Jimmy Cinnabon

It’s worth noting several MSU guys were wrestling up a weight.

Michigan won

What happened to him? He was a 4x CA state champ.

Does this mean Ayala as returning finalist is the favorite?

Last year in the B10 championship Hamiti was leading 9-2 before Mesenbrink made a furious comeback to win. This year Hamiti is under the tutelage of the Magic Man at OK State. Should we expect a Hamiti win?

Not really...other elite teams have primo blue chip backups too.

Honestly, Penn State's backups aren't that much better than the other top tier programs. The gap between Penn State's starters and other team's starters is much larger than comparing their backups.

Tim Flynn

I don't get the mystery surrounding the Ferrari / Arnold debate. Ferrari has a RS available and Arnold does not. So isn't it obvious that Arnold is going to start and Ferrari will sit?

And further in tournaments where 2 teammates make the finals they don't even wrestle....quack quack

Granted Penn State went 3-0 at the Journeyman and only lost a single match, but consider: 1. Lilledahl is not exactly blowing away the competition like a freshman Suriano did. He barely beat the unranked Mizzou wrestler and gave up multiple takedowns at the tournament. 2. Bartlett is also not separating as much (went to OT to win vs Mizzou) and he has Alirez and Mendez in his weight. 3. Haines and Kerk will both have a hard time repeating. KOT beat Haines 4-1 and Steveson can't be beat by anyone. So, maybe Penn State isn't a stone cold lock for the title again?

So you favor Haines over KOT head to head?

Seems like the whole team is already chasing bonus points...major, tech falls, pins seem way up already compared to last year. Is it possible the Magic has taken effect so quickly?

Haines is the smaller guy. He moved up from 157 and Otoole has been at 174 for years.

Looking at current rankings all except Davis would finish top 8. I think Lilledahl finishes top 4 and have all other Penn State guys finishing in the top 5. Davis is certainly capable of an AA finish if he gets hot though.

At Iowa he could slot into 174 immediately (Iowa doesn't seem sold on Kennedy there, for whatever reason) and Brand/Arnold take 184

Next year, when he can wrestle his natural weight, 184.

Iowa

Against Wyoming Penn State scored 5 falls...4 of them utilized the bow and arrow (Zain Style). I'm wondering if they are specifically being coached up on this technique or it was just something that worked on lesser competition (sorry Wyoming).

Penn State board says Alex Facundo was spotted on crutches and a big knee brace at the Wyoming match. Sounds like a serious injury and may cement Kasak as the 157 starter this year. So sounds like Facundo will be getting a medical RS this year?

KOT 8-3

Penn State only wins 4 bouts

Rank your champ picks in ascending order of confidence (lowest confidence first). 125 Ramos 20% 157 Teemer 25% (injury, Shapiro) 149 SVN 35% 197 Buchanan 40% (Ferrari, Cardenas) 141 Mendez 50% (Alirez) 174 O'Toole 50% (Haines) 133 Crookham 60% 184 Starocci 90% (Keck) 165 Mesenbrink 95% HWT Steveson 99%

Eliminate guys who have already lost this season: 133 Davis Who I think will lose during the season 125 Lilledahl - Jore Volk, Wyoming 141 Bartlett - Mendez, Ohio State 149 SVN - Parco, Iowa 157 Kasak - Taylor, Nebraska and Teemer, Iowa 174 Haines - O'Tool, Missouri 197 Barr - Buchanan, Iowa, Cardenas, Michigan Who I think will be undefeated going into NCAAs 165 - Mesenbrink 184 - Starocci HWT - Kerk Agree or disagree?