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Being upset about someone praising God says a lot more about you then it does about the person who praised God.

Our Aaron, Who art in State College, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Championships come, Thy Will be done, On Happy Valley as it is in Kansas City. Give us this day, our daily medal, And forgive us our stalls, as we forgive those who stall against us. And lead us not into cradles, but deliver us from pinfelled.

Maybe Brands doesn't think he's in trouble? He should know if he's in trouble. When you get in trouble, like when you're in trouble, is when you don't know you're in trouble, but when you get in trouble and if you know you're in trouble then you always end up on top.

And Santa Claus is better than the Easter bunny, but who gives a shit, neither one helped you win a Big Ten title.

I will let them know that you are tired of it, Kenny. Imagine the audacity of a young man getting his 2 minutes of TV time and thanking God.

#1 Willie when he's not picking political fights on Twitter #5 ask Rhino he's the top question submitter #8 Dan Gable (can also be interpreted as Brands Sucks) #12 What the higher ranked wrestler does literally anytime they have to wrestle #14 the finest piece of Italian-American machinery you can lay two fingers on #16 when the going gets hard, you can thank the senator for breaking barriers and getting hard for us all

It makes sense to me. Neither could get the job done at the big dance even though it was a three day affair

The Badgers finished 8th with one wrestler in the finals, Go Bono!!!

Lot of false prophets in this thread. I skipped church knowing I'd get my heavenly dose of the Good Lord from my main man, Aaron Brooks. Aaron, Moses' brother, was chosen to be the high priest, to minister in the name of the Lord, and to make atonement for the people. Aaron Brooks, on the other hand, was chosen by Cael to minister to wrestling fans, pick ankles, and give the devil a little hell of his own. The devil's name? Tom Brands.

If a wrestler was Hindu or Muslim, doing that would make people lose their shit in about .03 seconds.

Sincerely, I don't care about their religious beliefs and don't want to hear about them. And if someone gave all glory to satan, I think a lot of you would show your hypocrisy.

I believe post-match interview performances are a factor in NCAA seedings, so here are the official rankings. First, an explanation of the criteria: Charisma/Poise (1-5): is the wrestler comfortable, and can they communicate well? Gratitude (1-5): Did they express gratitude? Admittedly this depends somewhat on the questions asked. Emotion (1-5): How much emotion do they express? Any emotion (except for boredom, Greg) Humility (1-5): How humble are they? Negative points for arrogance (I'm talking to you Jesse) I also deduct a point for each Cliche, for example: I trust in my training We have the best coaching staff All glory to god I have a great support system I just have to wrestle through positions Here are the final, purely objective rankings: Wrestler Charisma Gratitude Emotion Humility Cliché Score Ruth 5 5 3 5 0 18 Lovett 5 3 5 4 0 17 Haines 4 4 5 5 -1 17 Mesenbrink 5 3 3 5 -1 15 Shawver 4 3 4 4 -1 14 Brooks 2 4 2 5 -2 11 Salazar 3 1 4 2 -3 7 Mendez 3 1 3 1 -2 6 Kerkvliet 1 1 1 5 -2 6 Davis 1 1 2 1 0 5 Congratulations to Edmond Ruth for being the champion of champions (I didn't even count his pre-hand raise dancing), and good effort from Lovett and Haines. On the flip side, Braeden Davis needs some works.

There is a lot to unpack after a big weekend of conference championships. One effort that deserves some attention is Nash qualifying for the national tournament after three years off from the sport. In the current era of sport specialization, this is a tougher feat as compared to Heavyweight football players of a couple generations ago.

