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Cenzo - Most improved?

NittanyChris

NittanyChris

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Dec 3, 2001
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Just have to say how enjoyable it is to watch Cenzo this season. We are truly spoiled by the all-time greatness of Zain, Nolf, Nickal and the stunning pedigree of Hall. At the same time, is anyone more improved than Cenzo this year? He just looks to be in complete and total command and never even at risk to give up a TD, let alone lose a match. He's so relaxed and "in the zone" as they say.

So many opposing fans simply assumed that IMar would get his revenge this season. Of our 5 NCAA Champions, they just penciled Cenzo in as the one who had very little shot to repeat. It was basically a given.

To borrow from Corso...Not so fast my friends!

WE ARE!!!
 
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I dont know if he is most improved (197 guys) but he has hips of stone. I remember him being tough to score on but he just stops guys dead in their tracks.

To me hes got old man strength in a 22 yo body, meaning hes not a calendar model like LPs guy, but I would bet P4P he is one of the strongest guys on the team.
 
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dunkej01 said:
I dont know if he is most improved (197 guys) but he has hips of stone. I remember him being tough to score on but he just stops guys dead in their tracks.

To me hes got old man strength in a 22 yo body, meaning hes not a calendar model like LPs guy, but I would bet P4P he is one of the strongest guys on the team.
Click to expand...

Just curious...how many TDs has he given up this year? Any?
 
dunkej01 said:
I dont know if he is most improved (197 guys) but he has hips of stone. I remember him being tough to score on but he just stops guys dead in their tracks.

To me hes got old man strength in a 22 yo body, meaning hes not a calendar model like LPs guy, but I would bet P4P he is one of the strongest guys on the team.
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The contrast in body types was really evident last night, where you can tell Ohio State's weight room gets a lot more action than Penn State's. I think if you surveyed non-wrestling fans completely unfamiliar with the wrestlers they'd probably predict an Ohio State blowout looking up and down the lineups. And especially when you look at Cenzo next to Campbell.

I think too much time in the weight room isn't all that useful to wrestling though, and even hurts you in other aspects, like agility. And it's not that Penn State guys aren't as strong; lots of guys with what Ben Askren calls "farm-boy strength" (he was referring to Zain). Askren also mentioned how surprised he was at Nolf's strength after rolling with him for a bit.
 
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Wrestler2u said:
How does a defending National Champ get to be most improved?
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probably just based on the court of public opinion,due to the fact that those he is trying to catch are Zain and Nolf ?? We all know how dominant those 2 are,he is showing more and more that he can be also. He is enjoyable to watch to say the least.
 
Joseph is smack dab in the middle of Murderer's Row and perhaps the greatest five guys in consecutive order to take the mat. He gets to go with all these guys in the room and to benefit from that. Just part of why he has really put it together over the last year and a half. It doesn't hurt one's confidence either to pin a two-time defending national champ in the finals either. Oh, and those crazy hips!
 
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The BTN commentator duo (let's call them "Bring your hips to the party" and "Workman-like performance") are fond of pointing out how calm, composed and relaxed Joseph looks out there. I would agree.
 
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dmm53 said:
The BTN commentator duo (let's call them "Bring your hips to the party" and "Workman-like performance") are fond of pointing out how calm, composed and relaxed Joseph looks out there. I would agree.
Click to expand...

And they want us to watch how he breathes. Not sure how to do that. :rolleyes:
 
NittanyChris said:
Just have to say how enjoyable it is to watch Cenzo this season. We are truly spoiled by the all-time greatness of Zain, Nolf, Nickal and the stunning pedigree of Hall. At the same time, is anyone more improved than Cenzo this year? He just looks to be in complete and total command and never even at risk to give up a TD, let alone lose a match. He's so relaxed and "in the zone" as they say.

So many opposing fans simply assumed that IMar would get his revenge this season. Of our 5 NCAA Champions, they just penciled Cenzo in as the one who had very little shot to repeat. It was basically a given.

To borrow from Corso...Not so fast my friends!

WE ARE!!!
Click to expand...

Agree, was saying the same thing play night.

He seems to hardly ever give up a takedown.
 
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NittanyChris said:
... So many opposing fans simply assumed that IMar would get his revenge this season. Of our 5 NCAA Champions, they just penciled Cenzo in as the one who had very little shot to repeat. It was basically a given.

To borrow from Corso...Not so fast my friends!

WE ARE!!!
Click to expand...
Not only opposing fans. I remember that on this forum, there was a thread that ranked the #1 ranked wrestlers in every weight class by probability of winning the title, and Cenzo was ranked rather low even by us among that august group.
 
Dogwelder said:
Not only opposing fans. I remember that on this forum, there was a thread that ranked the #1 ranked wrestlers in every weight class by probability of winning the title, and Cenzo was ranked rather low even by us among that august group.
Click to expand...

