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Hasn't been discussed here, but this officially came down the pipe this morning. https://lehighsports.com/news/2025/5/27/lehigh-university-adds-womens-wrestling-as-26th-varsity-sport Sixth D1 to add the sport, joining Iowa, Presbyterian, Sacred Heart, Lindenwood and Delaware State. Among NCAA schools, that's now 116 teams. As of this moment, there's 37 Division II schools with the sport and 74 Division III. Definitely a plus since the academic profile of Lehigh is a draw.

You actually subjected yourself to an hour and a half of these two pumping each others tires? I saw this on my youtube feed and thought, "that has to be the most insufferable podcast ever recorded."

Blah blah blah. It’s lame as hell that PSU isn’t going and you know it as well as everyone else.

As much as you talk about cutting the military budget maybe you should scrap all your benefits and give them to the unlawfuls.

Fishing with the grandkids all day soooooooooo

First time poster, long time reader on lots of these wrestling forums, and those going back +15 years always seemed to me that Cael’s lack of interest in national duals came from minny beating them early on in his tenure during the old national duals. That year they ended up winning the national tournament. Seemed he wanted more control over winning events and didn’t want to dilute his victory with an upstart dual tournament. The new regional format of the duals was great and exciting. Cornell similarly didn’t want it, which was actually to their detriment as koll had great dual teams during the early mid 2010s. Don’t understand Koll’s motivation but the 2 of them killed it together. now that Cael is so well established it seems weird and illogical to not embrace a national duals. It’s way more interesting for the casual fan. No back story is needed, just one team v the other. Way better to grow viewership. For the preservation of the sport the national crown should be given as a dual format and individual crowns at the ncaa tournament. It’s the format we all grew up with in high school - same in every state. why this format changes in college wrestling makes no sense. The high school format solves the problem of a team spending large amounts of nil on 2-3 great wrestlers. Teams will need to be more balanced. The team part of the sport will be preserved. Using the ncaa tournament to crown team champs should have stopped years ago. It has served to maintain lauds for the handful of really powerful programs who consistently place multiple AAs. Now, when wrestling is competing among other sports for interest and relevance, for funding and self preservation, this needs to change. We need more viewers at events and greater interest which can come from a dual team national championship. kudos to ok st. However, I do disagree with using the ncaa tournament standings to decide who makes it, as outside of the top 6-8 teams that’s decided by one AA wrestler and where they place. Would be more appropriate to use the number of wrestlers each team qualified than the performance of one wrestler.

It would consist of a Prairie, a good pointer and an over/under shotgun. I just got a shiny new hip so maybe I'll be able to get back out in the fields this fall.

Morning pickleball, mid day fly fishing, late afternoon bike ride, evening recovery beer & pizza.

Crazy how many experts we have on here that know how this stuff works.

Blue cheese reuben was a recent surprise. Swap out the thousand island. We named it the blueben.

Wiley was looking hard at UCO but long time friend Bam West is the starter at 149 and he didn't want to go in and compete there.

It wouldn’t matter what weekend it was. RV has 52 weeks worth of misery to spread to the rest of us. Don’t let it.

There we go.

In my lifetime there has never been a Commander in Chief with the respect and confidence of the boots on the ground grunt that Trump has. Our veterans also respect this President more than and Democrat elected in the last 50+ years. If you supported Clinton then you have no argument to make about military service.

Cael is concerned about his wrestlers keeping up their studies. Most are in rigourous majors like kiniselogy, parks & rec, physical education, communications.

It's about what's good for Cael and Penn State period. Who cares about the sport and fans. By not attending Penn State can claim it is not a legitimate event.

