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For those keeping track, final 7: Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia Tech

I honestly didn’t remember what place Robles got the year before or who he wrestled. Obviously he was pushing the movie but it’s interesting then that when DiJulius went on FRL he claimed the main thing wrestling fans would be annoyed about not being realistic was talking about 40 times.

I believe some of the schools recruiting Angelo were specific that they only wanted him. Iowa at least said they would give AJ & Anthony a chance. But having them separated seems to be what’s best for both them and everyone else.

From 2014-2021 they only had one year outside the top 10, and only 2 years outside the top 3

I think Flo’s content is generally pretty good and Pyle in particular does a good job on FRL, but his solo videos are bad. I don’t have an issue with the titles (like “which Penn State wrestlers could be upset”) but he usually takes like 10 minutes to say something that could be said in 2.

Declining vs what? Winning the title? Just in the wrestlestat era they got 2nd in 2016 and 3rd in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2021. It was really just the last few years that they dropped off.

Honestly the most interesting thing to me was probably Starocci talking about NIL and his interest in the business side. Apparently he has a bunch of non-wrestling friends that are nerds.

On intermat podcast one of the guys said “Henson tweaked something but I was told not to say what”

A better question might be what’s the over under on how many of those Nebraska wins? I feel like at 0.5 more people take Nebraska but at 1.5 more people probably take PSU

Smith won 5, not too shabby

True, their last 2 hires had zero NCAA coaching experience. Maybe they’re onto something here…

Oh yeah Starocci also called the Brands brothers “midgets” and said he watched Nelson Brands “lick white dog crap for 7 minutes”

Yeah “likeable” may be up for debate, but Starocci in particular wasn’t nearly as insufferable as the act he plays on social media. Nickal seemed like his normal self but this one wasn’t quite as boring as his other episodes I’ve watched IMO. To your last point, I thought it was interesting at one point when Starocci commented about guys “stalling and doing nothing,” but he certainly has spent a lot of time on the ankle ride in matches against the better guys. They also kinda ragged on Oklahoma State a bit, saying “who’s their new coach again?” and proclaiming that they would never catch PSU.

Not sure, but Kyler (and maybe a third brother) have some good video skills

Can you provide some data on this gap that has supposedly widened? The only gap I see widening is the one between Penn State and everyone else, and apparently they’re not even offering guys the most money (although I’m sure they’re probably in the top 3 or so). So if anything that proves it is winning that attracts the most guys and not necessarily money. Last year 2nd and 8th place was separated by 10.5 points and it could be similar this year. So if anything there might be more schools in the running for a team trophy than there have been in the past.

Fair enough, TBH I didn’t realize that a lot of the guys announced as out for the season had not used a regular redshirt yet (Watters, Ragusin, Volk, Elam, Swiderski). Even Bastida although not sure if he’s official yet.

I forget when NIL started, but since 2022 there has also been Sebastian Rivera, Evan Wick, Brayton Lee if we’re counting any prior year, and Buchanan the first time. I’d be curious to know how many returning AA’s have even transferred at all though in the last few years. I don’t think it’s a huge number (which would be even less without the free covid year), and I think the top 3 or 4 teams would have been more likely to get them even without NIL. There have been plenty of guys AA after transferring to schools that aren’t one of those 4 though (they just hadn’t done it before transferring).

Of his 12 matches this season, 4 have been 4-1 in SV and he is 2-2 in those matches. Play with fire and you’re bound to get burnt

But it’s also much easier than it used to be for guys who can’t start at those 3 or 4 schools to transfer to the mid tier teams

1. They have pretty dominant wins over Duke and Bloomsburg so far this season

Keeping Anthony on another coast than AJ is one way to try to keep him out of trouble

Side note, the Cartagena-Walsh/Rogotzke match is a great example of why takedowns are rightfully worth 3 points. Cartagena-Walsh had 2 takedowns to zero, and Rogotzke had 3 escapes and I believe a stall point. With 2-point TD’s that would’ve went to SV.

I think the more relevant question is who has the higher finisher at NCAA’s. But yeah, someone already made this thread in December or so

He said it was “the most mad he’s ever been at a ref” for not calling the pin, and that he apparently asked him after it was over “what was he looking at,” and supposedly the ref later apologized. And apparently called a quick pin for Cassar in the next match to try to make up for it.

If anyone else was curious about the Illinois match Bo was referring to: