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Wisconsin Match Thread

Cannot wait for Iowa to finally come to Penn State for their beatdown on 1/27. Happy you all could beat #28 Illinois in the final match of the night so maybe you’ll be undefeated before your thrashing in Happy Valley.
I already know this is going to happen. We will probably only win 2-3 matches. Penn St is far better than every other team this year. I said in another thread you guys might have the team title locked up after Friday morning.
 
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It felt like a closer match than the score ended up. A stall call at the end of the second and SVN finishing on the edge of the mat and it’s a toss up in the 3rd. He had Gomez exhausted but SVN was tired as well and couldn’t fire off any clean shots in the last minute. I come away thinking that VanNess is right there with the top guys and by the post season he’s going to be a threat to everyone besides probably Yianni
I agree it felt closer. Also felt like he should have went underneath Gomez to start the 3rd. I understand he was struggling from the bottom but Gomez had a stall call and was severely gassed. I think he’s out in under 15 to start the 3rd if he goes underneath and then doesn’t have to press as hard. Easy to see why the coaches stood him up but I still think he should have went under. I thought SVN gassed Gomez more than anyone has this year. Says a lot about SVN ability to pressure an opponent. He’s looked good in his matches against the top of that division.
 
Apparently there is some hope for your objective analysis.
It could happen. RBY, Starocci, Brooks, Dean and Kerk are likely. Bartlett is already ranked 4th. Haines is following the path of other PSU true freshman. And Van Ness has all the skill with Cael helping with adjustments against the top guys, two he has already faced. There is your 8.
 
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I already know this is going to happen. We will probably only win 2-3 matches. Penn St is far better than every other team this year. I said in another thread you guys might have the team title locked up after Friday morning.
Where’s the optimism? You just won five matches against the (tied for) 30th ranked team in D1!
 
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It is embarrassing that Steen is the best we can get. The top program has to be able to attract more talented smqll kids. Back in the day, Pennsylvania state teacher colleges like Lock Haven got better talent than him. It seems that he really lacks strength.
I’ll play the game. Once.

In wrestling, there are 9.9 scholarships across 10 weight classes and 33-47 wrestlers.

You don’t win team national championships in wrestling by being “well rounded” (good at each weight class); you win team national championships by crowning 4+ individual champions.

At 125, we had national champion / 4x AA Nico Megaludis. When his time was up, we had 2x champ Nick Suriano the very next year. Suriano was having a fantastic freshman year; he was a legit title contender right away. He fractured his ankle in one of the last matches of the season and couldn’t go that off-season.

Something happened after that which has been the topic of much speculation, but Suriano left after his freshman year.

We brought in 4x PIAA state champ Gavin Teasdale and 4x Iowa state champ Brody Teske. Gavin left school his first semester and Teske left after a year for UNI. Teske is now a ranked wrestler at 133 for Iowa. You can try to read up on why they left on your own.

AA Drew Hildebrandt transferred in for his last season of eligibility, but got a bit dinged up for the postseason. He won a match at nationals, but not more.

Meanwhile, top recruit Robbie Howard was also brought in a couple years ago. As a true freshman recovering from a shoulder injury in the 2020-2021 Covid shortened season, he won two matches at nationals before re-injuring his shoulder. When healthy, he’s a high AA threat. But he reinjured his shoulder before this season, and that’s why Steen is manning 125 this year.

Steen has legit credentials. But he’s small for 125 still. Watch out for him 2 years from now.
 
First t
It felt like a closer match than the score ended up. A stall call at the end of the second and SVN finishing on the edge of the mat and it’s a toss up in the 3rd. He had Gomez exhausted but SVN was tired as well and couldn’t fire off any clean shots in the last minute. I come away thinking that VanNess is right there with the top guys and by the post season he’s going to be a threat to everyone besides probably Yianni

First time I’ve seen SVN tired, as was Gomez. If SVN keeps away from that early upper body…
 
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SVN looked really good on his feet against Gomez. It wasn't a great camera angle but I thought he had 2 on that double that was called out of bounds in the second, and he was in great shape to score on the other double at the end of the second, but ran out of time. If he faces Gomez at the right time in NCAAs, he could win a rematch. He could get another look at B1Gs first. B1G also has Sasso, Murin, and Thomas at 141, lots of good tests for SVN.

