It’s that time of year. Just after the final B1G Conference bouts of the year, yet prior to the conference coaches voting for their version of the pre-seeds. Their votes will be tabulated, compiled, and should be released Monday, February 26th.
Guidelines are; body-of-work, 2017-18 only, and just bouts between conference foes. HTH is HUGE, and in my analysis includes tournament bouts too, but often as tie-breakers unless it’s HTH, a bad loss or a great win. A wrestler’s record is one consideration, though with 9 conference duals, and 14 teams, it’s possible to catch all or most of the top guys, or miss all or most of the top guys, so the records are often misleading. WHO one wrestles and beats or loses to should be considered. I am adding that disclaimer, as it is my observation that records occasionally trump all when pre-seedings are announced, and it should not, imo.
So read away, ENJOY if you can (it’s intended to spark discussion, not anxiety), correct any mistakes, or beat me up if you must…I’ll try to do 2-4 weight classes per day. Each weight class may be pre-seeded more than 8, but all will be at least 8. My pre-seeds are listed at the end of each weight class write-up, with the team in parenthesis, and the DUAL MEET record of each wrestler.
125
Starting out with a tough call, as both Lee (Iowa) and Suriano (Rut) are undefeated in-conference at 6-0, and obviously did not face each other. Lee has the better win, vs Tomasello (tOSU), though Suriano did all he could by winning against the guys he faced. Similar resumes too, as both had bonus point wins against every opponent except Rivera (NU), and Tomasello for Lee, even when facing conference foes in tournaments. I’m going #1 Suriano, but could live with Lee. Tomasello gets the 3rd seed from me, with his only loss to #2 Lee, and good wins vs Lizak (Minn, TF), Welch (Pur, Maj), and Mattin (MI, TF), as compared to my #4 Rivera, who’s best win was against Welch by Maj. Lizak split with Mattin, losing in the dual in SV, but winning by Maj at Cliff Keen. Welch beat Mattin 2x, but lost to Foley (MSU), as did Mattin. Unscrambling this, I’m going #5 Welch, on the strength of the 2 wins vs Mattin, Lizak #6 on the strength of a HTH split with Mattin, winning by Maj but losing in SV, then #7 is Mattin. Piotrowski (Ill) gets #8, with a HTH win over #9 Oliver (Ind), despite a bad loss to 4-12 Jiminez (Wis) in his last dual. Rounding out the top-10 is Foley, despite great wins vs Mattin and Welch, as he lost HTH vs Oliver, and Piotrowski, the 2 guys just in front of him. One last point…Suriano missed Rutgers last 4 duals, and there’s plenty of rumors floating around. I’m hopeful he’s healthy at B1G go-time.
#1 Suriano (Rut) 6-0
#2 Lee (Iowa) 6-0
#3 Tomasello (tOSU) 6-1
#4 Rivera (NU) 7-2
#5 Welch (Pur) 5-3
#6 Lizak (Minn) 4-3
#7 Mattin (UM) 5-4
#8 Piotrowski (Ill) 5-4
#9 Oliver (Ind) 5-3
#10 Foley (MSU) 5-4
133
Easier than 125 at the very top, where my #1 seed Micic (UM) owns a dominant victory HTH over #2 Pletcher (tOSU) in the dual, though Pletcher won 7-5 in an early season tournament. #3 McKee (Minn) also lost to Micic, but beat Delvecchio (Rut) HTH. Late-arriving Renteria (Neb) also owns a win vs #5 Delvecchio, and gets the #4 seed from me. Renteria’s body-of-work hurts the conference, as he only has 7 matches, and will not earn an NCAA allotment slot, so holding seed, he’ll steal one from a wrestler that did, at least until the at-large selections are made. Keener (PSU) gets the #6 seed, though it was close between him and #7 Thornton (Pur). Thornton has the better record, 6-2 vs 5-4, but lost HTH against Keener, and Keener had no bad losses, only losing to guys in front of him. Thornton also lost to Glynn (Iowa) at Midlands, cementing his seed behind Keener. Valdivez (NU) and Duncan (Ill) can go #8 and #9, or flip to #9 and #8 respectively. Valdivez had losses to Thornton and Glynn, and his win over Duncan are what caused both he and Duncan to fall to the #8/#9 slots, behind both Keener and Thornton. Duncan has the better overall record, 7-2 vs 4-5, but lost HTH against Valdivez in the dual, after beating him at Midlands. I’m going #8 Duncan, and #9 Valdivez, on the strength of a better record, and the 1-1 split HTH.
