BAC

For me it's Bryan Snyder and the Hidlay brothers.

I'm not saying it's a good idea, I'm saying it may be the only idea. Who does Iowa have at 197 who'd beat out Arnold? If you're Arnold, and you know you can't beat Ferrari or Kennedy, do you ride the pine at 165/174 or taking the starting gig at 197? If you're Brands, do you manage 174/184/197 among Kennedy/Ferrari/Arnold in a way that you've got someone at each weight, or do you just leave a big gaping hole at 197 while one of your best guys sits? (Assuming he doesn't poach someone or get a portal guy, which I'm sure he's trying to do and is the most likely scenario here.) If I'm Brands, I keep Kennedy at 174 and nudge Angelo to go 197 for the team. AJ claims the only one who can take him down is Angelo, so I'm sure Angelo would do fine, especially if he has a year to bulk up. Worked out fine for Barr, who was 184 until he found out just before the season was starting that Carter was going to be there, so he bought himself a big slab of Kasak beef and, presto, NCAA finalist at 197. But if Brands lets them wrestle off, I see 197 as the most likely landing spot for Arnold unless he likes riding the pine.

I'm no Iowa insider, but I'd think Kennedy goes 174 again while either Ferrari or Arnold bumps up to 197, which is pretty much vacant. My guess is Arnold goes up as I doubt he beats Ferrari, but I'd far prefer to see Ferrari go 197, as he has a better frame for it (Arnold's 5'7") and, selfishly, I'd love to see him wrestle AJ at NCAAs. It'll take some time to beef up though. If Iowa's smart, they're pushing these guys to figure it out with each other this offseason, or the loser of the 184lb wrestleoff next year will be undersized all season at 197. Although knowing Iowa, they'll probably just call up Nichols to pay some $$ to bring in a ringer at 197, and run Arnold out of Iowa City.

So Facundo, Garcia and Steen are in the portal. Is anyone else apt to follow suit? Some possibilities: 1. Sealey. There's no clear place for him next year unless Kasak redshirts, and I'm not hearing any rumbling that it's a possibility. Even then I doubt he can beat Duke. Even if Duke redshirts and ends up as Haines' successor at 174 in '26, Kasak and Mesenbrink each have 2 more years at 157-165. I could see Sealey being willing to ride the pine for one year, but ... two? 2. Nagao. If he's healthy, he could slot in at 133 if Davis redshirts, or 141 if Blaze redshirts, but (a) I haven't heard anything about either redshirting, and (b) Ono is apt to be at one of those weights... if he gets his visa. Having AA'd once and having only 2 years of eligibility left, I'm skeptical that he'd be willing to sit. 3. Connor Mirasola. Unless Connor can beat Barr (highly doubtful), he's stuck behind him for three years. Or unless Barr goes down, but that seems unlikely since Barr really beefed up and most have Ryder penciled in at 184. It's hard to believe someone as talented as Connor would ride the pine for 3 years, but with brother as the heir to HWT next year, it's hard to see one leaving without the other.

Maybe, but I wouldn't be too quick to say it reflects negatively on Koll. Both put it 4 years at UNC so I'm guessing both of these guys got their degrees. UNC is a good school academically, and both Moore and McNeil made the All-ACC Academic Team. If I had to guess, I'd say both guys are prioritizing their graduate studies and are looking for a full ride at the school whose program best matches their career goals, sort of like Cardenas. I doubt this is driven by a desire to get in a better wrestling room.

I know the thrust of your comment was against baseless accusations, but you also seemed to be saying the accusations against Kasak and Taylor cleared the bar, despite the thinnest of evidence. If that's not what you meant, then I'm glad. I don't think I misrepresented what you said, though, considering I quoted you directly -- and you sort of did it again just now with Taylor. I don't mean to get on my high horse as I'm all for smack-talk, but to me, PED accusations are sort of like calling someone a racist. "Low confidence" or not, journalist or not, they pack an unusual sting and have a way of following athletes around.

