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Seems like a stretch, what with Bo having his senior high school season next year...

When looking for Greg's obituary I came across this tweet about him that I really enjoyed, so thought I would share.

Lehigh's Rob Rohn was trailing 14-2 late in the third period and mixered OK's Josh Lambrecht for the fall in 2002. 4 pins in a row in the NCAA championships.

I need to get this one out of the way a little early this year as I have a few things coming up that will distract me from the forum for a bit. Once, Twice, Three Times.... The great Lionel Ritchie said it best. Who will be a "timer" this year? Possible Two-Timers (not that kind, the good kind): 125 - Richie Figueroa 141 - Jesse Mendez 141 - Andrew Alirez 149 - Caleb Henson 174 - Levi Haines 184 - Parker Keckeisen 197 - AJ Ferrari 285 - Greg Kerkvliet Possible Three-Timers (As Easy As 1, 2, ...) 174 - Keegan O'Toole 285 - Gable Steveson Possible Five-Timer ("There Can Be Only One") 184 - Carter Starocci Movin On Up I have tracked the highest scoring wrestlers in NCAA history (using current scoring rules) down to number 234. To make the list you need to meet, or exceed Ed Peery's 59 total points. There are a handful of wrestlers who have a shot at moving onto the list, and a few who will move up the list (barring catastrophe). The Possible Newbies (* denotes fifth year) Ridge Lovett currently on 31 points Beau Bartlett currently on 35.5 points* Kyle Parco currently on 40 points* Stephen Buchanan currently on 40 points Wyatt Hendrickson currently on 48.5 points* Cohlton Schultz currently on 58 points* Going To A Deluxe Apartment In The Sky? Who are the guys already on the list that have a chance to move on up? For reference, the top 5 scorers in NCAA history are: Cael Sanderson (107.5) Logan Stieber (103.5) Ed Banach (102.5) Mark Churella (99.5) David Taylor (99) A Toast To The Most? We are Americans. We like the most of everything. Do I want fries with that? Silly question. I want all the fries. Bigger, Higher, Better. There are at least two possible mosts on the line. Team Points Who knows what is happening with Josh Barr? Perhaps only Nick Suriano. But, assuming he is healthy, and assuming Braeden Davis can stay out of scrambles, PSU has a very real shot at decimating the team points record that has stood the test of time. As long as by time you mean 12 months. I will update my projection for them some time after seeds come out, but based on post-conference rankings they could be as high as 199 points. Though I highly doubt that. Losses We all know about Carter Starocci and his pursuit of the most NCAA titles, thanks to the NCAA decision to grant as many years as it takes. But there is another side to that coin. With more opportunity to win comes more opportunity to lose. And sadly there is a wrestler who has the chance to become the losing-est wrestler in NCAA tournament history. But don't take that statement as a judgement (as many on the forums are want to do), because to attain that title a wrestler needs to be a winner first, and foremost. Oh, the irony. The only way to rack up loses is to win. Finishing 6th or 8th gets you three loses. That's an All-American, baby. So shout out to Kyle Parco. Having finished 6th, 8th, 4th, and 5th he has 10 total loses (3+3+2+2). If he finishes with 2 more loses (fourth or worse), the record is his, and his alone. With an asterisk, of course. The current holders of the title, with 11 total loses, are Kirk Mammen (Oklahoma State 6th, 6th, 5th, 8th) and Ben Bennett (Central Michigan 6th, 8th, 6th, 4th). Long may you ride. If I have left anything out, please add to the list.

That doesn’t mean anything. Your wife is that and she’s 190

There are only two of us on this forum that if a person said back in October "Illinois is going to have 1 Big Ten champion, 2 finalists, and at least 8 qualifiers" that we would have nodded our head and said "Poeta 1, Jombo zero. See ya in March." This one was for him.

reporter: "is this the last of Steve Mocco?" Mocco: "I didn't take my f*cking shoes off..."

FWIW I truly believe Tom Ryan is one of the most genuine and caring coaches in our sport. I've listened to enough interviews over the past 15 or so years to know that he has always been extremely consistent in the brand he preaches and his core values. He cares about his athletes, he cares about cultivating meaningful relationships with these athletes, and he cares as much about stewarding his wrestlers towards being good men after they are done wrestling as he does about the on the mat results. Maybe I am forgetting, but I can't think of any tOSU athletes being controversial on or off the mat (other than Tessari who then was removed from the program). I do think he can get animated and throw a fit, but I think that's just more of an embarrassing heat of the moment reaction than a depiction of who he is as a coach, mentor, and man. Obviously this is from the outside looking in, but I think if I were to pick a program purely for the environment that I think would most help my son develop as both a wrestler and a young man, Ohio State would be my first choice given their track record.