#1 Micic (UM) 9-0
#2 Pletcher (tOSU) 7-1
#3 McKee (Minn) 5-1
#4 Renteria (Neb) 5-1
#5 Delvecchio (Rut) 6-3
#6 Keener (PSU) 5-4
#7 Thornton (Pur) 6-2
#8 Duncan (Ill) 7-2
#9 Valdivez (NU) 4-5
141
#1 is easy, with McKenna (tOSU) earning the top spot over #2 Lee (PSU), with a HTH win, Lee’s only loss on the year in B1G action. McKenna did lose to Thorn (Minn), but the HTH win trumps that loss, even though Lee beat Thorn in the dual. The next couple slots are cloudy. Thorn beat McKenna, as noted, as well as Carr (Ill), but lost to Happel (Iowa), Lee, and Diehl (MD), which is a bad loss. Carr is tied for the 2nd best record, and beat Red (Neb), but didn’t have a tough schedule, losing to Thorn, but not wrestling McKenna or Lee. I’m going Carr at #3, with Thorn #4, as Thorn’s losses are worse than his good win against Carr. #5 and #6 are equally tough to seed, with Red and Limmex (Pur) in the mix. Both are 6-3 in-conference and have good wins and moderate to bad losses. Red gets #5 from me, even though he lost HTH against Limmex, due to his out-of-conference win against Thorn, while Limmex has out of conference losses against Yahya (NU), Weaver (Ind), and Stickley (Wis). Limmex also has wins against Weaver and Stickley IN CONFERENCE, so I’m ok with these two swapping spots. Next is #7 Weaver, with a great win over Red, and a HTH win over #8 Stickley. The next three after that are some combination of Gasca (MSU), Profaci (UM) and Diehl (MD), take your pick…with 9 allocated spots possible, this weight class could be seeded through 14.
#1 McKenna (tOSU) 8-1
#2 Lee (PSU) 7-1
#3 Carr (Ill) 7-1
#4 Thorn (Minn) 6-3
#5 Red (Neb) 6-3
#6 Limmex (Pur) 6-3
#7 Weaver (Ind) 4-5
#8 Stickley (Wis) 4-5
149
Retherford (PSU) easily gets #1, with an undefeated record, and wins over #2 Sorensen (Iowa) at the dual and #3 Deakin (NU) at the Keystone Classic. Sorensen earned #2 over Deakin by the smallest of margins with a headgear yank winning it for Sorensen in the dual. Should be a great semifinal, with the 5th year SR vs the RSFR. McCrystal (Neb) is #4, with a HTH win over #5 DeLuca (Rut). DeLuca gets the nod over #6 Hayes (tOSU), despite having a worse record, 4-4 vs 6-3, by virtue of a HTH victory over the Buckeye, and since all 4 of his losses are to the top-4 seeds. If this was boxing, though, I might move DeLuca all the way to #1. Despite the worse record (see below), I’m going with #7 Bannister (MD) over #8 Ma. Amine (UM), as Bannister owns a HTH out-of-conference win against the Wolverine, and his 3 losses are good losses, and Amine has no great wins. Bleise (Minn) is a wildcard at this weight, as his last dual was 1/21 due to injury. He will be Silver Standard, if he goes, and will earn the conference a slot, which will be taken away if he doesn’t go. He’s my #9, due to inactivity. Martin (Wis) is another guy that could slide into the top-8, at 4-4, though not a single decent win keeps him out of the mix, imo.
#1 Retherford (PSU) 9-0
#2 Sorensen (Iowa) 8-1
#3 Deakin (NU) 8-1
#4 McCrystal (Neb) 7-1
#5 DeLuca (Rut) 4-4
#6 Hayes (tOSU) 6-3
#7 Bannister (MD) 2-3
#8 Ma. Amine (UM) 5-3
#9 Bleise (Minn) 1-1 (if he goes)
Once the weight class write-ups are posted, a team race write-up will be posted too. Again, please enjoy...
