BAC

Dude it isn’t 1990 anymore. Iowa hasn’t had anyone who wrestled like that in decades. Maybe Metcalf at times, but “Iowa style” evolved years ago into “push em out of bounds and demand a stall call,” which isn’t Bo. And, more recently, “Iowa style” is “let other schools coach em and then we poach em” — which is to say, no style at all, just an theft of other schools’ styles. Far from a Spencer Lee clone too. Spencer never attacked with that sort of volume, and never really tried to break his opponents either. He just tilted them into oblivion and got off the mat. Bassett already has the drive and gas tank. He doesn’t need a Brands brother shouting in his ear. He would benefit most from highly skilled technical coaches who would help him clean up his offense to beat top-tier guys, and help him tighten his defense when he needs to, all while also letting Bo be Bo.

OK am I the only one who feels really old right now? I remember Graff wrestling Jordan Oliver at the Dapper Dan in high school. And now he's on the Veteran's team? Sigh. Just ranting. Gratz to him and the other "not ready to hang up my shoes" guys who won a world title.

Thanks Truzz. Lots of good info.

Not sure why Greg K, Alirez and Bartlett on this list. Have they expressed interest in MMA? All three guys have done their share of freestyle. I'd have said all three have decent shot of sticking with wrestling for a while. Agree. Will be interesting to see what DT can do with Plott though. I can't recall any recent freestyle results for Crookham, SVN or Henson. But my memory isn't great and I don't doubt they have the skills to excel there, so I don't disagree.

I honestly think Taylor has too much self-respect and respect for Cael to try to poach already-committed recruits. He thinks he can do it on his own merit, and he's probably right. And the wrestlers likely respect Taylor as an excellent coach, but also know there's a roomful of excellent coaches at PSU, so it isn't like they're losing out if they stay. Not that Taylor would turn down any of those guys if they decided on their own to make the transfer, but I think it only happens if one of these guys has a falling out at PSU or can't make the lineup.

Is that bit about how Facundo is "looking a little Lite this Yr" some sort of inside info that he's going 157 (while Kasak redshirts)? That would be cool, but man, how many years has it been since he's been that light? Shoot, he wrestled in Who's Number 1 in 2018 at 160.

I think Flo has it about right at 4. I wouldn't pitch a fit to have him more like 7 or 8 behind the likes of Little, Beard, etc. Both are reasonable. But yeah #1 is insane.

That's why I didn't say he'd be going for 5 but for Brooks.

And the winner gets Ferrari? j/k. If not for Brooks, Keck might be going for his 4th. Interesting style matchup too.

DT's like, man, what did I get myself into...

I'll take that bet.

Thanks brother

If they had an OW, James should get it. He really served notice that he's a middleweight to contend with. Va Tech got a good one. Forrest-Mendoza was such high level wrestling. Both are so good. Mendoza will be a hammer for Mizzou. Jax is Jax. Bassett downshifted for his match. Clearly didn't want a repeat of last year, so he rode instead of cutting, even took bottom, and wrestled pretty cautiously at the end. Props to Zepeda for giving him the rematch. Now he's the one who wants the rematch, and I assume that can happen at Super 32 if they both go. LaDarion looked smooth as usual. Burton is tough but there was never really any doubt. Agree he has future senior medalist potential if he keeps at it. Will be interesting to see how he develops under DT. Knox is clutch. Solid officiating. On point, fixed their mistakes. Well done by Flo.

Another way to look at is that ISU's biggest lesson to Cael was the importance of beating Iowa. When he realized ISU couldn't draw the recruits needed to do the job, like a good alumnus he dutifully went somewhere where he could do the job. And presto! Now the good folks in Ames don't need to hear all that pompous boasting from across the state in Iowa City, since one of their alumni ate their lunch. Maybe they should thank Cael, as any defeat of Iowa is, on some level, a win for ISU.

I agree that Mesenbrink took it too far a few times with some overly-rough clubs, wrestling past the whistle, maybe a mild head butt. But JB overreacted and took it too far at the end, punitively shoving Mesenbrink's head down, hard. There's a reason JB was the only one penalized, and he's lucky it wasn't worse. Then after the match, he shocked everyone by shoving Mesenbrink *again* as he walked toward JB's coaches, preventing him from shaking their hands. To my own eyes, though JB's first shove was worse than anything Mesenbrink had done singularly, I felt Mesenbrink probably had it coming for taking his aggression too far too many times. If I was there, I wouldn't have booed that, as it was more like an old dog taking a swipe at a pup after one too many nips. But I'd definitely have booed JB for shoving Mesenbrink after the match to prevent a coach handshake. I thought that was straight-up unsportsmanlike. I'd also have booed Mesenbrink if he did that to JB.

