CHROMEBIRD

Wanna take a crack at an all-POTUS team with wrestlers from 1990 and earlier? I wonder if it would be tougher since it's before parents started giving their kids last names as first names... Cooper, Tanner, Ryder, Carson, Haden, etc.

Cruz is a tough kid, but Lilledahl is going to throttle him. Luke will be wrestling with a chip on his shoulder after the Rutgers dual, and he'll be at home at his first Nit-Hawk (uh). And Cruz is more likely to push the action rather than wrestle a chess match, which will translate into a bunch of points of Lilledahl. I can't really see Terry coaching Cruz into suddenly being more selective with his attacks.

Damn

Feels like a majority of folks here expect MM to at least major Caliendo. What do y'all think about Cal's chances if he bumped up and wrestled Haines? Leave Teemer at 157 and slot in Estrada at 165 (does he still have a match to burn?). I mean, it likely won't put a dent in the dual score but I think Caliendo's odds are a little better against Haines. Much better than Kennedy's, anyway. Would be a fun match either way.

Doesn't NWCA have a 235lb weight class outside of NCAA & NAIA wrestling? I have a hard time imagining a new weight being added but it wouldn't be a such a bad idea to bring college weights closer in-line with UWW Senior FS weight classes to mitigate some tweener situations between college and freestyle (e.g., Vito). Dunno how to adjust the existing weights equitably so that there's a good fit with FS and accommodate 18 year olds entering college. Either way, the current NCAA weights seem more or less due for a review, if not a tweaking, if that hasn't already happened.

No bet!

Total TDs = 22* * but if we're going with closest to the total without going over, then I'll change my answer to 1

Mat IQ: KOT

Based on this thread, the O/U seems to be 2.5 matches that swing Iowa's way. I'd be tempted to take the over on that, even though it's PSU at BJC.

@bnwtwg deserves a bonus point for neat margins

Damn whippersnappers! Back in my day we wrestled on concrete in the snow, uphill in burlap singlets. The head coach was paid in clear broth soups. Chowder if anyone AAed.

I would love to see a Ferrari run into a Barr at Nationals

Y.. yes? Your upper extremities are your arms, starting from the shoulder joint. Anyway, it seems like Drake's left shoulder has been in rough shape for some time now. Maybe he's got the Kemdog special.

I think he disclocated his shoulder a few weeks ago, looked like he reinjured it in his last out against Michigan. I didn't think he'd finish the match.

Maybe Cannon should heal up so he's good for the postseason. He has not been looking great.

I'm not sure about AA, but dude will be a landmine in his bracket for sure

HEW? Maybe some dodgeball will help.

Also I am insulted that Mike Tyson's face was spliced-in over Mr. T!!

125 Lilledahl maj Cruz - Lil Luke comes off a loss with guns blazing in front of a home crowd. 4-0 PSU 133 Ayala maj Davis - Home cookin' won't save Davis, gets sloppy and Ayala turns him for backs. 4-4 141 Bartlett dec Rhodes - Rhodes will be way overmatched, but I think Bartlett will lowkey wrestle an even-keeled controlled match. 7-4 149 SVN dec Parco - Parco wrestles tight and doesn't take a shot, SVN wins the scrambles. 10-4 157 Teemer dec Kasak - Teemer's physicality will be a problem for Kasak and the refs will force action from Jacori since this won't be at CHA. Gas tank will be tested. 10-7 165 Mesenbrink maj Caliendo - I'd like to see Caliendo narrow the gap, but how do you even pull together a match strategy against Mes? MM wins on pace and blows it open in the third period. 14-7 174 Haines dec Kennedy - Rooting for PK, but Haines' style will give him problems. 17-7 184 Starocci dec Arnold - Gabe's explosiveness will be a non-factor and I expect more of an old school Kemerer-Starocci style grinder. 20-7 197 - Barr dec Buchanan - Barr wins this one by a takedown at BJC but Buchanan wins at Big Tens. 23-7 286 - Kerk dec Keuter - Expecting a snoozer, not that it will matter at this point. 26-7 PSU final TB: 184

Shoulder?

The most eye-opening part of this take is that APR still exists. I'm surprised the NCAA hasn't been sued yet, since that seems to be the way things go these days

You literally said: " if you don't want to come to Harvard to play FB or BB because you're not getting paid, guess what, someone will." - and I said yeah, kids are leaving the Ivy League in basketball. No idea about football. I also said that while opting-out won't have much effect on wrestling, it could have enough of an effect on FB/BB that the schools actually take a closer look at D3. Btw, even smart athletes in non-revenue sports can be swayed when the decision is paying their own way through an Ivy League school with no real NIL prospects vs. Stanford/Duke/Northwestern/Michigan/UVA/UCLA (etc) + athletic scholarship and even small NIL money.

That's what I'm saying - I love that the Ivies are putting what they have to offer against NIL cash. But the transfer portal and NIL deals chipping away at their model, like we see in basketball (Okpara, Mack, Wolf, etc.). And transfers have a disproportionate effect on Ivy league schools because so few are admitted and fewer students are allowed to transfer-in. So lost headcount in a class is pretty much gone. It's a small number now, but when kids without need-based financial assistance are presented with a choice between paying their own way through an Ivy League school vs. scholarship money and NIL deals elsewhere, even smart kids will be tempted to forego a payday. The individual NIL sponsorships Ivy League schools allow are minuscule compared to what the collectives have to offer.

Good on the Ivies for taking a principled stance. I don't think it'll affect wrestling much if at all. Recruitment, retention, and administration will be as tough as it has ever been for coaches in the Ivy environment. Maybe we'll see a very watered-down version of the "feeder school" trap that the revenue sports are worried about, with talented kids getting poached. I guess the bigger worry would be if opting-out could affect enough football and basketball players that it cascades down into other problems (lost enrollment, inability to find good coaches, and such) to the point that the Ivy League reclassifies to D3. Seems like there's been a low hum in the background for a while now about finding a better fit down in D3. The policies will definitely be more in-line with the Ivies' philosophy of academics and athletic governance.

Do you have any other examples? Seems like Gable, Cael, Brands (also John Smith) have/had good relationships with their ADs and schools because they win titles or are running wrestling programs with a storied history of success. And Stanford Athletics prioritizes Olympic sports and winning the Directors Cup, and Princeton and its peers have the whole Ivy Agreement thing so idk how much upward management was involved with Ayers.