steamboat_charlie

Ok, you're right. Also basketball is soccer with even smaller nets on a pole and shaved grass. Swimming is soccer without nets in wet water. And Football is just literally soccer.

The pads are just there so they can hit harder. Also they're balancing on miniature swords strapped to their boots on a slippery surface--something to consider.

Given that PSU doesn't need their whole lineup to win a national championship this year, and probably don't even need their starters, it's conceivable that they will have significant free time to pursue other ventures this season. With the collection of talent that Cael has in house, I wonder whether they could win a championship in a different D1 athletic competition? Just going down the list with my thoughts on their title chances for each sport: Basketball: not likely due to the slightly smaller height. I would guess maybe half of PSU's team has over a 40 inch vertical leap, but I don't think that will make up for the size issue. Chances: 2% Baseball: slightly more possible given size not being an issue. Clearly they wouldn't lack for power. I wonder, though, if they'd have enough arms to make it through a deep playoff run. Chances: 7% Football: the biggest issue I see here is that the roster size is a little too small. I wouldn't worry about size on the line as Casey will coach them up and get their technique in order, but I do worry about them effectively fielding a full 11 on both sides of the ball. Chances: 5% Soccer: I think the transition here would be quite easy. Most of the talented soccer players skip the collegiate level, so the talent pool is heavily diminished. Also many of the skills are transferable, and there's no size issue. Fairly certain Kerkvliet would be a world class keeper, just so long as you're not asking him to keep to one of his original commitments. Chances: 34% Ice Hockey: This doesn't seem likely. Chances: 1% Volleyball: As previously mentioned, PSU has tremendous athletes who can probably jump very high. That would be an asset in volleyball. Also, not that many schools participate so it's a pretty easy playing field. I also think with a bit of time to scout and prepare Casey could design a sort of daisy-chain maneuver whereby Truax and Brooks might quickly lift someone like Bartlett on the frontline to create an impenetrable wall. Chances: 25% Cross Country: A big part of off-season training for most wrestlers is running. This would be quite a simple transition. Any running sport isn't really a sport anyway, it's just a competition to see who's the best at exercising. Nobody is better at exercising than the Nittany Lions. Chances: 64% Tennis: This is an individual sport, so wrestlers will be familiar with the general vibe. Also, now that we're in the NIL era most of their wrestlers will be familiar with rackets. Tennis players are generally weaker, and not overly big. Chances: 22% Gymnastics: I'm not even sure a change in training regimen would be required to win this. Chances: 88% Field Hockey: This is really less of a sport and more of an after school activity that you encourage your child to get involved in if you can't afford to pay for their school. Sort of like playing the saxophone, but with a better payoff at the end. I think PSU wins this going away. Chances: 100% There are of course a few sports that I didn't consider, but I simply don't have all day. Let me know what you guys think in the comment section below.

There's no clear #2 this year--3 champs and a couple AA's would probably win it. What Cael should do is start Nagao, Van Ness, Truax, Brooks, and Kerkvliet. The other 5 roster spots should be used for NLWC boosters' friends & family. That way they get to win a title while also showing some appreciation for those that are most responsible for the dynasty.

Maxwell - I was being facetious. If I were attempting to quote you directly, it would appear as your quote does above this text, in a gray inset box with time stamp. I was merely attempting to outline, in a humorous manner, the art of the "hot take." It's the lifeblood of any entertaining forum. You can navigate in your web browser to google.com and search the term if you're not familiar.

Welcome. All we require from you hear is your most scorching takes, and the havoc wreaking will take care of itself. For example: "Vito dominating RBY was impressive" -- not a hot take. On the other hand: "Vito only dominated RBY because RBY didn't fall in line with preacher Cael's 'god above all' party line, so RBY's development was stunted as Cael abandons those who don't walk in the light." -- that's something we can work with.

I don't know why I just wasted 5 minutes of my life reading this thread, but let me see if I got this right: This guy has been emailing the "contact us" link on intermat's website with complaints about the amount of Iowa coverage taking place. Willie is getting tired of reading his comments so he's set him upon this board to wreak havoc here instead. Maxwell thinks that sounds like a great idea so he blasts off with a self-titled post complaining to no one in particular about anything and everything Hawkeye related. Maxwell seems to think his post here is a direct line of conversation with Jagger, who I assume talked about Iowa in one of his recent mailbags? That's just too funny. I say we keep Maxwell around. If he is a real person, he's essentially Creed from the office just firing away typing his hot takes into a word document. If he's not a real person it's a much more sophisticated troll job than what we're used to, and I would also welcome that.

I was operating under the assumption that Russia's #1's would be there. If any of them are not that obviously helps us everywhere, but most notably at 74 and 97.

I think we'd be extremely lucky to do as well as you predict. We have one clear favorite in Taylor, but Dake and Steveson are just as likely to take Bronze as they are to take Gold, IMO. Richards and Marstellar I would expect zero points from. 20 from the pair would be a huge plus. I would guess something like: 57kg - Richards - DNP - 0 61kg - Vito - 5th - 10 65kg - Lee - DNP - 0 70kg - Retherford - Bronze - 15 74kg - Dake - Silver - 20 79kg - Marstellar - DNP - 0 86kg - Taylor - Gold - 25 92kg - Valencia - 5th - 10 97kg - Snyder - Silver - 20 125kg - Steveson - Silver - 20 Total - 120 Awesome that you're going. I'm jealous.

