Major Kong

If you've had a kid wrestle at a high level in NJ, you've felt the sort of culture a lot of fans create, and to me that Jersey tough guy culture and brand permeates the Rutgers wrestling fanbase, and to a lesser extent the program itself. And a lot of kids and families want nothing to do with it. I mean, if they want to stay close they can go to Penn, Columbia or Princeton if they can get in, or Rider or Lehigh and more. And of course if they want to get out as many do, they have all the programs in the country. I know plenty of kids like the Jersey schtick, but plenty don't. Goodale has done a good job making the program relevant, but he has seemed to embrace that brand in doing so. And I think that brand is a fading one.

Ditto. Would have been paying for the next year!

James Green. But I would miss Ralph Kramden and his coaching histrionics.

Guess I missed those matches - did they call a stall in the last :10 that tied the match or gave a guy the lead in a tied match?

Is there a new rule that refs cannot call stalling in the last 10 seconds of a match if it would alter the outcome in any way? Must be, because I haven't seen it called in years, no matter how blatant the running away is.

If you are actually from Idaho, that must be Dedrick Navarro. He's obviously one of the best kids on the team. Shame he couldn't qualify for NCAAs. Beat multiple kids who were chosen at large.

Enjoying the different takes on this. You would hope that some big bucks alum would step up (heck, I gave them some $$), but I am not aware of any super wealthy ex NU wrestlers. I assume there are is one out there but who knows. Mike Wilbon was a classmate of mine and is very supportive of athletics but not sure he knows we have a wrestling team. (Most students didn't in my day - and we were good). I actually think Storney is a very good coach when he has something to work with, but it seems a bunch of stuff has snowballed - Midlands demise, NIL, transfer portal, loss of top assistant coaches, etc. Right now they have exactly two kids who look like they have any chance at all of developing into potential AA contenders - Billy DeKraker and Eddie Enright. The rest just seem a cut below average B10 level, and the recruits don't look much better. I really wonder how and if this can be turned around.

Womens sports - at least lacrosse, soccer, and field hockey - have had support from the school, and a great deal of success. They also have the key factor of very committed alums that support them - Chris Brennan being one notable example for field hockey.

Jim Phillips was AD. The school never really supported wrestling (you should have seen the room) but Ken Kraft kept some minimal support going. His loss was bigger than who the AD was. But it was always on the wrestling program itself to be successful, get the kids in with the strong pitch of Big Ten wrestling and a top tier education. Now that appeal is tremendously diluted by NIL-and no way the program has any significant NIL $.

As an alum, it just seems like they can't compete in this NIL era. Don't think we'll be getting many No.1 (Tsistsis, Welch) or top 5 (Micic, Brice Brill) going forward. This year they would be a somewhat competitive Ivy team. What do they do?

What's the over/under on years it will take Flo to resemble an actual competent subscription streaming operation?

but there are no brackets that show for me

Trump was on his way to being an undefeated NCAA 4x, and multiple Olympic champ, but for those pesky bone spurs.

he did win - but what about Petersons hair?

watching the Poulin Peterson consi - wrestling officiating and review is a clown show

Beyond a senior - grad student. Talk about going out with a bang!

He almost quit wrestling a couple years ago. Always thought with his style if things broke right he could AA. Congrats to him!

Chumbley, though I thought he had a good shot at getting to the quarters (and now the semis), doing it while scoring 3 pts (count 'em) in 2 matches. And the penalty point in OT of course.

oh, yeah that's his thang

yup, guessing they don't assign their top people to this either.

They ought to pause and get this stuff fixed. Amateur hour.

Track 2 minutes behind, ESPN no clocks. Ah, wrestling coverage is almost at a middle school school football level

Having been through it with my kid, I would say because wrestling is more important than academia to them. Of course they are 16 and 17 year olds, so their judgement is not always state-of-the-art. Unless your goal is becoming a coach and/or world level competitor I can't really see anyone rationally choosing Rutgers over Princeton or ASU over Stanford - provided you can get in and have offers from both.

Why not both?

I hope so - Chad heard during the season that he regretted leaving.