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Quick takeaways from Penn State’s opening weekend

CSauertiegPSU

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Oct 9, 2013
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Hey guys,

In the future I’ll have more extensive previews and recaps of duals and tournaments on site, but I was out at PSU-UM covering football yesterday so had to catch up on the duals when I got home last night. Here are my initial takeaways, let me know what agree and disagree and on!

1. RBY in cruise control

Last year, I spent most of the season thinking Roman Bravo-Young just looked a bit off the pace. He wasn’t putting up tons of points or separating himself from guys he should be. Then he won a national title. That was again the case against Oregon State last night and I’ve come to acknowledge that he can and will turn things on and off as he pleases.

2. Bartlett’s got chutzpah

It seemed very clear to me watching Beau Bartlett wrestle Cory Crooks yesterday that he’s still undersized for 149. He’s bigger than he was last year, but guys that are cutting any significant weight to get to 149 are going to have a big advantage. A couple things Bartlett has to his advantage is his guile and his grit. He won the match against Crooks by not putting himself in bad spots and with a savvy third-period ride out. We’ll take it.

3. No answers at 57/65

As Hoosier Lion reported yesterday, Joe Lee is carrying a slight injury and didn’t go last night. I don’t know why we didn’t see Terrell Barraclough, but I can tell you that Joey Blumer won’t be the starter at 165 all year. I feel comfortable saying the same with Creighton Edsell at 165, despite two solid performances.

4. The dudes are dudes

Turns out Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks are still good to quite good. Penn State has national title favorites in both wrestlers and Starocci in particular looked a man on a mission last night.

5. Stronger in the back end

Whether it’s Michael Beard or Max Dean, Penn State will have a significant contributor at 197. Dean looked fantastic in a pair of matches last night and Beard was reportedly right there with him in a wrestle-off. I’m not quite ready to call either a title contender, but it’s not far off. As for Greg Kerkvliet, I thought he looked as strong and confident as ever, rolling through a pair of opponents, include a potential NCAA qualifier in Gary Traub.
 
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Spot on with RBY..when he wants to, he can beat anyone and look nasty doing it. Other times he just puts it in cruise control like he did yesterday. Wondering how that’s going with Cael coming out strong saying he wants more bonus points
 
The thing with RBY is, he’s not always great at creating his own offense when going against someone that has no interest in offense. He remains primarily a counter attacker, and as elite as they get at that. His footwork does sometimes open things up for him somewhat, but there are always guys who try only to keep things close. I was/am hoping he can open more matches up on top though. We saw in the finals he can ride anyone, so it’s not too far fetched to hope for him to start turning guys more consistently.
 
I’m certain the size of Beau will be a point of discussion all year on these boards. I’m of the belief that his grit, determination and talent will lead him to an All-American performance this season in a weak weight class even if he’s a tad undersized.
 
I’m certain the size of Beau will be a point of discussion all year on these boards. I’m of the belief that his grit, determination and talent will lead him to an All-American performance this season in a weak weight class even if he’s a tad undersized.
My concern with Beau isn’t his size. My concern is if he lets it fly as the year goes on. I realize he’s a defensive wrestler more than anything but when he does attack, he’s super quick. I’d like to see him open up more early.
 
3. No answers at 57/65

  • As Hoosier Lion reported yesterday, Joe Lee is carrying a slight injury and didn’t go last night. I don’t know why we didn’t see Terrell Barraclough, but I can tell you that Joey Blumer won’t be the starter at 165 all year. I feel comfortable saying the same with Creighton Edsell at 165, despite two solid performances.

    JB agreed with the slight ding status on Joe, he said Barraclough was feeling under the weather and Dunbar was being held in redshirt. Of course if either didn’t feel better long term (which I doubt) his shirt could be pulled instead of going long term with Joey Blumer. No shot at him but he is a 149 lb’er not a 157, but he battled!
 
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Adding here, anyone have brackets for the open tournament today?

it's not really a bracketed tournament. wrestlers are split into pools of 6 usually, with each pool split into 2 groups of 3. so it's a round robin in the group of 3, then 1 cross over match against the same position in the other group. the pools look they're seeded so that Pool A in each weight is the best wrestlers.

here's the pools, at least as of friday, not sure if there were any scratches. https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/7206598-journeymen-collegiate-classic-pools-are-set

i can't find a bout board but the flo feed seems to have the wrestlers and scores on each mat when you're selecting a stream
 
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Finally found the hideous software they are using for todays tournament. Looking over the weight tabs, found something interesting. The only wrestler that weighed in that didn't wrestle the duals was Meredith. He was at 129.8. I expected him to get the nod last night, probably missed weight.
 
