NCAA Wrestling Tournament (Thursday-Saturday)

[Judoka]

I think the overall story of the tournament as far as exceeding expectations has to be Meredith from Wyoming, with Rauser from Utah Valley coming in 2nd. From the 14 seed Meredith took out #3, #6, and #2 on his way to the finals. No upsets opened the path up for him, he did it all himself. And they were all solid wins as opposed to lucky pins. Rauser was unseeded, lost in the first round to #2 Clark, and then rattled off wins over unseeded Harding, unseeded Campbell, #9 McGuire, and #6 DiCamillo before he ran out of steam.

Downey and Weatherspoon come close, but I think they didn't come out of nowhere as much.

 

[CYwrestle]

I think the overall story of the tournament as far as exceeding expectations has to be Meredith from Wyoming, with Rauser from Utah Valley coming in 2nd. From the 14 seed Meredith took out #3, #6, and #2 on his way to the finals. No upsets opened the path up for him, he did it all himself. And they were all solid wins as opposed to lucky pins. Rauser was unseeded, lost in the first round to #2 Clark, and then rattled off wins over unseeded Harding, unseeded Campbell, #9 McGuire, and #6 DiCamillo before he ran out of steam.

Downey and Weatherspoon come close, but I think they didn't come out of nowhere as much.

Throw in American's David Terao. He had a great tournament as well knocking off some guys as well as giving the defending champion everything in the 3/4 place match.

Congrats to ISU All Americans - Hall, Spoon, and Downey as well as the rest of the guys who competed.

 

[cloneswereall]

Throw in American's David Terao. He had a great tournament as well knocking off some guys as well as giving the defending champion everything in the 3/4 place match.

Congrats to ISU All Americans - Hall, Spoon, and Downey as well as the rest of the guys who competed.

This was Terao's 4th time qualifying and he's improved each year. I wouldn't really say he came out of nowhere this year. However, I was thinking he AAd last year and it looks like he didn't. He did have a really good tourney though.

 

[cyclonenation5]

This was Terao's 4th time qualifying and he's improved each year. I wouldn't really say he came out of nowhere this year. However, I was thinking he AAd last year and it looks like he didn't. He did have a really good tourney though.

I think he beat Jesse Delgado last year.

 

[ricochet]

It was in reply to a post about how great the team did with only 6 qualifiers.

Not exactly what was said. The post said:

How many years can you expect to take 12th with only 6 wrestlers, 4 of whom are unseeded, and the others only seeded #8 and #9?

You apparently stopped reading at the comma. Now, take a few minutes to read the original post and then read your reply. It might help you understand the view other posters here have of you.

Within the scope of this years tournament it was pretty darn successful. Now the bigger question of the overall state of the program is certainly something that can be debated, it just seems like that could wait a couple days.

 

[HGoat]

Glad we exceeded expectations and so happy for our 3 AA's.

Earl was able to finish as a 2x AA for us, a guy I always enjoyed watching wrestle. Could go with anybody.

Spoon wrestled the best that I've seen him wrestle before, and at the perfect time. I'll admit, even after his performance at B12's, I didn't see it coming. Hope he can keep the confidence we saw him wrestle with this weekend rolling into next year.

I knew that Downey was quite possibly the best wrestler on our team, but with his injury/lack of training/weight issues, I was not sure what to expect. What we got was best case scenario for me, and I'm glad that he was able to overcome all of the things he did to get to this point.

I felt sick to my stomach for Weatherman after that Rd12 match. I wish the coaches would have challenged the takedown goose may have had in the first period. Even after that, I think Goose started to get a little desperate too early in the match instead of just staying the course. How many guys have the elite wins that Weatherman has without an AA honor? He's beaten AA's: Kyle Crutchmer(although he usually lost to him), Zach Epperly, Dan Yates, Jordan Blanton, Bryce Hammond, Alex Meyer, Tyler Wilps, and David Mcfadden off of the top of my head

 

[HGoat]

Also, being happy that we exceeded expectations and being happy for our three individuals who AA'd is different than being happy with 12th place. This is KJ's 7th year. I'd have hoped we'd be competing for titles by now, and that we wouldn't be needing a spectacular tournament performance to get 12th place.

