CHROMEBIRD

I think the current rule is based on competition dates rather than matches, so it would depend on how many days the athlete competes at national duals

"Sweep the one leg"

Maybe it's also market dynamics at work? Football, basketball, even soccer have pro leagues that pay well and draw big audiences. I'm not saying it's the only reason, or even right one since most athletes won't ever turn pro, but the "non-warrior mindset" sports you mentioned at least incentivize athletes and their families to put in their time and investment into those sports.

The food noise thing is pretty wild. Is the psychological effect the result of the drug curbing your appetite, or is your appetite curbed because the drug eliminates brain noise? Kind of a chicken and egg thing.

But NCAA wrestlers rep institutions; MMA fighters, boxers, PGA golfers do not. Or are you saying college wrestling should go completely individual? Selected wrestlers pulled onto a fight card instead of duals & team scoring + all open tournaments? I am trying to imagine that.

Agreed. A dual based championship is the most digestible postseason format. Casuals love watching their favorite teams advance through a bracket (or something very similar to it, like college baseball regionals to championship bracket, or soccer's group play to knockout bracket). They're not going to follow the team scoring at the individual NCAA tournament. I love the current championship format but wouldn't be mad if it was replaced with a dual tournament, which I think would be more exciting AND put much more weight into regular season duals. USAW could then make the US Open the marquee individual national wrestling event.

A lot of public universities have a tough time scraping by on the funding they have, esp when they don't have a huge endowment or financial administration to manage their investment funds. Sonoma State just cut 6 academic departments, 25 majors, and their entire athletics program today and they're D2/no football.

Looking forward to EV Battery Braedon

Dunno what the story is with his wrestling or health, but according to Wrestlestat he's lost 5 of the 7 matches by inj def, won 1, and won 1 by DQ to Baylor Fernandes. That last one was a big surprise, I know.

Because most people would want a dual championship to matter? Until now, dual championships haven't had much success because wrestlers are far more focused on seed protection and peaking for Nationals. If we want duals to really matter, the sport would either need to get rid of the individual championship tournament or incentivize wrestlers & teams to fully participate in duals and a dual championship and not just NCAAs.

Maybe helpful to guys like Jarrod Verkleeren, but it probably doesn't matter too much under current weight management protocol. While GLP-1s promote satiety, I thought they do it by actually slowing down your metabolic rate so the digestive process is prolonged and your blood glucose levels are smoothed out. This sounds like something @billyhoyle or @wrestlingnerd would know about.

It won't be a Greco match, but it also will be

Northwestern and Michigan would like to have a word with you. And the word will be multisyllabic.

I agree with this, even though I'd like to see Mendez vs. Parco. It would also do DDE dirty, so there's that. But even if Mendez bumps up and loses, it'd likely be a decision at worst so tOSU would net out a minimum of +1 on the team score if Davino can bonus Jace, which wouldn't be a tall ask. If Mendez and DDE stay put, Jesse would have to at least tech Rhodes to net out more team points than the bump-up-and-lose scenario; but if Mendez bumps up and he and Davino both win that's probably a +7pt swing for the Buckeyes.

I mean, he's no Gary Steen

Can't wait to see a kid do the Nishiyama Daddy Daddy at NCAAs

The correct answer is to actually copy tennis. After a kid loses, they get slotted into a doubles tournament for a tag team championship.

I seem to remember our own JB mentioning for years that a team-based championship would probably be better for our sport. While the individual tournament cannot be denied, I'm inclined to agree. A team format requires more strategic coaching, allows backups a chance to compete in a championship, and encourages wrestlers to get after bonus points. You could also see guys bump up and down a weight in the same tournament, which might be interesting. Probably more fun for casuals to watch and pick up on the sport. My only modification would be to randomly draw the weight class to start the dual (rather than starting at 125) or better, randomly draw weight classes after each match so it's completely shuffled and requires more on-the-fly coaching adjustments to the lineup. Also, free bourbon and ice cream during intermission.

Has Bassett taken an unofficial visit to UM? That's the only school on the list where he hasn't taken or planned an official, though it's hard to discount Michigan's NIL coffers as @bnwtwg mentioned

What a journey it has been to arrive at a final 7 that's a surprise to no one.

Much appreciation for the SIDs who put out dual & match notes for wrestling.

A lot of the discussion has been focused on the commentary, but poor broadcasting to me is more about having a reliable stream & audio that doesn't cut out, showing the scores and RT, keeping the camera on the action - like bread and butter stuff that we have grown accustomed to being mishandled. As for the student commentators, the learn-on-the-job model is a good one. Ideally, an inexperienced person on the mic would be paired with a seasoned commentator or pro, though I realize that's not realistic in our sport.

Do the schools still put out media guides before duals? Those were always a great resource. This board is also a goldmine for background content and commentary fodder. Why did they change the pacing from match to match? Ads?

How does Cuba select its reps?

We'll probably get a sense of how Lee vs. Vito would go based on the Ono match, even if it's transitive property logic. I'm looking forward to Valencia vs. Brooks but hope everyone goes at 100%. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to see guys open things up, but I wouldn't want to see it too loosey goosey either since the stakes aren't super high.