Eagle26

This is exactly why Taylor was a better college wrestler than Dake

I think Rosholt was 197 for at least one or two of his titles. I’d put him at 197 over Ferrari. I’m not sure who you put in at 184 then?

It’s a hypothetical situation of putting athletes in their peak form in a different time period. I don’t think it would work they way you are saying (of course we will never know). My point is if Jim Peters was in his prime now, he’d probably be pushing the 2 hour mark. If Eluid was running in the 50s he probably be only slightly ahead of Peters.

I have not heard of him (don’t follow the sport), but if you were putting him on a list of All-time great marathon runners, wouldn’t you have him up near the top behind the current world record holder? Or would you say he is behind guys that never set a world record but can run one in a faster time than he can?

Fair point, but you are only looking at national champs. Iowa has had a lot of great wrestlers in those weights in the last 10 years. Penn state has had the gaping hole at 125 for a few years which is what makes this sentiment come to mind. In other words, Penn state wins 133 and 141 in close matches and Iowa wins 125 by landslide. So yeah it’s debatable who is actually better in those weights.

I agree with the sentiment that you can’t give extra credit to the more “modern” wrestlers because of technical advances in the sport. Iowa was dominant and innovative under Gable and they would find a way to have the same success today. That said I still favor Penn State at 157 and up. I think Iowa wins 149 and under. Interesting how it is split because Iowa still seems to be producing better in the lightweights and Penn State is dominating middle and upper weights.

I think an Olympic medal would make him much more marketable. Unfortunately though, a world medal would not add as much marketability as it should. There’s a better fan base for NCAA wrestling and there’s a very short list of 4 timers. I think that’s his ticket

Fair point but I don’t think we should ignore big problems in our sport (like OOB stalling) because the solution might create a smaller problem. I think you would be surprised at how well the bottom wrestlers adjust to that tactic. They will find a way to stay in bounds if they are the better wrestler. If it does somehow become a bigger issue, we can find ways to address it such as saying zone to the top man and calling him for passivity if he doesn’t circle in. IMO, we are doing a disservice to the sport if we are afraid of every little consequence of change that we never grow and evolve

My 2 cents on the other rules. 1. Headgear optional - totally makes sense for the college. 90% of guys have cauliflower ear anyway and (whether you like it or not) it’s a badge of honor for many. I don’t think it should be optional for high school because they aren’t ready to make those decisions, but if a college wrestler wants his ears messed up the rest of his life, who are we to stop him. 2. MFF is a loss. Easy choice. If it has a chance to cut down on the MFF even a little, it’s worth it. 3. Reducing scoring for consi bracket - depends on how they are doing it. See previous post. 4. Offensive wrestler must work for a fall - Please do this and enforce it correctly! It’s one of the biggest issues with college wrestling right now 5. Step out - Yes! Every fear everyone has about this rule has been squashed by the huge success it has been in freestyle. No more objective OBB stalling calls (they are all over the place), and more action in the center. Just do it and you won’t regret it.

This. It’s actually 5 times as much I believe (.5 advancement +2 for fall). So even on the top side, it’s 3x as much for a fall. I’m all for encouraging bonus points, but it’s just not a good system for determining the better wrestler. A guy could go 1-2 and earn 3 points and a guy could go 4-2 and earn 2 points. In a dual meet, a fall is worth double a decision… I think that’s about right. So if they are adjusting bonus points for consolation rounds, I do think that would be good.

Yeah I get that… I just think they both need to be on the list. He has Gable (142 which would be more like 149) at 141 so I think it’s fair to put 177 at 174 for this one.

True but Rohn’s pin was epic as well. I say slot Schultz and Banach at 174 (that’s closer to the actual weight of 177 anyway) and keep Rohn in at 184.

Great job living up to your name [emoji3]

I’m sure Truax’s goal is to win a national title. His best chance of doing that is to go whatever weight Brooks is not going. I have no idea which one that would be, but if he went to PSU, he would figure it out a lot quicker and get ready for that weight. That said I hope he doesn’t go there… the rich don’t need to get any richer lol

Jordan Burroughs his senior year was probably the best college wrestler I have seen.

Does Brooks really want to go up to 197? He doesn’t look that big and I would think he wants to stay close to 86kg. I’d guess he stays down and they bring in someone like Truax

Plus isn’t Levi only 18? I agree he probably has a lot of growing to do yet

This is definitely going to make the US open a more premier event again. And interesting point about the weight changes for the contested weights at WTT. Everyone that didn’t win the open in the next weight up or down might as well try a new weight for WTT. Or do they have to qualify at that specific weight? If not, we could get some interesting matches that we haven’t seen before

To wrestle off AJ?

This seems like pure conjecture and more just wishful thinking from Penn state fans desperate for a good 125 (not sure why they are desperate… they clearly are good enough without one). First, no way PSU is trying to poach him at the NCAA tournament and risk violations. Second, judging by some social media posts I’ve seen, Noto seems very happy at lock haven and has really praised the coaching staff. I sure hope he decides to stay at lock haven… a kid like that is huge for a small like them. At Penn state, he’s just another wrestler and not even one the best guys on the team.

I knew that was it on the old forum… wasn’t sure if he changed it up by a letter on the new one lol

I would not have guessed that so maybe it’s not huge factor, but I do think team race plays a part. I guess it’s not just that it was clinched but more the total domination by Penn state and relative lack of success of other big programs. I do think that causes fans of other teams to lose interest a bit. I imagine there is a pretty big fan base of Okie State fans this year that didn’t tune into the finals. Some Iowa fans may have tuned out too with Spencer going down and their only finalist a transfer.

The team race being decided before the finals was a big factor as well

Yup. And then Kolat and Marstellar were both 4x undefeated champs

I agree with others that it is really dumb that all 10 champs are “finalists”. They never had more than a few before. I doubt that the fan vote has much of an impact, but just another factor for the committee to look at. I will say I thought it was clearly a two horse race between Yianni and Parris, but I would have guessed Parris to have the highest bonus percentage. Alirez and AOC make it a little more up in the air since they are higher bonus %. Still, Parris leads with pins and tougher competition IMO so I’d still put it between him and Yianni. I never liked the idea of them giving it to someone with a loss so my vote is Parris. Certainly, everyone with a loss who is not a 4x national champ should be eliminated as a “finalist”. Just depends how heavy they weigh 4x national champ (that’s kinda a big deal), so I won’t be disappointed if they give it to Yianni.