Update At Heavyweight

[RoarLions1]

The Big Ten is decidedly weaker at Heavyweight this year, with the graduation of Myers, Lawson, Telford and McMullen, and the Medberry RS. Looks to me like 7 slots for the conference tournament vs last year's 10 at 285. Whoever PSU sends will have to steal a spot to make it to the NCAA's, and I only see one possibility...and it's only if he's healthy enough to go.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

he Big Ten is decidedly weaker at Heavyweight this year, with the graduation of Myers, Lawson, Telford and McMullen, and the Medberry RS. Looks to me like 7 slots for the conference tournament vs last year's 10 at 285.

That does seem to be the case.

The top ones appear to be:

Coon
Kroells (who lost to Smith today)
Stoll
Smith

Then there's:

Jensen
Black

Snyder is hard to classify. I think he'll be in the top list of B1G heavies, but I'm not going to put him there on the day he wrestled his 1st match of the season. (So much for his first start being against PSU, and that was info released by Ohio State.)

You could possibly make a case for Horwath being with Jensen and Black. (There's also the strange case of Tavanello, who would be at the bottom of the 1st list, or the top of the 2nd list, but won't be in either list if Snyder is entered in the B1G tourney.)

If you combine the above lists, that does seem weaker than the list of top heavies from last season.

 

[El-Jefe]

Peck might also make the 2nd list. Former national qualifier, and placed 6th at Midlands this year.

Agreed, this year's B10 heavy class is significantly weaker than last year's.

 

[RoarLions1]

When I used "7" slots, it was an early look at the "top-33" that might be indicative of the number that make Silver or Gold Standard. There's Coon, Kroells, Stoll, Smith, Snyder (maybe, depends on if he gets enough bouts), Jensen and Black. Horvath is borderline right now, again with 5 weeks of wrestling left before the 2 week break prior to B1G's.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Peck might also make the 2nd list. Former national qualifier, and placed 6th at Midlands this year.

Yeah, he might make it onto this list. So far this year he's lost to Solomon (Pitt), Smith (Rutgers - 2 X), Walsh (Duke), and Stoll (Iowa) (he has other loses -- those listed are against higher competition). The only win he has over a decent opponent is Cabell (N. Iowa).

He could make it to the 2nd list before the season is over; depends on how he does in the next month or so.

 

[Real-Lion]

See this year, repeat

Cassar is a lot better then people think....He was a Jr World Champ last year. Was also saying before he got hurt that he was going to take Morgan's spot since he was beating him in the room....VERY CONFIDENT YOUNG MAN....

 

[Onceafish]

Cassar is a lot better then people think....He was a Jr World Champ last year. Was also saying before he got hurt that he was going to take Morgan's spot since he was beating him in the room....VERY CONFIDENT YOUNG MAN....

He wasn't Junior World champ. He represented the US at Junior Worlds but didn't place.

And I'm not sure anyone but you believes he was beating Morgan in the room.

 

[El-Jefe]

IMO the question with Cassar (assuming healthy) is mat wrestling. He has a tremendous blast double that can be a real weapon against the dancing bears. But he's still a RS FR, and they tend to struggle on bottom even when not giving up 50+ lb.

Of course, the only way the blast double works is if he doesn't get sucked into a collar tie snore-fest.

 

[seeyajohn]

Cassar is still not listed on the roster.

 

[jtothemfp]

Thanks for digging into the details....I stand corrected.

I love this. Stellar internetting imo. Jefe with the absolute pwn and Srath with the concession.

Good on ya both.

 

[NoVa Lion]

He wasn't Junior World champ. He represented the US at Junior Worlds but didn't place.

And I'm not sure anyone but you believes he was beating Morgan in the room.

Don't mess with spyker when he's on a roll. He likes to make stuff up.

 

[El-Jefe]

Don't mess with spyker when he's on a roll. He likes to make stuff up.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

 

[RoarLions1]

Re. previous posts (Tom, El-Jefe, and me...see above), it appears Snyder will only get 7 matches in, and will be one short of the "8" required for a Coaches Ranking. If this is the case, HE WILL NOT EARN THE B1G A QUALIFIER SLOT. This is important because it makes it that much more difficult for "fringe" heavies to earn a trip to Nationals.

Coon, Kroells, Stoll, Smith, and Jensen are shoe-ins, so that's 5 qualifier slots. Black is likely, and Horwath and Peck are possible. Snyder can only earn a slot if he wrestles in a tournament and gets several matches, in addition to tOSU's regular schedule...again, the magic number is 8. If he gets to 8, he'll earn a slot for sure.

Then there's the tournament itself. Assuming 7 slots, and not seeing Renfroe (MSU), Jennings (NU), Goldman (Ind), or Kral (Pur) earning their way, it looks like Black, Horwath, Peck, and our guy, maybe even Jensen, vying for 2 spots.

Of course, all this could (and probably will) change as we get closer to Big Ten's .

 

[burnsie1983]

I don't think Snyder will wrestle anywhere near 7 matches, isn't he just supposed to appear in a match here or there?

 

[jschrantz]

Cassar is a lot better then people think....He was a Jr World Champ last year. Was also saying before he got hurt that he was going to take Morgan's spot since he was beating him in the room....VERY CONFIDENT YOUNG MAN....

He never said he was beating Morgan, I think he got a few takedowns. Please link Cassar's quote stating he was beating Mac, I'll wait Spyker.....

 

[RoarLions1]

I don't think Snyder will wrestle anywhere near 7 matches, isn't he just supposed to appear in a match here or there?

Good question. Guessing no one knows. He wasn't supposed to wrestle against Nebraska, but we all know what happened there...

 

[Onceafish]

Snyder said he will be wrestling at the Yariguin tournament in Russia on the weekend of Jan. 29th to 31st. tOSU has two duals scheduled for that weekend. And he said he'll be wrestling at the Medved tournament in Belarus on Feb. 18th & 19th. That means he would probably not be back in time to wrestle in the NWCA event on the 20th.

Unless he changes his international schedule, he'll probably hit B1Gs with four matches under his belt.

 

[RoarLions1]

Good info...Onceafish!!