Le duke

Cael Valencia isn't living up to either of his names. He's a kid that has a lot of talent but, and this is a guess, hasn't put in the work to be a good D1 wrestler.

Looks like Ono will be training at PSU from January through March. Interesting.

Areana Villaescusa is one of a couple of WCAP soldiers my wife has had in her classes over the years. Just told her she made the semis at 55kg. She's about to watch her first UWW Worlds match.

Tom Ryan loves Sammy Sasso but he isn't going to gift him the 165 spot if he can't earn it outright.

LOL. Literally no one says that the US lacks the capability. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good point. Conversely, I haven't heard of half the guys on the USA roster. Our 125kg guy, Lucas Stoddard, is a West Point cadet who went 0-2 at NCAAs last year. He surprised me today, though, making the semis.

I commented on the PSU board that, while MM looks thicker than last year, Takahashi and the guy he wrestled in the semis, Asluev, both looked substantially more developed. I know MM doesn't like cutting weight but I'm guessing he was giving up 5+ pounds at the time of the match. MM could have easily swapped places with Haines last year; the size difference between him and Hamiti, for example, was comical.

U23s is a lot better than it used to be. There are a lot of legitimate Olympic-level wrestlers now. Bagaev (86kg) had a good match with Brooks last year. He was their 86 until they decided not to go. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

While I think Zahid could make improvements in his conditioning, that’s a thing that only he can do for himself. A coach can’t magically transform an athlete who won’t…go. That said, Zahid needs to work on hand fighting, engaging and wrestling through positions. Taylor is world class at that. Can he teach it? We’ll see. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

By what metric? Olympic medals? NCAA titles? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Man. That’s one of the shortest but most accurate assessments of a team I’ve seen. Pretty much nails Zahid’s wrestling. Guy is incredibly talented but spends two minutes a match with his left wrist on his thigh, and his left hand holding his left forearm, throwing head fakes. I’m glad Brooks is going up because DT might very well turn Zahid into a world beater. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here, I'll say it: They have a weak out of conference schedule. Simultaneously, they also have the hardest schedule in the country.

When people say, "Such and such school has a tough out of conference schedule! So brutal!", it's almost always a school from the ACC or similar where they hit a handful of top 10 teams and maybe one or two of the top 5. Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State are going to be wrestling most of the top 5 teams in the country every year. Looking at Penn State's schedule, they have 5 of the other 6 top 7 schools scheduled for duals. Mizzou, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio State. Only missing Oklahoma State.

No, I'm referring to the fact that many of the coaches of non-B1G, smaller market teams that Cael schedules publicly thank him for bringing the team out to wrestle. See: Chris Pendleton last year, who was quite effusive in his thanks.

They wrestled on 12/20/2021. There were 8 current/future national champions in that dual and none of them wrestled each other. https://www.wrestlestat.com/event/63383/cornell-penn-state-dual/boxscore

Caveira isn't going to listen to any facts presented to him here.

I think people are relying on the ol' "We don't know what SVN will look like coming off a knee injury, therefore guy he beat twice = SVN" thing. Meanwhile, he's doing live goes with Nick Lee, and not wearing a knee brace.

Insert the “Oh no! … Anyways…” meme. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sounds like his dad isn't a fan of Iowa, at all.

Is Koll going to tell people how he flipped LewisFernandes after he had committed to Virginia Tech, when he was Yianni’s coach at Cornell? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wait. I thought it was a hoax?

Why would they recruit Keck? I genuinely doubt that happened.

He's just the money man. Did Penn State recruit Kyle Snyder at U20 Worlds that year, too?

Commits flip all the time. That said, once someone has *signed* an NLI, hands off. See: Slumlord Bob offering a bag to Luke Lilledahl this summer while he was taking summer classes at Penn State.

I did this thread last year and there were some really good, well thought out picks. So, which two teams could combine their lineups to beat Penn State in a dual this year? I think Nebraska and Mizzou *might* be able to do it but I'd still lean Penn State. You'd have to get Smith over Lilledahl, then at least two upsets at 141 and 157 to have a chance. And, limit bonus at 165, 184 and 285. Based off of WrestleStat: Nebby/Mizzou vs Penn State 125: Smith/Surtin vs Lilledahl. Smith could beat Lilledahl. 3-0. 133: Van Dee/Moore vs Davis. Davis. 3-3. 141: Edmond/Hardy vs Bartlett. Bartlett, 3-6. 149: Lovett/Gioffre vs SVN. Lovett, 6-6. 157: Conway/Taylor vs Kasak. Kasak, 6-9. 165: Steed/Wilson vs Mesenbrink. MM by MD or TF, 6-13. 174: O'Toole vs Haines. O'Toole, 10-13. 184: Pinto/Hawks vs Starocci. Starocci by MD, 10-17. 197: Allred/Elam vs Barr. Elam, 13-17. 285: Andrews/Nitzel vs Kerkvliet. Kerkvliet by MD, 13-21.