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Where does Mikey Carr end up in the B1G seedings? How does he fare against Peyton Robb? What about Dr. Zoidberg?

You mean, that they will break with tradition and let Yianni wrestle Sasso or Gomez in the B1G final?

These are prop bets 10 & 11: The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Spencer Lee (Y/N) The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Yianni Diakomihalis (Y/N) I've actually given it some thought, and what I would do is this: After the semifinals on Friday night, if both Spencer and Yianni have advanced to the finals, hold a coin toss. Whoever wins the coin toss between them gets the final match. Whoever comes in second gets the second-to-last match. The NCAA has broken with tradition before, this would be a great time to do it again. There is also the possibility that the Executive Producer of "ESPN Coverage of the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships" is a Cornell alum or hates Iowa. In fact, that is about 97% of the population, so....

Hi! Your entry has been entered. That gives you an excellent chance to win at least one ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond t-shirt, which, as far as you know, has never been worn before. Good Luck!

PROP BET CONTEST Your good friends at the ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond are sponsoring a contest in conjunction with the B1G wrestling tournament. The Winner gets two IWB&F&B t-shirts. Second place will receive one t-shirt. Here are the rules: Pick "YES" or "NO" for each of the prop bets listed. Pick the order of the final team standings for the tournament (tie breaker). The person with the most correct prop bet picks is the winner. Second place goes to the person with the second most correct prop bet picks. The tie breaker is the final team standings for the tournament. Ultimate tie breaker is the closest placement of Rutgers in the final team standings. These are the Prop Bets: Spencer Lee will get a first-period pinfall in his first match at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N) A team point will be deducted from Iowa's score during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N) During the first commercial break after the beginning of the finals broadcast, there will be a commercial selling cars or trucks. (Y/N) Carter Starocci will not give up a point in his first two matches during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N) Nebraska will have three or more finalists at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N) ILLINOIS will have a finalist at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N) Maryland will have two or more semi-finalists at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N) During broadcast of the finals, the cameras will catch a nervous coach with his finger in his nose (must be visually confirmed/actual nasal cavity penetration) (Y/N) Taylor Lamont will wrestle and beat Kyle Burwick during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N) The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Spencer Lee (Y/N) The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Yianni Diakomihalis (Y/N) At least two champions of the 2023 B1G tournament will do backflips or somersaults of some kind (Y/N) The final team standings at the 2023 B1G tournament are as follows: [write names of teams] ABOUT THE PRIZES The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond t-shirts are made of 100% fabric and come complete with two or more armholes and a neckhole. They will be delivered to you free of charge by people who make a living delivering such things.

Since everybody loved that first set of seeds, I decided to post another with two questions: How does Silas Allred win all those matches when he is obviously the worst wrestler in all of them? Also, wtf you do with Brawlnagel, Warner and Caffey? Max Dean (PSU) (17-2, 8-0) Silas Allred (Nebraska) (20-5, 7-1) ZAC BRAUNAGEL (ILLINI) (17-5, 6-2) Jacob Warner (Iowa) (13-4, 3-3) Cam Caffey (MSU) (13-3, 6-2) Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) (16-5, 5-3) Gavin Hoffman (OSU) (13-5, 4-1) Jaxon Smith (Maryland) (15-5, 2-0) Michial Foy (Minnesota) (13-8, 4-4) Nick Willham (Indiana) (12-7, 3-2) Billy Janzer (Rutgers) (5-10, 3-5) Andrew Davison (NW) (16-11, 2-6) Brendan Yatooma (Michigan) (4-12, 1-6) Hayden Filipovich (Purdue) (5-19, 0-7)

I took your quote of Flo's seeds and added the wrestler's actual B1G dual record: 1- RBY 6-0 2- Mendez 7-1 3- Byrd 8-0 4- Raugusin 4-3 5- Cannon 6-2 6- Heilmann 5-3 7- Teske 5-1 8- Nagao 3-1 9- Foley 2-6 10- LaMont 1-6 11- Porter 4-4 12- Burwikk 1-6 13 - Norris 3-5 14- Sandoval 0-3 They got RBY and Sandoval right. The rest of it is a peanut butter and snot sandwich.

