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I will try to manage expectations as year to year but today is a great day for Hokies wrestling.

WiTh HiS tRaCk ReCorD... he changed his commitment once just like countless other recruits. Get over it. He's not a Ferrari that wrestled for three different high schools and just as many colleges. Robideau, Spratley, Vega, Jamison, Mesenbrink, Kerkvliet, Jayden James, Welsh, Nagao, and how many others aren't wrestling at their original commitment? It. Happens. All. The. Time. Bassett and Miller could have gone to literally any school in the country and chose VT. Will they spend their entire careers there? Who knows in today's NCAA landscape. But the non-stop hate this kid gets is just ridiculous.

Cry harder..

57kg: Favorites: Luke Lilledahl (u20 Gold, u20 silver, Cadet gold, Cadet silver) Luke is pretty clearly the favorite at this weight that overall is one of the weaker weights at the tournament. The Asian gold (north korea) and one of the Bronze (saliev) are not entered, Pavlov (euro gold) and Zangaladze (euro silver) are also not entered or not at 57 and I think they would have probably been Luke's toughest matches although I would have picked him in. We have gotten to see him now against more senior level international competition and its pretty clear that he is close to competing for a senior level medal. Valizadeh is someone who I thought about putting in this tier simply as a product of him being Irans senior guy for a world championship at the age of 19 and the guy at seniors this year. He also has a win over Razzade and Horst lehr which are very quality wins. However he has not shown much level of consistency and I do have some questions about how effective he can still be at 57kg. Medal Threats: Nodirbek JUMANAZAROV (Asian silver) ANKUSH (u20 Bronze) Milad Valizadeh (senior asian silver) Predictions: Gold: Luke Silver: Jumanazarov Bronze: Ankush Bronze: Valizadeh 61kg: Favorites: Jax Forrest (Senior world 5th, cadeit silver), Akito Mukaida (emperors cup bronze via win over Hosigawa world bronze meji cup silver), Levik Mikayelan (u23 euro gold many worlds under his belt defeated Nic bouzakis 10-3 last year), Fedor Baltuev( u20 bronze beating Jess mendez only loss was via fall 7-10 against amouzad also got silver at the 2023 Yarigyan losing to Abasghadzi 10-8), Reza Momeni (senior world 7th). This is a very deep field with quite a bit of variance Baltuev at a time looked like the next guy to step up for Russia being ranked as high as 5 in the world but has not wrestled a ton since 2023, at least that I have seen. Akito Mukaida has record a win as well as a tech fall loss to Hosogawa in the last 12 months who as I mentioned is a former world bronze and was leading suda 3-2 pretty for the spot on the world team this year. Mikayelan seems quite powerful and had a very good single against bouzakis and could certainly be someone that makes some noise but despite competing at 4 age level world championships has yet to medal. I think Jax is the best and most consistent guy here although if the Baltuev of old i.e when he was 20 shows up it should be a great match. Medal Threats: Jeyhun Allahverdiyev(u20 euro champ u23 euro silver) , Tolga Ozbek (wrestled Blaze pretty tough for bronze last year losing 0-5) Predictions: Gold: Jax Silver: Baltuev Bronze: Mukaida Bronze: Mikayelan 65kg: Favorites: Marcus Blaze (u20 Gold, U20 bronze, Cadet gold), Yuto Nishiuchi (2x u20 gold beating Lilledahl 5-0 1 year, fell to Ono 3-2 to make the national team in 2024 at 61kg) , Sujeet (u23 bronze, u20 bronze, Notable win over Yianni), Umidjon jalalov (Senior bronze, U20 gold, cadet gold, cadet silver), Bashir magomedov (2x u23 gold). Needless to say this weight is insane and I would argue its the deepest age level weight I have ever seen. As american fans I do not think we should look at this as medal or bust for Marcus this is 100% a senior worlds caliber weight and Marcus will likely be undersized. That said I think he can beat any of these guys. Bashir is very very good but is also probably a natural 61kg so he could be giving up a little size. Nishiuchi is probably the least known about as of late but he may very well be the best guy here and potentially the third best guy in the world behind Kiyooka and Amouzad. Jalolov is obviously riding a huge wave of momentum after taking bronze and seniors and beating Rivera so he may be the pick on paper Medal Threats: Abdullah toprak (u23 bronze, u20 Bronze x2, Cadet bronze) Predictions: Gold: Nishiuchi silver: Blaze Bronze: Jalolov Bronze: Magomedov 70kg: Favorites: PJ duke (u20 gold, u20 bronze, senior world team member), Kanan Heybatov ( 2x u23 bronze, u20 gold, 3x senior world teamer), Sina Khalili (cadet gold, senior asian bronze). I feel much more confident that PJ will medal here than I do that Blaze will. This weight is deep but I tihnk Pj is pretty clearly in the mix as a top 3 guy here and I would favor him currently over khalili. Heybatov has a very wide range of results. He looked awesome in Croatia both time at seniors and the ranking series but looked horrendous in hungary at the ranking series. I am not sure if the cut is a factor for him, but I will predict like he is at his best here. Medal Threats:Alexandr Gaidarli (u20 silver), Kaito Morita Predictions: Gold: Heybatov Silver: PJ Bronze: Khalili Bronze: Morita 74kg: Favorites: Mitchell Messenbrink (u23 bronze, u20 gold, u20 silver), Magomed Khaniev (u23 gold), Magomed Baiutkaev (u20 silver, u20 bronze, cadet gold), Yoshinosuke aoyagi (Senior gold, senior silver, u23 silver, u23 bronze, u20 bronze, cadet bronze). Another absolutely loaded weight. Initially my lean was probably slightly to Aoyagi but he just got beat pretty badly by Narikuni who was formarly a 70kg world champ and most recently has competed at 72kg in greco, so the weight could be a bit of a factor for him. I am a big fan of how both Khaniev and baitukaev wrestle, (not how they take time but how they wrestle) they are both super crafty getting too legs and are super dangerous when you are in on their legs. Manuel wagin is a wildcard here he is super strong and positional but I would be surprised if he was ready to compete with any of the above guys. Mitchell's pace I think will be a serious problem for the two Russians one by Azerbijan and I think he may have a little size on aoyagi Medal Threats: Jaideep (u20 bronze, cadet bronze), Manuel wagin (cadet silver), Magomedrasul asluev (u23 5th) Predictions: Gold: Messenbrink silver: Khaniev Bronze: Aoyagi Bronze: Baitukaev

