Originally posted by Tom McAndrew:
as well as what SRATH's posted.
my only quibble is with this comment of yours:
Who other than L Streibler has looked unbeatable the entire season??
There's no right or wrong answer to this, as it's an opinion. That said, I think there are others that have looked pretty close to unbeatable.
I think you might have a better argument for which wrestler seems most likely to win a title.
FWIW, there are several undefeated wrestlers this year, including:
125: Alan Waters, 27-0
133: Chris Dardanes, 20-0
157: IMar (Isaiah Martinez), 27-0
165: Alex Dieringer, 26-0
174: Robert Kokesh, 30-0
197: J'Den Cox, 29-0
285: Gwiz (Nick Gwiazdowski), 27-0
Let's look at the chances of the respective guys I listed above, as well as Logie Bear.
125: Waters has had several close matches, but he's won all of them. He defeated Tomasello (Ohio St), 11-9. He's faced Klimara (Ok. St.) 2 times, winning 5-4 the 1st time and 9-8 the 2nd time. He defeated Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) 3-1. Lastly, he defeated Thomas Gilman (Iowa), 5-4 TB last weekend. Delgado is lurking, and I never underestimate him. (I thought that Nico and Garrett were better than Delgado last year, and while they both got in deep on his legs he frequently would figure out a way to get the TD or at least stalemate them.) Dance, Gilman, and Garrett have the ability to beat him. He may win it all, and will likely have the #1 seed, but he'll have to earn a title.
133: Dardanes has had close matches with George DiCamillo (UVA), 5-4, Jack Hathaway (Oreg. St.), 3-1, Rossi Bruno (Mich.), 4-2, Zane Richards (Illini), 12-10 SV, Gulibon, 3-2, and Cory Clark (Iowa), 5-3. He'll have to navigate the B1G tourney, and then pretty much all of the aforementioned at Nationals. Plus, A.J. Schopp (Edinboro), Ryan Taylor (Wisky), and Early Hall (Iowa St.) can not be overlooked. Like Waters, I expect Dardanes to be seeded #1 (assuming he wins B1Gs), but he's got a minefield to navigate to win a title.
141: Logie Bear has only had two semi-close matches this year. He defeated Nick Lawrence (Purdue) 4-0 and defeated Michtell Port (Edinboro) 6-3. Port may be the only guy that has a legitimate shot at defeating Stieber at Nationals. I thought Carter would give him a good match, but Logie Bear majored him earlier this year. The other thing that causes me to think Stieber will win this year is that even after he lost to Zain last year, he adjusted his tactics when they met later in the year, and Stieger won rather easily. He's already faced Port and Carter this year, so I doubt there's much they can throw at him that he's not prepared for from them.
157: IMar has only had 1 close match this year, when he defeated James Green (Nebraska), 2-0. That said, he's only a freshman, and he hasn't faced some of the top guys at this weight during the regular season. Ness (Minny) was not in the Illini - Minny dual. He hasn't faced Realbuto (Cornell). He did face Cody Pack (S. Dakota St.) earlier, and defeated him 6-3. IMar is likely to face either Ness or Green (or both) at B1Gs, and he could see them and/or Realbuto and Pack at Nationals, so his path to a title is not without some major obstacles.
165: Dieringer may be the closest thing to Logie Bear in terms of being most likely to win a National title. He's pretty much steamrolled everyone he faced. His 2 closest decisions were a 5-point victory over Clark Glass (Okla.) and a 6--point victories over Nick Sulver (UVA). His biggest obstacles are likely to be Bo Jordan (Ohio St.), Nick Sulzer (UVA), Mike Moreno (Iowa St.), and Isaac Jordan (Wisky), and Sulzer is the only one he's met this year. Some might also list Taylor Walsh (Indy), but I'm not as sold on him, especially when he's facing top guys.
174: Kokesh has only had 2 close matches this year: defeating Zac Brunson (Illini) 5-3 and Matt Brown 3-2. You could probably list his match against John Eblen (Mizzou) as pretty close, as he won 5-2. Kokesh has had a somewhat easy schedule, in that he's not faced Mike Evans (Iowa) or Logan Storley (Minny). He's going to have to get past Brown, Evans, and Storley at B1Gs, and those 3, plus Eblen, look to be his biggest competitors at Nationals. Kokesh may win it all, but I think you could put the names of Kokesh, Brown, Evans, and Storley in a hat, and whichever one you were to randomly pick would have as good a shot as the other 3 as winning the title.
197: J'Den had 2 really close matches against McIntosh (2-1) and Burak (Iowa; 4-3) which he won. He may repeat as National Champ, but he's going to have to deal with some combination of Kyven Gadson (Iowa St.), Kyle Snyder (Ohio St.), McIntosh, Scott Schiller (Minny), and Burak to repeat, and that's not an easy task.
285: Gwiz hasn't faced many of his top competitors by nature of his being on an ACC team. Like Cox, he may also repeat, but to do so he's going to have to navigate through a lot of tough competitors, including Conner Medbery (Wisky), Mike McMullan (NW), Austin Marsden (Ok. St.) (whom he defeated 4-1 last weekend), Adam Coon (Mich.), Bobby Telford (Iowa), and Jimmy Lawson. That's a pretty tough task, IMHO.
Tom