The Gaza health ministry is you source? That's priceless.

lol. who said i care more about the SA farmers than the Palestinians? you need therapy bro.

lmfao. now i'm racist! lol. amazing. saying 'racist' and 'fascist' don't make me a racist or fascist. it makes you and idiot who can't articulate your thoughts better. and you can say it's outdated all you want. the palestinians (and most of the muslim world) want israel wiped off the map. you're such a tool. as if 100 years of attacks against Israel can be mitigated by Hamas saying 'uh, yeah. now we acknowledge their existence.' also, we killed 1200 israelis on one day. you're a bleeding heart idiot.

you guys understand the the entire palestinian design is the genocide of Jews, right? and yet here we are.

ffs, he did not kill the national duals. he chose not to participate and the only reason anyone cared (and cares now) is because they are far and away the best team in the country. the original national duals was at an absolutely asinine time of the year. did Tom Brands kill Midlands? Who killed Wilkes Open? Did John Smith kill collegiate duals? did Mike Grey? who killed Southern Scuffle? Who killed Reno TOC? Did David Taylor kill CKLV? we get it. you hate cael and penn state. just say that instead of saying stupid things.

It's really just a weird move to not show up to this if you're PSU. Make a million dollars and you get some good early competition and... I don't know, it's just good for the sport. I really don't get why you'd NOT want to do this. But, this should be cool. Okie State vs Iowa...and then I'll take Ohio State. Iowa vs Ohio State Final this year...I think.

I think sometimes he leaves out the “Veterans” word altogether

@headshuck is an ESTP with a sarcastic, practical, and outgoing personality. They’re not a troll but enjoy stirring mild controversy with humor...

Oh no Mr. Feels doesn't like when his own words are used against him. By the way...go look and see if I have started any thread in regard to Biden...or really even commented about Biden in a post...I'll wait to see what your feelings come back with.

You are inferring here. Other coaches may believe the timing of the event isn't detrimental to success in March, or they like the chance for program exposure and a million dollars knowing they aren't winning NCAA's anyway. Winning national duals may be a bigger deal to other programs, but holds no such value to Cael. I've felt that, while I love watching Cliff Keen, a grueling tournament like that may be detrimental to performance in March. Unlike 5 matches in a couple of days, ASC is one match at the beginning of the year. Cael's job isn't to make any event as good as it could be. PSU absence from any event makes it "less good as possible". Is it somehow not as bad that they don't participate in Cliff Keen because they aren't the only one that doesn't. Choosing to stick to your game plan vs. $200k does equal being a prick. If your favorite team were offered $1 million to fly to India for an exhibition match and fly back the day before NCAA's, your coach is not a prick for turning it down. What Cael has said about the event is quite different. So, if you, like many, believe the sport would be better if PSU didn't dominate, should Cael tank the NCAA's for the good of the sport? If you asked any coach a hypothetical, "Would you participate in National Duals if it guaranteed a worse result at NCAA's?", I think they would all say no, regardless of the "good for the sport" argument. So, 16 coaches think it won't hurt their chances and one does. But most of the 16 have no shot at the podium anyway and one keeps winning doing it his way. If the dates for next year's National Duals were firmed up right now, I think there is a chance Cael rearranges next years plan in order to participate.

Ghasempour beats Rahmani 3‌- 1 and makes the world team at 86kg. A good match. It had a weight allowance, though.

Nobody likes a quitter...

Can’t even let them have a civil Memorial Day thread. You may be the most unhappy person in America boss. Be better. You should learn how to find some joy in your life.

