juniorvarsity

On 3/29/2024 at 1:32 PM, bnwtwg said:

What is concerning about someone cutting significant weight for OkSt? It has delivered Smith championships at the NCAA and senior level for decades (read above)

Concerning that your heavyweight is going 97kg. If he is not going heavyweight, then it is not concerning. Being small at heavyweight can be a liability.

Christian Carrol at 97kg is a bit concerning for Cowboy fans. That's awfully light for someone you want at heavyweight. Maybe Merrill is bigger than Carol, who knows 

I saw Aden Valencia registered for Last Chance. How has this kid not qualified yet? He has been very good

Taylor has spent most of his career figuring out how to not get beat by Yazdani's underhook. He will be well adjusted to how Brooks hand fights. 

But also, just no. Taylor has not taken a step back. Although Brooks is improving, you cannot say Taylor is going to lose unless you think Taylor is in decline.

Taylor at 2023 Worlds: r1)pin, r2)tech, quarters)tech, semis)pin, finals)pin 

Why are we not speculating on who they will hire yet?

I saw that Stutzman made $90k-$95k. How does that compare to the pay of top notch D1 assistant coaches out there who might want to apply for the job?

For reference, and I only know this because I am a Buckeye fan, I know the assistants make $100k+

Because or the rise of AWA, is the Wisconsin job more interesting than it used to be to potential coaches?

So what is the real argument against Tom Brands and this new generation mantra?

Just because PSU is different, does not mean you need to change, however they are not accomplishing their goals and it does seem like their guys plateau before their senior year.

Is the intensity not necessary anymore because skill is so much higher? People just use PSU as the foil to Iowa and point fingers(and I am an Iowa hater) ie: Intensity vs. fun/gratitude. 

On 3/26/2024 at 12:20 PM, Paul158 said:

I agree . Redshirt them next year. Then make a massive run 2026,2027 and 2028. They will be a force to be reckoned with. Plus right now you have Feldman and Bouzakis and all the recruits on their way to Columbus.

What recruits? Davino is blue chip. We don't have a clue about 2025 

2026 is the Buckeye's best bet. Kilkeary is going to challenge McCrone. Davino or Bouzakis need to go 141 so the other can be at 133. And Mendez needs to go 149. They need to get all of these guys in the lineup at once. 

As far as the 2025 recruiting class goes, landing Marcus Blaze would be great but it creates a logjam at the lower weights. I say you do it anyways. And Vince Bouzakis would fit in to the holes of the lineup as well(btwn him and Birden at 157, 165). They're gonna need true freshmen to produce. 

Maybe Tom Ryan redshirts Mendez, Rogotzke, Welsh and has them all for a 2027 run, but recruits will be important. A lot of talent in the 2026 recruiting class

5 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

It is not a new year. The season goes from WTT to WTT/OTT. That is the year, not the calendar. Get over it people we missed at Pan Ams. If you don't like it work harder to keep Cruz, Gomez, Micic, Amine et al competing for USA instead of somewhere else. I guarantee all you people whining and complaining also blamed the ref and your coaches when you couldn't even make it to state in high school.

You are ignoring my point. I am not complaining or being a hater. To only earn the right to wrestle at the Last Chance Qualifier when you win OTT is not right. There should be a competition in place to figure out who gets to go try to qualify the weight at Pan Ams. That is my point.

3 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

Why let them? Because they earned that right.

The senior rep should not have to constantly take on challenge matches like they are trying to hold down the varsity spot in high school. They have earned the right and we should give them the respect their accolades demand.

But it is a new year. Our 2023 reps at 57 and 65 did not earn USA a spot in the Olympics at 2023 worlds. They should have to compete for the right to be the rep at 2024 Pan Am OG qualifier. USA did a good thing with allowing medalists to challenge, but it didn't work. Most opted out. So let's change that to Senior Nationals. World team member from previous year gets the 1 seed.

I do not think moving trials to before Pan Ams is ever going to happen, so I prefer the idea of making Senior Nationals the qualifier 

On 3/3/2024 at 7:33 PM, wrestle87 said:

Pan-Ams is not a tournament that USA wrestlers can take for granted anymore.  

That is why I think the schedule to qualify for the team could be adjusted or something can change. Why let wrestlers from previous year success be the ones our trials winners have to rely on to qualify the weight for Olympics? The Olympic Team Trials winner only earns the right to wrestle at Last Chance Qualifier.

Maybe we add an incentivize at Senior Nationals and have the champ be the Pan Am rep?

A lot of Buckeyes wrestling Hawkeyes in the early rounds. It makes me uneasy.

55 minutes ago, H82Lose said:

I just got a call and a text, this rumor is true.  How funny is that? I just told everyone that he is F'g nuts and has major issues. EVERYONE was warning Bunji not to bring him in, it would burn him. Bunji is known to party and get mouthy, but damn man....This is sad, and will more than likely start the downward slide for Anthony where he will eventually end up in prison. 

