AgaveMaria

Considering the overall condition of Utah Valley Prep - it has to be Barraaclough.

Iowa HAS the talent. What they don't have is coaches willing or able to move past Dan Gable and what worked for him. Dan was not one dimensional. Tom & Terry basically are. "Dan did it" is as dumb as photographers with "Ansel did it". Mired in the past - not learning from the past are very different. Gable was a grinder on the mat but did not force that on kids who can't do it. That was "The Iowa Style" but he had some wrestlers who did not quite fit the mold. He was smart enough to push them in their style with his determination. Tom & Terry don't do this. Iows has the talent. They don't have a coaching staff that can develop that talent past high mid levels. Very few who come in show a lot of improvement. It is the coaching.

The biggest problem Iowa has is the coaches inability to move on from Dan Gable. Jim Zalesky could not do it. Go ahead and listen to him in his pre-match talks. Try & fail. Tom Brands can't do it. Try & fail. He is good but his inability to change his approach, to fine tune it and make it his is failing the program. Both were great wrestlers and both good, not great coaches. Both for some reason trying to be Gable, without his tools. Until Tom & crew move on, taking the best and incorporating a new(for them) approach & be willing to further tweak what is working - Iowa will be a top team, but not at the top. Being "the best of the rest" is where they are at and that is in danger of being lost as they flounder trying to make "same shiz, different year" work.

Based on what we have seen Iowa will have a tough time finishing higher than 4th. What they are really worried about is their long streak of having a Wrestler in the finals. Two look decent for it but losses in the Big 10's have to be of concern to the Terrible Two & fans.

Employing all these incredibly realistic (and somewhat creepy) tactics to appear and smell dead to predators is a much more effective way for opossums to stay safe, than running or fighting (via A-Z Animals).

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry said it best: A legend in his own mind.

They are not yet at the level of frustration of John Smith. He sure looked like a crabby old guy yelling "get the hell off my lawn" when he would watch a number of his wrestlers on the mat. T&T still whoop it up and encourage them. Problem is, it is not working. They have the Gable legacy but have not moved past it because they don't have the Gable talent for coaching individuals.

Friend who are not normal wrestling fans watched the finals with me. They commented about the broadcaster and all the information/explanation given during the matches. They like it for helping them understand what was happening. Much of wrestling is a confused mystery to those who are not already familiar with the sport. Commentators like this help a lot. Original poster is lucky he wasn't around when Howard Cosell was broadcasting.

Too many Penn State wrestlers looked as if they expected to phone it in. Way close matches that shouldn't have been that way. Losses unthinkable a week ago. Some seem to forget that Tournament Time means most everyone ups their game. Forget that & you are in trouble, as evidenced by too many PSU performances. Then again the Sanderson crew is generally not at their peak for Big 10's. That comes in two weeks. Big 10's are a wakeup for some of them. We'll see if it holds true this year.

If his skin turns Orange will he later run for President of the US?

Big question on him is this: does his mom wear glasses?

Have watched some of his matches and he sure does a lot of nothing. A lot of backing up and ties without attempting an actual takedown. Riding without attempting turns. No stalling calls?

Penn State under Sanderson is known for bonus points at the Big Dance. Nothing like Pins to rack them up. How many will their guys get overall this time around? Not Technical Falls, but the real thing.

Ferrari, or Monica Lewinski? How does Ferrari look in a blue dress?

Any you think would not have added a 4th title, given the chance?

Follow the Money. Long lasting impact on all the teams. Covid was a few years & done.

Carter Young, OSU. A number of losses that could have gone his way. We'll see if Coach Taylor somehow gets him past the mental hurdle that has held him back in too many matches.

One thing not mentioned is that these are still College students and have to stay academically eligible to wrestle. Even getting paid now they have to take a minimum number of classes & do well enough to stay eligible. Not always that easy with the amount of mat time required to stay on top of their game. As Dan Gable told his wrestlers: College for you has three components. Wrestling, school and social life. Pick TWO - because you can't do all three successfully at the same time.

Reading the "who's the greatest" and "5 is better than 3 is better than 3" stuff I wondered how many of the 3 timers(when only 3 years was allowed) had perfect records? I have no doubt Yojo Uetake would have a 4th title with no losses. Am more familiar with him - but not the others. What other 3 timers had perfect records? All wins, not ties in there?

There are three kinds of lies. Lies. Damn Lies. Statistics.

On being older when in school. Not always holding a kid back. Military family here. Five different schools in two years at one time, in four different countries. US Military schools as well as normal, in country attendance in others. When I was a HS Junior in a US State I had already takan all but one class needed for Graduation but this was a State that did not do 'early graduation'. If we were at the last posted location I would have been done that year. Ended up finishing the Senior year with all electives - do I too Auto Mechanics & shop & typing along with what advanced classes in Chemistry the school offered. 1960's without the AP and pre-placement stuff available later to our kids. Now I would have been in college early. Not then. A different State - different rules and opportunities. Athletics? Having entered AAU tournaments & European tournaments - made me ineligible for HS wrestling, baseball and Cross Country in this State my final two years. Pretty unfair then and since I never went back after leaving I don't know what they do now. Some kids are early, some later for whatever reasons. Nobody seems to care if it is Physics, Chemistry, Music, Art or Theatre but go apeshiz with Athletics.

On Kyle Snyder. " becomes the first College Wrestle to win an Olympic Gold and then come back and Wrestle in the NCAAs again". Yojo Uetake at Oklahoma State won Olympic Gold after his Sophomore NCAA season then came back to win Two more NCAA titles.

Watching Tom Ryan talk about Sammy was interesting. Will he become an assistant/grad assistant at Ohio State? Ryan mentioned it but didn't say much. Will he move on to another program? Apparently College coaching is a goal. Will it happen?

Many kids will want to go to the program & coach that will get them to the top. Penn State appears to be that program for now. Just as Iowa under Gary Kurdelmeier/Dan Gable. NIL all you want. No one team gets every top recruit. No coach wants every top recruit. Sounds nice but in practice some kids just don't fit a coach/program.

Was a backhand comment on the Robles movie. No need for the fiction needed. What he did was more than impressive. Just like HOOSIERS - the assistant coach took over & the kids won it all. No Norman Dale. No drunk father assistant coach. Reality is all that is needed. Sasso included.