This is a bad take. I get that people are shitting on Bono and the team hasn't progressed as expected, but the Wisconsin staff deserves credit for Hamiti. He was not top 6 in college as a high school senior yet that's where he was as a true freshman. And he did this in the toughest weight class. There are three junior world champs in his weight this year and last year there were three former NCAA champs. It appears like he has made genuine strides this year. He was 24-1 going into Big Tens with the highest bonus rate of his career. His only loss was 2-0 to Carr, a junior world and NCAA champ that has only lost 5 matches in NCAA competition. Would a good coach have changed that results? I have my doubts. Possibly a great coach could have changed that. On Sunday Hamiti looked to have Messenbrink beat. This wasn't like his losses in years past to Marinelli, Griffith, and Amine where he wasn't able to generate any meaningful offense and after you'd question what his path to victory could be? He took Messenbrink down three times, reversed him, and at one point had over 1:00 of riding time advantage. Most of the points Messenbrink scored could be seen as lapses on Haiti's part. He should have been able to not give up that TD with 0:02 left in the second. Then when he got put on his back it looked more like Hamiti rolled to his back to fight the TD and Messenbrink held him there than Messenbrink actively putting him there. He's probably currently the #4 165 behind O'Toole, Carr, and Messenbrink and he could easily beat Messenbrink by just cleaning up what he did in Big Ten final. I don't think many coaches could get him past O'Toole and Carr.

He's been a punk his entire career and there's been a lot of hypocrisy from the fans regarding his behavior.

I see fans quite routinely express the notion that athletes are implying that God is helping them win, as in at the expense of another competitor or team. I don't believe that is the case at all. I believe they feel that God makes them better than only one person, and that is the person they otherwise would turn into if not for their faith.

I'm agnostic myself and don't believe God or any higher power is invested in me being better than someone else. But, I've been fascinated by the number of athletes across different sports who really go full in on the God psychology. This is just my opinion and not based on any reputable study. Right or wrong I think the "God" in most athletes psyches is just another tool to keep them motivated and focused on success. Creating a God as some guiding light gives them a higher purpose and can increase motivation. So it can be a very effective tool & when competing at the highest level you need every little angle or edge you can find to keep you ahead of your competition

125 - (6) #9 Stevo Poulin Northern Colorado #17 Brandon Kaylor Oregon State #20 Anthony Molton, Campbell #21 Brendan McCrone Ohio State #24 Diego Sotelo Harvard #25 Elijah Griffin Cal Baptist 133 - (5) #9 Michael Colaicco, Penn #10 Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State #18 Julian Farber, Northern Iowa #19 Tyler Wells, Minnesota #23 Kade Moore, Missouri 141 - (6) #11 Jordan Titus, West Virginia #12 Vince Cornella, Cornell #16 Tom Crook, Virigina Tech #27 Kal Miller, Maryland #29 Haiden Drury, Utah Valley UR Jacob Brya, Northern Illinois 149 - (4) #22 Alek Martin, South Dakota State #28 Jude Swisher, Penn #28 Micahel Cetta, Rutgers #31 Javion Jones, Northern Illinois 157 - (4) #2 Vince Zerban, Northern Colorado Bryce Andonian, Virginia Tech #3 Michael Blockhus, Minnesota #26 Matt Bianchi, Little Rock 165 - (5) #9 Caleb Fish, Michigan State #12 Garrett Thompson, Ohio #14 Bryce Hepner, Ohio State #16 Holden Heller, Pitt #19 Noah Mulvaney, Bucknell 174 - (4) #1 Carter Starocci, Penn State #17 Luca Augustine, Pitt #19 Tyler Brennan, Little Rock #26 Danny Wask, Navy 184 - (5) #10 Will Feldkamp, Iowa State #19 Max Hale, Penn #28 Jha'Quan Anderson, Gardner-Webb #31 Tony Negron, Arizona State #32 Caleb Hopkins, Campbell 197 - (4) #14 Evan Bockman, Utah Valley #27 Andy Smith, Virginia Tech #29 John Crawford, Franklin & Marshall #30 Evan Bates, Northwestern 285 - (4) #23 Trevor Tinker, Cal Poly #26 Seth Nevills, Maryland #30 Bennett Tabor, Minnesota Dayton Pitzer, Pitt ACC - 6 Big XII - 10 BIg Ten - 12 EIWA - 8 MAC - 3 PAC 12 - 5 SoCon - 3

