational talent and its his time.  Dake was very smart in that he adapted his style to be easier on his body.  This was JB’s downfall I believe.  10K reps of ploughing his face into the faces and chests of the strongest people on the planet takes a toll.

JB has been around a long time and just won a tough tourney - not sure what we have seen with him has been a downfall.  more like suprising longevity

true that Dake is beast and may be at or near his peak

[CHROMEBIRD]

I noticed that under UWW's age rules JB is eligible to wrestle Veterans Worlds now

[lu_alum]

7 hours ago, Elevator said:

JB has been around a long time and just won a tough tourney - not sure what we have seen with him has been a downfall.  more like suprising longevity

true that Dake is beast and may be at or near his peak

Jordan Burroughs: I just don't see it happening.  Too much to ask of the old guy.

What tough tourney did JB just win?  If you're referring to Yasar Dogu, the field was watered-down because it was not a ranking series event this year. 

He hasn't made scratch 74kg since he lost the OTT to Dake in April '21.  His two recent events at 74kg (Yasar Dogu, March '24; Kunaev, Nov '23) were both single-day events with a 2kg weight allowance. 

74kg was always a tough cut for him. At the OTT, He'll have to make scratch weight both days AND win the challenge bracket.  Going back to when he first made a World Team in 2011, Burroughs has NEVER had to go through a challenge tourney bracket to make a World or Olympic team.  He won the US Open in 2011 to get a bye, and This year, he'll have to go through the following just to get to Dake:

• 2023 Bill Farrell champion – Jason Nolf (Nittany Lion WC)
• 2024 NCAA D1 champion at 165 lbs - David Carr (Iowa State)
• 2023 U20 World champion – Mitchell Mesenbrink (Askren Wrestling Academy)
• 2023 U23 World champion – Keegan O'Toole (Tiger Style WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals champion – Quincy Monday (NJRTC/Titan Mercury WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 2nd place – Alex Marinelli (Hawkeye WC/Titan Mercury WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 3rd place – Alex Facundo (Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 4th place – Jarrett Jacques (Tiger Style WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 5th place – Tyler Berger (Pennsylvania RTC)
• 2024 NCAA D1 champion at 157 lbs - Levi Haines (Penn State)
• Whomever survives the 34-man Last Chance Qualifier bracket (Vincenzo Joseph?)

[peanut]

6 hours ago, lu_alum said:

Jordan Burroughs: I just don't see it happening.  Too much to ask of the old guy.

What tough tourney did JB just win?  If you're referring to Yasar Dogu, the field was watered-down because it was not a ranking series event this year. 

He hasn't made scratch 74kg since he lost the OTT to Dake in April '21.  His two recent events at 74kg (Yasar Dogu, March '24; Kunaev, Nov '23) were both single-day events with a 2kg weight allowance. 

74kg was always a tough cut for him. At the OTT, He'll have to make scratch weight both days AND win the challenge bracket.  Going back to when he first made a World Team in 2011, Burroughs has NEVER had to go through a challenge tourney bracket to make a World or Olympic team.  He won the US Open in 2011 to get a bye, and This year, he'll have to go through the following just to get to Dake:

• 2023 Bill Farrell champion – Jason Nolf (Nittany Lion WC)
• 2024 NCAA D1 champion at 165 lbs - David Carr (Iowa State)
• 2023 U20 World champion – Mitchell Mesenbrink (Askren Wrestling Academy)
• 2023 U23 World champion – Keegan O'Toole (Tiger Style WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals champion – Quincy Monday (NJRTC/Titan Mercury WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 2nd place – Alex Marinelli (Hawkeye WC/Titan Mercury WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 3rd place – Alex Facundo (Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 4th place – Jarrett Jacques (Tiger Style WC)
• 2023 Senior Nationals 5th place – Tyler Berger (Pennsylvania RTC)
• 2024 NCAA D1 champion at 157 lbs - Levi Haines (Penn State)
• Whomever survives the 34-man Last Chance Qualifier bracket (Vincenzo Joseph?)

IMO JB’s main issue is age. Freestyler’s primes seem to be in their mid 20s. But JB turns 36 this summer.

Saitiev last won gold at the age of 33, and I suspect that JB’s last gold will end up being the one he won at 34 (in 2022).

No shame in aging like everyone else. 

[de4856]

I used to think that JB would have called it a career after 2020, but obviously he had other ideas. But if JB can’t make the team this year I don’t see him continuing on as a competitor. 

[misterchonger]

All indications have pointed to this year being JB's last run, no matter how far he goes.  The odds are stacked against him for sure.  For all us JB fans, just be ready.  The man has given us a lot over the years.

There was a lot of separation between Dake and the 74kg domestic field last year, hard to imagine anyone making that ground up on him.  

[mspart]

Like I said before, my heart says JB, my head says Dake.   I hope JB at least gets the opportunity to get to Dake.  

mspart

[lu_alum]

9 hours ago, de4856 said:

I used to think that JB would have called it a career after 2020, but obviously he had other ideas. But if JB can’t make the team this year I don’t see him continuing on as a competitor. 

I believe that was the plan until he lost to Dake.  2024 is a vision quest for redemption.

[peanut]

At last year's world championships, the average age of a freestyle gold medalist was 25.5.

There's been talk about JB's age -- who will be 36 this summer -- but what Dake's? He just turned 33. Has he slowed down at all?

[lu_alum]

9 hours ago, peanut said:

At last year's world championships, the average age of a freestyle gold medalist was 25.5.

There's been talk about JB's age -- who will be 36 this summer -- but what Dake's? He just turned 33. Has he slowed down at all?

Keep in mind Dake is Benjamin Buttons.

[nhs67]

1 hour ago, lu_alum said:

Keep in mind Dake is Benjamin Buttons.

Correct.

11 hours ago, peanut said:

At last year's world championships, the average age of a freestyle gold medalist was 25.5.

There's been talk about JB's age -- who will be 36 this summer -- but what Dake's? He just turned 33. Has he slowed down at all?

There are concerns that he will be too small for 74 KG this go and that his more natural size (right now) is more towards 70 KG.

By next Olympics I fully expect him to be our 65 KG rep.  He'll then likely enter tweener zone again, but still be our guy at 65 KG.  2036 is when he might have to reverse the reverse because he'll probably be too small for 57 KG at that point.

[nhs67]

7 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

Correct.

There are concerns that he will be too small for 74 KG this go and that his more natural size (right now) is more towards 70 KG.

By next Olympics I fully expect him to be our 65 KG rep.  He'll then likely enter tweener zone again, but still be our guy at 65 KG.  2036 is when he might have to reverse the reverse because he'll probably be too small for 57 KG at that point.

I can confirm that by 2031 he will be ~112lbs, so... he has to think of something here.  Can he turn into a little Frank Molinaro?  We'll see.

[scribers]

On 3/27/2024 at 8:28 AM, Bigbrog said:

He looks fat

Pandemic was hard on him yo