steamboat_charlie

1:15 good here.

I'm fine with that.

If you're flying spirit I think we need to call most of your other judgments into question as well...

Apologies I was traveling for work this week so hadn't checked back in to see if I made the cut. I'm in, coach. Venmo sent your way just now.

I'll play if you have space. If not, no worries. Zoom, teams, webex, cashapp, zelle, spacex... don't matter.

Ohhhh. You know I hadn't really been paying attention to usernames. I get it now. JaJensen is a Jimmy alt account. This makes a lot more sense now.

The exception that proves the rule. Regardless, Nebraska has at best 8 AA's.

Nebraska? Zero chance. They'll be lucky to get 1 champ, and 1 champ is not going to cut it.

The scenario you outlined is basically worst case for PSU. Even in this scenario, they score between 90 and 100 points. The only team that can conceivably beat that is Cornell, and to do so they absolutely must have 2 champs (not unlikely), but they're also going to need AA finishes from at least 2 of Ungar, Cornella, Fernandez, or Fernandes. So sure, the margin of error without Starocci is smaller, but it's still significant and larger than it's been in years' past (when PSU always outperformed their expected point totals anyway).

Yes. If Carr's lone loss was to O'Toole and he avenged it at Big 12's then he'd get the 1--that's not the case this year with his loss coming to Ramirez.

wrestlestat

Iowa walks around trying to piss people off. People get pissed off at Iowa. That tracks.

My point was simply that Iowa seems like they're always trying to piss someone off.

I like Gomez if they do wrestle. I think it'll look similar to Gomez and Sasso's matches. Ridge is great in a scramble but Gomez is a bit scramble-proof.

Isn't that just Iowa's SOP, but with "we can't beat them" added up front?

You caught me. I'm new to the game. Didn't realize Nebraska was D1.

Might as well say Nebraska's best case is 10 NCAA champs, as it's approximately the same likelihood as the scenario you outlined (both ~0%).

I don't think this is fair criticism. Pico is, by all accounts that I've ever seen, an incredibly committed and hardworking individual. He was a high school kid with sleezy managers offering him six figure contracts to represent him. Articles were being written about him as the greatest MMA prospect of all time. People in his life looking to ride the gravy train, as they thought he would vault to the top level of the sport and become a mega star. It's not hard to imagine how that might be appealing to a 17 year old, or how he thought at the time it was the right path.

Don't forget he also beat a former NCAA champion. Strong resume.

Kid was born a few years too early. If NIL was a real option back then I'd wager he'd go the college route. Could've been a 4xer under the right circumstances, and picked up some international hardware along the way. The way he was able to control opponents at such a young age was uncanny. People doubting his potential years down the line now is just resentment for him quitting, IMO. The kid was a special talent as a wrestler.

I'm not talking about the free year I'm talking about 2022. He was given the option and decided not to redshirt.

It's interesting that people will criticize the Brands bros for failing to adapt, while simultaneously ignoring that they've adapted to the NIL/transfer portal era better than every program sans PSU. I think they're well positioned going forward. Over the past 10 years their chief weakness IMO is that they've had too many holes in their recruiting. The high level recruits (top 15ish guys) that they've been able to bring in they've generally done a great job with. They just haven't been able to get enough of them in the door. Transfer portal solves that problem. Hard to hold their results this season totally against them given what happened before the season. If you want to hold it against them for lack of institutional control, that's a more legit criticism. Last point on this, there's only one coach in the country they could bring in that you can guarantee would do a better job than Brands. He's not coming to Iowa.

O'Toole refused a redshirt when he had the opportunity before. I don't see why he would change his tune now. Not to mention you have no idea how these freshmen will perform. It's not easy to AA in your first attempt.

If Oklahoma State ever wins another title they can take back "OSU" Until that time I don't see that they deserve it

I think he'll come back if Cael cares to line up some $$$ for him. Not sure he'll be inclined to do that. It doesn't look like they'll need him to win the title, although perhaps he will anyway just to be doubly sure.