BuckyBadger

I can’t recall another wrestler who consistently beats himself the way he does. The guy either dominates or forces big moves and gets put to his back.

Completely irresponsible, you really should triple check before you post something like that.

Yep. Or if Vito uses up all his injury time.

I think we have to distinguish between fundamentalist proselytizers and guys that are just religious. Brooks, Carr and Kerk make the All-proselytizer team, with Brooks probably taking OW over Carr (although Carr’s ridiculous homemade headband gives Brooks a good run). Everyone else are just humble to not so humble believers.

Can’t see Fix’s tactics working against Vito. He’s going to have to open up and wrestle to have a chance, even if it’s a small one.

@PacMan No excuses here, he lost fair and square. But hitting your head like that is obviously going to have an impact on performance. I think the third place match proved that.

3rd place rematch suggests otherwise.

The Cardenas match for third will be interesting. Against everyone else he has looked superior. He goes out against a guy like Andonian, totally unfazed by his dangerous and unconventional style. He seems comfortable in those dangerous positions and actually comes out on top in most of them, which I haven’t seen anyone else do against Andonian. Both times he wrestled Cardenas he hasn’t seemed as aggressive and loose in his style. It’s hard to say if that’s because he hit his head or if he just struggles with a real physical type like Cardenas. I’m looking forward to that 3rd place match to see how he performs.

I was surprised how suddenly O’Toole gassed. At the end of the match I don’t think Carr had a great setup or shot as much as O’Toole had nothing left. Credit to Carr for pushing the pace and making it happen, I’ve just never seen O’Toole gas like that.

What is the Natalie’s dog reference?

He’s going to be a really good coach one day, if he chooses to go that route.

Nagao

Ha, another DC wfh guy here too. Got quarterfinal mat cast on the tv and two mats up on my computer (switching back and forth to the matches I want to see up close). Work computer is off to the side, just to monitor email.

Chittum gets majored by Askey.

Given PSUs depth I wouldn’t be surprised if Nagao is out of the lineup after this year.

Very cool resource

When your mom tries to kick you out of the basement again.

With that type of performance they could still win it.

Jason Borelli seems like he has to at least be in the conversation.

@CircleofTruth great post. I agree that those saying Bono can’t develop talent have some blinders on. His time at SDSU speaks to his ability to develop talent. But when you say Askren has no interest in helping UW because he is a Mizzou alum, I think that’s a bit different than actively discouraging his guys from going to UW. There are plenty of successful club coaches that go to school in a different state where they reside and plenty of their guys go to their state school. Askren seems to do everything he can to steer his guys away from UW. I remember an interview with Sinclair where he was asked where UW figured into his recruiting. His response was something like “There are 82 DI programs so UW is 83”. I’m guessing that isn’t coming from some bad experience he had with Bono and his staff. It’s obvious UW won’t reach their potential or even close to it unless they can keep most of the top in-state recruits and that isn’t happening, whether Askren is being fair or not.

I can see how most athletic departments will disappear or be dramatically scaled down in the coming years, but why do you think what’s going on with athletics will lead to whole universities closing? Wouldn’t they just cut the fat instead (athletic departments, DEI offices, armies of administrators etc)?

The financial end of universities as a whole or just university athletic departments?

Maybe basketball can pull that off, even at Dartmouth. But wrestling? How do you think most ADs will take to money losing wrestling programs making collective bargaining demands?

Lovett match from a few weeks ago is a good example. Last year at NCAAs against Parco is another. He tried to force a move right at the end of the period when he was either up or had choice. Got put to his back and spent the rest of the match taking risks to catch up.

Gomez is a wild card because he often tries to force big moves and gets himself in trouble. But when he is on and not wresckless, it won’t be a surprise if he wins it all.