Will the Penn State 25-26 and 26-27 teams be the BEST ever?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Some crazy lineups possible:

125: Lilledahl

133: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

141: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

149: Van Ness

157: Kasak/Duke

165: Mesenbrink

174: Haines

184: Welsh/Henkel

197: Barr /Miarsola 1

HWT: Mirasola 2

[ionel]

31/32 will be better 

[Gene Mills Fan]

how many teams can be the BEST ever. 

[Rassling2]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Some crazy lineups possible:

125: Lilledahl

133: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

141: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

149: Van Ness

157: Kasak/Duke

165: Mesenbrink

174: Haines

184: Welsh/Henkel

197: Barr /Miarsola 1

HWT: Mirasola 2

JC, how do you feel 133 & 141 shakes out? Who do you predict ultimately starts at these two PSU weight classes?

[RandolphTJones]

Okie St catching up quickly with the classes they have coming in. I wouldn't just give the Natty to Penn St in the next couple seasons. Transfer portal huge implications also every season. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

42 minutes ago, Rassling2 said:

JC, how do you feel 133 & 141 shakes out? Who do you predict ultimately starts at these two PSU weight classes?

I like Blaze 133 and Ono 141 (or the reverse depending on who is bigger)

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Prediction for next year:

125: Lilledahl - Champ

133: Blaze - Finalist

141: Ono - 3rd

149: Van Ness - Champ

157: Duke - Finalist

165: Mesenbrink - Champ

174: Haines - Champ

184: Welsh - Finalist

197: Barr - Champ

HWT: Mirasola - 3rd

[Hank]

no

[Rassling2]

14 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Prediction for next year:

125: Lilledahl - Champ

133: Blaze - Finalist

141: Ono - 3rd

149: Van Ness - Champ

157: Duke - Finalist

165: Mesenbrink - Champ

174: Haines - Champ

184: Welsh - Finalist

197: Barr - Champ

HWT: Mirasola - 3rd

I agree with your weight assessments but disagree on the results. Blaze, Ono and Duke will all be champs. That’s my prediction. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

7 minutes ago, Rassling2 said:

I agree with your weight assessments but disagree on the results. Blaze, Ono and Duke will all be champs. That’s my prediction. 

8 champs seems to be a bit too optimistic no?

[Winners Circle]

I don't think we see Ono this year. Think he RS's.

125: LL - Champ

133: MB - Champ

141: Nagao/Davis - R12

149: SVN - Champ

157: Duke - Champ

165: MM - Champ

174: LH - Champ

184: Rocco - 4th

197: Barr - Champ

285: Mirasola - 4th

[Gus]

36 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

I don't think we see Ono this year. Think he RS's.

125: LL - Champ

133: MB - Champ

141: Nagao/Davis - R12

149: SVN - Champ

157: Duke - Champ

165: MM - Champ

174: LH - Champ

184: Rocco - 4th

197: Barr - Champ

285: Mirasola - 4th

None of those results independently would surprise me, but 7 champs seems a bit aggressive. 

[Winners Circle]

1 hour ago, Gus said:

None of those results independently would surprise me, but 7 champs seems a bit aggressive. 

I agree 100%, but which of those 7 do you predict to lose? MM and LH are locks. Barr is very close to a lock imo. I truly believe Blaze and Duke are the best guys in their weights (which is why the coaching staff is opting to not RS either of them because they have great options there in Nagao/Davis and Kasak). On the same note I think LL and SVN are the best guys in their weights too. So do I think they'll realistically have 7 champs, probably not because we all know how that tournament goes. But I don't feel comfortable to pick any of those 7 to lose. 

[Gus]

33 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

I agree 100%, but which of those 7 do you predict to lose? MM and LH are locks. Barr is very close to a lock imo. I truly believe Blaze and Duke are the best guys in their weights (which is why the coaching staff is opting to not RS either of them because they have great options there in Nagao/Davis and Kasak). On the same note I think LL and SVN are the best guys in their weights too. So do I think they'll realistically have 7 champs, probably not because we all know how that tournament goes. But I don't feel comfortable to pick any of those 7 to lose. 

I have no real gripes with any of your assessment. I fully expect Mesenbrink & Levi Haines to win. I think LL and Barr are clear favorites. 125 is deep (Robinson, Sprately, Volk, Ventresca, Seymour, etc) but LL looked so good this summer. 197 lacks depth and one of Barr's toughest competitors will be his teammate, Mirasola. Unless someone talks a big leap forward, it is hard to see anyone beating Barr. Right now I would favor Henson over SVN but it's a coin flip. 157 is gonna be a dog fight for PJ to make the starting lineup and then he will battle the likes of Antrell Taylor, Meyer Shapiro, Daniel Cardenas, etc. Would I be surprised to see PJ win that weight class? Nope. He's that good but folkstyle is a different ballgame than freestyle and there is a learning curve to mat wrestling, especially considering that he will be focused on freestyle leading up to the world championships. Same thing for Blaze at 133 as it is for PJ at 157, expect that 133 is even deeper → Crookham, Byrd, Ayala, Davino, Fuggitt, Figueroa, Frost, Ragusin, Shawver, etc.. 

