Wrestleknownothing

On the flip side, I once did a swim meet by mail. It was awful.

You are just repeating the word team over and over again and saying it has meaning in one context but not the other for unclear reasons. For example, you imply in a dual the wins and losses are not determined at the individual level. But they are. The score in a dual is just the sum of the individual results translated into a scoring system, just like basketball. And unlike in basketball, none of your teammates are assisting you in any way while you compete alone. In wrestling you can have a dual meet in 10 separate locations and just add up the results. You cannot do that in a true team sport. I am not against anything. But claiming a dual championship is somehow superior to a tournament ignores that team is artificial in wrestling. And as an aside, how does Aaron Brooks come in 18th at last year's NCAA? That one really confuses me.

Right now PSU has ten top 7 wrestlers in both Intermat and Flo. If their ranks wound up being their seeds I have to believe this is the highest seeded team ever (sum of seeds = 33 on Intermat and 32 on Flo). I started looking at seeding for the era after we locked into 10 weights and 12 seeds (1970 - present) to see if this year's PSU team has a shot at being the highest seeded team ever. To qualify a team has to have sent all 10 wrestlers. Last year's PSU squad had a seed total of 40 (1, 10, 2, 7, 1, 2, 9, 6, 1, 1). I took a look at some of the old greats and the closest I found was 1985 Iowa. But there is a complication. One of their ten was unseeded. Seeds went to 12 that year. The other nine had a total of 25 (8, 1, 3, 2, 2, 1, 2, 5, 1). So if you assume 13 or 14 for the unseeded wrestler then 1985 Iowa beats out 2024 PSU. Assume 15 and it is a tie. Anything higher goes to PSU. So probably PSU. Can anyone think of a team seeded better overall than either of those two teams? I didn't feel like going through all the brackets, so I thought I would crowd source.

Shinto and Buddhists too, but I was just going for the cheap laugh

I think the odds are pretty good.

Let me make the counter point, because I do not think this is correct. Team is an artificial construct in wrestling. When you are on the mat, your teammates cannot help you. In true team sports they can. So to get a sense of the "team" strength in individual sports there needs to be some accounting of how strong the individuals are. Dual scoring compresses the differences in quality too much. In a dual setting a lot of the true separation in teams is lost. Carter Starocci may only win by decision every time out (well, not so far this year, but still) and he only ever gets credit for a decision. But in a tournament, where no one can beat him, he gets credit for the true extent of his dominance over the whole field even if he never wins in dominating fashion (score-wise). If we are talking basketball or football a team of average athletes may certainly be better than one with a single superstar, but I do not think that is the case in a team of individuals.

He knew for sure. The Paycom CEO is the guy funding everything at Oklahoma State these days.

Why do I get the feeling you already know the answer to your question?

Don't get me started on that kid and his iPad

The ranking services just can't quit him. Intermat still has him ranked #17 and WrestleStat has him all the way up at #5. Only Flo seems to have gotten the memo.

I do not remember if it was Ryan Day or Marcus Freeman who said in a post-game interview that growing up a coach told him the other team prays too. I got a chuckle out of that. It reminded me of the old joke my dad loved to tell. A priest and a gambler are at a boxing match. Before the start of the match one of the boxers performs the sign of the cross. The gambler, looking for any edge he can use, turns to the priest and asks, "will that help him father?" The priest replies, "not a damn if he can't box."

Starocci was tied for 11th at Big 10 last year

Not always true. With the flu pandemic of 1918 the first wave was mild. The second wave was the most deadly. The third wave was less deadly than the second, but more deadly than the first. The fourth wave was also more deadly than the first.

you might like it more than you think.