SocraTease

Will Iowa place? There is still the category of "Best in Show" ... which also took place in Philadelphia.

125lbs (1) Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. (8) Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) (12) Dean Peterson (Rutgers) vs. (4) Vincent Robinson (NC State) (3) Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) vs. (6) Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) (7) Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) vs. (2) Matt Ramos (Purdue) 133lbs (1) Lucas Byrd (Illinois) vs. (8) Braeden Davis (Penn State) (4) Angelo Rini (Indiana) vs. (5) Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) (14) Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) vs. (6) Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) (7) Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) vs. (2) Drake Ayala (Iowa) 141lbs (1) Brock Hardy (Nebraska) vs. (9) Jacob Frost (Iowa State) (5) Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) vs. (4) Josh Koderhandt (Navy) (3) Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. (6) Vance VomBaur (Minnesota) (2) Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. (10) CJ Composto (Pennsylvania) 149lbs (1) Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) vs. (8) Jordan Williams (Little Rock) (12) Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) vs. (13) Dylan D`Emilio (Ohio State) (3) Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. (6) Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) (7) Kannon Webster (Illinois) vs. (2) Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) 157lbs (1) Tyler Kasak (Penn State) vs. (8) Joey Blaze (Purdue) (12) Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) vs. (20) Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) (3) Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) vs. (11) Matty Bianchi (Little Rock) (7) Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado) vs. (2) Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) 165lbs (1) Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. (8) Cameron Amine (Oklahoma State) (5) Christopher Minto (Nebraska) vs. (4) Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) (3) Mike Caliendo (Iowa) vs. (6) Beau Mantanona (Michigan) (2) Peyton Hall (West Virginia) vs. (7) Hunter Garvin (Stanford) 174lbs (1) Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) vs. (8) Lennox Wolak (Virginia Tech) (5) Simon Ruiz (Cornell) vs. (13) Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) (3) Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) vs. (11) Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) (2) Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. (7) Danny Wask (Navy) 184lbs (1) Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. (8) Jaxon Smith (Maryland) (4) Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) vs. (12) Silas Allred (Nebraska) (3) Max McEnelly (Minnesota) vs. (6) Chris Foca (Cornell) (2) Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) vs. (10) Edmond Ruth (Illinois) 197lbs (1) Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) vs. (8) Gabe Sollars (Indiana) (4) Michael Beard (Lehigh) vs. (5) Josh Barr (Penn State) (2) AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) vs. (7) Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) (3) Seth Shumate (Ohio State) vs. (6) Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) 285lbs (1) Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. (8) Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) (4) Ben Kueter (Iowa) vs. (5) Owen Trephan (Lehigh) (2) Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. (7) Joshua Heindselman (Michigan) (6) Isaac Trumble (NC State) vs. (3) Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State)

Painful to watch ... almost like a kind of legal waterboarding with a very large audience

Mostly a recommendation for a film ... or perhaps an idea for a mockumentary / (sur)reality show starting Ferrari and his family ... maybe a reprise to the Jersey Shore show ... Okay, it's really just a late night a/musing

For some reason, I was reminded of Fannery O'Connor's novel, Wise Blood, which has been made into an interesting film. Here's a scene ... or, if you prefer, obscene (your choice):