Agree. It was cool to see Keckeisen applauding McEnelly after narrowly beating him, then applauding Starocci after losing to him. I think he also might be the only top opponent that Starocci never disparages and is so quick to compliment. Regarding Gable, I was a little worried when he didn't show up on the award stand at first. They were halfway thru the awards when Gable comes jogging out just in time for his runner-up award and gave props to Wyatt. Respect.

Well said.

My criticism of tOSU's talent development is largely the same as I have of Iowa: (1) it's only hiring it's own alumni as coaches, and (2) it's allowed its RTC to lag. Regarding the first point, you have either Tom Ryan, or guys who've gotten their college wrestling education from Tom Ryan (e.g. Jaggers, Stieber, Jordan). I'm sure they're good coaches individually, but taken together, it's too much overlap, resulting in a one-size-fits-all approach that works for some but won't work for others. Way too many high-end recruits have been stuck in neutral for this not to be true. Regarding the second point, the Ohio RTC consists of 4 guys, all 92kg or more (including 3 HWTs), and Moore is the only guy with a realistic shot at a U.S. world team. I think one of the biggest keys to success is getting beat up on by guys better than you, forcing you to reach their level to compete. The RTC isn't really helping with that. That said, I think you're underselling Davino, Shaw and Waters. Davino is already capable of AA'ing. Waters is hilariously underrated as a recruit, and absolutely has the potential to be a 4x AA and multi-time champ. Shaw has been good a long time but jumped a level the past year. I hope they get the coaching and practice partners they need at tOSU.

Echoing this, I think this is a bigger development for the NWLC than the PSU college team, but either way it's super cool. In freestyle, you have two legit world team prospects in Lilledahl and Blaze at 57kg and 61kg, but they're a bit thin on practice partners. McHenry graduates, Nagao has been hurt, and Davis doesn't seem to do much freestyle. Nick Lee is probably their best bet, but he's a bit big for them. Adding Ono to that round-robin will improve them immensely. In folk, as good as Ono is, I'm not convinced he can beat out Nagao, Davis or Blaze, at least near term. Maybe, but I'm not sure he's much of an upgrade, given his weakness on top/bottom. Maybe he can give Davis/Blaze a chance to redshirt, but I doubt the result is much better. One thing that helps Ono, though, is the 3 point takedown. With that, a single takedown is enough to win a match if he can avoid getting turned, even if he gives up the escape and a riding time point. Some of these other freestyle-only guys, like Gelogaev and Abdurakhmonov, struggled against the top folkstylers, but they were more likely to need 2 TDs to assure themselves a win.

So if a kid "grew" and "has acne", calling him a steroid user is a "fair accusation"? If the bar's really that low to get your name viciously dragged through the mud on social media, these D1 wrestlers who go up a weight class better take their Preparation H. So if a kid "grew" and "failed for long enough making the team", calling him a steroid user is a "good accusation"? I guess these international wrestlers who bump up a weight class better hope they never make the team, or they too will get brutally defamed on social media and it will be "good." Here's a crazy thought. What if we just let the drug testers do their job and respect the results?

I've yet to hear a decent explanation as to why the free COVID year was 2021 and not 2020. What on earth was the reasoning behind giving 3 years of eligibility to the class that had their national championship cancelled, but 5 years to the class whose championship wasn't cancelled?

The baseless accusations on this thread are pretty despicable. The NCAA regularly tests for PEDs. Current policy here: https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/ssi/substance/SSI_DrugTestingManual.pdf

The thought has crossed my mind. Wouldn't be the first time Iowa ruined a kid by throwing him out there when they should've let him heal up. I'm just not if the facts bear that out here. Parco legit hurt his knee last match. I don't think we can pin that on Iowa. Teemer... not sure. Sounds like he's had hamstring and shoulder issues all year. Iowa sat him some, but would he have performed better yesterday if given more time to heal? Did Brands wrestle him too much, too eager to get bang for their NIL buck, so the donors aren't crabby? Maybe. I'll confess to this: I'm happy to see two guys that Iowa ran out of town -- Chittum (excited due to Ferrari transfer) and Siebricht (exited due to Parco/Teemer transfer) -- still alive at 157, scoring points, while Iowa had none. Nothing against Teemer, who I like, but I always like to see schools punished when they run a loyal homegrown recruit out of town -- and I like to see the aggrieved make good. Will be cheering for Glazier for the same reason, and also Beard/Barraclaugh (though those were less egregious).

