Next year I'm expecting 11AA's or I'm going to complain about the direction we are headed.
2025 NCAA's - Match/PBP/discussions (merged)
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There's a gut level part of me that thinks he got a bag last night. That WWE scripting really leaves me unsettled.
I just logged on to FLO. After all the incredible events of last night......what was FLO's lead story? You guessed it......AJ Ferrari's "journey" to 3rd place. Carter and Hendrickson as well as the team race were just smaller stories below. WOW
This discussion comes up a lot, especially when anticipating which school elite recruits will choose. Guessing at what's top of mind for a high school kid on this stuff is impossible. Their decision could be rooted in an interview with a coach or wrestler they watched on tv as a kid, an impressionable interaction they had at a youth camp, the color of a singlet, the desire to a big fish in a little pond, wanting to be part of the next big thing, or 1,000 other unpredictable factors.
DT even mentioned that in the Game On segment ESPN did ahead of this week's tournament. Said he was ready to go to Okie State after his visit there but ultimately decided he wanted to be part of building this new movement Cael was starting at PSU. Starts around 3:48 here:
Some thoughts:
What a great tournament with multiple storylines at every weight. The NCAA doesn't do a good enough job at promoting those storylines, especially in the finals. You would think ESPN would try to do that since they have the TV rights. Same could be said for JB and DC, but by the time they get on the air to commentate the finals, its too late to hype up the current matches. I would love to see the UFC step in and do some promoting. After all, college wrestling (not just D1) is probably their biggest feeder program. I know thats not the UFC's job, and them paying for that is highly unlikey, but in my eyes, that would be the easiest and quickest way to get eyes and recognition on our sport.
Not sure I liked the match order but I understood it, and in hindsight, HWT was probably the main event as far as excitement goes. ESPN and NCAA needed a match to get people to watch at 7, and hold their eyes, and attendance until the end. The two biggest storylines that non wrestling fans could relate to were at 184 and HWT. Therefore I understood it, but I would have started at 285 and ran straight through. Less confusion for the casual fan, and you still end with a PSU/IOWA which is the biggest rivalry in college wrestling.
I wanna run through the story lines:
125 - A non powerhouse school NC State Wolfpack Vince Robinson (no disrespect to NCState, but not known for being a "top dog" in NCAA Wrestling) vs The Olympic Gold Medalist's first NCAA Finalist Troy Spratley. Both guys first time in the finals. The freshman never won a state title, and the sophomore started his career at a different school. Pat Pop has been a mainstay at the program and a well known coach and one blew up the wrestling world when we uprooted from a program many thought he would take over. The winner? The 0x state champ Vince Robinson
133 - Like them or not, Iowa is great for the sport of wrestling. Two guys who have seen each other multiple times this year with I believe the series was tied at 1-1. The last time the two met? A first period fall by Byrd, who again attends a lesser known program at Illinois. The Hawkeye looking for revenge not only against Byrd from earlier this year, but winning after losing in the finals last year. The ending? The Fighting Illini keeps the Hawkeye from getting his first NC.
141 - A rematch of the meme. Brock Hardy wrestling for the school who far exceeded expectations, and Jesse Mendez who's team came up well short of expectations. A rematch of the big ten semi finals where there were 17 points put on the board. Will there be another meme? No, but they end up putting 21 points on the board. The results flip from 2 weeks ago, and the Buckeye is now a 2X NC.
149 - A 2X Finalist 1X champ Caleb Henson vs a 1X finalist Ridge Lovett. A lesser known school, Virginia Tech, vs the school wrestling out of their minds Nebraska. Ridge Lovett's last chance at a championship vs Caleb Henson, who can be a 4xer. The result? The Husker gets his first championship and denies The Hokie his 2nd in as many tries.
157 - Where did these guys come from? The lowest seeded guy to make the finals at 8 Joey Blaze. The Boilermaker, vs the third straight Nebraska Husker in a row Antrell Taylor. Murderer's Row for the NCAA Wrestling tournament. The Result? The Husker makes it 2-3 to continue the incredible run of Nebraska and ends the "Cinderella Story" of the 8 seed Joey Blaze.
165 - PSU vs Iowa does anything else need to be said. The Team Champion Nittany Lion's Mitchell Messenbrink vs the Iowa Hawkeye Michael Caliendo. Messenbrink the only guy to beat Caliendo this year, and I believe last. Messenbrink with only 1 loss on his record which came in the NCAA Finals last year. Caliendo looks to close the gap even further after giving Messenbrink his closest match just 2 weeks ago. The result? The Nittany Lion gets his first NC and tops the Hawkeye.
174 - The Missouri Tiger main stay. A national champion and multiple time finalst Keegan O Toole looking for his second. The once Wisconsin Badger now Oklahoma St Cowboy Dean Hamiti looks to give David Taylor his first national champion in his first trip to the finals. The Result? Dean Hamiti gives himself as a wrestler his first national champion and David Taylor his first as a head coach.
184 - The Nittany Lion who is a 4x NCAA Champion Carter Starocci. Carter going for his 5th would be the first, only, and last 5xer. He's moving up a weight class to face the 2024 champion at the weight. The University of Northern Iowa Panther's Parker Keckeisen. Keckeisen not only won the weight, but bonused his way through the tournament last year. The result? History is completed, Starocci is a 5xer.
197 - PSU vs Iowa, again. The Lion looks to flip the result against the Hawkeye from their dual. Is the Lion, who had to medically forfeit out of his conference tournament, healthy enough to top the Hawkeye. Buchanan's only loss on the season was the guy Josh Barr had to beat to reach the finals. The result? The Hawkeye's get their first national champion of the night, denying Penn State going 3-3.
285 - The US Air Force Second Lieutenant, who took his talents to Oklahoma State for his final year of eligibility is looking for his first National Champioinship. Gable Stephenson the Minnesota Gopher, Olympic Gold Medalist, former WWE Wrestler, former defensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills, comes back after exploring all other options to gain his third NC. The immovable force vs the unstoppable object. The Result? The Second Lieutenant gets a takedown with 15 seconds left to do what many thought was impossible and dethrone Gable.
The Team Champions? The Penn State Nittany Lions who set an all time tournament record scoring 177 points and outscoring the Nebraska Huskers who took second place with 117 points. The two other teams to earn a trophy were the Oklahoma State Cowboys with 102.5 points, and the Iowa Hawkeyes with 81 points. Penn State breaks their own scoring record that they set just last year.
When you take a step back and really dive into it, that is how to promote our sport. It's far bigger than it seems on the surface. If I put that in front of most people without the results listed, they would be interested. I feel they would want to tune in to see how it ends. If you get someone who is familiar with wrestling and not a follower, you could fill them in on all the former champs and all americans that didn't place, or worse than that, went 0-2.
Now, back to business. Congrats to the 2024-2025 Penn State Nittany Lions on the National Championship. What a tournament! Already looking forward to next year and giving my 2 cents on the lineup next year when that thread gets started. Very rarely am I negative on here, actually this may be a first. But I want to see the betting odds on this years national champions either A. not reaching the finals again, or B. not being an all american next year. My money is on Antrell Taylor. I don't mean to be disrespectful or take away from his national championship. But there is just something about every one of his matches that rubbed me the wrong way.
What a great tournament with multiple storylines at every weight. The NCAA doesn't do a good enough job at promoting those storylines, especially in the finals. You would think ESPN would try to do that since they have the TV rights. Same could be said for JB and DC, but by the time they get on the air to commentate the finals, its too late to hype up the current matches. I would love to see the UFC step in and do some promoting. After all, college wrestling (not just D1) is probably their biggest feeder program. I know thats not the UFC's job, and them paying for that is highly unlikey, but in my eyes, that would be the easiest and quickest way to get eyes and recognition on our sport.
Not sure I liked the match order but I understood it, and in hindsight, HWT was probably the main event as far as excitement goes. ESPN and NCAA needed a match to get people to watch at 7, and hold their eyes, and attendance until the end. The two biggest storylines that non wrestling fans could relate to were at 184 and HWT. Therefore I understood it, but I would have started at 285 and ran straight through. Less confusion for the casual fan, and you still end with a PSU/IOWA which is the biggest rivalry in college wrestling.
I wanna run through the story lines:
125 - A non powerhouse school NC State Wolfpack Vince Robinson (no disrespect to NCState, but not known for being a "top dog" in NCAA Wrestling) vs The Olympic Gold Medalist's first NCAA Finalist Troy Spratley. Both guys first time in the finals. The freshman never won a state title, and the sophomore started his career at a different school. Pat Pop has been a mainstay at the program and a well known coach and one blew up the wrestling world when we uprooted from a program many thought he would take over. The winner? The 0x state champ Vince Robinson
133 - Like them or not, Iowa is great for the sport of wrestling. Two guys who have seen each other multiple times this year with I believe the series was tied at 1-1. The last time the two met? A first period fall by Byrd, who again attends a lesser known program at Illinois. The Hawkeye looking for revenge not only against Byrd from earlier this year, but winning after losing in the finals last year. The ending? The Fighting Illini keeps the Hawkeye from getting his first NC.
141 - A rematch of the meme. Brock Hardy wrestling for the school who far exceeded expectations, and Jesse Mendez who's team came up well short of expectations. A rematch of the big ten semi finals where there were 17 points put on the board. Will there be another meme? No, but they end up putting 21 points on the board. The results flip from 2 weeks ago, and the Buckeye is now a 2X NC.
149 - A 2X Finalist 1X champ Caleb Henson vs a 1X finalist Ridge Lovett. A lesser known school, Virginia Tech, vs the school wrestling out of their minds Nebraska. Ridge Lovett's last chance at a championship vs Caleb Henson, who can be a 4xer. The result? The Husker gets his first championship and denies The Hokie his 2nd in as many tries.
157 - Where did these guys come from? The lowest seeded guy to make the finals at 8 Joey Blaze. The Boilermaker, vs the third straight Nebraska Husker in a row Antrell Taylor. Murderer's Row for the NCAA Wrestling tournament. The Result? The Husker makes it 2-3 to continue the incredible run of Nebraska and ends the "Cinderella Story" of the 8 seed Joey Blaze.
165 - PSU vs Iowa does anything else need to be said. The Team Champion Nittany Lion's Mitchell Messenbrink vs the Iowa Hawkeye Michael Caliendo. Messenbrink the only guy to beat Caliendo this year, and I believe last. Messenbrink with only 1 loss on his record which came in the NCAA Finals last year. Caliendo looks to close the gap even further after giving Messenbrink his closest match just 2 weeks ago. The result? The Nittany Lion gets his first NC and tops the Hawkeye.
174 - The Missouri Tiger main stay. A national champion and multiple time finalst Keegan O Toole looking for his second. The once Wisconsin Badger now Oklahoma St Cowboy Dean Hamiti looks to give David Taylor his first national champion in his first trip to the finals. The Result? Dean Hamiti gives himself as a wrestler his first national champion and David Taylor his first as a head coach.
184 - The Nittany Lion who is a 4x NCAA Champion Carter Starocci. Carter going for his 5th would be the first, only, and last 5xer. He's moving up a weight class to face the 2024 champion at the weight. The University of Northern Iowa Panther's Parker Keckeisen. Keckeisen not only won the weight, but bonused his way through the tournament last year. The result? History is completed, Starocci is a 5xer.
197 - PSU vs Iowa, again. The Lion looks to flip the result against the Hawkeye from their dual. Is the Lion, who had to medically forfeit out of his conference tournament, healthy enough to top the Hawkeye. Buchanan's only loss on the season was the guy Josh Barr had to beat to reach the finals. The result? The Hawkeye's get their first national champion of the night, denying Penn State going 3-3.
285 - The US Air Force Second Lieutenant, who took his talents to Oklahoma State for his final year of eligibility is looking for his first National Champioinship. Gable Stephenson the Minnesota Gopher, Olympic Gold Medalist, former WWE Wrestler, former defensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills, comes back after exploring all other options to gain his third NC. The immovable force vs the unstoppable object. The Result? The Second Lieutenant gets a takedown with 15 seconds left to do what many thought was impossible and dethrone Gable.