Since seeding is such a big topic around here the last couple days, figured I would give you guys this chart that shows the count of how many times a seed has finished in each place (or not placed) for D1. *Note-This isn't perfect as there are years where I don't have all the seeds. Left column is the seed (blue) and top column is the place (orange). NS=No Seed & DNP = Did Not Place Seed/Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DNP 1 406 143 97 39 25 10 10 1 63 2 164 236 99 76 40 20 9 6 135 3 72 137 139 105 60 49 26 7 191 4 49 65 122 110 69 61 27 15 255 5 21 33 79 73 70 58 43 14 291 6 24 43 57 54 62 61 32 21 332 7 3 25 22 34 54 45 45 35 301 8 11 12 16 27 41 34 56 35 330 9 3 6 15 18 26 26 36 38 318 10 1 7 6 25 21 31 29 28 335 11 1 4 6 13 18 22 20 43 329 12 1 1 6 9 8 16 18 37 355 13 1 2 1 2 3 6 131 14 1 1 2 5 1 4 131 15 2 1 1 2 5 6 3 125 16 1 1 4 131 17 2 2 1 56 18 1 59 19 1 59 20 1 59 21 1 1 58 22 60 23 1 59 24 60 25 1 1 58 26 1 1 2 56 27 1 59 28 1 59 29 60 30 60 31 60 32 60 33 1 57 NS 132 174 221 207 115 164 84 142 14225