In the beginning, Coach Cael Sanderson created the foundation of a wrestling dynasty at Penn State. The program was without form and void, and darkness was over the surface of the mat. And Coach Sanderson said, "Let there be technique," and there was technique. Coach saw that the technique was good, and he separated the high-percentage moves from the low-percentage ones. He called the high-percentage moves "effective" and the low-percentage ones he did not use. And there was practice, and there was recovery—the first day. Then Coach Sanderson said, "Let there be a culture in the midst of the team, and let it separate wrestlers with a growth mindset from those without." So Coach made the culture and separated the wrestlers who learned from every match from those who did not. And it was so. And there was drilling, and there was conditioning—the second day. And Coach Sanderson said, "Let the wrestlers under the team bring forth victories, accolades, and champions after their kind." And it was so. The mat brought forth wrestlers like Aaron Brooks, who dominated with skill and heart, and the team saw that it was good. And there was scouting, and there was strategizing—the third day. And Coach Sanderson said, "Let there be stars in the sky of the Bryce Jordan Center to give light to the fans." And he set Casey Cunningham in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the mat, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the spirit of victory from defeat. And Coach saw that it was good. And there was anticipation, and there was triumph—the fourth day. Thus, the mat and the heavens and all their array were completed. And on the seventh day, Coach Sanderson finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. Coach Sanderson blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. This is the account of the heavens and the mat when they were created, in the day that Coach Cael Sanderson and his team of wrestlers made them.

God scored six team points in that match (after all, it was The Fall).

that is your problem with all interviews today? Someone sharing their faith? Damn bud, go kick a dog or something, slap an elderly person....

I agree with this. But to say that nothing matters is stupid

Should we really have to hear your beliefs? We want to post about wrestling not hear what you believe.

Lord, watch over Kenny. Amen

I am a PSU fan, but I am done with the PSU athletes trying to tell us about religion. And when they say that "none of this matters," then why are we watching?

Imagine how good Hamiti would be if he had a good coach. Hamiti has basically been the same guy every year.

So Ramirez actually gets punished for beating Carr, if the committe intervenes and puts Carr at the #3.

I don't like the hypocrisy. If the roles were reversed and a Muslim wrestler said Jesus was a false prophet, all the same people praising Brooks for speaking out would be up in arms and freaking out. They want to pretend it's the "woke" people trying to shut people up. In reality they just like it because it aligns with their beliefs, not because they believe in free speech. Also, how big does your ego have to be to think that God is personally invested in your wrestling success? It's such a ludicrous thing to think. I find it unfathomable that people believe stuff like this.