I'd add to what I wrote above that Jesse Mendez has been spanked by five and six points in two of his last four. Lucas Byrd was top five in RPI, while Mendez hadn't wrestled enough for an RPI. Given Byrd's high RPI, he still has 9 more wins and the same number of losses. But all that minutiae aside, Byrd gets the #2 seed because he's a two-time AA. The coaches know he gives it up every time it counts.

By way of explanation for my seedings, you can find these two paragraphs in the linked story: In the 133 seedings in the post above, you can see these precepts put into action. Two-time All American Chris Cannon got the benefit of the doubt over Brody Teske, even though Teske has the slightly better B1G dual record. Rayvon Foley got the same benefit of the doubt over Dustin Norris. Finally, it was interesting to me that Wisconsin won the lottery with Taylor Lamont, moving up a whole seed line from #13 to #12.

For the complete preview, including where I make fun of your favorite wrestler or team, here's a link to The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond. __________________________ 133. LUCAS BYRD (#6, 23-3, 8-0) There are really only three questions involved in Lucas Byrd’s tournament, from least important to most important: Will he be the second or third seed? Will he get revenge against Jesse Mendez? Will we finally get to see Byrd versus RBY? The answers to those questions will be yes, yes and hell yes. The world demands Byrd versus RBY. With the way the tournament brackets go, a second seed would get a first-round bye. Then, the winner between the 7th and 10th seeds. That would be Rutger's Joe Heilmann or MSU's Rayvon Foley given the seeds below. ILLINOIS fans would like to get a nice bonus win in the first round for the team standings, but saving Lucas’ energy for the later rounds is more important. The #3 seed would face King Sandoval of Maryland in the first round. As for getting the #2 seed, Mendez did have a win over the ILLINI during an early season tournament, but Byrd is 8-0 in conference while the Buckeye is 7-1. Moreover, the man in the Orange and Blue is a two-time All American. The ILLINI was ranked right behind Mendez in the previous Coach’s poll (#8, #9), and it was Jesse Mendez who has lost since then. Finally, in overall record, both have the same number of losses (3), but Byrd has nine more wins. There were eleven B1G wrestlers in the last Coach’s poll. Unfortunately, it is likely that a few of them have fallen off simply because the competition in conference is incredible. As an example, Michigan State's Rayvon Foley is an outstanding wrestler, but he is only 2-6 in conference duals. If he was just .500 in conference (4-4), his winning percentage against Division One wrestlers would be over .700 at 13-5. [NOTE: Foley still probably gets an allocation spot for the conference because of his Coach's poll (#16) and RPI (#28) positions, although going 1-4 in his last five might jeopardize that.] SEEDS RBY (PSU) (13-0; 6-0) LUCAS BYRD (ILLINI) (22-3; 8-0) Jesse Mendez (OSU) (13-3; 7-1) Chris Cannon (NW) (15-6; 6-2) Brody Teske (Iowa) (6-2; 5-1) Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) (13-6; 4-3) Joe Heilmann (Rutgers) (18-6; 5-3) Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) (14-3; 3-1) Henry Porter (Indiana) (13-6; 4-4) Rayvon Foley (MSU) (11-7; 2-6) Dustin Norris (Purdue) (10-13; 3-5) Taylor Lamont (Wisconsin) (9-12; 1-6) Kyle Burwick (Nebraska) (7-7; 1-6) King Sandoval (Maryland) (0-4; 0-3)

Talking about automatic qualification slots here, @nhs67. There was one weight last year where there were 12 AQ slots. There were four weights with only 7 and one weight with 8. The year before that, the B1G received these AQ slots across the ten weights: 7, 7, 7, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 5, 6 That was bogus. I'm inclined to believe my theory for more potential B1G AQ slots this year (improvement among conference teams) and @ugarles theory about the relative low performance from PAC10 teams this season. It's also possible that teams like Maryland and MSU added a bunch of individual wrestler wins by scheduling duals against more lower-tier teams.

First off, bravo @ugarles! I'm already using these in my world-famous ILLINI B1G Tournament Preview. My questions: The Big Ten seems to be shorted each year in terms of allocations at multiple weights. For example, there are usually multiple weights with only six automatic qualifiers. At the same time, there'll be weights with seven and eight spots. This year, you predict only one weight to have seven spots and all the other weights to have nine or more. What is your confidence level re: your numbers? In my mind, the conference got stronger this year, especially in terms of the ILLINI, Indiana, Michigan State and the surprising Marylanders (LOL. Their mascot is food). Yet, Rutgers and Purdue seem to have taken a step back. I believe their steps back have been more than offset by the improvements in those other four teams. Is that what happened? Is that why you predict so many B1G allocations?

