Jon_Kozak

lol I love the forums - I'm usually on them most days but we had a little family get away the past few days so that spared me from getting caught in the weeds of my Ryder Block error.

Hey sorry for the delay - just checked the forums today. Yeah, it's a bad ranking...it happens from time to time. Most times we catch it before it gets to this point but Block slipped through the cracks. You'll remember last year I had to answer for dropping Maida 18 spots and this year I have to answer for not dropping Block. It'll be fixed on Monday...unless he beats Bartlett tonight of course

Marsteller was teched by Magomed Ramazanov (eventual Olympic champ) in about 90 seconds at the 2024 Zagreb Open almost exactly one year ago. https://www.flowrestling.org/video/11848336-86-kg-semifinal-chance-marsteller-usa-vs-magomed-ramazanov-bul

Appreciate the kind words - I didn't have anything to do with the making of Young Bucks but I read your post to Bader

No luck - have to type out all of the results too so that's been fun!

I've got results rolling in this article with a link to the brackets - https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/13359017-2024-soldier-salute-wrestling-tournament-results Midlands results are here for those interested - https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/13358672-2024-midlands-wrestling-championships-results-and-brackets all free for my friends here to view and enjoy

Braxton Amos is not wrestling at Midlands. Originally he and several other Wisconsin wrestlers were registered but I've since heard from the Wisconsin coaching staff that they're not sending any wrestlers to Midlands.

IMO AJ Ferrari's resume is not comparable to Gable Steveson's. Gable Steveson Wins over: #1 Kerkvliet #2 Hendrickson #7 Ghadiali #9 Schultz #10 Luffman NCAA finishes - 1st, 1st, 3rd Missed 2 NCAA Tournaments Lost to Anthony Cassar - NCAA Champion Won 2 Hodge Trophies AJ Ferrari Wins over #1 Buchanan #10 Novak NCAA finish - 1st Missed 3 NCAA Tournaments Lost to Noah Adams - 3X NCAA Qualifier, never AAd Gable has 3 full seasons of data and more head-to-head wins over the current field than AJ. It's a similar situation but it's certainly not the same.

Mendez lost to Cole Matthews and Beau Bartlett last year. Alirez beat Cole Matthews and Beau Bartlett while going undefeated two years ago. It's really that simple. I know it might seem weird because Mendez is the returning NCAA champ and beat Alirez in freestyle. However, we've never counted freestyle results for college rankings and nothing happened in that match - traded shot clock points and Mendez got a step out.

She's the last match in the session that starts at 12:15 pm (ET) so I'd guess somewhere between 2:30pm and 3:00pm (ET).

I agree that there shouldn't be an asterisk but unfortunately many will say there is - especially at 74 kg where Sidakov has established himself as the best guy in the world and is only being kept out due to things outside of his control. I think there's room for a nuanced conversation here - it's different than 1984 primarily because there are so many Russians in the field. 25% of the bracket at 74 kg are Russians....there are 17 total Russians across every weight in men's freestyle

This argument doesn't really apply considering the circumstances around Sidakov making the 2023 team. Sidakov was allowed to sit out of Russian Nationals in 2023 because of his previous accomplishments. The Russian Wrestling Federation said the 74 kg spot would be determined by the winner of Russian Nationals vs Sidakov. Chermen Valiev won Russian Nationals over Timur Bizhoev and Sidakov beat Valiev in August of 2023. Valiev was originally supposed to wrestle Sidakov at the Commonwealth Cup but requested more time in between Russian Nationals and the wrestle-off. So Sidakov used the Commonwealth Cup as a "tune-up" event for his world team wrestle-off with Valiev.

Man thanks for all of the kind words guys - genuinely means a lot. Planning on doing more of this type of video - especially rolling into the Olympics. It's tough during the regular season (college) cus our video guys travel most weekends and then I practically spend all day Monday on rankings but the new studio will help with pumping these out with more frequency. And for the record, Christian, JD and Tyler are some of my closest friends (so I'm obviously biased) - they do a great job with FRL. I understand the rabbit trails and jokes aren't for everyone but idk of another wrestling podcast that puts out the content they do with the same level of competitence and consistency.

Judging a new coach by his first year doesn't make much sense. Dubuque has the team that coach Ayres built. What would have been different this year if Ayres stayed?

Alejandro Valdes Tobier is listed at 65kg for Cuba - he'll be the toughest guy in the bracket for Nick Lee to get past IMO. Valdes is a two-time world bronze medalist (2017 and 2018) and had a really close match with Yianni at Pan-Ams last year https://www.flowrestling.org/video/10957823-65-kg-gold-yianni-diakomihalis-usa-vs-alejandro-valdes-cub He also has notable freestyle wins over Khinchegeshvili, Bekbulatov, Haji Aliyev, Franklin Gomez, and even Coleman Scott. Valdes is listed at 35 years old though so definitely past his prime but still super crafty. That said, if Nick Lee gets rolling early, I wouldn't be surprised if he wins handily.