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Carr should be considered for OW since he went through Hamiti, O’Toole, Mesenbrink

It went so quick. Now I understand how my wife feels.

Cormier is the right choice for commentator at the NCAA championships. He’s comfortable on the mic. He’s a relatively big name. He understands people who do not follow wrestling. He’s funny. And for casual fans (as well as plenty of wrestling fans) he’s a good story teller and entertaining. The NCAA championships are a time to showcase the sport to a wider audience, and technical commentary is not the right choice. Cormier is.

He went out, bought the bottle, got all of the way home, put it on ice, set out his glass, got the lighting just right, sat down, popped the cork, filled his glass, lifted it to his lips, and Larry Owings swiped it from him and drank the whole thing.

Not a big Fix fan...but this is a good post match interview.

The review needs to go. Period. There is no reason for any wrestler to have a 10 minute rest. You’re taking conditioning out of the equation not mentioning ruining the flow and intensity of the match the challenge has ruined the sport and needs to go.

A bigger easily solved issue: how is it possible when we go from 8 mats down to 4 or especially down to 1 we can't have enough mat border to prevent a wrestler from going off the mat edge when they are technically still inbounds?

It was immediately clear, both from the way he approached the end of the match and his interactions with his coaches in the aftermath, that he didn’t know. I mean, if he did know, his approach to the final 30 seconds would’ve been even more puzzling. I suspect what happened is that he glanced at the clock after letting Carr up and saw himself leading 8-7. The scoreboard operator was a little slow and there was a few seconds delay before 8-8 was there. Obviously he should have known the score regardless, but that’s my theory anyway. No way he’s hearing his coaches at that point in the match, the place was loud as hell, and they were wrestling on the far side away from his corner. Perhaps they could’ve thrown a phony brick as a time out but his corner didn’t realize he was settling for what he thought was OT until it was too late.

Would you think similarly if he were a Muslim who said you’re going to hell unless you accept the Quran? I think the line for post match religion is just stay positive and don’t shit on other people’s beliefs. Also, it’s ok to answer some questions about the actual match.

The missed opportunity was Carr not wagging a 1 pt finger in Messenbrinks face at the end.

As a PSU fan, I think Erisman is a great and worthy choice.

Hope we see Sasso back on the mat

Hes definitely qwerky. Kind of like a 90s cartoon character

Carl indicated in the post-meet interview that MM was looking to OT - evidently didn't know about the RT point. Carl also said the coaches should have done a better job of making sure MM knew the situation. Time stamp 6:48.

Truly terrible work by ESPN. Kessenich somehow gets worse every year. How is that possible? Constant poor directing. The other day they made this big deal out of Starocci the whole broadcast and then they didn't show the beginning of his match -- and the takedown against him -- live. And they constantly missed the shots they should have had, all the way through after the end of the Brooks match when they cut away from him for a meaningless shot of Hidlay before (I assume, will never know for sure since they didn't show it) he was going to hug Cael, who you knew was going to blow out of there as fast as he could after that to otherwise avoid the cameras. That wouldn't have been something to top off the telecast -- the biggest current name in wrestling, his 11th title, breaks the scoring record, hugs his 4x champ who he has been rolling around in the room with for four years. Let's instead show Hidlay and coaches literally doing nothing. Well done. Cormier was so bad it's hard to describe. I think he literally didn't say one thing the whole weekend that added anything to the broadcast. Why anyone would have thought he'd be good is hard to understand. And the shame of it is that Burroughs is terrific. Classy, knowledgeable, smart, good sense of how much to speak and when. And even worse is the fact that he and Gibbons were fantastic together on the same network this year for the Iowa-Iowa State dual. Great chemistry, charming byplay, calling each other Coach and Champ, super enjoyable on top of delivering a solid informative broadast. So let's not learn anything from that and instead pair Burroughs with a blowhard who hasn't done any homework about what he's covering. Great job guys. You suck.

Hoping the championships are held here more. A lot more. Great setup. Low cost. Arena was outstanding. Central. Lots of food and drink around Arena. Free tram to get you to fun area with more good food near river. City was clean. People were nice. All around great. Really hoping this city gets the event more often.

