BruceyB

You're just wrong. There are more boys wrestling in HS now than in 2000. There is now a girls division which has grown exponentially over the last 25 years. Just because you're friends kids didn't enjoy the sport doesn't mean that's a reflection of the overall state. I wrestled, and both of my younger brothers tried it and didn't like it. The sport as a whole is not dying. The sports future in college athletics, however, is concerning.

This is how I imagine I would feel. It's not a documentary as @MPhillips stated. It's a movie narrative built on what is undoubtedly an incredible journey of a child that was born with a crazy obstacle and managed to do something most people would have thought to be impossible. Argue advantage, disadvantage, etc. etc., no one else has been born into Anthony's situation and achieved what he has.

I'm not saying Iowa wrestles dirty in any way, but if you're going to create a narrative where Iowa is the antagonist, it's pretty fitting.

I've said the same for a while now. If he goes to Penn State he'll just be another name on the long list of greats under Cael. If he goes to OSU he'll have the opportunity to be one of the first guys to wrestle their entire career under DT and the mark of a new era in cowboy wrestling. I think Bo is going to be a transformation recruit for a program over the next 5-10 years. So many younger wrestlers know who Bo Bassett is, and they are going to be hooked on whatever team he competes for, and probably want to wrestle for that same school. I would be shocked if he didn't end up at PSU, OKST, or Iowa.. If I were guessing I would put in order of likelihood OkSt, Iowa, then PSU. I just feel like he's going to want to separate himself from all of the top recruits that are funneling into PSU.

High school wrestling participation is the highest it's been since the 70s.

I actually think this is an amazing idea if we aren't going to make any huge changes to the current system. It would essentially be like the old Rosebowl between the Pac10 and Big10. Winning the Rosebowl was a huge deal in the 90s. But if we're being realistic, right now the real let down is that we don't see PSU and Oklahoma State dual. OKST vs Iowa, Iowa vs Penn State, and OKST vs Penn State are the biggest duals in college wrestling, and we should see them every year.

OKST/PSU is the only meaningful dual that we won't see. You'd have match-ups that are in the balance at 125, 133, 141, 174, and 285, plus #1 vs #3 at 184, and Barr would be a heavy favorite, but I'd still be interested to see the match between him and Surber.

Let's just say this. two awesome events > one awesome event Can't we all agree on that?

I don't think Bassett has grown the sport. He has grown his brand within the sport. People only know who Bo Bassett is because they are fans of wrestling. People aren't becoming wrestling fans because of him.

I bet if they lost a dual in the national finals they'd feel some devastation.

Grow the sport gets thrown around too often. I think we should just being doing what is best for the sport in creating excitement for fans in general. This will likely coincide with gaining some new fans, but how many, I don't know. FWIW I could convince my old high school wrestling buddies to get together to watch a dual national finals where they'd at least have an association with which two universities were competing, but they could care less to watch 20 guys they've never heard of wrestle in the finals.

It should be a fun dual. The roster battle at 133 makes every match interesting for OKST, and Farber will be another quality test for whoever wrestles. I'm really curious to see what Jamison vs Happel looks like this year. Jamison has looked like a different guy this year. Like you said, should be a lot of competitive matches in this one.

Here is a hot take. The finals are kind of brutal to watch. If I wasn't a junkie, I would just wait until the following day online. The broadcast runs typically like, what 3.5-4 hours? You get the same amount of action in a dual in 2 hours. I don't know if I'm the only one, but usually by the 7th match, my attention starts fading and I just want it to finish up so I can see who wins. Sitting down for nearly 4 hours to watch 10 matches is just a lot to ask of a casual fan. This is coming from someone who refers to NCAAs as my "Superbowl." Another appealing aspect of duals is it's easy for anyone who knows nothing about wrestling to pick a team to root for. If my wife joins me while I'm watching PSU vs Ohio State, I can just say "we are rooting for the red team," and she can follow that. In the finals, if you don't know the individuals or have a team preference, there isn't really anything to root for.

I'll be curious to see what happens with Walker, Mauger, Crapps, and Mendoza over the next few years. Good problem to have for the tigers in the lightweights.

Missouri 21 Arizona State 15 125 | (2) Richard Figueroa (ASU) over (32) Gage Walker (MIZ) by decision, 5-4. 133 | Kade Moore (MIZ) over (23) Julian Clebove (ASU) by major decision, 13-3. 141 | (15) Josh Edmond (MIZ) over Daniel Miranda (ASU) by major decision, 17-8. 149 | (19) Jesse Vasquez (ASU) over Zeke Seltzer (MIZ) by decision, 2-0 157 | James Conway (MIZ) over Michael Kilic (ASU) by decision, 5-1 165 | (18) Cam Steed (MIZ) over (17) Nicco Ruiz (ASU) by injury default. 174 | Joel Mylin (MIZ) over Javani Majoor (ASU) by major decision, 11-1 184 | Cael Valencia (ASU) over Logan Cole (MIZ) by decision, 12-8 197 | Max Acciardi (ASU) over Jesse Cassatt (MIZ) by decision, 7-3 285 | (5) Cohlton Schultz (ASU) over (24) Seth Nitzel (MIZ) by decision, 3-1 Interesting result at 125, and too bad we didn't get a completed match at 165. I'm pretty high on Cam Steed from the little that I've seen, but he hasn't been banged up pretty much all year.

This conversation of coaches beating current athletes came up on FRL a while back. IIRC CP talked about how shocked he was to watch Terry put a whooping on Alex Marinelli.

Yeah, this one actually makes some sense. I can't picture how you could maintain control when your pulling them towards the leg in, but obviously he was trying something he had enough confidence in that he tried it three times.

Appreciate the effort. Yeah, in this match it was wild because he literally just put himself in danger all three times without coming close to getting a swipe. It legitimately looked like something a junior high kids makes up and "thinks" it will work, while their coach pulls their hair out.

I want to know what on earth that move was that Schultz tried multiple times in this match from top. He puts a leg in, locks his hands around the far shoulder, sits back and pulls Banach right on top of him with no semblance of control. He got reversed the first time (nearly to his back), nearly reversed the second time, and gave up an escape the third time. They called it a tilt, but it was ridiculous.

I think the conversation in this thread is being muddied up by using the term National Duals to describe both the current event, and the theoretical event that the thread originally proposed. The National Duals Invitational, is not the same as a National Dual Championship. National Duals is nothing more than cool event where we'll be treated to a lot of high-level duals and matchups that we otherwise wouldn't see until late in the season. Championship is not even in the name.

Flo released an interview with Tom Brands today and was asked about his thoughts on the National Duals. He said it was a very exciting announcement, and that it's a kind of event that would interest Iowa wrestling. He sounded like he had some vague reservations about the format moving forward. But I got the impression that Iowa will likely be a participant. Here is the interview. National Duals talk starts right at the 6:00 mark. https://www.flowrestling.org/video/13549132-tom-brands-wants-to-put-his-best-team-on-the-mat-heading-into-ohio-state-dual

I'm only human.

Can we get rid of the tech for this match-up? An early tech is the only thing I can see dampening this match-up.

UWW announced that Ono was going down to 57kg for Worlds this year, and CP texted him live on yesterday's FRL and Ono responded "Yes. 90%"

The mindset of a champion right there.