Not that it's ever been a strength, but I also noticed that SVN was kind of lost when Gomez went upper body, he kind of just let that inside trip happen.
 
anyone see the write up a few weeks ago saying PSU was jinxed at 125 I responded well with winning all these team titles all the other schools wish they were jinxed like PSU!
 
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I’ll play the game. Once.

In wrestling, there are 9.9 scholarships across 10 weight classes and 33-47 wrestlers.

You don’t win team national championships in wrestling by being “well rounded” (good at each weight class); you win team national championships by crowning 4+ individual champions.

At 125, we had national champion / 4x AA Nico Megaludis. When his time was up, we had 2x champ Nick Suriano the very next year. Suriano was having a fantastic freshman year; he was a legit title contender right away. He fractured his ankle in one of the last matches of the season and couldn’t go that off-season.

Something happened after that which has been the topic of much speculation, but Suriano left after his freshman year.

We brought in 4x PIAA state champ Gavin Teasdale and 4x Iowa state champ Brody Teske. Gavin left school his first semester and Teske left after a year for UNI. Teske is now a ranked wrestler at 133 for Iowa. You can try to read up on why they left on your own.

AA Drew Hildebrandt transferred in for his last season of eligibility, but got a bit dinged up for the postseason. He won a match at nationals, but not more.

Meanwhile, top recruit Robbie Howard was also brought in a couple years ago. As a true freshman recovering from a shoulder injury in the 2020-2021 Covid shortened season, he won two matches at nationals before re-injuring his shoulder. When healthy, he’s a high AA threat. But he reinjured his shoulder before this season, and that’s why Steen is manning 125 this year.

Steen has legit credentials. But he’s small for 125 still. Watch out for him 2 years from now.
Good recap, you can also throw in Betancourt, who possibly could have been in the mix except a coach would not release him.
 
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Couple of observations at the halfway point:

1) My god am I glad Tim Johnson isn’t broadcasting this match. Listening to him stumble over his words throughout the Indiana vs OSU was rough.

2) Beau looks like he’s finally getting more comfortable on his feet. He was hammering that single all match.

3) Steen has the grit, but just looked overpowered against Burnett.

4) Jim Gibbons is very good at slyly injecting comments. Example: At the end of the Gomez/SVN match, he subtly slid in his comment about how Gomez should’ve been hit for stalling again before quickly following it up with other comments about the match
yea the last 2 periods SVN was doing all the shooting other guy was gassed ref let him slide no stalls what a joke!
 
174: Starocci vs Otto

Nothing through a minute. Single leg and quick TD. 2-0 Starocci. OOB. 1:25 to go. 12 secs RT. Let’s him up. 2-1. Starocci sweet TD. 4-1. Let’s him up. 4-2. Single leg and quick finish. 6-2 after one. 0:29 RT.

Otto chooses bottom. Escape after 22 secs. TD Starocci another very quick finish. 8-3 now. Lets him up. 8-4. Duck underTD. 10-4. Lets him up. Another duck under TD. 12-5 after two. 1:55 RT.

Starocci takes bottom. Quick escape. 13-5. TD on snap down and go behind. 15-5. Stalling point for Starocci. Lets him up. 16-6 now. Riding secured. Double leg TD. 18-6. Lets him up. 18-7. Single to double. TD. 20-7. Fleeing against Otto. 21-7. Lets him up. 21-8. Can’t get last TD before buzzer. 22-8 final with riding point.

16-12 PSU
Otto could and should have been stalled out did he have any attempts at a TD??
 
I know it’s alway reported and shared that Cael beats on his wrestlers in the room. But I can’t imagine Carter doesn’t give him everything and maybe even gets him sometimes. So strong, fast, and smart.
you mean he beats them up while wrestling the other doesn't sound so good!!LOL
 
I already know this is going to happen. We will probably only win 2-3 matches. Penn St is far better than every other team this year. I said in another thread you guys might have the team title locked up after Friday morning.
Before Friday morning ;-)
 
You shouldn't be surprised by Steen, particularly when pitted against someone as seasoned and as good as Barnett. Steen wasn't an elite recruit out of high school and still is just a RS freshman. He also needs to get stronger. Expect he'll need at least another year to stay on the mat against guys the caliber of Barnett.

Robert Howard is the guy we want to see at 125, but who knows if that will ever happen, given his unfortunate injury history.
Steen was a 2 time Pa state champ and 3rd twice I would call that elite!
 