He plays a smart game. His hand-fighting is elite (because of great conditioning and those angry Brands genes). I would also argue that his reattacks are super-elite. He will shoot against popsicles, but against really good opponents, he waits until you shoot first. His reattacks are amazingly quick. So, it is the smart play for him, but it also means a lot of sweaty palms and 3-2 decisions against really good wrestlers.

I really appreciate the discussion. I've heard that B1G coaches arrive at their seeds multiple ways, so I'm not sure which is true. What I've heard multiple times (and it seems most likely to me) is that they send in their seeds for all the weights. The seeds get averaged out into pre-seeds. Then the coaches have a meeting in which they have the right to challenge a wrestler immediately above their guy. For example, the coach with the five seed challenges the four seed because his kid has a head-to-head win over him. I would hate to see the coaches reinforce ducking. A wrestler can only wrestle the man in front of him. On the other hand, Mikey Carr is an example of a wrestler not wrestling many matches--though I think he's got a valid doctor's excuse. Every year, though, I have to trot this old chestnut out:

Appreciate the conversation starter! The ILLINI information is a little off. Most importantly, though, it is "Zac" Braunagel. I suggested that he put a "Hello, my name is Zac" name tag on his singlet. Maximo Renteria has a B1G win. That should get him the four and not the three seed in round one. Lucas Byrd is 8-0 in B1G duals, not 6-1. I would be surprised and disgusted if he's not the #2 seed. Danny Pucino is 6-2 in conference duals, not 3-2. He has a head-to-head win over your #4 seed, Frankie Tal-Shahar (4-3 in B1G). Mike Carr is 3-0 in conference duals, not 1-0. I think that you have him at a reasonable #4 seed. Thanks for getting the ball rolling on this topic. I enjoy these discussions. It will be especially interesting for me to hear the board consensus on Mikey Carr's seed, then see what the coaches do. Cheers!

Parity can be exciting. Even if the score is 1-1 in the third period, and it kinda sucked getting to that point, the drama has built up. Of course, the drama is mostly felt by fans of those wrestlers. Everybody else is ugh, and I get that. On another subject, I didn't provide actual brackets, and I feel bad about that, but not bad enough to tackle my laziness. Cheers!

Here's a screenshot from an interview of 3x All American Jordan Blanton. These are the folks who were in his brackets. There were some battles between these guys:

The absolute PERFECT example of what I've come to call "The Delgado Effect." If Jesse wrestled for your team, you would've loved him to death. Super quick, supreme technician, humble, respectful and on and on. But he got picked on endlessly on themat.com because of what you see in that bracket. His chief rivals were some of the best wrestlers for schools with the largest internet presence. Nashon Garrett went to Cornell, Nico Megaludis was a Nittany Lion, and Corey Clark was a Hawkeye. And before all of that there was Matt McDonough. Crazy bracket.

Brian Smith is the old man in a sweater vest in his living room on Sunday watching the Giants game. He'll have a bowl of soup after the game.

I have a couple theories about 197 this year. First, any of the top thirty could AA, and it would not be shocking. Last year, three double-digit seeds stood on the podium. This year, the weight is even more balanced. Second, the guys at this weight remind me of that old TV show called BattleBots. You had three main types of BattleBot, the rammer, the high-powered blade, and the big hammer. At 197, you have the monsters who are strong and have technique (for conversation purposes, Braxton Amos, Luke Stout, Gavin Hoffman, Trumble), then you have the slightly smaller monsters who rely more on speed and technique (Bastida, Brawlnagel, Caffey, Allred). Finally, there's the combo beast with some size but also speed and technique (Bonaccorsi, Warnerov, maybe Dean, but I haven't seen him wrestle as much, and he does look a tad small). To make it far in the bracket, you're likely going to have to be able to beat two or all three of those types. Who has shown an ability to do that? And to keep my homer cred, let me note for the record that Coach Poeta believed that Zac could wrestle up at 197 because he had an epic track record against the bigger 184-pound wrestlers, and he beat national finalist and Minnesota Storm wrestler Brett Pfarr at The Rumble on the Rooftop.