Did these in the past. I am just a nobody wrestling fan so feel free to let me know where you think I went wrong. I have no insight into starting lineups (just used wrestlestat to collect all of the data) B1G Interactive Brackets Interactive Brackets: use the interactive brackets using the following letters and the team score will automatically: D, M, T, F (decision, major, tech, fall). Seed changes: You can change those seeds on the 125R, 133R, 141R, etc. sheets and it will automatically update the team predictions based off of seeds with no bonus factored in. Conference Records: These are wrestlers records vs. who I have in the field at that weight Rankings: WS = wrestlestat | CR = coaches ranking | RPI = RPI (I was waiting until the final coaches ranking and RPI to add those) 125 lbs. #1 Matt Ramos (PUR) (23-0, 6-0 BIG): 2 WS #2 Caleb Smith (NEB) (17-4, 7-1 BIG): 8 WS #3 Dean Peterson (RUT) (18-4, 7-1 BIG): 9 WS #4 Jacob Moran (IND) (21-7, 5-5 BIG): 19 WS #5 Brendan McCrone (OSU) (20-7, 3-5 BIG): 3 WS #6 Luke Lilledahl (PSU) (16-2, 4-2 BIG): 12 WS #7 Joey Cruz (IOWA) (12-9, 6-2 BIG): 25 WS #8 Cooper Flynn (MINN) (12-4, 2-3 BIG): 20 WS #9 Nicolar Rivera (WIS) (17-3, 4-3 BIG): 10 WS #10 Dedrick Navarro (NW) (18-10, 4-4 BIG): 28 WS #11 Caleb Weiand (MSU) (10-13, 2-5 BIG): 56 WS #12 Tyler Garvin (MD) (5-18, 0-6 BIG): 66 WS #13 Caelan Riley (ILL) (4-13, 0-7 BIG): 63 WS #14 Wilfred Tanefeu (MICH) (0-7, 0-6 BIG): 65 WS 133 lbs. #1 Drake Ayala (IOWA) (15-1, 4-0 BIG): 2 WS #2 Lucas Byrd (ILL) (15-1, 6-1 BIG): 3 WS #3 Braxton Brown (MD) (20-2, 6-1 BIG): 7 WS #4 Braeden Davis (PSU) (8-3, 3-2 BIG): 13 WS #5 Dylan Shawver (RUT) (17-6, 6-3 BIG): 10 WS #6 Zan Fugitt (WIS) (16-5, 4-3 BIG): 17 WS #7 Jacob VanDee (NEB) (12-7, 6-2 BIG): 16 WS #8 Angelo Rini (IND) (17-7, 5-3 BIG): 22 WS #9 Nic Bouzakis (OSU) (18-6, 3-4 BIG): 14 WS #10 Tyler Wells (MINN) (11-5, 1-3 BIG): 24 WS #11 Dustin Norris (PUR) (7-10, 1-6 BIG): 51 WS #12 Massey Odiotti (NW) (12-14, 1-5 BIG): 46 WS #13 Andrew Hampton (MSU) (6-13, 1-8 BIG): 57 WS #14 Nolan Wertanen (MICH) (5-15, 0-6 BIG): 68 WS 141 lbs. #1 Beau Bartlett (PSU) (18-0, 7-0 BIG): 1 WS #2 Jesse Mendez (OSU) (23-1, 5-1 BIG): 2 WS #3 Brock Hardy (NEB) (19-3, 7-1 BIG): 4 WS #4 Vance Vombaur (MINN) (20-3, 4-2 BIG): 6 WS #5 Joey Olivieri (RUT) (15-6, 4-2 BIG): 13 WS #6 Sergio Lemley (MICH) (15-7, 4-4 BIG): 11 WS #7 Danny Pucino (ILL) (12-4, 4-3 BIG): 16 WS #8 Henry Porter (IND) (13-7, 3-4 BIG): 29 WS #9 Greyson Clark (PUR) (11-9, 3-3 BIG): 30 WS #10 Ryder Block (IOWA) (2-4, 0-2 BIG): 58 WS #11 Chris Cannon (NW) (5-7, 2-5 BIG): 37 WS #12 Dario Lemus (MD) (8-13, 2-5 BIG): 55 WS #13 Brock Bobzien (WIS) (5-15, 1-6 BIG): 53 WS #14 Jaden Crumpler (MSU) (6-15, 0-8 BIG): 59 WS 149 lbs. #1 Shayne VanNess (PSU) (17-1, 7-1 BIG): 2 WS #2 Kyle Parco (IOWA) (18-1, 6-1 BIG): 3 WS #3 Ridge Lovett (NEB) (16-2, 7-1 BIG): 4 WS #4 Dylan D'Emilio (OSU) (17-3, 6-2 BIG): 9 WS #5 Kannon Webster (ILL) (11-5, 3-4 BIG): 11 WS #6 Andrew Clark (RUT) (20-10, 4-3 BIG): 24 WS #7 Kal Miller (MD) (19-8, 4-3 BIG): 32 WS #8 Dylan Gilcher (MICH) (9-7, 3-4 BIG): 27 WS #9 Sam Cartella (NW) (14-7, 5-3 BIG): 18 WS #10 Drew Roberts (MINN) (12-7, 2-6 BIG): 33 WS #11 Isaac Ruble (PUR) (8-11, 1-6 BIG): 68 WS #12 Joey Butler (IND) (17-10, 0-3 BIG): 57 WS #13 Clayton Jones (MSU) (6-12, 0-6 BIG): 71 WS #14 Royce Nilo (WIS) (2-13, 0-5 BIG): 78 WS 149 lbs. #1 Ethan Miller (MD) (20-0, 7-0 BIG): 10 WS #2 Tyler Kasak (PSU) (15-1, 4-1 BIG): 2 WS #3 Antrell Taylor (NEB) (19-2, 6-1 BIG): 4 WS #4 Jacori Teemer (IOWA) (5-2, 1-1 BIG): 3 WS #5 Joey Blaze (PUR) (15-4, 2-2 BIG): 6 WS #6 Tommy Askey (MINN) (20-3, 4-2 BIG): 8 WS #7 Trevor Chumbley (NW) (11-3, 4-1 BIG): 9 WS #8 Chase Saldate (MICH) (9-6, 2-4 BIG): 18 WS #9 Brandon Cannon (OSU) (18-2, 1-1 BIG): 12 WS #10 Conner Harer (RUT) (13-9, 4-3 BIG): 42 WS #11 Jason Kraisser (ILL) (8-7, 1-3 BIG): 37 WS #12 Ryan Garvick (IND) (6-13, 1-7 BIG): 72 WS #13 Luke Mechler (WIS) (9-14, 0-6 BIG): 57 WS #14 Braden Stauffenberg (MSU) (5-14, 0-5 BIG): 69 WS 165 lbs. #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) (19-0, 7-0 BIG): 1 WS #2 Michael Caliendo (IOWA) (18-1, 7-1 BIG): 2 WS #3 Christopher Minto (NEB) (18-2, 6-1 BIG): 10 WS #4 Braeden Scoles (ILL) (13-3, 4-2 BIG): 17 WS #5 Beau Mantanona (MICH) (11-3, 5-2 BIG): 12 WS #6 Andrew Sparks (MINN) (19-5, 3-4 BIG): 9 WS #7 Paddy Gallagher (OSU) (14-6, 1-1 BIG): 14 WS #8 Maxx Mayfield (NW) (17-8, 3-5 BIG): 19 WS #9 Tyler Lillard (IND) (19-7, 5-4 BIG): 18 WS #10 Anthony White (RUT) (13-9, 0-6 BIG): 35 WS #11 Cody Goebel (WIS) (11-7, 1-2 BIG): 41 WS #12 Jay Nivison (MSU) (10-14, 1-6 BIG): 58 WS #13 Stoney Buell (PUR) (12-12, 1-6 BIG): 50 WS #14 Alex Uryniak (MD) (2-13, 1-5 BIG): 64 WS 174 lbs. #1 Levi Haines (PSU) (17-1, 8-0 BIG): 2 WS #2 Carson Kharchla (OSU) (11-1, 7-1 BIG): 4 WS #3 Lenny Pinto (NEB) (19-4, 7-1 BIG): 5 WS #4 Patrick Kennedy (IOWA) (10-3, 4-3 BIG): 7 WS #5 Clayton Whiting (MINN) (14-8, 4-3 BIG): 28 WS #6 Danny Braunagel (ILL) (8-8, 2-4 BIG): 29 WS #7 Brody Baumann (PUR) (16-8, 3-4 BIG): 35 WS #8 Jackson Turley (RUT) (14-8, 2-4 BIG): 23 WS #9 Lucas Condon (WIS) (14-9, 4-4 BIG): 34 WS #10 Ceaser Garza (MSU) (13-12, 1-5 BIG): 48 WS #11 Branson John (MD) (11-14, 2-7 BIG): 37 WS #12 Joseph Walker (MICH) (11-7, 1-5 BIG): 33 WS #13 Roman Rogotzke (IND) (10-8, 0-2 BIG): 56 WS #14 Joseph Martin (NW) (8-9, 0-2 BIG): 57 WS 184 lbs. #1 Carter Starocci (PSU) (18-0, 7-0 BIG): 2 WS #2 Max McEnelly (MINN) (18-0, 8-0 BIG): 4 WS #3 Silas Allred (NEB) (16-3, 5-2 BIG): 7 WS #4 Gabe Arnold (IOWA) (13-2, 5-2 BIG): 8 WS #5 Jaxon Smith (MD) (17-5, 5-2 BIG): 9 WS #6 Edmond Ruth (ILL) (10-6, 4-3 BIG): 14 WS #7 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RUT) (19-9, 3-5 BIG): 21 WS #8 Ryder Rogotzke (OSU) (9-6, 3-5 BIG): 11 WS #9 Donnell Washington (IND) (11-6, 3-4 BIG): 23 WS #10 Jaden Bullock (MICH) (11-11, 2-5 BIG): 39 WS #11 Jon Halvorsen (NW) (8-11, 2-5 BIG): 61 WS #12 Lucas Daly (MSU) (11-13, 2-6 BIG): 62 WS #13 Orlando Cruz (PUR) (10-10, 1-5 BIG): 59 WS #14 Dylan Russo (WIS) (5-13, 0-6 BIG): 67 WS 197 lbs. #1 Stephen Buchanan (IOWA) (19-0, 8-0 BIG): 1 WS #2 Josh Barr (PSU) (17-1, 5-1 BIG): 3 WS #3 Jacob Cardenas (MICH) (16-1, 8-1 BIG): 2 WS #4 Isaiah Salazar (MINN) (14-4, 5-2 BIG): 10 WS #5 Camden McDaniel (NEB) (16-9, 5-4 BIG): 23 WS #6 Zach Braunagel (ILL) (11-5, 4-3 BIG): 13 WS #7 Evan Bates (NW) (16-8, 3-5 BIG): 18 WS #8 Gabe Sollars (IND) (15-9, 4-5 BIG): 25 WS #9 Seth Shumate (OSU) (16-12, 1-5 BIG): 19 WS #10 Remy Cotton (MSU) (12-9, 1-4 BIG): 26 WS #11 Ben Vanadia (PUR) (15-9, 0-4 BIG): 31 WS #12 PJ Casale (RUT) (8-9, 0-2 BIG): 45 WS #13 Chase Mielnik (MD) (10-14, 0-5 BIG): 50 WS #14 Niccolo Colucci (WIS) (1-11, 0-3 BIG): 78 WS 285 lbs. #1 Gable Steveson (MINN) (11-0, 7-0 BIG): 3 WS #2 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) (16-0, 6-0 BIG): 1 WS #3 Josh Heindselman (MICH) (19-2, 7-2 BIG): 9 WS #4 Nick Feldman (OSU) (14-4, 5-3 BIG): 6 WS #5 Luke Luffman (ILL) (13-3, 5-2 BIG): 11 WS #6 Ben Kueter (IOWA) (13-5, 5-3 BIG): 12 WS #7 Yaraslau Slavikouski (RUT) (14-5, 3-4 BIG): 10 WS #8 Seth Nevills (MD) (16-4, 4-4 BIG): 13 WS #9 Jacob Bullock (IND) (16-8, 6-5 BIG): 15 WS #10 Hayden Filipovich (PUR) (11-13, 3-6 BIG): 35 WS #11 Harley Andrews (NEB) (10-12, 2-8 BIG): 33 WS #12 Max Vanadia (MSU) (15-14, 2-5 BIG): 42 WS #13 Dirk Morley (NW) (4-15, 1-7 BIG): 68 WS #14 Gannon Rosenfeld (WIS) (6-10, 0-7 BIG): 63 WS Team Standings (Based off seeds, no bonus projected) 1. Penn State - 159.5 2. Iowa - 116 3. Nebraska - 105 4. Minnesota - 86.5 5. Illinois - 74.5 6. Ohio State - 72 7. Rutgers - 54.5 8. Maryland - 52 9. Michigan - 51.5 10. Purdue - 35 11. Indiana - 26 12. Northwestern - 17 13. Wisconsin - 8.5 14. Michigan State - 2