Congrats to the guy who really deserved it. Coach Neil Erisman of Little Rock!

2nd place without any transfer portal BS. Hey, my team does it, but that doesn't mean I have to be ecstatic about it. That's the game now, though. Much respect to Cornell for getting it done with original recruits (and with a new coach!).

I might be wrong but a 3 Time NCAA Champion beating a true freshman in the finals with 1 point for an escape and 1 point for a stall call doesn't meet the eye test as most outstanding. Not to mention Carter put on his track shoes the last 1 minute of the match.

There need to be no reviews. The costs outweigh the benefits. It's literally not the same sport anymore. A big part of what made wrestling the purest sport was the continuous action. The 46 minutes between the beginning of 125 and end of 133 were a new low during a long, slow slide.

NCAA gave him another year for calling out OSU for whining like bitches.

Brands is consistently the second best coach in the country.

I'm very happy for Carr, but what a travesty for MM's run to end on a mental lapse like that. The tides were clearly turning in the third period in favor of Mesenbrink and he took his foot off the pedal in the last 25 seconds or so. This match is an example of where Carl's hands-off approach doesn't work. He says he trusts his guys to do their thing without him having to constantly shout instructions from the corner, but the PSU coaches should've been jumping up and down, shouting, signaling, anything to MM that he needed to GO. It's sad, and it reminds me a little of J'Den Cox missing out on his chance for a gold medal in Rio because he didn't know he was losing by criteria.

Check this out Ohio fans! https://www.facebook.com/share/r/ZmxvXz7Pby6FVVU5/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Love Cayden Henschel. He shows a more relatable side to the sport. Wrestling Media like Flo only focuses on the best of the best which for most people is unrelatable. Cayden shows the high school/youth wrestling community, that you dont have to be all world in this sport to still compete at the collegiate level. I never really followed D2 wrestling unless it was a specific kid i personally knew. With Cayden i found myself regualrly checking in on Parkside, a school i knew nothing about before he came in the scene.

That's true but sometimes when you ask that question you get the gem we got from Kerk at Big Tens when he told us that everything is meaningless and we should simply embrace Jesus. I laughed so hard when he said that I peed a little bit. That got me thinking, if Hidlay wanted to get into Brooks's head he should've come out with a 101% Jesus headband.

Give the opposing wrestler choice

Well Brooks can kick Vito's ass. So there is that.

I think the worst part was him arguing and interrupting so much with Rock Harrison during semis. Rock would be attempting to explain rules and what the refs were looking for when there were coaches challenges and he would yell over him things like, "CMON ROCK, THAT'S NOT RIGHT" or "THAT'S NOT THE RULES". At one point Rock even said, "I'm just glad there arent any challenges". You could tell he was fed up.

That's amazing for Cornell. What a year. Definitely would not have picked that they would place this high, especially for only having 3 placewinners. Having a few very serious savages can take a team a long way. Re the portal, I think it's great that colleges no longer have Dean Wormer unlimited power over athletes. I have come across too many self-serving coaches who flippantly play god with kids dreams to think otherwise. It will definitely drive the evolution of the sport, but in a good way. Is it good for smaller programs? Not necessarily, but being realistic, look at a kid like Cayden Henschel. He's a D2 wrestler, and he's one of the most famous people in wrestling media AS A COLLEGE KID. He wouldn't be allowed to do any of what he's doing under old rules. The NCAA would find a way to disallow it guaranteed. Smaller schools can get marketing smart, help wrestlers build social media profiles, eyeballs = dollars in that game, and it's about building a platform. Schools that develop smart athlete profile development offices will thrive. Just like before, small schools will always be fighting an uphill battle, but if you have a reputation for getting your kids what they are looking for...the school will succeed.