Let's run down the TMZ blotter over the past 13 months: Aaron Brooks pissed hot at U23s on his way to a gold that some say is tainted at best, should be overturned at worst. Eventually got a TUE after the failed test AND after NCAAs AND after Olympic Team Trials - this was a full 6+ months between failure and "free pass." Penn State medical team has legally proven themselves in the past to be willing to turn a blind eye. **gives one twist to the tinfoil fat** Kyle Snyder, self-proclaimed man of godly faith, gets busted in full 360p display during a sex trafficking operation. **couple more twists on the tinfoil hat** Thomas Gilman ignored USADA not once, not twice, but three times while an active athlete. How do we know he is active? Two reasons: 1) he literally said "Not retired." during the timeframe in question 2) He went back to the NLWC room and then accepted the freakin' suspension! He didn't say "ahh crap sorry let me make a quick press conference where I set the record straight that I just blew them off because I was done." **lots of twists on the top of the tinfoil hat** Now let's go through one conspiracy theory that has been discussed ad nauseum, and another which about 4 gilmangummies ago became my latest NLWC conspiracy theory. David Taylor's physique and association with Treigning Lab has long been discussed. Everyone has an opinion and there is no need to discuss any further, only that it is worth mentioning in this thread. But that's not the big 86kg elephant in the room. Oh no, no, no it is not... The conspiracy theory surrounding the one and only Aaron Brooks, the Ram Of The East himself is the big one. He's already proven that he will do whatever it takes to study harder, stay up later, and stay hyper-focused. Now if you recall, we all heard the rumors that he skipped the Olympics opening ceremony for a number of reasons - it was raining, he didn't want to be on his feet for a while two weeks before competition, he didn't like the metal band that stole the show, he didn't understand the difference between a greek god and a drag queen, etc etc. BUT What if a certain olympic athlete wasn't there because there were other things to be done. Other things much, much more nefarious. Acts that could never be done in public, much less at the most public event in the world. That is... unless there were no witnesses. Did you know that Craig James was at the Paris Olympics but he also chose not to attend the opening ceremony? And do you know what Craig James did at SMU? Spencer Hall is an investigative Journalist (big J journalist, not like those losers at Flo) and sources are saying that he is uncovering a sinister plot that is smack-dab in the middle of the Snyder-James venn diagram, and it ain't good folks. I think this thread is really onto something - the culture at NLWC/PSU needs to be under full scrutiny. 6 feet under as a matter of fact.

Even if you don't want to be ramping up your veteran guys this early it's a perfect event to get backups some reps and use one of the 5 dates with your freshman to get multiple quality matches and see how they do in an actual match. If they joined and didn't use their best lineup that makes sense, but there is no justification for not attending at all IMO.

Jews were there thousands of years before any Arabs were. The Nazis tried to wipe them out as a race/ religion hence the reason they were given a homeland due to no place to go. The day after five Arab countries declared war on them because most Arabs feel the same way about them as the Nazis. Yep people have a right to exist.

So juvenile insults and proclaiming yourself an expert, is that your argument? You literally said nothing. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you thought Biden had a better economy than Trump. You must be living in a vacuum if you think China hasn't been brought to their knees. Why anyone would bend over and let the commies handicap our trade is showing a real sign of weakness. There should be a premium on being allowed to participate in American capitalism especially if you enslave your own people.

Good one. New recruiting question by high schoolers, "Coach Brands (or any coach), how many kidneys do you have? Oh, and what's your blood type?" If it is a match, you pick Iowa because they have four matching kidneys.

Let's hope it doesn't make you more verbose...

Sure, Jimmy is using it incorrectly, but I'm not. I'm agreeing with the worlds' foremost experts on Genocide, people who have been studying it for decades and decades. They all say it's a genocide and give you specific examples for why it meets the criteria. You never engage with those reasons because you're not willing to entertain the fact that you're wrong. If the worlds' leading genocide experts were saying the opposite, I wouldn't use the term.

Should have thought about that ahead of time. Played a stupid game and won a stupid prize.

That’s side stepping. This isn’t a needed gifted aircraft. Yes the new ones are taking longer than expected. Totally separate topic of discussion. This is nothing more than the President seeing the luxury of the terrorists….ehheemm….Arab royals, and wanting to keep up with the Jones’. The plane has been for sale for five years and they haven’t been able to sell it. The President wants fashion over function. Which is why he’s going to make you and I and rest of the taxpayers pay millions and millions of dollars to retrofit this plane that no one in the world wants. John Q Public wasn’t even thinking about the new Boeing planes until the President told us to, because he wants gold faucets and marble floors, and figured out a way to make us pay for it. Nothing is free, especially when it comes to these people ruling some of the most oppressive places in the world.

