"All" "Star" or "All most Star" lineup this weekend?

[SocraTease]

Below is this weekend's lineup.   It is debatable whether it is an "All Star" slate.  Using Flo's rankings, there is exactly one #1 ranked wrestler.  And one matchup that features #1 vs. #2.  The average ranking for the 20 wrestlers is #4.   On the positive side, there are 6 guys ranked #2 and 4 guys ranked #3.  But there are also 2 wrestlers ranked #8 and one at #9.  "Star"occi is clearly an All Star.   I get it though. Some wrestlers have other commitments.  Some might be injured.  Some see no gain in competing, and so on.  But perhaps the event should be billed as "Al(most) Stars" or something of the sort.  

In any event, which matches are folks looking forward to the most?

197: #6 Stephen Little, Little Rock vs #9 Zac Braunagel, Illinois

285: #3 Nick Feldman, Ohio State vs #8 Taye Ghadiali, Campbell

125: #2 Jore Volk, Wyoming vs #5 Tanner Jordan, South Dakota State

133: #2 Nasir Bailey, Little Rock vs #6 Lucas Byrd, Illinois

141: #2 Jesse Mendez, Ohio State vs #3 Beau Bartlett, Penn State

149: #2 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State vs #3 Ty Watters, West Virginia

157: #4 Tyler Kasak, Penn State vs #5 Peyten Kellar, Ohio

165: #8 Hunter Garvin, Stanford vs #4 Peyton Hall, West Virginia

174: #2 Levi Haines, Penn State vs  #3 Cade DeVos, SDSU

184: #1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs #2 Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa

Edited Thursday at 01:57 AM by SocraTease

[Wrestleknownothing]

What a bunch of bellyachin'

[SocraTease]

27 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

What a bunch of bellyachin'

In fact, it's just the facts or factoids, which I thought would be up your headachin' alley since you are a data-head

[MPhillips]

@WrestleknownothingDeja Vu…

[Camel Wrestling Fan]

285 Feldman vs Ghadiali

[Hammerlock3]

I'm just glad we have a rocket scientist on the forum. I would have thought it was #1 vs #2 up and down if not for this amazing topic. 

[MPhillips]

37 minutes ago, Hammerlock3 said:

I'm just glad we have a rocket scientist on the forum.

All this time I believed he was a philosopher...

[Caveira]

1 hour ago, Hammerlock3 said:

I'm just glad we have a rocket scientist on the forum. I would have thought it was #1 vs #2 up and down if not for this amazing topic. 

I’m not making his point.  I’m staying away from that. That one I punt…. 
 

my observation is that 5/10/15+ years ago it “seemed” to me a lot more 1 v 2.  We are in a new era where that will likely not happen again.  Maybe that’s my younger self….. who knows. 

[Hammerlock3]

Just now, Caveira said:

I’m not making his point.  I’m staying away from that. That one I punt…. 
 

my observation is that 5/10/15+ years ago it “seemed” to me a lot more 1 v 2.  We are in a new era where that will likely not happen again.  Maybe that’s my younger self….. who knows. 

you're correct for sure. First culprit is that the season is minimum of 6 weeks too long, and beyond that the variables against a real all star meet spin out very quickly. Even if we had a perfectly balanced ncaa wrestling season, its hard to see where an all star meet fits in. 

[fishbane]

At least they don't have any backups wrestling in it this year.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

I am looking forward to the ILLINI versus Little Rock mini-dual, and I'm looking forward to hating the OP for the rest of his natural life. From our preview of the mini-dual:

 

WHY WE HATE ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK

Under the subheading of "Student Life" in the University of Arkansas Little Rock Wikipedia article you find this: 

"The student life at UA Little Rock is typical of public universities in the United States." 

WTF? That there is Rob-Lowe-at-a-Game-Supporting-His-Favorite-Sports-Governing-Organization anodyne cringe. 

 

 

 

It is 100% pure Little Brother Speak. "Look at us, we're a real university, too! Our human students do human things, eat human food and lead reasonably normal human lives." 

And isn't "Little Rock" the name of Fred Flintstone's hometown? Finally, who names anything after something that's small? Why not Big Rock? It's all perspective, anyway. This is more of the same Little Brother Speak.

 

THE HISTORY

The ILLINI have a rich tradition at the NWCA All Star Classic. There was no Classic for four straight years due to Covid, but when it ratcheted back up in 2022, there was Lucas Byrd beating Michael McGee. 

Zane Richards, Jesse Delgado, Jordan Blanton, B.J. Futrell, Zac Brunson, Adam Tirapelle, Mark Jayne, Jimmy Kennedy, Jon Llewellyn, Steve Marianetti, Eric Siebert, Matt Lackey, John Lockhart, Alex Tirapelle, Pete Friedl, Mike Poeta and others have represented ILLINOIS. 

The ILLINI have had years in which two wrestlers have won at the same time. The O&B has had three wrestlers on the mat for at least one Classic. On the other hand, Purdue had their first ever winner in 2023. True story: Slippery Rock and Kentucky each have more wins at the All Star Classic than the Boilermakers. 

