Eagle26

Thanks for the info. I honestly haven’t seen any of what Sadulaev is accused of because I don’t have X. So if this is the case, I’d say he got what he earned.

Wow! I have a feeling they will get this changed before the Olympics, but still pretty crazy that a guy going for his 3 Olympic title might not be able to compete. Not sure how I feel about it… I’m certainly disappointed he is supporting the war so he doesn’t get much sympathy for that, but still you want to see the best compete

Exactly! Saying you are going to piss on someone’s grave is one of the most disrespectful things you can say. Somehow it gets glanced over and what JB said gets all the attention?! I must need those glasses to make it make sense lol

Not to mention JB was a world champion at 23!

I am a huge JB fan and I have admitted that I didn’t like his comment about going after the knee. It’s true and to me it’s not a big deal that he said it, but it would have been better if he didn’t. He also has a tendency to display his high level of confidence, but I believe he truly tries to keep it in check and remain humble. Starocci and Nickal do not try to remain humble IMO, and often talk badly about their opponents (this is one of the key distinctions). I understand it takes a supreme level of confidence to achieve what these guys did. So when Burroughs talks highly of himself, but then disengages from talking bad about others, I can respect that as some level of humility.

This didn’t age well

To me, it actually makes more sense for a bigger school to take a gamble with a guy like Dake than it would for a small school. Being an “all-time great” wrestler, does not mean you will be a good coach, but if he can coach, it’s a huge recruiting advantage. Guys like Gable, Cael, Smith all became all-time great head coaches with only like 3 years of assistant coaching experience. Maybe it’s worth it for a top program to risk that 3 year learning curve to potentially have an all time great? Maybe not? But for a school like Buffalo, even if the best case happens and Dake turns out to be a phenomenal coach, he’s gone for bigger school within 3 years. So for them, the risk would seem to have little payout

Get some ice cream at the creamery

Actually, pins come easier when dreams are on the line… for example, in a dual meet, a wrestler who is losing may simply try to avoid bonus to help his team. At NCAAs, most wrestlers don’t care if they lose by a point or if they get pinned. It’s all the same to them (unless maybe both teams are in the team race). I’ve seen guys get taken down in OT and just give up the pin because their dreams are already crushed - I don’t like it but I get it. Furthermore, I just have a hard time seeing any way of justifying pins as sooo much more valuable. Here’s what Goodale’s example could look like. Wrestler A wins by fall, loses, wbf, and then loses - ending up 2-2 with 5.5 team points. Wrestler B loses, wins 4 in row on the backside (all decisions - including a win over Wrestler B), then drops his final bout to take 8th. He ends the tournament 4-2 and an ALL-AMERICAN. He earns 5 team points. I just don’t see how Wrestler A could be viewed as a better tournament. Team points should reflect the scoring better.

You posted while I was typing, but I like your breakdown of the placement points better too. I would still advocate for 1pt pins/techs and .5 major

I’d like to see winners bracket advancement 2 points, consis 1 pt. All pins or techs 1 pt. And all majors .5 pt. Majors should be 10 points now and techs 20 due to point inflation with takedowns and near falls. I think that will still incentivize bonus but give a better balance.

Yup. I’ve been saying this for years. I like incentivizing bonus, but it’s definitely not proportional. A pin being double a decision, like it is in a dual meet, is still a great incentive and is a good balance IMO. Being worth 4x is just crazy.

According to DC he is tall.

This would obviously be all that Iowa needs to overtake Penn State. They would probably set a new points record at NCAAs next year.

The fan vote doesn’t decide the hodge it’s just one factor they use. Keck could win the fan vote and they are still going to give it Brooks (rightfully so). Their stats are very similar but Brooks had tougher competition and is a 4 timer. I think they should not have even included the other three Penn state wrestlers on the voting options and just made it between Brooks and Keck. But either way, I doubt the Penn state vote is going to split much, 90%+ will be voting for brooks and they have a pretty big fan base.

Good for Hardy for being a good sport, but sometimes I just don’t understand why wrestling is its own worst enemy. I mean this is like the biggest viral picture from the NCAA championships? Come on! This is what the non wrestlers see and think that’s why they never want to wrestle or want their kid to wrestle. How about promoting all the awesome stories more than posting the most embarrassing picture you can find!

Exactly. And this is huge. I saw a post that AWA kids scored like 70 points at NCAAs which would have put them in 4th place, just ahead of Iowa. So it doesn’t even matter if its Ben or Bono in the wrong, the number one priority of Wisconsin HAS to be keeping the AWA kids in state. Then you could have a similar opportunity as Penn state (just not quite to that level because PA is the best )

This is actually a good question and I don’t follow any other sports so I have no idea lol. Good info from @SocraTease, but I’m curious too if there are any current dynasties going on right now that can rival what Penn State has done?

Your lack of understanding of freestyle wrestling is very evident. First off, the example you used of stalling on bottom is about the worst example you could use. In freestyle on bottom, you actively defend turns for about a 10 second sprint. Even if one guy tries to stall, it’s only 10 seconds. I literally saw matches at NCAAs with one guy riding another guy with zero turns, escapes, anything for 4 minutes! Furthermore, “no one” watches freestyle in America because it’s simply a cultural thing. Many other countries a ton of people watch freestyle. Of the those that truly know and understand both styles, I find that the vast majority prefer freestyle

Thanks for the insight on Smith! I admittedly don’t know much about his career and that’s great info. I was aware of Yianni winning as a true freshman as well but wasn’t sure of Smith. As I said before I think it’s the combination of winning as a true frosh and dominating DT that sets Dake apart. Maybe Smith has a better argument for that number two slot than I thought though

I totally agree that it’s 1. Cael, 2. Dake, and then splitting hairs. Yes Steiber probably should’ve lost to Oliver but he also probably had the toughest competition and was 119-3, so you can make a pretty good argument for him. Pat smith was before my time, so it’s hard for me to say where he falls. I would give him extra credit for being the first, but he does have the most losses of the group.

I agree that the stat on Dake winning 4 different weights is more of a neat trivia question rather than something that bolsters his argument. But the fact that he won as a TRUE freshman is huge. That and owning David Taylor who is one of our all time greats easily puts him right behind Cael.

Everybody is always critical of announcers no matter what. Kinda like being a ref, you’re always going to upset some people. So I do feel bad for him. That said, I have to admit that I thought DC talked way too much and it was often about things that weren’t really relevant

Well yeah, it’s not called best coach award. It would be pretty boring if they just gave the award to the coach of the team that won nationals every year. Cael is obviously the best coach so he doesn’t need the extra recognition. Although this year, I would’ve been fine with seeing him get it. 100 point differential is crazy. But the award is meant to be who stood out this year as opposed to what was expected. Little Rock getting their first two AAs definitely fits the bill

I agree he doesn’t look huge at 165, but his conditioning is his best weapon. Why run the risk of loosing that by cutting too much? He lost a super close match to a 6th year senior and the weight is all his next year. No reason for him to risk losing his edge by going down.