 

[BCClone]

I am happy for the wrestlers. Am I satisfied with 12th? No, I'm not. Did they exceed what i was thinking in January, oh yeah! We have 2 AA returning and and 2 qualifiers coming back. We also have maybe one of our best recruiting classes stepping aboard next year.

Right now now there is a gap between 11 and 12. Getting another guy or two to AA would close most of that gap.

We had a lot of early misses and a too many defectors the first 4-5 years of KJ. We need to at least hold the wrestlers we have, that would be a good start. It does seem there are less transfers so maybe that's happening.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

I am thrilled that we exceeded expectations. I am not satisfied with 12th place.

In fact, one of the frustrating things about this 'peaking' business is why aren't we wrestling close to this all season long? You play like you practice. If we show a little fire during the season...could we be even better?

That said, I've been in the fire KJ camp for some time. This tournament and the recruits we have coming in have shown me just enough that I'm ok with giving him another year or two. I'm starting to like the taste of crow. Hopefully I've been wrong these last few years.

 

[BCClone]

I am thrilled that we exceeded expectations. I am not satisfied with 12th place.

In fact, one of the frustrating things about this 'peaking' business is why aren't we wrestling close to this all season long? You play like you practice. If we show a little fire during the season...could we be even better?

That said, I've been in the fire KJ camp for some time. This tournament and the recruits we have coming in have shown me just enough that I'm ok with giving him another year or two. I'm starting to like the taste of crow. Hopefully I've been wrong these last few years.

That is why it's called peaking in March. If we wrestled the same all year, there wouldn't be peaking. I definitely can tell there are moments that your non very elite wrestlers well peak.Ive seen it with my own son, this year he peaked a month too early. The year before it was right on time. It's a science and mind situation on getting that done.

 

[NEICyFan]

Not exactly what was said. The post said:



You apparently stopped reading at the comma. Now, take a few minutes to read the original post and then read your reply. It might help you understand the view other posters here have of you.

Within the scope of this years tournament it was pretty darn successful. Now the bigger question of the overall state of the program is certainly something that can be debated, it just seems like that could wait a couple days.

I can agree with all of this.

I considered it an open discussion once the season was over. If that's not kosher, I'm happy to shut up about it for a few days.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

That is why it's called peaking in March. If we wrestled the same all year, there wouldn't be peaking. I definitely can tell there are moments that your non very elite wrestlers well peak.Ive seen it with my own son, this year he peaked a month too early. The year before it was right on time. It's a science and mind situation on getting that done.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I guess maybe 'peaking' is not quite the right word for what I think we're seeing. 'Peaking' implies that you are building towards something and you should be seeing steady progress. This and a couple other National performances seemed to come out of nowhere and much of it seemed to be effort related. I'm not sure why we don't see more of that during the season.

Nonetheless, you guys are right, we should be celebrating this accomplishment. I've gone on record as saying I'm on board with KJ next year, so I'll shut up for now.

 

[Judoka]

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I guess maybe 'peaking' is not quite the right word for what I think we're seeing. 'Peaking' implies that you are building towards something and you should be seeing steady progress. This and a couple other National performances seemed to come out of nowhere and much of it seemed to be effort related. I'm not sure why we don't see more of that during the season.

I think Jackson still hasn't gotten a complete handle on how to deal with the long college season vs. the intermittent nature of international level events. When we have just one event, with a handful of possible matchups and a clear timeframe to cycle our training our guys do really well. The game plans are on point and the guys really seem to wrestle their best. NCAAs every year is the clearest example of this as we, as a whole, have overperformed at NCAAs under Jackson.

