ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Here's an idea for USA Wrestling and UWW: Instead of having draws the day before wrestling starts, have the draws at least a week before the event. I believe that this makes sense and is easily do-able. They have ranking points, so they know who should receive which seed. The other wrestlers have entered and can be randomly drawn. Why do it like the Soccer World Cup? Because people can start talking about the matchups. People can get excited. Whole days that were empty of wrestling talk could be filled with it five days and four days before the tournament. Anticipation. Mostly, though, it would have saved me from posting my most embarrassing preview on The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond Plus. I went ahead and previewed three of Zane Richards' chief competitors at the Pan Am Olympic Games qualifier. Zane will not wrestle any of them. First, there's the Cuban. It turns out Cuba didn't even enter a wrestler at the weight! Second, there's the apparent seeding changes. It looked like Zane would be seeded first and the Venezuelan fourth or be unseeded. Instead, the Venezuelan got the first seed, and Zane got the second. They will not wrestle. Finally, there's RBY. Of course, whether he would face Zane was up to the draw, but if the draw happened a week ago, he would not have been added to the preview. So, what I'm saying is that it would be good for wrestling if UWW went to week-before draws. Even more importantly, it would make me look less stupid. As a final note, RBY fans can check out the preview to read about the Venezuelan, Pedro Mejias, who is standing in the NLWC kid's way. Bravo Young will need to stay away from the #1 seed's strength, which is short offense wrestling. RBY is very good at that. But if he is too slow to convert a single, Mejias will chest lock him around like RBY is his pillow, and he's in a big pillow fight.

I was just looking at some Fargo results from 2011. Thomas Gilman won at 119 pounds. At 130 pounds, your champion was Zane Richards. The big tournaments and even the little ones are now getting streamed, and that means a lot to the kids. Now there's even more incentive to keep your head down and work for the big stage. It's not just a medal that nobody at school cares about. You're on the teevee! The RTCs have allowed wrestlers to wrestle. Paychecks can do that. The most important factor, I believe, is the number and quality of local clubs and academies. They have popped up all over ILLINOIS, and the coaching is absolutely fantastic. And I don't think it will level off or shrink at any time in the near future because now those coaches and clubs will need to increase in size to instruct women. Japanese women look out! As for Greco, I think Kamal Bey could be the guy. To be the guy, you have to beat the guy. That's especially true in Greco. International Greco refs always seem to give deference to the reigning or recent world champ. Then, the Silver, and after that, the Bronze. It's almost a caste system based upon the color of your medals. Bey has the talent to win a world championship or Olympics. If he does, then he becomes the man.

You are a devil.

The USA has become a wrestling arms dealer.

This one happened so fast, though, I don't know how anybody could be quick enough to stop it. On top of that, it seemed like Starocci initiated the move. Ref's gonna pay more attention when the other guy is twisting the leg. The good news is that surgery has come a long way. The ILLINI 197 pounder, Isiah Pettigrew, had surgery and was back within three to four weeks! First match back was a dud, second one was winner. Full gas tank, shooting takedowns in the third to earn a major. I can hardly comprehend kids coming back so quickly, but it's possible. Coach Poeta said that they have ways to keep folks with knee and ankle injuries in cardiovascular shape. I think it involves an Iron Maiden and an ostrich feather. Don't quote me on that.

I disagree that the skill is no longer allowed in folkstyle. On the contrary, the funk roll happens all the time. It is less successful nowadays because folks have had years to plan how to defend against it. Moreover, nobody was ever as good at it as Jesse Delgado. It was an important part of his offense against top-tier wrestlers. Nowadays, it is mostly a last line of desperate defense. What set Jesse apart was that he studied it and practiced it and refined it so that he moved smoothly from point A to point B and then points C and D and so on. He didn't stay on his back like some other fellows. I asked him about it in a recent interview, and he said that he was afraid that a ref in a hostile gym would call a pinfall against him, so he moved with alacrity. In fact, he said the new danger rule would have benefited him. (25:15 in video below). I agree with him. His opponents would've been the ones in trouble. He had other weapons as well. Nobody has a 9-0 lifetime takedown advantage over Nashon Garrett who doesn't have a full quiver of arrows. Besides being incredibly skilled, he was also a college teammate of Zane's. They have had a long-lasting friendship. Then, there are the other BAMFs on that couch. Pretty amazing, and I would say the best 57kg room in the world.

I've been thinking about that as well. The best I've come up with is a measure I use in predicting duals: 1. Assign a win percentage to all the wrestlers in a dual. 2. Then, add up the win percentages for each team and divide by 100. Then, you end up with something, for example, like 6.3 to 3.7. 3. Assign the win to a wrestler from the 3.7 team who is closest to a tossup even though he is an underdog in his particular match. I think it makes sense statistically (as long as the percentages are close), and because there always seems to be at least one slight upset per dual, or you have a starter sitting out because of injury or illness. Is that what Wrestlestat.com does? I don't know.

Zane will have had tougher goes in his tournament simulations:

I haven't found one. I just go to FloWrestling and click on "LIVE" for the Pan Am Championships. There are two mats wrestling, so I then click double view: □□ There are brackets and results at UWW. When a match goes live, it will show up in their brackets here.

