Is he QW 2.0? I feel like there’s one little mental switch that, if it can be flipped on, will be the final piece of his domination puzzle. I don’t mean an intelligence switch, I don’t think that’s an issue- more like a “belief” or “fearlessness” switch. Am I crazy?
Kerkules
- Thread starter 13th Grade
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Kerk was a couple of seconds away from being in the B1G final. He's clearly made adjustments for both Cass and Parris, pulling ahead of the latter and dramatically narrowing the gap to the former.
Slightly better match management/tactics and he's there. He's obviously a very coachable athlete, and an also an intelligent young man. I'm sure he'll reflect on his weekend and keep improving.
Slightly better match management/tactics and he's there. He's obviously a very coachable athlete, and an also an intelligent young man. I'm sure he'll reflect on his weekend and keep improving.
He definitely solved the Mason Parris riddle! I figured only Gable could do that! He is on the verge of finding his superpowers! I am still sick about the Cassoppi match but I think he has that riddle solved as well. Kinda like it took Roman two matches to get used to ADS and then it was all downhill for ADS after that!
Wrestling is crazy in that style matchups give some guys fits until they solve it.
Gable S > Anyone in NCAA today.
Kerk > Parris,
Parris > Cass
Cass has Kerk's number but I think he solves it the next time they meet. He had it solved for 6:50 so I'd say = now
Don't Sleep on Wyatt Hendrickson from Air Force, Kid is a stud. He'd make some noise in the BIG, kind of puts me to mind of Cass because he transformed his body.
I said in an earlier thread that Greg's getting off bottom really jumped out to me during this tournament. His ceiling is still pretty high and making it to the finals next week would not surprise me. Hopefully he's on the opposite side of Gable's bracket.
Kerk's bounceback from the loss was impressive.
Personally, I don't think it is mental at all from what I see. The issue I see is "match management" because he can't go full-tilt 7 minutes. Appears to be less of an issue against Paris as Paris appears to have similar tank issues to Greg. He has to manage his energy against Cass where he can go the full 7 minutes, score last and ride him out. He almost had it perfect this weekend, but "almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not wrestling.
Your decision making, reaction time and "tank" are all related. The more oxygen starved the brain is, the worse you perform under duress.
We saw this in the Brooks-Amine final. Amine took every possible fraction of a second to recover during the match and it paid off. Brooks pushed the pace beyond his (current) ability and a) was not able to get Amine called for stalling and b) pushed himself passed that point where his abilities were compromised.
To be clear: I think Aaron will win NCAAs, and he wrestled a great match against a great competitor. I think his fitness will improve (see: Cael Sanderson, Head Coach, PSU Wrestling) between now and NCAAs. And that tiny bit of improvement could be the difference.
We saw this in the Brooks-Amine final. Amine took every possible fraction of a second to recover during the match and it paid off. Brooks pushed the pace beyond his (current) ability and a) was not able to get Amine called for stalling and b) pushed himself passed that point where his abilities were compromised.
To be clear: I think Aaron will win NCAAs, and he wrestled a great match against a great competitor. I think his fitness will improve (see: Cael Sanderson, Head Coach, PSU Wrestling) between now and NCAAs. And that tiny bit of improvement could be the difference.
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100%. The loss to Cass must have been very difficult for him, especially knowing he essentially lost because of a mental error. To not allow that to linger and affect his performance vs a beast like Parris is extremely impressive.
I think it’s a fine line. If his match management involved confidently taking 4-5 quality shots per match, and his finishing percentage stayed high, I think he would be winning the “tank battle” because of the pressure put on the opponent. I think he could do to a guy like Cass what Q did to Kilgore when they wrestled for the title.
My questions for those more in the know is Kerk seemed to minimize his shots against Cass. Could it have to do with the lead leg presentation of the opponent and comfort with an attack on that leg? Watching Parris he keeps his left leg forward and Kerk attacks it but Cass is just the opposite. Maybe he is not as comfortable going opposite leg on his attack and therefore his attack rate decreases?
Just an observer and would like someone more in the know to weigh in.
Just an observer and would like someone more in the know to weigh in.
Honestly, he probably should have just cut Cass when it got under 30 seconds - say 25 seconds. He would have conserved energy versus attempting to ride him out which wasn't necessary as Kerk had a 2 point lead at the time.
Correct. Make Cass take you down or make the ref call you for stalling twice. At a non-Carver venue, highly unlikely in 25 seconds or less.
Lol. Or…Kilgore could have spent 11 seconds of time scouting QW before the final and not given up Q’s go to move 3 times.
(Brief tangent, return to topic)
I understand where you are coming from but I could tell Drew that Spencer is going to tilt him and Drew still (most likely) isn't going to be able to stop it. Sometimes good wrestlers can't be stopped.
I don’t think many of us are being fair to Kerk. To me, it looked like he was losing his grip on the ankle. He loses his grip and it’s 2. He tried to just let go and break free to give one. But that was never going to happen. Once he was in the scramble, he was committed. Are most here saying he should have cut him earlier? There are risks with that too. It was just an unfortunate ending. He’s very very good.
I'm higher than ever on the Kerk-Aid.
Seriously. Anyone who can show that much improvement against world class wrestlers (Cass and Parris are that) in the span of as-yet-incomplete season is someone I'd want on my roster, particularly when the starting point is so high. He avoided the double thigh-pry, reversed Cass, and was a couple of seconds of RT away from an outright win. Then wrestled back and beat Parris. A better match than the Michigan dual, IMO, particularly given the letdown of the previous day.
^^ This is where I’m coming from… I’m excited by what he’s shown, but I think he’s a gnats eyelash from jumping yet another level.
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