You have just become a crime victim. The offense: Theft. Cheers!

Not a fan of Beauty and the Beast when I have to watch tiny humans in a split screen on my phone. But I would give David Carr a 3.7 for the backflip. By the way, David Carr did a backflip after beating the ILLINI backup 149-pounder by major. Make that make sense. ILLINOIS needed wins at 125 and 141 and lost them both. Still, a respectable 13-21 loss to the Cyclones, whose mascot is a Cardinal. Byrd with a brutal major. He is merciless. Ruth with a win--Broderson did everything he could to run from Ruth's under hooks but they always getcha. Carr was a surgeon in the first period, kinda gassed after that. Bigger Brawlnagel beat Yonger the Older by following my plan. 0-0 after the first period, ride him hard after that. He is gonna be dynamite in somebody's bracket. One of the balance beam ladies had country music playing during her routine. Doesn't she know that country music belongs in honky tonks and at cousin-cousin weddings? As for David Carr, he was a gracious dude in the handshake line. I'll root for him after Little Brawlnagel.

The ISU and UNI dual last night will impact the dual on Sunday. The Cyclones, who have a Cardinal as a mascot, had to travel back home and will need to make weight again in less than 48 hours. Here is the box score from that ISU/UNI dual: No. 3 Iowa State 19, No. 14 Northern Iowa 12 125: Kyle Gollhofer (UNI) dec. Ethan Perryman (ISU), 8-6 133: Zach Redding (ISU) dec. Kyle Biscoglia (UNI), 4-2 141: Cael Happel (UNI) dec. Casey Swiderski (ISU), 4-3 149: Paniro Johnson (ISU) dec. Adam Allard (UNI), 3-1 157: Derek Holschlag (UNI) dec. Jason Kraisser (ISU), 4-1 165: David Carr (ISU) maj. dec. Austin Yant (UNI), 20-6 174: MJ Gaitan (ISU) dec. Lance Runyon (UNI), 9-5 184: Parker Keckeisen (UNI) dec. Marcus Coleman (ISU), 7-5 197: Yonger Bastida (ISU) vs. Kalob Runyon (UNI) or Wyatt Voelker (UNI) 285: Sam Schuyler (ISU) vs. Tyrell Gordon (UNI) Scuttlebutt on the internet is that Mikey Carr will be able to take off from Medical School to make Jason Kraisser's Sunday a bad one. That's good news for ILLINI fans because Anthony Federico might could beat Jason Kraisser, Carr certainly can, and he might earn the team a bonus point. Iowa State has a ton of good wrestlers at 174. Well, not quite a ton, just five (or 870 pounds) of them. The thing is, unless Kevin Dresser wants to take MJ Gaitan's redshirt off, last night was MJ Gaitan's fifth and final dual of his true freshman year. I think Dresser should (unless he's an orange) because I'd love to see Gaitan go upper-body with Edmond Ruth. America deserves it. I believe the ISU favorites are more heavily favored than the ILLINI favorites, and I also believe that they have the more likely opportunities for bonus points. 125 MAXIMO RENTERIA versus Caleb Fuessley, Ethan Perryman or Conor Knopick. Wrestlestat.com picks Renteria, and so do I. This is close to a tossup, but Maximo has started to see the light. 133. LUCAS BYRD versus Zach Redding. Byrd is the Wyrd here. Bonus? 141. DANNY PUCINO versus Casey Swiderski. Pucino favored by wrestlestat.com. I favor him as well, but not for a major like Andre's algorithm. Pucino might have problems with the stronger guys at the weight, but Swiderski is dealing with an injury and having to make weight twice within 48 hours. 149. JAKE HARRIER versus Paniro Johnson. Wrestlestat calls for a major for the Cyclones. I don't see it. Harrier just beat a solid kid in Peyton Omania of MSU, and although he's undersized here, Johnson beat the UNI backup 3-1 last night. 157. MIKEY CARR versus Jason Kraisser. Wrestlestat.com was picking Kraisser to beat Carr, but that's changed now to a Carr win. That's what I think, and it could be bonus. 165. DANNY BRAUNAGEL versus David Carr. Carr is special, but he missed out on a tech against the #11 Austin Yant because of a Boston-Strangler-type move he tried in the waning seconds. Little Brawny will have to work hard to avoid a tech here. 174. EDMOND RUTH versus 870 Pounds of Cyclone (see above). ILLINI favored. 184. DYLAN CONNELL versus Marcus Coleman. Wrestlestat.com considers this a regular decision for ISU. Connell will need to fight for that result. Coleman is legit. One of my favorite matches from the NCAA tournament last year happened in the second round: 197. ZAC BRAUNAGEL versus Yonger Bastida. This could be the dual. Wrestlestat.com favors Bastida, but the Brawlnagel has come up big many times this year. 285. MATT WROBLEWSKI versus Sam Schuyler. Schuyler is the universal heavy favorite. However, he will find it hard to score a bonus point against WroboCop. Perryman has only wrestled two duals, so he is still available at 125. Perryman is now 9-3 on the year, but he seemed a little gassy in his UNI dual loss. How would he be making weight and wrestling again in less than 48 hours? The Cyclones have 750 pounds of 125-pound wrestlers, but two of them are injured and out for the ILLINOIS dual. Dresser could also go with Caleb Fuessley, the guy who's started most of the duals since Terukina's injury, or 7-3 (2-2 against D1) Conor Knopick, who got crushed by the #133 wrestler from Wyoming in that dual, yet gave Oklahoma's Joey Prata a very good match recently. If ILLINOIS is to have any chance to win this dual, Maximo Renteria will need to pick up a win at 125, and Pucino will need one at 141.