The Team Champions? The Penn State Nittany Lions who set an all time tournament record scoring 177 points and outscoring the Nebraska Huskers who took second place with 117 points. The two other teams to earn a trophy were the Oklahoma State Cowboys with 102.5 points, and the Iowa Hawkeyes with 81 points. Penn State breaks their own scoring record that they set just last year.
When you take a step back and really dive into it, that is how to promote our sport. It's far bigger than it seems on the surface. If I put that in front of most people without the results listed, they would be interested. I feel they would want to tune in to see how it ends. If you get someone who is familiar with wrestling and not a follower, you could fill them in on all the former champs and all americans that didn't place, or worse than that, went 0-2.
Now, back to business. Congrats to the 2024-2025 Penn State Nittany Lions on the National Championship. What a tournament! Already looking forward to next year and giving my 2 cents on the lineup next year when that thread gets started. Very rarely am I negative on here, actually this may be a first. But I want to see the betting odds on this years national champions either A. not reaching the finals again, or B. not being an all american next year. My money is on Antrell Taylor. I don't mean to be disrespectful or take away from his national championship. But there is just something about every one of his matches that rubbed me the wrong way.
Bob donating to the NCAA for additional trophies makes more financial sense. Cheaper in the long run.
The coaches are obviously using the conservative approach as strategy.
It's on the referees to call it and to call it early.
The onus is on the referees.
Maybe the 3 point takedown has backfired. A good wrestler who hits 2-3 takedowns in a match is probably the winner . Coaches try to teach an inferior talented kid to compete for one move/mistake match.
Think of what football would look like if referees didn't call holding and interference.
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It wasn't shown. I watched the super exciting "your event is starting soon" with calming wave sounds for 30 minutes.
I agree and I don't think it's due to the 3 point TD. Refs haven't correctly called stalling well before that change.
And as far as your football analogy, see O$U games in the BIG.
Congrats on your team. Incredibly impressive.
Regarding 4th place ... it was Brands and Buchanan (if memory serves) and some other dude - who was that dude?
It's clearly 1 or 2 too many guys, and I'd hate to see Rock get tossed overboard.
Burroughs brings the least of the color commentators. Maybe they can make him the sideline reporterette and ditch Kessenich.
Or if the refs call bouncing interceptions but not play clock violations.
Well they had a great show during the day on Saturday to get their Haters Ball started early. Watching the entire team step up like they did had to be difficult for them to process.
I don't want to see Rock get tossed either. I can go either way on JB. I'd be up for Rock (125 to 157) and Cormier (165 to 285) splitting matches, but maybe it's too choppy.
Nice to see the national media attention to our sport.
Oklahoma State's Wyatt Hendrickson salutes Trump after shocking NCAA win, opens up about Air Force career
Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestler Wyatt Hendrickson saluted President Donald Trump on Saturday after his shocking defeat of Gable Steveson.
www.foxnews.com
TV still works. 🙂
Because history says so…past match btw Kerk/Wyatt. History also said Gable beats Wyatt….by a TF.
What happened last night is Gable told people in the pre-match press conference that he was gonna show everyone something they’ve never seen before. Gable resides in his own head with loads of press clippings. Wyatt was nimble enough to avoid the TD’s except one. In neutral he literally hung / draped himself on Gable’s head and wore Gable out. Ask Matt Brown how that works. Nolf….and others.
As to the question of Kerk not being big enough? Kinda short memory’s around here. Let’s check in on AC’s weight. Gable was living in his own head then, too.
Some guys are just hungry enough.
Carter is really f$&king hungry.
If you don't have Burroughs, where do you get takes like "target his injured leg" or applause for taking a fake challenge to give your wrestler a breather?
Along with a full-time camera on Dake in the stands during live action.
They brought it back and sent one in the mail to ISU last year
Even 159-0 aside, just look at Cael’s NCAA campaigns.
Freshman Year - 3 pins, 12 pt Major and 6-1 over future World Silver Eggum
Sophomore- Bonus all the way. 1 pin, 2 Techs a 11 and 13 point MDs
Junior - pin, 2 techs, 14 point major and 8-4 over Cormier
Senior - 2 pins, tech, and 2 majors including final against Trenge.
He was 2 easy decisions from bonusing every match. 4 Time OW. He was an absolutely absurd folkstyler who always showed up ready to dominate.
