peanut

I’m guessing he thought this was his year off, so his gas tank just isn’t there yet.

Nobody is unbeatable. But Haines, the reigning world silver medalist, might be the tougher to beat than anyone else.

Byrd plus a half or dozen or so former All Americans are also at this weight. Really just an insane weight class.

We have an incredible group of freshmen this year. Really remarkable. With the postseason just around the corner, who has impressed you the most so far?

Pretty cool to see international athletes giving things a go here. Hope he does well.

I’m not too sure it would be so easy to find a replacement. PSU football had trouble finding a HC. I suspect the reason is that coaches who have built something at their current institutions value the feeling of job security. Jumping into a higher pressure environment is not for everyone—especially people who have kids in school, mortgages, 401ks, etc. Of course Iowa would be able to hire a coach, but the question has to be, who exactly would do a better job AND who exactly would accept the job? (Again, I’m not criticizing anyone or calling for any ousters. Just a general observation.)

I’m not calling for anyone to be fired or forced out or anything. But I’m wondering, which specific coaches would 1) be willing to take over at Iowa, and 2) do a better job than Brands? Coaching a major program like Iowa isn’t exactly easy.

Favorites: Mesenbrink, Barr, Haines, SVN Solid shot at a title: Lilledahl, Welsh, Blaze, Duke This is an impressive team. I hadn’t seen much of Welsh before this season and he’s looking super tough. Haines is the reigning world silver medalist—I don’t think anyone takes him out.

??

Haines is the reigning world silver medalist. He’s going to be tough to beat.

What I have in mind is specifically inviting professional influencers or podcasters or whatever. People who are not currently competing. Maybe a former MMA guy with a wrestling background—give him a ticket, fly him out, get him a hotel—on the condition that he creates content surrounding the event.

I’m not up to speed on social media, but my understanding is that the kids are really into it—wrestlers and non-wrestlers alike. So that leads me to wonder whether there are any NCAA wrestling social-media outreach efforts? I’d imagine free seats to big events and invitations to influencers who know about wrestling would pay dividends. Jake Paul I think wrestled? Lots of MMA dudes wrestled. Even MMA journalists might attend a big college event. The upcoming dual between PSU and tOSU sees like a perfect event for social media. So my question is, is anything happening in that space? I suspect that social media outreach would attract attention to the sport, to the teams involved in an event, and to potential recruits.

If you’re a truly elite high schooler, I’m not sure it makes sense to wait for a weight class to clear out. There’s no guarantee you’ll get much better, injuries can happen, motivation can be drained, and life circumstances can make wrestling more difficult. Plus there is always the possibility of a younger world-beater entering your weight class in a few years. IMO truly elite athletes may as well let it fly and let the chips fall where they may.

I just realized that tapping out would be good for a wrestler who is absolutely too exhausted to continue, or simply mentally beaten.

It would count as a fall.

Is it time to allow tap outs in NCAA wrestling? I don’t think we should allow dangerous holds. Safety should absolutely be the priority. So let’s get that cleared up right now. But even without dangerous holds, tap outs would have benefits. First, in the general population, tapping someone out is one of the goals of grappling. So if a clip of a tap out goes viral, people will intuitively understand what happened. Second, allowing tap outs would prevent embarrassing holds from continuing. This would allow athletes to maintain their dignity. Third, tap outs would provide an additional layer of protection against injuries. And again, safety is the number one priority. Overall, it seems like tap outs would provide good benefits, and have little to no drawbacks.

I don’t get it

Will NIL money play a role here?

What are top wrestlers getting in NIL money?

Step outs solve a lot. So do tiebreakers.

VT will have a tough lineup next year. Ventresca, Seidel, Henson, Bassett, Sasso, Mullen — and others! Should Miller pull a Jax so VT can put all their horsepower together next season?

Your example on how to score offensively on Ferrari when he’s on his knee is to follow the example of a 5x champ who couldn’t take him down. So is it possible that we actually agree that nobody can score on him when he’s on his knee? What if Welsh took a knee whenever Ferrari did? Would Ferrari then have the obligation to stand up and engage him in a tie? Or would it be a weird wrinkle in the rulebook where nobody has to do anything?

Right. The RBY analogy makes no sense so I ignored it. The point I’m making is that Ferrari’s so good, strong, athletic, and flexible that when he’s on his knee, I’m not sure anyone can do anything offensively. And for those who say guys are stalling when they don’t shoot on him while he’s on a knee, I’d like to know how exactly they’re supposed to take him down.

Imagine thinking that a seven-time world-level champ has nothing to teach anyone.

There were a total of zero takedowns in the Starocci-Ferrari and Welsh-Ferrari matches. Tough to see how that changes.