Some random thoughts after watching on a delay and therefore not following the posts here live. 1. Penn State won by A HUNDRED POINTS?!?! 2. Great appreciation to Caleb Henson for saving the night if not the sport after that absolute brutality from 125-141. I checked and from the beginning of 125 to the end of 133 it was 46 minutes. For the umpteenth time on here, I renew my statement that replay should be eliminated. It does far more harm than good. 3. Speaking of saving the sport, if they could make a bunch more Messenbrinks, this would be the most popular sport around. He is so fun to watch. But oh no did the PSU evening get blemished by him not knowing the score? If so, truly a bummer after he had come almost all the way back. 4. Cormier, Q, terrible directing - ESPN sucked, as I went off at length about in the other thread. 5. Not sure what is more impressive -- Brooks's stupendous wrestling or is ability to answer literally any and every question by directing it back to his faith. Now THAT'S wrestling discipline. 6. Props to the coaches from Cornell, Michigan, Virginia Tech, and I think one or two others for wearing a coat and tie to coach a national championship match. 7. Impressive work by Mike Grey. Legendary coach leaves and you hold the program together, keep the recruits coming in, and take second. 8. Uh-oh. No team trophy is one thing. Losing to Iowa State is another. 9. Quite the two weeks for Carter Starocci. Goes from looking like he was topping off a career of being kind of a bully with a historic shameless snit to throwing three shutouts, including two over national champs, topped off by the classiest post-match work of the night. 10. The Panther Train deserves a Hodge, right?

So much damn backing up to edge and playing the edge at NCAAs. Ridiculous. Over and over and over again. Ugly. Refs subjectivity and inconsistency on this point is not working. Need more severe incentives to keep guys from doing this.

I was wrong on my hot take of Haines not making the finals. I also thought Starocci was mostly healthy but apparently not. Honestly him raising the hand of the trainer might’ve been one of the cooler moments of the tournament

I agree. Only in neutral. But with continuation. A step out should not stop the action if a TD is imminent. Let the action finish and award the step out if no TD ensues.

Man MitchMes is good. Also, happy for Carr there was confusion on the score. That booger blocking his breathing really slowed him down

What does autism have to do with it? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I thought Vito v Fix was a freestyle match with how many bricks were thrown and shitty calls from the refs.

You'd be correct. Still 11 states that haven't had one. Only GA's 2nd finalist after Charlie Heard for UTC back in 1983. He is their 23rd AA overall. Virginia Tech has been home to 5 of those.

College wrestling knows it's boring. They made big scoring changes for that reason. Could they do more, yes. Funny the push out is being brought up. I remember when that was first implemented In freestyle and many people complained about it.

totally! also baseball's boring, it should be only 2 outs per inning and 5 innings per game.

I think JB is definitely kind of a low key asshole, plus I'm sure he's not super popular with the Penn State crew.

I have been hating on Iowa for most of the season, but they significantly outperformed what I thought they could do both at B10s and NCAAs. Ayala making the finals is big in showing that a post Spencer Lee Iowa team can produce finalists who weren’t transfers. The future is better than I thought it would be there, and I see the justification in keeping Brands on for at least another season.

This too. JB is competitive to a fault, DC was trying to have fun and be jovial, but JB is just such an aggressive competitor, he didn't really fill the role of great broadcast partner. I still think David Taylor would have been perfect in there instead of JB. He did such a good job on the event he covered earlier this season.

It was after after Storacci finishes his post match interview where he decided not to disclose the injury. JB said “he knows a guy that will be there in April” and “I would go right after that injury”. Guessing that was not the tact Nickal expected after someone just won his 4th title while injured. JB did go on the praise him for battle hard to win the title, but I think the prior comment lingered.

Maybe they realized in bible study that only Jesus was perfect? (Not helping my place in the after life with that one)

I hear ya. It’s such a comedown and withdrawal process. I’m a baseball coach and moreso a football guy, but I live for state wrestling tournaments and the NCAA postseason. At least the transfer portal bridges the offseason gap

Schultz didn’t lay an egg, he laid on the ground like an egg. Never seen less activity from a wrestler, and I watched Mesenbrink v Amine during the season.

Most votes going to Our Heavenly Father by the looks of things.

Hey I give the decision makers credit for trying something different. Unfortunately speaking off the cuff at a national event with limited knowledge came off amateurish.

I don’t mind them that much. But by having both of them together we are losing a real analyst and background knowledge guy in the mix.