Scores after Day 1 Pts. Max. If seeds. QF SF Cons 2 hold Team Standings Team Points Maximum Potential Points If Seeds Hold # QF # SF # Cons 2 # Cons 3 # Cons 4 (Rd of 12) Penn State 39.5 279.5 173 10 0 0 0 0 Nebraska 28 246 78 5 0 4 0 0 Oklahoma State 27 220 78 6 0 2 0 0 Iowa 19 188 68 5 0 2 0 0 Minnesota 18 212.5 64.5 3 0 5 0 0 Ohio State 18 187.5 31 4 0 3 0 0 Northern Iowa 17.5 261.5 54.5 2 0 8 0 0 Cornell 17 236 53.5 3 0 6 0 0 Illinois 16.5 211 37.5 3 0 5 0 0 Michigan 16.5 137.5 46.5 3 0 2 0 0 Purdue 12 109 26 2 0 2 0 0 Virginia Tech 12 206 61 4 0 4 0 0 Lehigh 11 132 36.5 3 0 2 0 0 Indiana 10.5 156.5 10.5 2 0 4 0 0 NC State 10.5 132 26.5 2 0 3 0 0 Penn 10.5 181.5 16 1 0 6 0 0 Maryland 9.5 107 23.5 1 0 3 0 0 Iowa State 9 155.5 26.5 1 0 5 0 0 Oregon State 9 106.5 15 1 0 3 0 0 Rutgers 9 155.5 15 1 0 5 0 0 South Dakota State 9 204.5 22 1 0 7 0 0 Navy 8.5 56.5 19 2 0 0 0 0 Stanford 8.5 179.5 10 1 0 6 0 0 West Virginia 8.5 56.5 27 2 0 0 0 0 Arkansas Little Rock 8 105 33 2 0 2 0 0 North Carolina 7.5 154 13 1 0 5 0 0 Pittsburgh 7.5 129.5 17.5 1 0 4 0 0 Northern Colorado 7 104.5 21.5 1 0 3 0 0 Arizona State 5.5 78.5 18.5 1 0 2 0 0 Cal Poly 5.5 78.5 17 1 0 2 0 0 Missouri 5.5 54 24.5 1 0 1 0 0 Oklahoma 5.5 128 6 0 0 5 0 0 Lock Haven 5 78.5 7 0 0 3 0 0 Central Michigan 4.5 78 5 0 0 3 0 0 Utah Valley 4.5 28.5 15 1 0 0 0 0 Army 4 102 4 0 0 4 0 0 Bucknell 4 77.5 4.5 0 0 3 0 0 Northwestern 4 77 4.5 1 0 2 0 0 Princeton 4 126.5 10.5 0 0 5 0 0 Rider 4 77.5 13 0 0 3 0 0 Wyoming 4 53 5 0 0 2 0 0 Binghamton 3.5 52.5 11.5 0 0 2 0 0 Virginia 3.5 77 4.5 0 0 3 0 0 Appalachian State 3 27.5 3.5 0 0 1 0 0 California Baptist 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 Columbia 3 27.5 3.5 0 0 1 0 0 Hofstra 3 27.5 3.5 0 0 1 0 0 The Citadel 3 76.5 3.5 0 0 3 0 0 Wisconsin 3 51.5 4 1 0 1 0 0 Cal State Bakersfield 2.5 51 14 1 0 1 0 0 Chattanooga 2.5 51.5 2.5 0 0 2 0 0 Harvard 2.5 27 2.5 0 0 1 0 0 Ohio 2.5 27 14 0 0 1 0 0 Campbell 2 26.5 1.5 0 0 1 0 0 George Mason 2 51 2 0 0 2 0 0 North Dakota State 2 51 2 0 0 2 0 0 Northern Illinois 2 26.5 2.5 0 0 1 0 0 Edinboro 0.5 25 0.5 0 0 1 0 0 Michigan State 0.5 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bellarmine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cleveland State 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drexel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Duke 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gardner Webb 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I'm on ESPN plus but still have the TV on ESPN. There is a large audience that doesn't do this and this is the image presented to most of the world that watches. It says: we like commercial and non-wrestlers talking

It's terrible and embarrassing how much they cut away to (a) commercials and (b) totalk to country music stars, celebrities, parents, etc. when there are actually high level matches going on. You would never see this happen during basketball or football or soccer or tennis or ...

He's more likely to start an insurrection, impose tariffs, hawk some cheap product with his image on it, or request construction on the arena and stiff the Philadelphia workers by never paying them.

24 hours until the end begins .... of this season.

Wow, I didn't realize there were that many 3-timers. Surely, some of them would have won a 4th if given the opportunity. Crazy that 4-timers are becoming more common even if there are only 6 of them.

Nickal might be hawking these soon. It's hard to believe they actually exist. I remember wrestling a guy in a tournament who had his girlfriend's photo taped to his sock. The older guys on my team saw it and told me, "There is no way you can let this guy win". I deliberately ankle-picked him on that photo.

