Hard to believe it's that time of year. Looking at conference action, trying to figure out the seeds with all the confoundedness of the regular season action. Injuries, illness, lower ranked guys beating higher ranked guys, wrestlers changing weight classes, we have it all. FRANKLY, I'M NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO 133!!
Anyway, I've been doing this for about 10 years now, first on Scout, adding BWI later. Done for fun, no other reason, it's intended to generate discussion, nothing more, nothing less.
My hope is to provide two weight classes per day, starting tomorrow (Monday, so I'm getting a jump by providing 125 today). By the end of the week, this exercise should be complete. ENJOY!
125
#1 Spencer Lee (IA)
#2 Devin Schroder (PUR)
#3 Justin Cardani (ILL)
#4 Liam Cronin (IND)
#5 Nic Aguilar (RUT)
#6 Michael DeAugustino (NU)
#7 Patrick McKee (MINN)
#8 Jack Medley (MICH)
#9 Eric Barnett (WIS)
#10 Alex Thomsen (NEB)
#11 Logan Griffin (MSU)
#12 Malik Heinselman (tOSU)
#13 Brandon Cray (MD)
#14 Brandon Meredith (PSU)
SURPRISE!! I’ll go with Spencer Lee (IA) as my #1 seed at 125, as he’s arguably the best PFP guy in college wrestling today, so certainly is #1 within his weight class. I say arguably because two guys, Zahid Valencia of AZST and Nick Lee of PSU are nipping at his heels, per Most Dominant Wrestler data. S. Lee is undefeated in Big Ten action. #2 is Devin Schroder (PUR), despite his two losses, one to Lee, the other to Liam Cronin (IND). Schroder beat some pretty good guys, in; Patrick McKee (MINN, by tech fall); Justin Cardani (ILL); and Michael DeAugustino (NU, by major decision). #3 Cardani gets the next seed, despite a bad loss to Logan Griffin (MSU), as he has good wins over DeAugustino, Jack Medley (MICH), Nic Aguilar (RUT), and Cronin (who he’s 3-0 with on the season). I was tempted to go Patrick McKee next, with only one conference loss, but he hasn’t gone since Jan. 31 (injury, unfortunately), and other than a decent win against Medley, his others were against guys seeded in the bottom half of the conference. #4 through #8 is an example of guys beating each other and none separating themselves in the conference. At 6-3 in conference, the Big Ten will probably go Medley about #4 or #5, but I’m not. Out-of-conference losses to Malik Heinselman (tOSU, a bad loss, considering), Schroder and DeAugustino (whom Medlay also beat), relegate him to #8 (see below). For the three guys #4 through #6; DeAugustino beat Cronin, Cronin beat Aguilar, and Aguilar beat DeAugustino (or A beat B, B beat C, and C beat A), so throw the HTH’s out to determine #4. I went #4 Cronin (with two good wins in-conference including beating Schroder, compared to one each for #5 Aguilar and #6 DeAugustino). After selecting #4, I’ll be honest, #5 and #6 were decided by the Aguilar HTH win over DeAugustino. #7 McKee gets the nod over #8 Medley due to the HTH win. Medley, you might remember, held Lee to a decision in their bout. Spending a second here on Medley … I do believe the conference will seed him higher, but to me the DeAugustino win is offset some by the Augustino loss (out-of-conference, so they were 1-1 on the year), and the Heinselman out-of-conference loss, both deflating his seed.
Of the bottom six seeds, there were a total of two good wins overall, Griffin over Cardani, and Malik Heinselman (tOSU) over Medley (albeit out of conference). Other than that, they sort of beat on each other. I’m going #9 Eric Barnett (WIS), with a HTH win over #10 Alex Thomsen (NEB). #11, with the great win over Cardani, is Logan Griffin (MSU), as he lost HTH to Thomsen. Rounding out the final three are #12 Heinselman, #13 Brandon Cray (MD), and #14 Brandon Meredith (PSU), all due to HTH results. I could put Heinselman in front of #11 Griffin, but the Griffin win over Cardani, is a better win than Heinselman’s over Medley.
EDIT: McKee (MINN) did not go at the 2/21 dual vs Nebraska. Instead, Jake Gliva, the early season starter at 133 went. I am not changing my rankings, but if McKee doesn't go at Big Ten's, everyone behind him moves up. It also appears Boo Dryden is the Minny starter at 133.
