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A big shout out to my Alma Mater Nebraska-Kearney on winning their 6th D2 National Championship in wrestling this weekend. I was in attendance for both days and had a great time. The crowd was into it and the team race for tight with the top 4-5 teams all within 7 points. https://www.themat.com/news/2026/march/14/nebraska-kearney-holds-off-rivals-to-claim-ncaa-dii-championships-team-title

That’s another problem I have with the whole situation. See how it’s labeled as a hazing incident instead of felony penetrative assault which is what he was found guilty of. It’s sad how common place these type of incidents are in the sport

Sunday draft wrap-up:

ESPN+ has broadcast wrestling all season, not just this Thursday Friday and Saturday...

Yea sorry I generalized there for a second. Davino undoubtedly got the harder path…Byrd and Blaze while Seidel is the only real challenger to Jax. I’ve been saying for a while I think Seidel would win the rematch so I kind of have to stick to that…puts his and Davinos odds pretty close to me…

I lost to a d3 national champ 4 times

Catastrophizing leads to drinking more beer, more beer is good therefore more catastrophizing is better.

Marcus Levesseur is another 4x D3 champ.

You are right. I forgot I usually sign up for ESPN+ for a month.

All you need is ESPN+ to watch every round. It's like $15 for a month

Get a new bit. Sometimes you amaze me. Signing up for ESPN unlimited literally does zero in itself for wrestling. The only thing that matters is how many users are tuned into the NCAA tournament streams they have. It doesn't matter whether it's free trial users, current users, new users, etc. How many people are watching the stream is the only thing that matters. More people with access to free trials = more people watching = good for the sport. You think ESPN is worried about NCAA wrestling this week? There's another NCAA event starting this week that might have a bit more of their attention at the moment.

Hulu live 3 day free trial. If you already have Hulu, then adding ESPN Unlimited for one month is $25 I believe. Or get the stand alone ESPN Unlimited for $30 for one month.

For the sake of looking for 8 champs let's say: 125: Favorite of the bracket 133: 50/50 match in the semis, 50/50 match in the finals 141: No champ 149: Favorite of the bracket 157: Favorite of the bracket 165: Lock for champ 174: Lock for champ 184: Lock for finalist, 50/50 match-up in the finals (I'd probably put him more like 45/55 after big10s despite him winning. Both Ferrari and McEnelly were closer to scoring than he was). 197: Lock for champ 285: I think Mirasola could beat anyone in the bracket, but I don't see him stringing together 4 tough wins in a row. His path is rough. No champ. That puts us with 3 champions to start, 3 other favorites, and 2 guys that would be 50/50 if they make the finals. I don't think LL, SVN, and PJ are all going to win. I think LL is the most likely to win, but is vulnerable in the semis and finals. I would take the field over SVN. He narrowly escaped 2 losses en route to his B10 title, and he's going to likely face Frost, Swiderski, and Gaj just to get to the finals. I have him taking 3rd. PJ looked unbelievable at B10s, and he was really able to snowball his momentum into dominant wins against Cannon and Taylor. Come tournament time, I think he's going to have 3 very hard matches against Cardenas/Cannon, Robideau/Larkin, and his finals opponent. I would give a slight edge towards the field here. With Blaze having to beat Drake and Davino just to get to the finals, I'd put him under 50% to make the finals. I don't think he's even been in on a shot against Davino through 18+ minutes of wrestling this season. I'd give him probably like a 20-25% chance of winning given his path. I think the biggest benefit to Rocco is that he's such a heavy favorite to make the finals, which really only leaves him what we expect to be a coinflip match against whoever makes it out of the bottom. This is probably way more analysis than anyone cares to read, but I just decided to "show my work" when reaching the conclusion that Penn State is simply not going to have 8 champions. I'd pick tOSU to get three champs over PSU to get 8, simply because there are fewer things that need to go right to make that happen.

The Mendoza situation is essentially; he came in with plans to to start at 141. Got in a college weight room and quickly got too big to make the cut but wasn't established until after first few competitions. Coaches didn't have Edmond certify at 141 so he was locked in at 149. At that point if you pull Mendoza's redshirt you're benching a senior who has rarely missed time over his career, competed through injuries, and is well loved by the team. Ironically a good comparison is Teague, who wrestled with Robideau preseason and lost, and didn't compete first semester so he could transfer. I think if the season started with the expectations of Mendoza wrestling off at 149 and potentially starting and giving Edmond a chance to portal at semester if he wanted I would understand. Could have been handled better early on in some spots, but I think people are very much underrating the larger effect of something like that for a team like Mizzou. Some people may not care about that idea and only want results, but they don't have the same interpersonal relationships that the coaches/athletes do in the room and the overall effect that may have. The coaches would prefer to not have situations like that but have this season (recruiting Evan Bates over Hawks, benching Conway at 157/165 for Travis/Mayfield) so I don't think it's going to be an always thing for them.

Google “kade blume pencil” for more information!

Rathjen has been looking good this last few weeks of season. Maybe he can pull something off in that bottom side bracket at 149

I see a lot of people picking Swiderski over SVN, and I just don’t see it.

thank you all for a good draft. good luck.

Here’s how I see it 125 - should be close for points. Slight edge Bouzakis 133 - see above. Jax gets more bonus so slight edge Jax 141 - edge Mendez w/bonus 149 - toss up here. 157 - slight edge Robideau only because not sure Cannon is healthy 165 - Edge Lockett 174 - slight edge Kharchla but not surprised if Facundo scores as many points 184 - Edge Fishback - mostly because Ryder is hurt 197 - Edge Merrill 285 - slight edge Feldman Its likely going to be really close.

Ohio State could have 3 guys in the finals, 1 going for 3rd and 4 more being AA’s. I don’t know if I see OK State showing up like that this year…

She is pandering for votes. Doesn’t matter to the ones she is pandering to if she is lying or not. Politicos and politicians are trash

She's wrong. MN was there a long long time before the first somali set foot in there. mspart

Gotta wrestle the matches. Health, attitude, logistics, luck play a big role. Nobody expected Nebraska to place second last year. Also as a Pokes fan I can't buy the hype beforehand lol.

Why?

OSU with 2 champs and OkSt with 0. Davino takes out Jax

I don't mind hating on the sportsbook but DK is the only National group offering consistent lines on wrestling so I am sure they don't want to face huge exposure from a niche sport that has no transparency when it comes to injuries, lineups, etc like the major sports. Everyone betting limits are different so I don't know what extremely low is to you, but with a relatively small handle, it would be pretty easy for someone with inside knowledge to make a big bet and crush the book.

It's the opposite for me. I always go in with high hopes and expectations. For example, I have Iowa slated to finish 2nd lol (led by Drake Ayala CHAMP over Seidel)

I have some draft advice for you all

Riley LeFever was a 4x D3 champ for Wabash

165 Name Round of 16 Round of 8 SemiFinal Final Winner Mitchell Mesenbrink 0.999 0.973 0.964 0.923 0.830 Mikey Caliendo 0.988 0.919 0.755 0.559 0.107 Max Brignola 0.799 0.679 0.397 0.156 0.015 Joey Blaze 0.944 0.656 0.386 0.145 0.013 174 Name Round of 16 Round of 8 SemiFinal Final Winner Levi Haines 0.995 0.951 0.837 0.669 0.573 Carson Kharchla 0.894 0.786 0.537 0.176 0.116 Christopher Minto 0.960 0.853 0.673 0.422 0.122 Simon Ruiz 0.876 0.576 0.362 0.197 0.048 Cam Steed 0.746 0.526 0.281 0.144 0.032 184 Name Round of 16 Round of 8 SemiFinal Final Winner Rocco Welsh 0.932 0.793 0.617 0.456 0.210 Brock Mantanona 0.897 0.524 0.351 0.150 0.042 Silas Allred 0.870 0.621 0.228 0.121 0.031 Dylan Fishback 0.822 0.422 0.272 0.109 0.028 Aeoden Sinclair 0.995 0.937 0.756 0.463 0.328 Max McEnelly 0.980 0.917 0.780 0.416 0.282 197 Name Round of 16 Round of 8 SemiFinal Final Winner Josh Barr 0.999 0.991 0.973 0.941 0.894 Rocky Elam 0.923 0.792 0.553 0.387 0.044 Cody Merrill 0.811 0.615 0.290 0.173 0.013 Camden McDanel 0.741 0.466 0.302 0.142 0.010 285 Name Round of 16 Round of 8 SemiFinal Final Winner Yonger Bastida 0.992 0.875 0.773 0.619 0.440 AJ Ferrari 0.950 0.675 0.380 0.122 0.053 Nick Feldman 0.933 0.653 0.374 0.122 0.054 Isaac Trumble 0.964 0.812 0.598 0.395 0.194 Taye Ghadiali 0.962 0.827 0.659 0.349 0.151 Konner Doucet 0.839 0.617 0.250 0.127 0.043

