Exciting finals! Now...what exactly no one has been waiting for...my impressions:
For clarity, I'll use a standard of "1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/R12/R16/DNP" to define a "level," and an expectation for unseeded wrestlers of 0.25 expected points, as, on paper, all would lose their first match. Half would win a consolation match (0.5 points), before losing a second consolation match to a 9-16 seeded wrestler dropping down from the winner's bracket.
Penn State-Cael has used the word "consistency," well....consistently...throughout the year. It was certainly on display at MSG. No PSU wrestler finished more than one level below seed. Nico (3 seed/2 finish) and Nolf (3/2, with 6.0 bonus points) beat their seed, and unseededs Gulibon and Morelli exceeded expectations, both knocking off seeded wrestlers in the first round and picking up a win apiece on the backside. Zain matched his #1 seed (with 8.5 bonus points), and the others all finished within one level of their seeds. Third time was a charm for Jordan with Taylor...(as it was also, unfortunately, for Montoya with Jordan). Nolf and McIntosh (4.0 bonus points) both were great throughout the tournament, before dropping finals to multiple NCAA championship winners in the last 15 seconds. Bo was two wrong moves away from a perfect season and a championship. Cutch-tough draw, gave it his all; just hasn't seemed 100% since the Illinois dual meet. Thrilled for Nico and Zain...disappointed for Jason, Bo and Morgan...but what a great season and tournament for all! We'll miss the seniors...great careers, great leadership and really nice guys. Nico did himself a big favor with the win over Gilman at Big Tens, improving his seed at nationals. Championship path became Terao/Gilman, rather than Gilman/Tomasello. Thus, Gilman did much of the heavy lifting in the semis.
Oklahoma State-After Smith (vs. Nolf) and Rogers (vs. Nickal) couldn't pull the upsets in the quarterfinals, the team championship was pretty much determined. Smith fell to a 7th place finish, and Rogers went out in R12. Early loss of #6 Klimara (two and out) also eroded support for the two champions, Heil and Dieringer. They should be really good next year.
Ohio State-Great wins for Snyder and Martin, and Bo Jordan's finish matched his #3 seed. The NaTo upset was a kick in their collective (tan?) butts. #10 DiJulius was a DNP, #6 Jordan went out in R12, and unseededs Ryan and Courts were both two and out. With no entries at 149 and 197, the top-end guys just didn't have enough support for a higher finish. Still...not bad.
Virginia Tech-Sneaky good. No one in the finals, but strong up and down the lineup, notwithstanding the strange two and out for #2 Dance. Epperly came all the way back to 3rd from a first round upset loss, and Chishko (6th), Brascetta (3rd), McFadden (6th), Haught (6th) and Walz (4th) all AA'ed. Zavatsky just missed, with a one-point R12 loss. That's six AA's, without #2 and #5 seeds' making it.
Iowa-They're disappointed, for sure. Three finalists, with no winners...not even a takedown among them in the finals. Stoll's injury hurt badly...probable AA healthy. That alone probably gets them to third place. But Gilman had the great win over Tomasello, Clark put up a great fight against Garrett, and Meyer did some good work on the backside. Brooks was good in a tough and deep weight class, and Burak almost matched his #3 seed. After the Retherford-Sorenson match, I told my wife that TVs were going off all over Iowa: off TV stands, off walls, off balconies....
Made some predictions here before the tournament (probably two or three pages back by now)...time to face the music. Got six champions right: Garrett, Retherford, Dieringer, Dean, Cox and Snyder. Nothing great there. Not too bad on the team predictions:
Actual: 1. Penn State (123.0); 2. OKST (97.5); 3. tOSU (86.0); 4. VT (82.0); 5. Iowa (81.0); 6. Missouri (74.5); 7. Cornell (67.0); 8. Nebraska (58.0)
Predicted: 1. Penn State (120.0); 2. OKST (106.5); 3. tOSU (86.5); 4. Iowa (80.0); 5. (tie) Cornell, NC State (76.5); 7. VT (69.5); 8. Missouri (62.5)
By team:
PSU-The good: All nine wrestlers finished within one level of prediction. The bad: Had Nolf and Bo to win.
OKST-The good: Had #11 seed Collica at 3 (finished 4) and #8 seed Boyd at 4 (finished 4). The bad: Whiffed on Klimara, Joseph Smith (8/3; might not have been 100%) and Heil (1/3), whom I promise never to doubt again.
tOSU-The good: The team score, within 0.5. Not much else. Did have #11 Martin to AA at 6, but not to win. Snyder over Gwiz. Bo Jordan at 3. The bad: Tomasello to win. Finished third. Micah Jordan (R12/6). JDJ (DNP/R12).
