1032004

Yup if he gets one then we might as well invite Taylor Lujan, Pat Lugo, Kollin Moore, Luke Pletcher, Cenzo and Mark Hall back for another year too.

That he leaves UNC? Can we make it by the start of the 2024-2025 season?

Which part? I'd say 50/50 odds Ramos leaves UNC. But yes I doubt the Brands bros actually get canned

Have to assume Ramos may be gone if this happens? Maybe to Iowa after the Brands Bros get fired for the gambling scandal :-)?

Interestingly, looking at wrestlestat for 125 starters, only 71 ELO points separate #4 and #32 (they do have Howard as the #25 starter and McHenry would be #28 if he was listed instead of Howard). For comparison, at 133, it's exactly double that at 142 ELO points separating #4 and #32. Although for 125, not sure how they have Eli Griffin at #13, who didn't even wrestle in the conference tournament last year. He had a couple decent wins, beating Volk (major), Mauger (pin, but was also pinned by him in a different match), and Terukina, but nothing spectacular. Meanwhile you have guys like former AA Brandon Kaylor down at #18 among starters. Yes I know they're just "ratings not rankings," but sure seems like they put too much emphasis on bonus points and not enough on postseason performance.

Yup, McHenry's losses are probably what sets them apart based on results so far. McHenry has a couple bad ones, Howard doesn't have any (although of course he's only wrestled 13 total).

Agree on Howard. But the results I listed for McHenry were just last season. He was 5-0 in 2022 but only wrestled backups or D2 guys. He was 0-2 in 2021 losing to Heinselman and Jacob Moran but I assume he was probably at his smallest then, so wouldn't put much stock into those losses (and of course Heinselman in particular isn't a bad loss).

Stanford probably pissed after the OU situation, but it is his alma mater…

Disagree. Howard losses: McKee (AA), Lamont (AA), DeAugustino (AA), Barnett (AA), Heinselman x2 (4x NQ) who he also beat Howard quality wins: Ragusin (R12), Shawver (R16), Medley (R16), Heinselman, Gutierrez (3x NQ) McHenry's losses last season: Figueroa (AA), Cronin (AA), Gonzales (DNQ), Mauger (DNQ) McHenry quality wins: Babin (R16), Medley (R16), Ferri (NQ) They both have limited resumes for sure, but it's not that arguable that Howard's is better. Howard has a bit better wins, but much better losses. 4 of 6 losses are to AA's and the other 2 are to a 4x NQ that he also beat.

Apparently he was not yet granted another year, and I don't see how he would. It seems he's trying to get the 2021 "free year," as he didn't wrestle at all that season. But he wrestled in 4 conference tournaments and 3 NCAA tournaments (just not the canceled one in 2020).

I don't know much about Davis, but Steen has no shot to start if Howard is healthy. McHenry may have an outside shot, but Howard should be the clear favorite to start and in his limited action in 2021 did have some pretty good wins (especially for a true freshman coming off injury at the time).

FRL said Espo was making more than Scott in like 2017

Ton of parity at 125, I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the top 12 or so guys win it. DeAugustino majored Ramos last year at B10’s, and also beat Barnett there. Noto lost to Heinselman last year, who Howard has beaten (yes it’s been awhile). Ventresca is the 3rd highest returning guy and he had 9 losses last year.

Ah shoot I totally read wrestlestat backwards lol, I could’ve sworn Howard had beaten DeAugustino but he didn’t. Regardless I do think they’re both on the same level and could both be considered title contenders. Howard could also go 0-2. If he does place in like the top 4 or so then PSU probably does break the record

Do you think Michael DeAugustino is a title contender?

Do you think Michael DeAugustino has a legit shot at winning it?

The law comment above came from a podcast I think, but here are some snippets from HR, no clue if any truth to them: -someone claims the NCAA "won't like" the guys' defense during their appeal, whatever that means. There have been some comments saying supposedly the investigators have come out and said they deliberately targeted male athletes, so I wonder if it could be related to that. -someone claims it could be even worse than a year ban, with I think a different person saying they heard they could be banned forever from coaching in the future even

I actually saw someone claiming that the law they cited in order to not name them may not cover athletics and is really for academic records, but IANAL

I know they’re saying they need consent supposedly, but what are the odds they never officially release the names, even after they are not wrestling, etc? I’m guessing they might stay on the roster if they’re allowed to practice.

I’m not sure I agree with calling those “free years,” but OK. But like I said, Dean didn’t even need the “free year” in 2020-2021 in order to still have 2 more years of eligibility after that.

How are you defining "free year" here? Are you just referring to the year on the clock for the "4 in 5" rule? He did not get a "free year" of competition, which was 2020-2021, he wasn't at PSU until 2021-2022. And even that I don't think he needed because I don't believe an ORS counts as a year on the clock and he of course never took a regular redshirt.

Yes he was who I brought up earlier, but part of PortaJohn's response was he never actually played in a game. But I was assuming there haven't been more than a few particularly in the last 30 years or so that have. Which maybe that's part of his point, but not sure when we're defining as "the old days."

Yeah I hadn't really thought of that before but it does kinda make sense for Starocci since he may not wrestle a ton anyway, and yes would be awesome to see. I don't think O'Toole would go 174 with Mocco there, but Carr might.

No UNC guys in the portal yet?