So from what I can gather here, Anthony has been living with Bunji Fretwell in Florida and Anthony was there to help the local wrestling team. Anthony got mad at him and robbed him the fled Florida.

2 hours ago, Hammerlock3 said:

he'd beaten him in that position in previous matches too, probably not in his nature to start chickening out of a position he'd been winning. Also he didn't lose cause he got 4'd, he lost because he got turned a bunch.

The 4 pt move I am referring to is when Gomez tied it up. So yeah, it's not why he lost, but the beginning of 14 unanswered points in under a minute.

I don't know what previous matches you are referring to between these two. It's a position we've seen Lee in many times. 

11 hours ago, nhs67 said:

He extended himseld too far.  He went upper body against someone who he should not have.

Then it was the quicksand from there.

He went double overs twice against him. Scored the first time we Gomez got hurt, but Gomez knew what to do the second time. 

I think you nailed it. 

On 11/9/2023 at 6:51 AM, nhs67 said:

I think you're right.  Which means he is wrestling for Bronze against Aliyev (AZE).  Not a gimme.  A loss there puts him up against Amouzad (IRA) for the Oly wrestle-off.  Not a gimme.

One thing that Rivera gets right, as well as Amine mind you, is that they are so fundamentally solid.  They don't overreach and get themselves out of position too often.  It doesn't surprise me that Rivera made his run with the opponents he had along the way.  Lee extends himself quite often because he doesn't like to let off the gas tank - at all.

What do you think about this comment after his loss to Gomez? I honestly don't think he gassed. He gave up counters 

4 hours ago, cowcards said:

Pan-Ams is the weird federation. The rest do theirs in April except Africa/Oceania end of March. Pan-Am OG should be moved to fit the calendar better like the rest of the world.

This. If it moved to April 12, then we could just move the OTT to late March and have our Olympic Team member qualify the weight for the Olympics instead of the previous year world team member or previous medalists who challenges for a wrestle off. 

I just don't like that the Olympic Team member only earns the right to go to Last Chance Qualifier

4 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

Call me when Team USA isn't consistently finishing top 3 and then I'll be open to revisiting the qualification process.

This may come as a shock, but only one person can win a wrestling match and sometimes that doesn't work in the favor of the person you wanted it to. Or maybe it does, like when I was rooting for Austin Gomez to beat Nick Lee.

I'm not calling to change anything about the process except to reconsider the timeline. What do you care about the process if you're rooting against team USA?

Call me when Team USA has to go to Last Chance Qualifier for two Olympic years in a row. Oh wait.

USAW did a great job this year adding the ability for previous medalists to challenge for the spot to go to Pan Ams.

Timing for team trials has been the same for a while, but maybe after 2 Olympics in a row where we have to compete at the Last Chance Qualifier(2 this year, 1 in 2021), maybe we should change up the timing of our process.

It would be a big disadvantage to the college guys if the OTT occurred during the NCAA season, but that is what Olympic redshirts are for. 

Sure, maybe the OG continental's should occur later in the year, but they don't. And sure, maybe we don't want to decide our rep 7 months before Olympics, but Pan Ams is 5 months before the Olympics.

Should we consider moving OTT to a month prior to Pan Am OG qualifier during Olympic years?

I am undecided, but I think it should be discussed 

11 hours ago, Southend said:

The situation is no different from any other big ten program not named Iowa, penn state , Ohio State. Count how many hammers have fled Indiana in tje last 6-10years. And Indiana , like Michigan, have two schools in the BIG and still lose  them all. 

Yeah this might not be as damning as I originally thought. However, when you get a new coach 6 years ago with high expectation, you want to measure that and see interest from your in-state studs. Tom Ryan got the job and immediately landed a series of 4x state champions. Granted they got 2nd at NCAAs in his second and third year, so that helped with recruiting. I can't remember how early in high school Steiber committed to tOSU. I think it was an early verbal. 

Super impressed. You stated all this in a great way too. Compare these numbers to where most of us live. It's wild. 

Someone else from another hotspot should chime in or create a new thread about dense areas

Bono since 2020 has landed 10 kids off Flo's Big Board. Only 2 are from Wisconsin - Nicolar River and Wyatt Ingraham.

Wisconsin as a state has had 20 kids on the Big Board since 2020. Of the highest ranked kids in those years, five of the six kids have been from AWA - Keegan O'Toole, Aeoden Sinclair, Connor Mirasola, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Cole Mirasola(Koy Hopke is the sixth).

I am not from Wisconsin and I do not follow high school close enough to recognize more than 10 kids off the Big Board each year.

These are Bono's biggest recruits:

Who do we attribute the count from top?

There is probably someone else, but Delgado would go down to a single leg from top and rack up riding time.

Hillger, Barnett, Wick, Hamiti, Gomez.

Wick was already there. Hillger was already there. Gross followed him and would have done well if the tournament occurred. Gomez was a transfer recruit.

Barnett and Hamiti are the only AA's he recruited out of high school since he took over for the 2019 season.