maligned

It's obviously not meaningless for the kid that is an AA and gets 8th place--but research bears out the fact that an 8th placer doesn't place higher, on average, the following season than a R12 or R16 consi loser. There's evidence that 7th place and higher (including 6th) will do better than non-placers the following year.

Plus #11 overall recruit Waters that probably projects there and Fishback prevents anyone from cutting down. I'd be surprised if more than one of Shumate, Geog, Rogotzke stick around.

"why music teacher say this?" Geez. Pierce's English is worse than Ono's

Because 9-10 aren't official tournament placings, the TrackWrestling version of the "11th place" bracket didn't used to even show a drawn bracket line location for a winner of 9/10. However, I looked back at last year and they wrestled a couple of them. So you're right that it seems they've been placing them at least the last couple years.

Sort of. More of a "claiming" tournament where the majority of the merit for spots was earned during the year and now you're claiming what's yours. It's important to understand it's different in principle than a geographic qualifying system like D2, D3, NAIA, or high school.

I do get your point on this. It's a little crazy to have a special 11th place bracket to be sure there's the "next in line" to be considered for an at-large at the weights where 10 got in. Still...wrestling to 9th out of 14 is not really much different from taking 2 or 3 from a 4-team bracket or 3 or 4 from a 6-team bracket. Any bracket where the majority of the guys are considered top 25 will make your needed placement not seem like much of an accomplishment when you say it out loud.

Again, I think you're too caught up in the appearance of a number. Another example: you wouldn't take the 3rd place from the SoCon over the 9th place from nationals. The 3rd place from the SoCon is obviously closer to 9th place from Big 10s than from nationals, but the point remains--the numbers don't matter. They're just numbers that are completely dependent on their environment. The quality is what matters.

I see what you mean. Still, why not cut with a precise scalpel and use all the information we have available so we come closer to getting the genuinely best guys--instead of cutting with an axe because it feels easier to accept?

You obviously wouldn't put the 2nd place kid from the Delaware high school state finals over the 3rd place guy from the SoCon on "merit" just because the number is better. It's no different in this case. If all of the 9th place guys from the Big 10 would win in a dual against the SoCon #3s, why is a 3rd place at the SoCon "merit"?

Yeah, I just don't agree at all. It's no different than a conference with 4 teams getting 2 or 3 bids. If 2 or 3 of the best kids in the country are there, the allocations should go there. Did you know there's plenty of data showing that the conference that FAR outperforms their seeds, on average, at nationals is the Big 10? Even with all of the "generous" allotting of many slots to them and high seeding despite many losses that wrestlers carry--they STILL far outperform their seeds, on average, at nationals. Not surprisingly, the smaller school conferences underperform their seeds considerably. It means the system is working. Everyone is getting representation. I like the idea of a last-chance qualifier, but there's no way in the world the power programs are going to agree to something that tries to convince us that 3 in this conference and 3 in that conference is fair just because the number "3" is the same.

There was only 1 forfeit for 9th at Big 10s. You're counting 141 where there was no special 9th or 11th place bracket. You're also counting two that were part of 11th place brackets where no 9th place is wrestled. Win the round of 12, you're assured top 10 and no 9/10 is wrestled. Then 11th was wrestled by the losers.

A last-chance qualifier sounds like fun, but the system of allocations is working well. Don't discard that part. --Move conference tournaments up a weekend. --Have the last-chance qualifier to earn the final 4 or 5 spots per weight on Friday afternoon/evening of current conference weekend. Announce nationals bracket the following night. --Invite: 1) the wrestler from each conference who missed an automatic bid by one spot (8 wrestlers per weight) 2) any other guy who earned an allocation for their conference but didn't win an automatic bid (3-5 per weight, nationally, bringing field total to about 12 per weight) --Only wrestle until spots are earned (e.g. Semi-final winners are finished wrestling) --Seed only guys who meet both both invitation criteria. Random draw the rest. That's it. Let's do it.

My point with Williams is that, if they'd left him in late-season, he'd have beaten Buell in the Purdue dual. Then assuming very, very conservatively that he goes 0-2 like Voinovich (but wins 9th place like Voinovich) at Big 10s, he's 10-9 with two wins against the field during the season and a low-20s ranking, at worst. He would have gotten in with that resume. But Voinovich didn't have the matches to build a resume. I obviously don't know what was happening in the room or what things Williams was saying or doing; but if Brands was making decisions on perception rather than results, I'm not sure it worked out.

This is just not true at all. McCrone is funky and capable of beating anybody--but he's a 10 or more-loss kid over a full OSU schedule because he's so bad on his feet compared to the best guys. You do know he was the starter last year, right? Pinned Lilledahl during the year--but also lost many to mediocre guys, went 23-13, and was seeded #20 at nationals before going 1-2.

Definitely understandable.

You're getting your EIWA and Ivy confused.

Facts

Bob Dole

With at-large bids out now, lineup decisions at Iowa and Mizzou officially ended in disaster. Voinovich at Iowa gets subbed in for Williams, who, if he'd been allowed to simply finish the season, would have had enough matches, enough ranking, and enough of a resume, that he would have been a shoo-in for an at-large bid to nationals even if he'd gone 0-2 at Big 10s. Instead, the low-match-number guy doesn't come through at Big 10s and doesn't have the resume to get himself a bid. Similarly at Mizzou, Teague Travis gets put in at 157 for #15-ish 2025 national qualifier J Conway, who's looking at least like a Top 16 or blood rounder early in the year. Travis has a low match number, lays an egg at Big 12s, and doesn't have the resume to get an at-large. Like Williams, Conways's resume was such that even a ho-hum last few weeks and an 0-2 at Big 12s would still have earned an at-large. In a double-whammy of sorts, Conway wrestles the latter part of the season at 165, is ranked mid-20s, and gets subbed last-minute for Maxx Mayfield because of his upset win over Euston during his "test run" and the assumption that he's headed back to previous form. Mayfield also bombs out at Big 12s, has no resume, and gets no at-large. Any lessons here? It definitely seems like it's worth leaving your more-matches/more-resume guy in late in the year if there's any proximity at all in the two candidates' wrestling ability. Seems crazy in hindsight to have Williams or Conway missing from these weights for Iowa and Missouri at nationals.

Bob Dole

Granted, Dake, Taylor, and others that have made big moves up in weight took time to acclimate to the extra horsepower needed for a full 6 minutes--but it's very hard to imagine Yazdani becoming physical or dynamic enough at 97kg to unseat Azarpira or to stop powerful guys like Snyder or Sad. His path to medals is back down at 86, unfortunately for him.

Doesn't end up mattering. Three guys will finish at 3-1 and DeSanto has the most criteria points. He gets the last laugh.

Nowadays, the ability to have commits follow through on their commitment to arrive on campus, and then the ability to keep them on campus for multiple seasons--is all part of it. The ability to go from the moment of initial commitment to the moment of a podium or title has to be measured in evaluating programs.

He was right in the interview that he was the 1st Ironman champ from Indiana. Not to take anything away from that part of the accomplishment, but this is only the 4th season that IHSAA regulations have allowed us to compete at the Ironman against teams from more than 300 miles from our borders. Connor Maddox won 106 a few minutes after White won, and we had 8 other placers for 10 total from 40 entrants. Crazy trajectory for White. Broke thru a little with an upset to get on the Indiana podium as a sophomore in only his second year of wrestling, takes 2nd in Indiana as a junior and is looking like a college prospect with fringe national ranking consideration--and now is ranked #1 nationally early in his senior season. Crazy town.