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Is Penn State Freshman Levi Haines a Title Contender at 157 Pounds?

The Nationals is a fickle mistress.

In my book I have to list DT, Zain, Nolf and Bo all superior to Mark, Cenzo, Carter and Aaron as Freshmen, yet look what happened.

I can't list Levi as the favorite right now, which might actually be a good thing.
You get an enthusiastic like if only for the "fickle mistress" statement!!
 
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A lot of wrestlers can hang with Haines. Although both wins, Lewan and Cobe both hung with Haines to the point the match score could have been reversed. Many wrestlers can hang with Haines even someone as overrated at OConnor.

Also if you think OConnor is overrated. I have to wonder what you think of Beau Bartlett. A wrestler ranked top 5 with 0 significant wins. His best win is who? McNeil or Demilio.
Bartletts win against Lachlan McNeil is looking better and better. He’s up to #9 in the rankings and has won 16 of his last 18. Those 2 losses are to Bartlett and Cole Matthews and he just meat Tom Crook pretty bad
 
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I had the pleasure to talk to David Taylor at his Fruit Bar on the Friday of Iowa match. I asked him what he thought of Haines. Not verbatim,but Taylor said the way 157 is, he could see Levi wrestling for the Title. FWIW

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I had the pleasure to talk to David Taylor at his Fruit Bar on the Friday of Iowa match. I asked him what he thought of Haines. Not verbatim,but Taylor said the way 157 is, he could see Levi wrestling for the Title. FWIW

To be fair, what else would he say? "Oh, I think Haines should've been redshirted. He'll be lucky to win one this year."
 
You guys think O'Conner can hang with Haines? Haines is getting better every week. Come tourney time he's gonna roll.
“…jus wanna bang on the drum all day.”
I’m a PSU season ticket holder who lives in ACC country (VT season ticket holder). I’ve seen O’Conner live twice this season. He’s been a dominating monster. Until last weekend, …. everyone he wrestled has wilted. I love what we have with Levi, but, he would have to wrestle a perfect tactical match in order to have a chance against O’Conner.
 
“…jus wanna bang on the drum all day.”
I’m a PSU season ticket holder who lives in ACC country (VT season ticket holder). I’ve seen O’Conner live twice this season. He’s been a dominating monster. Until last weekend, …. everyone he wrestled has wilted. I love what we have with Levi, but, he would have to wrestle a perfect tactical match in order to have a chance against O’Conner.
Damn…..I hope we have a coach who can help Levi craft a perfect tactical match if that match happens in Tulsa. Levi is a smart, talented kid. I have faith he would be able to execute the plan.
 
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Yeah, this escalated pretty quickly from “he’s only 18 and a contender but it’s premature to call him a favorite” to “Is he the #1 seed at NCAAs?”.
 
Yeah, this escalated pretty quickly from “he’s only 18 and a contender but it’s premature to call him a favorite” to “Is he the #1 seed at NCAAs?”.
Assuming O'Connor wins an ACC title he's definitely #1 but after that it's a bit of a crapshoot. I'm sure the seeding committee will make the Zerban loss a much bigger deal than it is so I'd expect Levi to slot in at #5.

1. O'Connor
2. Humphreys
3. Franek
4. Cardenas
5. Haines
 
Assuming O'Connor wins an ACC title he's definitely #1 but after that it's a bit of a crapshoot. I'm sure the seeding committee will make the Zerban loss a much bigger deal than it is so I'd expect Levi to slot in at #5.

1. O'Connor
2. Humphreys
3. Franek
4. Cardenas
5. Haines
No chance he’s behind Cardenas. Big Ten champ with one loss and the best win of anybody at the weight. You’d hope he could get to the 2/3 side though.
 
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Assuming O'Connor wins an ACC title he's definitely #1 but after that it's a bit of a crapshoot. I'm sure the seeding committee will make the Zerban loss a much bigger deal than it is so I'd expect Levi to slot in at #5.

1. O'Connor
2. Humphreys
3. Franek
4. Cardenas
5. Haines
Cardenas?! He’s in redshirt. Levi should be the 3 behind O’Connor and Franek. Humphreys is the wild card.
 
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Assuming O'Connor wins an ACC title he's definitely #1 but after that it's a bit of a crapshoot. I'm sure the seeding committee will make the Zerban loss a much bigger deal than it is so I'd expect Levi to slot in at #5.

1. O'Connor
2. Humphreys
3. Franek
4. Cardenas
5. Haines
Humphreys is undefeated. If Franek beats Gfeller he’s the Big 12 champ with his only loss to Robb. If O’Connor wins he’s undefeated. Robb only has one loss to the Haines, the Big 10 champ. Haines loss to Zerban. Now if Andonian beats O’Connor they will each only have 1 loss to each other. Going to be crazy seeding the top.
 
Assuming O'Connor wins an ACC title he's definitely #1 but after that it's a bit of a crapshoot. I'm sure the seeding committee will make the Zerban loss a much bigger deal than it is so I'd expect Levi to slot in at #5.

1. O'Connor
2. Humphreys
3. Franek
4. Cardenas
5. Haines
No chance he’s behind Cardenas. Big Ten champ with one loss and the best win of anybody at the weight. You’d hope he could get to the 2/3 side though.
 
Humphreys is undefeated. If Franek beats Gfeller he’s the Big 12 champ with his only loss to Robb. If O’Connor wins he’s undefeated. Robb only has one loss to the Haines, the Big 10 champ. Haines loss to Zerban. Now if Andonian beats O’Connor they will each only have 1 loss to each other. Going to be crazy seeding the top.
I think there’s a slim chance he’d move ahead of Franek but it depends how they weigh losses vs. wins.
 
No chance he’s behind Cardenas. Big Ten champ with one loss and the best win of anybody at the weight. You’d hope he could get to the 2/3 side though.
I don't think I'm nuts in thinking that they look for reasons to drop PSU guys more than they do wrestlers from other schools.
 
That's not where I'd have him but I think they'll do everything they can to stop PSU from having six finalists. No way is he any higher than 4.
Think he probably gets the 3 if Gfeller beats Franek. Think AOC is 1 then you’re looking at Humphreys/Franek/Haines
 
Think he probably gets the 3 if Gfeller beats Franek. Think AOC is 1 then you’re looking at Humphreys/Franek/Haines
I'd take Levi against any of those three guys, O'Connor is the only one I'm not sure about but we still can't be sure about how good Levi is.
 
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