Saying good-bye to Great NCAA Covid Debacle. Saying good-bye to the Double-Covid seniors. The last 4 years has been extremely difficult for the wrestlers and their coaches.

[Paul158]

The last 4 years for wrestlers have been a real challenge. When you qualify for the NCAA tournament your bracket may have 20 percent double -Covid seniors. I'm not sure how many underclassmen have been knocked off the podium the last 4 years. I will guess its 20 to 25 percent. 64 to 80. I'm sure WKN has the data somewhere. Kudos to the wrestlers, coaches and families that have persevered through these last 4 years. Special kudos to the wrestlers who only got 3 years of eligibility because Covid. They received zero from the NCAA. Pathetic.

[Wrestleknownothing]

The log jam is real. And it will be nice to see it begin to clear out.

As a PSU fan, I am pulling for Starocci to win tonight. But as a lover of the data/history, it would not bother me too much if he lost. As I have said, other than as the answer to a trivia question, I do not find 5 titles that interesting.

I also hate the way the Oly redshirt is administered. So Ferrari's lose yesterday making it impossible for him to get 4 titles is fine by me. And frankly, Steveson's highly likely third title and Hodge means little given his use of that loophole.

I am sure there are others, but those are the three biggest possible achievements I can think of this year that are about excellence meeting opportunity that never existed before.

[Scouts Honor]

YAY

[1032004]

  On 3/22/2025 at 1:40 PM, Paul158 said:

The last 4 years for wrestlers have been a real challenge. When you qualify for the NCAA tournament your bracket may have 20 percent double -Covid seniors. I'm not sure how many underclassmen have been knocked off the podium the last 4 years. I will guess its 20 to 25 percent. 64 to 80. I'm sure WKN has the data somewhere. Kudos to the wrestlers, coaches and families that have persevered through these last 4 years. Special kudos to the wrestlers who only got 3 years of eligibility because Covid. They received zero from the NCAA. Pathetic.

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Are you including guys who wrestled in both 2020 and 2021 and thus only got 4 NCAA tournaments in your angst here? That would seem to contradict with your disappointment that some guys only got 3.

The only guys that got 5 NCAA tournaments are those that were freshmen in 2021 (and didn’t attend an Ivy League school) or redshirted in 2020.

So if the question is “how many of the AA’s in the past 4 years had a chance to wrestle in 5 NCAA tournaments,” I’d bet the number is less than 5%.  

 

Edited March 22 by 1032004

[peanut]

Would athletes who competed in 2021 and then redshirted still have a fifth year? If so, the COVID year is not quite gone. 

[1032004]

  On 3/22/2025 at 3:55 PM, peanut said:

Would athletes who competed in 2021 and then redshirted still have a fifth year? If so, the COVID year is not quite gone. 

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Yes.  There will still be a few next year or maybe even longer if they took a regular redshirt + medical

[Wrestleknownothing]

  On 3/22/2025 at 3:55 PM, peanut said:

Would athletes who competed in 2021 and then redshirted still have a fifth year? If so, the COVID year is not quite gone. 

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Ferrari and Starocci started at the same time. Ferrari still has two years left.

[Paul158]

  On 3/22/2025 at 3:59 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

Ferrari and Starocci started at the same time. Ferrari still has two years left.

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Yes. Ferrari took a 2-year sabbatical. 

[Paul158]

  On 3/22/2025 at 3:50 PM, 1032004 said:

Are you including guys who wrestled in both 2020 and 2021 and thus only got 4 NCAA tournaments in your angst here? That would seem to contradict with your disappointment that some guys only got 3.

The only guys that got 5 NCAA tournaments are those that were freshmen in 2021 (and didn’t attend an Ivy League school) or redshirted in 2020.

So if the question is “how many of the AA’s in the past 4 years had a chance to wrestle in 5 NCAA tournaments,” I’d bet the number is less than 5%.  

 

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Didn't ever wrestler who wrestled in 2021 (frosh, soph, junior, and senior) get a free year. If so over the next 4 years you had 330 wrestlers occupy spots in the NCAA tournament. Divide that by 4 you get 82.5 wrestlers per year. So you have 330 who, if they wanted got a 5th year of eligibility. All of them did not take advantage of it though. 

[1032004]

  On 3/22/2025 at 4:19 PM, Paul158 said:

Didn't ever wrestler who wrestled in 2021 (frosh, soph, junior, and senior) get a free year. If so over the next 4 years you had 330 wrestlers occupy spots in the NCAA tournament. Divide that by 4 you get 82.5 wrestlers per year. So you have 330 who, if they wanted got a 5th year of eligibility. All of them did not take advantage of it though. 

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Yeah but earlier you said some wrestlers  “only got 3 years of eligibility because of Covid.”  So going by your own definition, wouldn’t you not include any of those that wrestled in 2020?

[Paul158]

  On 3/22/2025 at 4:48 PM, 1032004 said:

Yeah but earlier you said some wrestlers  “only got 3 years of eligibility because of Covid.”  So going by your own definition, wouldn’t you not include any of those that wrestled in 2020?