19 team points is the bare minimum a champion can score and the most possible by a 1 or 2 seed is 25. Carter Starocci in winning his two Big Ten titles scored 20 and 23 team points. If a healthy Starocci wrestled there is a good chance he wins the weight and since Shane Griffith forfeited the final he gets at least two bonus points from ostensibly his toughest match of the tournament. There is a good chance he alone could have added 23 team points this year. That would make PSU's total 193.5. It's really hard to count on more points from Van Ness. It's possible, but Kasak had a really good tournament. He scored 16.5 team points and finished 3rd with 2 falls/4 bonus points. Only 4 non-champs outscored him this year. Last year Van Ness finished 4th with 16.5 team points, but received an injury default for 2 bonus. Those are less likely this year with the rule change, but with the 3 point TD and the NF changes it's possible he scores more. It's hard to pick him to finish ahead of Lovett or Gomez and even if he doesn't he might not outscore Kasak unless he somehow won it, which wouldn't have been my pick. The more obvious points PSU left on the table was in the two finals they lost. Bartlett had defeated Mendez earlier this year and that was a close winnable match and Truax lost in SV. Losing a finals match is a 4 point swing. If those two win and Starocci wrestles they probably break 200. So there is a path to 200. Not sure how realistic it is. Just adding points like that kind of ignores that if we wrestled this tournament again it might be unlikely for Davis, Nagao, Kasak, and Messenbrink to repeat their performances. All exceeded expectations or needed things to break their way to some degree. For 5 of the 8 years in my table (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1992) the Big Ten had 10 teams, for 2 (1995 and 2002) it had 11 (Penn State joined) and for 1 (2024) it had 14 (Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers joined). The Big Ten was definitely weaker in 1983 when Iowa scored 200 points, but that team was also really really good. Iowa won NCAAs with 155 team points, 4 champs, and 9 AAs. The weak link was true freshman Rico Chiapparelli who lost in the R12, but would later go on to AA 3x and win NCAAs. They were over 50 points better than 2nd place OSU. That said no other Big Ten team was in the top 10. If you look at teams that would later join the Big Ten, Nebraska was 6th with 3 AAs and PSU was 7th with 3AAs. Rutgers had 1 AA and UMD had 0. If those teams (Maryland, Nebraska, Penn State and Rutgers) had been in the Big Ten in 1983 I don't know that it changes Iowa's point total much. Iowa's wrestlers outplaced them at NCAAs except for 142 and 167. At 142 Nebraska's Al Freeman lost in the final and Iowa's Harlan Kistler finished 3rd. They wrestled in the semi's with Freeman winning. Kistler was Big Ten champ. At 167 Rico Chiapparelli was Iowa's only wrestler to not win Big Tens. He was unseeded at NCAAs and DNP making the quarterfinals before losing in the R12. Penn State had Eric Brugel who was also unseeded and also lost in the R12. Nebraska had Ray Oliver who was seeded 4th and finished 4th, two spots better than the Big Ten Champ. With the additional teams 1983 Iowa maybe scores closer to 190 points, but it's possible they score more points if it was rescored with todays rules. Bonus points are twice as valuable today (Falls worth 2 vs 1, MDs worth 1 vs 0.5) and the extra teams could have provided more opportunity for bonus and advancement points. Plus the 3 point TD and NF changes makes it easier to get bonus. It's a similar assessment for the 1985 team. Iowa won NCAAs with 142.25 team points, 2 champs, and 9 AAs. Only their heavyweight Steve Wilbur DNP, but he was unfortunate to be unseeded and drawn against the 5 seed in the first round. He lost and the rules at the time did not allow him to wrestle back. Michigan (5th) was the only Big Ten team in the top 10 at NCAAs. Out of the future additions only Penn State was in the top ten (7th) with 3 AAs. The trio of Maryland, Nebraska, and Rutgers failed to produce even a single AA. Iowa's wrestlers outplaced all wrestlers from the 4 future schools except at UNL where Wilbur lost in the first round after finishing 3rd at Big Tens. PSU's Steve Sefter, a returning AA from 1981, was the 10 seed and finished 4th. Nebraska had the 3rd seed at this weight, Gary Albright, who lost in the NCAA final in 1984. He did not place in 1985 losing to Sefter in the 2nd round before getting pinned in the consolations. To me the record is the record. It's black and white. It would be like asking what was the most points scored in an NFL game. There is an answer and there can be all kinds of caveats about rule changes and evolution of the game, but I don't think anyone cares that much for the answer to that question. It might not answer what is the best team of all time?, but it answers the question. That said I would like if it full brackets were available for the 1980s and 90s to rescore them with todays scoring scheme since treatment of advancement, placement, and bonus points has changed significantly over time and it would make it more apples to apples. If individual bout scoring were available one could rescore for some of the difference in TD points and NF as well, but I'd question the relevance of that in many instances as it would change the bout from what was wrestled.

It’s a free country where free speech sets us apart from other nations. Why hate, celebrate!

You can be upset about that, sure, but is it really that surprising? Christians are taught to have no false idols and to espouse the gospel. Quit letting Brooks live rent free in your head. Looks like you're just trying to find a reason to be mad.

