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nobody has a high ground w/ regards to the portal for the upper echelon programs, they're all trying to use it. This does not change my opinions on the Ferraris. I would recruit the hell out of Angelo, but only him. If he won't come without his brothers, that sucks, but move on. It's unfair, though, to paint Angelo with the stains of his brothers, he's his own person, and him loving his brothers doesn't mean he would act the same way as they're accused of doing.

Let's start with the team race. Expectations We all know who won and by how much. But who made the seeding process look flawed? Well clearly that is American, Clarion, Drexel and Northern Colorado. They just need a few more wrestlers. Sometimes it is more about how you perform relative to expectations, than how you perform outright. But seriously, the out-performers of the tournament were Ohio State and Michigan. Of course, there is more room to out-perform when you start with lower initial seeds, but Ohio State's rise was enough to take them from a pre-tournament predicted 9th place finish all the way up to an actual fourth place finish. Penn State? Right on seed. For all the drama of a 2 for 5 Saturday night, really no drama thanks to guys like Bartlett and Van Ness beating their seed (and to a lesser extent Dean). Missouri over-seeded? Not so much. Can we put that one to bed? No. Never. That was foolish of me. Sorry. Bracketology Most busted? You got it. 125 was the most busted, but not for that reason,. For the other reason. We can credit App State's five seed for the biggest contribution followed by Oregon State's seven seed. That Iowa kid was only the third biggest contributor. On the flip side, 157 went closest to chalk. Seven of the top eight seeds finished on the podium and the won who did not, made it to the blood round (where he lost in SV to another top eight seed). For standard deviation though, it is actually 174. Take your pick. But Why Is It Always About the Big Dogs? After all, who doesn't love an under dog? The biggest out-performance always comes from the guys with the most to gain. Stand up and take a bow, gentlemen. Starting with Northern Colorado's Vinny Zerban who came into 157 as the 32 seed, but made the blood round for a Rocky Mountain High out-performance of 23 slots (I give him credit for ninth. Because). Next we have Virginia Tech's Eddie Ventresca who tore up his bracket, screamed at the Wrestling God's and said, "seeds don't matter." He came in as a 27 seed, but left as an All-American (7th). Not to be outdone, West Virginia's Killian Cardinale said, "yes, please, and thank you. I will take some of that." As he came in as the 28 seed at 125 and finished finished on the podium (8th). (OK, he was slightly outdone in that Ventresca beat him 7-6 in the seventh place match, but come on, why ya gotta be like that?) And not exactly bringing up the rear (but coming from there) Cal Poly's Dom Demas exemplified the "chip and a chair" mentality. When given a second bite at the apple by being awarded the 33 seed at 149 after an injury to another wrestler, he made it all the way to the blood round's blood round (let it be a thing) for a healthy 20 slot jump. Last on my arbitrarily sorted list, but first in Sparty's heart is Caleb Fish. The 165 pounder was seeded 29, but made the blood round. That Fish is a keeper.

I hope many of the guys discussed like an Anthony Noto stay at their respective schools, it means a lot for a mid major to have an AA and helps them in the recruiting process to try and build a team. Once these kids get poached once they AA it seems like the rich get richer.

What a relief. I almost thought your sources were not unimpeachable. Carry on Pat Min....er....Jimmy.

Cardinale WVU and McGee Arizona St, both wrestled at ODU before the program was cut. I know I’m not the only one besides Jason Bryant that is still pissed off about that administrative decision. who else we got? Celebrate the wrestlers for finding a new home and excelling, and don’t forget the programs that have been lost.

AJ Nevills graduates, insert Seth at SDSU Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was the old forum. We don't have to do that anymore. Anyway, I found this clip from the practice.

Damn. On a serious note, we should all wait until the all the information comes out before passing judgement/commenting. But on a not so serious note: I am sure they can land in Iowa City, maybe HWC can expand their coaching roster. No background checks necessary.

Looking at the brackets I am always interested who lost their first match and made it to AA. It appears that only one person did that this year. 184 (11) Gavin Kane UNC - took 8th. There were a number of folks that AA'd after winning their first match but losing their second. But I am only listing the guy that went the furthest after losing their first match. I say congrats to Gavin in his Herculean effort to come back from a 1st round loss and come back to AA. mspart

Guess Iowa isn’t making moves but they are good at making rumors

Quisel then won his first four matches at the next NCAAs only to lose in the finals to Brett Matter of Penn. Put another way, Quisel won 12 straight matches at NCAAs and did not win a title.

