BloodRound

Seeing as though we are a little over a month out from the championships (sell me your tickets, by the way), I was thinking about who I would take at this point in the season. Want to see what everyone else thinks. This is who I got: 125: Ramos, Purdue a fantastic season will culminate in a fantastic championship. I can't help but root for him. 133: Ayala, Iowa Implying Crookham is done. Even if he comes back, I think Ayala has more than adjusted to the weight by now. Only champ for the Hawks is the one they actually spent the time developing. 141: Alirez, Northern Colorado Mendez is great, but I think Alirez will thrive on the big stage for the repeat. 149: Henson, VTech SVN and Lovett will make this interesting. I don't think Henson has it in the bag as many say, so I am excited to see how this one plays out. 157: Kasak, PSU Teemer is injured and when he's gone out, has done nothing to make me think he will be at the top of the podium. Kasak may be on concussion protocol right now, but if we learned anything from last year's Starocci debacle, Cael knows how to get the guys ready for this weekend. 165: Messenbrink, PSU He's too much of a beast to pick otherwise. 174: Haines, PSU A lot of people have said that they had Levi in the rematch, and I am one of those people. Ever since the loss to Carr in last year's semis, I just haven't felt like KOT is invincible on the college level like I once did. 184: Starocci, PSU My heart wants me to pick Keckeisan so badly, but my brain is telling me I have been on the wrong side of history every time I picked Natty Stall Daddy. First 5-timer and the potential to take a 7 minute nap during that finals match. 197: Barr, PSU The mixture of Cael knowing how to get his guys ready for March and Iowa wrestlers burning out at this tournament will result in PSU having 5 champs. I wish that wasn't the case and we had more diversity among champs, but it's just how it is now. Barr has been impressing me since he debuted, and is currently my favorite of the 5 lions I picked to be atop the podium next month. 285: Steveson, Minnesota the least inspiring pick I have. He's pretty good. A relatively tame list. Post yours. And sell me your finals tickets.

Yeah I can't tell if it is a level of trolling or level of deep insecurity that my mind can't wrap around with that guy. Some of his posts have also made me pull the trigger on a Rivals account just to comment... but then I remember I don't wanna pay money to get mad on a wrestling forum.

125 Flynn dec. Cruz 3-0 MINN 133 Ayala dec. Wells 3-3 TIED 141 Vombaur maj. Schriever or Block 7-3 MINN 149 Parco dec. Roberts 7-6 MINN 157 Askey dec. Teemer 10-6 MINN 165 Caliendo dec. Sparks 10-9 MINN 174 Brands dec Whiting 10-12 IOWA 184 McEnelly dec. Arnold 13-12 MINN 197 Buchanan maj. Salazar 13-16 IOWA HWT Gable tech. Kueter 18-16 MINN Essentially got the Gophers wrestling the perfect match here. 157 is the deciding match IMO. Brands goes and it could cause a stir! I think the McEnelly loss here will be a major one in the Gabe Arnold story down the road.

He was consistently ranked in the top 12 range of 174. Only reason I remember him is because he got pinned by Rutgers's Jackson Turley in the Round of 12 in 2021. They traded a few blows back and forth since but that tournament was the best year both wrestlers had.

I'm a generous guy who sees the positives in others, what can I say? Jimmy may be more generous than me though.

Oh yeah, that was rough. I am glad he got to retire on a somewhat decent finish at NCAAs (still bad by OSU standards, I know), and it seems like John is happier now in photos I have seen of him since.

Arnold is going to take 7th, say he did not "reach the ultimate goal," but is "pretty proud" of pulling himself together and rebounding after a tough loss in (insert round you think he loses in here). He will mention that he knows a lot of people are "talking a lot of trash" online about him (us), but that it ultimately does not matter. Someone will ask him about the Starocci call-outs, and he will say that those are "irrelevant at this point."

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I always feel like things weren't the same for John Smith at OSU after this incident.

Gonna have to wait for the Flo film on it before I make my guess.

If this mantra dictated the sport, we'd see Columbia, Drexel, Rutgers etc. as the peak programs of the country. Living in one of the major cities that houses one of those teams has only made me wonder why so many people want to live here.

Maybe it's all a part of the act. He just wakes up to take that picture of the clock every morning before getting another 2 hours of sleep.

I admit I was a bit careless when it comes to that oversight.

Ok, so with the dust settling now, we need to answer 2 important questions about Bo's future? 1. How long until Minnow drops "love the kid regardless" act and starts ragging on him like the rest of the Iowa camp? 2. Which future PSU star will be beating him over the next 4 years of dual meets?

I saw him outside Live! Casino last night. Guess he's getting a head start on the travel to NCAAs.

That is a fate worse than being banned entirely.

The actual one or the adopted one? I'm sorry, I don't know the family dynamic as well as others.

Bo Bassett commits to nowhere, retires after the match tonight; leaves shoes on the mat.

These are certainly words.

I am not sure if refuse is the word I'd pick, but most kids who get waved an Ivy League education in their face are not going to turn it down for Rutgers (which is the case for a lot of these Delbarton kids) I think the environment is far too distracting to expect kids to fully invest their energy into athletics. At the same time though, it is a big part of its draw for students who see a career after athletics are done. Slavikouski has consistently spoken in interviews about how Rutgers's business school is ideal for his aspirations after wrestling with it being so close to New York City.

Fair enough, but even then, the win over Keck is infinitely more impressive than a win over Teemer.

I was about to say you had some sound logic on this one until I noticed this. Good season so far, but not good enough to place him over 4 NCAA titles.

While still a great career, it would also be the funniest possible outcome for his career.

Seeing him and Palacio beef online right now is the first time I have wished both sides in an argument lose.

Great city. I will be there on Friday! Ben wrestled for the club team, which is NWCA affiliated. I wrestled for them too, and there is not much crossover with the actual D1 team. That being said, he was pretty damn good! Eh, I see what you mean. As someone who sees no end to his frustrating love of RU Wrestling, the progress that has been made has come at a rather ... glacial pace. At this point, I would rather Goodale stopped giving his "high expectations" speech when media day rolls around every preseason. The win over Illinois was certainly nice, but it doesn't mean you don't give the same fire to Minnesota the next week. Consistency as a dual team is what the program struggles with most (which is crazy, considering Goodale loves duals). BUT - as previously mentioned in this forum, we are not getting the best of the best in Jersey. When we have, it has sadly blown up in our face more than it hasn't (see: Camplottano, Glasgow, Aragona). The success stories we have had with some our AA's shows that we have developed some real diamonds in the rough (Shawver, Perrotti, Theobold, etc.), but have yet to really develop any blue chipper types into world beaters like upper echelon of the B1G have. What can be done to change this? I don't think the issues of a distracting location (aka Jersey's proximity to NYC, beaches, etc.) can be so easily rectified; that is what it is. I have always thought that creating a pipeline outside of the Garden State would be the most beneficial to the program, and I think we will start to see that as that appears to be where the program is headed. The issue with having an all-NJ room used to be that these guys all wrestled each other for years, and only really trained to beat one another. In terms of coaching, I think the move for RU now should be find that assistant who can learn the administrative/promotional end that Goodale has gotten down pat. They did drop the ball with that on Pritzlaff, but finding even younger blood than that might be what the program needs in the end.

Gotta hop in and say something about this before I head off to work graveyard shift tonight - This may be the most embarrassing beatdown from PSU that the hawks have gotten. Every result is pretty disgusting to read. Between this & the Arnold stuff, my stance on dumping Brands is starting to shift ever so slightly.