Agreed. We can see right through their soul with their words.

Take it up with UWW. I provided the link.

Unless things have changed.. here's what I found Head-to-head competition — 25 percent Quality wins — 20 percent Coaches Ranking — 15 percent Results against common opponents — 10 percent RPI — 10 percent Qualifying event placement — 10 percent Win % — 10 percent

At least the PAC-12 put the true second matches on Track this year…usually finding out the results of those matches were like waiting for the Western Union Telegram to show up at your door during World War II (or so the moderator of this board tells me).

He legitimately weighed in and stepped on the mat twice, which is the requirement for inclusion. You are allowed an opinion, however. It is also wrong.

It was always going to be a down year after the gambling suspensions. They just won the title two years ago and were favorites for another before COVID hit. I know people love to beat up on Iowa (and I get why) but the program is fine. There are issues, like every program but PSU, but they're consistently the second best program in the nation. If they had Cass and either Brands or Assad at 184, they're a favorite for 2nd. The biggest real issue, as a fan and observer, is the scrambling deficiencies.

The religious stuff doesn't bother me and it's not exclusive to PSU. The "this doesn't matter" BS, we just want to compete is the BS that bothers me. If it didn't matter they wouldn't open up the checkbook to bring in Nagau, Messenbrink, Truex from other programs or pay Star and Brooks to come back. They would just let the backups who have been in the room compete if it didn't matter. Let those guys get better, etc. No, if you are not a high AA threat, you will be replaced... It matters to them a lot, and that is okay.

Clearly I missed it.

Are you imitating Tom Brands or Donald Trump?

They declare a 34th at each weight. The schools pay to bring them. If someone fails to make weight (or pass skin check) the 34th is also going through the process. I believe they just bump everyone up until the missing seed is filled and then put the 34th in as 33rd.

Agreed, and I’ve said this for years, before Aaron Brooks. I think I started as a tongue in cheek joke with baseball because you see so many guys hit a HR and point up to the sky when they cross the plate, but you never see them flipping the bird downward toward the dirt after striking out. I genuinely don’t care if people are religious or not but if God is good, and all credit and glory goes to him rather than the athletes themselves (or splitting the credit at least), well then it follows that all negative outcomes would go to Satan. And yet, I’m still waiting for someone to do that in a game. Also STRONG agree here. I was up front at NCAA’s last year waiting to chat with a buddy of mine, and this 45 year old man saw Brooks walking by and got his attention and complimented him and his match. Brooks went into “all glory to God” mode immediately, and the guy said something like “I agree, god is great, but you’re great too,” and Brooks just couldn’t take the complement. I sat back and just watched. It was a solid two minute exchange and I swear it turned into the most odd argument/non-argument ever. Brooks must have replied to the last 4 or 5 things the guy said by saying “I’ll pray for you.” But - and I could be mistaken because I was a bit in awe and a bit laughing in my head by then, but the guy was literally just trying to say, essentially, “you can give god all the glory but you should recognize your role in this too; god isn’t the one putting in the hours of training, so even if you’re doing it because you think it’s god’s plan for you, you’re still the one actually doing it.” It was weird, man. Really, really strange. It was like the verbal equivalent of two people holding a pair of doors open for the other and both insisting “after you!,” except this one got to be all about God.

Whatever your religious beliefs are that is a weird T-shirt.

.....this part...I'm not so sure about. Jeebus is a really good wrestling coach apparently. All the best wrestlers are thanking him for their wrestling success. Maybe they're onto something. Cael-trained and Askren-trained wrestlers say "yeah nah, those guys are alright, but let me tell you about my man with holes in his hands" I personally choose to believe that the mormons had it right, and that's why they made the Big Lebowski.

Just so you know, this what they call sarcasm

1. Keegan O'Toole 2. Mitchell Mesenbrink 3. David Carr 4. Dean Hamiti 5. Julian Ramirez

Glazed.