Wrestleknownothing

Let's start with the team race. Expectations We all know who won and by how much. But who made the seeding process look flawed? Well clearly that is American, Clarion, Drexel and Northern Colorado. They just need a few more wrestlers. Sometimes it is more about how you perform relative to expectations, than how you perform outright. But seriously, the out-performers of the tournament were Ohio State and Michigan. Of course, there is more room to out-perform when you start with lower initial seeds, but Ohio State's rise was enough to take them from a pre-tournament predicted 9th place finish all the way up to an actual fourth place finish. Penn State? Right on seed. For all the drama of a 2 for 5 Saturday night, really no drama thanks to guys like Bartlett and Van Ness beating their seed (and to a lesser extent Dean). Missouri over-seeded? Not so much. Can we put that one to bed? No. Never. That was foolish of me. Sorry. Bracketology Most busted? You got it. 125 was the most busted, but not for that reason,. For the other reason. We can credit App State's five seed for the biggest contribution followed by Oregon State's seven seed. That Iowa kid was only the third biggest contributor. On the flip side, 157 went closest to chalk. Seven of the top eight seeds finished on the podium and the won who did not, made it to the blood round (where he lost in SV to another top eight seed). For standard deviation though, it is actually 174. Take your pick. But Why Is It Always About the Big Dogs? After all, who doesn't love an under dog? The biggest out-performance always comes from the guys with the most to gain. Stand up and take a bow, gentlemen. Starting with Northern Colorado's Vinny Zerban who came into 157 as the 32 seed, but made the blood round for a Rocky Mountain High out-performance of 23 slots (I give him credit for ninth. Because). Next we have Virginia Tech's Eddie Ventresca who tore up his bracket, screamed at the Wrestling God's and said, "seeds don't matter." He came in as a 27 seed, but left as an All-American (7th). Not to be outdone, West Virginia's Killian Cardinale said, "yes, please, and thank you. I will take some of that." As he came in as the 28 seed at 125 and finished finished on the podium (8th). (OK, he was slightly outdone in that Ventresca beat him 7-6 in the seventh place match, but come on, why ya gotta be like that?) And not exactly bringing up the rear (but coming from there) Cal Poly's Dom Demas exemplified the "chip and a chair" mentality. When given a second bite at the apple by being awarded the 33 seed at 149 after an injury to another wrestler, he made it all the way to the blood round's blood round (let it be a thing) for a healthy 20 slot jump. Last on my arbitrarily sorted list, but first in Sparty's heart is Caleb Fish. The 165 pounder was seeded 29, but made the blood round. That Fish is a keeper.

What a relief. I almost thought your sources were not unimpeachable. Carry on Pat Min....er....Jimmy.

Jimmy's kindred spirit.

Indianamat too

Round of 12 gets you either 1.5, 2, 2.5 or 3 advancement points depending on your path. They trailed Cornell by six.

And you skipped over Nick Lee.

Finally admitting that the rest of your content is facetious in every way.

Next to Gable? Or on his back at Gable's feet?

I could not love his post- match interview any more. Hanging out with mom and dad. Arm around his dad. Dad with a big goofy grin. The two of them busting each others chops just a bit before crediting mom. And the kiss on top of dad's head to end it. Perfect.

If this is the criteria I will never be able to retire.

Even though he pissed away his shot at five, I think Ferrari can still be a 4 timer. Imagine that.

Moving from second to first gets you an extra four, so they would have also needed 1.5 more bonus points.

For my money, 2018 was more exciting. You had a nail biter of a team race with no one sure if it would be Ohio State's year or Penn State's year. You had a true freshman, Nick Lee, go from staring at the lights in the first round to winning five in a row, and six total, on the backside to provide the margin of victory. You had Captain America waiting in the wings to possibly put a cherry on top of an Ohio State championship. But before that could happen you had one of the most iconic moments in final's history when Bo Nickal goes from "Oh, no" to "Oh, yes" in a matter of seconds to seal the team title. Of course, that was my first time in attendance, so I thought they all would be like that.

There is an argument to be made that winning by a little ALL the time (or almost all the time) is a form of dominance. If it occurs over a short period of time it is easy to find other explanations (luck, weak competition, etc). But, if it occurs over a long period of time I think it is fair to say that it is dominance. Sometimes luck can look like dominance, but sometimes it is the other way around. I think this is one of those times.

Thirteenth by percentage But one needs take care comparing across eras. First place has been devalued over the years as more places score and the scoring per place has been adjusted. So if you limit the comparison to equivalent scoring regimes, then this weekend's performance is only behind John Smith's 2005 OSU team.

Fifth largest by points

Starting this thread was a douchebag move.

Cornell definitely won the night.

That will be tough without any eligibility

Yep

Did you see that shiner on Dean?

He and Brooks are close friends

Look how red Keckeisen's neck is from Brooks' heavy collar tie.

Was I though? Technically the last time he wrestled was about 7pm yesterday.

I know what you meant. I was just funnin' with ya