Guidelines are; body-of-work, 2017-18 only, and just bouts between conference foes. HTH is HUGE, and in my analysis includes tournament bouts too, but often as tie-breakers unless it’s HTH, a bad loss or a great win. A wrestler’s record is one consideration, though with 9 conference duals, and 14 teams, it’s possible to catch all or most of the top guys, or miss all or most of the top guys, so the records are often misleading. WHO one wrestles and beats or loses to should be considered. I am adding that disclaimer, as it is my observation that records occasionally trump all when pre-seedings are announced, and it should not, imo.
So read away, ENJOY if you can (it’s intended to spark discussion, not anxiety), correct any mistakes, or beat me up if you must…I’ll try to do 2-4 weight classes per day. Each weight class may be pre-seeded more than 8, but all will be at least 8. My pre-seeds are listed at the end of each weight class write-up, with the team in parenthesis, and the DUAL MEET record of each wrestler.
125
Starting out with a tough call, as both Lee (Iowa) and Suriano (Rut) are undefeated in-conference at 6-0, and obviously did not face each other. Lee has the better win, vs Tomasello (tOSU), though Suriano did all he could by winning against the guys he faced. Similar resumes too, as both had bonus point wins against every opponent except Rivera (NU), and Tomasello for Lee, even when facing conference foes in tournaments. I’m going #1 Suriano, but could live with Lee. Tomasello gets the 3rd seed from me, with his only loss to #2 Lee, and good wins vs Lizak (Minn, TF), Welch (Pur, Maj), and Mattin (MI, TF), as compared to my #4 Rivera, who’s best win was against Welch by Maj. Lizak split with Mattin, losing in the dual in SV, but winning by Maj at Cliff Keen. Welch beat Mattin 2x, but lost to Foley (MSU), as did Mattin. Unscrambling this, I’m going #5 Welch, on the strength of the 2 wins vs Mattin, Lizak #6 on the strength of a HTH split with Mattin, winning by Maj but losing in SV, then #7 is Mattin. Piotrowski (Ill) gets #8, with a HTH win over #9 Oliver (Ind), despite a bad loss to 4-12 Jiminez (Wis) in his last dual. Rounding out the top-10 is Foley, despite great wins vs Mattin and Welch, as he lost HTH vs Oliver, and Piotrowski, the 2 guys just in front of him. One last point…Suriano missed Rutgers last 4 duals, and there’s plenty of rumors floating around. I’m hopeful he’s healthy at B1G go-time.
#1 Suriano (Rut) 6-0
#2 Lee (Iowa) 6-0
#3 Tomasello (tOSU) 6-1
#4 Rivera (NU) 7-2
#5 Welch (Pur) 5-3
#6 Lizak (Minn) 4-3
#7 Mattin (UM) 5-4
#8 Piotrowski (Ill) 5-4
#9 Oliver (Ind) 5-3
#10 Foley (MSU) 5-4
133
Easier than 125 at the very top, where my #1 seed Micic (UM) owns a dominant victory HTH over #2 Pletcher (tOSU) in the dual, though Pletcher won 7-5 in an early season tournament. #3 McKee (Minn) also lost to Micic, but beat Delvecchio (Rut) HTH. Late-arriving Renteria (Neb) also owns a win vs #5 Delvecchio, and gets the #4 seed from me. Renteria’s body-of-work hurts the conference, as he only has 7 matches, and will not earn an NCAA allotment slot, so holding seed, he’ll steal one from a wrestler that did, at least until the at-large selections are made. Keener (PSU) gets the #6 seed, though it was close between him and #7 Thornton (Pur). Thornton has the better record, 6-2 vs 5-4, but lost HTH against Keener, and Keener had no bad losses, only losing to guys in front of him. Thornton also lost to Glynn (Iowa) at Midlands, cementing his seed behind Keener. Valdivez (NU) and Duncan (Ill) can go #8 and #9, or flip to #9 and #8 respectively. Valdivez had losses to Thornton and Glynn, and his win over Duncan are what caused both he and Duncan to fall to the #8/#9 slots, behind both Keener and Thornton. Duncan has the better overall record, 7-2 vs 4-5, but lost HTH against Valdivez in the dual, after beating him at Midlands. I’m going #8 Duncan, and #9 Valdivez, on the strength of a better record, and the 1-1 split HTH.
