BruceyB

Yep. He was from a fairly small farming town that had a strong wrestling program at the time (Sedro Wooley High School) in Washington State. I forget who he beat on his run to a Fargo FS title, but we all collectively were rooting for him at OSU.

@MPhillips do you remember Derek Garcia?

And likewise, I very much enjoy comparing and contrasting my subjective analysis with your data based analysis. Speaking of which, where is the data for the top scoring 157 pound bracket of this quarter century? I've been waiting all day!

I guess I am mostly blown away by the frontside of the bracket. For 7 of the top 8 seeds to be upset before the semis is crazy. The highest seed in the semis being the #5 is crazy. And for neither finalist to have beaten someone seeded above them is absolutely unbelievable. Statistically, I guess it is not the most busted. Thanks for contributing numbers to the topic as always!

I don't use any sort of numerical data to make my picks. I try to find a balance between the star-power in the bracket and being realistic to who they were at the time. I'm glad you brought up the 2011 bracket because it's a great example of my thought process.. Yes, there are three champs in that bracket, and another finalist. However, DT, St. John, and Welch were all Freshman in this tournament. Wunderkind David Taylor had been on a bonus tear during that season, but many were still wondering how he would do against a guy like Steve Fittery, who, while very good, isn't a name many would know outside of hardcore fans. Adam Hall as well, many probably remember him as a very solid multi-time AA, but he's far from an all-time guy and was the top seed going into the tournament. IMO it's hard to consider a bracket for All-Time best when the top two seeds aren't particularly noteworthy. It's far from perfect as it's really my subjective opinion that is leading the cause, but that's why I am interested to hear others make the case for other years. I do the subjective analysis based on research and my personal bias, and then @Wrestleknownothing comes with the hard numbers. PS: Tomorrow has one of the most intriguing brackets so far, imo! Stay tuned.

I'm probably a little bias based on how much I loved watching those 2014 guys. The 1/4s match in 2015 with the OT scoring error between Ian Miller and Brian Realbuto is all time. Ness and Miller were appointment viewing. James Green was unbelievable but every year the question was whether or not he could get it done when it matters. Ringer was emerging as one of the best P4P wrestlers in D1. and that's not even mentioning that 2014 was returning NCAA champion Derek St. John's worse NCAA finish. But don't ask me where my vote went.

Correct! Gregor won the title in 2007 at 149, and Leen was the 157 champ the year before in 2008. And correct again, Pami made the finals the following year in 2010 where he fell to J.P. O'Connor.

I didn't fully digest this the first time reading through. These are the only two brackets in the #12 seed era without a top 4 seed in the semis? I'm guessing we aren't finding any others that are going to top those two.

The final results might favor 1981, but Martucci beat the #1 and #5 en route to the finals, while Mantella had an easier path facing #6 and #11. It's definitely a crazy bracket, but I'd still lean towards a #5 and #10 making the finals without recording any upsets themselves as the craziest.

It blew up, but Branch did a lot of the damage. He upset #2 in R32. He also beat the #7 and #6. Branch's finals opponent, Laszlo Molnar, also did the job on his end beating #4, #5, and #1. So, for the most part Branch and Molnar blew-up the bracket by knocking off the big dogs themselves, where as in 2006, Cherrington and Stith were benefactors of upsets that led them to the finals without having to beat any of the top seeds themselves.

While combing through all of these brackets, one stuck out in particular as maybe the most broken bracket I've ever seen. This is the 2006 157 pound bracket. #1 seed Trent Paulson upset in the 1/4's by #9 Joe Johnston (he would go on to take 4th) #2 seed C.P. Schlatter upset in R16 by (US) Andrew Flanagan, wins one match on the backside before being eliminated by (US) Tony Hook. #3 seed Alex Tirapelle upset in 1/4's by #11 Derek Zinck, and then is eliminated after his next match in R12 by #7 Dustin Manotti #4 seed Matt Lebe upset in the R16 by (US) Michael Chandler, and is eliminated after dropping his next match to #7 Manotti #5 seed Ben Cherrington is your national champion #6 seed Brandon Becker upset in R16 by #11 Derek Zinck (he would go on to take 7th) #7 seed Dustin Manotti upset in R32 by (US) Tony Hook, he would then battle all the way back for 3rd taking out #3 and #4 en route #8 Craig Henning wrestled to his seed with an 8th place finish Some interesting facts that come out of this bracket.. The #2, #3, and #4 wrestlers failed to place None of the top 4 seeds reached the semis The semis were #5 vs #9 and #10 vs #11 #5 Ben Cherrington won a national title without facing a wrestler seeded above him #10 Brian Stith made it to the finals without facing a wrestler seeded above him So, you had a national finals between a #5 and #10 and neither wrestler faced anyone seeded higher than #9 to get there. I'd be surprised if this has happened any other time in the modern era. Can anyone think of any other brackets that compare to this kind of combustibility?

