BAC

Cael vs. Manning. I've always liked Manning, but he really did Cael dirty with his tweet that Cael/PSU intentionally lied about Suriano being a possibility for NCAAs. I get that Manning is butthurt about Bubba not getting his at-large bid, but c'mon, Starocci knocked off Mekhi and is in the semis, but Manning still hasn't deleted his "gamesmanship" tweet. Put that man in the octagon with Cael.

Maybe his parents are on this year's seeding committee?

I kinda feel for USAW. You have to think they were clear that they wanted a commitment, not someone who was going to leave the job only 6 months in. I can't criticize Esposito since I don't know the full story, but I hope it was more than "something better came along," since it stinks to have this happen while an Olympic cycle is reaching its peak. Maybe USAW can snag one of the guys who leaves his shoes on the mat at Trials in April?

I think you're misapplying the subjective criteria. The number of injury defaults/MFFs is a favorable criteria, not unfavorable, as it reflects that a loss was not on the merits. And here it negates the "not a conference champ" criteria, and also impacts the "last five match" criteria, as the two Ls were defaults. He's undefeated in matches without an injury default. Taken together, that's an upward adjustment. Same with the other criteria. He's not outside the top 30 in Coaches Rank: he's #2 in the final rankings, behind Lewis. No bad losses, numerous quality wins. And wrestler "availability" doesn't mean to speculate or scour Twitter feeds for rumors: it means if the coach says he's expected to compete, as here, then he's available, without downward adjustment. How can anyone apply this criteria and not seed Starocci over guys like Wolak, Welsh and Kemp? Again, you're saying Cael shoulda done this or that, but no one at Penn State cares. He ran the table three times in a row and he's going to do it again. Its everyone else. Bottom line -- if the seeding committee didn't exercise their maximum subjective discretion to elevate Starocci's seed, then they screwed up big-time. Because as it stands, the #1 and #2 guys in the final Coache's Ranking are going to meet in the quarterfinals, and that's a seeding felony.

You still don't get it. It isn't Starocci's "cause." If it was up to Starocci, he'd be in the pigtail, and wrestle everyone in the bracket. Its a cause of everyone else in the bracket. Guys who worked hard for their seed, which is supposed to come with the right to not have to face Starocci right away. THAT is who the seeding committee needs to look out for. And you know full well it isn't solely a mathematical formula. The formula sets a baseline, after which there is subjectivity to argue someone up or down if he's within a few points of other guys.

This was exactly my feeling when I saw the brackets. They're so concerned about adequately punishing Starocci and putting high conference finishers above him, all in the name of fairness -- but how fair is that to a guy like Lewis, who busted his butt this season to earn a top seed? His reward is Starocci in the quarters. I mean, does anyone seriously think Carter cares where he's seeded? I'm not saying you make Starocci the 1 seed, but I think they took it took far. Sure, put him behind the B10 and ACC and B12 champs, those guys are legit and didn't face Starocci. Behind Griffith too, if only because Griffith showed up at the PSU dual and Carter didn't. But after that it all sort of falls apart. Most of these guys seeded ahead of Starocci I had to Google to figure out who they were. I think 5 is right but at least give Carter the 6 seed (not Welsh, who Carter beat), so he's opposite the Big 10 champ Ruth in the quarters, and the true King of the B1G can move to the semis.

Switch the position of "case" and "mind" and I'd agree with you.

I don't really disagree. As I see it, and I'm wildly oversimplifying here, Crookham can deal with Vito's lightning-fast attacks but Fix can't. Crookham does well against Vito because of his insanely quick reaction time to Vito's insanely quick attacks. I don't think that will come into play so much when Crookham wrestles Fix, who frankly doesn't attack much against top competition and is more of a counter-wrestler himself. And although Crookham is fast, he hasn't developed that into the sort of offensive arsenal that Vito has, so I expect him to struggle to score. In a Crookham-Fix match, I'd expect a low scoring, OT-type affair, where Crookham is a bit faster but Fix has the edge in experience and, perhaps, strength and gas tank. And if it happens right after Crookham has to deal with Vito, I'd give the edge to Fix.

Looks like Taylor's a finalist. Vote here: https://aausullivan.secure-platform.com/94th/gallery?roundId=6 The fan favorite is sure to be Cailtlin Clark, but I'm surprised she's even eligible after winning last year. I don't think there's ever been a 2x winner and think it is better that way.

Did anyone else notice that Brooks' walk-out music at B1G finals was ACDC's Hells Bells? I LOL'ed. Makes me wonder if Brooks has been trolling us for years, and is going to bust out PSU's seldom-seen "black pentagram" singlet at NCAA finals.