It’s Cael………… then Dake…… then others
And he did. An NCAA wrestler taking a bag to throw a match. Gable wrestled in a way I've never seen him wrestle going back to 2016. Even in his loses to Cassar he didn't just stop wrestling like he did last night.
As objectively as can be, and temporarily putting NIL and lineup opportunity aside, and assuming no vacancy at Nittany Lion Inn, tell me how a top recruit and/or transfer with multiple years left (I’ll reserve “mercenary” for 1-year contracts) doesn’t choose Cowboys over Hawks? The young, vibrant DT and his wholistic approach contrasted with TnT’s perhaps dated ways. Then watching Spratley’s improvement, Hamiti taking out 2-time great Keegan, and Wyatt toppling Goliath and weighing it against Brands’ hired gun squeaking by an RS freshman, and Ayala never coached past one trick.
Granted, NIL and lineup slots do factor in. But, honestly, if they’re equal, isn’t it DT all day?
Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, a grown-from-seed dynasty wrecks team points scoring records two years in a row. What a wonderful Sunday morning it is to be a Lion fan.
It will be interesting to watch the NIL market this year.
If the goal is to beat PSU, it will be hard to find 1-year mercenaries who finished higher on the podium than our returnees.
Steveson throughout the postseason consistently limited himself to clean finishes. If he had to work more than a little to finish, he gave it up for a clean re-start.
We saw this multiple times -- anything at the edge, guys hopping around on a leg for too long, etc. Most infamously chucking Feldman out of bounds at B10s like yesterday's trash.
He gave away a single against Hendrickson because he couldn't be bothered to work to finish. And he definitely wasn't ready for Hendrickson to ankle pass and funk roll -- he quickly dropped his anchor so the ref would stop action.
That worked against almost the entire field that couldn't match up with him. But against Hendrickson, he reduced 7 minutes down to a 45-sec, 1-score match. And Hendrickson took advantage.
10 PSU starters plus
Great season everyone
What an event for everyone
10 AA and all in the top 6 (8 in top 3)
im ready for the posts on team returning points and who slots where
Going to be a great offseason and hopefully they get 5 in a row, something PSU hasn’t done (I think the other two times they punted)
What an event for everyone
10 AA and all in the top 6 (8 in top 3)
im ready for the posts on team returning points and who slots where
Going to be a great offseason and hopefully they get 5 in a row, something PSU hasn’t done (I think the other two times they punted)
His face at the end says otherwise.
And if there's anything we know about his WWE career: he can't act.
I get it, teenagers can be meatheads. But what parent in their right mind would choose Brands over DT or Cael?
Ah, never mind. On second thought, I’ve answered my own question - a lot of parents are meatheads, too.
Just listened. Absolutely incredible. All you had to do was watch him first round when he didn’t choose bottom (he gets out easily on everyone when healthy and often gets quick reversals) to know he was compromised. He could walk to the semis with his draw not stressing himself much (e.g not picking down if he didn’t have to) as besides Gable and WH, only Schultz could be a problem for him (and Schultz is at a matchup disadvantage with a healthy Kerk).
If he was healthy, he would have been in a battle - he only beat WH 4-2 when both were healthy and that’s when Wyatt was making dumb in-match mistakes, but he was helpless out there.
I’m surprised they didn’t laugh about “tummy time” since they used to do that when he was ill early in his career and taking one for the team. I was waiting for that. If it was Spencer, they would have spent 15 minutes on how hampered he was because it was always something
Not related, but I hope JV never mentions UNI as “184U” again. It makes him look like the gas-station pizza eating parochial hick he is. Carter, Brooks, Ed Ruth, Nickal, Q. Next topic - forever
I believe someone already posted that there’s 128 returning points. Crazy!
Counting Bear Claw we had 11 this year. If we get 10 next and the 8 Rutgers transfers all AA that's 18.
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And Iowa closed the gap, lost by less than 100 this year! 🤪
One problem with this approach is that Cornier doesn’t know what he’s looking at half the time and just blurts out thoughts the second they begin to form in his mind. You need at least one other color guy there to supervise and correct . . . if he can get a word in.
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