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I already know this is going to happen. We will probably only win 2-3 matches. Penn St is far better than every other team this year. I said in another thread you guys might have the team title locked up after Friday morning.
what was the DQ for at heavyweight??
 
SVN looked really good on his feet against Gomez. It wasn't a great camera angle but I thought he had 2 on that double that was called out of bounds in the second, and he was in great shape to score on the other double at the end of the second, but ran out of time. If he faces Gomez at the right time in NCAAs, he could win a rematch. He could get another look at B1Gs first. B1G also has Sasso, Murin, and Thomas at 141, lots of good tests for SVN.

Not that it's ever been a strength, but I also noticed that SVN was kind of lost when Gomez went upper body, he kind of just let that inside trip happen.
Havent watched it in slo-mo, but it seemed like SVN slipped, or tripped at the wrong time.

Not taking anything away from AGo, he is the LAST guy you wanna go there with.
 
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Steen was a 2 time Pa state champ and 3rd twice I would call that elite!
4 time placewinner, never won a championship though. Still a very good wrestler. Unfortunately he has never been able to grow into the weight as he gets horsed badly against every opponent he faces. If there were still a 118 pound classification he would be ideal for it.
 
I already know this is going to happen. We will probably only win 2-3 matches. Penn St is far better than every other team this year. I said in another thread you guys might have the team title locked up after Friday morning.
Dang, JM, it feels like you're just trying to jinx us now!

I confess, when it comes to my favorite sports teams I'm a glass half full kinda guy. I've just seen too many examples of unexpected injuries or other misfortunes change the trajectory of my favorites to feel confident in the final outcome until the fat lady sings, or can at least be heard warming up her vocal cords.
 
Dang, JM, it feels like you're just trying to jinx us now!

I confess, when it comes to my favorite sports teams I'm a glass half full kinda guy. I've just seen too many examples of unexpected injuries or other misfortunes change the trajectory of my favorites to feel confident in the final outcome until the fat lady can at least be heard warming up her vocal cords.
 
I already know this is going to happen. We will probably only win 2-3 matches. Penn St is far better than every other team this year. I said in another thread you guys might have the team title locked up after Friday morning.
Thank you for your interest in reverse jinxing. After further review of your application, we regret to inform you due to the capacity of reverse jinxing applications, we are unable to accept your reverse jinx.
 
First that I've seen those matches. A couple of thoughts. Lamont did NOTHING against RBY and should have gotten more than 1 stall call. Doesn't really matter, just sayin'. Van Ness is right there with Gomez or anyone else in the weight class, but if I was critical of anything, it's that he can't allow himself to be ridden out. Gomez earned one stall call for just riding and hanging out and he could have earned more, but to be elite, Van Ness will have to figure that out. And finally, whoever said that the HWT score was misleading is right, Hillger at no time had a snowflake's chance of beating Kerk. I would have liked to have seen a bit more urgency from Kerk to get a major decision (I believe he could have), but it wasn't a close match.
 
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Kerk's second takedown on Hillger is why guys are sometimes are afraid of shooting and rolling around with him. You even saw Gable giving him that respect every time they wrestle (whereas you see Gable just fire off shot after shot, borderline toying with his opponent sometimes)

It was an insanely savvy and his length quickly allowed him to turn an opponent single into his own.
 
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4 time placewinner, never won a championship though. Still a very good wrestler. Unfortunately he has never been able to grow into the weight as he gets horsed badly against every opponent he faces. If there were still a 118 pound classification he would be ideal for it.
Gary won title both as a freshman at 106 and junior at 113.

Either way, you’re correct about size being an issue. It’s not the only issue, but it hurts.

He was also never particularly dynamic on his feet in HS. He won matches by being solid defensively and very tough on top. Like most Reynolds kids.
 
When they cut to Gibbons and Sparks with a guest. I thought they were interviewing a juiced up Adam Sandler? What is he doing at a Wisky wrestling match? Then I realized it was Luke Fickell!!

Fl13ebZXgAACQEX
 
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I just watched the match. Had it taped. The guy who impressed the hell out of me was Bartlett. Wow did he look quick and aggressive. He never looked like that at 149. He looks like a guy who has everything firing right now.
Agree, in addition to be lighter and quicker he appears to have jumped levels from experience and time in the room. Could easily see him in the finals..
 
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