BAC

Same. I was as happy to see him win as any of the US wrestlers. You definitely get the sense that he's carrying so much weight on his back, and that it weighs heavier on him than for most. There's times you get the sense he'd have hung it up long ago, but for those expectations. Or maybe it's just his unique mix of humility, self-pity and pessimism. Regardless, the guy has been motivated lately. Losing to Lilledahl may have been a blessing as he was a different guy at Final X. And at Worlds, bum ACL or not, it was the best I've seen him wrestle in a while. Showed tenacity against Iran, creative technique against the Russian, resolve in his semi, and seemed at ease. Was weird not seeing a Brands in his corner but maybe that was for the best. I'd wager that outpouring of emotion after he won was about a whole lot more than his ACL. Sign me up for thinking there's a 0% chance he doesn't make a run at '28. Not sure about '27, but he's shown he can win this even when not in peak physical form. It's here in LA. And back in '23 he inked a 5 year contract with the HWC, i.e. thru 2028. He isn't going anywhere.

One of the best days of freestyle wrestling that I can remember. One day produced the following: --Snyder's come from behind win over Sadulaev --Bassett's comeback from being 9 points down with 2 minutes left to win 14-13 --Yoshida's win over Yazdani with 0.1 seconds on the clock --Nwachukwu's world gold with by getting a TD with just a couple seconds left. Amazing!

I don't like Spencer's draw. It's never good to wrestle Iran and Russia before the semis, as that's an easy way to DNP. Hope he comes in with a good mindset, which is always the biggest variable with Spencer. Love Blaze's draw. Tough Iranian on his side of the bracket but all the hammers are on the other half, plus Marcus has a couple good tuneup matches. I see a finals run. Bassett has the Russian in the quarters (if he gets by the Canadian/Iranian), which isn't good. Bo has a puncher's chance but I think he has a decent chance to wrestle for bronze, likely against Sujeet. Zain's bracket is thin on numbers but not depth. Zain has no easy matches. Not sure what to expect here as Zain seems to have lost some offense but I expect a bunch of low scoring matches that could go either way. Green's got a tough draw in a deep field, with Russia in the quarters, but if he can make it that far I like his chances of getting pulled back in. For a guy like James this is probably not a bad place to be. Similar deal with Levi in that he has the Russian, Khaniev, in the quarters, who has looked unbeatable. But Levi is tough too and I see that as a coin flip. If Levi loses, I see him getting pulled back in. Bad draw for Dake. Has to beat either Ghasempour or Ramazanov just to have the right to wrestle Kadiev in the semis. But I like how Dake's looked and I'm not picking against him. Thin bracket for Hidlay, but has to beat a decent Azeri in quarters and will have a tough semi. I don't feel bullish about him repeating but think he wrestles for a medal. Snyder has Sadulaev in the quarters, so unless there's a new young gun in the semis, I see Kyle in either the finals or repechage. Excited for this one. Lousy draw. Wyatt gets Sharipov who beat him 4-0 at the Zagreb, and with Zare in the same bracket, it's a big risk for 1-and-done. With DT in his corner though, you never know.

Someone should resign. It's just embarrassing. Rule number two of visa granting, right after "don't let a terrorist in," is "don't create an international incident by denying someone who was invited by the highest levels of sport/government unless you're 100% sure." There are sometimes close calls. Some coaches/federation officials have been denied visas in recent years based on some questionable rhetoric, and I'm inclined to give US officials the benefit of the doubt. But here? Come on. This is foolishness.

One more. I have to give a shout-out to Garrett Lowney's match in the 2000 Olympics against the Russia's five-time world champion, Gogui Koguachvili. Lowney, who hadn't yet wrestled his first college match for Minnesota, somehow took him to OT. Then this happened. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2667069236642676

On the USA front, the most watchable Greco wrestler of the past 15-20 years has to be G'Angelo Hancock. I feel like it was a real blow to Greco when he walked away from the sport, as a lot of casual wrestling fans would go to a Greco event just to see him, and stay to watch the others. A quick reel: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1640916583342717

When I think of great Greco matches, I think of Karam Gaber's run at the 2004 Olympics. Someone really should work up a highlight reel, as I couldn't find much online, but here's his semi:

Sadly Shumate just defaulted out, while up 7-1 over Italy with a little over a minute left. Looked like he popped out his shoulder. Tried to continue but just couldn't. He wrestled like a lion today. No one picked him to do much today, but absent that injury he'd have been wrestling for a medal.

