ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Not true. Braeden Scoles is a Wisconsin 4xer and Fargo Champion who will do big things in college and was high up in the P4P rankings, and like Webster, was a Who's #1 wrestler. He had an injury this year that slowed him down, but not before he beat an NCAA qualifier in a "free" dual appearance early in the season. Chris Moore was another Fargo Champion, and he was forced into the lineup this year at the toughest weight, 165, and still became an NCAA qualifier with wins over Caleb Fish and Stoney Buell. Add Will Baysingar to the P4P list coming out of high school. The class coming in this year includes two ILLINOIS three-time state champs (Ruzic & Colon), along with a two-time Ohio state champ (Bennett), and they are all vicious pinners. I'm very excited about them in an impartial journalistic way! With a new state-of-the-art facility coming on line in 2025 next to the giant spaceship (State Farm Center), and with everybody coming back from Olympic redshirts (Zac & Danny Braunagel), Medical redshirts (Lucas Byrd) and injuries (Luuuke Luffman) along with returning AA Edmond Ruth and a couple other NCAA qualifiers, and with the Freshmen entering the lineup (Webster, Scoles, etc.), they will have a powerful team and a very solid basis for recruiting in the years to come. As a final note, somebody upthread indicated that Danny Brawlnagel was on a regular redshirt. That is also not true. He earned an Olympic redshirt with his placement in the qualifying tournament over the Summer. Look for him at OTT at 77kg in Greco.

Good post! My sentiments exactly. Maximo also suffered an injury that held him back a little. One of his three Cali state championship final wins was against Aaron Nagao. He didn't wrestle many big out-of-state tournaments in high school, but he did beat Dylan Ragusin and a Missouri 4xer. If he builds up his confidence and focus, he will be very good. The Big Ten that year at 125 was not a great place for a young wrestler to build up his confidence (Spencer Lee, Patrick McKee, Eric Barnett, Matt Ramos, Michael DeAugustino, Liam Cronin, etc.).

If Lucas Byrd is healed, it would be cool for him to enter Greco at 60kg. But maybe he just wants to get/stay healthy? Oh lawdy he'd be such a TIGER out there.

Whoa, my heart screams in pain. IMAR only came within ten seconds of beating Jordan Burroughs in a best two-of-three series when Burroughs was un-Dakeable and completely non-Taylorable. Moreover, a good underhook series was enough for Yazdani to win Olympic and World Championship Gold.

Zane Richards Tiny Suds Dubler Jordan Burroughs

And so the March basho ends with a surprise champion! Young Takerufuji won the 15-day tournament with a 13-2 record. This was his first tournament at the highest level, and he was dominant, although he didn't face a Yokozuna (highest rank) and only two of four Ozeki (next highest rank). So, there is still a question in my mind about how he will stack up against the top of the Banzuke (Sumo roster). Yet, he won his last match against a very competent opponent on a bum ankle/foot. That showed a lot of composure and courage and determination. There is no doubt that he is very powerful. In football terms, he "gets off the ball" faster than anybody near his size, and he is 315 pounds and 6'-3" tall. I think he will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. A possible future Ozeki, maybe even a Yokozuna? We shall see.

This is a good idea. Cheers!

JB was great, but I wanted more of him; DC was great, but I wanted less of him. Sharing is caring. On the other hand, I appreciate the experimentation, as we may not know what we're missing if we don't, but last night a two person crew: Play-by-play and color analyst, was the way to go in my opinion.

And to prevent injuries.

That's the Freestyle rule, and it is a good one!

I'm asking for everybody on the board's cooperation in NOT POSTING the pit bull in the x-ray meme. It was funny the first 10 times. It was thoughtful the next 10 times. Now, it just pisses me off. Remember when people used to say, "That's my story, and I'm sticking to it," but they kept saying it for a mind-numbing year? Same thing. Sure, the PSU era comes to an end next year, but it will be the ILLINI wearing the crown. Four returning All Americans, plus four returning NCAA qualifiers, plus Kannon Webster, Braeden Scoles and Seth Mendoza when he flips from Missouri to the ILLINI. (The latter is a rumor that just started when you read it here).

I'm all for the push-out. It is a great rule in Freestyle. Love it! Moreover, it would help Folkstyle by removing a lot of the subjectivity plaguing matches right now. Although I think refs are doing a pretty damn good job of it, considering all of the subjectivity inherent in the rule. A couple questions, though: First, would there also have to be a rule about grounding? Second, there was a poster on Twitter that brought up a good point: What about people on bottom trying to escape? After thinking about it, I had to immediately question my support of a push out rule. On bottom, you get to your feet and immediately try to separate your hips by running away. That can often lead to the top guy pushing you, or just following you, out of bounds. With a push out rule, the top guy gets a point instead of a potential stall call. Escapes are hard enough, in my opinion! Because of that foreseeable consequence, I have amended my support for the push out to only when both wrestlers are in neutral. What else could you do about escapes? Is there another way to get around that issue?

