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I need to get this one out of the way a little early this year as I have a few things coming up that will distract me from the forum for a bit. Once, Twice, Three Times.... The great Lionel Ritchie said it best. Who will be a "timer" this year? Possible Two-Timers (not that kind, the good kind): 125 - Richie Figueroa 141 - Jesse Mendez 141 - Andrew Alirez 149 - Caleb Henson 174 - Levi Haines 184 - Parker Keckeisen 197 - AJ Ferrari 285 - Greg Kerkvliet Possible Three-Timers (As Easy As 1, 2, ...) 174 - Keegan O'Toole 285 - Gable Steveson Possible Five-Timer ("There Can Be Only One") 184 - Carter Starocci Movin On Up I have tracked the highest scoring wrestlers in NCAA history (using current scoring rules) down to number 234. To make the list you need to meet, or exceed Ed Peery's 59 total points. There are a handful of wrestlers who have a shot at moving onto the list, and a few who will move up the list (barring catastrophe). The Possible Newbies (* denotes fifth year) Ridge Lovett currently on 31 points Beau Bartlett currently on 35.5 points* Kyle Parco currently on 40 points* Stephen Buchanan currently on 40 points Wyatt Hendrickson currently on 48.5 points* Cohlton Schultz currently on 58 points* Going To A Deluxe Apartment In The Sky? Who are the guys already on the list that have a chance to move on up? For reference, the top 5 scorers in NCAA history are: Cael Sanderson (107.5) Logan Stieber (103.5) Ed Banach (102.5) Mark Churella (99.5) David Taylor (99) A Toast To The Most? We are Americans. We like the most of everything. Do I want fries with that? Silly question. I want all the fries. Bigger, Higher, Better. There are at least two possible mosts on the line. Team Points Who knows what is happening with Josh Barr? Perhaps only Nick Suriano. But, assuming he is healthy, and assuming Braeden Davis can stay out of scrambles, PSU has a very real shot at decimating the team points record that has stood the test of time. As long as by time you mean 12 months. I will update my projection for them some time after seeds come out, but based on post-conference rankings they could be as high as 199 points. Though I highly doubt that. Losses We all know about Carter Starocci and his pursuit of the most NCAA titles, thanks to the NCAA decision to grant as many years as it takes. But there is another side to that coin. With more opportunity to win comes more opportunity to lose. And sadly there is a wrestler who has the chance to become the losing-est wrestler in NCAA tournament history. But don't take that statement as a judgement (as many on the forums are want to do), because to attain that title a wrestler needs to be a winner first, and foremost. Oh, the irony. The only way to rack up loses is to win. Finishing 6th or 8th gets you three loses. That's an All-American, baby. So shout out to Kyle Parco. Having finished 6th, 8th, 4th, and 5th he has 10 total loses (3+3+2+2). If he finishes with 2 more loses (fourth or worse), the record is his, and his alone. With an asterisk, of course. The current holders of the title, with 11 total loses, are Kirk Mammen (Oklahoma State 6th, 6th, 5th, 8th) and Ben Bennett (Central Michigan 6th, 8th, 6th, 4th). Long may you ride. If I have left anything out, please add to the list.

There are only two of us on this forum that if a person said back in October "Illinois is going to have 1 Big Ten champion, 2 finalists, and at least 8 qualifiers" that we would have nodded our head and said "Poeta 1, Jombo zero. See ya in March." This one was for him.

Since seeding is such a big topic around here the last couple days, figured I would give you guys this chart that shows the count of how many times a seed has finished in each place (or not placed) for D1. *Note-This isn't perfect as there are years where I don't have all the seeds. Left column is the seed (blue) and top column is the place (orange). NS=No Seed & DNP = Did Not Place Seed/Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DNP 1 406 143 97 39 25 10 10 1 63 2 164 236 99 76 40 20 9 6 135 3 72 137 139 105 60 49 26 7 191 4 49 65 122 110 69 61 27 15 255 5 21 33 79 73 70 58 43 14 291 6 24 43 57 54 62 61 32 21 332 7 3 25 22 34 54 45 45 35 301 8 11 12 16 27 41 34 56 35 330 9 3 6 15 18 26 26 36 38 318 10 1 7 6 25 21 31 29 28 335 11 1 4 6 13 18 22 20 43 329 12 1 1 6 9 8 16 18 37 355 13 1 2 1 2 3 6 131 14 1 1 2 5 1 4 131 15 2 1 1 2 5 6 3 125 16 1 1 4 131 17 2 2 1 56 18 1 59 19 1 59 20 1 59 21 1 1 58 22 60 23 1 59 24 60 25 1 1 58 26 1 1 2 56 27 1 59 28 1 59 29 60 30 60 31 60 32 60 33 1 57 NS 132 174 221 207 115 164 84 142 14225