I'm going with Nolf. 117-3 career with really only 2 losses his freshman year to 2-time NCAA champion IMAR (the other "loss" was an injury default), whom he also pinned. 60 pins (an average of 15 per year; something rarely done even once a year anymore), the most pins in PSU history. 103 bonus point wins. And perhaps the most innovative, fierce, and fun guy to watch in his generation

I wish all the other teams the best in their chance to fight it out for second place.

I don't know if these brackets will give you more space, but I've tried to attach a set below. Good luck finding what you need. 2025 NCAA brackets 2.pdf

Here's the press conference with three wrestlers following Sanderson:

Sanderson Press Conference today:

A possible 5-timer this year? Carlton Haselrig says "Pfffff ... I had to use a second hand to count my titles". "Competing for Pitt-Johnstown in the late 1980s, Haselrig won an unprecedented six NCAA heavyweight wrestling titles. How? Through a quirk in the NCAA rules at the time. When Haselrig competed, wrestlers in Division II also could compete in the NCAA Division I championships. Haselrig wrestled for Division II Pitt-Johnstown, where he compiled a career record of 143-2-1. Haselrig was particularly successful in March. From 1987-89, Haselrig won three NCAA Division II championships at heavyweight. Two weeks after winning those titles, Haselrig went to the NCAA Division I championships, where he also won three heavyweight titles. Haselrig sent an NCAA record by winning 122 consecutive bouts at Pitt-Johnston, according to his National Wrestling Hall of Fame biography. He was particularly dominant at the national tournaments. Haselrig went 15-0 at the NCAA Division I championships. Until 1990, national champions in Divisions II and III earned bids to the NCAA Division I championships, according to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. After Haselrig won three Division I titles, the NCAA rescinded those bids, as Division I coaches suggested they provided lower-division coaches with a recruiting advantage. The decision became known as the "Haselrig Rule." As a result, wrestlers no longer can compete in multiple NCAA wrestling championships, meaning Haselrig's record is unlikely to be broken. Even Starocci's potential five titles would go down as an outlier. Haselrig also was well known for what he did after college. In 1990, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Haselrig in the 12th round of the NFL Draft. Haselrig played five NFL seasons, four with the Steelers, and was a Pro Bowl offensive lineman in 1992. Haselrig died in 2020 at age 54. "At the time, I definitely didn't understand the magnitude of it," Haselrig told the NCAA for a 2018 story. "It was no easy task to win even just one, but it makes me happy and proud to look back at what I accomplished." Penn State's Starocci begins his quest for a fifth national title Thursday at the 2025 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. He is the No. 1 seed in the 184-pound weight class, bringing a 21-0 record to his fifth NCAA championships." https://www.si.com/college/pennstate/wrestling/penn-state-carter-starocci-chases-ncaa-wrestling-history-one-record-elusive

For Whom the Balloon Blows ... only Penn State (and perhaps Banksy) knows.

Floyd "Shorty" Hitchcock excelled as a wrestler during his days at Bloomsburg University. He posted an 84-7-2 dual meet record and won 3 PSAC Championships. His senior year he won both the Division I and II National titles in the 177-pound weight class and was named the Outstanding Wrestler in both tournaments. He also won a silver medal at the 1973 World Games in Moscow. During his high school coaching days at Lake Lehman, he guided the Knights to 4 District 2 Titles and was a 4-time district coach of the year. In 1981, he coached Lake-Lehman to the PIAA Class AA State Championship. Two of his former high school stars were Rick and Rock Bonomo, who later achieved All-American honors at Bloomsburg.

They should invite the D2 and D3 champs to participate in D1 championships a week later. Give them the 32 and 33 seed if you don't know where to put them. It would add excitement to the tournament.

Mark Hall played the recorder during one interview with Shane Sparks: https://www.instagram.com/b1gwrestling/reel/CvfllFNgZ2w/

I found this interview with Jason Nolf to be really humorous because of the interviewer's questions and demeanor, along with the guy eating ice cream and watching:

Here's some advice from a great poet. “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke