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2023 Senior worlds September 16-24

I will say this, DT has OWNED the next best guy in the world at his weight the last few years. He is literally untouchable right now.
Not going to spend time watching the video, but if it includes college, I go DT all the way. He doesn't have the titles the other two do, but he's the most iconic wrestler of this generation and set the tone for an era defining dynasty.
 
Not going to spend time watching the video, but if it includes college, I go DT all the way. He doesn't have the titles the other two do, but he's the most iconic wrestler of this generation and set the tone for an era defining dynasty.
Im Proud Of You Episode 1 GIF by New Amsterdam
 
Not going to spend time watching the video, but if it includes college, I go DT all the way. He doesn't have the titles the other two do, but he's the most iconic wrestler of this generation and set the tone for an era defining dynasty.
Add to it the fact that in the NCAAs where Dake beat Taylor in the finals, Taylor had more team points than Dake. In addition, if you look at career scoring at NCAAs , Taylor enjoys a healthy advantage over Dake (101-96). I'll take DT even if we only consider college results. But, yeah, his dominace over Yazdani and the 2018 Wrestler of the Year award adds more weight to the position.
 
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Add to it the fact that in the NCAAs where Dake beat Taylor in the finals, Taylor had more team points than Dake. In addition, if you look at career scoring at NCAAs , Taylor enjoys a healthy advantage over Dake (101-96). I'll take DT even if we only consider college results. But, yeah, his dominace over Yazdani and the 2018 Wrestler of the Year award adds more weight to the position.
You’d take Taylor over Dake if only considering college results? Please stop, you can’t sell that to anyone , DT included
 
What impresses me most about DT is how much he improved in freestyle. Out of the gate he was above average and lost more than a few 12-10 type matches, similar to how Logan Stieber looked. Maybe it was just the difference between cutting and not cutting but once he settled in at 86kg he became a wrestler who didn't give up points practically ever, and scored whenever he wanted to. It would've been easy to get discouraged when he suddenly found himself as just another guy in the bracket, but he just kept improving to where even his matches with Yazdani are no longer close.
 
It's not like preferring the guy who scored more team points at nationals is entirely irrational.
Taylor himself would almost certainly trade that for Dake's 4 titles. (At least since it did not affect any team races.)

I prefer Taylor on my team, but that doesn't make his the better college career.
 
DT's always been one of my personal favorites. His freshman year was the first year I followed wrestling extremely closely. I tried to do a lot of the things he did. He probably cost me quite a few matches because of that! #notaseasyasitlooks
He always scared the shit out of me how comfortable he was using his crab ride
 
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I continued my journey from Belgrade, where I savored Zain and David's championships most of all, to Sarajevo and am now in Istanbul. I saw this limestone relief from 600 BCE in the Istanbul Archealogical Museum. Some things haven't changed. Wrist control. Or maybe even grabbing fingers. Who knows?

20230928-092927.jpg
 
I continued my journey from Belgrade, where I savored Zain and David's championships most of all, to Sarajevo and am now in Istanbul. I saw this limestone relief from 600 BCE in the Istanbul Archealogical Museum. Some things haven't changed. Wrist control. Or maybe even grabbing fingers. Who knows?

20230928-092927.jpg
Clearly heavyweights. Or Serbian lightweights who opted to skip weigh-ins?
 
DT w/ a new youtube channel, and some sweet content:
nerfstate, Thanks for posting this. That was a great video. We are so fortunate to be wrestling fans at this point in history. Not only do we get to enjoy this current Penn State dynasty but our freestyle men and women's teams have really stepped it up the last few years. We also have access to so much more wrestling content now, especially behind-the-scenes content like this video.

On another note, I didn't realize how much of a cut David has to make 86 kg (189.6 lb). He was 205 three days out from the competition and was ten pounds over after his semi-final match. The cut to make 74 kg (163.1 lb) early in his freestyle career must have been brutal for him. Being able to grow into a full-sized 86 kg has been so beneficial for him.
 
DT's always been one of my personal favorites. His freshman year was the first year I followed wrestling extremely closely. I tried to do a lot of the things he did. He probably cost me quite a few matches because of that! #notaseasyasitlooks
His freshman year I saw PSU wrestle at the Virginia Duals. I was hooked on Taylor and the Nittany Lion style. It’s only gotten better over time! We Are!
 
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Great video… Looked like an NLWC road trip. Talk about a Penn State promotional video.

It’s amazing how the coaching staff handles being the nation’s best collegiate program and the worlds best freestyle program. It’s not even close. Never been done. No wonder nobody leaves for a HC job. Why would you?

The sacrifices all of these guys make and the incredible support system they have developed is what is amazing. You talk about a 365 day job.

The other thing I’ve always noticed is how fresh these guys look even after grueling tournaments. It’s hard to recall ever seeing one of the guys looking completely spent. Training and recovery regime is their secret sauce.

Cael and staff come home and within a week they secure the nation’s #1 recruit for 2025. I only wish there was a documentary or book written following the staff for a year. That would be a great story. This should run needs to be memorialized.

What they are doing has never been done. Talk about raising the bar. Krafty has to do whatever is necessary to keep feeding the beast. Because there is even greater heights to be achieved.
 
I continued my journey from Belgrade, where I savored Zain and David's championships most of all, to Sarajevo and am now in Istanbul. I saw this limestone relief from 600 BCE in the Istanbul Archealogical Museum. Some things haven't changed. Wrist control. Or maybe even grabbing fingers. Who knows?

20230928-092927.jpg
That is bad ass man.

You should make that your avatar.
 
I continued my journey from Belgrade, where I savored Zain and David's championships most of all, to Sarajevo and am now in Istanbul. I saw this limestone relief from 600 BCE in the Istanbul Archealogical Museum. Some things haven't changed. Wrist control. Or maybe even grabbing fingers. Who knows?

20230928-092927.jpg
Please dump some notes into the Travel thread! I've been eyeing Sarajevo and Istanbul for some time, and why not Belgrade too.
 
Needs more body of work, but I could see Vito making the top half of this list if he can keep going at the same level he's been at this year. Tazhudinov obviously poised to climb that list as well.
 
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Needs more body of work, but I could see Vito making the top half of this list if he can keep going at the same level he's been at this year. Tazhudinov obviously poised to climb that list as well.
Every guy on that top 10 list is at a Oly weight, as it should be. I have no problem with them getting preferential treatment ESPECIALLY the year before Oly’s.
 
The guy responsible for this footage and I believe post-production as well is Danny Phillips (Cameraman.Dan_ on Instagram) and he's very good.

BTW, I didn't realize Yianni made the trip. I guess he was Vito's training partner?
yeah, Vito’s partner.

If you haven’t, I also highly recommend these videos Flo made in belgrade. Top notch stuff, imo





 
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