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to early December before the transfer portal opens.

Roar’s Annual Big Ten Seeding Review

Welcome to my annual attempt at making sense of the regular season conference results (duals DO matter!). Seems to me this exercise gets tougher each year, though I personally take that as a challenge. When the Big Ten added Rutgers and Maryland in 2015, the conference added one dual meet to the schedule for all teams, making it nine each regular season. Wrestling ALL conference duals meant a wrestler would get nine of thirteen possible opponents. Not horrible. That lasted six years. Remember, just before Rutgers and Maryland were added the number of conference duals was eight, meaning eight of 11 possible opponents. Again, not horrible, pretty good in fact. In 2022, the matrix changed again, in the wrong direction in my opinion, and we’re back at eight conference duals. Even if the impossible happened and all 140 starters in the conference wrestled every dual, only eight of 13 opponents would be wrestled. These facts make seeding hard.

Only conference dual results are used to start, though occasionally I’ll sneak in a comment about tournament results between Big Ten foes.

As in the past couple of years, I will try to get two weight classes done per day, maybe as many as three. It is possible that I made a mistake or two (or three or four, and so on) with records, etc. Please be gentle. Here’s 125 to start.

125
#1: Matt Ramos (PUR, 8-0)
#2: Drake Ayala (IA, 5-2)
#3: Eric Barnett (WIS, 6-2)
#4: Braeden Davis (PSU, 6-2)
#5: Micheal DeAugustino (MICH, 5-2)
#6: Patrick McKee (MINN, 4-3)
#7: Caleb Smith (NEB, 4-3)
#8: Brendon McCrone (tOSU, 5-2)
#9: Dean Peterson (RUT, 4-4)
#10 Tristan Lujan (MSU, 1-6)
#11: Justin Cardani (ILL, 2-5)
#12: Massey Odiotti (NU, 2-6)
#13: Tommy Capul (MD, 1-7)
#14: Blaine Frazier (IND, 0-4)

Matt Ramos (PUR) is the easy pick for the top seed, going 8-0. A loss to Caleb Smith (NEB) at Cliff Keen has no bearing except as a tie-breaker should I need it. After that, the weight gets interesting, just as it did on the national scene. 125 is a wide open weight class. I was ready to pencil in Eric Barnett (WIS) at #2 and had Patrick McKee (MINN) all the way down to #9 last Friday morning. Then on Friday evening McKee pinned Barnett in Minny’s last dual, and the topsy-turvy nature of 125 continued. The Drake Ayala (IA) vs Barnett match didn’t happen in Iowa’s last dual as Ayala didn’t go. This would have gone a LONG way towards settling a few things. So we’re left with five guys with two losses and two guys with three losses that won against the guys with two losses. Get the picture? It’s not pretty.

Ayala’s losses are to top seed Ramos and one of the guys with two losses, Micheal DeAugustino (MICH), so I’m seeding him #2, by a hair. It’s a toss-up for the next three spots. DeAugustino beat Ayala, but lost to Smith and Davis. Davis beat DeAugustino, but lost to Ayala and Smith. Barnett beat Smith, but lost to Ramos and McKee. McCrone has no great wins and lost to DeAugustino and Barnett. Even 4-3 Smith could be in this mix, beating Davis and DeAugustino, and beating top seed Ramos at an early season tourney (I know, doesn’t count), but losing to Barnett, McKee and Ayala. McKee's loss to Dean Peterson (RUT) hurt his seed. I like Barnett for #3. The Ramos loss is the best loss of the bunch…though not much to go on, I know.

It’s #4 Davis next with the HTH win over #5 DeAugustino. #6 McKee gets the nod over #7 Smith with a HTH win, as both guys get seeded above 2-loss and #8 McCrone whose best win is HTH against #9 Dean Peterson (RUT). Peterson does have a win versus McKee, but also four conference losses including the one to McCrone. #10 through #14 are a bit of a mess too. I’m going #10 Tristan Lujan (MSU) with a HTH win over #11 Justin Cardani (ILL). #12 Massey Odiotti (NU) has wins over the last two seeds, #13 Tommy Capul (MD) and #14 Blaine Frazier (IND).

That was painful! I am confident the Big Ten and I won’t agree. At least I put my reasoning in black and white, so it’s far more transparent.

Lilledahl's wrestling at Yasar Dogu

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See Link. Decent list, although Elliott Washington, Alex Birchmeier and even AJ Harris (played less than 100 snaps for UGA last year) could have also been included. The thing that stands out from the clips is how well Rucci played at left tackle vs. LSU in the bowl game. Is he competing for both tackle spots at Penn State? Or is it strictly Jven vs. Donkah on the right side and Rucci vs. Shelton on the left side?

Read there are world-wide problems. I was knocked, can't sign-in. You guys?

A few friends connected with the Thon said Franklin got boo'd bad there.

Nate Bauer is all in his feelings about it...lol.

If we see some recruiting news sometime soon. I’m told that it was a Penn State decision here.

11:06 EDIT -- Omari Gaines has announced his decommitment.

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Long Island (N.Y) Lutheran guard Kayden Mingo continues to rise up the rankings, jumping 11 more spots in this refresh after moving up five in the last one.

Mingo had a breakout season playing a national schedule for one of the top high school teams in the country. The four-star prospect has taken massive strides as an outside shooter and a facilitator as a junior and could see his offer list rapidly expand this spring. Programs such as Penn State, Cal, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have already offered.

After seeing the last winter workouts on Thursday and Friday the key to making the playoffs is all about the Offensive Line. The skill position guys are in place. The new OC is a good one. Impressive guy. But got to have seven good OLs. Not sure they do right now. Spring is all about making that happen.

Defensively, Allen is not a drop off from Manny. So inspiring and probably a two yr type of guy. Will be a HC again. Any issue might be secondary although the new transfers are really talented and serious especially Harris. Kicking game in good shape.

The floor for this team is 10-2 and playoff bound if they can figure out the OL and stay healthy.

This is Franklins year to do it. No scUM and O$U at home! Would love a PSU vs. Oregon B1G Championship game in December and wouldn’t be surprised at all.

What say you?

I'm looking to take the wife and teenaged kids to T&C. We don't need all the accoutrements of a fancy vacation, and are thinking about North Caicos for its seclusion and somewhat cheaper lodging options. Any T&C pros out there that want to chime in? Thanks!

Is a retired admiral, top gun pilot and former captain of the hockey team at the Naval Academy. Superintendent at Navy and President at Nebraska. Why can’t PSU get a president like that? At least in the last 30 years.

Hey All,

Hoping to get some advice from people who know more than me. I'm taking my 5yo, first year wrestler up to the NLWC Clinic of Champions on 3/2 and I need help deciding which tournament he should compete at the next day.

The first option is the Nittany Lion Wrestling Tournament, which is being hosted at Rec Hall. He'd be in the 6U division and likely in the 50lb bracket weighing 46lb. We're already registered for this one because I didn't know that the other option existed when I signed him up for the clinic.

The second option is the Break The Chains First Year Finale, which is being hosted at the Nittany Valley Sports Center. This tournament is first year wrestlers only and has odd year divisions so he'd be able to wrestle 5U. In addition, they're giving a 1lb allowance so he could be in the 45lb division, depending on how much ice cream we eat on Saturday.

For some additional context, my son is not a hammer. He just wrestled his first tournament ever yesterday. It was a novice tournament and he went 0-2, dropping him to 7-9 on the season. My biggest concern with the NLWC tournament would be that he runs into bigger, more experienced wrestlers and gets pinned in the first period twice and doesn't actually gain anything from the experience. My concern with the FYF tournament is that there won't be enough registrants for his division, they need to combine with another division, and the same thing happens but in a less cool environment.

Does anybody on this board have any experience with either of these tournaments specifically, or any general advice for a first year wrestling Dad? Obviously the focus is on having fun and trying hard and winning doesn't actually matter, but it's hard to do the first two things if you're on your back in under 30 seconds.

Thanks in advance!

Gets his already pathetic sentence commuted. Maybe he’ll kill someone next time

https://abc7.com/britt-reid-crash-m...ntenced-commuted-kansas-city-chiefs/14484524/

Question for the board. Anyone else having trouble subscribing? I’ve subscribed in the past, but I tried subscribing for Edinborough match. No luck. Get to the pay part, and nothing happens. Doesn’t take my $, and still says subscription is needed.

Is anyone else having issues? Is there a customer service number to call? I can’t seem to locate one.

TIA

Casey Cunningham was the guest speaker at this past Sunday’s social, and he candidly answered a variety of questions. Going off memory here which is sliding so please fill in any blanks.

Question 1, which I was late getting to hear, was about the debacle after the match at Maryland. Casey said he’s been called a lot of things in his coaching career but never a Mother F’r . Casey also told a funny story about after the Iowa match, that during the handshake line, Tom Brands said,” you really kicked our ass”!, and then said nothing else. Everyone thought that was pretty funny!

Next question was by me. I asked that since the BTN+ student home announcers sometimes have very little knowledge of wrestling, would it be possible to make a short video explaining scoring, pinning moves, etc for them? Everyone laughed, but he thought it was a good idea.

Question about starters for the match? Casey answered that it would be the first time all the starters were healthy since early season and all would be going today. He said the flu hit them pretty hard as it did other teams mentioning Missouri and how many guys were out for the ISU match.

Question about having a PSU women’s wrestling team? Casey answered that PSU is currently offering 31 sports to student athletes, and adding another will take some work. He stated that his daughter is 10 years old and wrestles, so he’s definitely in favor of it. Casey said the Iowa coaches sent his daughter an Iowa women’s wrestling shirt, and he threw it away. That brought a big roar from the crowd. Someone else asked who the women spar with and he said with each other and that the lighter guys in the room will work with them when they can.

Question about his most memorable matches as a PSU coach? Casey stated that Bo’s pin of MyMar at the 2018 championships stands out. He said DT’s Olympic Gold metal match rated right up there. He mentioned Zain’s World Gold metal and told a funny story about it. Casey was so happy for Zain and was fighting back tears when he hugged him after the match. He laughed and said Zain had this look that said ‘ get a hold of yourself Casey’. Someone mentioned Anthony Cassar and Casey said another great story.

That’s all I can think of for now, but if you were there and know any other good ones I missed please pile on. Also forgive the grammatical errors!

16 for 16 on assists and 8 three pointers.