wrestle87

Agreed. Now...what if we DID see this Caliendo against Messenbrink?

I'm impressed by how unimpressed caliendo is with what olejnik is bringing to the table today so far.

I have to say I’m realizing watching this how match how relatively little I care since neither of these teams are contending for a title.

57- Zain, or somebody we’ve never even considered, maybe Fix. My heart wants Vito, but he is clearly very hurt, followed by Lee or Gilman, but I think Gilman is too big and I think Iowa wrung all the wrestling out of Lee. I’d love to see gilman retire so spencer could transfer to NLWC and get some spiritual healing into those knees. 65 - Very torn here, I wish both guys could get a spot. Gotta go Nick Lee, he is the perfect size for the weight, and has Yianni scouted really well. That said, I think Yianni has a higher chance of medaling, bc he is so unorthodox, you can’t really train for his flexibility. 74 - Dake all day. I doubt we see JB make the finals. He’s busy being a dad, and he has spent so long up at a bigger weight, and I think his biological set point has moved up. His legs looked so tiny in 2021 trials when Dake beat him. I don’t think that improves. If somehow we see starocci move down, I’ll call him to make a run. 86 - Taylor over brooks, but brooks gives him fits. Brooks’ neck is almost as wide as his waist at this point, that has to be hard to snap down. 97 - Snyder over Zahid. Calling that entry as the surprise now. Zahid got a world medal up a weight, I think he finds surprising success in trials, takes out someone like Moore on the way. 125 - Parris so long as steveson doesn’t show. And I hope he doesn’t. He has shown he’s in it for reasons other than love of the sport, and he’s already done it. Best he can do is match 2021. I hope he stays out of the way so Parris can chase some dreams.

I laughed at this very hard, but have to say they also clearly have figured out how to use the framework of religion to maximize performance. What’s really interesting is that only certain guys toe that particular line. Off the top of my head, I do recall hearing Nickal, Cassar, and Gilman, all of whom were clearly competitive for themselves, give the “glory to god” line at least once in their title/olympic medal runs. I don’t believe I’ve hear Starocci say it, but he clearly has his own version figured out.

I'm not really an OSU fan, but I did always wish those individuals placed higher than they did. You make excellent points about their competition. I think what stands out to me is that tOSU guys through what I'm assuming are my gently jaded glasses, seem to lack a clutch gene. I should have added Bo Jordan in there as well. My overall opinion on these dudes is they had the tools to get it done. The brutal part is that, I kinda think if these guys had gone to Penn State obviously, but also even Iowa or Okie State, they would have had a better chance of pulling down a national title.

Ouch, that doesn’t bode well. He did lose both Snyder and Tervel, I have always wondered just a bit about what led to that happening. I do have to give him credit though, Ryan got the Ohio State job bc he made Hofstra good. They were a real problem for a number of years in the mid to late 2000’s with Ryan as coach. He doesn’t have a great record of getting high tier guys to the top though. I can’t help but think of Steiber the younger, Kollin Moore, Tomasello, Sasso, and Mckenna. If these guys are on different teams, I really think they come home with (more) titles. Moore could have been a 2x champ in my opinion. Same with Sasso. Tomasello realistically a 2x-3x guy. Mckenna definitely should have pulled down a title or two in his time. I don’t doubt that he graduates young men with character, but I also don’t doubt that going to Ohio State for the blue chip guys means never seeing the top 15% of your potential.

Definitely. One thing I can’t help noticing is that Bastida is a bit “fluffier” than Cassar was. Some guys can wear that well, but for guys making the transition up a weight, that (usually, not always) can lead to guys being outmatched either in strength or in their lungs deeper in the tournament.

A tough part about this is we are assuming two titles ahead. After he wasn’t necessarily the favorite to win last year, he had a great game-time performance when it matters. Where I find less interest is how back and forth he has been with David Carr. I love the competition they have, that’s exciting. But the marketing push to pump the 4x thing (which was largely started by the Dake 4x in in 4 weights…dude give me a break) is stupid. 4x titles is an unbelievable accomplishment. That should be enough. It is so hard to do that Bo Nickal and Spencer Lee weren’t able to do it. David Taylor and Jordan Burroughs didn’t even get 3. The push to glorify for ad dollars really diminishes the accomplishment. It’s the same kind if nonsense the UFC pushes with “2 weight champs” bc they are trying to recreate a connor mcgregor situation. What they fail to realize is it just devalues to base product.

I think Bastida will likely land 5-6. He doesn’t look like he has the weight or horsepower to go that entire tournament without getting surprised by an unobtrusive big guy who knows how to hold position. I think something like a doucet quarterfinal could be a problem for him, even though he handled doucet no problem earlier in the year.

Lol well I guess we found somebody’s sore spot. Little sensitive about the electric lettuce are we?

I have seen fewer comments that sound more specific and dated than this. This is taken straight out of the D.A.R.E. marketing brochure. Adults talk about weed right now the same way high schoolers and underage college kids talk about alcohol. It's a "big deal" because it's not allowed. Then...once it is, it is just part of the grocery list. Does it have negative health effects...I'm sure it does. Sure as heck doesn't feel great on the lungs. But nobody's trying to debate that. It fits right in with a rack of beer, a pack of cigs, or a fat bag of skittles. But goodness gracious, let's put away the Reagan era fear marketing please.