157 2001 2009 2014 2018 1st T.J. Williams Jordan Burroughs Alex Dieringer Jason Nolf 2nd Bryan Snyder Michael Poeta Dylan Ness Hayden Hidaley 3rd Shane Roller Jordan Leen James Green Tyler Berger 4th Luke Becker Gregor Gillespie Ian Miller Michael Kemerer 5th Eric Jorgenson Michael Chandler Derek St. John Alec Pantaleo 6th Kirk White Matt Moley Brian Realbuto Micah Jordan 7th Yoshi Nakamura Chase Pami Isaac Jordan Josh Shields 8th Gray Maynard Tyler Safratowich Anthony Perrotti Luke Zilverberg Not to sway any voters, but fun fact.. the 2014 podium crew (if my math is mathing) ended their careers with 28 AA honors.

Jamie Clark.

I'm not actually that surprised when actually thinking about it. As good as the height of the athlete's in the 2008 bracket was, Lance Palmer was the only wrestler to achieve AA status 4 times. Schlatter and Caldwell missing their senior year tournaments due to injury, and Metcalf losing a year because of the transfer rule leaves a lot of points on the table. Brent Metcalf lost a year due to his transfer. Bubba Jenkins DNP both his FR year and JR year (following his runner-up finish as a SO) Burroughs went as a TR FR and went 1-2 at NCAAs Churella lost in R12 his SO year Caldwell was "only" a 2-time AA after failing to podium his FR year and withdrawing after one match his senior NCAAs J.P. O'Connor DNP his junior year Schlatter was hurt and didn't have a senior year tournament

We're voting for second best since 2008 is such a far and away #1.

I mean.. let's not pretend like Ventresca is an offensive dynamo here. He wrestles a 1-1 match and goes to OT against just about everyone in the top 10. Ventresca and Spratley is a "see you in OT" match-up. Neither does enough to get the other guy called.

Due to the fact that the 149 pound 2008 NCAA bracket is in the discussion for the greatest bracket of all time, this weight we will be voting on the second best 149 bracket of the quarter-century. I included the 2008 results just as a friendly reminder of how absurd that podium was. 149 2003 2006 2008 2022 1st Eric Larkin Dustin Schlatter Brent Metcalf Yianni Diakomihalis 2nd Jared Lawrence Ty Eustice Bubba Jenkins Ridge Lovett 3rd Jesse Jantzen Zack Esposito Jordan Burroughs Bryce Andonian 4th Jerrod Sanders Matt Storniolo Josh Churella Austin Gomez 5th Jake Percival Jon Masa Darrion Caldwell Sammy Sasso 6th Collin Robertson Eric Tannenbaum J.P. O'Connor Jonathan Millner 7th Jon Masa Gregor Gillespie Dustin Schlatter Kyle Parco 8th Dustin Manotti Mark DiSalvo Lance Palmer Tariq Wilson

Do you have Nick and Chris Dardanes mixed up here? Nick was a 1x AA and took 7th IIRC (not sure if that changes anything about the bracket with most points).

I actually think 2022 was actually a pretty weak weight. If you took the AAs from that year and put them into the other brackets I listed, I think you're getting 2 or 3 AAs from the 22' wrestlers.

The top three with Lightner, Schwab, and Larkin definitely stuck out to me, but I didn't recognize any of the other names (before I knew about college wrestling).

I was surprised at the lack of depth in the brackets at 141. These were the four I thought were the toughest. 141 2009 2012 2015 2018 1st J Jaggers Kellan Russell Logan Stieber Yianni Diakomihalis 2nd Ryan Williams Montell Marion Mitchell Port Bryce Meredith 3rd Nick Gallick Boris Novachkov Devin Carter Joseph McKenna 4th Zach Tanelli Kendric Maple Dean Heil Jaydin Eirman 5th Alex Krom Michael Mangrum Kevin Jack Nick Lee 6th Chris Drouin Hunter Stieber Chris Mecate Kevin Jack 7th Kellan Russell Michael Nevinger Lavion Mayes Sa'Derian Perry 8th Frank Molinaro Darius Little Anthony Ashnault Chad Red

I was torn between 2010 and 2012 as the entry from that pool of athletes. That field was loaded.

I'd imagine these most recent rankings were to give a final picture of where the outgoing seniors rank among their high school peers following their final chance to compete in a high school competition (Fargo). I personally appreciate it, because in a few years it gives the clearest picture of where guys were ranked at the true end of their high school careers. It's frustrating when some years the seniors drop out of the rankings before the dust has all settled.

This has to be my favorite of yours that I've heard. I might put this on my training playlist. When I think I'm at my limit, I'll just remember little WKN doing those extra laps at the local pool after his teammates have all gone home.. and I will push on. Cuz I'm a distance swimmer nowwww!