Usually I'm happy to dance on Iowa's grave but I can't quite bring myself to do it. I just feel for Teemer and Parco. I have no idea what the full story is but they just seem so physically beat up right now. Definitely not themselves, and I can't find anything to dislike about either guy. Take away those two guys, and Iowa's performing about as it's seeded.

It's hard to argue against this, though he was before my time. Probably the best counter is Smith himself, who really revolutionized leg attacks his low single and how he integrated it with his hi-c. Other guys who come to mind when I think of wrestlers who excelled mostly by virtue of technique, as opposed to athleticism (though everyone we're talking about here excelled in both), are Taylor and Cael. Zeke is also a popular answer to this question (won FILA's "most technical" award one year).

I think this is right, though from what I could hear from the audio, it seemed like Ryan wanted 2 different sets of 2, not 4 from a four-count. But I may be wrong. In any case, I'm guessing the refs upstairs saw two different 1.5 counts. I thought the original 2 was justified (and didn't expect the refs upstairs to wipe them off), but I also thought the brick was incredibly stupid, as Cannon had a late-match 3 point lead and was in better shape. Ryan screwed over his wrestler on that basis alone.

Thought about these threads when I watched the Cannon/Fish match. If you haven't seen the feed, Ryan threw another fit. In fairness, I sort of get it. Cannon got a reversal, and then 2 backs. Ryan apparently thought there were two sets of backs (4 total), and threw a brick. The ref's back was blocking the view, but from what I could see, it looked like a stupid brick -- especially since Cannon was on a roll. Well, the refs in the booth upstairs went the other way, and *took away* the two backs that had already given. (I thought there was a 2-count.) Ryan freaked out, and the refs just sort of stared at him as he yelled, as if to say "dude, it wasn't my call, it was the guys upstairs." Finally Ryan starts demanding to know the names of the refs upstairs (I guess so he could find their address and egg their house?), and won't shut up. Fish got a nice toss in OT to win, so Ryan throws *another* brick, but only to whine about what happened 5 minutes before, how it's the worst officiated match he's ever seen, etc. Stieber's trying to tell the ref to please give them their brick back since Ryan's just being a wack-job. Anyway, another bad look for Ryan. His ill-considered brick cost Cannon the match, both by losing him 2 points and letting the lesser-conditioned Fish recharge for OT, and while perhaps his yammering was justified when the swipes were retracted, he just. wouldn't. let. it. go.

I'm all for calling stalling, but that was overkill. By a lot. Yes, he was backing up, but it was pretty mild. He also got shoved out of bounds some of the times he was called for backing out. Truth is, most refs would've only called him once during this whole sequence, which honestly wasn't that unusual for a heavyweight match where one guy is more powerful than the other. A good ref would've dinged him at twice, *maybe* a third time. But this guy? He dinged him 3 times in the first 40 seconds, and then twice more over the next 1:30. There's a reason the crowd was booing. It felt like the ref took the match away from us.

Thx for info! Good luck to him.

Maybe this was discussed elsewhere, but anyone know what the story is (if not too private)? Didn't weigh in today, and supposedly not using his last year of eligibility. Goodale predicted it would happen and claims its an "incredible story" but then sort of leaves us hanging. Tough way to end for a guy who took 4th as a true freshman, but it sounds like there's a lot going on here.

You owe me a beer Chromebird!

Thanks for update! Just curious, why does Gaitan have 3 points? (I thought he got a major, not a pin.)

I think it was 9-1. Maybe 10-1 if I missed riding time at the end.

Oh man you're right. Forgot about that. 10 of 10, with bonus in 9. Crazy.