Are you suggesting Spencer's mom didn't stay for the finals? Was there a braille option on the Espn app?

he is downstairs drilling right now...

… Heard it from a friend who Heard it from a friend who Heard it from another ...

Yes, good chance.

Where were these extra tickets? I don't have any ties to a program to get the insider tickets. I called half a dozen different school ticket offices, none of them knew how many tickets they were getting until March, and in the end none had extra tickets to sell to me. Ticketmaster and stubhub only had stupid expensive tickets or very crappy seats in the corners and high up. I love the championships enough to fly there without tickets and found some decent seats from someone out front. But seriously I should not have had to do that with how many empty seats there were. Something is broken with the system.

Is Downey’s locker still available?

What an old school throw back. Felt like I was watching a post match interview from the 1970's. He looks like he can go back to working in the steel mill next week a champion. Good stuff.

Given the drama at Ohio University he may be available in the transfer portal soon:

A few nice throws at 1:28 and 2:33. Nice shot at 5:10. I think Vito is quicker.

Can I tell Burrito?

Hey ... AOC ... know nothing on line 3!!

I sell tickets on the side. First 3 sessions did not sell out. Other sessions "sold out", but still a decent amount of tickets left on the secondary market. Last minute tickets were available for as low as $5 on Thursday. I'm also from Oklahoma.... Tulsa is still quite a ways behind okc for event hosting. Also, the above-mentioned fact about Oklahoma schools being down is a MAJOR thing.

Sounds like he has a higher calling

Feel free to keep the source confidential

Yeah, but that guy who only wrestled to seed needs to do much better. And don't start with the excuses like he was the #1 seed.

I was surprised how poorly they did based on their results earlier in the season. And you're right. It's been six years. They should be challenging for a trophy by now.

That could be good for the sport. Help it grow. I'm a little surprised there aren't more B1G schools in the process of starting a program. It IS possible to make just one thread not about you...right? Why don't we just let this be that thread.

That’s awesome! This year was the second year in a row I missed the ACC tournament after about 12 years straight of making it after I wrapped up college (young kids have me busy). I’m definitely planning on getting back to going next year. I used to post UNC and ACC previews back on the old board from roughly 2015-2020 before life got busy, but I’m planning to start back this coming October. It doesn’t get a ton of engagement lol, but I try to give the conference a little bit of recognition and interaction on the board sporadically. I got over to this board a little late in the season so I missed a solid chunk of time to talk about ACC guys

In 2012 at 149 pounds, Don Vinson got 3rd place after losing in the first round. The kicker? His opponent in the 3rd place match was Cam Tessari, who had also lost in the first round.

Northern Colorado seems to have a good thing going on.

Mizzou is trending up. A very good tournament for the Tigers, who will return 5 AA's and a National Champ next season. The tournament will be held in Missouri, which is sure to be a boost for the Tigers.

Gifs. Greco. Getting in the last word. <insert jim doing dwight impression gif>

I know it has taken a little time, but Dresser and Co. at Iowa State seem to be tredning in the right direction. Every year the place higher at NCAAs, and the recruting is moving in the right direction. Lot to be optomistic about.

Nic Bouzakis posted on his instagram 55 minutes ago "Let it be known. Im a buckeye"

It is not prosecutorial misconduct, lol, least not based on what we know right now. That's an extremely high bar.

I can’t even pretend to be that stone cold dumb

Your strategy may have been correct. You may have regretted the jalapeno popcorn later...

Gable was never charged.....AJ is not competing next year and likely never will again at the NCAA level. AJ posted a video of himself taking a gun out the trunk of his car and then aimlessly shooting it into the night. He also almost killed multiple people by driving recklessly. He should have been kicked off of the team the second that video was posted, and definitely after the car accident. Even if he is acquitted due to the reasonable doubt standard, any D1 coach that allows him onto a college campus is being foolish. And I am making that statement merely off of the judge finding enough evidence to send this case to trial and the fact that there is a video of him shooting guns blindly into the night. And yes, PSU was wrong to allow Andrew Long onto their team. It is by far the worst decision Cael has made as a coach, and in retrospect I hope there isn't a single fan who thinks that NCAA title was worth the damage done to the PSU community. Some things are more important than wrestling. Everyone deserves a second chance, but that second chance does not need to be at the NCAA level. Andrew Long's second (or third) chances should never have put students (and their families) at risk, and if AJ is ever given a second chance, it needs to be through something like MMA.

