ILLINIWrestlingBlog

The way the dual started, I was very excited. Three wins in a row for the good guys. Of course, Patrick McKee didn't wrestle, but neither did Lucas Byrd, both Brawlnagels, Luke Luffman, Kannon Webster and Braeden Scoles. (Blockhus is on a mission and very hot right now, so Scoles really wouldn't have helped here. Someday.). 

Excuses, you say?

Yes. I've got lots of them. 

But the fact of the matter is this: The ILLINI will be 5x more powerful next season, assuming everybody stays healthy and comes back. Having interviewed the Braunagel twins recently and having watched Lucas Byrd on the sidelines at duals, along with his coaching of the younglings at open tournaments, they are craving their return to the ILLINOIS lineup. 

I thought the dual was going to have a number of competitive matches because although Minnesota has a very nice dual record, their competition, on average, hasn't been that stellar. Winning four matches was the upper limit of my predictions for this dual, and the ILLINI met that. 

Of course, the stupid Gophers have a lot of impressive young talent as well. Should be fun the next couple of years! 

9 hours ago, MNRodent said:

Here is the escape call to force overtime at 125 with 1 second on the clock. 

Good point. 

However. How do you say somebody is in control when their opponent has a tight front headlock on them? You can see in the image below that Cardani had cinched up a real tight front headlock before the ref called time: 

ILLINI lose at 165, but Edmond Ruth wins 7-1 over Andrew Sparks. 13 Minnesota; 12 ILLINI. 

Connell versus Salazar up. 

10-9 Minnesota at the break.

Coach Poeta was smart and started the dual at 125, McKee was a no show. Cardani beats Morvari. 

Then, at 133, Tony Madrigal picks off another ranked wrestler in as many weeks. 

At 141, Vance Vombauer goes down to Danny Pucino. 

The ILLINI could've used Kannon Webster at 149, as stupid Minnesota gets the major. 

At 157, Michael Blockhus with the pin off a headlock throw from the knees. 

The ILLINI need wins at 165 and 174 and to pick off another weight--most likely 184, then 197. 

15 hours ago, ionel said:

Hoping Jombo will skip the Illini Minny meet and head over to CHA to call STALLING  on the Hawkeyes when they fail to initiate action.  

Wherever he is needed. Whenever he is needed. You can count on JOMBO™. The hero of the people! 

They still have Luke Luffman listed as the starter at Wrestlestat.com, but he's been out since the end of December because of injury. Very sad. He won't be back this year.

To add insult to injury, he's lost all of his digital preview matches on Wrestlestat.com against heavyweights from Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska, even though I think he would've beaten them in real life.

Also, Kannon Webster is taking his redshirt. He's wrestled in six duals this season, but two of the duals happened on the same day, so they count as one for his total of five freebies.

We have a preview of this dual at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond Plus. It's a tad more thorough than what y'all'd currently find over to the Guillotine, which looks like this:

Quote

 

Should be a couple competitive matches:
ILL
Ruth/Sparks

Illinois Dual-Roberts/Webster at 149 could be good.

 

I think they're wrong on all accounts. First of all, Kannon Webster put his redshirt back on. Secondly, I see a bunch of competitive matches, including but not limited to 133, 141, 165, 174 and 184. Wrestlestat.com is alleging that the ILLINI will win only a couple of matches. I see three plus, as I have the O&B favorites at 133, 165 and 174. Also, 184 was a one-point match last season. Moreover, if the 125 pound bantam rooster they have wrestling for the Gophers gets a little tuckered out in the third period....

Finally, here's the latest episode of the Threeee Is the New Twoooo podcast featuring an interview of ILLINI Head Coach Mike Poeta. I swear that after every time I talk to him this thought crosses my mind: "How can a recruit say no to Mike Poeta?" 

To muddy up the waters, Professor Carl gave a strange response to questions from a PSU sports reporter:

2 hours ago, dragit said:

That doesn't look like the NU football coach, it looks like the former NU football coach.  Pat Fitzgerald was replaced by David Braun last summer.  It was a giant surprise, Fitzgerald was viewed as an indispensable uber coach and was on a $50 million contract, he only was removed because the student paper published the details of a hazing scandal which caused the administration to change from a light punishment to a firing (even though they knew all the facts before the first action).  The unexpected result was that the football team, expected to be even worse than their one victory season last year, was terrific, went to a bowl and won, and could have been in the Big Ten title game if not for a long Iowa field goal.  So just as surprising as the hazing story was the revelation that Fitzgerald may not have been a good coach anymore (probably more focused on fundraising for the proposed new $800 million stadium following the construction of the $200 million practice facility), they stunk the last two years and then totally turned around under the new coach.

Well, that makes me sad. Not for the hazed nerds. They signed up for that. Didn't they see Revenge of the Nerds?  I'm talking about one of my favorite all-time photoshops being less relevant.

I'm tearing up a little thinking about it. 

If other Big Ten schools start to add women's wrestling, though, maybe that would jump-start the process out West? It might even save Northwestern wrestling. 

