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Zane and Kamal come to mind as immediate medal threats, so I guess it comes down to them. The Wraustler has made three Senior World Teams, so there is that. I think this is Bey's second at only 25 years old, and Zane has another National team under his belt. Other interesting questions: Could Zac Braunagel make an Olympic team next year while in college? Will he take an Olympic redshirt? At 25, does Kamal have his man strength yet? Will Rau go for the Olympics before Saturday Night Live steals him away?

Zane Richards is now 3-0 against last year's Silver and Bronze World Championship medalists. The combined match points were 22-9 in his favor. There appeared to be no problem with the cut at Final X. He beat the Iranian at the World Cup. No weight/gas issues there. Zane's in a very good place right now. The Albanian (former Russian) World Champion will be a problem, but he is almost a genetic duplicate of Richards. He could be Zane's older, uglier, slightly thicker-legged brother. So excite!

Prediction that cannot be proven or disproven but I think is very likely: Without that bodacious cast, Lucas Byrd at 60 kg Greco becomes the 5th IRTC wrestler at Final X. He had signed up to go to the Senior US Open, and once upon a time, he was an age-level world teamer. By the way, what a gorgeous power couple. Byrd is the ******* Wyrd!

Thanks for this @bnwtwg! I was hoping that they would start 57kg much later in the event, as it would give Gilman a chance to cool down. He always arrives to matches so sweaty.

I don't think Tom Gilman should SWEAT the small stuff.

They'll get the chair!

Strange as it seems, here is video of Gilman versus Iran's Sarlak. Just :25 seconds into the match (5:35), Gilman is already sweating like an Exorcist on day three. One second later, the ref blows the action dead. Sarlak removes his collar tie from the back of Gilman's head and looks at his hand like WTF? Twenty days ago a MLB pitcher was ejected for violation of the foreign substances rule. Automatic 10-game suspension. Less than a month before that, another pitcher was ejected and suspended for the same thing. Missing 10 games might equate to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and yet they still break the rule. From a 2022 article about how bad the sticky substances issue had become in baseball: "With the use of foreign substances 'more prevalent' than the league had anticipated, MLB instructed umpires as of June 21 to begin performing periodic checks throughout the game on both starters and relievers." To gain an advantage, a wrestler might rub oil into his skin, perhaps even put some type of grease on the back of his head. He is unlikely to touch it, but you can bet his opponent will. I don't know if it is true with Gilman, but there needs to be an even playing field. There is no question that Gilman is too sweaty at the start of matches, and it is even worse in the second period, after his towel guy dabs him the way a new father swabs the ear of his baby.

The full quotes from Brands and Cassioppi: "Brands also thought Hillger had an unfair advantage during the heavyweight match. 'Guy was oiled up too, guy was oiled up, print that,' Brands said. 'I don’t know if he had oil or anything on him, he was just kind of slick,' Cassioppi added. 'I just had to brush it off and just keep wrestling. Maybe keep that mind that I’ve got to really, really secure that leg or really, really secure that wrist when I wrestle.'" I don't know if Gilman pampers his skin with luxury product, whether he only wrestles with a 103° temperature, or his body exudes some type of mucusy substance like a snail. I just know that he starts the match against tough opponents as shiny as a bald head at a strip club. Ref needs to check that.

