ILLINIWrestlingBlog

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.

17-16 ILLINI ILLINOIS wins four of the first five and then Edmond Ruth at 174. The hero was Jake Harrier beating Peyton Omania. Also, Danny Pucino with the tech fall. Other ILLINI winners were Maximo Renteria, and Lucas Byrd, who controlled Rayvon Foley from start to finish. It was a true team win. Anthony Federico (in lieu of Mikey Carr) and redshirt Freshman Dylan Connell kept the big guns for MSU (Chase Saldate and Layne Mxyzptlk) to very close decisions.

I don't get the Warnerov hate. My dude is a total warrior and returning finalist at a weight in which any of the Intermat top thirty could be All Americans this year. The returning champ is down at #4, the 35-year-old Cuban freestyle world-beater is #5, a returning AA at #17, an age group world champ at #18. A top contender will have to beat #21 Cam Caffey in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Another high seed will have #20 man-mountain Luke Stout. The weight class is bonkers. I get that Warner walks out onto the mat looking like present-day Russell Crowe, and, sure, he probably smells of whiskey and sex, but that's actually pretty cool. This is his Final Battle, and he's dealing with injuries (pretty obviously) so give him some slack.

All of yours was good, but this is going to be the star in my post-match recap. There must have been 10 or more Cornhusker shin whizzers, and I don't think the ILLINI scored on any of them. On the other hand, I think Nebraska scored at least once, maybe twice, while defending with a shin whizzer. That was pretty exasperating. If BTN doesn't move their cameras, then the ILLINI fans need to sit on the other side of the mat next season. There were some Orange Krush there tonight, but the majority of the fans were never seen by the cameras. The place will be hopping in a year or two. Maximo was pinned. He switched positions from the one he was in against DeAugustino. Yet, here, the refs didn't call the pin, and they specifically said that "near fall criteria wasn't met." So, whatever happens, the refs will not let Maximo score points. That must be in the rulebook somewhere. The B1G refs need to have a class on this position. Sort it out. Then, be consistent. Burwick is a tough kid and will easily make the NCAA tournament. He must have been told to avoid Byrd at all costs tonight, though. Brock Hardy is a really tough kid. I do think it's weird that there's an actual, in the flesh, "Bubba" on the Nebraska roster, and he's not one of the two skinheads. And I don't mean that pejoratively, those guys just have skin on the top of their heads where most folks have hair. And that's not to say that other people don't have skin there, they just have hair covering up that skin. Federico's takedown of Peyton Robb was very nice! He got gassed and stuffed after that. In my optimistic mind, though, I'm thinking, "If Anthony Federico can take down Robb, what might Mikey Carr do?" During his match, Labriola looked fine. Before the dual, Manning had two Huskers shake hands at 174. Nebraska must have been a little worried about the outcome of the team score at the time 174 started. I think both Ruth and Labriola will have very nice NCAA tournaments. That Lenny Pinto fellow should be disqualified. His underhook to the crotch might not be illegal, but it is surely against the Man Code. You just don't treat another man's meat and potatoes, his block and tackle, his man berries like that. It's just not cricket. I thought Zac Braunagel was too nonchalant in his match. He will always beat that guy from today on forward. Awesome to see Wroblewski with the pin on Senior Night. Finally, it was nice to see Dylan Duncan in the crowd. Cheers!

BTN points the camera away from the crowd.

(emphasis added). Will there be any Willie's Awards for 2022? I nominate this post by 98lber for the "Gas Tank Gary" award. This was his 31st of 79 posts in the thread. That, my friends, deserves a "Willie."

ME: "I'm the biggest homer there ever was. I have an ILLINI WRESTLING lunchbox that I made myself using a 3-D printer." JAJENSEN09: [***** slaps me in the face with this comment]

No BTN here in South Carolina. I tried to wait out the replay on BTN+ but only lasted three hours before curiosity overwhelmed me. Good to know that that whupping was from the best the Gophers can hand out. This part of the Multiverse sucks. How did Minnesota get those majors? Time for a regrouping!

Using my own memes against me? That's a copyright violation. You will hear from my lawyer! Also, @Southend using "The Big One" meme against both of us? Another copyright violation. More work for my attorney. This whole dual is gonna be edge-of-the-seat stuff for me. Looking forward to it!

When IMAR was a Freshman somebody on this board posted, "Shop Smart, Shop I-Mart." Was that you? I thought it was real good and would stick, but IMAR is the one person in our galaxy who gets to pick his own nickname. The Batmen are all of the ILLINI. Any resemblance to characters owned by DC Comics and Warner Bros is purely coincidental. I saw on Minnesota's official site they have both Nagao and Gliva as probables, which is very Schrödinger's of the Gopher staff. Other "ors" include Marcos Polanco at 141, Cael Carlson at 165, Jared Krattiger at 174 and Keaton Kluever at heavyweight. @ionel, the same source only lists Carr, which means that Brayton Lee better prepare for Anthony Federico! GO ILLINI!!!