I can't stand it when coaches duck the all-star meet, but I would make an exception here. It would be coaching malpractice to allow Ono's first match to be against Seidel. That's a confidence-killing tech waiting to happen right there. Let Ono build up his bottom skills against other guys for a few more months first.

I wasn't intending to comment on anything you said, but whatever, it's all good.

That "everyone knows" except me, apparently. What are you trying to say?

As long as I he doesn't start pulling guns or claiming trees are talking to him or that he has the "best front headlock in the world" or other Dupont-isms... I'd gladly welcome Zuck into the wrestling fold. The man could permanently endow every college wrestling program in the country with about 1% of his wealth.

That's not what I remember. What I remember is everyone mourning the loss of one of wrestling's GOATS as he moved on to other endeavors that he may or may not be good at, but almost certainly wouldn't be as good at as he is in wrestling.

A fun Trent Hidlay game is, "how would he have fared if Aaron Brooks didn't exist?" Hidlay lost at NCAAs to Brooks 2x in the finals and 2x in the semifinals.

But what's that worth, really? Last year, ND was ranked in the top 10, ahead of Miami for most of the year... and then at the end of the year, despite ND not losing and winning 10 games in a row, Miami was suddenly slotted ahead of them, shutting ND out of the playoffs. Miami had beaten ND earlier in the year but everyone agreed ND outperformed Miami after that... except at the very end when the flipped the teams back, giving the birth to the team from power conference ACC, which otherwise would've had no representation after lowly Duke beat Virginia for the conference title. In short, if the rankers are willing to punish ND immediately before the final rankings for not being a league whenever needed to ensure the big-time leagues are adequately represented, then who cares about the automatic bid? Rankers will screw over ND anyway.

Yes, probably a better example, along w/ Tulane. But I was rooting for them!

I doubt Notre Dame would agree with your assessment based on their exclusion from the playoffs last year. They'd probably tell you their decision to stay independent cost them, as the "free pass" and "benefit of the doubt" went to those in a powerful league -- notably lower-ranked Miami and 3-loss Alabama. Obviously it was ND's choice to remain independent, which financially benefits them, but it's hard to dispute that it costs them in the current CFP format which rewards league membership.

I'd agree with you when ranking the individual weights. But not for P4P rankings. Otherwise, how on earth do you do it? There's just no way to compare people across weights who haven't wrestled each other, at least not with any semblance of objectivity. You need freestyle to compare how current guys are faring against yesteryear's champs, and against the best guys overseas. That's the best way to see evaluate who's a strong champ vs a weaker champ. Otherwise it becomes an eyeball test (and NCAA placement), and nothing more. I'd bet my right arm that Kozak considered freestyle results in doing his list, implicitly if not explicitly. Over two-thirds of his top 20 PFP have international medals, most gold. Otherwise a guy like Marcus Blaze is just a one-time 4th-place finisher, and Duke a one-time 3d placer -- hardly P4P material, yet there they are. For individual weights, yes, make it folk-only -- there's plenty to work from, and we have separate weight-specific rankings for free (and greco). But for P4P, everything's fair game, as it should be.

What I like about watching Vega is he's always smiling, like there's no place he'd rather be. It's so genuine, that it's almost infectious. And despite the low offensive output, when he mixes it up with guys who like to scramble (e.g. Hardy) it does get fun. I know I'm dissing the P4P ranking, but Vega as a wrestler is a pleasure to watch.

