Heal up, Nashville! We‘ll catch you next time.
Is Penn State Freshman Levi Haines a Title Contender at 157 Pounds?
- Thread starter NittanyLion84
- Start date
Sorry to hear it. Get well soon! Oh, and make sure you give your ticket to a Penn State fan. LOL.
Sorry to hear that Nash, COVID sucks☹️. Safe travels home- nothing worse than traveling sick. We went away for an anniversary weekend this summer to southern MD and on the second morning I woke up sick as a dog with Covid. That three hour drive home was the longest drive ever😩
Ugghhhh Sorry to hear that... Get well soon...
Why do I have to say this??
Is there a chance Nashville is ducking?
Why do I have to say this??
Is there a chance Nashville is ducking?
LOL! Too funny, my friend! I went all in from the get go predicting it wouldn't go really well for my Hawks tonight, but just the same I was really looking forward to the competition and to the environment at the BJC and that area. Hopefully the opportunity will avail itself again in the not too distant future!Ugghhhh Sorry to hear that... Get well soon...
Why do I have to say this??
Is there a chance Nashville is ducking?
Thanks brother...appreciate it! This is our first go around with COVID...what a pain in the ass!!
Thank you! And yes, already did. That was my first text this morning...ensuring that a deserving PSU fan would be able to use the ticket.
Feel better, Nashville.
If you’ll give us your mailing address, we’ll ship you one of those Altoona pizzas.
Wow, you really want to punish him. Covid, Iowa losing, and Altoona pizza!
Seriously, get well, was looking forward to possibly meeting you.
I thought you wanted him to feel better.
We are all out of bobble heads, so we will send him a button.
I had a dream last night that Bartlett and SVN lost close ones.
Then Sebreicht tried to toss Levi, got rolled through, and was decked by Haines. I didn't enjoy the dream much up until that point.
Then Sebreicht tried to toss Levi, got rolled through, and was decked by Haines. I didn't enjoy the dream much up until that point.
You should change your post to "sister".
Hope you get back on your feet soon.
You should change your post to "sister".
F$&#+!
That was not bleeping out FUN!
I'm pissed that we couldn't see you. Get well soon our friend. Safe home.
Sorry to hear about that, hopefully you all feel better soon.
The two I'm most worried about at 157 for Levi are O'Connor and Andonian. Peyton Robb is a very good wrestler but I just don't see him winning it all over O'Connor and Andonian IF they are healthy.
It's ok, when you have Covid, you can't taste or smell. Now is the perfect time to have one of those.
And you can blame the diarrhea on Covid.
I can see Bartlett losing, but SVN I cannot...though I would like to. Sadly, MM stops wrestling against the better competition and hopes for a miracle in the 3rd or SV, a miracle which mostly doesn't happen. Cobe is scrappy at 57 and has some funk, but sadly I just don't see him winning either. I predict Iowa victories at 25, 41 and 65. After that any wins would be upsets in my opinion, upsets that I would gladly accept by the way. Go Hawks!I had a dream last night that Bartlett and SVN lost close ones.
Then Sebreicht tried to toss Levi, got rolled through, and was decked by Haines. I didn't enjoy the dream much up until that point.
Boy I will tell you that Michigan bout has allowed doubt to creep into view on Heavyweight. Previously I was seeing Cassi in Kerk's year view mirror. Physically and athletically there is no comparison, but Kerk can have mental lapses, his conditioning was a little off, and you know Iowa will have a strong gameplan.
I really hope the dual doesn't come down to heavy. Am I concerned tonight? I have to admit, yes, just a little. Am I concerned about March? Not in the slightest, Kerk will be peaking then and will take out Parris as well.
I really hope the dual doesn't come down to heavy. Am I concerned tonight? I have to admit, yes, just a little. Am I concerned about March? Not in the slightest, Kerk will be peaking then and will take out Parris as well.
Penn State came off what is likely the hardest two weeks of training in NCAA wrestling. It’s unfortunate that Parris was at the end of that block of training, but, it is what it is.
Levi is still definitely an outside contender despite a somewhat lackluster performance Friday, but I think Bryce Andonian should be considered the favorite at 157. He looks like he's back and no worse for wear (and maybe even benefitting a little from avoiding the grind for half a season).
Honestly. It's far too premature to believe Levi has a legit shot at a national championship just yet. His one signature win gets him somewhat close to the conversation, but he needs to start dispatching kids ranked #6-20 with increasingly comfortable margins. I would say today he is clearly in the conversation for AA.
Wrestlestat has him winning 10-3 over #29 Paddy Gallagher, which seems a bit low. If he can major him that's one more data, while last year he won by 5 but it was late in the match where he sealed the deal. point. The real litmus test will be at Big10s. If he can finish top 2, then we are there.
If I want to be optimistic, I would say he's close to a Cenzo path in his early development. Before Bigs we weren't quite sure what we had there either. Am I optimistic, absolutely. Was Cenzo being called a title contender in January, not really. Does Levi appear to be on a Zain path? I would say slightly below where Zain was for sure, and Zain didn't make it in March either.
I am thrilled he is the starter, and remain fully confident in an AA. He is only a true freshman, and a young one at that. If he ends up #5-8 I'll be ecstatic, 3-4 overjoyed, 1-2 beyond blown away, but I wouldn't place a bet on it today.
PS - I have more confidence in Levi as True freshman, than RS's Facundo and SVN. The one that is suprising me the most is SVN in terms of being behind where I had envisioned at this point in time. He's close, but he definitely missed that last test pretty clearly.
Wrestlestat has him winning 10-3 over #29 Paddy Gallagher, which seems a bit low. If he can major him that's one more data, while last year he won by 5 but it was late in the match where he sealed the deal. point. The real litmus test will be at Big10s. If he can finish top 2, then we are there.