Can't think of another weight where seeding is so consequential. I think Fix is a bad stylistic matchup for Crookham, so I'd consider Crookham the favorite if he is top seed (Vito takes Fix out in bottom bracket), but Fix the favorite if he's top seed (Crookham takes out Vito in bottom bracket).

For comparison, here's an article talking about Jordan Oliver's draw at this tournament to qualify the US at 65kg in 2021. https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/7022343-breaking-down-jordan-olivers-insane-last-chance-draw

NCAA ringers? At 57kg, I like Darian Cruz a lot and I'm happy he's an Olympian. But in freestyle, he's not a ringer. He really doesn't have any international accomplishments of note. He's never come close to making a US team, and for PR, he's never come close to medaling at Worlds. RBY was a legit obstacle, but he was on the opposite bracket. At 65kg, I like Austin Gomez a lot. But in senior-level freestyle, he's no ringer either. Dangerous, but erratic, and has never been medal threat (tho maybe he is now). I wouldn't call Lachlan McNeil a ringer. The Cuban has medaled, but not recently, and he's pushing 40. The Argentinean is a tough out too, but never close to medaling. Nick Lee was definitely the favorite here, as was Zane at 57kg (or at least co-favorite with RBY). There's a reason these NCAA guys aren't pushing for a spot on the US team: they know its a longshot. (Well, maybe not RBY.) At Last Chance, there is *always* a bunch of medalists from other countries. And it tends to be a much bigger bracket too. Its nasty. We won't know until all the qualifiers are done, but Jon Kozak tweeted the other day that at 65kg, Tulga Tumur-Ochir, Haji Aliyev, Islam Dudaev, Bajrang Punia and Kotaro Kiyooka hadn't qualified. I'm not sure if the US has *ever* pushed someone through at this tournament. It's hard to overstate how heartbreaking the Pan Am result was.

Folding in international accomplishments, Kurt Angle deserves mention. 2x NCAA champ, world champ, Olympic champ. I might still pick Kolat as the overall guy, both because of his college and (especially) high school dominance, and because he was jobbed so many times internationally that his 1x bronze/1x silver don't accurately reflect how good he really was.

I thought it was interesting that Brands, in the pre-OSU/Iowa press conference, made reference to the "bad blood" between the two teams stemming from Olympic Coach Gable's unabashed advocacy in legal proceedings of his Iowa guy, Randy Lewis, to get the 1984 Olympic team spot instead of the guy that won trials, OSU's Lee Roy Smith (John's older brother), ultimately leading to Gable's censure by USA Wrestling. But is there really any lingering bad blood? Even in the wrestling community, far more don't know the story than know it. And in Flo's article, they talk about Brands' references to "understanding wrestling history" and "bad blood," but completely whiff in understanding what he was talking about: “(Dan) Gable, Randy Lewis, Lee Roy Smith, 1984,” Brands said on Tuesday, going through some of the names and dates of the series, which Oklahoma State leads 29-25-2. “You can keep going. And those are things that are real, they're real, and enough time has gone by where maybe it’s, ‘Let's let bygones be bygones,’ but I'm not sure it really works that way. I think that those pains run deep. They run deep.” https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/12160118-iowa-wrestling-heading-to-oklahoma-state-with-plenty-of-lineup-options C'mon man. Brands wasn't "going through some of the names and dates of the series." This is one very specific event in wrestling history that exploded the rift between Iowa and everyone else, and especially with OSU. Pretty much no one agreed it was the right outcome, except diehard Iowa fans and the arbitrator, swayed by the head Olympic Coach (and Iowa coach) demanding for a re-wrestle of the last 80-some seconds of the match. But it also was 40 years ago. Its a good bet Gable and the Smith family haven't forgotten, and Brands hasn't, but has everyone else? A longtime Iowa sportswriter authored that article and no one at Flo saw what he missed. If you're interested, run a google search. You'll find a number a contemporaneous articles from 1984, which are your best source. Or check out Wrestlers at the Trials, a neat little book by James Moffatt. Interesting stuff.

Yeah maybe, but you don't know until you try, and clearly the defensive strategy hasn't worked. The guys who have beaten Brooks recently are guys who opened it up: Zahid. Taylor. And Brooks' win over the Russian Nationals champ at U23s was a nailbiter as the Russian was coming after him. The list of people with wins over Brooks in the last 2-3 years is very small and none of them won on defense.