I've finished my Moneyball look at Thomas Gilman. First, let's correct a preview of the Richards/Gilman match that is on FloWrestling's front page. It states: "Gilman’s tried and true game plan of using underhooks, forward pressure, and single legs to score step-outs and takedowns, has proven highly successful. You know it’s coming, but you can’t stop it." The tie that the NLWC wrestler prefers is actually a right-handed collar tie, while he hand fights with his left. Against 10 recent credible opponents, he spent 74.3% of the time using a collar tie, only 5% of the time with an underhook. As far as not being able to stop it, that's another thing. There is a certain type of wrestler who has been successful against it: The shorter, quicker foe. Think Zelimkhan Abakarov or Daton Fix. Abakarov blunted Gilman's forward pressure by hitting an arm throw early in their match. Much less forward pressure after that. Fix used his speedy go-behinds to score takedowns. He also blunted Gilman's forward pressure by not engaging and moving laterally. Those are two things that Zane Richards does well. It should be noted that Gilman has had great success against tall and lanky wrestlers like Mongolia's Zanabazar Zandanbud, Joe Colon, Horst Lehr from Germany, Udit Udit from India, and Alireza Sarlak from Iran. That's because he can usually handle strength versus strength. It's the strength versus technique or speed that will get him in a bind. Second, the most amazing data involved turns. In 7 of 10 matches against worthy opponents, Thomas Gilman never even attempted a turn. In the three matches where he did attempt a turn, his only successful gut wrench was against a decent German wrestler who forgot to get to his stomach. How do you say "D'oh" in German? On the other hand, Gilman doesn't get turned himself. Thing is, I hope the refs are watching for him grabbing hands and feet while on bottom. He will do that when he feels legitimate pressure. Also, the refs need to warn him about interlocking fingers if he decides to go that route. He does it a lot. Finally, I hope they make sure he is sufficiently rubbed down, as he sweats like a Nazi in Harlem. He also starts matches suspiciously shiny. I know as a former boxer, we used Vaseline on our faces, but boxing is not supposed to involve any grabbing and holding. Old Spice body wash? I guess it's just a mystery!

It's been three crazy days. ILLINI fans are blessed to have large contingents wrestling Freestyle and Greco in both age divisions. That means I get to watch a lot of wrestling and have no time to add to The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond. I did manage to get one short highlight video done, and it includes that Ruth/Brawlnagel match: My research has found two previous matches between the two. At the Cadet National Duals about six years ago, Edmond won by tech fall for Team Pennsylvania. Last year at Nationals, at 79kg, Brawny won by a single point. For the folks complaining that they should've wrestled each other yesterday: Braunagel wrestled 8 matches today, while Ruth wrestled 5. They both wrestled 4 matches the day before to get to the third-place match.

It's a timing thing. This is how USA Wrestling promotes the Greco matches: Event Schedule Friday, June 2nd U23 Greco-Roman and U20 Greco-Roman Session 1: Greco-Roman U20 Greco-Roman World Team Trials Challenge Tournament - Preliminaries, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Challenge Finals & Consolations 10:00 a.m. - 2:15 p.m. 10:00 a.m. which time? Eastern? Central? I have no idea where Geneva, Ohio is. Is it in Central or Eastern time? Everybody shows up late for weighins. Seriously, though, about 200 registered for U23 Greco, while there are about 800 registrations for U23 Freestyle. Numbers, always the numbers.

That's the point. Or, at least part of one point. An important duty of a coach is to scout your wrestler's opponents. When they share the same room, there has to be ground rules. Would you want your "game plan" divulged to your opponent?

Fallacy. You are basing judgment on past scenarios that were different. I believe NLWC had 5 freestyle athletes involved in Final X 2022, and there were zero matchups between their own athletes. As far as I can tell, they had 6 coaches, which could handle 5 athletes. Now, they have 8 athletes in freestyle, still 6 coaches, and two of the matchups involve their club athletes going up against each other. Finally, there are more non-PSU wrestlers in Final X wrestling for NLWC with the arrival of Dake in September 2022. I would be quite surprised if they haven't considered these issues: Have they taken measures to mete out time, money and resources in an equitable manner? Do they have appropriate Chinese Walls to protect their athletes who have to face off against their other athletes? Are there provisions to detect and eliminate possible subliminal biases against athletes who came over to NLWC after college?

You are working with athlete "A" and another coach is working with his future opponent athlete "B." Still another coach has been working with athlete "C" in the wrestling room at the same time as athlete "B" and his coach. Over some beers, the coach for athlete "A" asks the coach for athlete "C" what athlete "B" has been working on. Problem. Not only is there a problem with coaches, but there is a problem with practice time. Sure, the athletes can work out together on occasion, but when a wrestler is working on specific techniques to use in his match against his teammate, he'll want a separate gym or at least a separate time. LSU football closed their practices in 2017 and won a national championship in 2019. The Patriots have had dates on their practice schedule closed off to spectators. It has worked for them. I hope the NLWC staff have put some thought into these issues. Was this one of the reasons Gilman left Iowa in the first place?

