Luke Stanich

[HokieDave87]

On 8/21/2025 at 2:18 PM, Truzzcat said:

especially with a style that is largely predicated on being able to move and get your opponent out of position. Henson is a hoss.

Yep, not saying Henson's unbeatable (well maybe...) but he's not losing to a true 141 who was at 125 not long ago.

I'm big on Stanich too I really think he's closed the gap on Mendez. Mendez still the favorite but it's going to be a lot closer if/when they meet again.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

9 hours ago, HokieDave87 said:

Yep, not saying Henson's unbeatable (well maybe...) but he's not losing to a true 141 who was at 125 not long ago.

I'm big on Stanich too I really think he's closed the gap on Mendez. Mendez still the favorite but it's going to be a lot closer if/when they meet again.

Also Stanich had an 8-8 criteria win over Zepeda during this recent run.  While Zepeda may end up being outstanding, he is probably not ready to challenge Henson or Mendez, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a redshirt.

[Winners Circle]

36 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Also Stanich had an 8-8 criteria win over Zepeda during this recent run.  While Zepeda may end up being outstanding, he is probably not ready to challenge Henson or Mendez, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a redshirt.

You know what they call close wins?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

1 minute ago, Winners Circle said:

You know what they call close wins?

Giving up 8 points in one match to someone who isn't a world beater (yet) would be more of a concern.

[Winners Circle]

14 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Giving up 8 points in one match to someone who isn't a world beater (yet) would be more of a concern.

I see your point. But on the other hand, Mendez lost to Real Woods, who I could legitimately see Stanich beating. 

[Truzzcat]

1 hour ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Also Stanich had an 8-8 criteria win over Zepeda during this recent run.  While Zepeda may end up being outstanding, he is probably not ready to challenge Henson or Mendez, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a redshirt.

Stanich has really really good head hands and great single leg defense but he seems to really struggle at defending doubles. I believe that's how the Japanese guy scored on him and where Topraks takedown came from that's also how Zepeda scored all his takedown's.

[Le duke]

I don't see Stanich beating Marcus Blaze at this point, let alone Mendez.

 

[BAC]

1 hour ago, Winners Circle said:

I see your point. But on the other hand, Mendez lost to Real Woods, who I could legitimately see Stanich beating. 

Stanich beat Bassett 3 times, who beat Bartlett, who beat Mendez 2x.

Fun with the transitive property!

[BAC]

39 minutes ago, Le duke said:

I don't see Stanich beating Marcus Blaze at this point, let alone Mendez.

Maybe not, but I'm not sure I see Mendez beating Blaze either.

[Le duke]

51 minutes ago, BAC said:

Maybe not, but I'm not sure I see Mendez beating Blaze either.

If Blaze got big enough that he was a true 141, sure, but he's wrestling 61kg and 133 if he goes for Penn State this year. Mendez is a 2x NCAA champ for a reason.

It's kind of wild that he was giving up most of 10lbs to Bassett, Hardy and Mendez and beat two of the three up at 65kg.

[Truzzcat]

2 hours ago, Le duke said:

I don't see Stanich beating Marcus Blaze at this point, let alone Mendez.

 

I like Marcus in Freestyle Stanich in folk right now in that matchup. I think Stanich is one of the few guys that can handfight with Marcus and I am not sure that marcus's snap to far ankle/drag to far ankle/go behind series works super well against Stanich and I give Stanich a slight edge on the mat right now. I think Marcus could push him out a few times in free though. All of this is factoring in size, once Marcus grows into a full 141 or 65kg I think Marcus wins.

[Ohio Elite]

2 hours ago, BAC said:

Maybe not, but I'm not sure I see Mendez beating Blaze either.

You must have missed the WTT a few months ago where Mendez beat him. Super close match though.

Edited 3 hours ago by Ohio Elite

[nhs67]

3 hours ago, Winners Circle said:

You know what they call close wins?

Victories?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

38 minutes ago, Ohio Elite said:

You must have missed the WTT a few months ago where Mendez beat him. Super close match though.

Yes, but apparently a super close match is just as convincing as a tech fall!

[nhs67]

36 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Yes, but apparently a super close match is just as convincing as a tech fall!

 

Yeah... being that Blaze is the only one who made ANY offensive attacks in that match, I think he'll be just fine going forward.
 

It was 2-1 and Blaze was down... all on shot clocks, despite Blaze making the offensive effort.  He was pushing him out, made a reaching shot and Mendez got behind.

The match was weak on Mendez's part.  Blaze was the considerably smaller guy and he couldn't capitalize.

[Truzzcat]

9 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

 

Yeah... being that Blaze is the only one who made ANY offensive attacks in that match, I think he'll be just fine going forward.
 

It was 2-1 and Blaze was down... all on shot clocks, despite Blaze making the offensive effort.  He was pushing him out, made a reaching shot and Mendez got behind.

The match was weak on Mendez's part.  Blaze was the considerably smaller guy and he couldn't capitalize.

You could tell they had trained together a lot from that match.

[nhs67]

36 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

You could tell they had trained together a lot from that match.

You could, but Mendez, the two time defending NCAA D1 champ, who had just beaten Johnny D, a 4xer (141/149) at OTT the year prior should have been expected to cruise there.

I think it is absolutely stupid when there are three shot clock points awarded.  The ref has essentially decided the victor there.