BruceyB

First of all, I don't know about teaching "blocking with the head" as defense for an attack from space which is where the situation I initially brought up takes place. Blocking with the head is typically used during tie-up scenarios, not sticking your head in the way of your opponent's during a blast double. Secondly, you're describing two different scenarios. Scenario 1: Wrestler A changes level and starts his shot. Wrestler B sees/feels the shot coming and changes levels/sprawls and during the process the two wrestlers heads may collide. Neither wrestler is planning for a jarring head collision in this scenario. Wrestler A began his shot before his opponents head was in the way, and Wrestler B would surely like to catch his opponent with his hands and stuff the shot without a head to head collision. Scenario 2: Two wrestlers are not in contact, and Wrestler A is in a three point stance, on a knee, two knees, whatever. Wrestler B sees that he cannot attack from space unless he shoots head first into his opponents head and the collision knocks his opponent back and he's able to get to the legs. In this situation, the head of Wrestler A is already in the lower level, and Wrestler B chooses to lower the level of his head to that of his opponent and cause an intentional head to head collision. I was asking specifically about scenario 2 where by having it legal, essentially Wrestler B is free to lunge his body headfirst into his opponents face as long as he's "taking a shot."

Name one other sport where intentional head to head contact is allowed? It's not hard to tell the difference between incidental and when a wrestler sees their opponent's head is low, and they choose to shoot with the intention of driving their head straight through their opponents face. I was just raising the question of whether or not a situation that often ends up with open gashes on one or both wrestlers should be allowed. We call potentially dangerous in situations to protect a wrestlers health, but allow them to be headbutted directly in the face without even stopping the action as long as their opponent is reaching for the legs simultaneously.

You make some good points, and I appreciate your genuine thoughts and insight. I disagree that it would be hard to explain why dropping to a knee when you are not engaged with your opponent is stalling. "If you voluntarily drop to your knee when you aren't involved in wrestling action, it is preventative from action taking place so the referee will warn and then call you for stalling." Much less nuanced than the inconsistency of top/bottom stalling calls which are completely arbitrary. But as you said, I don't hate it if guys are actually active from a knee, but outside of maybe 3 or 4 people in the world, no one is scoring, or even looking to score from a knee down position. They'll stay their until they feel safe enough to come to their feet, and then shoot. I would just like stalling to be called when people use the knee down to prevent wrestling from taking place, and to slow down the match.

Losing to Ian Bush, James Conway, and then being teched 10-0 in the first period by Fishback at U23s doesn't give much promise that he's going to be pushing for a starting spot.

If you can stop a wrestler from using a three point stance, wouldn't it be easier to get rid of voluntarily wrestling from a knee? Genuinely asking.

Why? Kyle Dake was a big time user of the hand on the mat in college, and he doesn't do it in FS because he knows he'll get called for it. Folk can't do the same?

Who are some guys that may not be household names but could be legitimate AA contenders coming out of RS in 2025-2026? The top 20 or so are all talked about regularly, but after that I haven't heard too many names that people are high on coming into their first active season. Charlie Millard is one guy that I don't think gets discussed enough. He had a great RS campaign. Missouri lost Crapps but still brought in a number of big boarders from the class of 2024 that I'll be interested to see. Who are you most excited to see in their first year that others might be sleeping on?

Pre-Burroughs, I don't remember seeing people regularly shoot through their opponents face with the crown of their head. Now, it seems like more and more often guys are using the tactic of "blowing through" an opponent by essentially going head first into the face of their opponent to knock him back so they can get to a low double leg. Usually this ends up with one of both guys having a gash, needing a headwrap, etc. A lot of times it's pretty clear that the attacker knew he was going to cause a head to head collision when they decide to shoot, but because it works and they are likely to take less of the damage, they do it anyway. 16:45 of the Fix/Arujau final is a perfect example.

FIRE KISH!

I don't recall asking any questions, bud. Keeping alumnus on campus doesn't necessarily matter when building a program. Having the right guys matters. Iowa State was basically in the same place as Oklahoma before Dresser got there, and they have climbed back to relevance with how many ISU alumnus on their staff? Cael and PSU? David Taylor and OSU? Building a culture and having the guys in place to build a future is more important than bringing in someone just because they are an alumnus. It sounds like you clearly don't like Kish nor trust his process. But when a program has been stuck in mediocrity for as long as OU, it might be time to clean house and start the rebuild from scratch.

It's hard to say OU would be in a better place than OSU, but they would definitely be in a better place than they are now, but who knows what Richison wanted in return for his financial support. DT to OSU is a biggest reason for the turnaround than Richison. Money is great, but a kid still has to believe in a program to wrestle there. And kids clearly want to wrestle for Olympic Champion David Taylor. On the other side, OU has had 2 champs in the last 20+ years, they're on their 3rd coach in the last 15 years, and they have had zero top ten finishes in the last 10 years. I want OU to be good. I was hopeful for both Cody and Rosselli. But these recruits haven't seen a competitive team from OU in their lifetime. You have to rebuild the program from the ground up by having consistently competitive teams, to producing AAs, to consistent top ten finishes, and developing national champions. Recruits need to believe the message the coach is sending, and that's not going to happen overnight.

Ah, the disillusion that OU should be competing with OSU is the problem. 27-150 in Bedlam history, and they have lost 20 Bedlam duals in a row. History would show that's not likely. And you have to start somewhere. The only way to have a fast turnaround is having enough money to bring in elite transfers.

If he can hold 165 for another 9 months.. it's crazy how much he's growing.

I was just looking into their roster next year.. they're going to be a really solid dual team. They don't have the top tier guys to make much noise at NCAAs, but they should have a lot of qualifiers.

Buchanon was a gun for hire. He left Wyoming, left OU, and went to Iowa for a handsome sum. Talking about firing a guy before he even gets two recruiting classes on campus is just insane. The only regression that took place between 2024 and 2025 was Buchanon leaving. He took all but 3 returning points, and Heindselman took 2 of the other 3 points with him to Michigan. If we're going to start firing coaches for losing athletes during the NIL era, then a lot of coaches are going to be shown the door. Missouri lost Elam, UNC lost McNeil, Oregon State lost their freshman AA Stiles, Little Rock lost both Bailey and Williams, tOSU lost Welsh, ISU lost Swiderksi and Chittum, and so on and so on. Arguably the two best wrestlers on OU's roster this year were RS Freshmen. I don't have any intel, nor am I an Oklahoman. But from a distance, I am curious to see what Kish can do at OU given some time.

Any notable wins in there?

Panthers already made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

But where are the finals for 61, 70, etc?

I'm behind in the finals and trying to avoid spoilers. I'm only seeing every other weight class.. but I don't see a second mat with finals? Anyone?

I'll be curious of Ignacio can keep it competitive with Knox. If I'm being honest, I'd expect it two be two techs. But I never would have predicted him making the finals to face Knox, so we'll see what happens. Either way, his stock took a big jump today. He was ranked #13 at 120 and just beat the #4 at 126.

I think unbelievably weak is harsh way of putting it. I would say that the weight is unbelievably young. It's semantics, but I don't think the athletes in the field are weak, I think a lot of them probably have 2 or 3 more years of eligibility in U20s. It's kind of shocking, because when you think about college guys, the only guys missing from this field are Lilledahl and Robinson (obviously the two best 125s in college with u20 eligibility). But the depth at 125, from senior down to U20s is very thin when it comes to depth of guys ready to compete on the world stage.

I can't believe they called that a takedown.. in freestyle!

Lockett teched Denny last time they wrestled and it was in pretty dominating fashion.

I think Jordan Williams is a bit more of a reach than Dean Hamiti.