Wrasslin

How important is it that the names are in English?

Billy Murphy...that guy was talented...and kinda a sad wrestling story, although he did win an NJCAA championship. Coincidentally in high school, Billy was coached in part by Kyle Porter, also a 2X State Champ at Hughson...riveting stuff! (The Porter family are wrestling royalty in Modesto area, akin to the Zinkins in Fresno). He was a year behind that VT recruiting class, although he signed letter of intent when Tom was still at VT, he ended up switching to Iowa. Here's an old (and pretty good) article here from Intermat if you're interested:

I mean, I've lost to a bunch of people, according to a scoreboard (pfff). . .but I was making in-match adjustments, had momentum, and would have won if the matches were like, a minute longer. Two particularly egregious ones that I'd like to have a redo are: Kelvin (not Kevin) Jackson - 1995 NCAA Champ - dude was hard to score on and stalled for the last 2 minutes Dave Nieradka - 2X NCAA All-American (1993-1994) - He loved my legs so much he couldn't quit touching them. He only finished like, 83% of his shots though

As long as you are born years 2005 -2008 you can compete in U20. Stanich and McEnelly are already 20 yrs old but both born in 2005 so they are eligible.

^^^ so, since we're talking famous people, I beat the $hit out of Mario Lopez (Saved by the Bell) at J Robinson's Intensive Wrestling Camp when we were in high school. He's aged better, still all buff, rich, and his wife is way hotter than mine- he's probably still having sex. So who really won?

How long before Nicco Ruiz scoots out the door? ASU still has their solid recruiting ties with St John Bosco- they'll survive this . . . ebb and flow . . .

Personally, I'd rather hear about the best we've ever beat. Losing sucks. . . I tried it once.

LOL! I appreciate what you did there!

He definitely can (if Kiyooka is the Japanese rep- they've got a ton of talent at 65kg, even without Otoguro).

how is UNC an improvement on CSUB? Now if it was Duke . . .

It's funny, when I hear someone talk about Takatani I'm like, "that dude's been around forever!" The only Japanese wrestler I can think of is Yuji Takada won an Olympic bronze medal in 1984 at the age of 30. I don't think he wrestled after that.

That's what I was thinking . . . must be nice to retire at 26! lol!

Dude, there are so many entries- I love it! Bassett betters both Zepeda (who's out of shape after states) and Vega. . . watch out for Jesse Grajeda (dark horse) - he can hold his own with any of these three, as can Nininger and Manville- it's gonna be fire!!

Andre Gonzales . . . now there's a name I haven't heard in a while! TBH, not surprised . . .I wasn't super high on him outta HS- he won a CA state title as a senior @ 113, but besides him, the top 8 were FR/SO (as is the case in HS). He got majored the year before in semis at 106 by none other than Virginia's Jack Gioffre (who played spoiler to Paniro Johnson) at NCAAs, who in the finals got teched by Richie Figgs. Poway is a power program, but he was far from the best they've produced, although I enjoy seeing CA guys do well in college!

That can't make you feel so awesome about where you stand in comparison, I'm guessing. . .

It's not a knock against Hendrickson. . . simply pointing out human bias. His win over Gable, other than adding a win to his record, actually lowered his statistical dominance score in all other statistical categories (a regular decision win), yet propelled him to his Hodge anyway. And Starocci couldn't have done anything more than he did to convince voters in his favor.

Correct. Thing is, you can crunch numbers all you want (and we did), but as Aaron Levenstein put it, "Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." Humans do the voting. They have built-in bias based on their experiences/preferences. The literal end of the wrestling season, and what we remember, was Wyatt doing the unthinkable and beating Gable. People make emotional votes, backed by statistics they see fit (that support their view- see quote above), and that's how it goes. Not saying it's good or bad, just how it is. Want proof? Hendrickson wasn't even in the top 3 being considered until he beat (and replaced) Gable.

With all due respect to Ben Askren, Jake Herbert's contribution is just as impressive- just watch any grade school or high school tournament!

A couple of interesting points you make here- First, in 2023 Worlds when Aitmukhan won his Senior world title @ 92kg, Yoshida was in that bracket (as was Azarpira- more on that later). Yoshida was teched in the Semis by Nurmagomedov 10-0 and also teched by Zahid Valencia in the bronze medal match 11-0. Funny enough, I really thought that tournament was Zahid's to lose after his win over Azarpira in the 2nd round- he wrestled like a man possessed. His next match with Nurmagomedov in quarters was disappointing and really came down to one exchange where Zahid got behind in standing position and was unable to get the takedown (I need to watch that match again). Given the above, more questions . . . Has Yoshida not only jumped weights but also jumped levels? "We'll see" is where I stand Is Zahid our guy at 86kg? Is Atimukhan really as good as his results indicate as Truzzcat pointed out above? He wasn't competitive against Snyder and gassed and lost to Jay Aiello at Kunayev in 2024 so . . .

Coby wins U20 trials (includes Mocco and Ross), wins U20 world gold, and commits to Stanford. You heard it here first.

OMG- we need a trophy emoji for stuff like this . . . "and my sister, who laid me out cold before I hit double digits" . . . I can't emphasize enough how much I love this post!

I mean, I just don't know how the new stuff from this link will react to the stuff I already have. It's like mixing meds- there's always a risk there- sometimes good; sometimes not as good!

I agree (Vega is a freak) and disagree that he is D1 ready now. IMO, he'd benefit from a year in a college room. As @Truzzcat mentioned, he would benefit from some heavy hand fighting and improvement on his feet. Watch his matches against Mendoza and Grajeda (don't know who that is? You will in a few years). Again, not taking anything away from him, obviously.

I wanna click on the link really badly but a part of me thinks it's just going to pop up porn all over my screen.

It almost feels like ASU is a feeder program now - not exactly sure when that happened. They've always been good at attracting CA talent (and still are).