It's actually a cost-savings technique, both in terms of time and money. For example, the final strategy session can be accomplished in one sitting with both wrestlers present. It might go something like this: SANDERSON: [WATCHING FILM] "Did you see that? Did you see that, Aaron? David always posts the elbow and pushes his opponent away from the collar tie with his other hand before his ankle picks." BROOKS: "Duh, sure coach." SANDERSON: "So, David, I want you to avoid the elbow and instead use a couple of snap downs to get Aaron thinking about them before going with a half-a-snap-down to an ankle pick. Got that? TAYLOR: "Duh, sure coach." SANDERSON: "Aaron, I want you to look for those snap downs because an ankle pick is right around the...." I guess they have to set up a bunch of Chinese Walls as there are 8 athletes and 6 coaches involved. Not enough to go around? That, in turn, raises additional questions: Do the coaches play favorites when it comes to information, time and resources? Wouldn't it be likely, even just on a subliminal level, to favor Penn State University athletes over those that come from, say, Cornell or arch-rival Iowa? Lots to consider.

I'm going to guess Burroughs in three.

That's what I thought. He's the Austin DeSanto of comedy. First period is strong but a bit of a feeling-out process. By the third period, he's going strong.

BTS Chicago is amazing. Facilities, coaching, whole life education. I'm a big fan. That organization will produce a lot of talent and be a feeder program for the whole city. I am as hopeful as you. The kids who come out of that program will be the leaders in their high school rooms.

The Brawlnagel beat that young fellow by even more at the recent US Open, and then there's this:

With the ILLINI's Zac Braunagel also on the way to Final X, Coach Medlin will have to devote time to him as well. So, the super-massive attention advantage that Zane Richards had over the NLWC is now only a very large and massive advantage. Below: This is the throw that the Brawlnagel used to defeat his finals opponent. Was it an underhook and a shove? Or, maybe it was a combination of Judo and Magic? It was freaking elegant. That sounds strange, but, yeah, it was elegant. Could be he's discovered the Kung-Fu-five-fingered-death-punch equivalent in Greco?

What I find most admirable about Zane Richards is that he had the character to shut out the doubts of other people and the doubts in his own mind. He dedicated himself to a course that would allow him to improve and to hell with what anybody else thought or said. That takes a lot of determination. He had wrestled up a weight and decided that his full potential could only be realized at 57 kg. So, he became determined to make that happen. The kind of determination that will lead to a win against a strong opponent even when barriers like illegal holds get in the way. Below is a couple of photographs that Jordan Blanton posted on the internet. It shows what amounts to a singlet grab that almost became a chokehold. From the UWW rulebook: It also happened during the final takedown sequence, but it was not nearly as obvious. You can see it in the "Storyboard" that is here on The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond. If caught, that would've been two additional points for Zane.

Davenport is not on the team. I wish he was because he is a talent. After I posted the original comment, I had second thoughts about Dylan Connell. He made huge gains during the year. If you make your biggest improvements between your Freshman and Sophomore years, then he will be a very tough out come tournament time. Moreover, he will be a true full-size 184er next season. As for Danny Braunagel, my guess is that injuries have been the thing. Cheers!

The trend in college wrestling is to wrestle Freshmen who have established that they are ready for the big time. Kannon is a huge talent, as his win over Jesse Mendez at the US Open showed. I could certainly see it. The mitigation against is that Pucino at 141 and Harrier at 149 really seem like they're ready to take that next step. Also, Kannon seems like he is still growing. He recently wrestled at 65 kg in the US Open (about 143 lbs). Five months ago, he was at 138. Nine months ago, he wrestled 132. Eighteen months ago, he won Fargo at 120. When does he stop growing? He has Hulk Hogan hands and looks like he can walk onto a horse now!

