Post NCAA Thoughts

[dicemen99]

First of all, great, great weekend of wrestling all around. Tons of upsets. First day it looked like no team wanted the title. Moisey's run. St. Louis is a good place to have it, you can walk everywhere, but I'm not sure how they seem to come up with it every other year (it seems) - plenty of places just as good or better. The town seems to close down by 1am also, unless you go over a bridge...

125 - Great job by JC. I was 50/50 whether he could AA unless he beat Gilman. 3 matches to win after dropping the R16 bout and with his penchant for close matches, I was worried. But he really is one of the top 8 guys in the country, no doubt, right there with Gilman, who is just a hair better than him right now. Glad to see he gets his AA, I was a doubter. I'd like to see him at 125 again next year, rather than 33. Don't think he wins a NC, but can get another AA no doubt (although the young guys at 125 will undoubtedly improve).

133 - Also, another great job by JG. Was worried about R16 with Beckman and was happy to see Beckman go down in Rd1 (although JG posted a win later against him). Great job against Taylor, which I though was a 50/50 match, but Jimmy was better. Could easily have been wrestling for 3rd, still 5th was a great job and if he is at 133 next year, definitely a title threat.

149 - Tough, tough one with Zach against Villalonga, which he really needed. Could have been a surprise semifinalist. Thought he had the match there in the 3rd. Tough way to lose in OT, kind of gave it to Villalonga, but give Villalonga credit for coming up with the big TD in the 3rd. Wrestled tough. Just not quite good enough this year.

174 - Great job by Matt. Expected finals from him and once Kokesh went down, he was the clear favorite. Wasn't the way you want to win, ugly, but was the right call. Would have liked to see it go into OT and then Matt win it there - that would have been justice, but will take it. Well deserved, really going to miss him. BTW, how could he possibly have won a NC - he was only the #77 ranked recruit coming out and everyone knows Cael can't coach?????

184 - Probably the only weight class where I'm disappointed. Had a great draw, great match against Stauffer getting the OT win after PSU losing two heartbreaking OT matches in a row. Got the early TD against Courts. Not surprised by Courts coming back - he is very quick, Matt had no answer for his leg attackes. MM loses the match in the beginning of the 3rd period though. Courts chooses bottom, MM with a little over a minute of RT. I know Courts hits a roll, but you are up 4-2 right then - if you can ride 20 to 30 seconds, Courts can't ride you - you basically turn this into a match where Courts has to take you down twice and then ride you out in a under a minute and a half just to send it into OT. Match tactics are critical there - even if you have to take a stall, you need to drop to a leg, get a restart, anything but a 5 second escape and you win the match. When Courts got the quick escape, I said to my buddy, we're going to lose this match. Earlier, I saw Dance make the same mistake when Gilman gets to his feet in the 3rd and Dance just cuts him loose. Drop to a leg and get 10 more seconds of RT and Dance wins the match - again, when that happens, I turn and say Dance is in trouble, he was 10 seconds away from putting the match in the bag. I know you are in the heat of the battle, but match awareness wins a lot of matches.

197 - great job by MM. Was not all that disappointed in the loss to Hartmann, as that kid was a bad matchup for MM, especially if the refs are just going to let him wrestle like that, no offense, all counter funk. Length was a problem for MM to finish shots that he has been finishing all year. Plus, after seeing Gadsen, I was thinking that MM was not going to beat him (which is opposite of what I thought before the tournament). Gets the win over Cox. 1 more year. Great tournament.

285 - Jimmy gets his AA - well deserved. He was right there after the top 5 or 6 guys and had a good draw to get the medal. Beating Kroells was the key and despite jammy's objections, I was pretty sure he was going to do that. It took OT - not uncommon at 285 - but the better guy won there. Placed as high as he could.

Overall, great tournament by PSU. I was thinking 3 to 4 AAs and we came home with 5. All 7 guys had shots. Everyone wrestled really well.

I know that it is out there that the two MMs are too big to go smaller - and I'm certainly not an advocate of large amounts of cutting - but seeing them up close with the other competitors all there - geez, we are tiny at 84 and 97. Matt looks like a large 65 (Dieringer looks bigger than him) and although Morgan is jacked, guys like Snyder, Cox, Gadsen just dwarf him. People post on here worried about JG not being as effective at 41 - geez, he looks like he would be far more at home there, than our 84 and 97 are at their current weights. The guys at nationals at 84 and 97 are just really big guys, most look like they would be really fit walking around at 200 and 225.

 

[uppermaclion]

Here is how I see I see it.

125 - going into the season I thought he would be a high AA. As the season went on, thought that wasn't going to happen and he finished right about where he should. Clearly several notches below the top guys in the weight imho.

133 - I'm a little disappointed here. I still think JG is way better then the results at the NCAA's. Regardless if he wrestled above seed, he should be top 3 imho

149 - about what was expected

174 - Better then expected

184 - MM didn't wrestle great towards the end of the dual meet season, then showed some real promise at the Big 10's. Probably did better then what I was expecting early on. Was hoping after the Big 10's he would AA but it didn't happen

197 - No complaints with 3rd. Finally beat Cox. I still think he could have won the NC

HWT - pretty close to what you expect. No real positive or negatives here.

 

[KidNittany]

Good post dice.

My thoughts:

25- Did as expected. Slightly above expectations, knew he was an AA threat and he did it. Going into the tournament leaning more of a R12, so great job by him to get on the podium. Expecting an OlyRS for Mega next year after that performance, with all AA's returning minus Waters

33- Made some mental mistakes vs Clark, who is too good at countering to let that go. Other than that he wrestled a great tournament. Match vs. Schopp was a wash, getting on the podium is a great showing. Fix some of those little things and he'll be near if not on the top next year.

49- Beitz is in the same boat as Gulibon, gotta fix some small things but he showed he is close. Think he can really take a jump next year

74- What more can you ask for is all I can say? Maybe a more convincing win, but dude is a horse. Hammerfists will be missed. One of the biggest mental meltdowns I've ever seen in a finals match by Wilps, who before the last 20 seconds wrestled a near-perfectly executed match. Matt Brown, you are THE man.

84- Don't know how anyone can be disappointed. People forget he is a freshman. Would've been nice to have a surprise semi-finalist, but I think he carries it into next year and improves his standing. R12 (which is what I called at the beginning of the year) surprised a lot of people, and he should be applauded for it. People straight up gave up on him. Great job Matt.

97- McIntosh took a huge step forward this year. Really improved. Bad matchup as said vs. Hartmann and controversial ending, but his confidence should be sky high at this point. Beating Cox was the biggest issue, but now that that's solved, sky is the limit.3rd is great and he will be the leader next year.

HWT- Lawson, I was expecting to R12, so 6 is great. Really finished his career on a positive. Cael gets his heavy AA.

As for next year (which it already is), preliminary line-up should be:

125- Conaway
133- Gulibon
141- Retherford
149- Beitz
157- Nolf
165- Hammond/Rasheed/Brill/Morelli
174- Nickal/McCutcheon/Rasheed
184- Nickal/McCutcheon
197- McIntosh
HWT- Nevills

I think if you want max efficiency this is what you want. Let Megaman focus on freestyle and have some fun, not worry about the season. Gulibon should stay at 33, and Retherford I think we would want to stay at 41 (I know some are saying he's gotten bigger but I'll believe the weight when I see it. He was small at 41 last year so even some added muscle gives him some buffer). Beitz could be an AA threat, even title threat if he's on his game. Nolf.....well watch out world because he's going to light up the scoreboard a lot. 97 Mac will challenge for a title. He is small for a 97lber but I think he's just too big at this point to drop. Also, don't think you'd want him to drop anyway. Nevills is the heir apparent.

Only real questions are the 74/84 issue and 65. 74/84 I might just be making up (I have no evidence for this as of now) but McCutcheon does indeed look small and I think he might be able to afford the cut. It also depends on where Nickal is at size wise. 65 Hammond is the returning starter but you got some real talent coming in as well, whoever wins the spot should be ready to roll at 65 when the dust settles. Rasheed is a real wild card here. The coaches love him and I think he could shock some people, just depends on what weight he goes.

 

[lockhavenlion3]

seems as though both jg & zack are susceptible to at least one brainfart a match. with a better awareness/mental approach, both could have placed higher. hopefully, another year will cure that.

 

[Chickenman Testa]

If you read Nico's Twitter, it's quite clear he's in the lineup this fall #

nfm

 

[PSUAllTheWay]

I thought the boys were well prepared and wrestled extremely well up and down the lineup. The NCAA tournament is a meat grinder and PSU handled it extremely well. I like our aggressiveness in all phases of the sport. People can say whatever they want about the coaching staff but if you watch the progress our boys make at Penn State - particularly on the top and bottom positions - the coaching shine through. Many of these kids were not very good on bottom when they got to PSU and worse at riding / turning opponents. Kids like Brown, Mac, JG, etc. struggled in these positions in their earlier years but now routinely get out very quickly and ride pretty tough. Finishing TDs is always a key and I see great improvement in this area as well for JG, Mac, JC, etc. There's always room for improvement but the results have been impressive. It used to be that PSU was somewhat of a take'em down, let'em up style team but no more under Cael!

My biggest hope is that whatever improvement program JG was on this off-season, they put Cutch on it. He is closer than a lot of people think ... he's just really young. Cael called him out a bit at the after finals reception saying he "stopped wrestling" midway through the second period against Courts. I agree as he was up 3-0 with riding time and seemed to shift into defensive mode. That was a bad idea and hopefully a lesson learned as it cost him AA status.

Betz is solid in all phases but needs to get more aggressive on his feet. The ankle pick is awesome but once someone has seen it, that's usually then end of that. He was starting to shoot and finish more takedowns near the end of the season and I hope he continues to work on his technique this off-season as he needs a more varied attack to compete at the next level.

Very much looking forward to next year regardless of what the lineup looks like. Let's wrestle!

This post was edited on 3/23 11:11 AM by PSUAllTheWay

This post was edited on 3/23 11:11 AM by PSUAllTheWay

 

[Dungeon Yankee]

if vincenzo joseph wrestles his freshman year, what weight


do you see him at? just a thought

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Cenzo said in an interview ...


that he'll be at 149, at least initially.

Tom

 

[PSU Mike]

On 184...

Show of hands. How many board members, after Matt's showing at the B1G tourney and lead on Courts in the quarters, had at least the fleeting thought of, "freaking Doe was right?"

 

[smealpsu2005]

Re: On 184...

^^^^^+1000

I was getting ready to post my admiration of John Doe's predictions when Cutch was up on Courts.

 

[dicemen99]

Re: On 184...

Originally posted by PSU Mike:
Show of hands. How many board members, after Matt's showing at the B1G tourney and lead on Courts in the quarters, had at least the fleeting thought of, "freaking Doe was right?"

Can't agree with this. He's not challenging for a title yet, which is what Doe predicted. He probably finished where he belonged - which is in the 7-20 range at this weight, which is wide open.

Agree with Kid Nittany though, as he is much improved since the beginning of the year - both at getting out, which was critical against Stauffer; and in finishing. Probably misused the word "disappointment" - certainly was not disappointed in Matt's end of the season performance, more disappointed in the one match vs. Courts because it was there for the taking with the proper match tactics. Should have been in the semis and got a 6th place medal, I would bet this was a big lesson learned.

Also, in regards to my observations about the MMs size - I'm not advocating a cut for either wrestler. At this point, it would probably be detrimental to Morgan's performance and he is good enough at 97 to make a run at the title. I just think if he was a career 84 (which wasn't possible with ER there I know), he would probably have a title now. I'm also not sure that Matt would do any better at 74. Just observations that there are noticeable size differences which can cause some matchup issues - which Morgan has worked hard at combating, and Matt will have to do also.

 

[El-Jefe]

The positives:
- Matt Brown. Cannot overemphasize the importance of having at least 1 individual champ every year.
- 5 of 7 AAs.
- 6 of 7 wrestled above their seeds.
- The 7th wrestler beat the defending national champ.

Things to work on:
- Qualifying all 10 weights.
- Higher seeds resulting from better regular season results.
- Giving up points at the end of periods. Happened way too often and cost a couple wins.
- Scoring against opponents who won't wrestle, are statues, or only backpedal. Stallalonga, Hartmann, Tsirtsis, Dean, etc.. Losing to them is not a fluke -- they are very skilled at what they do, and there are guys like them every year. Need to figure out how to break through them, or at least how to push the pace enough to force stalling calls.

 

[dicemen99]

Also, as far as ZR, after nationals, I would say my confidence in him going 149 next year went up significantly. For some, who have great info, it is already a done deal.

As I posted before, it's way early and who knows what happens, but all signs point to him being at 49, and I would take 49 as his "default" weight now and 41 as an outside chance, rather than the other way around.

 

[dicemen99]

Originally posted by El-Jefe:
The positives:
- Matt Brown. Cannot overemphasize the importance of having at least 1 individual champ every year.
- 5 of 7 AAs.
- 6 of 7 wrestled above their seeds.
- The 7th wrestler beat the defending national champ.

Things to work on:
- Qualifying all 10 weights.
- Higher seeds resulting from better regular season results.
- Giving up points at the end of periods. Happened way too often and cost a couple wins.
- Scoring against opponents who won't wrestle, are statues, or only backpedal. Stallalonga, Hartmann, Tsirtsis, Dean, etc.. Losing to them is not a fluke -- they are very skilled at what they do, and there are guys like them every year. Need to figure out how to break through them, or at least how to push the pace enough to force stalling calls.

Great post. Particularly insightful on the bolded.

*A National Champion every year - just a tremendous recruiting tool.

*When you don't have the ability to blow away the field, match awareness can be a skill as or more valuable than any physical tool. Couple of our guys need work on this.

*I was just about to post on the other board that the McIntosh loss to Hartmann was no fluke, as many on there are posting Morgan would win that match 99 out of 100 times. Not with the way the matches are called now. We may be a little spoiled, as this is not a problem when you have a wrestler with superior talent like Ruth and Taylor in regards to this. Even our NC, was a bit susceptible to this at times this year, although it is one of the reasons he stood at the top of the podium this year - he was able to improve his offense (along with improving his ability to ride) this year.

This post was edited on 3/23 12:27 PM by dicemen99

 

[PSU Mike]

Re: On 184...

Agreed, in hindsight. But the thought was there for me as it was unfolding. Brooks and Stauffer were wins I hadn't imagined in Feb.

 

[Bushwood CC]

No doubt regarding the number of AA's - had you told me prior to the tournament that PSU winds up with 5 AA's including a Champion and a 3rd, I would have guessed that we finished top 4. The parity this year was pretty amazing - when is the last time 12 teams scored over 50 points? 7 teams over 60? And 5 teams over 70? IMO the ESPN talking-heads went a bit overboard with dominant tO$U was at the tournament - arguably, PSU was right there if they wrestled their best wrestlers this year - Mega would have been good for at least 5-10 more tournament points then JC, Zain and Nolf are probably good for another 25-30 combined.

IMO you can tell the profile and popularity of collegiate wrestling is rising as evidenced by the talent becoming more distributed, or maybe more accurately "less concentrated", across the Division I landscape.

 

[NoVa Lion]

Originally posted by dicemen99:
Also, as far as ZR, after nationals, I would say my confidence in him going 149 next year went up significantly. For some, who have great info, it is already a done deal.

As I posted before, it's way early and who knows what happens, but all signs point to him being at 49, and I would take 49 as his "default" weight now and 41 as an outside chance, rather than the other way around.

Whenever the subject of what weight Zain would be at came up my response was always the same. I hope he can make 141, but no matter what, I don't see any of the returning wrestlers at 141 OR 149 that I wouldn't pick Zain to beat. IMHO, he's an NCAA champ next year at either weight.