My concern with Beau isn’t his size. My concern is if he lets it fly as the year goes on. I realize he’s a defensive wrestler more than anything but when he does attack, he’s super quick. I’d like to see him open up more early.
^^ This. Crooks is hardly Sasso or even Murin. Bartlett should have won by more than 1-0, and should've been able to get out from bottom in less than a minute.

That said, it was just one match. The sky isn't falling. It's OK for freshmen to have things to work on.
 
^^ This. Crooks is hardly Sasso or even Murin. Bartlett should have won by more than 1-0, and should've been able to get out from bottom in less than a minute.

That said, it was just one match. The sky isn't falling. It's OK for freshmen to have things to work on.
I think the weight is part of the reason he’s not letting it fly. Can’t get to his spots or win the hand fight as easily.
 
Finally found the hideous software they are using for todays tournament. Looking over the weight tabs, found something interesting. The only wrestler that weighed in that didn't wrestle the duals was Meredith. He was at 129.8. I expected him to get the nod last night, probably missed weight.
By 5 pounds?
 
I’m certain the size of Beau will be a point of discussion all year on these boards. I’m of the belief that his grit, determination and talent will lead him to an All-American performance this season in a weak weight class even if he’s a tad undersized.
So can he make 133 next season?
 
So can he make 133 next season?
Nah. Beau and SVN likely to be 41 and 49 next season respectively. It'll be interesting to see what weight a healthy Howard will go at next season. Also, I'm not one of those giving up completely on Steen after one poor tournament performance. He clearly needs a redshirt and has to improve. Look at Teske and his path to where he is today. It's possible.
 
^^ This. Crooks is hardly Sasso or even Murin. Bartlett should have won by more than 1-0, and should've been able to get out from bottom in less than a minute.

That said, it was just one match. The sky isn't falling. It's OK for freshmen to have things to work on.
And….he was better from bottom last year. I’m not concerned. He will get better, be better, and have a better end of year result.
 
Things are good when we have a kid win a match with grit and fortitude, and we are panicked.

Bartlett is big and strong enough, his learning/performance curve will be steep.
 
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Things are good when we have a kid win a match with grit and fortitude, and we are panicked.

Bartlett is big and strong enough, his learning/performance curve will be steep.
The real question is whether the fortitude is inside vs. outside of him. Here’s to hoping it is inside of him come March. 😉
 
Spot on with RBY..when he wants to, he can beat anyone and look nasty doing it. Other times he just puts it in cruise control like he did yesterday. Wondering how that’s going with Cael coming out strong saying he wants more bonus points
but cruise control can lead to losses which he doesnt need by keeping matches close I know he could major anyone and he should .do what Nolf did take no prisoners!
 
I Took a break from the boards for off-season so please excuse my question if answered. Wouldn’t you guys be surprised if Mason Manville isn’t currently beating a super young Alex Facundo at 165?
 
Not remotely concerned about Bartlett. I remember seeing some of the predictions of Bartlett beating Crooks by major and was thinking that's just not going to happen. I thought the kid would be in a tight one and he'd find a way to win and surely enough, that's exactly what he did. Very gutsy a kid didn't panic after giving up 1:30 + of RT and countered by riding out a bigger kid himself. The no takedown thing is very misleading when you consider the last 2 period was basically a rideout contest.

Here's the deal with Bartlett, he's already wrestled Sasso (for the people who say that Crooks isn't Sasso) and he was right there. He's not going to blow anyone out the water (between his size and he's just stylistically not a volume attacker) but he also isn't going to get blown out of the water either. Cael picked him to start already for a reason. He knows what he's getting with him. He's going to have close matches (going to take some L's) but he trusts the kid will be game enough to make a run in March and win those 3-2 matches in a wide open 149 bracket.

Good comparison for him actually IMO? Think pre 2020 Pat Lugo (because 2020 Pat Lugo was much improved) Shorter guy who was in a lot of close matches but positioning and defense helped him win more often than not.
 
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I Took a break from the boards for off-season so please excuse my question if answered. Wouldn’t you guys be surprised if Mason Manville isn’t currently beating a super young Alex Facundo at 165?
I would be surprised, personally. But it’s certainly possible.
 
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Also Jason Shaner opened the season by beating Malyke Hines, who was a R16 guy last year. He had no interest in shooting on RBY so all in all, a 8-3 result is exactly what I'd expect.
 
My concern with Beau isn’t his size. ...

Beau is and will be just fine. Heck the team hasn't yet gone through it's yearly December swoon match where the whole squad looks bad.

When in doubt think of Markie, VJ, Aaron, Carter,... all had early Frosh loses only to win it all.

Nov does not equal Mar by any stretch. I think we look nails out of the gate. Iowa is on notice.
 
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