Gabe Arnold gets a lot of stick on this and other forums. Some of it deserved given his penchant for calling out Starocci without backing it up (sometimes not his fault, sometimes his fault). And some of it is completely undeserved, as grown men being childish and investing way too much of their self-worth in how someone else performs at a sport. So I wanted to point out something I noticed last night. During the 197 final Arnold was waiting with the other podium finishers at 184 on the far side of the floor. Rather than hang in the designated area at the opposite side of the floor, he asked for, and was granted permission to be near the mat where the 197 final was happening so he could cheer on his teammate. No one else from any other team thought to do something like this the rest of the night (or they were denied permission if they did). To be clear, he needed to be escorted there by a credentialed worker as it was off limits for anyone without credentials. So let's give it up for Arnold being a great teammate in that moment.

My favorite part was where AJ Ferrari boasted about getting his “vanity” under control… while wearing an AJ Ferrari shirt.

Glad to contribute. Real thanks goes to @SNL Wrestling...he got them out quick!

I’m not sure if anyone has brought this up yet, but a good cap to a career by Gavin at Lock Haven this season. 15-2 record, a conference championship and another NCAA tournament bid.

Our late friemd @ILLINIWrestlingBlog has got to be happy with that last one.

Jeez, another Anthony Knox, Jr. thread. Oh, never mind.

What happens when Kasak and shapiro headbutt each other and neither passes protocol in the ncaa finals?

Zach Glazier is going to have 21,000 people rooting for him to do the funniest thing Thursday night

Lehigh's Rob Rohn was trailing 14-2 late in the third period and mixered OK's Josh Lambrecht for the fall in 2002. 4 pins in a row in the NCAA championships.

Insults question as too childish to take seriously--then thinks deeply about answer and summarizes all long-stored up thoughts on the subject.

Iowa had a bad B1G tourney, but a good year so far. Not loving the mean-spirited posts attacking Iowa on here and on other wrestling social media. They show year after year that they are a strong and thriving program, even if you don't love their flavor of wrestling culture. Their guys always bring it and their coaches and team work their tails off and care about the sport and their guys. So, while I almost never pull for them in a match, respect to Iowa and their coaches even if occasionally there are some missteps. Its part of the sport. NCAA wrestling is better for Iowa and their occasionally dark but always strong energy.

Daton Fix just saw this thread and is lacing up his boots

Remind me which is the school to most recently win a title other than Penn State? Iowa coaching staff does have problems, and I would like to see some new assistants, but the biggest problem any coach at Iowa isn going to have is that they're the only program in the country that is held to the standard of "be better than Penn State." There is no program that is consistently above them. To make it more difficult, their also held to the standard of their own history. So they have to be better than two legends, Sanderson and Gable. One is impossible since he's retired, and the other is on as historic a run as Gable went on. Nobody else is held to this standard. Nobody. That said, I would move on from Telford and shift M* into a recruiting coordinator position, and bring in new coaches in those roles, preferably outside of the Iowa family to get some new blood. Terry, specifically, is one of the very best coaches in the country; people swear by him. The Brands brothers are one of the draws of the program whether you want to admit it or not. Ask Spencer Lee why he came to Iowa.

I was imagining Jombo yelling stalling at Ayala while he was getting a good look at the ceiling of Welsh-Ryan Arena

Hard to beat Steveson at number one but the 97 tournament was pretty good with Kerry McCoy, Steven Neal, and Tolly Thompson.