Payback for when Brands left.

It's awesome to see a team like VT land such big names. Nothing but positive for the sport.

Keep telling yourself that. Follow the money. Any at all is too much right?

This one is nude

You didn’t have to look for the leftists that said it about Kirk, they proudly promoted it , flaunted it.

There's clearly no distance Carl won't go to avoid competition.

Northern Illinois announced today they'll be a Pac affiliate starting 26-27 season. Pac needs at least 1 more to maintain AQ status for wrestling. I imagine they'll pry some of the Big12 affiliates away . . .

Matches in order: 120 - Rocklin Zinkin vs. Dom Munaretto 165 - Melvin Miller vs. Maximus Dhabolt 126 - Antonio Mills vs. Paul Kenny 157 - Wyatt Medlin vs. Camryn Howard 190 - Adam Waters vs. Tanner Hodgins 106 - Ariah Mills vs. Turner Ross 175 - Joseph Jeter vs. Nicholas Singer 138 - Kellen Wolbert vs. Tyler Dekraker 132 - Jayden Raney vs. Moses Mendoza 120 - Landon Sidun vs. winner of Zinkin/Munaretto HWT - Michael Mocco vs. Coby Merrill 150 - Bo Bassett vs. Jordyn Raney NCAA folkstyle rules (except for headgear). Notable absences: Jayden James (no reason given), Dreshaun Ross (football), Jax Forrest (U23s) Girls WNO matches

Is this satire? If so, ignore my next statement, if not, please tell me who else you criticize for treating college as professional sports. This is an interesting take coming from an Oklahoma State fan whose team brought in their Spratley, Figueroa, flipped Vega, brought in Jamison, Swiderski, flipped Robideau, brought in Facundo, and Welsh, and that is just the guys on their roster this year. Last year they had wrestlers that were previously on different rosters at 125, 141, 157, 165, 174, and 285. But yeah, let's blame Bassett for making college into a professional sport. Give me a break. I hope you're criticizing Taylor and staff for flipping guys with previous commitments and bringing in guys from other teams if you're going to criticize a high schooler for changing his mind.

Those were Venezuela based tren de arguara gang so no. I cheered it on. This is the tweet I shared celebrating it in another thread This is the thread notice how the “journalist” only concentrates on things that emotionally rile people up. I was scared. Bla. 3am. Bla. Cuffed. Bla. Treated us poorly bla. Told us if we had a warrant we wouldn’t be let go. Why tf would you be let go if law enforcement caught you with a warrant. Law and order boss. It’s good. And the community who lives in these shit holes love it. You live in your privileged burbs and post emotional driven poorly written drivel. Why is there no mention of the cartel based gangs they were arresting in your article. detained lol.

I lost my house to Katrina, Mississippi Gulf Coast Now in the Midwest far away from the water lol

It’s been nice, we definitely need a few years off here in SW Florida. Looking at conditions ahead I kinda like our chances. (Maybe shouldn’t have said that, don’t wanna bring bad juju) But we’re definitely not out of the woods yet. This is the time of year storms are more likely to pop up in the gulf of America and explode quickly, which everyone here in a 50 mile span has been hit pretty hard with over the last three years. Feeling good but staying on our toes.