Considering Fox News has become America's mainstream media, I agree. Well, I'm not sure their anchors outright lie, but their opinion hosts (Hannity et al.) absolutely do (see Dominion v. Fox News for details). And both their news anchors and op ed hosts aggressively promote right wing talking points, without any real attempt to be "fair and balanced". MSNBC seems pretty left wing, but IMO they're nowhere near as partisan as Fox News. If you can point me to research etc. that suggests otherwise, I'll certainly read it. I'm sure most reporters probably do lean left, but also bend over backwards to appear unbiased. Which is how we end up with the NYT mentioning Biden's age in a negative context much more often than Trump's age, propensity to babble, and even his constant dishonesty. But if you don't realize that Fox News has become America's mainstream media, just look at their market share. Edit: BTW, who has lied on this airplane issue, and how? And are you seriously claiming to suddenly believe an administration that has told two or three different stories about this plane since the story broke? When Pam Biondi claims Abrego Gracia is an MS-13 gang member, without any evidence at all, do you believe her? Do you believe her claims that the 2020 election was stolen, despite all 64 court cases being thrown out? Trump's been gloating about owning this airplane from the beginning, and the admin has been trying to craft a narrative that somehow reconciles his claims with American law.

Through Christ, all things are possible. We're all sinners and we all stray from the path and it's at our lowest moments, it's those closest to us are there to help pull us up from rock bottom. And then...some interview where she's part of it. That's my guess.

Love Cael, but it’s lame as hell not to do this event when everyone else is. So lame.

Morris Johnson

But Safe sport ignores other more serious things.

I had to make a Safe sport report a few years ago. The person in question had actually been arrested briefly. Literally nothing happened. It's a complete joke.

Safe sport is a joke.

But they ignore sexual assault.

I managed to pick one up at its bottom. Up 30% as of now.

As for your other question, is there an optimal seed for overperforming? Below is how the seeds have unfolded in the last eleven years by relative performance bucket. It looks like the 8 seed is probably the value play. But value is a relative term. It assumes you are "buying" the seed like in a pool. If it just a question of probability of placement, you still want that sweet 1 seed. That said, not only does the 8 seed beat almost 43% of the time, but by doing so it gets into the juicy portion of the scoring curve (see below). While the 25 and 26 seeds are the only ones to outperform their seeds more than half the time, they typically are not jumping into the AA slots where they can really impact team scoring.

I think this chart sums up the impact of the NCAA's decision to take away a year of eligibility from the 2016 high school graduating class (approximately) and transfer it to the 2017 and beyond classes (approximately) in college wrestling. Using Willie's Big Board data, out to his top 100 ranked recruits I show the number of All-American honors won by each high school graduating class. Notes: The 2016 graduating class was poised to become the most decorated of the era before the NCAA decided to cancel the 2020 tournament. As it stands, without their final year of eligibility they were only 1 AA behind 2014, equal with 2015, and 5 AA's ahead of 2013. The 2017 - 2019 classes effectively received an extra redshirt allowing them to complete their careers a year older than they would have otherwise. While not all took advantage of the extra year, enough did that is shows up in the data. Curiously, the 2020 class, the direct beneficiaries of the fifth year, did little with it. While 40 of the 100 still have remaining eligibility, only 11 of the 40 have AA'd in the past. The class of 2020 is likely to finish with 50 - 55 AA's. The class of 2021 is a bloodbath. With only 16 total AA's from 9 wrestlers among the top 100 through four years, it is not looking good. The story can be told by its top 2 ranked high schoolers. Paddy Gallagher and Alex Facundo have zero AA's between them. While Facundo still has two years left (3? who really knows for sure at this point?) and Gallagher still has one, even if they AA out it will be historically low.