Don't a lot of coaches have their wrestlers doing simulation live-goes up to a week before a tournament? Can't imagine a better live-go simulation than the actual arena on the actual mats against many of the same opponents and same refs. But who knows! Marsteller got the tech in about 4:30. Cuba just lost on the other mat at his weight. To Canada, LOL!

Apologies: Marsteller is wrestling right now against Argentina. He leads 6-0 at the break. Hopefully, this link works: https://www.flowrestling.org/live/93327

Suriano beat the Cuban 3-2 in the first round. It's a round robin, and he'll eventually get a bye in round three because of an injury to the Ecuadorian wrestler. Is that Cubano going to drop down to 57kg next week? Is that allowed? I thought it was not, but don't know for sure. In case it is allowed, him losing to Suriano and then having to lose another 9 pounds in a week. Ouch! What do you make of RBY's decision not to wrestle this weekend? I've been pondering that. He gave up his best shot at going to the Olympics (i.e. by reaching the finals this weekend and being put in the opposite bracket from Zane Richards) because he (1) either had too tough of a cut, or (2) he is injured or sick, or (3) he is recovering from injury or sickness and wasn't in wrestling shape. None of them bode well for him. Dake's first match was in the quarters, and he teched the poor fellow from Panama. He's got a Cuban in his bracket who won 9-4 in the first round. Dake techs everybody but the Cuban? Looks like they're wrestling the rest of the freestyle matches tomorrow.

Americans will win medals in the last two Greco weights. They'll be your unofficial team champions. I didn't believe half the weird things that I wrote in my three posts yesterday, but UWW published a results article this morning that confirmed all of it. Wild stuff. Schultz with an injury forfeit in the semis, then a :30 pin in the Bronze match was the weirdest, actual true thing.

Brackets seem to show an injury to Schultz in the semis. But he just pinned his opponent in the Bronze match. WTF? He looked very fit. Cuba won a Gold at 87kg, while the USA did not place. El Cubanos could challenge for the team trophy. We needed more Brawlnagel there. They wrestle two more Greco weights tomorrow.

The USA with a Gold or two in Greco so far, at least a couple of Silvers, Cohlton Schultz had to injury forfeit (if I'm reading the brackets correctly), and I just watched Kamal Bey destroy his Bronze medal opponent. The Americans appear to be on their way to a team championship, but it is a lot closer. The match that everybody wanted to see at 77kg, the Cuban versus Kamal Bey, didn't materialize. They both lost, and not to each other. There's a Colombian and a Brazilian in the finals at that weight. I guess that's why they wrestle the matches.

Is Cuba boycotting parts of the Pan Am Championships? Are they out of money? Is there something offensive to the communist sensibilities about 57kg, 61kg, 79kg and 92kg? They have some Greco athletes wrestling today, but they don't have freestylers at the non-Olympic weights and at 57kg. USA wrecking things in Greco.

It is my understanding that if RBY makes it to the finals of this tournament, he will be on the opposite side of the bracket from Zane Richards at the Pan Am Olympic Games qualifying tournament. I hope he's on the opposite side of the bracket here from Spencer Lee, or he's gonna get beat by Spencer and Zane in consecutive weekends. That is, if he can make weight two weeks in a row. As for picks, I'm going with yours mspart, except I'd add Suriano as a lock and Mason Parris as a near lock. In fact, at all the non-Olympic weights, I think the USA rep has to be a huge favorite. That's because of (1) America's incredible depth compared to other nations in our hemisphere, and (2) those other nations have their major contenders at Olympic weights. There'll probably be a couple tough Cubanos, though, at the non-Olympic 70 kg and 79 kg weights, unless Cuba can't afford to send them, or has no interest. Cheers!

Here's a video showing the ILLINI winners over the weekend. They were on the road against Purdue and Northwestern. Double winners included Edmond Ruth, Tony Madrigal and Danny Pucino: Music credit to the Climax Blues Band and their chunky hit, Couldn't Get It Right, video credit to BTN+. Name and LIkeness to the ILLINI, Northwestern and Purdue coaches and wrestlers. By the way, it seems "The Feud" is on. Did you hear that, Northwestern Wildcats? IT'S ON!

Super exciting win for the ILLINI over Northwestern. The stupid Wildcats had just beaten stupid Indiana earlier today. The criteria win goes to the ILLINI because of another Danny Pucino pin. Majors from the veterans Edmond Ruth and Tony Madrigal offset the Northwestern bonus points. Justin Cardani (ILLINI) 8-4 over Massey Odiotti Tony Madrigal (ILLINI) 8-0 major over Dedrick Navarro Danny Pucino (ILLINI) pinfall 2:25 over Kolby McClain Sam Cartella (NW) major over Will Baysingar Trevor Chumbley (NW) tech fall over Logan Swaw Chris Moore (ILLINI) 5-4 over Maxx Mayfield Edmond Ruth (ILLINI) major over Joseph Martin Troy Fisher (NW) SV 4-1 over Dylan Connell Evan Bates (NW) tech fall over Isiah Pettigrew Jack Jessen (NW) 13-7 over Peter Marinopoulos And before anybody says anything, Marinopoulos took off as soon as the ref's hand went up. Jessen should of been paying closer attention. GO ILLINI!!!