If I want to be optimistic, I would say he's close to a Cenzo path in his early development. Before Bigs we weren't quite sure what we had there either. Am I optimistic, absolutely. Was Cenzo being called a title contender in January, not really. Does Levi appear to be on a Zain path? I would say slightly below where Zain was for sure, and Zain didn't make it in March either.
I am thrilled he is the starter, and remain fully confident in an AA. He is only a true freshman, and a young one at that. If he ends up #5-8 I'll be ecstatic, 3-4 overjoyed, 1-2 beyond blown away, but I wouldn't place a bet on it today.
PS - I have more confidence in Levi as True freshman, than RS's Facundo and SVN. The one that is suprising me the most is SVN in terms of being behind where I had envisioned at this point in time. He's close, but he definitely missed that last test pretty clearly.
Me too...we call it Italian McDonald's.
Levi and Paddy will be close. Last year's score was a bit misleading. Levi was down 3-2 and got a takedown and turked a broken Gallagher for 4 to end it.
I will say, I surprisingly have reason for optimism for Levi after the Cobe match. The main thing is it isn't always about the result (and Levi won) but kind of how it played out. Cobe threw the kitchen sink a few times at Levi (definitely hoping he could catch a true freshman) and Levi stuffed everything and knew exactly how to react in a situation. That makes me feel better against someone like Bryce Andonian (though obviously he's way better than Siebrecht)
Similar to his match with Lewan, never panicked when he was dead to rights multiple times in SV. The kid is very poised for a true freshman bottom line. Would love for him to develop a second go to attack for March but the kid is learning every match.
I will say, I surprisingly have reason for optimism for Levi after the Cobe match. The main thing is it isn't always about the result (and Levi won) but kind of how it played out. Cobe threw the kitchen sink a few times at Levi (definitely hoping he could catch a true freshman) and Levi stuffed everything and knew exactly how to react in a situation. That makes me feel better against someone like Bryce Andonian (though obviously he's way better than Siebrecht)
Similar to his match with Lewan, never panicked when he was dead to rights multiple times in SV. The kid is very poised for a true freshman bottom line. Would love for him to develop a second go to attack for March but the kid is learning every match.
I've always seen Levi on Starocci's path this year. Starocci definitely wasn't viewed as a contender after losing to Donnell Washington, but scored huge upsets over Massa and Romero by just playing defense and keeping it close. Then, lost to Kemmerer at B1Gs before riding another string of "keep it close and pull it out" type victories in the NCAAs, including the thrilling finals win vs Kem. That's the path Levi will have to take if he has a shot.
And again, most of why I say he has a shot is the competition. I'm not impressed with Robb at all for a #1. Andonian looks great, but until two weeks ago, he was on the shelf. O'Connor, Humphreys, and Scott are good wrestlers, but they are all ultimately vulnerable compared to the top of other classes. SVN has to go through Yanni, which is just not happening, and Facundo is facing the 165 meat grinder, so he'll be lucky to have a shot at an AA with the depth of that class, but if either of them were switched weights with Levi, then they would be the one who at least has a chance.
The rankings are wrestlestat.
#29 Gallagher
Ohio State
02/05
#22 Gilcher, Derek
Indiana
02/10
#38 Clark, Andrew
Rutgers
02/12
#54 North, Michael
Maryland
02/19
#127 Elfvin, Trevor
Clarion
Yep. That's a relatively weak lineup where we all hope to see a string of bonus victories as a guage. One would think Gallagher is a lot better than a #29 and given last year's result we should be able to see if Levi's growth has outpaced Paddy's since. Last year the match was far closer than the score. I hope Levi goes out and controls the match start to finish for a 6+ point margin, ideally a major. Asking a lot? Maybe, but I think we are there if he is AA calliber. I think he is.!
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I think with Andonian you can look to avoid his upper body and throws but you can't duck out of them once in - he'll have to engage and if you're aggressive enough to catch Andonian's over aggressive style (at times) you may come out ahead. His matches with O'Connor were fun.
I think a similar comparison to Levi might be freshman Zain. Don't expect a bonus machine (yet) but a lot of good defense, grind it out close matches. He won't get stuck on bottom and there isn't a Logan Stieber at 157 either. I think Zain was the 3rd best at 141 his freshman year but just had a bad draw with being on Stieber's side then Port falling early.
I think he fires off way too many shots to be compared to many of our guys... in that respect he's offensive minded in terms of nolf/taylor... just maybe not as successful ....yet!
Intermat's rankings are much more reliable (Earl is very good) and not paywalled.
I posted these for Levi's opponents in another thread, so here will encourage others to use what works.
Paddy is #23 on intermat and I think is wrestling really well right now. He lost to Saldate by a point this past weekend and Lewan in OT. I would be shocked if Levi majored him and I really hope that isn’t the expectation. That said I actually do think Levi is in the conversation to win a national title. I don’t think it’s likely but look at that weight and tell me who you think he can’t go with. Jared Franek is very good but I think Levi is probably right there with him and Franek is ranked 2nd. Levi beat Model worse than the number 1 ranked wrestler Robb did. Levi is a young true freshman and he’s going to have some close matches but until he starts losing those matches I think he’s at least in the conversation
Levi works his offense which allows the staff to evaluate and then educate. Right now there are a couple kids who aren't initiating any offense which makes it more difficult to educate how to work through situations because they are not getting into those situations.
Watching Levi wrestle I feel like I am watching a sponge (wrestler) getting bigger (better) each match.
Come to think of it, he did look like he was retaining water in that match Friday.
Paddy is way better than his # 29 ranking. I've watched his last few matches and the kid is tough. Iwill be very happy if Haines wins by 1 point!
