ugarles

let's keep it simple: the NCAA isn't going to say "don't come" - especially because the crowd loved it.

hmm. you're better connected than me, so... why would they ruin the early session!?

Based on my posting history, I don't think that it's a big mystery that I am an outlier (but not alone) on this board as a committed left-wing woke menace, but imo Trump's appearance last night ruined the Saturday afternoon session. I say this knowing that the Finals crowd collectively loved his appearance as did many (most? almost all? probably) of the wrestlers. THAT SAID... The medal rounds on Saturday morning are one of my favorite sessions. It isn't the pageantry of the finals or the tension of the blood round or the pandemonium of the opening round, but it is overachievers trying to climb further up the ladder. It's top-seeded wrestlers trying to finish a wrecked season on a high. It's shocking matchups like Kasak-Shapiro. It's a blast. I haven't seen this written about elsewhere,^ but the planning for his arrival at night security for the morning session was serious. You had to walk past a dog who was much more likely to be sniffing for weapons than drugs held by a guy in tactical gear. There was secret service everywhere, also in tactical gear.^^ That wasn't really the issue, though. The issue was that they changed how they run the early session. Instead of having three mats, they had four. Instead of running the Consolation semis as a first-mat-open, then having 3/5/7 go weight-by-weight on three mats, they had the entire session run on four mats in a first-mat-open format as if we were in Fargo. As a Cornell guy, I had three wrestlers in the consolation semis (packed from 157-184) then those same three guys all wrestling for fifth (don't want to talk about it...) and they were repeatedly overlapping with each other. I'm sure it was worse for the Penn State fans, who covered half the bill for third place. Nobody seems to have talked about it online, but this was obviously a request/demand made by the Secret Service to the NCAA and ESPN. They wanted to run through the afternoon session as quickly as possible, clear the arena, then sweep it tip to tail before the President arrived in case anything got past security in the morning session. I understand why they would do it, so i don't begrudge the security priority if Trump is going to come, but all things being the same, I'd rather have the guy invite the winners to the White House and watch from home so we can have a traditional Session 5. ^ I didn't look very hard... ^^ I assume all of this was even more pronounced for the evening session when he was present. It was certainly the case at the MMA event at MSG Trump went to with Musk and his cabinet-in-waiting.

nobody's going to talk about the elephant in the room, huh?

he tried to roll under and grab an ankle on a mat return to force a stalemate. instead he dove straight into a cradle.

Mosha Schwartz learning to his dismay that a guy wrestling in an early consolation round is not spongeworthy. (He wanted a review for neutral danger.) Then it doesn't matter because Saunders gasses and Schwartz gets a pair of TDs in the third. What the hell is going on at Penn State? Did they all have the same Philly clam tartare?

i know lol but it came up as i was about to rant about bailey

is this about Nasir Bailey? I loved the way he took the fight to Vito in the UALR-Cornell dual last year and cheered his run to 4th but this tournament has been all backing up. He beat Ferrara because a first period jammed thumb gave Bailey a free escape point and the ref was slow to call stalling in the third.

i am a bitter atheist but i don't have a problem with religion, per se. but i know a bs-er when i see one.

I guess it can't be Wolak if he pulls it off two years in a row.

125: #18 Moran over #15 Renteria (Pablo: Moran) 133: #23 Spidle over #10 Shawver (Pablo: Shawver) #21 Rini over #12 Oakley (Pablo: Rini) #18 Farber over #15 Noto (Pablo: Noto*) 141: #18 Tagg over #15 Olivieri (Pablo: Olivieri) #20 Saunders over #13 Carter (Pablo: Saunders) #21 Chappell over #12 Latona (Pablo: Latona) 149: #33 Travis* over #32 Denkins (Pablo: Travis, but...) #29 Gioffre over #4 Johnson (Pablo: Johnson*) #19 Rutgers over #14 Lamer (Pablo: Lamer) #17 Abas over #16 McDaniel (Pablo: Abas) 157: #23 Saldate over #10 Miller (Pablo: Miller*) #20 Chumbley over #13 Hill (Pablo: Chumbley) 165: #33 Amaker over #32 Keslar (Pablo: Keslar) #19 Thomsen over #14 Rhodes (Pablo: Rhodes) #18 Mayfield over #15 Ruiz (Pablo: Ruiz) 174: #33 Wilson over #32 McGill (??? - Pablo had the UALR guy) #25 Harkins over #8 Pinto (Pablo: Pinto) #24 Wolak over #9 Karchla (Pablo: Karchla) #23 Gaitan over #10 Cramer (Pablo: Gaitan*) #21 Ogunsanya over Takats (Pablo: Ogunsanya) #18 Sax over #15 Augustine (Pablo: Augustine) 184: #20 Fine over #13 Bockman (Pablo: Bockman) 197: #26 Zurawski over #7 Voelker (Pablo: Voelker) #25 Brophy over #8 Surber (Pablo: Surber) #24 Sollars over #9 Braunagel (Pablo: Braunagel) #23 Shumate over #10 Salazar (Pablo: Salazar) #19 Smth over #14 Glazier (Pablo: Glazier) 285: #33 Filipovich over #32 Monchery (Pablo: Filipovich) #22 Colbert over #11 Mullen (Pablo: Colbert) Obviously, this is one sided. Pablo picked 8 seed-upsets but I am not doing the work of looking for Pablo-upsets. I threw a few asterisks on matches where, whether Pablo got it right or wrong, it indicated that the higher seed that lost was seeded far too high.