A couple of developments prior to Sunday's dual between the ILLINI and Northwestern: 1. The "Feud" is on! 2. Northwestern lost to Binghamton 15-21 yesterday. 3. @Southend is correct, the Wildcats face the Hoosiers at Noon (Central) on Sunday, then immediately after that, the ILLINI at 2:00 pm (Central).

Stick your special privilege into a vacuum cleaner one time--just for a few seconds--and you're the guy who ****** an Electrolux for the rest of your life. If you pee your pants in second grade one time, then you’re "Mr. BloggyPeePants" for as long as you live in that town. Walk around nude in a museum for ten minutes, and it wouldn't matter if you discovered fusion. So. Give me a number. How many times do you have to do stand up to be a stand-up comedian? Ten times, three times, one time? Does it matter if you’re not paid? What if the club manager gives you free drinks? That’s a form of payment. Right?

Do you have any info about Hayden Copass? He hasn't wrestled this season, has already used his redshirt, but is still listed on the Purdue roster, and isn't listed as injured on Wrestlestat.com. Besides Ramos, the other big performance for Purdue came from Stoney Buell. He majored a tough kid. He has 5 B1G dual wins this season. Pretty impressive. Also, what's up with Marcos Polanco? I thought he would eventually challenge for AA after his National Qualifier Freshman year at Minnesota. That season, he beat Parker Filius and only lost to Dylan Duncan and Chad Red by three. Chronic injury? To cap the night, all of the ILLINI recruits made it to the IHSA State Finals, which will be wrestled tomorrow.

Exciting match with Purdue. The Boilers won all the tossups, then got an upset with Vanadia over Pettigrew. It came down to heavyweight, and Peter Marinopoulos won it for the ILLINI. 19-18 is your final score. Danny Pucino's pin more than offset Matt Ramos' tech fall. Edmond Ruth's major offset Stoney Buell's major. I've seen two Flying Squirrels by heavyweights this year. Both by the ILLINI. Luuuke Luffman scored with his at the Midlands, while Peter Marinopoulos came close in this match. What a time to be alive! GO ILLINI!!!

Originally, the Northwestern dual was scheduled for January 20--almost a month ago--in Champaign. In his Coaches Corner video, Mike Poeta explained that after Northwestern's total team duck--the postponement of the dual--he could've just told the Big Ten that his schedule for his athletes wouldn't allow a raincheck, and the ILLINI would've gotten the automatic dub. Instead, he agreed to go to Northwestern for the dual. He could've also allowed the dual to occur in Champaign a week later, but that doesn't give either team much time to heal up and prepare for the conference tournament. One week is not enough for that. If Northwestern can't wrestle two matches in one day, don't tell them about the tournaments still on their schedule! Next year, the dual will be in Champaign, and it will rotate each year after that just as in the past.

57 -- Zane Richards. He will have the easiest route to the crown, and although difficult, the cut isn't debilitating to him. I think Fix, Arujau and Spencer will have much tougher cuts. They will also have more of a challenge in their first round matches and will feel the effects in the first of the best of three matches on day two. Moreover, Zane had brilliant gameplans for Suriano and Gilman, and he'll have brilliant gameplans for the others. This whole bracket will be fire. 65 -- Nick Lee. He's been so impressive. Retherford could give him a go, though, but again the cut. Absolutely can't count out Yianni and McKenna. Fun weight once you get to the semis. Before that, meh. 74 -- I have no idea where Dake and Burroughs are in their training. My heart says Burroughs, but Dake has won lately. I'm going with Burroughs because he knows this is the absolute last go-round. That, in the end, would work out best for USA wrestling fans because Dake would be incentivized to wrestle another cycle. And the old trope, "You're not getting any younger," doesn't apply to him. 86 -- This weight has a unanimous favorite in Taylor, but for college wrestling fans, it is a potpourri of entertaining wrestlers. Every match should be, at a minimum, keenly interesting. 97 -- I think the Snyder versus Trumble winner is the rep, and that will be Captain America. Trumble will have to wait for at least another year. The Wolfpack kid has the height that's plagued Snyder recently, and he has a lot of muscle as well. But as young as he is, Snyder has a massive experience advantage. And he wrestles in every dang tournament, so you know where he's at, and he's consistent. You gotta believe he's working on hitting angles on his shots in the room right now. 125 - I don't think Steveson risks tarnishing his Gold. There are actual threats domestically, and even bigger threats internationally. Parris is the man currently, but it could be exciting against Kerk. Hendrickson is thrown shade for his All Star loss against Kerk, but I saw him give up his knee in the U23 final to win the Gold. That was an absolutely brutal injury. I was shocked that he even wrestled in that All Star match. He's my dark horse. As for ILLINOIS boys, I think Cassioppi finishes higher on the ladder at 125 than at 97, but like Sumo wrestlers who retire, he has shed a lot of pounds.