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Nicolar Rivera at 125 and I can get behind that list. Kid let's it fly at all times.

TBH I feel like Welsh is kinda overrated. I know he was a freshman finalist but he didn’t really have many big wins. I feel like he’s more of a 4th/5th type guy. Which would make him the weak link at PSU.

A few more that haven't been named yet. Henry Cejudo - Olympic Gold Brandon Slay - Olympic Gold, 2x NCAA finalist Zeke Jones - World Champ, Olympic Silver, World Bronze, NCAA finalist 3x AA Bobby Weaver - Olympic Champ, World Silver, NCAA 3rd John Peterson - Olympic Gold, Olympic Silver, World Silver, World Bronze, NAIA AA

Shelby Wilson - Oklahoma State was a 2 time runner up HS in Oklahoma and a 2 time NCAA runner up 1958 & 1959 then won Olympic Gold medal 1960 in Rome I know he’s a lot older than the guys being discussed but he fits the criteria.

Yes definitely agree with this. And I am somewhat in that category. My first wife (with whom I have my children) we split up about 13 years ago. But I will say, and I actually just said this at our awards banquet the other night, you will be very hard pressed to find a divorced couple that works together as well as her and I do. So while we are not married, there is still very much a family unit intact, we live five minutes from each other, no single parent scenario. But anyway to your point, I know that is not the norm and I know that is a huge piece to this. Probably tied directly to my comments, as in those situations, unfortunately a lot of the time, the parents are more focused on being the favorite parent, than they are focused on raising strong and well equipped man or woman. And that's were entitlement goes up, and accountability goes down.

Tyler Caldwell's losses at NCAAs were to Andrew Howe, Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake, and David Taylor

What's your lineup of the easiest-to-root-for guys? I'll go first 125: Stevo Poulin - my life be like ooo ahhh 133: Lucas Byrd - "Byrd's got a 6'3" girlfriend!" 141: Brock Hardy - bounced back from memeship 149: Ridge Lovett - hard wrestling + anime pose 157: Joey Blaze - been in little bro's shadow 165: Terrell Barraclough - patience is a virtue 174: Dean Hamiti - fourth year senior made the last one count 184: Parker Keckeisen - does it the right way 197: Mac Stout - forced to compete against his brother 285: Wyatt Hendrickson - captain america, maximum aura

Something along the lines of he wasn’t that good as a junior in HS and they were the only school that offered him a scholarship I believe. Made a big jump as a senior but wanted to honor his commitment for the first year

lol he really lobbed that one up there

EDIT: Wait, is that our guy wrestlingnerd?

You can also draw a direct correlation to PARENT vs parents. The family unit as a whole is no longer revered like it once was. Kids with single parents are immediately at a disadvantage.

Being abused and battered tends not to be good for one's mental/emotional stability.

You are wrong. No surprise. It is your brand. Rankings are not predictions. You are using rankings to make predictions. It was an upset because a two time NCAA champ, two time Hodge winner, undefeated Olympic gold medalist lost to a wrestler who had significantly lesser credentials. It was not an upset when a #9 seed won a title last year either because the ranking was not a prediction.

Agree with most of what you say here, but with a very large omission of what is a huuuuuuge source of those problems you speak of……..PARENTS. Our, my generation of parents. And I say this with much experience, it is why I got out of public schools, because my peers are raising these kids with ten times the amount of entitlement than there is accountability. When Johnny doesn’t do the things he’s supposed to do because he knows mom and dad will back him up if he doesn’t want to do it….theres not much the teacher can do. And that type of thing is not at all rare these days.

The official Iowa State position on the exodus

It made sense for Dean, it makes sense for Welsh, it’s just kinda meh for the team in terms of tournament scoring. He makes them barely better. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lame for Welsh to go to PSU. What the actual f. No more parity in this sport.

I guess Haines only has one more year. Maybe Ryder gets “injured” in the wrestleoff and gets a medical like Nagao