WKN and SocraTease -- Good discussion and beneficial to anyone interested in wrestlers being honored. When I first came up with the concept back in 1994, I sat down with Dan Hodge (my first book was "Two Guys Named Dan" in 1976 and we became very good friends) and told him of my plans to create something similar to the Heisman Trophy, to draw more media attention and to give college wrestlers something extra to shoot for. Dan endorsed the idea and said if I named it after him, he would like pinning to be an essential part. In 1956, Dan won three national titles (collegiate, freestyle and Greco-Roman) in two weeks time by pinning all 13 foes. I quickly agreed that pinning would be a main factor. But since then, Bryan Van Kley (who bought WIN from me many years ago) and I have tried to "keep up with the times" by including dominance to mean techs and majors, as well as pins. And we consult with many former coaches and leaders of the sport who are on the voting committee and try to listen to what fans are saying (WKN and JB, in particular) and some of my longtime friends who have been involved with the sport for over half a century. Bryan and I are proud that over 20,000 fans vote on line each year and that all the colleges that have a winner play it up big, both at the annual wrestling banquet and at a football game in the fall, often with 70,000 fans in attendance. And we greatly appreciate our sponsor Asics. The goal was always to make wrestling more visible and to honor those who excel at Mankind's Oldest Sport. -- Mike Chapman