Well, I do think a lot of that has to do with how great IMar has been. However, I really think that Cenzo has passed him by this year and is now a fave at 165.
 
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Footage of Cenzo's defense:

fqQeU4f.gif
 
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First. Cenzo s improvement is impressive. His confidence is so much different than last year.

The issue least confidence hasn’t really changed amongst our 5 returnees. That is as much an issue of the competition as it is the competitor. Underestimating Imar.....is a mistake. He learned from losing to Jason and I suspect he leaned vs Cenzo. Hall seems to have the stiffest completion in his path, but Imar is not far behind that. Despite the talents of Myles, Kemerer and Sorensen, they are not Valencia and Martinez.
 
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dmm53 said:
The BTN commentator duo (let's call them "Bring your hips to the party" and "Workman-like performance") are fond of pointing out how calm, composed and relaxed Joseph looks out there. I would agree.
Click to expand...

I dunno if I've ever seen as many in-match smiles as what we've seen out of Cenzo this year. There have been great smiles I'll always remember: tank, Marky's Saturday night, but Joseph is one cool dude week in and week out. He shouldn't, and won't take iMar's quest lightly though...

Does anyone know why Martinez hasn't had many matches this year?
 
ptomaselli said:
Then Nickal improved a ton because he absolutely dominated Martin.
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Good podcast recently with Richard Immel talking to Martin, who is really likable and open. Martin suggested he'd grown a lot with respect to the mental side, which I took to mean that he can perhaps too easily take himself out of a match. I think it was obvious he checked out, even before the third period.

Not taking anything away from Bo because it may have been his most impressive match in a Penn State singlet, turning the #2 guy with seconds remaining to get the major in a dual where it was needed, and he put Martin in a position where he wanted to quit, but Martin quit.
 
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tikk10 said:
Not taking anything away from Bo because it may have been his most impressive match in a Penn State singlet, turning the #2 guy with seconds remaining to get the major in a dual where it was needed, and he put Martin in a position where he wanted to quit, but Martin quit.
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... and our 184 used yet another teammate's move.

Guess we'll call it the Bo and arrow.
 
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I wonder if Cael just gives the guys the option of being in the weight room in their own time and that it isn't a part of his practice focus at all. I remember an interview with DT after his collegiate career where he was talking about bulking up as he was moving up weights for Freestyle. He said something along the lines that he never really lifted weights up until that point so that part of the bulking up process was new to him
 
nerfstate said:
I dunno if I've ever seen as many in-match smiles as what we've seen out of Cenzo this year. There have been great smiles I'll always remember: tank, Marky's Saturday night, but Joseph is one cool dude week in and week out. He shouldn't, and won't take iMar's quest lightly though...

Does anyone know why Martinez hasn't had many matches this year?
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He had turf toe for a while. https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/turf-toe
 
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Ban Basketball said:
And I would agree. I didn't expect anyone to be beating Nickal this year.
Click to expand...

Since Bo just beat, broke, and majored the clear #2 at 184 I would have to agree. Of course, you can never tell when those average refs or long bus rides may effect the outcome of a match. :D
 
tikk10 said:
Good podcast recently with Richard Immel talking to Martin, who is really likable and open. Martin suggested he'd grown a lot with respect to the mental side, which I took to mean that he can perhaps too easily take himself out of a match. I think it was obvious he checked out, even before the third period.

Not taking anything away from Bo because it may have been his most impressive match in a Penn State singlet, turning the #2 guy with seconds remaining to get the major in a dual where it was needed, and he put Martin in a position where he wanted to quit, but Martin quit.
Click to expand...
Just guessing here, but last seasom Sammy Brooks would simply bully the snot out of Martin and Martin would relent. Myles probably thought until Saturday he was mentally stronger and could no longer be bullied into quiting. Whoops.
 
Last year VJ seemed to be figuring it out. He put it all together in the NCAA tournament. This year he's just composed. VJ is the total package. He has a lot of variety from neutral. He has that freight train double from space. He has both a single leg and double leg from ties. He has that super slick slide by. And he has the ever dangerous double overs with that inside trip that can end a match.

He has no problem getting out on bottom and guys have a real problem if they try to ride him because with his hips he can reverse you very quickly.

On top he is a fantastic rider. He has plenty of top offense and can turn you.

All of these things are fantastic, but the most impressive thing about VJ is his defense. His hips are just so heavy. He has that wizzer where he just puts pressure with this hips and/or limp legs out of shots (single leg) no matter how deep you are or if you go double he throws in double overs and just stands you back up and at that point you'd better bail or you might end up counting lights.

He is so good at so many things.
 
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...why are you so surprised?...
...he was coached by former outstanding PSU wrestler Sonny Abe - who finished 4th, 3rd, 2nd and then 1st in the NCAA Championships...
 
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