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The seniors that year did not get an extra year. I am familiar with Ohio State. Kolin Moore and Pletcher only got to wrestle in 3 NCAA tournaments. Both were ranked number 1 that year. The NCAA tournament was cancelled ending their careers. There were a lot of other seniors who were also affected. Had they been Juniors they would have got a free year plus their senior year.

[NormMacDonald]

  On 3/22/2025 at 1:51 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

The log jam is real. And it will be nice to see it begin to clear out.

As a PSU fan, I am pulling for Starocci to win tonight. But as a lover of the data/history, it would not bother me too much if he lost. As I have said, other than as the answer to a trivia question, I do not find 5 titles that interesting.

I also hate the way the Oly redshirt is administered. So Ferrari's lose yesterday making it impossible for him to get 4 titles is fine by me. And frankly, Steveson's highly likely third title and Hodge means little given his use of that loophole.

I am sure there are others, but those are the three biggest possible achievements I can think of this year that are about excellence meeting opportunity that never existed before.

Expand  

I agree with you on Starocci and Steveson and I'm a big fan of both.  I don't like to see records broken because of extra years. 

[NormMacDonald]

  On 3/22/2025 at 5:55 PM, Paul158 said:

The seniors that year did not get an extra year. I am familiar with Ohio State. Kolin Moore and Pletcher only got to wrestle in 3 NCAA tournaments. Both were ranked number 1 that year. The NCAA tournament was cancelled ending their careers. There were a lot of other seniors who were also affected. Had they been Juniors they would have got a free year plus their senior year.

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Kolin Moore is who I always think of about that season.  Dude deserved to get finally get his championship. 

[1032004]

  On 3/22/2025 at 5:55 PM, Paul158 said:

The seniors that year did not get an extra year. I am familiar with Ohio State. Kolin Moore and Pletcher only got to wrestle in 3 NCAA tournaments. Both were ranked number 1 that year. The NCAA tournament was cancelled ending their careers. There were a lot of other seniors who were also affected. Had they been Juniors they would have got a free year plus their senior year.

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So do you think people that wrestled in 2020 should have been given an extra year?

[Paul158]

  On 3/22/2025 at 7:00 PM, 1032004 said:

So do you think people that wrestled in 2020 should have been given an extra year?

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At the very least they could have allowed all the qualifiers to wrestle the following year. Then do not give a free year across the board like they did. So, there would have only been one year of disruption instead of 4 years of Chaouis.

[WrestlingRasta]

It’s been terrible four years of weak competition, zero story lines, and the lowest levels of interest and intensity I have ever seen. 
 

Excruciatingly horrible. 

[jajensen09]

Hardys back 

[1032004]

  On 3/22/2025 at 7:16 PM, Paul158 said:

At the very least they could have allowed all the qualifiers to wrestle the following year. Then do not give a free year across the board like they did. So, there would have only been one year of disruption instead of 4 years of Chaouis.

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But what you’re not getting is if you are okay with the wrestlers in 2020 getting an extra year, then your only issue is with the freshmen in 2021.  So the issue is not “over 4 years,” it’s only one year.

[Crotalus]

Yeah, not so fast. AJ, after placing third, stated in his Flo interview that he is going to win three more national championships, maybe four more if they award him a fifth year. I also suspect he is not good at math. Hell, maybe that's too generous. He's not even good at counting.

[1032004]

  On 3/22/2025 at 5:57 PM, NormMacDonald said:

I agree with you on Starocci and Steveson and I'm a big fan of both.  I don't like to see records broken because of extra years. 

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Similar to what I just said though, Steveson did lose his chance in 2020, so I’d argue he didn’t really get an “extra” year (although he did take time off which in the past would have counted against him

[NormMacDonald]

  On 3/22/2025 at 8:51 PM, 1032004 said:

Similar to what I just said though, Steveson did lose his chance in 2020, so I’d argue he didn’t really get an “extra” year (although he did take time off which in the past would have counted against him

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My issue with Steveson is completely because I wanted a competitive heavyweight this year.  I also don't think you should able to go pro in one sport and then come back in college for another sport. 

[The Kid]

  On 3/22/2025 at 10:27 PM, NormMacDonald said:

My issue with Steveson is completely because I wanted a competitive heavyweight this year.  I also don't think you should able to go pro in one sport and then come back in college for another sport. 

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What sport did Steveson go pro in? 

[Offthemat]

Isn’t the NCAA moving toward 5 years of eligibility and past junior college participants?

[OH-IO]

  On 3/22/2025 at 5:58 PM, NormMacDonald said:

Kolin Moore is who I always think of about that season.  Dude deserved to get finally get his championship. 

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100% agree Too all those seniors...... yes I do believe Kolin and Luke had a Natty coming their way, still had to wrestle and avoid injury but if they were injury free (to a degree everyone is banged up come Nationals) and on their game/peaking than yes they would have finally won their D1 Wrestling National Championship!!!    my thoughts....if some deserved a break (1 more year aka 5th year) than they all deserved a break! 

[NormMacDonald]

  On 3/22/2025 at 10:47 PM, The Kid said:

What sport did Steveson go pro in? 

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NFL.  Even though he was cut he was still signed a contract.