This is a thoughtful post, the speculation is done in good faith and spirit and grounded in a first hand account from a reporter. I tend to think two things can be true at once. He's got a significant injury and was unspeakably disraught. I think the reason for the latter is that after SIX YEARS of knee tears it all got to him and kept him from wrestling how he did in those brief windows he's been healthy. And I think he'd started hitting his stride this year and probably popped something again. Your post made me focus more on the parallels to Gable. Only two guys can really understand this. The coronation that didn't happen. I think of that cringey video where they give Gable the banner and say that the last space is for the last title. In Spencer's case maybe even worse given the Brands comments and his own GOAT show. And this happened to Spencer TWICE!!! Folks that's why they actually play the games.

A caller talked about it on the show. After the caller they talked about Spencer's loss then went into his mom's reaction. It then turned to the fact that everyone has "lost it" over much less. Each one of the Danettes shared when they totally lost it over something.... wall paper that wouldn't go on right... a messed up food order...etc. It was pretty funny. They talked about how it was more about her kid than his loss and they could understand her reaction, because hey had lost it over way more dumb stuff. Probably a better take in some regards than the wrestling community. It was in the last hour on the show. I was listening to it live as I drove.

Personally, I think Spencer was just plain too distraught to get it together in time. Quint's comment in the ESPN broadcast in response to Iowa's press release was revealing. He said that he happened to be in the back area later that evening for another reason, and saw Spencer -- and described him, without going into uncomfortable detail, as the most distraught he had ever seen a wrestler after a match at NCAAs. Ever. Its really the only explanation. If it were an injury, he'd still be there cheering on his teammates right away, not just mid-day. Spencer has too much leadership to not be there rooting for his teammates if he can. Too much class to not congratulate the victor. Too much sense of duty to not wrestle back for third if he can. Too much of a tough guy to not wrestle back if he can. He just couldn't pull himself together. The Iowa press release was damage control, not the calculated decision that Chael assumes. They had to say something to keep the wolves at bay, but didn't want to say the truth, so they fed this line about recovery being a "long road" -- enough for readers to infer injury, but vague enough to avoid being later called a lie. But I'm not inclined to blame Spencer for not wrestling back, because I really think it was beyond his control. As I said above, I'm confident that if he weren't in such a hyper distressed state, that he'd have been able to do all those things that he ordinarily would. He always has. He just couldn't. The interesting question is -- why was he so distraught that he couldn't recover like everyone else who suffered heartbreaking defeats? Personally, I think it is because he started believing the hype, instead of being the intensely self-critical guy whose self-disapproval made him constantly improve and become who he is. The GOAT podcast stuff, Brands saying he's the best wrestler of all time, the separate training, the sponsorships, the separate Iowa web page, all of it unmoored him from what makes him great, made him believe for a moment he really was invincible, and he couldn't regain his footing when he lost like that. Again, this is all just my opinion. I could be wrong. Maybe some doctor will say he shredded his ACL in the 1st match and wouldn't clear him for Saturday. But for now, I think Spencer started believing too many things about himself that weren't compatible with losing -- so when he did lose, he was shattered. Really hope he is OK and can find peace. Love watching him and hope to see on the mat for the US Open.

Isn't it great that we live in a country where Brooks was free to say what he did, network wasn't afraid to broadcast what he said, and we can therefore exchange opinions regarding what he said. Free speech and freedom of the press in action. I love it when a plan comes together

Kyle Parco (AA'd at Fresno State in 2021, the school then re-dropped the program, transferred to ASU where he AA'd in 2022 and 2023)

Since when?

Bottom man can't score nearfall.

Just picture this for a minute will you Vak. It's March 2024, Saturday night of the NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships. The team scores are neck and neck between Iowa and Penn State, stakes are high, pressure is high, excitement is high. It all comes down to 197 lbs, Aaron Brooks going for his 4th NCAA Title, vs AJ Ferrari, Iowa. Ferrari Defeats Brooks, perhaps (hopefully?) even in a controversial manner. Ferrari flexes on Cael, chairs are thrown. The entire Iowa crowd wearing the Iowa NWO shirts are flexing. It's a grand time. Life is good.

I’m wondering what the response would be if a wrestler after the match just said “God isn’t real and people who believe in him are stupid.”