GV4444

Agree Caliendo and Ferrari have the best shot, but you never know. In 2022 Eierman, Marinelli, and Kemerer were the best bets to reach the final, but it Jacob Warner who saved the day by reaching the finals to keep the streak alive. Seems like fewer dark horses this year, maybe Peterson, Kennedy, or Endeme.

My analogy is a baseball pitcher with a wicked splitter. The first few times you see it, you can't hit it, but every time you see it you get better at anticipating it. Drake has the best slide by in the country at this time, but everyone knows it now. It's not his only "pitch" in his arsenal, but it's his best attack. Once you neutralize that, he's still excellent top tier kind of guy, but beatable by other top tier guys.

Well that didn't age well. Caliendo is Iowa's best transfer. Peterson may be second.

Yes. He attended the Bartlett/Lewan folk style summer camp to perfect it. He was the exception being a D3 guy who is good enough to be a top D1 guy. You never know, but he was so dominate you knew if could be. Conversely, he probably didn't need reach his full potential to be undefeated in D3. I think his level jumped some just by being the Iowa room, but it was mostly there before he got to Iowa.

Exactly. His offense is weak. He lets people get in on his legs and then scrambles. Works fine against #30 or worse, but doesn't against top competition. Just like his double boot ride. He's only going to turn the lesser competition from that position. It's a great ride, but I think he's going to get some quick stall calls with it. The other issue with his double boot rides is that he can get too high. I think this weight is one of the two that PSU doesn't get an AA, with the other being 285. Nagao and Cole M. will need a very favorable draw to reach AA. PSU had 20 wrestlers at the event, 3 at 149 and 1 at 197.

I did notice that Manville gets no love in any of the rankings, but Vega has to be the favorite. The Larkin matches will definitely be the highlight of the dual. I think one of them wins.

Gene Bartow - UCLA Ray Perkins - Alabama Tough to follow a legend. The biggest change after the legend is a drop in recruitment. You lose a few blue chippers who wanted to play for Bear Bryant or John Wooden. After Gable, the allure is the Iowa program and you lose one or two recruits per year who would have chosen Iowa in order to wrestle for the legend Gable, but no longer see the allure of Iowa City.

I haven't been around here long, but I'm already seeing a pattern. It is the annual "Brands/Ryan need to be replaced". This thread starts with the Gable coaching tree trying to be too much like Gable. What I see is Brands being Brands. Is Ryan trying to be Gable? Schwab has a Gable problem? Dresser have a Gable problem? Or is it only a Gable problem because it is at Iowa? Once you get a dominate program like PSU in any sport, your guy becomes the guy who can't beat him. You can't accept that your coach because he can only be second or third. You start thinking you need to get someone else because second or third isn't good enough. The problem is that any replacement probably has a higher probably of being worse than what you have that exceeding the #1 guy. It's a big risk. One needs to remind oneself of the last two coaches to win the title not named Cael. The biggest problem I see with the Brands era has been poor recruiting. The replenishment rate is 3 guys a year with top 20 ability. He hasn't gotten it. But, he brought in top tier transfers to maintain top tier level and he just nabbed a great recruiting class (the first in several years). The big problem with using the portal is that portal guys typically don't have 4 years of eligibility left. OSU is taking their shot by replacing Smith with DT. I think it is going to work out really well. But is there a DT type to take over at Iowa? Big risk.

Your algorithm makes such an early season ranking pretty useless. It's not a reflection on your process, just that you are lacking data at this point.

I've just been triggered. You would thought 50 years would have erased the mental trauma, but it still haunts me.

I watched a lot of matches, but didn't listen to much commentary. Is Kueter injured or still recovering from hip surgery? He did wrestle the first dual against Bellarmine. Why didn't Iowa use one of their two backups?

Mendez and Davino were already at their high, so they can't go much further up. UP Endene Nininger Vega Cannon Robideau Webster Lockett Singleton Sasso Ohio State DOWN Nebraska Spratley Taylor Scoles Minto Allred Ryder

I would have loved to see Penn State in the National Duals. Now that the season has started, I can rationalize why there they skipped. They had so many wrestlers at various worlds it would have been a quick transition to the college season. It's one of the reasons they had no one at the NWCA All-Star Classic. I hope Cael reconsiders for next year, if there is a next year.

Great topic, especially after National Duals. I would add Jaxon Joy at 149, mostly because 149 is not very deep. Nininger is also good at 149. You knew Davino and Ferrari were contenders after their RS year. Robideau has really impressed. He looks like he would tech fall his high school senior version of himself from a year ago.

Just like huskerlucas' order, although you could scramble 5-8 any way you please. Welsh does not have enough body of work this year to rank any higher, but this a definitely a year for the top 4 guys to beat each other and cause confusion. If there is going to be a clear number 1, I think it will be Ferrari.

Seriosly ridiculous. Caliendo took one loss, not losses. Prior to this week, his only losses were to Mesenbrink, O'Toole, Carr, and Hamiti while wrestling for Iowa. Let us know when Endene matches that record.

That's it! Wait, if he didn't wrestle last night, won't he be in the same situation for his next match? Well, you can expect some ducking from Wrestlestat's 3rd ranked dual team.

Bit of a snoozer without much meaning. I was really hoping OK would roll out their best lineup, but alas, no Jordan, Hipolito, Gioffre, Keller, Soldano. Same old Nagao. Double boot ride torture of lesser wrestler. Not much offense on feet. Glad to see Sealy get his day on the mat in the big venue. Connor M looked great against a quality opponent. Cole M is going to struggle against bigger guys. He weighed in at 228. The only two weak spots are 141 and 285.

The conventional wisdom on this scenario is that 1) Kasak has a redshirt year available 2) this is the only year Duke can make 157, 3) after Haines graduates, Duke or MM will move to 174. It may actually be Duke at 174, as MM is a light 165 and Duke is still growing (same growth as Haines perhaps 157 to 174).

Cael is a man of few words and those words are exactly enlightening or provocative. He is able to craft responses that provide little insight or provide any previously unknown information. Not only that, but he can do it in a complete monotone. But, for some reason he seems to do OK coaching.

Agree. He will need to have developed some addiitional skills to get beyond r16. I kept seeing the same pattern over all his matches which is stuff that works on lesser wrestlers, but no much on top tier guys. Getting double boots in get you lots of riding time, but not many points.

He just beat #77 Bellarmine wrestler 3-0. I watched the match. Based on what I saw, he beats none of those listed.

No leg attack by Blaze until the very end. Uulu's defense is pretty stout. Rocco got the IRI wrestler with a gas tank and really strong hands for wrist control. Jax, is it me or has he taken a giant leap in the last 12 months? He was always great for his age, a bit wild and funky, but he seems way more solid this year. Better balance, better strength, a little more disciplined, and explosively quick.

As a PSU fan I have to say, no way Carter beats Zahid. The current version of Zahid may be the best p4p wrestler on the planet. The current version of Carter is a freestyle work in progress.

Yes, and the Big Ten has 14 teams and the Big 12 has 14 teams. Stanford is now on the Atlantic coast (probably near Hilton Head, take a look a see if they are near you now At least the Pacific Athletic Conference changed their name along the way. It was the PAC 8, then the PAC 10 and finally PAC 12 before the great demise. They decided not to change to the PAC 2 (for football).