Wrestleknownothing

Put on your finest singlet and get ready to walk the red carpet. It is award show season at Intermat. Gas up your private jet, sit in your limo waiting to make your entrance, and then be prepared to lecture the rest of us about greenhouse gases. There Is No Team in I Presenting our first award tonight is a man who is all about team. Because he always puts the team first (or The Lord, it alternates) opening the envelope is our very own A.J. Ferrari. A.J.F.: And the winner is...me, I am the ultimate winner. I am number one on each of my hands. But for some reason this piece of paper says @MLB9 and @Dogbone. Who the hell are those guys? Well, they are the Intermat celebrities who came closest to nailing the final team score. At 6-28, they each were within a point of perfection. The Happy Valley Insider folks covered themselves in glory as well. On the flip side, you would have to have been nuts to pick Iowa keeping this one close. And so we have a lobotomized @Mr. PeanutButter tied with a crazy @crzyctldy at the bottom of the heap. But good news, an HVI poster takes the overall "lead" here. Something to work on for next year? Details Matter But before you start with the victory laps let's talk about process. How you got there matters. After all, what is a team score, but the sum of a bunch of individual scores. On that front we have a different set of winners. Take a bow @Perry for having the smallest absolute error across all ten matches. @Interviewed_at_Weehawken takes runner up while @CHROMEBIRD and @Truzzcat round up the balance of the podium positions. Visionaries (aka Know It Alls) Yeah, but too much details is for nerds. All I need to know is who got the most matches correct? This is clearly the most important category by a long, long way. I don't need to do any fancy pants math to tell either. All I need to do is look at the illustrious list of luminaries who got 9 of 10 calls correct. We like to argue a lot on these here boards, but I think there is one thing that is beyond dispute, these dudes/dudettes know wrestling. Back to the Math, NERD Putting it all together. If we reduce all of this to ranks and average the ranks we get a new rank. As rank as the concept of all that math may be to some of you, you will just have to hold your noses as we crown our champion. The straightest shooter among us took aim at, and hit, the bully's eye. Congratulations to @Interviewed_at_Weehawken for being the most comprehensively correct. Now @nhs67, we may need to have a word. Thank you everyone (also receiving votes @Barracuda141, @Le duke, @Eagle26, @Pinnacle, @JimmyBT, @Pish, @1032004, @ionel, @PortaJohn, @VakAttack, @Gus, @TylerDurden, @BIGTENFANBOY, @TheDFP, @fishbane, @flyingcement, @BAC, @Jimmy Cinnabon) for participating.

Two fantastic interviews. Thoughtful questions, thoughtful answers. No one treats it like a burden. Thanks for sharing these. With the way Ryan speaks and the respect he shows the media, it is easy to see why he is an effective recruiter.

Besides Bob Nicolls said the playing field was levelled.

Bubba had good things to say when he reunited with PSU and wrestled at one of their Rokfin events during the pandemic.

Sure, I speak fluent Brands. Let me help. Brands: "Weren't ready. Weren't ready...you have to be ready, like beyond ready. If you just think your ready and you think its normal, its not normal." Translation: I wasn't ready. Brands: "And that's not me putting them on a pedestal, that's not me conceding anything." Translation: We never stood a chance. Brands: "I like our guy." Translation: The portal is closed.

That is how I interperted Brands' post match comments.

Was the final number 5?

You heard something wrong. Iowa is 10-2 in duals this year. You don't win 10 with only 16 TDs.

Jimmy approves this message.

Not it

It looks like Nick Lee will have to wrestle the week before at the Pan-Am Championship to have a chance to wrestle at the OG. How do you think that impacts his chances? https://www.themat.com/news/2024/february/09/strong-u-s-team-set-to-compete-at-pan-american-championships-in-acapulco-mexico-feb-21-24 Also, I see Spencer Lee is handling the Pan-Am Championship duties for 57kg so that Zane Richards can concentrate on the OG. Why not send McKenna or someone else at 65kg?

Brands still trails Zalesky for most home loses in the 10-wrestler era. Caveat: This is more than a little deceiving. McCuskey coached a long time and had some rough years, but most of them were prior to the 10-wrestler era. For example, in the 1965-66 season alone he had home loses by 0-39, 8-21, and 12-18. And I believe McCuskey had 32 home loses in his 20 seasons.

Correct. Turns out he was a decent coach after all. With that win last night PSU also takes over the top spot for tormenting Iowa on their home mat. PSU wins the tie breaker over OkSt based on margin of victory.

Well, we witnessed history last night. The Iowa / PSU dual produced a number of firsts. At -23, it was the largest loss for Iowa: In the 10-weight at duals history (1969/70 season – present), The largest loss at Carver Hawkeye Arena (1983 – present), The largest loss of the Tom Brands era (2006/07 season – present), The fewest points scored by Iowa at home in the 10-weight dual era. And yet, it wasn’t that bad? I mean a bunch of the guys who lost still have the potential to finish as AA’s (Woods, Franek, Caliendo, Kennedy, Glazier, and maybe, just maybe, Kueter) while contending for a team trophy that could very well be for second place. And they settled the shut out question in the first seven minutes of the dual.

No one got them all correct. I was working on something a little more detailed, but no need now. Good work everyone.

Wasn't Lugo the #1 seed in 2020?

In Brands' press conference he said they wanted Keuter to feel how fast Kerkvliet comes, so he knows. That sure sounds like a coach getting a guy ready for the post season.

Guys graduate or move up in weight every year. He made a final because he dominated 4 guys at NCAAs. By your calculus every finalist is tainted if the guy who beat him the prior year graduated. Not true. And no one thinks Nick Lee did not jump several levels between 2018 and 2021.

I would exclude Eierman from the list. He got to SV in the final his first year at Iowa after never making a final. The next year he was looking like a sure finalist until he messed up his knee late in the season. And I do not blame that on Iowa grind. I blame that on the style he brought to Iowa. He was always OK giving up a leg and countering, but it finally caught up to him.

Current guys I immediately think of O'Toole. Recent guys, Nolf and Nickal.

Never gonna happen. A ref will never, should never, decide if someone "deserves it".

23 point win. Largest ever at Carver, which also makes it largest of Brands' career.

Sure seems like more than 15 lbs diff

Love Glazier's fight

Nah, just in over his head.