Boring

Plus Lilledahl will probably AA, and Opie has a decent chance of making AA as well.

Post your predictions here. Cowboys win!!! 125 Spratley dec Cruz 3-0 133 Ayala mdec Witcraft 3-4 141 Jamison mdec Block 7-4 149 Parco dec Young 7-7 157 Teemer dec Fish 7-10 165 Caliendo dec Amine 7-13 174 Hamiti dec Kennedy 10-13 184 Plott dec Arnold 13-13 197 Buchanon dec Surber 13-16 HWT Hendricksen mdec Keuter 17-16

If he's ready let him have his chance, provided he's actually the best guy at the weight. But it won't make any difference at NCAAs. Iowa is destined to finish 2nd, Ferrari or no Ferrari.

For the record I want to see Ferrari wrestle Plott. I just think Arnold has more to gain by wrestling Plott than not wrestling him.

I don't think it makes much difference. Iowa is way behind PSU anyway, another 10-15 points at 184 isn't going to make the Hawkeyes pass PSU. Plus I think Iowa is already several points better than Ok State will be at NCAAs. So, presuming what you speculated actually happens, what does Iowa gain other than a slightly smaller beating at B1Gs and NCAAs from PSU? Hawkeyes need to preserve their talent, they are going to need it after all the transfers graduate following this season.

What that means is if a guy is the best at his weight, a legitimate #1 seed, that he's going to win anyway regardless of who he faces in the bracket.

I think I may buck the trend here. The way I see it Arnold has more to gain from wrestling Plott than to lose. Plott is already the favorite, so if Arnold loses respectably no harm, no foul. Another "L" shouldn't matter if it comes to a top 4 guy like Plott. On the other hand if Arnold beats Plott he gains a good bit I'd think. I've seen guys stifle Plott's offense, and Arnold is a stallmaster type guy. If he can keep it close he might be able to steal a win at the buzzer with a takedown. Ferrari wouldn't be a terrible choice provided he doesn't have to burn a redshirt to wrestle Plott. I think he could hold Plott to a decision and possibly even beat him outright. The match could give Ferrari some more experience wrestling a top D1 guy. But I think the possible upside to Arnold's possible seed upgrade at NCAAs is more important than Ferrari getting more experience. Let's face it, he has 4 years ahead of him and he'll probably make the high podium all 4 years. If Arnold is beat up of course Ferrari should start to let him rest up.

I bet at least 2 make AA. Keck is a lock, but UNI has 3 or 4 guys right on that R12/AA edge. I think Happel will make low AA (7th/8th), and Realbuto has a real shot to AA as well. Anything can happen at NCAAs.

I can't imagine an upward trajectory for Zeke at this point as HC.

Yeah, ASU is terrible. OU is pretty mediocre this year, bordering on bad, and they absolutely smoked ASU. They'll score some points at NCAAs thanks to Figs and Schultz, plus there will be a few points from other qualifiers. But they are an awful dual team, and they don't have much room for improvement.

Not to mention David Taylor poaching Zahid as a coach at their RTC. The Hawkeye NIL check to Figs hasn't cleared yet, you'll probably see him in black and gold next year

He hasn't ducked anybody. I just checked his record out. The only elite guy he "ducked" was Cael Happel, and the idea of Alirez ducking Happel is laughable. He wrestled Composto. He wrestled all the decently ranked guys on his schedule, including Ysaguirre, Tagg, and Drury, all of who will probably make NCAAs. Yeah, no premium wins, but he hasn't ducked anybody. He hasn't wrestled in any tournaments this year though so he only has his dual meet record to go on so far. Northern Colorado has a dual schedule filled with teams that generally don't have great 141 pounders this year, that's not Alirez's fault. Alirez will probably win another 5 matches prior to NCAAs, which will make him 16-0. Guys saying he won't have enough matches are cuckoo.

Wow, if I was the Iowa AD I'd sue Illinois for stealing Iowa's singlet design!

That's how it's been as long as I've been around wrestling. I think the refs need to concentrate more on guys not working for turns from top.

Got to go with Cannon. Sasso isn't going to do anything at 157.

The PAC12 always had the worst refs in every sport. I remember especially how terrible their football officiating crews were.

You say that as if it's a bad thing.

There's no denying the success of those guys listed above, but how much of their success do they owe to Askren? Weren't all those guys HS studs before hitting the Askren Academy?

He's 12-5 against D1 HWT competition, 15-5 overall. He's gotten beaten pretty bad by all but one of the ranked HWTs he's wrestled (Hendrickson TFall, Schultz by major, Trumble tfall). He does own a win over the #7 HWT per wrestlestat (Mullen, Vtech).

I can only assume that they ate something in the corner between periods and that they pissed in a bucket while their coaches held up towels for their wrestler's privacy.

That should be a crazy weight at B1Gs and NCAAs, for sure. It's definitely Bartlett, Mendez, and Alirez as favorites but with some other guys capable of pulling off the upset to make the finals. Would be fun to see Hardy pull off an NCAA title his final year. I don't think Lemley is all that good this year and would be surprised if he placed. Jamison is tough, but unpolished. I could see him finish mid-AA to R12. Happel is a little better than Jamison, still.

Kinda sorta, but if the #1 seed is legit he should win regardless of the other seeds.

76 might be right. Maybe I'm not remembering this well, but I seem to remember Iowa was about tied with OSU for longest streak, and then OSU tied them? Feel free to correct me on this, I seem to remember it was 71 matches or so?