CHROMEBIRD

Badge of honor

I was wondering what happened to him, too. He was a good dude and I enjoyed his contributions. Big loss for our community.

Not sure, but I think Otto was supposed to be the high-powered 141, but he just transferred to a JC and it's not even clear that he was ever enrolled at Iowa. Contingency was probably Rotchy or Estrada, but they can't make the weight. Brands will probably shop the portal for a 1-2 season rental. Dunno if BB would go 141 the year after next.

Maybe he could use a change of scenery... switch RTCs or go train with international clubs to add to his repertoire and evolve his style. I also won't discount that Synder is happy where he's at and the results he's getting. While winning gold medals is the ultimate goal, he's still out there competing and making the world team, he's got sponsors, and he's got family and his bible bros supporting him. Snyder's been having fun and making a living doing what he loves, which isn't the case for a whole lotta people. We had this same discussion about JB not so long ago.

Naw, I felt the pain too.

Yes, Iowa and tOSU are well aware of the Nickal crisis

Something something Fought Knox something something No Gold

Spencer did it a few years ago, and missed having 100% bonus in the regular and postseason if he didn't beat Brandon Courtney by "just" 7-0 in the NCAA finals. I think Taylor may have also, but that might have been just beyond the last decade. There are probably others who would've had 100% bonus had they competed in the 3pt takedown era. Nolf and Stieber come to mind.

I thought Ono held back a little bit in the back half of the match as well. I figured it was a combination of discipline like you mentioned, and not putting it all out there and giving Spencer any more of a feel for his wrestling.

Ono said he will try to qualify for U23 Worlds next month, so we'll see which weight he ends up at. I believe the U23 qualifier in Japan is around the same time as the Senior Asian Championships, and I don't think he'll be at both. Kinda wild to see Ono and Higuchi being gun shy about this year's Senior Worlds but I guess it's pretty early in the cycle.

Wasn't this when Spencer was still banged up? I mean who knows how much of a feel either got for the other. I get that Ono may be scouted by now for his unorthodox setups and what not, but it's hard to gameplan for his speed & strength.

Yeah, it makes logical sense, I just wanted to see the match and think Ramos would probably be in good shape seeding-wise for NCAAs regardless. It's too bad there's no good way to give "quad 1" type wins (like basketball) much more weight without punishing wrestlers in less stacked conferences.

This is a good point. Of the current wrestlers, it drives me nuts when Nagao throws in double boots and does essentially nothing on top. He's been doing that since high school though, and I get that it's a hard habit to break. Especially when there's probably some added BJJ muscle memory.

Can Anthony even get admitted?

I think he's a lock for the #1 seed at Big Tens too, but his coaches may be looking ahead and protecting his record for Nationals. Not that I agree with it, nor does Ramos need the seed protection.

Great analysis. Your last sentence gets to the crux of it for me. I like Spencer's chances if he can score early and put things more or less out of reach in the first period, mostly because I'm still a little skeptical of his gas tank. If Ono can survive Spencer's first period/early second period offense and scramble tough, he can win it on speed and conditioning esp if one is put on the shot clock and has to GO late in the match.

Will it have any impact on his recruitment? I assume not, but it sounds like dad could be a headache for Grey to deal with.

Looks like Stanford's AD is on his way out. Hopefully, Cardinal students, fans, and alumni will get the new director to also commit to keeping its non-revenue sports https://espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/44001495/bernard-muir-expected-resign-stanford-athletic-director

Wasn't there also a Jaime Taco and a Johnny Dunkin Donuts at one point? They should all wrestle-off for the spot.

Thanks. If you re-read my post though, I said OU makes a lot more than non-SEC and non-Big Ten schools. Also, I don't think the current revenue distribution #s are out but the amounts in that article are pre-consolidation and includes the Pac-12. The B1G has more schools splitting the pot than the SEC now, even with Oregon and Washington on a ramp-up revenue plan. Regardless of who makes the most though, there's clearly a big gap between B1G & SEC and everyone else. That gap will widen with the new CFP model in 2026.

That's true, but there's no denying that NIL and the transfer portal has exacerbated things for wrestling. D1 wrestling is becoming a reflection of what we see in other sports: the biggest, wealthiest programs attract the best talent and everyone else becomes a feeder school. If a kid from a small program makes a deep run at Nationals and AAs (or better), there's a 100% chance that deep pocketed programs will try to lure him away. The whole concept of having to re-recruit your roster at the end of every season is exhausting. Maybe the NCAA should impose a transfer fee, similar to what the UWW does when athletes switch nationalities. New school reimburses the old program for the loss of talent (sliding scale based on the athlete's prior performance at the school) and investment in training & resources that went into developing them. The NCAA would probably get sued for it, though.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Oklahoma in the years to come. Their athletics department has tons of SEC media money pouring in, much much more than what the non-SEC & B1G programs make, so I'm curious to see how much of it trickles down to wrestling once the pay-for-play dust settles.

For both guys, much of the variability lies in their draw. But all things being equal, do you slot in a 70% healthy Nelson or a 90% healthy Kennedy? I'm making up the numbers but imagine they're somewhere in that ballpark.

I really enjoyed the "kid is going to be a four-timer" era.

No. Different move.