I'm pretty much where BruceyB is. Vega is obviously excellent -- undefeated national champ, beat Mendez - but it seems like there's a hype factor here that's elevating him higher than he actually is. Last season, a good half of his matches were decided by 5 points or less, and he had multiple matches go to OT. Some of those matches could easily have gone the other way. Compare that to, say, a guy like Barr, who also was an undefeated champ, but bonused literally everyone he faced, up until the national finals. I'd have Mesenbrink and Barr as 1.a and 1.b P4P. Also, in the PFP context, I think it's relevant to look at freestyle. It has its differences but its similar enough, and when someone goes off and makes world teams or wins medals overseas, it tells us that they aren't just good relative to current US college competition, but also relative to past champs, and relative to other countries' top wrestlers. On that score, Vega really hasn't done much. Last time he competed, I think, was U20s last year, where he lost in the quarters to Manville. Compare that to, say, the top 4 guys at 133. The same 4 freshmen also finished top 4 at *senior* WTTs. 2 of those 4 freshmen have won Final X to make Senior World teams. 3 of the 4 have won international golds, and we may see a fourth when Davino competes at U23s. On what basis can one rationally say Vega is P4P better? Or compare to Barr, who made Final X last year, losing very close matches to eventual world champ Hidlay. Or Liledahl, an undefeated champ like Vega, but also has multiple age-group world golds under his belt, and wins over countless other former NCAA champs in the process. Even at his own weight, 149, I agree with Brucey that it's far from clear he's better than Van Ness, Henson or Valencia. Not sure he'd take 141 either as I'd pick Bassett over him, and Stanich is a toss-up at best. Honestly the only argument I see is "he beat Mendez." That's a great win, but it was ONE win, and it was in SV. It doesn't mean he'd beat everyone Mendez has beaten, or that you suddenly hand Mendez's P4P ranking to Vega, any more than you'd hand it to Merrill for beating Hodge winner Parris a few months ago, or Sealey for beating Carr, or to Duke for beating 4x'er Yianni last year. And, if we're being honest, Mendez lost a bit of his P4P luster anyway, barely squeaking by in SV in the NCAA semis, and again failing to make a world team after. To be clear, I'm not saying Vega's down at Manville's level or that he shouldn't be high on the P4P list. He's still an unbeaten defending champ. But objectively, it's a kindness to have Vega P4P top 5 given the immense talent in other weights. And putting him top 2 borders on disrespectful to guys who have proven themselves, over and over, on a P4P level in a way that Vega definitely has not.

Sergio Vega #2 on Flo's just-released PFP list: https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/16146571-2026-27-ncaa-di-wrestling-rankings/56562-p4p-mitchell-mesenbrink Is it just me, or is that a bit high for him?

They both went to Delbarton right? I wonder if the closeness of their matches has more to do with familiarity, and maybe a certain big-brother component, than they do with closeness in skill. Parentin seems to have worse results against common opponents, though he is obviously excellent.

Someone post Amos's late-match lat drop in the Jr World finals a few years back. Epic.

Cancelled my subscription today. I have not been able to post for months, and even accessing the site is very difficult. The tech support button does not work. It literally says “not available.” On my laptop, the website is not accessible at all. Has been that way for 2 months. Just an error message when I go to the site. On my phone, I cannot post, since when I try to, the website first asks me to specify if I want to use tapatalk (whatever that is) or browser. If I click tapatalk, an error message comes up. I can’t hit “browser” since there is always an ad over the button — an ad with no “x” so it’s the ad or nothing. Right now I was able to post only after spamming the ad button repeatedly, over 30+ minutes. I now have like 40 open tabs for Chewy on my phone. I have to assume Bob and Willie decided to just ignore the site, focus elsewhere, and let this website die on the vine. It’s a shame because I like both of them. So I guess that’s it. I’ve been posting here and the predecessor for almost 30 years, even before the forum was migrated to themat.com. Sometimes things end with a whimper, not a bang. Cheers folks. See you around.

Big news. But the fact that Dresser is not really stepping back so much as taking a new made-up administrative wrestling position tells me that this was done on the fly to keep Metcalf without losing Dresser. Was someone throwing some money at him to lure him away? I feel like there is more to the story here.