Pa in Taiwan

It would take the right guy to pull that off. We would need someone with excellent upper body strength. I vote for Max McEnelly from Minnesota. He's really strong, and he's VERY confident for a freshman. I agree with you that CStar would go nuts if he got thrown. McEnelly should throw him in the first period. Get the takedown and then hold him on his back for 4 near fall points. From then on, try to control the match. Carter would be stunned and would find it difficult to get his rhythm. In addition, McEnelly has excellent reattack shots that could result in a second takedown. If upper body mode is the way to go, McEnelly is the guy to pull it off.

I would say it's much more likely that Oklahoma State would find a way to win against Iowa than the scenario that you describe, with Iowa wrestlers at 149, 157, and 184 finding ways to win.

30 - 8 Massive beatdown. Kasak big brothered the #1 guy in the country, holding him up like a sack of potatoes in the final seconds to pump his fist. I wonder if he's in the running for the championship this year now? (sarc)

"The two matches we got takedowns in, we won." Heavy copium use here.

I think he will take out Buchanon at some point this year.

Barr shows what giving hips means!

Starocci fails to get a takedown in the entire match. You can't claim that as a decisive victory.

Excellent strategy by Iowa. Ferrari can win this match with one takedown in the third.

The announcers: Steven Grace, Mark Ironside

I'm listening to Iowa Wrestling is On the Air. Both Ironside and the other announcer mentioned that Brands was telling Kennedy to go neutral and he refused.

Kennedy shows some heart and prevents the major with the last-second escape.

Not that it makes a difference.

Brands tells Kennedy to go neutral to start the third period. Kennedy refuses, goes down, and immediately gets an escape.

Ayala is the only Hawkeye with a takedown so far.

I'm listening to the Iowa Wrestling audio of the match. I guess that's Ironsides. They mentioned that Teemer never even tries to ride guys. I have to say that you're never going to win a title this year at 157 if you can't ride. The gopsusports wrestling site is giving me problems here in Taiwan. Maybe there are too many people trying to listen. I'd much prefer to listen to Jeff Byers calling this match, but I'm not complaining.

Why would the original question narrow the bouts down to three matches: two where the Iowa wrestler is ranked #1, and include NO matches in which the PSU wrestler is ranked #1? I mean, the lack of a choice of Messenbrink (#1) vs. Caliendo (#2) shows strong disrespect to Mikey Caliendo, who is undefeated and having a fantastic season. In addition, why isn't Haines (#2) vs. Kennedy (#6) there? Ayala (#3) vs. Davis (#7)? How about Parco (#2) against who he is really wrestling, Van Ness (#4)? I'm not sure if the original question assumes that these aren't going to be competitive matches, which to me would be a grave mistake. Rutgers came out against PSU and some of their guys left it ALL out on the mat. I imagine that Iowa will do the same. Caliendo is going to give it all against Messenbrink. I don't see a major there. It will be closer than last year's matches. I don't think Caliendo has enough to get the job done, but it will be exciting. I think Kasak will take out Teemer. I don't see Arnold having what it takes to give Starocci a loss. My favorite will be Barr vs. Buchanon. I will be pulling for Barr. If he wins, he will go on to win B10s and Nationals, go undefeated this season, and be in position to best Cael with an undefeated university career including the red shirt year. Barr has to attack the entire match like he did in the third period against Rutgers.

Jordan Wood wins a bronze medal with two losses and one win. How does that work?

Yes, this is an interesting topic. I think the legacy of Cael and now his student Taylor is based around the fact that NCAA wrestling is not just two guys bashing each other and showing who is tougher, rinse and repeat from November until March. A major key to winning and scoring points for the team is what goes on in the head. A lot of this is developed in the room by talking about things. Wrestling smart and being smart about things like I mentioned above: scoring points with short time left in the period, always pushing for bonus points, etc. create a culture, both in the room and on the mat. It seems that Oklahoma State showed a lot of that approach on Thursday night. This manifests because the NCAA season is SO LONG and there are so many matches to wrestle. It may be better to roll at 50-60% through positions than to go live in all the practices. This is in strict opposition to what Ono said about wrestling freestyle for Japan. He said that they go full on live in practice ALL THE TIME. I don't know if he means year round or just in preparation for important freestyle tournaments, but, damn, that's impressive, and nobody could argue that it doesn't get results, especially in light of the Japanese men's performance in the past year.

EVERYONE would be gobsmacked if he defeated Steveson. If he goes undefeated until then and is pumped for the match, I could see him at least giving Steveson a match, even scoring on him.

The signs are there. Oklahoma State wrestlers are scoring points near the end of the period. Multiple guys who could have coasted with the decision turned it up and went for bonus points. Hamiti was nonstop in his attacks, both from his feet and from the top. All of these signs bode well for Taylor's team. I really had not thought that he could make such significant, visible changes in the team in such a short time, but they are looking really great. It's clear that everyone has bought in to Taylor as coach, trust him, and want to follow his lead. I think this may be the greatest thing to happen to NCAA wrestling in a long time. I'm not saying anything outrageous or saying that they will challenge PSU this year for the title, but we could see some interesting developments. One more thing: I believe that Taylor will convince Hendrickson that he can beat both Kerk and Steveson. Sparks will fly at heavyweight.

I foresee David Taylor succeeding in having his wrestlers ready for March much in the way that Cael does. Hamiti looked so great in the tech fall against the #4 guy from Virginia Tech at the weight class. If he continues rolling, things will be extremely interesting in March. If he's rolling, he could take out both of these guys.

I have no idea if Facundo beat Kasak, but Cael said clearly in his last interview that there have and will be more wrestle offs.

Nolf made a horrible decision. He beat JB in the Olympic Team Trials, and he could have beaten him and represented the US in this Worlds. He would have had a better chance than JB, and he could very well have taken gold at 79kg. Why would he bail after the Olympic Team Trials? Did he think we was going to win that US$1 million in the grappling tournament when his wrestling experience doesn't translate well into a submission sport?

I'm commenting on the entire US Senior Men's Freestyle system, and it's broken. There is no continuous development of young wrestlers for international competition. Kids get into the NCAAs and focus on folkstyle. Yes, many of the young guns are very good at freestyle, but to be honest, they finish high school and get into the grind of NCAA seasons and they go nowhere in freestyle. Look at Japan; look at Ono. He's a 20-year old kid and he's focused ON FREESTYLE. He wrestles all the time and he works on FREESTYLE positions. The youngsters need experience and competition at this level. Maybe they wouldn't come home with medals, just as the old guard aren't coming home with medals. At least it would result in forward momentum for the program as a whole.

If Taylor makes the bronze medal match and Ghasempour beats him, it will be a pretty poor way to leave competitive Senior Men's Freestyle, with two losses in an abbreviated Worlds. Similar stories for JB and James Greene. My advice is GTFO of the way and let the youngsters get some experience and win some medals.