Personally, I have JB #1, though it's close. It comes down to how you value gold vs other colors, and how you value Olympic gold vs world gold. Versus Smith, he has 1 more gold plus 3 more bronzes. I personally don't weigh Olympic gold much more than world gold, but even if you say Smith's Olympic gold is worth 2 golds (I don't), JB still has three extra medals. Olympic golds are more coveted for the fame they bring, but they aren't all that much harder to win, especially before they reduced the number of weight classes in the Olympics. I also don't assign value to Smith winning his golds consecutively, which is more of a novelty -- something relevant only to who was best for a given 6 year period, not to who's the GOAT overall. Versus Bruce, once you eliminate their common medals (5 gold, 3 bronze), JB has two extra golds vs Bruce's 4 silvers and a bronze. Which is a better indicator of excellence: two years as champ, or 5 years of being good enough to medal but not win? I think the former, and I'll bet Bruce would agree. (And sorry, but I can't weigh Bruce's boycotted '84 Olympic gold higher than a world gold. Just making it 1:1 is generous.) There's other intangibles that go in JB's favor too, such as the reduced number of weight classes and the dispersion of Soviet bloc wrestlers over numerous countries, but I don't need to get there. Note: none of this changes the fact that I think JB's acting kinda butthurt with the PSU thing. Relax man, you shove a home team wrestler and refuse to let him shake your coach's hand, you're gonna get booed, and one heckler who took it too far isn't representative of the whole program. Still, I have JB as the GOAT.

He might be. But that conclusion doesn't flow from my comment. Any addition to your medal count helps your case, but not all medals are the same color. The question is how you value them. Truth is, all three guys have arguments: JB has the most golds (7) plus a few bronzes, Smith has one fewer gold (6) but did it in consecutive years (with 2 Olympic golds not 1), Bruce has two fewer golds (5) but by far the most medals overall (13).

These sorts of arguments puzzle me. Let's imagine that John Smith didn't retire after '92, and instead decided to stick around another quad. In '93 he takes bronze, in 94 he loses at WTTs but bumps up a weight and wins gold, in '95 he wins bronze, and in 96 he makes the Olympic team but DNPs, and leaves his shoes on his mat. Still pretty impressive right? Instead of having 6 golds, now he has 7 golds and 2 bronzes. Not as successful as his first 6 years, but still an impressive addition to his legacy! But wait -- by sticking around another quad, did he those 3 additional medals cause him to LOSE his status as GOAT? Since, after all, he "lost his spot and had to move" to another weight, and he also "didn't medal during one of his Olympic competitions." Crazy, right? It seems really weird to argue that if you quit early, during your prime, you have a better argument at being the GOAT than if you'd stuck it out longer and brought home even more hardware (including gold). Especially since EVERY athlete is eventually going to fade, lose to younger competition, DNP at a big tournament, etc. Even if you're less successful in your later years, it isn't like it erases or cheapens what you did earlier. Bottom line, quitting early shouldn't help your case to be GOAT. Sticking it out and racking up medals should only help, as it shows not just excellence in your prime, but excellence over time.

Why DT? btw, that match was the best I have ever seen Pantaleo.

Come on Ken.

Haines also got whupped by Carr, who in turn got whupped by KOT. Yet none of the 3 matches were as lopsided as the scores suggest. But don’t think Haines goes. I think the fact that PSU took him and Mirasola, and no one else, is a pretty good sign this is their redshirt year to focus on freestyle. I’m thinking we see Facundo and Barr.

Same reason I said before: because it was not necessary to have the conversation if DT hadn't decided whether he wanted to take it any further than just competing in WTTs. Would Hidlay not have a shot at Zahid if DT opts out? Seems like he ought to. Makes no sense for a guy to go 0-2 in his only WTT matches and win the spot.

Not disagreeing, but my point is the moment he gets some administrative or donor pushback on continuing to compete, he's going to call it quits. Not going to risk killing the golden goose.

LOL yeah that's a good way to put it. DT's never been accused of excessive unselfishness. But that's true of a lot of high-achieving competitors, and I'll give DT the benefit of a doubt as in his interview he did say all things an OSU supporter would hope he says. Besides... $7 mil, right? Can't imagine even an uber-selfish DT would want to crash that gravy train before it ever even gets chugging along.

My assumption is he only asked for their buy-in through trials, and said he would re-evaluate if and when he won. And that does make sense, especially given that his comments suggest that winning trials may enough of a high note for DT to retire on. We shall see. That said, you're surely right that no current wrestler is going to be the one to tell him "no Coach you should stop competing and spend all your time with us." That's going to need to come from admin, his assistants, donors and himself. (Not that I think he shouldn't go, only that it sure won't be his wrestlers holding him back.)