[Truzzcat]

I firmly expect 2026-2027 to have at least 50% representation in the finals of Oklahoma state and PSU guys. A lot of that race I think depends on if Henckle stats at 174 and can immediately be a top 3 guy (seems likely after worlds), I also think how they fill 149 will be very important. Penn state has a lot more sure things without baking in development but if you assume guys develop at Oklahoma state they will have All American caliber guys at every weight.

[CHROMEBIRD]

7 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Some crazy lineups possible:

125: Lilledahl

133: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

141: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

149: Van Ness

157: Kasak/Duke

165: Mesenbrink

174: Haines

184: Welsh/Henkel

197: Barr /Miarsola 1

HWT: Mirasola 2

Does this mean you'll stfu with the fake "PSU's going to lose" bullshіt posts for the next couple of seasons?

[cangemi]

21 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Some crazy lineups possible:

125: Lilledahl

133: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

141: Blaze/Davis/Ono/Nagao

149: Van Ness

157: Kasak/Duke

165: Mesenbrink

174: Haines

184: Welsh/Henkel

197: Barr /Miarsola 1

HWT: Mirasola 2

This probably could be best ever. It is ridiculous. Have to wait, only on paper. But if things play out up to expectations? Probably need 6 champs to declare that. Won't be easy. If done have to say yes. The interesting thing is evey weight has a title contender. Not AA but a title contender.

Edited 4 hours ago by cangemi

[D3 for LU]

15 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Does this mean you'll stfu with the fake "PSU's going to lose" bullshіt posts for the next couple of seasons?

D3

[scourge165]

2 hours ago, cangemi said:

This probably could be best ever. It is ridiculous. Have to wait, only on paper. But if things play out up to expectations? Probably need 6 champs to declare that. Won't be easy. If done have to say yes. The interesting thing is evey weight has a title contender. Not AA but a title contender.

Do we think HWT Mirasola is a title contender?

I've got... at least 5-6 guys who I think are probably still ahead of him at HWT. 

Trumble, Ferrari moving up, I think Feldman and Kueter will be two of the favorites next year. Bastida, Pitzer and Mullen are all going to be up there. 

Edited 2 hours ago by scourge165

[scourge165]

16 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Does this mean you'll stfu with the fake "PSU's going to lose" bullshіt posts for the next couple of seasons?

Yeah... until ANY of these guys lose a match, then it'll be "can Penn State finish top 3?"

[MidniteToka]

This reminds me a lot of all the talk before the baseball season starts for many years.  Like there is no reason to play the games because the Yankees have scooped up all the big names and are a shoo in to win the WS.  Lots of things can happen between now and March. 

[Winners Circle]

1 hour ago, scourge165 said:

Do we think HWT Mirasola is a title contender?

I've got... at least 5-6 guys who I think are probably still ahead of him at HWT. 

Trumble, Ferrari moving up, I think Feldman and Kueter will be two of the favorites next year. Bastida, Pitzer and Mullen are all going to be up there. 

No. 

[scourge165]

Just now, MidniteToka said:

This reminds me a lot of all the talk before the baseball season starts for many years.  Like there is no reason to play the games because the Yankees have scooped up all the big names and are a shoo in to win the WS.  Lots of things can happen between now and March. 

The two sports aren't really all that similar. 

Baseball is disproportionately impacted by luck. 

There's a reason why the last ~50 years you've pretty much only seen Iowa, Okie State, Penn State, Iowa State AZ St, a year of Minny, OSU in there and...that's going back to Bobby Kennedy's assassination. 

 

Lets take the best Wrestler on Penn State and the best player on the Yankees(and best RHH Hitter arguably ever). What are the chances Mesenbrink is perfectly healthy and just terrible in the post-season or at least about 75% of what he is in the regular season? They're pretty low, right?

Yet with Judge... they're not so low. It's been the last 5 post-seasons. 

 

 

So... I get what you're saying, things can change, but the best team ALMOST always wins in Wrestling. The Best team in Baseball... the most TALENTED team, most dominant team... they usually don't win. You can hit a ball 110 MPH off the bat and it gets caught or you can hit a ball 19 MPH off the bat like the '01 World Series when Luis Gonzalez singled on a blooper to CF off the greatest closer of all-time. 

 

Baseball dynasties are incredibly rare. Wrestling Dynasties are not. 

 

Also, Wrestling is not really a team game. It's an individual sport in which you just add up all the individual scores.  So... not the best analogy. 

[Elevator]

23 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

8 champs seems to be a bit too optimistic no?

A lot can happen and there are some other good wrestlers and coaches out there!

[Gus]

1 hour ago, scourge165 said:

Do we think HWT Mirasola is a title contender?

I've got... at least 5-6 guys who I think are probably still ahead of him at HWT. 

Trumble, Ferrari moving up, I think Feldman and Kueter will be two of the favorites next year. Bastida, Pitzer and Mullen are all going to be up there. 

Probably not a title contender yet. Feldman worked him in the dual last year. I think he will be firmly behind Ferrari, Trumble, Bastida, Ghadiali to start the year. Feldman was a tough matchup for him. He will be in a tier of about 10 guys (Kueter, Feldman, Taylor, Luffman, Pitzer, Mullen, Doucet, Amos, Catka, Hopke) pushing to make the podium.