#1 Micic (UM) 9-0
#2 Pletcher (tOSU) 7-1
#3 McKee (Minn) 5-1
#4 Renteria (Neb) 5-1
#5 Delvecchio (Rut) 6-3
#6 Keener (PSU) 5-4
#7 Thornton (Pur) 6-2
#8 Duncan (Ill) 7-2
#9 Valdivez (NU) 4-5
141
#1 is easy, with McKenna (tOSU) earning the top spot over #2 Lee (PSU), with a HTH win, Lee’s only loss on the year in B1G action. McKenna did lose to Thorn (Minn), but the HTH win trumps that loss, even though Lee beat Thorn in the dual. The next couple slots are cloudy. Thorn beat McKenna, as noted, as well as Carr (Ill), but lost to Happel (Iowa), Lee, and Diehl (MD), which is a bad loss. Carr is tied for the 2nd best record, and beat Red (Neb), but didn’t have a tough schedule, losing to Thorn, but not wrestling McKenna or Lee. I’m going Carr at #3, with Thorn #4, as Thorn’s losses are worse than his good win against Carr. #5 and #6 are equally tough to seed, with Red and Limmex (Pur) in the mix. Both are 6-3 in-conference and have good wins and moderate to bad losses. Red gets #5 from me, even though he lost HTH against Limmex, due to his out-of-conference win against Thorn, while Limmex has out of conference losses against Yahya (NU), Weaver (Ind), and Stickley (Wis). Limmex also has wins against Weaver and Stickley IN CONFERENCE, so I’m ok with these two swapping spots. Next is #7 Weaver, with a great win over Red, and a HTH win over #8 Stickley. The next three after that are some combination of Gasca (MSU), Profaci (UM) and Diehl (MD), take your pick…with 9 allocated spots possible, this weight class could be seeded through 14.
#1 McKenna (tOSU) 8-1
#2 Lee (PSU) 7-1
#3 Carr (Ill) 7-1
#4 Thorn (Minn) 6-3
#5 Red (Neb) 6-3
#6 Limmex (Pur) 6-3
#7 Weaver (Ind) 4-5
#8 Stickley (Wis) 4-5
149
Retherford (PSU) easily gets #1, with an undefeated record, and wins over #2 Sorensen (Iowa) at the dual and #3 Deakin (NU) at the Keystone Classic. Sorensen earned #2 over Deakin by the smallest of margins with a headgear yank winning it for Sorensen in the dual. Should be a great semifinal, with the 5th year SR vs the RSFR. McCrystal (Neb) is #4, with a HTH win over #5 DeLuca (Rut). DeLuca gets the nod over #6 Hayes (tOSU), despite having a worse record, 4-4 vs 6-3, by virtue of a HTH victory over the Buckeye, and since all 4 of his losses are to the top-4 seeds. If this was boxing, though, I might move DeLuca all the way to #1. Despite the worse record (see below), I’m going with #7 Bannister (MD) over #8 Ma. Amine (UM), as Bannister owns a HTH out-of-conference win against the Wolverine, and his 3 losses are good losses, and Amine has no great wins. Bleise (Minn) is a wildcard at this weight, as his last dual was 1/21 due to injury. He will be Silver Standard, if he goes, and will earn the conference a slot, which will be taken away if he doesn’t go. He’s my #9, due to inactivity. Martin (Wis) is another guy that could slide into the top-8, at 4-4, though not a single decent win keeps him out of the mix, imo.
#1 Retherford (PSU) 9-0
#2 Sorensen (Iowa) 8-1
#3 Deakin (NU) 8-1
#4 McCrystal (Neb) 7-1
#5 DeLuca (Rut) 4-4
#6 Hayes (tOSU) 6-3
#7 Bannister (MD) 2-3
#8 Ma. Amine (UM) 5-3
#9 Bleise (Minn) 1-1 (if he goes)
Once the weight class write-ups are posted, a team race write-up will be posted too. Again, please enjoy...
