BruceyB

Is this supposed to be a joke? If so, I don't follow. My last post was in response to someone saying Hamiti and O'Toole have never met in college, and I responded that they wrestled in the All-Star 2 or 3 years ago, and that Hamiti could challenge O'Toole.. So I stated their last folkstyle match and that despite the result, it would be an interesting match-up. Can you explain how your response now, please?

Anyone know what they were doing at the dual? Was this a visit, or did Ok St fly the family out? I can't imagine they would pay for a trip to Stillwater for a single dual.

On FRL they said that one of the Brands brothers said the whole at 125 would be addressed "soon." I forget the exact wording, but the inference was they had someone coming in this season.

IIRC Surber did take a few committed shots, but he never really go close to locking around a leg. I don't remember thinking that he should get hit, but I could be wrong if I rewatched the match. Regardless, Smith looked like the better wrestler in that match.

They wrestled at the All-Star a 2 or 3 years ago. Keegan really controlled the entire match IIRC. But that match was years ago, so I completely agree he could make things interesting.

I could absolutely be wrong, but I have been a fan of Ok St for a long time, and John Smith is one of my favorite wrestlers and guys to listen to talk about wrestling of all time. But I haven't seen this kind of a pace and pursuit of scores across the roster in the last ten+ years. They have had better teams, but even then they didn't pursue scores the way the guys seemed to tonight. That could be because it's a fresh room with a new coach, and that could be a temporary bump (we see bad NFL teams surge under interim coaches due to culture change). But the fun of fandom is speculation, and I don't think you could have hoped for a better first month and a half as an Okie St fan.

After tonight's dominating win over VT it looks like the Coach Taylor message is having an impact. In the past have we seen OSU come out in a dual like this and look sluggish, tired, and guys looking complacent to just get out of the building with a win. From 125-285 every single guy went out and wrestled hard. Guys were pushing for majors and techs with short time in the third period rather than being satisfied with their lead. Even Amine scored a takedown in the third and was pushing for another in short time. It looks like an OSU team that is wrestling with a different mindset than they have years. Ok St fans must be excited. If they get used to wrestling with this kind of mindset, they will be some very tough outs come march.

Catch-up.

Absolutely crazy scramble with Surber ending up on top. So close to giving up neutral danger, and being taken down 2 or 3 times but somehow ends up with the TD.

With how hard Taylor is pushing these guys to go out and score points from beginning to the last second of the match.. They look like a different OSU team.

Wow. Hamiti. Wow.

It was promising for OSU fans that Amine at least pushed for the major towards the end. Typically he would settle for the 4-1 win.

That was a lot of fun. Hipolito has to be such a strange and unconventional feel. It will be a lot of fun to see how he progresses as he continues to get adjusted to folk.

Young tried to hold on and extend his defense on a takedown, ended up getting rolled onto his shoulders for the neutral danger fall.

Curious to see if Young can be as competitive as he was in Vegas.

I've done a good share of betting, and I am still confused. I don't know what the H3 bet is, nor the H/M at the end of the O/U.

For the sake of this post, I believe most would consider him a high schooler come WTT and Final X. He will either be in the final days of his senior year or just graduated depending on graduation date.

Sorry, he was more of a sleeper until his senior year. Askren has talked about it many times. Parker never won a junior high state title, and didn't start notching big wins until later in high school. No big schools were on him until after he committed to UNI and started knocking off big names.

Because Starocci is so dislikable, whenever there is a shred of hope to see him lose, those of us who wish to see him humbled rely on wishful thinking rather than what we know to be the truth. Carter Starocci is very likely going to go undefeated and with his 5th this year. PK is the only hope.

I agree that the collective system and pay-for-play isn't what NIL was intended for, but at the same time, why can a brand pay an athlete to endorse their product and bring in revenue, but a school can't pay a player to generate interest and revenue for their school? Contracts will likely be the first step towards creating at least some stability in the current landscape. At least with contracts, players won't be "free-agents" every year looking to hop over to the next highest bidder.

Your points on why you don't believe Kolat to be the answer are really strong, but I also admit while reading them, they seem to dismiss how truly good Kolat was. Forgive me for the assumption, but I imagine you'd agree that he probably should have had at least one world or olympic title in his prime. He was certainly on the level and likely could have won any of the years you previously mentioned had things gone slightly differently. He was without a doubt good enough to win an Olympic gold medal. Additionally, if you watch the FloFilm, or any interview and here the man talk about wrestling, I can't imagine having anything but an immense respect and wishing that things had gone better for him. Like you said, I think the injustices have lead to his legend growing and a certain need to justify how good he was despite the lack of a gold. Not to mention that he wrestled at 63kg.. Arguably the toughest weight in wrestling. Look at our overall medal count in 63kg/65kg since Kolat. Has anyone else been close to the level of Cary in 63kg/65kg over a four year span since? I think the fact that he was competing in a weight that is so hard to win is being dismissed. FRL talked about the incredible parity at 65kg not too long ago and how essentially no one repeats at the weight because it is just so dang tough to make a run to gold at the weight. It's getting into semantics, but there is a difference between the most decorated wrestler to never win an Olympic gold and the best wrestler to never win. Here is my question for the rest of you; Who was a better international wrestler? Henry Cejudo or Cary Kolat?

I'm listening. Or.. I'm reading.

Let's be honest here, the majority of wrestlers are not under 125 pounds or over 200 pounds. The average size of a healthy adult male falls somewhere between the two. And then consider participants in wrestling where the majority of athletes that are 200 pounds or larger and have the athleticism to be a competitive d1 athlete aren't choosing wrestling as their main sport.

No, I have been wondering the same thing. But the way the topic has been discussed on FRL, CP seems to think that using Ferrari in the dual is the correct move as well. I don't know if he's heard talk about what happens in the room, or if the assumption is that Arnold cannot beat Starocci, and that because we haven't seen Ferrari lose to anyone in so long, that his ceiling is somewhat unknown at this point.

I typically agree with this logic, but man is he good at winning boring matches. His only losses at 141; Mendez x2, Alirez, Real Woods, and Brocky Hardy. Mendez even when he wins lower scoring matches appears more dominant because he maintains pressure, moves forward, attacks, and is rarely in danger of getting scored on. Bartlett is much more willing to stand around and wait for a reattack score against tougher opponents. But it seems like Bartlett has cemented himself into the #3 spot at this weight until someone proves otherwise.