The Big Ten was always a wrestling conference. Even when it expanded, it expanded to include schools that had D1 wrestling. At least from 1896 to 2022, or about 126 years. This quote from another website about conference expansion is illustrative (and not a little funny, and I mean the "Michigan is voted out" bit):

• 1896: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Purdue, Univ. of Chicago, and Northwestern form the “Western Conference”
• 1899: Iowa and Indiana join, the conference is referred to as the “Big Nine”
• 1907: Michigan is voted out of the conference
• 1912: Ohio State joins the conference
• 1916: Michigan rejoins, the conference is first referred to as the “Big Ten”
• 1946: Univ. of Chicago de-emphasizes varsity athletics and leaves the conference; the conference is once again referred to as the “Big Nine”
• 1949: Michigan State joins, the conference is once again referred to as the “Big Ten”
• 1993: Penn State begins conference play after being invited to join in 1990
• 2011: Nebraska joins the conference
• 2014: Maryland and Rutgers join the conference
• 2022: UCLA and USC announce they will join the conference effective in 2024
• 2023: Oregon and Washington announce they will join the conference effective in 202

Here's where the rubber meets the road: Will the conference promote wrestling in the future? Penn State, then Nebraska, were wrestling schools. I personally thought that Maryland and Rutgers were weird choices to join the Big Ten, but I did love the fact that they were wrestling schools. It seemed that a requirement to join the conference was a wrestling program. 

But UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington? Not wrestling schools. Will they add programs? Or, will Northwestern now have an excuse to drop theirs? I don't know. I just wanted a chance to publish this picture of the Wildcat's football coach:

My bucket list includes insulting every one of the other 77 Division One wrestling schools. Today's topic: Missouri. 

I started watching Lee-Yanni in the second period. Yianni looked gassed. Concussion makes more sense. 

That sucks.

Lee's my favorite NLWC guy behind Jimmy Kennedy, so I'm glad he won, but hate any and all injuries.

Now we get to see Amit Elor versus Nick Lee for the spot, right?

Standing ovation for Michiford Western. They got the job done. 

Brian Swaw and I got to talk with Jesse Delgado about his NCAA Championships, the match he had with Matt McDonough at Carver Hawkeye arena when he was a redshirt Freshman, his move from California to ILLINOIS, his high school series versus IMAR, and so on. 

I could talk to that man for a week nonstop. Has there ever been a week-long wrestling podcast? In any event, one of the statements below is false per the interview. Can you guess which one?

A.  The high school series between Jesse Delgado and IMAR stands at one win apiece.

B.  Jesse once ate a 72 ounce steak in an hour to win $500.00. 

C.  In his matches with Nashon Garrett, Delgado scored 8-9 takedowns to none for Nashon. 

D.  Jesse is the current head coach of the Relentless Training Center (South) in Champaign. 

As for the dual, this could be a tight one. Brian Swaw thinks it could be 5-5 in match wins, maybe 6-4 for the ILLINI depending upon who wrestles. Because of injuries and redshirts, Sparty has a distinct advantage in the upper weights, while we have the home team winning a majority of the lower weights. MSU has had a pretty easy schedule so far, but they've made the most of it with a lot of bonus points, especially pins. 

The dual is Friday at 7:00 pm (Central), and it will be streamed on BTN+. Here's a link to the full written preview. 

4 hours ago, ionel said:

But was Jumbo there? 

Your Jombo™ slander can't hurt me. But to answer your question, yes. The Jombos™ traveled real well even on probation.

Here's the latest: 

Can anybody top the ILLINI's 2005 win with the score of 25-7? The question is whether PSU has wrestled a dual this season with its full, expected, post-season lineup. 

149: #16 Anton Dietzen dec. #5 Ty Eustice (Iowa), 3-2	        3-0
157:  #2 Alex Tirapelle dec. #7 Joe Johnston (Iowa), 7-5	6-0
165:  #4 Mark Perry (Iowa) maj. dec. Cal Ferry (ILL), 12-2	6-4
174:  #5 Pete Friedl (ILL) dec. Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 12-5	9-4
184:  #3 Brian Glynn (ILL) dec. #5 Paul Bradley (Iowa), 2-1	12-4
197:  #13 Tyrone Byrd (ILL) dec. Adam Fellers (Iowa), 3-0	15-4
Hwt: #7 Matt Fields (Iowa) dec. #14 Mike Behnke (ILL), 6-3	15-7
125: #2 Kyle Ott (ILL) maj. dec. Charlie Falck (Iowa), 14-6	19-7
133: #4 Mark Jayne (ILL) dec. #14 Mario Galanakis (Iowa), 7-5	22-7
141: Cassio Pero (ILL) dec. #11 Alex Tsirtsis (Iowa), 4-3	25-7

15 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

My bad. Yes, my link is specific to the Championships, not the OG Qualifier. I can only assume they will follow a similar procedure for the OG Qualifier as for the Championships, but I do not know for sure. Certainly it would be reasonable to assume that the USAW and the PAN-Am organizers have discussed this and know that the US has not yet determined its rep for the OG Qualifier.

Your logic is impeccable. I hope you're right because I actually don't dislike Nick Lee. 

2 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

https://uww.org/article/pan-american-championships-2024-entries

 

Thanks for that, WKN.