From its inception in the 1960s to 2009, ILLINI wrestlers made 13 appearances and came away with a 10-3 record. There have been multiple U of I wrestlers who have made more than one appearance in this prestigious exhibition. Lucas Byrd joins that august group.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Sorry, not sorry, for the gratuitous Purdue poke. I'm sure Matt Ramos will take it out on our 125er in the dual. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

9 hours ago, SocraTease said:

In fact, it's just the facts or factoids, which I thought would be up your headachin' alley since you are a data-head

It is facts used to bellyache about a great event.

Here is another fact. The average here is 4, the average seed in last year's finals was 3.65. Why even bother having the NCAA's if they cannot guarantee 1 vs. 2 match ups?

[SocraTease]

12 hours ago, Caveira said:

I’m not making his point.  I’m staying away from that. That one I punt…. 
 

my observation is that 5/10/15+ years ago it “seemed” to me a lot more 1 v 2.  We are in a new era where that will likely not happen again.  Maybe that’s my younger self….. who knows. 

Exactly, but either a lot of posters here don't know much wrestling history or they can't read between the lines.  An All Star event in most every other sport generally features the very best athletes, not the second, third, fourth, or ninth best. But, I guess, if people get excited about #8 vs. #9, that's their preference for embracing a watered down world of value.  

[SocraTease]

5 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

It is facts used to bellyache about a great event.

Here is another fact. The average here is 4, the average seed in last year's finals was 3.65. Why even bother having the NCAA's if they cannot guarantee 1 vs. 2 match ups?

What used to be a much better event if you were paying attention.  Yea, but they don't have a tournament to decide who goes to the All Star match.  You "reasoning" (analogy) is beyond flawed.   Why not just pick the "All Stars" out of a hat, then?  See, it's easy to play with reductio ad absurdum and other fallacies.  

[SocraTease]

11 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

I am looking forward to the ILLINI versus Little Rock mini-dual, and I'm looking forward to hating the OP for the rest of his natural life. From our preview of the mini-dual:

 

WHY WE HATE ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK

Under the subheading of "Student Life" in the University of Arkansas Little Rock Wikipedia article you find this: 

"The student life at UA Little Rock is typical of public universities in the United States." 

WTF? That there is Rob-Lowe-at-a-Game-Supporting-His-Favorite-Sports-Governing-Organization anodyne cringe. 

 

 

 

It is 100% pure Little Brother Speak. "Look at us, we're a real university, too! Our human students do human things, eat human food and lead reasonably normal human lives." 

And isn't "Little Rock" the name of Fred Flintstone's hometown? Finally, who names anything after something that's small? Why not Big Rock? It's all perspective, anyway. This is more of the same Little Brother Speak.

 

THE HISTORY

The ILLINI have a rich tradition at the NWCA All Star Classic. There was no Classic for four straight years due to Covid, but when it ratcheted back up in 2022, there was Lucas Byrd beating Michael McGee. 

Zane Richards, Jesse Delgado, Jordan Blanton, B.J. Futrell, Zac Brunson, Adam Tirapelle, Mark Jayne, Jimmy Kennedy, Jon Llewellyn, Steve Marianetti, Eric Siebert, Matt Lackey, John Lockhart, Alex Tirapelle, Pete Friedl, Mike Poeta and others have represented ILLINOIS. 

The ILLINI have had years in which two wrestlers have won at the same time. The O&B has had three wrestlers on the mat for at least one Classic. On the other hand, Purdue had their first ever winner in 2023. True story: Slippery Rock and Kentucky each have more wins at the All Star Classic than the Boilermakers. 

From its inception in the 1960s to 2009, ILLINI wrestlers made 13 appearances and came away with a 10-3 record. There have been multiple U of I wrestlers who have made more than one appearance in this prestigious exhibition. Lucas Byrd joins that august group.

Are you simply mad that the Senate might not confirm the illustrious Matt Gaetz as Attorney General since he is in the Orange Stain's All Star cabinet lineup? Or maybe another All-most Star, Pete Hegseth, the least qualified Defense Secretary pick in American history

[Fletcher]

Bailey and Mendez are going to win it all this year, so we can safely call those weights "all-stars" too.

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, SocraTease said:

What used to be a much better event if you were paying attention.  Yea, but they don't have a tournament to decide who goes to the All Star match.  You "reasoning" (analogy) is beyond flawed.   Why not just pick the "All Stars" out of a hat, then?  See, it's easy to play with reductio ad absurdum and other fallacies.  

I was not reducing it to the absurd, it was already there with your original post. I was just matching your absurd.

[strange_daze]

General thought: to me, if a wrestler is within striking distance of a title, it's 'all star'. Anything outside that category should be a compelling match up (e.g., style) and/or set up to deliver fireworks in some way. I sense there's a couple matches that may fall outside these criteria, but I'm looking forward to most of them.