McEnelly takes out Starocci in the semis.

Unbelievable, gents. We've made it to our FOURTH year of doing this. This will be our official thread as we start to put together the league. My plan for right now is we will be having a $25 entry fee. We will pay out as follows, team trophies like NCAAs so the top 4 get paid something. We cap the league at 15 players as always. The entry fees should total $375 ($25 x 15 players). 1st Place: $200 2nd Place: $100 3rd Place: $50 4th Place: $25 (money back) HERE ARE LAST YEAR'S ENTRANTS AND THEIR STATUS AS OF NOW @Antitroll2828 @JVStateChamp - confirmed wants to play @Perry - confirmed wants to play Me. The Kid. - confirmed wants to play @flyingcement @lu_alum @RockLobster @Gage @MizzouFan01 - confirmed wants to play @steamboat_charlie @Idaho @MPhillips - he got Biblical in response to the Mark of the Beast going onto the waiting list, so I think he's in @Truzzcat - confirmed wants to play @jajensen09 @nhs67 - confirmed wants to play My policy this year remains the same as last year: Prior year entrants have first dibs, but if I don't hear from you by a certain time (TBD) before the Draft (TBD also but has to be done by Tuesday night before NCAAs, because I fly out Wednesday morning) we will go to the wait list. Also, if you don't pay by that same time given to prior entrants, you lose your spot unless you get it paid before it's filled by someone off the wait list. The draft will be held using these forums and a Zoom call (Zoom was fun last year for those that joined!) to try to make it go as fast as possible. I'll hammer out the draft details in a later post. The rules remain the same: you draft one person per weight class, plus you get one "Wild Card" which can be any weight. The Draft will be snake style. HERE IS OUR CURRENT WAIT LIST, WHICH WILL BE FIRST COME FIRST SERVE @666 @BruceyB