There is an insanely loud 10 year old Illini uber-fan sitting behind me absolutely losing his shiit and living and dying a thousand deaths with every Illini match. I want to believe he will one day take over the ILLINIWrestlingBlog.

I am rooting for Kanon Webster over everyone the rest of his career, in GG's honor. The guy was such a great guy. I am happy I was able to meet him at B1Gs two years ago.

Are you talking about AJ Ferrari or my sister-in-law?

I always remind myself, we are all dealing with something. Empathy is a good thing.

Transferring? As a former coach, I can only say I'd avoid this kid like the plague. Talk about someone that would compromise your program? Me, me, me, I, I, I. Kinda sounds like someone else constantly in the news these days.

No matter who he wrestles for, he is and always will be a douche.

Last year I decided I wanted to see if I could make an excel file that to use for the 2024 NCAA Bracket to fill out and see how close I could get on projecting team points. This year I have upgraded the file a bit and have it ready for the 2025 tournament. This file can be used to either pick your own results or you can follow along with the actual tournament and fill it out as you go. HOW IT WORKS: There is a tab for each weight class that includes the bracket that will automatically fill out the bracket as you select the result of each match up (yellow box beside each name that has a drop down list of possible result). Based on this selection the bracket will automatically update the team points associated and progress each wrestler further into the bracket. The file keeps a track of each team point earned via advancement points, bonus points, and placement points just as trackwrestle does. There are tabs for each session to keep a running team score. There is a tab for overall team points that includes each wrestler based on team and the points they earned. There is also a tab for Finishers that includes the AA and blood round finishers at each weight. I have attached the blank 2025 NCAA Tournament file and the 2024 NCAA Tournament file to this post. Enjoy, if further instruction is needed to operate let me know. 2025 NCAA WRESTLING BRACKET.xlsx 2024 NCAA WRESTLING BRACKET.xlsx

Post as they Go 125

xAI’s pinned us as sarcastic, fight-hungry rabble-rousers... doing its damnedest to gauge our smarts from the words we sling and the shade we throw. It’s got limits!

When they kick Brennan out of the tournament, he should show up nWo style from the crowd to wrestle Thompson.

133

Kasak doesn’t appear to have ever missed a leg day weight training since about 12 years old

Sunday 3 PM EST, 2 PM CST?

The coaching staff needs to be revamped. They hold a standard for their wrestlers but not themselves. Instead of developing, they get frustrated at their guys and go buy a replacement. They need to hold that standard to themselves.

Tommy Askey beat #2 ranked Jacori Teemer and #5 Ethan Miller (1 seed) in the same tournament and still only placed 5th. Welcome to the Big Ten tournament!

Disagree. Love Rock

"Deep dish pizza at Pequod's in 30 mins, LFG"

If it’s so severe how do you not even know what he injured ?

It's going to take me at least a decade to update my brain to Stanford being in the ACC.

They're gettin it done for IWB

My fuses are blown

Illinois put 6 in to the semi-finals.

4 isn't as impressive in the last 5 years like it used to be. Before Downey was doing 5, and before Andrew Long was just an amateur transferee, Eddie McCray did 5. Brendt Noon, Mike Schmidlin, & Terry Ullom are some of the early leaders in the 4 team category. Some other 4 guys are Dustin May, Tyshawn White, Abner Romero, DeAndre Reed, Edwin Cooper, Justin Ransom, Cody Karstetter, and Jacob Mitchell. There are definitely more than that, but those are some quick ones I have data for.

Lost me at 22 minutes with Ferrari.

3 Qualifiers for CSB. Kudos for them. Can’t remember the last time they had 3. Always rooting for the smaller Programs during this era of Transfer Portals/NIL !

I'll take a bet on that.

Sounds like your average Penn State wrestler to me.

In no order. Burroughs. Smith. Baumgartner. Dake. Taylor.

I was going to chastise you that there was already an open Ferrari thread for this but then clicked the link and saw what your (good) topic really was.

I like his rebranding of clinics to “seminars.” Sounds more high class

Nebraska 125 15 133 8 141 17 149 20 157 15 165 15 174 12 184 12 197 5 285 3 Nebraska beats Penn State.... thats not even Nebraska's full potential of points either ^^