There was a fellow on the old message board who provided a review of the ILLINI team every year. I really enjoyed those posts. I hope he and other ILLINOIS fans like @ionel and @bnwtwg and others pick apart my post until we can come to some kind of consensus. 125. Justin Cardani/Maximo Renteria. Cardani had surgery and missed last season. Renteria entered his name in the transfer portal, but I haven't heard of any movement. This would be a big-time wrestle-off if it happens. Cardani has the ability to teleport to anybody's leg. Unfortunately, when he hits the "finish him" button, the machine malfunctions. If he has gotten bigger and stronger, he could be a load. Cardani was 3-1 against Liam Cronin, and ILLINI fans are waiting for him to take that next step. If he can finish a quarter of his shots, he would be an AA. Two-time national qualifier. Renteria has more talent at wrestling than I have at anything I've ever done in my life except hyperbole. The light never came on last year. Next year? Who knows. On the bench is Sammie Hayes (a tornado in a bottle) and Brandon Morvari (true freshman, will redshirt, two-time Minny champ). 133. A Very Pissed off Lucas Byrd. AA, title contender. Kole Brower, Brian Beers and redshirt Goebel Hudson form a power-packed bench. 141. Danny Pucino. Had been ranked very high during the season but had a B1G tournament. He's very exciting to watch, and I look for him to take a giant step this season to not only qualify but win some important matches at the NCAA tournament. As a true freshman, he beat Dylan D'Emilio and Frankie Tal Shahar. He beat Tal Shahar again at the dual this year. Needs to get bigger and stronger. Will Baysingar is the blue chip recruit who will take a redshirt. 149. Jake Harrier. This fellow really came on last year. Like Pucino at 141, he was small for the weight, so a second year in the starting lineup will really help him get bigger and, of course, more experienced. I expect him to qualify. Charlie Fifield on the bench. A big-time recruit in Kannon Webster will likely get some spot starts at this weight. Kannon is still growing, and who knows where he ends up. 157. Anthony Federico/Joe Roberts/Luke Odom. Roberts started the year before last, Federico started out last year at 149 and finished up as the starter at 157. Odom has seen starts the last couple of years. I will be happy with an NCAA qualifier here. Cooper Wettig is in his second year, and Logan Swaw will redshirt. Everybody except Odom need to get bigger. 165. Danny Braunagel. He was a Covid honorable mention AA, but hasn't gotten the elusive podium. He's in a very competitive weight, and he's been injured every year at the most inopportune times. I think he has the biggest cut on the team. I watched him at the US Open, though, and I've never seen him fight so hard. That's saying something for a Brawlnagel. He wrestled angry. Possessed. He's been ranked as high as #6 in his career. Healthy, he can AA. Braeden Scoles is another blue chipper. The Wisconsin 4xer, will take a redshirt and probably give Danny some nights off. He's the second of the incoming Freshmen who were Who's #1 wrestlers. 174. Edmond Ruth. This is his year for an AA finish. Caden Ernd is another quality backup, while Chris Moore will be redshirting. 184. Dylan Connell. Four-time ILLINOIS high school champ had a very nice NCAA qualifying year as a redshirt freshman. He's been adding muscle and bulk like Cartman on Weight Gain 4000. He will qualify for NCAAs again and win some matches. 197. Zac Braunagel. He has missed out in the blood round two years in a row. By one point two years ago at 184. He was another Covid AA. Everybody should be pulling for him this year, even his opponents. I've got him down as an AA. The bench behind the Brawlnagel is pretty awesome: Joey Braunagel (2x finalist at U20s recently), Isiah Pettigrew, Chase Waggoner and red-shirter Peter Marinopoulos. 285. Luuuke Luffman is back! Judging from his recent duty at the US Open, tangling with some real big Greco boys like Adam Coon, he will be an AA threat. Daniel Renshaw is the backup: 4.0 in Biological Engineering. I'm going to say the over/under is three AAs. In likelihood as follows: Byrd, Zac Braunagel, Ruth, Luffman, Danny Braunagel, Danny Pucino and Dylan Connell. This past season, the ILLINI had five matches in which a win meant an All American. It didn't happen. I expect they win those matches next season. This was the bad luck the ILLINI had last year in the form of a binomial probability calculator: