I was disappointed in our losses last night but how disappointed can any fan be with two champs, seven top-three finishes, and eight AAs? I think last night was a good reminder of just how hard it is at that level, and perhaps just how much better Penn State has made other wrestlers by setting the bar so high. It's one thing to get to the top, far harder to stay there when you're the target. When it's too easy, and many fans have come to expect so much, it's harder to appreciate just how difficult it all is.
As to last night's losses, Vito is just that good, and improved (both in strength and quickness) since the semis loss to Pat Glory last year. It wasn't as if RBY didn't show up, it's that Vito was on his level, and indeed, higher. I don't think it's as if RBY couldn't ever match that level, but we'll never see it in college--it's a shame that's the first time they faced each other in folk. The PSU coaching staff is great at preparing our guys for rematches, but they won't get that chance here. RBY is a legend of this program and put in an amazing show for his entire tenure.
Kerk's match against Parris was a carbon copy of the last match, with Kerk getting a leg, failing to covert, and then getting fireman dumped and ridden. Parris improved from last year and Kerk isn't quite there. Questions over whether he should've taken bottom were beside the point, Parris wasn't losing to Kerk last night, he was just the better wrestler and has been all year.
Levi's loss to O'Connor was also predictable inasmuch as no true freshman should be able to beat a 6th-year year senior in the finals. He had real trouble from bottom beneath a great rider, and had nothing on his shots after that ride, the gravity of the moment perhaps finally catching up with him. But he was a true freshman in the finals and gave us a season to remember. Pretty confident about Levi's prospects over the next three years because the areas he can improve of the sort that naturally occur with age, like simply getting stronger. He's already mentally there.
Carter and Brooks were just taking care of business last night and have been in their own stratosphere for a few years, Brooks' only loss being an odd outlier. Both are a joy to watch wrestle and last night had little reminders of how much. Carter knowing not to follow Labriola's roll to catch and stick him there, and Brooks' subtle reaching out with his hand to trip Keckeisen for his first takedown.
But this tournament was as much about SVN and Bartlett's progression and journey as anyone else's, for different reasons. Bartlett tightened up his game, added confidence, and believed himself to a third place finish, and SVN, as naturally gifted with wrestling instinct and feel as Brooks, wrestling as loose and free as if he was in the practice room, and making everyone--and nearly even Yianni--pay. Bartlett and SVN are a great example of how Cael & Co's approach allows wrestlers of all types and styles to thrive inside the same environment, instead of imposing a style. They couldn't be more different, stylistically, but they both wound up on the same platform from lower seeds, losing only to the eventual national champs.
Facundo learned a lot, much of it the hard way, and he'll be better for it.
