BAC

I'd be surprised if he's getting any money apart from a break on tuition. The kid just lost his starting spot to someone a little better than him, a 197lber who couldn't make 197 anymore. Trephan's a 6th year senior with one more year of eligibility, and is a legit AA contender. I highly doubt there's anyone at NC State who's upset about this. I think everyone gets it.

I feel like they could have given him a more compelling by-line. Like maybe "On a one-match winning streak" or, perhaps, "put up 5 points on Iowa's top-10-ranked Gabe Arnold."

Yup. A mistake anyone could make. The sport needs more people like Kozak.

Dang, that's a lot of drama over a small error. I feel for Kozak who seems like a legitimately good dude. His instinct was right -- apologize, don't argue with the haters, move on. Pyles should have done the same -- just stop at the apology, and the whole thing would be immediately forgotten. Yes, he is right that the people highlighting the error don't really give a crap about the Blazes, or they wouldn't do it. But it comes across as blame-shifting, begs the question: why do so many people want to "dunk on Flo" in the first place? Just rise above it, and it exposes the haters as small.

There's a lot to be said for putting Nagao out there at 133 or 141, as both Davis and Blaze will have a RS available. (I'm guessing Nagao takes a medical RS this year.) Crazy that Joe Sealey isn't even cracking the conversation here, given how credentialed he is. It'll be tough for him to break through the logjam at 157-74 for sure. Maybe 174 when Haines graduates after next year, but I can see a bunch of other guys wanting that 174 spot by then too. Hopefully Sealey makes big jumps in the room to make it interesting, but if not, I wouldn't be shocked to see him in the portal. For as good as PSU has been the past decade, they always have a couple holes in their lineup. This year there's barely any, but starting next year, I just don't see any unless the Mirasolas don't pan out.

Good call on Blaze. I know everyone says Okie State for Jax but honestly I'm not sure why. What's the connection everyone sees that I don't? To be fair, in the Flo recruitment vids it did seem like Bo and Jax were most eagerly anticipating hearing from PSU and Okie St, but I assumed that was just because PSU is #1 and DT has all the hype. If anything I figured PSU had the edge, but not so much now with Luke/Blaze. Not gonna disagree about Bo and Iowa. Hate to admit it, but there's a fit there. Not that Brands + company have a leg up on anyone in helping him develop, but I do think his style would be appreciated as much or more in Iowa City than anywhere else, and his following would shoot up. That makes it as a good a platform as any for his media savvy and inclination toward self-promotion (and I don't mean that disparagingly). That, in turn, would be a great way for Iowa to rebuild it's brand, which (to me) was left in limbo since Spencer left, and has probably eroded a bit with the recent transfers, giving it a "free agent" feel. And let's face it, if you're going to have 3 brothers on your roster, you'll sleep way easier at night if their last name is Bassett/Miller than Ferrari. Brands would be wise to go after Bo with the same gusto that he went after Spencer. Iowa's leg up on other schools is what they can offer Bo's non-wrestling goals.

I thought the "Iowa style" was to have your guys work and toil their whole career, getting better and climbing the ladder until they are finally top 10 as a senior and ready to make a run at a high AA finish, only to drop some NIL $ to poach the #1 guy from another team, forcing the homegrown guy to transfer out.

I dunno Vak, Ohio State hasn't done too bad in lightweight recruiting. In fact that's part of the problem with Blaze going there, as you already have uber-recruits Davino and Bouzakis at 133, plus Mendez at 141. PSU pretty thin at '33/41 next year. Bartlett gone. Maybe Nagao or Davis can go up (or Davis redshirts), but I'm guessing Blaze could step right in at '33/41. If I'm Iowa, I'm hoping PSU gets Blaze, as it opens the door for Jax.

Fair enough brother, I can't claim to have inside intel on how the NIL decisions are made. In general though, I do like the idea of even the elite kids finishing out their high school years. Even if it delays their wrestling development, the delay is very slight, and is offset IMO by the benefit of getting to live a normal life of a normal high school kid. I worry that that leaving high school early to focus on wrestling may cause premature burnout if your life is all wrestling, all the time.

At the same time, teammate and RS freshman Vince Robinson went 3-0, beating some of the guys who beat Camacho (Seymour, Sotelo). Any chance Camacho loses his starting spot his senior year?

Yes, I know it's a weird thing to say after they got routed by Iowa 32-9. And no, I'm not reading too much into their win over Iowa State, given how many ISU guys were out of the lineup. But what I can't help think is that that if Stanford had a full lineup, including Provo and Cardenas (who I'm told is redshirting), are there 5 teams that would be better than them at NCAAs? Let's not forget that Provo was ranked #1 for a while last year at 125. He could DNP, but he also could be a high AA. And at 157, if Cardenas (4th last year) goes, he's a title contender. Besides that, at 133, I'm not sure if Knox is as good as his win over Ayala suggests or if Ayala is just still making the weight transition, but that was an eye-opener. Rounding out the rest of the first 5, Abas didn't look great against Parco but has AA'd before (and I think was R12 last year, beating Kasak), and Valencia is an extremely dangerous freshman who had a monster off-season. Beating Block isn't all that notable, but who has beaten Valencia the past year, besides his nail-biters to Bassett? Five AAs in the first 5 weights would not surprise me. The next two weights are strong too. You have Garvin at 165, who AA'd last year, and who has time to fix the gas tank issue that cost him his win over Caliendo yesterday. At 174, it's too early to say how good Norman is, but he looked legitimately better than former AA Brands yesterday. He beat Griffith last year as a redshirt and has bonus in all his matches this year except Brands. Again, I see 7 legit AA contenders or favorites in the first 7 weights. It falls off at the last 3 weights. Stemmet at 197 was 2-2 at NCAAs last year, and maybe is an outside AA threat, but I don't see any other points. Even so, when you put all that together, that's a whole lot of guys who could end up on the podium. They aren't touching Iowa or PSU or Iowa, but if Knox, Valencia and Norman show they are AA-level wrestlers (a big if, but not crazy IMO), then I don't see how they aren't in the mix with the other top teams. Maybe even a trophy...? If Cardenas stays in redshirt, I'd say top 10 is in reach but not top 5. (No offense to Cholakyan, who is fun to watch.) But selfishly, I hope they pull Cardenas's shirt and see what this team can do.

I dunno. You really think crushing it his senior year would burnish his NIL potential more than success on the college or senior circuit? Seems to me that high school rosters are littered with guys who pin or tech their way through their senior year, but it barely elicits a yawn because of the competition. I can rattle off a whole bunch of names of guys who've done that, and you probably won't have heard of most of them. The only reason Duke is on our radar at all is the damage he's done against guys outside his normal schedule (national and international tournaments, and guys more senior than he is). No one's buying Bo Bassett t-shirts because he teched his kid in state finals. That said, I have no issue with Duke sticking around for his senior year. He's the star of his high school, with all the guys knowing and admiring what a killer, and all the girls swooning. I'd never want to take that from him. I don't know much about his training situation, but clearly it hasn't hurt him thus far, as he's outwrestling veterans like Lewan and Bryce. And if he's planning to bob in and out of his regular schedule to attend a few college and international tournaments, that's all for the better.

Shoot, and I was going to say Fix v. Suriano.

Is that who Taylor traded a few good words with after his bronze? Dabir was a hammer. His match with Brands was epic. Watched him take on and edge Kolat in Baltimore a while back. So technically sound, and knew how to shut it down at the end.

Why not get rid of individual champion awards? Only OW wins anything.