Physiologically, yes, this is a thing, no different from cyclists having extremely low heart rates. Body temperature management has a big impact on metabolism and cardiovascular performance. It is not ridiculous at all to think that core temperature management is part of the things that Cael and co are working on. In 20 years when somebody finally writes the book on the recipe in that room, we will look back on what they have built/are building the same way much of sports science looks back on old soviet methods today, absolutely pioneering and decades ahead of their time.

Also, danger rule…I believe people speculate that goes to dean heil, but it also goes to almost all of gen 1.0 of scramblers, where there was zero confidence to being on your back for 30 seconds in what today would be a 7 point move for the other guy.

There were a ton of dropdown specialists over the years. The number of dudes who got screwed by the rules of their era is unbelievable. If you go back and watch old finals matches, having gotten used to the rules of our era, it’s amazing to see how many guys would have lost by 3 or 4 points in the exact same match just because of the adjustments in stalling calls. I don’t love the 3 point takedown entirely, but I do love the stalling call adjustments. They brought so much spirit back to the sport, especially at the highest level.

This makes a great deal of sense, thanks for responding. So is the overall feel that “we have a ton of nationally competitive kids at the high school level, why the heck can’t we keep them in state and keep repping Wisconsin”? I ask because I’m from NJ, and being from the east coast, moving out of state was almost always a prerequisite for being able to have success at the national level. This has obviously changed in the past ten years, but for the most part, when I was going through college ~2010, it was a very much big 10 and big 12 show, with Lehigh and Cornell getting feisty at times.

Surely this is in jest. In case it is not, Askren is responsible for generating and developing many of the most present, poised, and mentally composed wrestlers around the country right now. He also has a track record of being able to being that impact to bear with many current and former Mizz guys. On top of this, he is excellent at marketing, is a shrewd businessman, and is technically as good as anybody out there. If he went into coaching, Askren Cael would become the Gable Smith of this era. The amount he would have to get paid would be stupid high though to justify the amount he would be giving up in business, lifestyle flexibility and family time.

Hot diggity, well I know a kid I’ll be rooting for real hard during Big Tens and NCAA’s.

I’m pretty sure back whenever this was, they were both working on some “brand building” shall we say. JB did a good job looking offended and acting outraged, but they both new what was up, they were drawing eyeballs for their match. But to answer your question, yes that is exactly what Flo does every chance they have an opportunity. It is exactly the reason for the amount of derision they get on here from everyone. Is a flo stream guaranteed to work? Not at all. Is it guaranteed to have gossipy inflammatory commentary about who said what when rather than about actual wrestling? 100%.

You make some great points, but why tf did you put that in your post. I legit thought it was an add for cauliflower drainage for a second. That’s gnarly.

Also, why does Bono have to go? I hear this about a lot of programs coaches right now, when in reality PSU is outclassing most programs optically that it makes these other teams, which aren’t doing poorly by their historic standards, look like trash. Of all the teams I’ve watched this year (and I will admit to watching a borderline unhealthy amount of wrestling), there are 3 teams I would say have actually wrestled “well”. Penn State, Okie State, and Cornell. Teams who have been on-par with expectations, but who don’t have enormous expectations to begin with are are Penn, Minnesota, and that’s about it. Now, is this actually the case, that EVERY OTHER TEAM is having a crappy year? No, that’s just not mathematically possible. Is wisconsin having a bad year? I dunno, they have half the lineup who can sniff an AA, that’s not shabby. Same for rutgers. 3AA’s is a watershed year for either of those programs. That’s also the same number of AA’s that Michigan and Ohio State could bring back, and UMich and OSU need some guys to really show up. Gomez isn’t a lock for michigan by any stretch, and neither is anybody in ohio state’s lineup except mendez. The old topic of dual teams vs tournament teams comes up again. Is Nebraska going to be that close to PSU in the national tournament as they were in that dual? Highly unlikely. I look to our good friend @Wrestleknownothing for the actual points impacts of different results, but what is a broadly competitive match at 157, for example, is likely the difference between a finalist and a blood round guy, similar dynamics at 165, and at 149 in the opposite direction. For as long as we are a one tournament sport, which is really at the heart of the beauty and the cruelty of the sport at every level (states, NCAA’s, Olympics), this intermediate wrestling is entertaining, but only because it gives us hope for what might happen in March.

There was a rather famous/infamous football coach who rocked this exact outfit for quite some time.

I originally had an extra sentence in there about why I didn’t put Suriano in there for that exact reason. But you’re absolutely right. If we just look High School and college, I think he definitely takes it. And he would quite possible be even more in the conversation if PSU, Okie State and Cornell hadn’t teamed up to put some covid in his water bottle before the olympic trials.

Depending on the level we’re talking about, I think it has to go between Jordan Burroughs, Damion Hahn and Bruce Baumgartner. Hahn makes the cut here bc JB didn’t get really good til his junior year in college.