Iowa-The good: All nine wrestlers finished within one level of prediction, with 6 of 9 on the money, including #2 seed Brooks (8/8). The bad: Missed Gilman making the finals (2/3), Burak (4/3) and Meyer (8/R12). And the worst of all: failing to foresee a one point deduction assessed against the coaching staff. Who couldn't have seen that coming? That point cost them (I think) a tie for 4th, killing my team picks. Easy, Iowa lurkers...I can enjoy a "hamster dance" joke (not to mention a "Streibler" or "Carl" reference) and still be fair. They appeared to be right (if I understand the argument; didn't have the sound on when I went back and watched it). If they get the pin by Brooks against Abounader, with no ensuing argument, they get 4th place by themselves.
Cornell-The good: Garrett and Dean. The five "DNP" picks...DNP. The bad: #2 Realbuto (DNP/2) losing in first round, injuring knee in the process. #5 Palacio (4/6). Had him losing to Joseph Smith, but he decked the freshman. Pretty much as expected, up and down the line, except for Realbuto.
NC State-The good: Good? What good? Called Gwiz at #2, I guess. The Bad: Wow. Had unseeded Morris in R12 (DNP/R12), #3 Jack to win (R12/1), #2 Gantt at 4 (8/4), #5 Rohskopf at 5 (DNP/5) and #12 Boykin in R12 (DNP/R12). Good and bad: Did have #13 Renda as AA, but not high enough (3/7). As a team, NC State got wedgies and had their lunch money stolen.
Virginia Tech-The good: Next to nothing. Had Epperly, the 8 seed, properly at #3. The bad: Missed low on # 8 seed Brascetta (3/7), #14 McFadden (6/R16) and #6 Haught (6/R12), and high on #2 Dance (4/DNP) and #5 Zavatsky (R12/5). As a prognosticator, I got a wedgie and had my lunch money stolen.
Missouri-The good: Correctly had #2 Cox to win, #4 Lewis at 4, #5 Manley as DNP. The bad: Had #3 Mayes (3/7) and #14 Miklus (6/R12) too low and #3 Butler (R12/5) too high. On balance, underestimated here.
Other good picks: Ummm...not much, I'm afraid. #10 Wilson (NEB) to AA at 165 (7/6), #9 Miller (NAVY) to AA at 184 (5/6) and #9 Kroells (MINN) to AA at 285 (8/8). OK...I'm reaching on that last one.
Other bad picks: The rest. (With special mention to my pick of #8 Henderson (UNC) at both #8 and R12 at 149, apparently confusing him so badly, he lost twice and went home. Meant to pull him out of my top 8 for Cimato, who didn't place, either.)
And finally...for the three people still reading:
Best reason to watch the tournament on TV: The cost. My wife tried to get me to go, but I didn't want to have to sell my one remaining kidney (I sold the other one to get cash for that breast reduction surgery a couple years back. It's no picnic being an old man.) to make it happen. Never been to nationals, but it is now a goal. Just not at $500 a night.
Best reason to go to the tournament in person: Billy Baldwin. Or Quint Kessenich. Can't decide.
Baldwin is...or was...a celebrity, and he supports wrestling. I get...and appreciate...that. And I am truly impressed by his knowledge of wrestling. Truly. Unfortunately, not nearly as impressed as he is. It takes him longer to ask a question than it does for Zain to wrestle most of his matches. And somehow, it's always about him. (Billy, not Zain.) I did manage to enjoy the few snippets of actual wrestling ESPNU televised in the early rounds, squeezed in between the "outstanding stuff" Billy "brought to the party," though ESPN3 (muted) was often the better choice. Particularly offensive was Baldwin's on camera interview with Dan Gable, while Gable, along with the rest of us, would much rather have been watching an Iowa guy (Meyer, I think) wrestle back in the consis yesterday.
Kessenich was obviously present in journalism class the day they taught "How do you best describe (fill in the blank)?" And no other day. I guess it was good, in a way. It's been a long time since I've felt the need to use the word "insipid." Shut up, already. Both of you.
OK...I've decided. Baldwin.
Great finals, though. No one got in the way too much. And the matches were outstanding. It was a fun three days. Congratulations to the team and coaching staff for a great championship season!
(Is it November yet?)