waiting for Flo to (re)post the session 1 upsets to compare Pablo to seeds...

stout on stout action comin'

So Bailey got hit for stalling 4 times in the third and won on RT? yuck

Love that Milani won his 125 prelim. Wasn't a starter at the beginning of the year, wasn't supposed to be the starter with Ungar trying to move down. Upset Sotelo to get into the tournament, avoids the BBQ. Sure, he's getting tossed into a woodchipper against Lilledahl, but that's not the point!

Fernandez v Whelan first round is a rematch of an upset in the Ivy semis Ramirez 3x R12 has another tricky path to the podium. Barraclough in the QF and the blood round is always tough but potential candidates (aside from the top-12 seeds that are a danger to everyone) are Paddy Gallagher and Ivy rival Cesar Alvan (who he has beaten, but has put real scares into him).

It's true. There are plenty of people who wrestled the same four pre-2025 seasons as Starocci. The difference between Starocci and the others is that Starocci is undefeated in the postseason.

Removing placement points: Penn St.: 150 (-3.5) Iowa: 87 (0 - Pablo has Iowa with 7 AAs who all lose medal round matches lol) Ok. St.: 76.5 (-1) Nebraska: 69 (-1.5) Ohio St.: 59 (-1.5) Minnesota: 46 (-1.5 leapfrogs Illinois) Illinois: 45.5 (-2.5) N. Iowa: 41.5 (-2) Cornell: 34 (-1) Mizzou: 32.5 (-1) I keep thinking about what a miserable Saturday that would be for Iowa fans. You get 7 guys going in the afternoon and evening and it's just loss after loss from Ayala to Buchanan.

almost certainly not. i mean, it's america - anyone can sue for anything - but i don't know what damages anyone can claim they suffered that you could assign a monetary value to. it's more likely that you could convince a judge to issue an injunction but it's probably already too late to sue for that since you've had days to think about it and the tournament starts tomorrow.

It was meant to be back-of-a-napkin; all of the flaws you point out are ones I was aware of - that's why I put all the methodology (lol) up front. This is the same thing unless you mean "did I award advancement points in the consolation bracket." I did. I learned from reading another thread today that my calclations are already a little off because I gave an advancement point for winning the title match and that's apparently wrong. My scoring was: 1: 5+16=21 2: 4+12=16 3: 3+1+10=14 4: 3+.5+9=12.5 5: 2+1+7=10 6: 2+.5+6=8.5 7: 2+1+4=7 8: 2+.5+3=5.5 I am not going to go back and fix it, but if medal rounds do not get advancement points, all champs would lose a point for team score and all 3/5/7 would lose .5 for team score.

Please, I beg you. Go to the cities you think are on fire. They are fine. We are fine. I have no other comment on this because I have no interest in getting into political arguments on a college wrestling board. I'm with @NormMacDonald (RIP).

I would be stunned if they rescore the season. Any effect it might have on seeding would be swamped by the risk that they learn something that alters the scoring of the at-large pool. They aren't even letting the guy he beat in the conference tournament take his automatic bid.

hell, can't anyone? Using standard tournament scoring, assuming everything is chalk according to Pablo rating, nobody gets bonus points, and I only account for medal winners (no advancement points for anyone Pablo-ranked below top-8), here are the top 10: Penn St.: 153.5 Iowa: 87 Ok. St.: 77.5 Nebraska: 70.5 Ohio St.: 60.5 Illinois: 48 Minnesota: 47.5 N. Iowa: 43.5 Cornell: 35 Mizzou: 33.5 I did this by hand, so the odds I screwed up a little are incalculable.

Did you post projected team standings based on the revamped Pablo? Could you?

You're thinking in terms of how it affects the ultimate accuracy; I was thinking more like a dreary bean counter. It isn't much of a concern; I'm bored at work.