But on the other hand when faced with the grind of weekly duals and months of competition we still struggle with keeping guys consistent and not on to much of an up and down cycle, plus the sometimes baffling personnel decisions. It's gotten better, but it isn't there yet.

 

[BCClone]

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I guess maybe 'peaking' is not quite the right word for what I think we're seeing. 'Peaking' implies that you are building towards something and you should be seeing steady progress. This and a couple other National performances seemed to come out of nowhere and much of it seemed to be effort related. I'm not sure why we don't see more of that during the season.

Nonetheless, you guys are right, we should be celebrating this accomplishment. I've gone on record as saying I'm on board with KJ next year, so I'll shut up for now.

I agree with you on not being happy with the results outside the tourney. We should be able to piece duals together better. Like jud said, there ar some questionable decisions made (although most of us questioned Downey at 97 and not 84, that was a well played move). I see a base now built and this class coming is interesting. The last couple have shown promise, now we just need to keep their noses clean and hopefully that translates to improvement

 

[ArgentCy]

I think the overall story of the tournament as far as exceeding expectations has to be Meredith from Wyoming, with Rauser from Utah Valley coming in 2nd. From the 14 seed Meredith took out #3, #6, and #2 on his way to the finals. No upsets opened the path up for him, he did it all himself. And they were all solid wins as opposed to lucky pins. Rauser was unseeded, lost in the first round to #2 Clark, and then rattled off wins over unseeded Harding, unseeded Campbell, #9 McGuire, and #6 DiCamillo before he ran out of steam.

Downey and Weatherspoon come close, but I think they didn't come out of nowhere as much.

That is quite surprising and it tells me that the expanded Big XII was underrated by the committee. That many upsets by unseeded wrestlers don't usually happen. This isn't basketball and why you need some top seeded wrestlers to compete for titles. Hopefully these results improve the opinion of this expansion and gathers a little more respect.

Apparently my brother actually knows Meredith as he coaches at his high school (not wrestling). Sent me a text that he was wrestling in the finals but I couldn't find anywhere to watch.

 

[ArgentCy]

Just had to look up Illinois and noticed that they had

#1 seed Martinez
#3 Richards
#5 Brunson
#6 Rodriguez and two unseeded guys who didn't look to score many points.

I am not positive but I'm pretty sure a #1 seed would be projected to score more points (by seed) by themselves as compared to our seeds.

 

[BCClone]

Without bonuses a champ would be 20 points, a third roughly 13.5 points, a five roughly 10 points, a six roughly 9 points. So 52.5 points if Illinois wrestles to seed and gets no bonus points.

Our guys wrestling to seed seed would have been roughly around 10 points.

 

[howellc33]

What is the lineup next year looking like? Does it include Gabe and Dante?

 

[BCClone]

What is the lineup next year looking like? Does it include Gabe and Dante?

That is one of the big questions. Both have injuries that are of a concern, especially gabe, so it's more a waiting game than anything.

Has anybody heard about any guys moving weights? We heard PD mention 84. Would Dane or spoon look to drop with goose out? We seem to recruit several 125s who constantly outgrow it. Nice to have Larson there to have a solid wrestler to depend on, but he's on his last go around now.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

I think Jackson still hasn't gotten a complete handle on how to deal with the long college season vs. the intermittent nature of international level events. When we have just one event, with a handful of possible matchups and a clear timeframe to cycle our training our guys do really well. The game plans are on point and the guys really seem to wrestle their best. NCAAs every year is the clearest example of this as we, as a whole, have overperformed at NCAAs under Jackson.

But on the other hand when faced with the grind of weekly duals and months of competition we still struggle with keeping guys consistent and not on to much of an up and down cycle, plus the sometimes baffling personnel decisions. It's gotten better, but it isn't there yet.

That is an interesting take and makes a lot of sense. The thing is, in the college season, this becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling/defeating tactic. Lack of emphasis on the regular season leads to lower seeds and even qualifiers. Therefore expectations are low going in and we over-perform.