peanut

With NIL money on the table, why aren't more foreign wrestlers competing in NCAA wrestling? Echemendia and Bastida have done just fine for Iowa State. Imagine what a guy like Masanosuke Ono could do.

Why not get rid of weight classes and placement, except for #1. While we’re at it we could also get rid rules against submissions, rules against striking, and time limits. Each team could bring their baddest athlete to the NCAA tournament, and only one will remain standing at the end of it all. That single individual would be worthy of an NCAA title. Imagine the excitement!

This year, Japan's five lightest weights were totally in beast mode: 57- Higuchi (28) -- gold 61- Ono (20) -- gold (10-2 over Uguev; 12-0 over Vito) 65- Kiyooka (23) -- gold (10-3 over Amouzad) 70- Aoyagi (22) -- silver 74- Takatani (29) -- silver What are they doing that makes them so good?

If NCAA wrestling switched to freestyle we’d probably be able to attract some high-end international talent. It would make college wrestling more exciting IMO.

If that's true, it would be nice to just get the feed directly from UWW.

Ben Honis (Italy) is in the semis with Maisuradze, Ghasempour, and Sadulaev.

Crazy that Sadulaev is only 28 and is looking to win his eighth gold medal. (And that includes 2022, when it appears that he didn’t compete.)

Do these guys get money for competing? If not, why do they do it? Seems like it would disrupt studying, sleep, training, and possibly diet.

The comparison is not perfect, but there are some similarities. MJ played when there were awful expansion teams, meaning less competition. Smith wrestled exclusively in an era of ten weight classes. MJ played before Europeans were commonly in star roles. Smith competed before the post-Soviet era with a bunch of new countries and Russians leaving Russia. MJ played where skills and tactics were less evolved. So did Smith. MJ has the advantage of being retired and properly assessed (rather than still active and dealing with fans whose interests are adverse to theirs). Ditto for Smith. At any rate, no matter how you slice it, MJ and Smith are legends. All respect.

Online, there is a constant debate over whether Jordan or LeBron are the basketball goats. And those two are the only serious contenders for the title. Here, there seems to be some debate as to whether Smith or JB are the goat American wrestlers. And those two are the only serious contenders for the title. (Not to minimize all the other greats. It is really is a petty topic.) So I started to wonder whether there is a correlation between Smith stans and MJ stans, and so on. Let's see what the poll says.

Winning worlds is actually more difficult than winning the Olympics (at least at Olympic weight classes). The Olympics is thought of as having more prestige simply because it has a much wider audience. Aside from more medals, what JB has on Smith is that he won a number of golds in era of only six weight classes (Smith had ten) and after the fall of the USSR. Of course, winning six straight has an undeniable appeal. At the end of the day, GOAT talk is fun but doesn't mean much in reality. Wrestling a chain reaction, a constantly evolving endeavor. If someone inspires you by their work ethic and by their grit and by their performances, that's really all the sport can offer fans.

125- Figueroa 133- Crookham 141- Alirez 149- Henson 157- Kasak 165- MM 174- Haines 184- Cstar 197- Ferrari 285- Kerk

No, I did not.

???

LOL at people trying to mansplain what JB experienced and how he should feel.

He’s likely going to go somewhere with a top RTC. Not sure where Spartan Combat RTC ranks as an RTC, but he’s for sure going to be looking at that.

It's time to give JB his flowers. This is likely his last run.

When you have Haines, Facundo, and Ryder in the room, I don’t know why any PSU 174 pounder would redshirt — unless it’s for burnout.

How is that known as a certainty?

I'm sure Pyles has much better info than me. But I note that Haines just beat KOT 6-0 at WTTs today. So it seems like he's ready to roll now. And with all the talent in the room, I don't see any reason for Haines to sit (unless he wants to). As of now I'd predict the PSU lineup as: 125- Lilledahl 133- Davis (possible: Nagao) 141- BB 149- SVN 157- Kasak 165- MM 174- Haines 184- Cstar 197- Barr HWT- Kerk

IIRC step outs had two purposes: 1) keep action in the center; 2) reward wrestlers who take offensive risks. The step out itself (for the most part) shows that one wrestler has forced another wrestler to go somewhere they didn't want to go.

At 61kg we have Vito vs Blaze. I don’t think anyone expects Blaze — a high schooler — to beat the defending world champ. If he loses people will say something like “wow you made it the WTT finals as a high schooler. Amazing. Now get back to your homeroom.” And if he wins he’s a legend forever. Not a bad position to be in! At 70kg we have Green vs Pantaleo. It’s great to see Green back. Let’s see what these guys can do. At 79kg, we have JB versus Marsteller. Can JB reverse the outcome from last year? Also, how about that age gap between Blaze and JB? One guy probably lives with his parents and the other guy has like five kids. At 92kg, we have Zahid versus DT. This is a great matchup. Zahid is the reigning bronze medalist, and he was virtually even with Aaron Brooks at OTTs. And DT is DT. Of course, there may be questions about conditioning from one or both guys. All I know is that I’ll be watching for the cold spray. Oh and if Zahid wins, he might have the best Mexican Independence Day (Sept 16) of his life. I know I’ll be enjoying some Mexican food.

Zahid is the reigning bronze medalist and was virtually even with Brooks at OTTs. He’s the underdog versus DT, but he’s very capable of beating him.

???

I can only create three polls, and I thought the above three weight classes were the most interesting ones.