Anyway, I've been doing this for about 10 years now, first on Scout, adding BWI later. Done for fun, no other reason, it's intended to generate discussion, nothing more, nothing less.
My hope is to provide two weight classes per day, starting tomorrow (Monday, so I'm getting a jump by providing 125 today). By the end of the week, this exercise should be complete. ENJOY!
125
#1 Spencer Lee (IA)
#2 Devin Schroder (PUR)
#3 Justin Cardani (ILL)
#4 Liam Cronin (IND)
#5 Nic Aguilar (RUT)
#6 Michael DeAugustino (NU)
#7 Patrick McKee (MINN)
#8 Jack Medley (MICH)
#9 Eric Barnett (WIS)
#10 Alex Thomsen (NEB)
#11 Logan Griffin (MSU)
#12 Malik Heinselman (tOSU)
#13 Brandon Cray (MD)
#14 Brandon Meredith (PSU)
SURPRISE!! I’ll go with Spencer Lee (IA) as my #1 seed at 125, as he’s arguably the best PFP guy in college wrestling today, so certainly is #1 within his weight class. I say arguably because two guys, Zahid Valencia of AZST and Nick Lee of PSU are nipping at his heels, per Most Dominant Wrestler data. S. Lee is undefeated in Big Ten action. #2 is Devin Schroder (PUR), despite his two losses, one to Lee, the other to Liam Cronin (IND). Schroder beat some pretty good guys, in; Patrick McKee (MINN, by tech fall); Justin Cardani (ILL); and Michael DeAugustino (NU, by major decision). #3 Cardani gets the next seed, despite a bad loss to Logan Griffin (MSU), as he has good wins over DeAugustino, Jack Medley (MICH), Nic Aguilar (RUT), and Cronin (who he’s 3-0 with on the season). I was tempted to go Patrick McKee next, with only one conference loss, but he hasn’t gone since Jan. 31 (injury, unfortunately), and other than a decent win against Medley, his others were against guys seeded in the bottom half of the conference. #4 through #8 is an example of guys beating each other and none separating themselves in the conference. At 6-3 in conference, the Big Ten will probably go Medley about #4 or #5, but I’m not. Out-of-conference losses to Malik Heinselman (tOSU, a bad loss, considering), Schroder and DeAugustino (whom Medlay also beat), relegate him to #8 (see below). For the three guys #4 through #6; DeAugustino beat Cronin, Cronin beat Aguilar, and Aguilar beat DeAugustino (or A beat B, B beat C, and C beat A), so throw the HTH’s out to determine #4. I went #4 Cronin (with two good wins in-conference including beating Schroder, compared to one each for #5 Aguilar and #6 DeAugustino). After selecting #4, I’ll be honest, #5 and #6 were decided by the Aguilar HTH win over DeAugustino. #7 McKee gets the nod over #8 Medley due to the HTH win. Medley, you might remember, held Lee to a decision in their bout. Spending a second here on Medley … I do believe the conference will seed him higher, but to me the DeAugustino win is offset some by the Augustino loss (out-of-conference, so they were 1-1 on the year), and the Heinselman out-of-conference loss, both deflating his seed.
Of the bottom six seeds, there were a total of two good wins overall, Griffin over Cardani, and Malik Heinselman (tOSU) over Medley (albeit out of conference). Other than that, they sort of beat on each other. I’m going #9 Eric Barnett (WIS), with a HTH win over #10 Alex Thomsen (NEB). #11, with the great win over Cardani, is Logan Griffin (MSU), as he lost HTH to Thomsen. Rounding out the final three are #12 Heinselman, #13 Brandon Cray (MD), and #14 Brandon Meredith (PSU), all due to HTH results. I could put Heinselman in front of #11 Griffin, but the Griffin win over Cardani, is a better win than Heinselman’s over Medley.
EDIT: McKee (MINN) did not go at the 2/21 dual vs Nebraska. Instead, Jake Gliva, the early season starter at 133 went. I am not changing my rankings, but if McKee doesn't go at Big Ten's, everyone behind him moves up. It also appears Boo Dryden is the Minny starter at 133.
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