Surprised the leader of this board didn't take issue with it given his connection.

You know, I had totally forgotten about that.

I'm with you there, no need to go overboard. That said, U20 champs are basically a guarantee to AA, and most win titles at some point in their careers. Looking at the past 10 years of junior world champs in their first year of competition, we have: 2013 Snyder - 2nd place in first try in 2015 (no redshirt) 2015 Lee - 1st place in first try in 2018 (no redshirt) 2016 Lee - See above Hall - 1st place in first try in 2017 (no redshirt) 2017 Hall - See above Fix - 2nd place in first try in 2019 Steveson - 3rd place in first try in 2019 (no redshirt) 2018 Lewis - 1st place in first try in 2019 2019 Carr - 1st place in first try in 2021 Parris - 2nd place in first try (after world's) in 2021 2021 O'Toole - 1st place in first try (after World's) in 2022 Elam - 4th place in first try (after World's) in 2022 Amos - NQ in first try 2022 Volk - NQ in first try Kueter - TBD 2023 Shapiro - TBD Mesenbrink - TBD

As you said, that's all fine and well--but the 49ers actually beat the Broncos, and the Giants actually beat the Bills, whereas this is a purely hypothetical exercise, where the margin of error is still somewhat relevant.

I mean, Ramirez mauled Facundo at NCAAs. I know Facundo wasn't 100%, but you might as well predict Ramirez beats him again. Wrestlestat's algo likes Facundo because of common opponents (namely Ramirez having lost to Kharchla 3 times), but I think it's a case of the model not matching reality.

At some point this just becomes a math problem. PSU is a lock to win every theoretical matchup at 174, 197, and 285. To beat them your third team needs to be someone that can win at 157 or 184. You could pair Northern Iowa with Cornell and Nebraska, or Michigan and Nebraska to get a 6-4 theoretical win. You could also throw Ohio State in there and say Sasso beats Haines (ignoring present circumstances). All of this just underlines what we already know, this PSU team is likely to be historically great, barring injuries or other unforeseen circumstances. Even combining 3 teams, all of these duals are close. Imagine Howard comes back and is mid-AA quality. Then Mesenbrink forces his way into the lineup and is a title challenger right away. And Truax is even better down at 184 and runs away with a relatively weak weight? At that point, there would be no combination that could beat them. I shutter to even imagine such a thing. Cael fiddles with powers he does not fully understand. They are an unholy creation. A Death Star. And they must be destroyed, before it's too late...

Michigan / Nebraska would have a decent chance. Fairly even matchup with upset potential where they're underdogs. Could go something like this: 125) DeAugustino dec. Howard 3-0 133) Cannon dec. Nagao 6-0 -- Tossup, Cannon beat Nagao last year 141) Hardy dec. Bartlett 9-0 -- Tossup, Hardy beat Bartlett last year 149) Lovett dec. Van Ness 12-0 -- Tossup, I'd favor Lovett 157) Haines dec. Robb 12-3 -- Haines favored, Robb has some chance 165) Amine dec. Facundo/Mesenbrink 15-3 -- Facundo has a win over Amine in TB, definitely could win again but Amine favored for now 174) Starocci dec. Griffith 15-6 -- Griffith is one of the only guys with the skill level to potentially challenge Starocci 184) Truax dec. Pinto 15-9 -- Wrestlestat actually favors Pinto, Truax more likely IMO but wouldn't be a shocker of an upset 197) Brooks dec. Allred 15-12 285) Kerkvliet dec. Davison 15-15 You could make a similar squad out of Cornell/Nebraska, and I guess rely on Vito majoring Nagao to win by 1 pt (which would be tough), but you'd weaken your 165, 174, and 285 at the same time, and may give up bonus there.

That's a decent point in their favor. Koll I think we agree on. Kolat I'd be less certain of. Out of curiosity, would you prefer Ramos over guys like Hahn, B. Snyder, Jaggers, or Pendleton? I'm also inclined to agree with you re: Scott at OSU. I don't think he's the answer.

Perhaps prospect isn't the right word. He seems to be a good up and coming coach. But what exactly has he done that would qualify him for this job over others that might be candidates? Especially if someone like Koll is a realistic option (I have no idea if he is)? They were out of the top 20 recruiting class rankings each of the past two years. NC State is eating their lunch. They're likely to finish in the bottom half of the ACC again this year. O'Connor was a huge success story, and they've had some other guys wrestle well in the post-season, but is that really enough?

This probably isn't going to be a great year for UNC. They haven't recruited exceptionally well the past few cycles. Ramos by all accounts is a promising young coaching prospect, but he's young. I would be surprised if they stick with him, and to be honest if they do it's probably a bad sign regarding their commitment to the wrestling program.

A few examples of other programs that are still in their "dynasty window"... Geno Auriemma - UConn Women's BBall - 11 titles Patty Gasso - Oklahoma Softball - 6 titles since 2013 Michael Smith - Northern Arizona Cross Country - 6 titles in 7 years Nick Saban - Alabama Football - 7 titles in the most competitive sport Mike Holloway - Florida Track - 12 mens and women's indoor/outdoor titles since 2010 (not all under him) David Durden - Cal Swimming - 5 team titles, 7 runner up finishes since 2010 K.J. Kindler - Oklahoma Gymnastics - 6 titles since 2014