I think we saw the memes play out in real life. It was actually kind of weird to see. Professor Carl is unemotional and uncommunicative, and, on the other hand, Tom Brands is too emotional/communicative. Carl doesn't communicate the situation to his wrestler. Now, in his defense, I thought it was going to overtime as well, but in my defense, I was also watching an Austin Powers video on YouTube, the one where Dr. Evil and Mini-Me are in prison and planning to break out. So, in my defense, my attention was divided between wrestling and one of the funniest scenes in cinematic history. Did Professor Carl blow Messenbrink's chance to be a four-timer? I don't know. Carr was tired, but he's such a vet, you have to think he can fight off an attack for :20. On the other hand, Tom Brands chose to communicate his emotions with an ill-timed brick. That was a tactical error for the ages. Drake Ayala has a great gas tank, Figs is getting tired and like a grouchy two-year old needs a nap, Brands throws a brick after one of the most obvious takedowns in NCAA Finals history. There are about 20 wrestlers in the NCAA for whom I would almost never throw a brick. That's because Lactic Acid is your friend. Exhaustion is your ally. Ayala is one of them. I thought the brick was Brands' way to throw a tantrum. Maybe he needed a nap as well?

I love it! If I was a Nit fan on that board I'd be calling out the other 17 as sleeper Hawk trolls. Why not? Be a fan. Yell, scream, fight. Believe.

Correction: This is Onosato's second tournament in the upper division. He's the one at 9-2.

With the NCAA tournament getting underway, I thought I'd write this up before I forget. This basho is no fun for me, as my favorite wrestlers aren't doing well. However, just about everybody else in the Sumo world is agog because of two newcomers who are thumping everybody. First, there is Takerufuji, who was an amateur and college star and has been in professional Sumo for just a few tournaments. He just won his match and became the first rikishi (wrestler) to win 11 consecutive matches to start his first basho (tournament) at the top division in 64 years. Almost not to be outdone, Onosato, another newbie, is 9-2. He's so new that he can't put his hair up in traditional sumo style. Everybody else has three or more losses, and there are only four days left in the basho. Besides the cool record, there is the fact that both of these rikishi have looked dominant against pretty good competition. Today, they both wrestled against respected and tested Ozekis (Takakeisho and Kotonowaka). That's the second-highest rank in Sumo, and both the new guys won. So, questions about whether they are flashes in the pan have been answered, at least in my mind. Not only did each beat a powerful Ozeki--and both of the Ozekis were near the top of the leaderboard and were in good form--but they also did not succumb to the incredible pressure of fighting in the last two bouts on day 11 of their first tournaments. It is also exciting for Japanese fans because Mongolians have held the top spot in the sport for a long stretch. These two are Japanese monsters. Okay, I'm a little excited! Hakkeyoi! Image credit: The Japan Times from an hour ago.

As a great man once said, "Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station." It's Edmond Ruth time! Let's go: I especially liked the audible gasps from the spectators at the Purdue dual and the Big Ten tournament.

When are weigh-ins?

Spent 10 minutes on the YouTube looking for other NCAA Wrestling Championships videos from other teams. None can be found. Do they care? Anyway, here's another for the ILLINI:

NCAA HYPE VIDEOS This is a two-parter. First, The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond Plus will be coming out with NCAA Hype Videos for all the ILLINI at the Big Dance. If you are a top notch recruit, wouldn't you want to be in one of these videos done in the cool rapping style that all the youngsters of today are so keen on? What other schools have cool NCAA Wrestling hype videos. Show me. SHOULD THE MICHIGAN WILDCATS UNIONIZE? Right now--this very minute--the Northwestern Wolverines are at the height of their bargaining power. The NCAA tournament doesn't start until Thursday. Bormet brought in a bunch of scabs to work for him, but what if those very same scabs held out for better pay? All they need is 30% of their employees, say DeAugustino and Cannon, to sign a petition at the local NLRB office, and BOOM, they can start living the high life of organized labor. As independent contractors their power is limited. As a unit, a union, their voices become amplified and their needs can be met. How about a $1,000.00 per hour raise? They've probably put in hundreds of hours for a pittance already, including Summer workouts, weightlifting and whatnot. Remember, my Wolvercat friends: The longer the picket line, the shorter the strike.

This is awesome! Stretch yourself, this is interesting.

What's funny is that you use the words "front head" and "headlock" but completely ignore the meaning of those words. These are pretty simple words. Let's think about them. The hold is a lock around the head (and the chin is part of the head). Significantly, the neck is not part of the head. If the rules allowed strangulation, they would've called it a necklock. That's why you see refs bending down to see what the lock is around. If it's around the head = legal. If it's around the neck = illegal. But, you know, that's a pretty funny new word. Necklock. So, maybe we call him "Aaron Necklock Nagao" or just good ol' "Necklock."

It is my theory that Nagao fled Minnesota because of the nickname that I gave him: The Gopher Choker. Although Rhyme Zone doesn't include "Choker," I believe that it belongs there just as much as "Clover," which is there and a 92 on their scale. But Nagao can't escape the internet, so I am proposing a new nickname: "Aaron Nagarrotte."

@jajensen09 is a poster. Be a fan. Root for your team. Root against other teams.

Wow! This is so cool! I hope you continue to post here. I've been busy with American high school and college folkstyle, so I haven't posted about the current basho. You could tell us your thoughts about that, any national or international tournaments you and your teammates are wrestling, your practices, etc. It would be great to have another American in the upper divisions of the Japanese Sumo Association. Another person or persons to cheer for. Good luck! Another reason I haven't posted about the current basho is because my favorite wrestlers are getting CRUSHED. The giant Yokozuna Terunofuji is 2-4, Sumo Elvis Kirishima is also 2-4, and Hokutofuji is 1-5. Another favorite Takarafuji was bounced down to a lower division, and even there, he's 3-3. Hakkeyoi!