maligned

Southern Californians are notoriously fickle sports attendees. Too many other entertainment and outdoor options. Pennsylvania, Cleveland/Columbus, Iowa City, maybe NJ could have drawn decent crowds. About 1500 just watched two solitary Final X series in a high school gym in Columbus. The star power on the US U23 roster and the novelty factor of a world-level event would have drawn elsewhere. Vegas was never going to draw any fans for U23. Way too under the radar in an entertainment-bloated town. Not in a sports-watching, wrestling-watching hotbed region. Worlds next year should be better because more diehards will be motivated to go make a vacation of it. But it still won't draw like it could if it were near people who more readily attend wrestling events.

Good analysis.

Greco power rating below, based on results within the context of competition faced, compiled strictly from matches wrestled at U23s. All results considered, but only the 20 nations that entered 5+ participants are shown. Rating advantage over another nation is roughly how many points their random individual would be favored by over a random individual from the opposing nation. USA #12 out of 20: IRI 5.83 KAZ 5.70 RUS 5.60 TUR 4.95 GEO 4.03 ARM 3.92 AZE 3.52 HUN 3.28 KGZ 3.03 JPN 3.01 UKR 2.47 USA 1.36 UZB 1.22 IND 0.73 CHN 0.45 POL 0.39 SWE -0.16 BUL -4.31 MEX -4.33 GRE -5.05

Yeesh. We go from 4 quarterfinalists to everybody eliminated. That means 8 straight matches didn't go our way. Rough finish for sure.

Crosby with a come-from-behind win over Azerbaijan at 55kg. That's 9 out of 10 guys total with at least one win, and four of our five guys from today up shortly in the quarterfinals.

Very solid day so far for our guys. Solid couple of days, really, compared to many tournaments. Collective 10-6 record with 8, possibly 9, out of 10 getting at least one win. Everybody still alive today for semi's or repechage.

Makes sense

That part is true. That's because those things were listed and compiled in exactly the same way on dozens of sites. But what they compile is unique. All results from all individuals from all teams, easily navigable, with a highly intuitive ranking next to each name and links interconnecting all of them--is light-years beyond what you can sift through on any other wrestling site. It's exactly the reason people care enough to discuss it. I never pay for print content either; but I've wondered for a couple years why we're not asked a nominal fee, because what they compile is so novel in the wrestling space and referenced by so many.

Components of those sites are free. As fishbone said, they keep a lot of deep-dive data that hobbyist and professional analysts love protected behind a paywall on Stathead. I'm sure it's all down to their analysis of what people are investigating the most compared to how much time those items take to produce. Eventually, if you want to keep professionalizing, sharpening, and protecting against the scraping of your data; you have to find ways to make a few bucks off of your work even to keep doing it as a hobby or service to the community.

More than anything, I thought she got impatient, especially in the third match, and mistakes doomed her. She was controlling the center well and needed to be willing to wait things out a little more--rather than going for something like an ill-advised throw and putting herself behind the proverbial 8 ball.

True

Obviously not putting me out on the street. But when the 3rd and 4th most prestigious matches of a 6ish-match card are abandoned, it's disappointing when injuries aren't preventing them.

Did Mir forfeit for sure? Has Basch's speculation been confirmed? I do agree it's a bit shady for Mir to bow out of the wrestle-off at the same time that Blades cedes the U23 spot. I get why they did it with Mir's recent MMA schedule and Blades' recent RAF schedule--but it's annoying as a fan who wants to see competition move forward as it's designed (and as one who already paid a non-refundable ticket for Friday night).

ha ha ha ...nice.

Kidding aside...it's a 2k enrollment high school with beautiful facilities and large-capacity gym. I'm sure they saved a few bucks over having it at OSU's wrestling-dedicated Covelli Center, but the capacity isn't much different. Seems an appropriate size for attendance you'd expect for this event.

Obviously not in the same stratosphere production-wise. Sidenote: Which tiny gym in Columbus are we talking about, specifically, that's supposedly hosting?

Thanks! You probably know Bassett has an upcoming wrestle-off with last year's senior bronze, Woods. Most people think he'll win that and be our guy in October, so we'll find out soon enough about him. There's a possibility Seidel never gets a chance at the senior level. The 2 or 3 guys beating him for that spot are his same age.

Osedo beats the Pole, 6-2, so you'll get your wish in the final. I expect Osedo to score on him, but I think Bo will be too much over 6 minutes.

How did he get the fall?

HS class of 2022 is a specific sandwich year. Classes of 20 and 21 got an extra covid year. Classes of 23 and beyond get 5.

RAG?

He's for real. He was ranked early in the year last year at UTC, and I saw him give Mendez fits for the first few minutes in a dual in Columbus.

What's the standard here? 39 guys per weight is equivalent to half the D1 starters. (Obviously, a lot of these are D1 competitors that weren't necessarily starters at the end. Still, aren't academic honors usually reserved for the 'creme de la creme'?)

For now. Because of an eye poke. I pull for the Buckeyes and I love Waters, but White is something different. His story and trajectory are insane. Walks into a wrestling room by chance as a freshman bc of being late for basketball practice. Three years and 4 months ago. Sophomore year state finalist. Junior year 5 losses but upsets his way to state runner-up. Off-season works his way into bottom of rankings. Senior year, runs through Ironman and can take down anyone, anytime. He'll still lose a few bc he's raw. But I'd want him over Waters in Columbus in a heart beat.

Where does the freak of nature, Mike White, eventually fit in? #1 ranked HS 190 in the country. Projects 184/197. Just started wrestling freshman year of high school. Can't help but compare his build and speed to a very raw Burroughs. Blast doubles, outside singles. High attack rate, loves to take risks and scramble. Won Ironman, just lost Pittsburgh classic 8-7 to #2 Waters on an eye-poke takedown.