There is still ambiguity. That article discusses the Pan Am Championships, and there is this:

Quote

Note: The entries are subject to change till three hours before the official draw of the wrestling style.

Then, scroll down and there is a different section or different article that discusses entries for the Pan Am Olympic Qualifier, and that rule is not mentioned! 

In the schedule of events for the Olympic Qualifier, there is no mention of what time zone. I assume local time, but does Mexico do what many in the US do by referring to Eastern time as some kind of standard? By the way, local time in Acapulco is the same as Central Time in the United States. 

1 hour ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Entries can change up to three hours before the draw for the style.

Do you have a link for this, WKN? I didn't see anything on the official schedule, just the "Deadline for Final Entries" that I mentioned above. Cheers!

The Cuban entered at 57kg, Osmany Diversent, is the guy who lost in the semifinals to the Colombian at the Pan Am Games.

Zane then beat the Colombian in the Finals by tech fall. 

This gives Zane some folks to actually target. There's the caveat, though, that Yianni is listed as the American entrant at 65 kg, and that is still an unsettled question, right? So, it seems that this may be similar to the "probable lineups" that the coaches put out before college duals. Yet, the official rules provide that the "Deadline for Final Entries" is January 25. Hmmm. Maybe that's just a deadline to enter your country? 

With Stallrocci as the new heel, with the PSU staff trying to instigate against Maryland--Dude, you beat them by 400 points just lay off--and with the PSU fans on this board defending all of those shenanigans and more, I'm starting to see a bad case of Iowaitis. 

They have a fever, and the only prescription is more Professor Carl!
 

Wow. 

[SPOILERS] The January Sumo tournament is over. 

I've never seen a better one. 

It came down to the high-ranking wrestlers, a play off, and that play off included the Yokozuna Terunofuji. Below is the match that he had to win against the second-highest ranked wrestler Kirishima (who also happens to be my favorite because he looks like Sumo Elvis) to get to the play off:

The actual match starts at 5:07 of the video and it ends at 5:12. The total length of the match was five seconds. Unbelievable dominance by the Yokozuna. And believe me, Kirishima is a fantastic wrestler. 

After this match, the Yokozuna had to come back for the play off, and he beat another talented wrestler named Kotonowaka for the Emperor's Cup. I will just link that match here, as it is unlisted on YouTube so as not to spoil the surprise that there was a play off. 

In any event, Hakkeyoi to you and may your feet land outside the ring after your opponent's for the rest of your life!

43 minutes ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

I had to listen to Ironside on the radio, and I can't wait until the next ILLINI win in the series because I'm going to play that broadcast at my third wedding. 

 

There's only one thing worse than ruining the punchline of a joke, and that's ruining the punchline of a bad joke. 

ILLINI made it a great match last year, but that didn't happen this season. Ouch. Great by Kannon Webster and Dylan Connell. I had to listen to Ironside on the radio, and I can't wait until the next ILLINI win in the season because I'm going to play that broadcast at my third wedding. 

DUAL RECAP

The dual started at 133, and the teams were both a Frankenstein patchwork of wrestlers (apparently) because of injuries and illnesses. 

The ILLINI missed an opportunity at 133, as that was the second worst weight for the Hawkeyes during their dual season. Rather than a win, the ILLINI gave up a major decision. Not something you expect from the sixth-year Senior TONY MADRIGAL against the Hawkeye backup. 

It hurts even more because Real Woods didn't make the trip, so the Hawkeye bumped up their starter at 133 at 141. Madrigal should've made them pay for that. 

At 141, it was a bumped-up 6th-year grad student and three-time NCAA qualifier (R12, R16) Brody Teske versus true Freshman WILL BAYSINGAR. Teske gets the only takedown and rides out the second period to grab a 5-0 victory. No word on what happened to DANNY PUCINO. 

KANNON WEBSTER is now officially in the starting lineup for good. He got the start. Caleb Rathjen started for Iowa. It went into SV with the score 1-1. There, Kannon got the takedown and another ranked win against a tough wrestler. 

Coming off what must have been a brutal hand injury JOE ROBERTS gave up a tech fall to AA Jared Franek. 

CHRIS MOORE took on Michael Caliendo, the returning AA and transfer from NDSU. He gave up the tech fall in the second period. 5-1 was the Patrick Kennedy decision over EDMOND RUTH. 

The ILLINI need a win at 184, and they send out DYLAN CONNELL against Aiden Riggins. This is where Iowa loses most of its dual points. Dylan comes through with a takedown in SV for the win.

Undefeated Zach Glazier faced off with JOEY BRAUNAGEL at 197. The Hawkeye got the second-period tech fall. At heavyweight, the ILLINI are without LUUUKE LUFFMAN so PETER MARINOPOULOS got the start. Bradley Hill gets the pin with :17 to go in the match. On the bright side, the pin came from a cradle after Peter took a shot in the third period. 

At 125, JUSTIN CARDANI faced #5 Drake Ayala. Justin lost this match 4-7 two years ago, but this was a 18-3 tech fall.   

Final Score: ILLINI-6; Iowa-36