peanut

It looks like 197 is solved at PSU for the 2023-24 season.

A bunch of people went undefeated during the era of three years of eligibility. As for comparing great wrestlers of the past, I always remember what Kobe said. It's great for the fans, but for the athletes its too simplistic. Sports are a chain reaction, where one athlete serves as a role model for the next one, and where one athlete opens up possibilities for the next one.

Please vote on the following potential rule changes, as summarized by 1032004. I was only able to add three separate questions to the poll, so I picked the three questions I wanted to hear about the most.

Did Starocci cut down to 74kg when he wrestled Marsteller, or did they compete at 79kg? Marsteller is super good, obviously. He beat Burroughs last June, a few months before Burroughs won a world title.

According to what appears to be Starocci's Twitter feed, Starocci says he wants to pursue the Olympics. He also says that he may end up leaving college entirely so that he can train for the Olympics full time. But he hasn't made a decision yet.

How should the IOC treat individual Russian and Belarusian athletes at the 2024 Olympics? It's a tough decision to make. In January, the IOC outlined a multi-step plan for individual Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under a neutral flag. (In team sports like basketball, individual athletes would remain banned.) However, Ukraine has already threatened a boycott if individual Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to participate, and Latvia has suggested it would do the same. Moreover, the US and over 30 other countries have criticized the plan to allow individual Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete.

I think Starocci has to be #1. Longest active win streak (I believe), 3x champ, and had a dominating most recent season. After that, I would personally go Brooks, Arujau, O'Toole, Carr.

Bobby Lee was effective at holding ground among a friendly population. And holding ground included fierce counterattacks. But when Lee tried to fight in the North, he wasn't effective. (Of course, before Antietam, the outmatched McClellan obtained Lee's battle plans, which helped McClellan fight to a stalemate.) Out west, Grant and Sherman, together, developed the idea that they were fighting an insurrection rather than a traditional war, and so they began targeting the South's capacity to fight. Grant and Sherman eventually took that strategy to the east when Grant was promoted to Commanding General of the US Army. The North won when Grant held Lee in place in Virginia while Sherman was let loose on Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. (There were other raids by other generals, but Sherman's raids were the most notable.) In the end, the South had the advantage of being able to hold ground in friendly territory, while the North had superior manpower and firepower. Eventually, the North won by exploiting its strengths. It is sort of like how in the Lee-Ramos march, Lee had an advantage from the top position, while Ramos had an advantage from neutral. Each competitor attempted to exploit their advantage. In the semis, Ramos ended up winning by exploiting his advantage from neutral.

If we’re going by placements, Lee’s ranking is pretty formulaic—although I’d add that it’s only fair to group him with people who had the opportunity to compete in four post-seasons, and exclude him from the group that was limited to three post-seasons. If we’re adding a subjective element to Lee’s ranking, it’s impossible to say. Wrestling has evolved over time, and people are only able to watch so many wrestlers. I think these ranking conversations often explicitly draw on statistics, while implicitly drawing on an athlete’s ability to inspire. If Lee wins world-level hardware, I think it would only bolster his ability to inspire.

Apparently Kadimagomedov -- silver medalist at 74kg in Tokyo -- has signed with Bellator. It sounds like he will train in both MMA and wrestling, and he's expected to fight sometime this year. At any rate, he's a Belarusian athlete, so it's not even clear that he will be allowed to compete at worlds or the Olympics.

RS freshmen, true freshmen, transfers from outside D1

Who are the incoming wrestlers to look out for in 2023-24?

I don’t think they would ever run a women’s and men’s tournament together. But it might make sense — eventually — to have the women’s finals on the same day, ending before the men’s finals begin. It might draw more viewers that way.

I think the top two contenders have to be Parris and Starocci. But AOC and Yianni are also in the mix.

I’d have to disagree there. It’s not easy staying on top once you’re there.

Starocci knows Starocci better than anybody else. But I can’t help but think that he’s already lean at 174. Going all the way down to 163 (74kg) seems like it would be brutal.

Why is it a circus? I’m not familiar with the situation. I’ve read that women’s wrestling is a rapidly growing sport but for all I know the overall numbers remain small.

If there are only four D1 programs next year a D1 championship seems premature. Do you happen to know if there will be any women’s championships? Maybe like an all-division tournament or something?

I believe Iowa’s women’s wrestling program will be up and running next season (23-24). Is that right? If so, what will their season look like? Will there be some sort of year-end tournament? What women’s D1 programs are there? I think it would be fantastic if there were a women’s finals the same day as the men’s finals.

Not too long ago, after entering MMA, Nickal was looking for a nickname. I'm not sure if he ever came up with something. Nevertheless, it seems like standard practice in MMA for athletes to have nicknames. I can only assume it helps with branding. Now that it's the off-season, perhaps we can assist a few wrestlers with their own branding by proposing nicknames. Now -- keeping things respectful and in a good spirit -- what should their nicknames be?

Criticizing Chael’s accuracy is totally fair. But he’s not speaking as a historian. What he’s doing is storytelling and projecting a feeling or lesson to people who don’t know much about wrestling. And IMO he’s effective.

Starocci seems to have the talent and drive to do things beyond college wrestling. Specifically, he has his eyes set on the Olympic Team Trials and on MMA — where he could potentially make good money. What more does he get out of college wrestling at this point? I think he should say goodbye to college wrestling and begin the next chapter of his life. He’s too talented to continue to pursue age-level accolades.

ESPN should consider putting Chael in the booth. Also, he seems to be suggesting that the wrestlers get paid to perform at NCAAs, which seems reasonable to me.

Here are my uninformed guesses: 125- Howard 133- ? -- Shunk / Levine / Vespa / Steen / Shindledecker / Davis / Nasdeo / Wentzel 141- Bartlett 149- SVN 157- Haines 165- Facundo 174- ? -- Kraeszig / J. Lee / M. Lee / Borden / Kelly 184- Brooks 197- ? -- Ball / Smith / Cochran / Fricchione / Barr 285- Kerk I think Starocci either redshirts or leaves college entirely. If he wants to make the Olympic team, he's going to have to make 163 pounds or 189 pounds next year -- either way he's going to have to transform his body. He also seems set on MMA, so he might be favoring an extra year of considerable earnings over another college title.

Right.