There's much commentary about how the transfer portal and NIL are reducing parity. But will the two big NCAA rule changes next year cut the other way? I'm talking about (1) a 30-man roster limit, and (2) scholarship cap increases from 9.9 to up to 30. I'm not sure. I think it could increase parity, but depends on how the roster limits are implemented, and how much scholarships increase -- and by who. I'm curious to see how the latest portal activity plays out. It may even reduce parity. What do you think? Here's my half-baked thoughts. First the 30-man roster caps. In theory, some of those athletes in the portal could be guys who think they might not make the roster cut where they are, so they want to go to a program where they will. That increases parity, as in theory they're going to a less competitive program. On the other hand, I recall the "roster caps" of the Title IX days, where the coach would just create a separate "club team" and put the excess wrestlers on there, even though they all continue to practice together and no one knows the difference. Is that going to be what happens here? If so, then I doubt the roster caps will actually translate into roster cuts. It doesn't hurt parity, but won't help it either. Second, the increase in scholarship limit. In theory, some of those athletes on the portal could be guys who will easily make the roster cut, but don't have a full scholarship (and aren't making much/anything in NIL). I could see them going to a less competitive school which may not have the donor bucks for NIL, but does have the newfound ability to grant a full scholarship. If so, that helps parity. But is that really how this plays out? I think that may be wishful thinking on my part. Truth is, some of the less competitive D1 schools don't offer 9.9 scholarships as it is, so they sure won't be able to increase beyond that. The schools most likely to be able to increase their scholarship offerings are probably the ones who are already the big dogs with NIL money. That means it'll actually hurt parity, as it'll make it easier for them to hoard wrestlers, including non-starters. For example, if the big-dog schools suddenly grant full rides to all or almost all 30 guys who fall within the roster cap, then just like that, those non-starters with new scholarships will have no incentive to transfer for a better scholarship. Take a guy like Joe Sealey, who (presumably) isn't getting a full ride and isn't apt to start next year, but could likely get a full ride (or close to it) elsewhere. Before the rule change, he might choose to get a full ride (NIL considerations aside), but now he may end up sticking around, since now PSU can offer him a full ride despite not starting. Overall? I dunno. My hunch is net harm to parity as I'm guessing colleges can circumvent the roster caps, and that it will be only the bigger schools with already-strong teams that can meaningfully increase their scholarship offerings.

When he is over 50 he should get one every year.

I'm going with one that hasn't been brought up yet: Adam Coon.

who?

... but what about that single pimple on his back, are you gonna just ignore that evidence?

Jamil Kelley maybe number one of the list of the greatest NCAA wrestlers never to have AA'd

random trivia about some of the older guys on this list that I don't think have been mentioned yet. Dwight Hinson beat 3 timer Eric Guerrero 3 straight years in Big 8 finals and had a pretty dominant overall record vs EG. Mike DeAnna's two finals losses were to 3 timers Mark Schultz and Mark Churella. He'd beaten Churella in Big Ten finals that same season. Roger Frizzel never made a final. Nate Carr and Kenny Monday era. 3rd 3 times and a 4th place finish. John Fischer like Frizzel never made a final. 20+ NCAA tourney wins. Joe McFarland's two finals losses were to Barry Davis who was winning his 3rd title and to Kevin Darkus. JM, BD, and KD all won world silver medals in freestyle. Mike Mann was a two time runner-up. The 2nd one was to 3 timer Ed Banach who was winning his 3rd title. The score was 4-3. Mann beat Banach 3 times that same season. Kevin Jackson with the most eventual world level success of the guys on this list. Olympic Gold and two World Golds. NCAA wise was 2,3,3,7. 2nd place finish was to Royce Alger of Iowa who would end up with 2 titles plus a World silver.

I couldn't have been anymore wrong. Lmao

He also won the US open in both styles and made an Olympic team.

Wonder when Walz was a football coach was 50% attendance at practice sufficient ... what say the player's union?

125 Poulin 133 Bouzakis 141 Mendez/Koderhandt 149 Lovett 157 Blaze 165 Barraclough 174 Hamiti 184 Keckeisen/McEnelly 197 Ferrari 285 Hendrickson

My bet. A few more cycles/hours of news cycles and this will be shuffled to the next set of outrage.

That’s the comment I made about some c levels and or arrogant politicians.

Well it's not a better wrestler award so ...

The answer is YES but can you image what it would be like on a Rivals platform without the pop-ups ... but Bob says no - that scoundrel.

SeaBass. His hit list plus Oly bronze. Dude has wins over Glory, Gross, RBY, Vito (2x), Spencer (2x).

Purdue's Chris Fleeger deserves a mention. He was great as a true freshman, losing only to Abas at NCAAs before finishing 3rd. He then had two runner-up finishes, losing to Travis Lee and Matt Valenti in his two finals appearances. I believe he lost a year of eligibility and did not compete in a 4th tournament.

Hayden matched up with Nolf, so that’s not much better. He beat him too if you ask me. Unfortunately, they only asked the ref, but it was definitely a controversial win for Nolf

The obvious answer is Daton Fix, but there’s a lot of incredible wrestlers on this list. I think Mike Poeta deserves a mention too

BIG passed away a while ago. He was one of the OGs on themat and TWT.

Ooof, that's pretty terrible luck drawing those four.

hahahaha I can think of a few reasons

Pretty soon it may be easier to list who's NOT in the portal.

Spent a lot of time hitting either the heavy bag or women for exercise.

In that age group Jim Jordan would throttle Walz

No site. It is from my database.

Well, I'm here, so that's a positive.