Entertaining match today. Quick comments and a question.

[pabison]

Overall tremendous effort by the team. They really pushed themselves for the home crowd. Great wins by Gulibon, Hammond, Brown and McIntosh!


Conaway got hosed by the officials on the lack of stall calls on Gilman; however, he put himself in a bad position by once again giving up the first takedown

Here's my question. What is Lawson's strategy on bottom? I think he needs to explode quicker off of the whistle. When you have a tough rider like Telford, why sit back and allow him to get a grip on you. Looking at it, Jimmy needs to clear the legs to prevent Telford from grabbing the ankle or, again, explode up off the whistle with hand control, gain your feet and then work the escape. I didn't see his grambie roll this match either. Any thoughts on what he should be doing or what his strategy is? I'm really baffled by his bottom wrestling today. (BTW, that was a tough break on the stall warning for losing his shoe.)

 

[Tom McAndrew]

the tough break is straight from the rule book ...


1.12.3 Footwear. Light, heelless wrestling shoes reaching above the ankle and tightly secure shall be worn. Any match delay or stoppage directly related to shoelaces shall be treated as delay of match and, therefore, a stalling violation.

then in the clarifications/examples:

Rule 1.12.3 Footwear

SITUATION 2: While wrestling, Wrestler A's shoelaces are tied but his shoe comes off as he tries to kick out from his opponent's grasp. The referee calls a delay of match and, therefore, a stalling violation against Wrestler A.
QUESTION: Does this rule apply since his shoelaces were tied? RULING: Yes. The wrestling shoe shall reach above the ankle and be tightly secured so they do not come off during competition. The referee shall assess a delay of match and, therefore, a stalling violation to Wrestler A.


As for LawDog's strategy on bottom, his action/inaction at the whistle isn't necessarily wrong. He's unusually fast for a heavy, so I've always thought he should be able to explode at the whistle and create quick opportunities for escapes. However, he's been pretty consistent with not doing that. He seems to prefer to see what the guy on top will do, and then work to his base. Because he's shorter than most heavies, when he gets to his base he usually has a lot success working toward an escape.

If a wrestler is known for quick moves from the bottom off the whistle, a traditional defense is to grab an ankle. If the top wrestler gets the ankle, which they usually do, the movement of the bottom wrestler usually makes it easier to flatten the bottom wrestler. LawDog has never seemed all that comfortable when flattened out. In that regard, I think his approach is somewhat sound.

In this era, most coaches break down the tendencies of any wrestler their guy is expected to face. Perhaps an occasional change of pace (like a quick move at the whistle) would work for LawDog -- hard to say, without having seen him try it in practice.

Tom

 

[SRATH]

Dumb rule. Also, since when do they start enforcing the rules....

The refs we get at home matches are terrible. Our guys have both sets of toes in, yet we are called out. Iowa wrestles like they play football......holding on tight. They slap us in the face, no warning, just a restart.....how is that any different then pulling a guys shoe off or maybe ripping the other guys singlet......... If the refs they get have experience at nationals or whatever....they suck. They make college wrestling boring. Don't take my word for it..........

 

[pabison]

Re: the tough break is straight from the rule book ...

Thanks for the rule quote Tom (And I'm not being sarcastic). Good education.

I wasn't protesting the call, I figured if it was the wrong call Cael would have pushed back harder.

Also, good thoughts on Lawson. I thought he might try the Grambie to free the leg, because he does it fairly frequently and is successful at it. Maybe he saves that for BIGs. Whatever he does, it's clear to me that he needs to find a way to clear his ankles before Telford can get a grip on them.

Based on the result today, where do you think they seed him at BIGs? 2, 3? Hopefully he doesn't slip to 4. Now he has a loss and not wrestling Coon will probably hurt him in the committees eyes.

 

[El-Jefe]

Re: the tough break is straight from the rule book ...

Probably 5th. Definitely behind Telford, Medbery, and Coon. Most likely behind McMullan.

I don't think there's any way Lawson (or Gingrich) slips below 5th seed. Only 1 other heavy was over .500 heading into this weekend -- Myers, who missed half of the season for football.

EDIT: meant to say "over .500 in conference."

This post was edited on 2/8 9:53 PM by El-Jefe