The Wasteland Invitational became an instant classic

Gabe Arnold gets a lot of stick on this and other forums. Some of it deserved given his penchant for calling out Starocci without backing it up (sometimes not his fault, sometimes his fault). And some of it is completely undeserved, as grown men being childish and investing way too much of their self-worth in how someone else performs at a sport. So I wanted to point out something I noticed last night. During the 197 final Arnold was waiting with the other podium finishers at 184 on the far side of the floor. Rather than hang in the designated area at the opposite side of the floor, he asked for, and was granted permission to be near the mat where the 197 final was happening so he could cheer on his teammate. No one else from any other team thought to do something like this the rest of the night (or they were denied permission if they did). To be clear, he needed to be escorted there by a credentialed worker as it was off limits for anyone without credentials. So let's give it up for Arnold being a great teammate in that moment.

Terrible news to begin the week that we have lost one of our own. Hope you're having a blast with those Sunday comics in the sky because you will be missed down here.

Just ask him. Hey Angelo, what is your ceiling at NCAAs this year:

Calling ryan a POS for one outburst is beyond uncharitable. He runs a great program and has improved the lives of hundreds of kids. Did you all forget that these are D1 coaches who ALL lose their sh*t at one point or another? These are the most competitive, prominent people in the sport. T&T tell the world and everyone in it to f*ck itself every dual meet, but ryan has one outburst and you want to hang him from a lamppost?

My favorite part was where AJ Ferrari boasted about getting his “vanity” under control… while wearing an AJ Ferrari shirt.

I admire Penn State's wrestling program, but I have to make an exception with Nickal. He's is often an example of things gone haywire and wrong. He exudes toxic "bro" culture and exaggerated macho-ness. He has a Texas-sized ego that often rivals Ferarri for it's wounded narcissism. (The two are from the same high school.) He is blindly ambitious in that sense made famous by Oscar Wilde's line, "Ambition is the last refuge of failure". He has no sense of proportion. Listen to the tone of his words as well as the content. He is hyperbolic and usually self-referential. He invokes Jesus as some kind of culture warrior, but clearly knows little to nothing about biblical history, the New Testament, or his occasional "hero's" life and words. He hitches a ride off the bluster, blatant jingoism, and authoritarianism of a dangerous politician who will remain unnamed. He has athletic talent but imagines he is the second coming of something special in MMA. He's not. When he gets plastered to the floor in MMA the way Askren got humbled, I expect we will hear a litany of excuses. As for his jealousy of David Taylor, Nickal shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence.

In thinking about dark horses I originally wanted to limit it to guys outside of the top 8 as they are already ranked for AA. But then I got to thinking about the 9 - 12 group and how they are only a blood round win away (in theory), from AA. So I decided to limit myself to 13 and higher. The higher the darker. Then I looked for guys with some rankings momentum. Here is what I have: I love that there are guys from Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Campbell, Bucknell, Navy, Army, and Bakersfield that are rallying into their conference tournaments. Those are the guys I am pulling hardest for.

Starocci and his brother may be second on that list after this year.

Kennedy has one year of eligibility left. As to this farcical post, first we can let Gabe Arnold speak for himself: The most logical way this played out, to me (and this is without insider info) 1. Gabe, Kennedy, and Brands all want to go 174 in the offseason, and all are healthy. 2. Brands at that point was beating the other two, so Gabe makes the decision early to go up. 3. Kennedy is small for 174, let alone 184 so that's not viable for him. 4. The presumption was Brands and Kennedy would battle it out for 174, but most people thought Brands was the favorite in that match up. 5. Brands gets hurt, so Kennedy can slide in to that spot. Arnold is already up at 184 and doing well. Brands is injured, so he can't be counted on to bump up in that scenario, which would have allowed Arnold to come down and challenged Kennedy. 7. Brands is out for most of the season; Kennedy wrestles well against lesser competition; Gabe does pretty well at 184, but not lights out. 8. Kennedy meets some of the tougher guys, and the results start to dry up; Brands is cleared, and is coming back. Now this is all deductive reasoning, but it all makes sense. And no, I don't think Gabe was placed at 184. I think it's very likely RS freshman Gabe Arnold was struggling to beat a healthy former 5th place finisher at the NCAAs, so he decided to go up (and will come back down next year).

Fun watching when you don't have a dog in the fight. Thanks to OSU (central) and Hawkeyes for doing this every year.

Sasso a warrior, 99% of people wouldn't even make it back to the mat. It has been a pleasure watching him these last 5 years.