SR/BHF
For clarity, I'll use a standard of "1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/R12/R16/DNP" to define a "level," and an expectation for unseeded wrestlers of 0.25 expected points, as, on paper, all would lose their first match. Half would win a consolation match (0.5 points), before losing a second consolation match to a 9-16 seeded wrestler dropping down from the winner's bracket.
Penn State-Cael has used the word "consistency," well....consistently...throughout the year. It was certainly on display at MSG. No PSU wrestler finished more than one level below seed. Nico (3 seed/2 finish) and Nolf (3/2, with 6.0 bonus points) beat their seed, and unseededs Gulibon and Morelli exceeded expectations, both knocking off seeded wrestlers in the first round and picking up a win apiece on the backside. Zain matched his #1 seed (with 8.5 bonus points), and the others all finished within one level of their seeds. Third time was a charm for Jordan with Taylor...(as it was also, unfortunately, for Montoya with Jordan). Nolf and McIntosh (4.0 bonus points) both were great throughout the tournament, before dropping finals to multiple NCAA championship winners in the last 15 seconds. Bo was two wrong moves away from a perfect season and a championship. Cutch-tough draw, gave it his all; just hasn't seemed 100% since the Illinois dual meet. Thrilled for Nico and Zain...disappointed for Jason, Bo and Morgan...but what a great season and tournament for all! We'll miss the seniors...great careers, great leadership and really nice guys. Nico did himself a big favor with the win over Gilman at Big Tens, improving his seed at nationals. Championship path became Terao/Gilman, rather than Gilman/Tomasello. Thus, Gilman did much of the heavy lifting in the semis.
Oklahoma State-After Smith (vs. Nolf) and Rogers (vs. Nickal) couldn't pull the upsets in the quarterfinals, the team championship was pretty much determined. Smith fell to a 7th place finish, and Rogers went out in R12. Early loss of #6 Klimara (two and out) also eroded support for the two champions, Heil and Dieringer. They should be really good next year.
Ohio State-Great wins for Snyder and Martin, and Bo Jordan's finish matched his #3 seed. The NaTo upset was a kick in their collective (tan?) butts. #10 DiJulius was a DNP, #6 Jordan went out in R12, and unseededs Ryan and Courts were both two and out. With no entries at 149 and 197, the top-end guys just didn't have enough support for a higher finish. Still...not bad.
Virginia Tech-Sneaky good. No one in the finals, but strong up and down the lineup, notwithstanding the strange two and out for #2 Dance. Epperly came all the way back to 3rd from a first round upset loss, and Chishko (6th), Brascetta (3rd), McFadden (6th), Haught (6th) and Walz (4th) all AA'ed. Zavatsky just missed, with a one-point R12 loss. That's six AA's, without #2 and #5 seeds' making it.
Iowa-They're disappointed, for sure. Three finalists, with no winners...not even a takedown among them in the finals. Stoll's injury hurt badly...probable AA healthy. That alone probably gets them to third place. But Gilman had the great win over Tomasello, Clark put up a great fight against Garrett, and Meyer did some good work on the backside. Brooks was good in a tough and deep weight class, and Burak almost matched his #3 seed. After the Retherford-Sorenson match, I told my wife that TVs were going off all over Iowa: off TV stands, off walls, off balconies....
Made some predictions here before the tournament (probably two or three pages back by now)...time to face the music. Got six champions right: Garrett, Retherford, Dieringer, Dean, Cox and Snyder. Nothing great there. Not too bad on the team predictions:
Actual: 1. Penn State (123.0); 2. OKST (97.5); 3. tOSU (86.0); 4. VT (82.0); 5. Iowa (81.0); 6. Missouri (74.5); 7. Cornell (67.0); 8. Nebraska (58.0)
Predicted: 1. Penn State (120.0); 2. OKST (106.5); 3. tOSU (86.5); 4. Iowa (80.0); 5. (tie) Cornell, NC State (76.5); 7. VT (69.5); 8. Missouri (62.5)
By team:
PSU-The good: All nine wrestlers finished within one level of prediction. The bad: Had Nolf and Bo to win.
OKST-The good: Had #11 seed Collica at 3 (finished 4) and #8 seed Boyd at 4 (finished 4). The bad: Whiffed on Klimara, Joseph Smith (8/3; might not have been 100%) and Heil (1/3), whom I promise never to doubt again.
tOSU-The good: The team score, within 0.5. Not much else. Did have #11 Martin to AA at 6, but not to win. Snyder over Gwiz. Bo Jordan at 3. The bad: Tomasello to win. Finished third. Micah Jordan (R12/6). JDJ (DNP/R12).