Byrd winning last year with DC commentary. Lol https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14WeyAaQ3kr/

Probably should have put the line at PSU 7 champs vs Ohio State getting 2. PSU definitely not winning 141 or 285. OSU definitely not winning 149, 157 (health), 165, 174, 184 or 197. Biggest favorites are PSU 165 and OSU 141. PSU 197 not far behind. 125 PSU favored but wouldn’t be shocked if OSU won that weight. 133 both have decent chances, PSU 149 should win as well as 174. PSU 184 decent chance, as well as OSU 285 at least has a small chance. Add all of that math up and PSU line is 6.5, OSU line is 1.5.

Wrestlestat has Shapiro ranked second at 157 in RPI, behind only Duke. He has 16 matches, compared to Larkin's 12, Zerban's 17, Cannon's 19, etc. Of course, he beat Swisher, Larkin, and Webster this year. Not sure where your lack of a "tough season" comes from.

I don't think AJ will win, but I liked those odds so threw a little his way. I like Feldman even better at +1500 so bet on him too (before I realized they're both on the same side of the bracket. Ooof). Hwt overall looks wide open.

Running indoors and running out doors is the same sport. wrestling has financial issues Let’s not try to kill it faster by making it more expensive for something both athlete and fans overwhelmingly do not support (freestyle)

Redshirt year and not an official match towards his College career. It is what it is & we know it. So far no one else has a perfect record for four full years like Cael. No sick day losses, no medical losses. Show up & wrestle. He deserves every accolade he is given. So do Yojo & the tough 3 timers who were undefeated while wrestling for their schools. That they were cheated out of a full four year career is a sad commentary on NCAA leadership and policies. If they had the full career I believe Yojo, Hodge and a few others would also have four years of perfection.

I think chaos is coming for 149. Ryder Block or Aden Valencia make the finals out of the bottom half.

Dawson over AJ

'Twould be Poetac justice

MARCH Matness!

Shocker -- #15 Danny Wask over #2 Simon Ruiz.

tOSU 3 definitely 125 65% Lilledahl 133 or 285 30% Blaze (25%) /Mirasola (5%) 149 55% SVN 157 50% Duke 165 95% Mesenbrink 174 75% Haines 184 40% Welsh 197 75% Barr = 1.1% 141 Mendez 95% 133 or 157 or 174 33% Davino (25%) / Cannon (5%) / Kharchla 3% 125 or 285 or 184 30% Bouzakis (15%) / Feldman (12.5%) / Fishback 2.5% = 10%

But his season was over. What's the big deal? I don't get it.

This was my feeling too. From the matches I saw pre-B1Gs, Williams was a significantly better wrestler. He beat Mendoza, Travis, Conway, and only lost 4-2 to Duke and in SV to Taylor. VV had zero wins over anyone ranked in the top 50. As someone who roots against Iowa, I was thrilled when they put in VV, though felt bad for Williams, as he strikes me as a blood-round type who might've broken through. The decision seemed so colossally stupid that I honestly thought Williams must have gotten hurt, or maybe there was a discipline issue. But Brands actually answered this question directly when asked about this decision in an interview: He said it came down to VV having more "fight" than Williams. I don't know what's going on in practice, but I'd say the opposite is true in the actual matches. He dropped his last few, but they were all competitive and all against some of the best guys in the country. I wonder how Williams feels about Brands' comments. After being passed over and then publicly slighted like that, will Williams be back next year? Maybe a 4th school? Will Nasir go with him?

SVN is going to be the first ever title winner to be taken down by each of his opponents on route to bonusing each one. He likes to give them a head start

Because he was almost a full time competitive athlete and in his free time he was coaching RTC athletes and incoming Cornell greyshirts? Things may change soon, but keep in mind he will have a brother on the Cornell squad.

Travis obviously didn't wrestle up to his ability at Big 12's. Tigers needed the Travis that beat Mauller at the Okie State vs Mu dual in COMO a couple of years ago, when he was a Cowboy. I left that dual pretty disgusted. So, Mauller flamed out his Sr year at MU. Travis transfers home to CoMo and does the same. Will Conway be back next year, or more "musical chairs?" As a MU wrestling fan, I've been leaning into "next year" a little too often these days.

Well…dance with the one that brung ya… Did see this from the Iowa board - “Cael is playing chess, Brands is eating checkers”, made me giggle.