Being a four-timer is super impressive. It takes an insane amount of work and talent and at least some luck (to be healthy enough to compete) to win a single title. But when you consider that each year brings with it new challenges — new competitors, old competitors focusing on you, perhaps new rules or tactics, new injury possibilities, momentary mental lapses that cost you a match at NCAAs, etc — winning four times in a row is incredible. In general, I think fans put too much of a premium on all time discussions and not enough of a premium on appreciating the performances in front of us. Let’s give these athletes their props.

Nor do we need three f'ing threads about the same thing...

Asked and answered on Sunday:

just more loserthink or is it lobsterthink

I think you have to judge him by his entire body of work. Everyone gets caught up in the moment at times. Overall I think he does a really good job.

Zach Glazier is going to have 21,000 people rooting for him to do the funniest thing Thursday night

Glad to contribute. Real thanks goes to @SNL Wrestling...he got them out quick!

I’m not sure if anyone has brought this up yet, but a good cap to a career by Gavin at Lock Haven this season. 15-2 record, a conference championship and another NCAA tournament bid.

Our late friemd @ILLINIWrestlingBlog has got to be happy with that last one.

Jeez, another Anthony Knox, Jr. thread. Oh, never mind.

Two-time finalist and 2023 National Champ from Glenville State, Gavin Quiocho, wasn't in the line-up this past weekend. His coach, former WVU NQ Dylan Cottrell, claimed that he struggled to make 133 AND that he lost wrestle-offs to the 141 who took sixth at Super Region III. UW-Parkside took it on the chin from 133 to 157. Then again, that SR might be the toughest in D2, if not the second toughest. Coach Becker has to be feeling the results this morning. New Jersey's brand new program, Felician, qualified two to the tournament. Congrats! American International had their final qualifier this year at 157. Sad to see the program fold. University of Nebraska-Kearney had a GREAT second half of the season and look mighty strong heading into Nationals. Can three-time finalist and 2024 National Champ at 197, Derek Blubaugh from University of Indianapolis, make a fourth finals? First, it was Abney from Central Oklahoma who had his number, and now it may be Logan Kvien of McKendree. Either way, Blubaugh is a monster and a great kid to boot. Congratulations to the 50 teams that qualified at least one guy to the tournament in two weekends! With six-plus teams coming to D2 in the next few seasons, the NCAA might want to look at the structure of the Super Regions. You now have three really strong ones and three SRs which aren't as competitive. The coaches want the BEST kids at the tournament, just like in D1, and not just regional representation.

Opening this thread, I was hopefully thinking that it was only the blog that was gone and not the actual man. always enjoyed interacting with him. His comics and attitude helped create a laid back and fun environment here. Jombo was a hilarious way to start Sunday mornings. He will be missed and his impact will not be quickly forgotten.

Cam Steed of Missouri. He can either go 0/2 or podium. Regardless, he will let it fly.

It's definitely @Hammerlock3...Went from Hammerlock to Hammerlock2 and now Hammerlock3 because he keeps forgetting his passwords

Someone on HVI asked me to calculate the odds of PSU finishing with just 1 champion. Here is what I came up with. There are a couple ways to look at this. Using odds generated from the entire field between 2010 and 2024, and assuming the current Flo rankings will also be the seeds, the most likely outcome is 3 champions. There is even an infinitely small chance of 10 champs (0.0000172%) But PSU has always performed better than the field. If we use odds generated from PSU's results over the same time frame, the most likely outcome jumps up to 5 champions. However, the odds of 9 or 10 go to zero as PSU has not had a #4 or #8 win in that window. In this scenario there is even a 32.5% chance PSU breaks the record and finishes with 6+ champions. Nuts. The big difference is the #1 and #2 seeds. For the field including PSU #1 seeds won 52.14% of the time, but PSU #1 seeds won 80.77% of the time. For the field including PSU #2 seeds won 19.29% of the time, but PSU #2 seeds won 42.11% of the time. Of course, the B1G tournament results will go a long way toward determining the actual seeds. I will update this at that time.

There were 63 freshmen who qualified for the 2021 tournament, thereby earning the first of five potential bites at the apple. Of those 63 only 25 have earned All-American status at any point since. 7 four-timers 2 three-timers 7 two-timers 9 one-timers Despite this being the fifth tournament they have been eligible for there still many with eligibility left. Everyone's favorite soldier saluter, AJ Ferrari, leads the way with two more years of eligibility after this year. Rocky Elam, Taye Ghadiali, Lucas Byrd, Chris Cannon and Dylan Ragusin have another year if they ask for and get a medical. It looks like only David Key (Navy), and Ben Pasiuk (Army) left a year of eligibility on the table by only using four. Of those finishing up this year Kyle Parco, Cam Amine, Wyatt Hendrickson, Trey Munoz, and Michael Beard have all exercised their freedom of movement by finishing at a school other than where they started the potential five-time journey in 2020 or 2021.