I have a preview of this interesting dual up at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond. I'm interested in hearing what Iowa State fans have to say about this match. It looks like the Cyclones have been decimated by injuries at the lower weights, but they are steel-rod-reinforced-concrete strong at the upper weights. In any event, here's a sample from the award-winning preview: 197. ZAC BRAUNAGEL (#17, 19-5) versus YONGER BASTIDA (#7, 13-2) This will be a marque matchup for the fans. The thirty-five-year-old Cuban freestyler has had a great year so far with some incredible upsets and wins. But so has Zac. Yonger got pinned by Nebraska's Silas Allred and lost a close match to Pitt's Nino Bonaccorsi. But so did Zac. Bastida is not that big for a 197er, and is very quick. But the same goes for Zac Braunagel. The key for the ILLINI is to defend the quick single from the Cuban, and either get the takedown himself in the first period, or reach the second period scoreless. The ISU kid has learned folkstyle by now--he finished fifth at the Big Dance last year--but I'd still like to see him underneath the Brawlnagel in the tie-breakers. Yonger is 3-2 against top twenty wrestlers this year with wins over Wisconsin's Braxton Amos, Oklahoma State's #19 Luke Surber, and Cornell's #17 Lewis Fernandes, as well as losses to Nino Bonaccorsi and Max Dean. Zac will need to defend Bastida's underhooks, and be ready when he selects neutral. His claw ride isn't that good yet, so Brawny should be able to escape. Can the Cyclone? PREDICTION: Tossup, slight edge to ISU. ... A DAY IN HISTORY It is Saturday, February 3, 1940. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton is born. Glenn Miller is high on the charts with his hit In the Mood. You still have to wait seven more days for the first-ever Tom and Jerry cartoon called Puss Gets the Boot. Gone with the Wind is still in theaters, while Pinocchio--Disney's second feature-length film--opens in a week. Russia's war with Finland is heating up; Nazis pilots sink the Norwegian ship Tempo. But in the United States, at least, good triumphs over evil as the Fighting ILLINI beat the Iowa State Cyclones in a wrestling dual by the score of 14.5 to 13.5. This is part of ILLINOIS' all-time 7-3 winning record against that dreadful team. This is what the Washington, D.C. Evening Star reported the next day:

Last year's ILLINI team is beaten by this year's MSU team. Next year's ILLINI team, which gets back Luffman, Joe Roberts and Cardani, and adds two Who's #1 recruits--available for a combined ten duals even if they redshirt--beats this year's ILLINI team. Coaches Poeta, Hunter, Ruth and IMAR have the ship going in the right direction. Every decision seems to be golden, from facilities to recruits to NIL and other student financial assistance to the IRTC. That's not to take anything away from MSU, a team that has greatly improved. It is true that I do a poor job complimenting other teams. Please realize that it is only because I hate them and their fans.