dragit

And it's a total mismatch, so how amazing is Steveson? The only suspense I see here is maybe Gable has choice in the second period, Gavin or Molinaro shout at him from the stands to take take down, and being such an agreeable guy he does; and then Hendrickson takes top in the third, so he has two shots at turning him and ends up catching him with one of them.

Looked/sounded like Gavin's instructions. If so, that's really frustrating. Borderline indefensible decision. How complicated is this? He needs a takedown to win. Period. He's not going to win the rideouts in overtime. So he needs a TD in the third period or SV. And everyone knew he was very likely to give up at least a riding point, and probably get ridden out if he took down. So you take neutral and have a full two minutes to get a TD and win the match. Hard to watch the wrestler pay the price for such a bad call, particularly given that it subjected us to another splits/horrifying interview.

100%. I think he saw the way Steveson threw both Keuter in the dual meet and Feldman at Big Tens and treated this as a safety issue.

Recognizing upfront the extreme troll job and/or insanity of the topic heading, basically this was a wash round. Davis had very little chance. Lilledahl is a true freshman dealing with the quick turn off the scale Friday morning for the first time who ran into an inspired tough good wrestler. Nothing notable there. Kasak was a pretty big surprise but that's offset by the fantastic performance by Barr, whom many had counted out. Everyone else took care of business.

ESPN has Kerkvliet losing on the score bug. Can't tell diff between green and red.

What a very strange person.

more likely

when I saw the title I knew what the thread was about. This is pretty bad. Score bugs are used in pretty much every live televised sports event. Pretty elementary failure.

I did this rant on the prior message board during one of the NCAAs I was at. It's like this every year. It's ridiculous. It's not only a likely cause of key stoppages but a substantial safety danger, such as when RBY and I think Desanto crashed into the table. They gotta think of something. I've always wondered if they could move the table away from the center of the mat. That wouldn't be ideal but I'm not sure it's not feasible.

Totally agree. I've been defending and promoting Gable all year here. But if that quote is accurate that was a big mistake by him. He could have said something like that AFTER the finals but there's no defending saying it now. Look, if his teammate was the 15th seed, we're all adults. But their 184 pounder took Starocci down in the conference final and only lost in SV. He's a legit title threat this week. Gable has been extraordinarily gracious all year and I know he was trying to be so in praising Starocci, who isn’t in his league as a wrestler. Zero malice involved here, quite the opposite. But you gotta remember your teammate before saying something like that.

Little Rock would be in a better posture of they elaborated on what the two purported certifications were. They haven't to my knowledge produced anything that demonstrates that someone in authority, other than at Little Rock, who was provided information that included somewhere the fact that his four postseasons didn't include 2021, officially said he was properly eligible. Absent that what they've said doesn't seem to mean a lot with respect to whether and how much Little Rock as a school was culpable.

My guess is they get it. Either f@n haters or don't like the rule.

Surprised and relieved to learn there was anyone under 50 to begin with.

Youdaman thanks

This is a very well put description of his extraordinary strengths. I wonder, though, how things would have turned out if he wrestled more like 120 matches in college. Say he's in another 8 or 10 really tough matches over the years, including in very competitive in season tournaments. Would walking is tightrope in all the close matches have caught up with him at some point? Not saying it would have, just thinking out loud and speculating whether if he'd been in a lot more tight matches if it would have been harder to pull off what he has done so well in his biggest challenges.

Terrific topic, thanks! My only disagreement on your order is I'd move the medal round above round 2, maybe even tied with the quarters. Although it is sadly lightly attended, Saturday morning sessions are memorable to me. Watching these guys let it fly in their extreme state of exhaustion is inspiring. There was that great picture a few years back of the two wrestlers after I think a 5th place match, don't even remember who, both on their backs and reaching out to shake hands after their last flurry. And the ovations for graduating seniors after they wrestle their last match is always a special moment.

IIRC Dake was sociology and had a good GPA. Yianni seems smart but know no details.

Agree but Dake and Yianni had a lot of pressure with keeping up with academics at an Ivy. I've always thought that's why Dake could be a little flat before the NCAAs from time to time.

I probably wouldn't have him as the GOAT if he wins this weekend, but I still think some of the disrespect for Starocci is a little strange. Hasn't lost on the mat since freshman year, and that year avenged a loss and beat a very good Kemerer in the final. Last year finished with three straight shutouts, two over former champions, to win his fourth straight title on a badly injured knee. He has literally met every challenge in a five year career, many of which have been substantial, with Keck looming as the latest and last such obstacle.

PletcherLugoMoore are in a particularly harsh category. All seniors. No titles. All made a big step up as seniors (or had Bo Nickal graduate ) and were primed to win in their last chance. All came a week or five days or whatever it was short. Kolodzik is in his own category. Joseph and Hall had titles before although can't say that didn't really hurt them too.

Great points. My main comeback is what's your confidence level he would have won without the redshirt?

Nice - good example of his savvy. Another point in his favor is that this was the only match he had at NCAAs where he was in any trouble late.

Dake won his first title 9 months after graduating high school. He beat a very good Marion in the final. The next year he ground a future undefeated national champion into Molinaro dust. The next year he beat a future national champion in the final. And then he went up a weight class to take on the defending and future Hodge winner and future Olympic gold medalist and beat him three times in three different kinds of matches. To me only Cael could potentially challenge that career, and I'd put Dake over him because of the redshirt.

While hypothetical Brooks puts five guys in the hospital.

Illegally. You also ducked the point of my post, which is that even by your and Little Rock's blatantly illegal approach, Iowa wouldn't have close to a realistic chance.