Didn't you see history being made? When was the last time a three time state champ was disqualified in his quest for four because he went into the stands to help his father fight? Can't be more than two or three times.

What is Myles Martin the GOAT of?

Last year I decided I wanted to see if I could make an excel file that to use for the 2024 NCAA Bracket to fill out and see how close I could get on projecting team points. This year I have upgraded the file a bit and have it ready for the 2025 tournament. This file can be used to either pick your own results or you can follow along with the actual tournament and fill it out as you go. HOW IT WORKS: There is a tab for each weight class that includes the bracket that will automatically fill out the bracket as you select the result of each match up (yellow box beside each name that has a drop down list of possible result). Based on this selection the bracket will automatically update the team points associated and progress each wrestler further into the bracket. The file keeps a track of each team point earned via advancement points, bonus points, and placement points just as trackwrestle does. There are tabs for each session to keep a running team score. There is a tab for overall team points that includes each wrestler based on team and the points they earned. There is also a tab for Finishers that includes the AA and blood round finishers at each weight. I have attached the blank 2025 NCAA Tournament file and the 2024 NCAA Tournament file to this post. Enjoy, if further instruction is needed to operate let me know. 2025 NCAA WRESTLING BRACKET.xlsx 2024 NCAA WRESTLING BRACKET.xlsx

65 teams, 330 wrestlers, 80 All-Americans, 10 Champions, and 1 Most Outstanding Wrestler. I am getting tingly all over. Oh, yeah. And a team title. Let’s just get the team race out of the way right away. The Highlander - There Can Be Only One It is Penn State’s to lose…..again. Boring. Well not for me. But for you guys. What is not boring is the race for second. Wow, did that heat up. With Iowa’s seed average (9.6) much lower than their ranking average (6.7) going into the conference tournament, Oklahoma State, and Nebraska are firmly in the conversation for second. Feels kinda Thunderdome-y to me. Three Intermat posters enter (@VakAttack, @ionel, @jajensen09), one man leaves. But do not count Virginia Tech, and Minnesota out as serious podium contenders. Northern Iowa, Cornell, and Illinois may be long shots, but don’t you dare try telling our muse @ILLINIWrestlingBlog that. Rest in Peace, buddy. Just don’t do it on that great big mat in the sky or we will send Jombo up to call the stall in all his ham and vinegar fueled wrath. Here is hoping your beloved Illini do the deed. Author’s Note: For the long-time readers in the crowd you know that I come up with these point projections based on how the average wrestler at each seed performs. Well, here is the thing about PSU, they just don’t do average. For example, based on average expectations last year they were projected to score 145 points. And we know what happened. So, yeah, 155.7 this year is more. If you throw in the PSU bump relative to the average, they project out to something like 183. Yep. Lou Gehrig Award Who is this year’s Iron Horse? How appropriate that our warrior is a soldier. Army’s Brady Colbert leads all entrants with 36 wins on the season among his total of 43 matches. The man is a thrown back. And if you aren’t careful, he will throw you to your back. Our hero had 10 pinfalls among his 36 wins. With Wyatt Pinfalldrickson flying into the sunset at the end of the tournament, perhaps we have a new American Hero in the Black Knight freshman. Is he The One Who Was Promised? The Harlem Globetrotters Award The Globetrotters have won 27,000 games. You read that right. They will beat anyone, anywhere, anytime. And Campbell shares that ethos. If Campbell is going out this year, they are doing it in style. The Fighting Camels have the highest average matches contested among their entered wrestlers. The Outliers I am not sure what to make of this but there are more wrestlers with sub-0.500 records than with perfect records. Go figure.

I'm more excited about the Keck/McEnelly semi than whoever makes the final

I think its from bridging.

What happens when Kasak and shapiro headbutt each other and neither passes protocol in the ncaa finals?

I am rooting for Kanon Webster over everyone the rest of his career, in GG's honor. The guy was such a great guy. I am happy I was able to meet him at B1Gs two years ago.

Do you remember when I asked you if you were outraged that Brandon Johnson in Chicago who refused to deport a convicted (in Chicago) sex offender illegal alien. I’ll bet you do. I think you said it’s not his job to enforce the law. Your caring is selective and solely politically motivated. Save the rah rah boss.