Iowa-The good: All nine wrestlers finished within one level of prediction, with 6 of 9 on the money, including #2 seed Brooks (8/8). The bad: Missed Gilman making the finals (2/3), Burak (4/3) and Meyer (8/R12). And the worst of all: failing to foresee a one point deduction assessed against the coaching staff. Who couldn't have seen that coming? That point cost them (I think) a tie for 4th, killing my team picks. Easy, Iowa lurkers...I can enjoy a "hamster dance" joke (not to mention a "Streibler" or "Carl" reference) and still be fair. They appeared to be right (if I understand the argument; didn't have the sound on when I went back and watched it). If they get the pin by Brooks against Abounader, with no ensuing argument, they get 4th place by themselves.
Cornell-The good: Garrett and Dean. The five "DNP" picks...DNP. The bad: #2 Realbuto (DNP/2) losing in first round, injuring knee in the process. #5 Palacio (4/6). Had him losing to Joseph Smith, but he decked the freshman. Pretty much as expected, up and down the line, except for Realbuto.
NC State-The good: Good? What good? Called Gwiz at #2, I guess. The Bad: Wow. Had unseeded Morris in R12 (DNP/R12), #3 Jack to win (R12/1), #2 Gantt at 4 (8/4), #5 Rohskopf at 5 (DNP/5) and #12 Boykin in R12 (DNP/R12). Good and bad: Did have #13 Renda as AA, but not high enough (3/7). As a team, NC State got wedgies and had their lunch money stolen.
Virginia Tech-The good: Next to nothing. Had Epperly, the 8 seed, properly at #3. The bad: Missed low on # 8 seed Brascetta (3/7), #14 McFadden (6/R16) and #6 Haught (6/R12), and high on #2 Dance (4/DNP) and #5 Zavatsky (R12/5). As a prognosticator, I got a wedgie and had my lunch money stolen.
Missouri-The good: Correctly had #2 Cox to win, #4 Lewis at 4, #5 Manley as DNP. The bad: Had #3 Mayes (3/7) and #14 Miklus (6/R12) too low and #3 Butler (R12/5) too high. On balance, underestimated here.
Other good picks: Ummm...not much, I'm afraid. #10 Wilson (NEB) to AA at 165 (7/6), #9 Miller (NAVY) to AA at 184 (5/6) and #9 Kroells (MINN) to AA at 285 (8/8). OK...I'm reaching on that last one.
Other bad picks: The rest. (With special mention to my pick of #8 Henderson (UNC) at both #8 and R12 at 149, apparently confusing him so badly, he lost twice and went home. Meant to pull him out of my top 8 for Cimato, who didn't place, either.)
And finally...for the three people still reading:
Best reason to watch the tournament on TV: The cost. My wife tried to get me to go, but I didn't want to have to sell my one remaining kidney (I sold the other one to get cash for that breast reduction surgery a couple years back. It's no picnic being an old man.) to make it happen. Never been to nationals, but it is now a goal. Just not at $500 a night.
Best reason to go to the tournament in person: Billy Baldwin. Or Quint Kessenich. Can't decide.
Baldwin is...or was...a celebrity, and he supports wrestling. I get...and appreciate...that. And I am truly impressed by his knowledge of wrestling. Truly. Unfortunately, not nearly as impressed as he is. It takes him longer to ask a question than it does for Zain to wrestle most of his matches. And somehow, it's always about him. (Billy, not Zain.) I did manage to enjoy the few snippets of actual wrestling ESPNU televised in the early rounds, squeezed in between the "outstanding stuff" Billy "brought to the party," though ESPN3 (muted) was often the better choice. Particularly offensive was Baldwin's on camera interview with Dan Gable, while Gable, along with the rest of us, would much rather have been watching an Iowa guy (Meyer, I think) wrestle back in the consis yesterday.
Kessenich was obviously present in journalism class the day they taught "How do you best describe (fill in the blank)?" And no other day. I guess it was good, in a way. It's been a long time since I've felt the need to use the word "insipid." Shut up, already. Both of you.
OK...I've decided. Baldwin.
Great finals, though. No one got in the way too much. And the matches were outstanding. It was a fun three days. Congratulations to the team and coaching staff for a great championship season!
(Is it November yet?)
SR/BHF
Last edited:
