Crookham Situation

[Husker_Du]

Really interesting situation with the #1 guy in the country.

Obviously he's been injured and out since December. There's been much ado about his availability this year. 

but here's another angle that makes it difficult...

EIWA is going to get 2 Allocations at 133 - Berginc and Phipps. 

which means Crookham can't lose/default until finals and even if he could/would they might have a true second bout.

and he's not going to garner an at large.

also he won't (by any rational standard) be seeded ahead of those two.

[VakAttack]

It's hard for me to believe they will wrestle him at this point.

[D3 for LU]

Interesting, indeed... the B&W wrestled Mason Ziegler last nite instead of Matty Lopes (from what I read/heard, he's going to the George Mason tourney wrestling un attached.) The decision for Ryan must be done soon (like, next week?) IF not... it may appear that Lopes will be in the EIWA lineup.

Wont know until it happens.

D3

Edited February 22 by D3 for LU

[Husker_Du]

Lopes is obviously trying to get his match count up and if he's designated for coaches rank, maybe garner a few votes and slip in.

[lu_alum]

Word on the Lehigh forum is that Crookham has been medically cleared. Crookham wants to go, but his dad and the Lehigh staff want to take a Med RS


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Quaker118]

It’a a shame for Crookham. After a year in which he had to deal with Arujau and Fix at his weight 133 this year is not only the weakest weight this year but one of the weakest weights I’ve seen in many many years. This would’ve been a great year for Crookham if he could go.

[Husker_Du]

that's one reason why i think he should give it a go.

it ain't gonna get much easier than this weight this year. 

[lu_alum]

that's one reason why i think he should give it a go.
it ain't gonna get much easier than this weight this year. 

He could be placed anywhere in the bracket and become everyone’s “bad draw”.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dogbone]

Very interesting.   If he is going to give it a go, its probably better for him to wrestle the whole tournament anyway to get his match count/lungs up, etc. so he is prepared as possible for NCAAs. 

[CHROMEBIRD]

3 hours ago, lu_alum said:

Word on the Lehigh forum is that Crookham has been medically cleared. Crookham wants to go, but his dad and the Lehigh staff want to take a Med RS

Pretty wild that he's good to go already. Didn't be bust his elbow? That's not typically a quick heal.

[Husker_Du]

let's be clear - he's been medically cleared to get on the mat again.

after ~6 weeks off it. 

[VakAttack]

1 hour ago, Husker_Du said:

that's one reason why i think he should give it a go.

it ain't gonna get much easier than this weight this year. 

Yeah, but more likely to do well fully healthy against a tougher field than less than fully healthy against a weaker field, no? 

[Husker_Du]

that's the dilemma, i guess. how does he/the elbow feel?

and do you want to medical so you can wrestle to 2028

[scourge165]

3 hours ago, Husker_Du said:

that's one reason why i think he should give it a go.

it ain't gonna get much easier than this weight this year. 

Yeah, but does that matter for Crookham? This dude beat Vito pretty soundly twice last year. He ended up losing...obviously, but that's a WC and the defending champ as a  Freshmen. 

He seems like a guy who's a big favorite every year he Wrestles. 

[Idaho]

I would think that has kept his cardio up in the meantime.... If he got cleared last week he gets about 3 weeks on the mat until conference and 5 weeks until the NCAA.  Is that enough time to get ready? 

[gimpeltf]

Personally, I think he should go. He's basically a boy in the bubble for years. No reason to be confident that things will improve. Might as well do what you can now.

[fishbane]

If he's medically cleared to compete now isn't a medical redshirt off the table?

[gimpeltf]

18 minutes ago, fishbane said:

If he's medically cleared to compete now isn't a medical redshirt off the table?

Not unless he actually competes.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

24 minutes ago, fishbane said:

If he's medically cleared to compete now isn't a medical redshirt off the table?

One can take an Olympic redshirt without actually trying to qualify for the Olympics. 

[1032004]

How’s his weight if he hasn’t been able to wrestle?  He’s always seemed huge to me

[Wrestleknownothing]

On 2/22/2025 at 10:07 AM, Husker_Du said:

Really interesting situation with the #1 guy in the country.

Obviously he's been injured and out since December. There's been much ado about his availability this year. 

but here's another angle that makes it difficult...

EIWA is going to get 2 Allocations at 133 - Berginc and Phipps. 

which means Crookham can't lose/default until finals and even if he could/would they might have a true second bout.

and he's not going to garner an at large.

also he won't (by any rational standard) be seeded ahead of those two.

EIWA wound up getting a single allocation at 133 as Phipps slipped just a hair below the line. The line was 29-29-71%, Phipps was 27, 31, 70.3%.

Now Crookham would have to win it all at EIWA. Does that impact the thinking? I would imagine, yes.

On another note, Wrestlestat removed Crookham from their rankings this morning. When this has happened in the past (Teemer, for example) it is because one of their admins has designated him as medical (small red ambulance icon), but that did not happen this time.

[KCMO2]

On 2/22/2025 at 10:07 AM, Husker_Du said:

and he's not going to garner an at large.

 

Is there a rule preventing this, or just not something you think would happen?

[Truzzcat]

Is he really going to want to do another 3 years of school/season especially with his injury history? I thought I heard he was an engineering major, and even if he continues wrestling for a while I think the freestyle circuit and managing himself and his weight would be much easier than the rigor of a full college season.

[Wrestleknownothing]

3 minutes ago, KCMO2 said:

Is there a rule preventing this, or just not something you think would happen?

He would need to meet two of the at-large criteria. He could take two loses at EIWA and fall to 5-2 (71.4%) and still make the win percentage criteria. His win over Braeden Davis gives him the second criteria. 

But, then he will probably not be in the top 4 of the at-large pool due to his lack of RPI, quality wins (just Davis for sure, maybe Rini), win%, and maybe conference placement.

Touch and go.

[Richferg]

2 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

Is he really going to want to do another 3 years of school/season especially with his injury history? I thought I heard he was an engineering major, and even if he continues wrestling for a while I think the freestyle circuit and managing himself and his weight would be much easier than the rigor of a full college season.

Ok. If he is an engineering major, maybe he goes to Michigan for grad school. Of course we all know how hesitant Bormet is to bring in transfers.