Is this true?

Yeah I saw it was quite impressive to be honest. I think he lost to Rassadin not Sheriev in the finals I think Sheriev went up to 74kg. If he keeps this up it will be interesting to see who ends up our 70kg rep between him and Khalili. I'm a bit disappointed in Khorramdel he should be doing better considering his junior level results.

This is only the second year I'll actually be watching WNO. I don't follow HS wrestling nearly as closely as you, so a lot of times I'm only familiar with about half the guys competing, but I do think they have some great match-ups for a more casual HS follower like myself. I'm definitely more interested in this lineup than last years. However, if they could have gotten the Miller vs James match, this would have really jumped to another level.

Not to mention that Mocco, Merrill, and Ross have seemed to separate themselves from the field so at Super32 it'd basically be warm-up matches for a finals match against Mocco.

You're amazing, wkn... keep on doing what you do soooo well!

Real journalism died years ago. It’s just theatre now.

how many times has the statement white conservatives are the biggest threat been uttered by a leftist on the msm uncountable.

Here is something you and your ilk have a hard time doing....this is absolutely terrible, they better hold that person responsible to the full extent of the law!! Thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.

Snow plow driver from Minnesota still is nothing but a second grade name caller. You claim to be on the bring people together train. Is this helping bring people together or driving them further apart? Carry on making yourself look stupid.

Tanxs for that clarification, nhs... back of my mind, I was wondering about that too. I went for the low hanging fruit when most of the gang was part of the Nittany Lion WC. I DO appreciate that. D3

Nope. Fernandez bumped up from 133 to 149 a couple of years ago. Way too small to be anything heavier. Shapiro at 157, of course. 149 is his only choice.

Revoking student visas because of speech (ex. Rumeysa Ozturk) sending people to terrorist prisons who did nothing criminal other than being in the country illegally Blowing up boats in international waters simply because we think they’re carrying drugs Firing attorneys you appointed because they thought your case was weak in order to hire a beauty pageant contestant instead to name a few

Absolutely not...

If you were to read my post and immediately read your reply. I would suggest that we 90% agree. My post was about "trying" rather than any kind of guaranteed success. It might do you well to reread my post. We are basically in agreement. Good thing you weren't coaching Bo Jackson. World class athletes CAN be world class in other sports. It's a fact. And, as I've previously stated, I couldn't agree more that I'd much prefer him to be wrestling. We think alike.

It’s amazing how liberals can’t accept that this is payback for what the people running Biden did.

I think he means when you weaponize your DOJ against your political opponents. You use lawfare to your full advantage. Oh, WAIT A MINUTE THAT WAS THE BIDEN ADMINISRATION.

See underline bolded... FIFY Blaze and Duke are both enrolled at Penn State, too.

Excited to see the Black brothers in MGR.

Andre Gonzales of Cal Poly is not only changing schools, but changing weights for the fourth (fifth?) consecutive season. HS Sr - 126 Tr Fr - 133 Rs Fr - 125 Rs So - 133 Rs Jr - 141 Rs Sr - 149 Was 2020 California State Champion at 126lbs, then went to Ohio State for four years. Now at Cal Poly. I thought 133 was his best weight. He had his best wrestling there and wasn't undersized (and didn't appear to be cutting too much weight), I am rather surprised we don't see him at 133lbs for Cal Poly, but is listed at 149lbs on both Wrestlestat and their Roster page. He's only 5'6" so I don't know how I feel about that. Funny enough, the preseason 'favorites' are all 'OSU' guys. Brock Herman, Little Rock (tOSU) Andre Gonzalez, Cal Poly (tOSU) Noah Tolentino, Oregon State (OSUW) Steve Caday, Cal State Bakersfield (nOSU)

Northern Illinios is leaving the MAC in all sports - headed to the Mountain West for football and the rest of their sports are finding a home in the Summit League so I don't think this is in anyway a concern about the future of the MAC wrestling

Beer is made with hops, and hops are plants... so technically beer is salad.

On the subject of drinking too much water... drink more beer. D3

anyone else have trouble watching the rock? if he was a great actor I wouldn't let his fraudulent pubic persona bug me, but he's a middling actor....

Ronald Reagan approves this post.

Is that Bouzakis at 125 and Karchla at 97? Mendez is the blood thirsty Count!

Exactly. He's had the hottest gal in school all the way through college (aka wrestling.) But it's marriage time. Go with what you know or maybe time to test the waters. We very likely won't agree on the best choice here - but I'm a strong 'test the waters' backer. So far, everything is working out just fine. (Testing the waters includes no expectation that they'll actually be good. Thus, the reason they are tested.)

They bought and sold you

I don't know how someone controlled you

I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love

I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping Still my guitar gently weeps

I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping While my guitar gently weeps

Still my guitar gently weeps

I don't know how you were inverted