Hidlay does not get nearly the respect he deserves, and he absolutely is a legit threat to Brooks. Yes, if he pulls it off the Hodge still goes to Starocci, but the Hidlay-Brooks matchup is still a great storyline. For three years in a row, Hidlays has lost to Brooks in the NCAAs finals/semis. All close: 3-2, 6-4 SV, 6-3. If Brooks didn't exist, then Hidlay would be, at minimum, a 3x finalist and 1x champ, and might even being going for his 4th right now (if he won in the finals in '22-23). The main difference is that this year, Hidlay seems to have level-jumped and, more importantly, opened up his offense. He went from a 25% bonus rate when he lost to Brooks as a freshman, to his current 85%. Before this year, he'd never bonused a top-10 opponent. This year he majored #3 Beard and #5 Cardenas. Of course, Brooks isn't exactly standing still, and is still the favorite. But the question I want to know is -- how will Hidlay wrestle him this time? Brooks has made no secret of the fact that he hates wrestling Hidlay since he won't open up, making for a defensive battle. Does Hidlay stick with that game plan, or does he open it up more this time -- more like his other matches? I hope he opens it up. He's a senior, and if he really wanted his title he could have stayed at 184. But he decided to make another run at Brooks. If you're going to lose to the man 4x, at least go out on your shield. My own guess is we see a different Hidlay this time around, and the match ends up being very entertaining.

I like Taylor for this. Won the world title, beat an all-time great Iranian in the finals, via pin. What else can you ask for? Its comparable to Snyder winning the Sullivan after beating Sadulaev, and Rulon winning after beating Karelin. If Taylor didn't exist, Yazdani would be an 8x world/Olympic champ, and considered the best ever. I like Elor and Gray, but I don't think their 2023 compares well to Taylor. Gray's had a great career, but she only took bronze in 2023. Elor won, but didn't beat someone of Yazdani's caliber. Give me a year where Elor knocks off one of Japan's multi-timers, and she'd get my vote if I had one. Not Ledecky either. If the Sullivan were a lifetime achievement award, Ledecky would be deserving, but she's not what she once was. She's nails in the 800 and 1500, winning both in 2023, but isn't as competitive in the 200 or 400 anymore. If she gets it, its a make-up for being (wrongfully) overlooked in the past. Clark is a popular choice -- the media's really been fawning over her lately, and she's drawing crowds -- but she won it last year. Sullivan doesn't seem to like repeat winners. If hotness were among the criteria, the Sullivan would go to Stanford's Brink (dayum!), but since Rulon won it once I'm pretty sure its not a factor. So Taylor it is.

Honestly, outside of current top D1 coaches and top active competitors, he probably has the highest name recognition there is, at least among current top high school recruits. From his Hodge career, to making the Olympic team, to becoming one of wresting's top MMA fighters, to becoming a lead Flo personality, to running the Asken Wrestling Academy, he's always been in the wrestling limelight, and he has one of the more memorable personalities and styles. My guess is over 95 of the top 100 recruits know who he is. If you're hiring a coach, and the top D1 coaches aren't moving and the top active competitors aren't ready to move into a full time coaching position... do you know a potential candidate who has MORE name recognition among top high school recruits? Heck, he probably has better name recognition among top high schoolers than 90% of existing D1 coaches. You don't have to like the guy, but questioning his name recognition among recruits is a pretty bad take.

Yeah, you and Vak could be right too. It's certainly true that the guys Brooks handles most easily are the guys who actually try to win. The question is, will Glazier wrestle to win, or to not get majored? I'm hoping that in a dual in Carver he'll want to go for the W.

I think the only guy to keep Brooks to a decision this year is Hidlay. Glazier's put together a real nice season, but Brooks is an absolute freak.

125: Ayala Dec over Davis 3-0 Iowa 133: Nagao Dec over Schriever 3-3 141: Woods Dec over Bartlett 6-3 Iowa 149: Rathjen Dec over Kasak 9-3 Iowa 157: Franek Dec over Haines 12-3 Iowa 165: Mesenbrink Dec over Caliendo 12-6 Iowa 174: Starocci M.Dec over Kennedy 12-10 Iowa 184: Arnold Dec over Truax 15-10 Iowa 197: Brooks M.Dec over Glazier 15-14 Iowa 285: Kerkvliet T.F. Hill 19-15 PSU Not an Iowa fan but everyone's underselling them at home. The Arnold/Truax pick is admittedly a stretch and wildly unlikely to happen. Curious to see how Caliendo fares against Mesenbrink.

IKR? That’s grating. If I had his password I’d have logged in and made the edit myself.

Is going to Russia even an option? It's been on the State Department's "Do Not Travel" list since the Ukraine invasion, and I'm not aware of any USA Wrestling-sanctioned visits to Russia since the invasion, nor since Russia was barred from international competition. I'm not aware of any specific rule barring a US athlete from flying to Russia and competing, but I suspect they'd be doing it without the support of USA Wrestling.