There is very little question, Shapiro kept going after a concussion and shouldn't have been out there. By march he is going to be a human wrecking ball. He's pretty much there already.
Wrestling Upsets, Surprises & Scares (2023-24 season)
- Thread starter PSUbluTX
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His match against Mauller was impressive. I don’t know where ESPN got their rankings, but I saw Mauller 5 and Shapiro 12 at the start and was thinking LOL, no.
The OP stated that Haines and Shapiro are the two best 157’s. I stated Saldate took Haines to the brink and Shapiro has 2 losses. Also, other guys have more wins against higher ranked opponents than either of these. Blockhus from Minny beat Franek and Robb which are better wins than either Haines or Shapiro has. Zerban from Northern Colorado is 17-0 with wins over Cardenas from Stanford and Saldate and beat Haines last year. Once we get to March things may change but up to this point I wouldn’t put Haines and Shapiro in a group by themselves ahead of Franek, Blockhus or Zerban. We will know more when Franek and Haines do battle a week from Friday. Blockhus doesnt have much competition left besides Blaze from Purdue coming up. Shapiro only has Ed Scott from NC State as a quality opponent. Haines has Franek and Robb (who has looked like a shell of his former self this year). Zerban hasn’t wrestled the last couple duals so he may be hurt. Even so, he won’t have any quality opponents in the regular season.
There’s not a lot of separation between those two and the rest of the top guys, but I stand by what I said. Levi and Shapiro have been the top two guys I’ve seen this year.
Not outrageous at all. 😀😀 I guess my view is I don’t remember Levi giving up as many takedowns last year as he has this year. To his credit he has won every match but hasn’t faced a top 10 opponent yet except Lewan who is somehow 10th per Intermat rankings. I know he won close matches last year but he rarely seemed in danger of losing. Time will tell. If he beats Franek comfortably then I will agree with your statement
That shot/duck-under hybrid was a thing of beauty.
They used Intermat's rankings.
Shapiro will move up now, deservedly, but his resume was previously pretty thin: 2 wins over Andonian (one was a very early injury default) and a regular decision over Brignola.
Ok, he also beat Paddy Gallagher.
But his resume this year is still thinner than, say, Ed Scott's.
What exactly are we going to learn? We already know that this match will be 1-1 late in the 3rd and then Haines will win with a TD late or in SV.
What additional insight is this going to give us?
LOL! Unless……Franek gets a TD late or in SV. Then we will learn that Franek peaked in Feb and Levi will get him next time and the ref should have not called stalling on Levi but should have called it on Franek and he only favored Franek because they are wrestling in Carver and Iowa sucks. I think I covered all the posts I will see on this board IF Franek wins.What exactly are we going to learn? We already know that this match will be 1-1 late in the 3rd and then Haines will win with a TD late or in SV.
What additional insight is this going to give us?
You spend so much time on this board that you've truly mastered the lingo.
I will say though, if Haines gets the late SV takedown, usually you get a 50/50 split on HR with one half saying "PSU stalls and steals" and the other half saying "How in the world are they always looser than us in those situations"
EDIT: 50/49/1 ... with 1% saying "Carl CHEATS TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much but the tides are turning and the NITTANY PUSSYCATS ARE GOING DOWN"
Mostly true but all we need on here is another Nostradumass. I think I got the spelling right
Ha!
In all seriousness though, you won't hear that from me. Instead, I will say again - what additional insight would that result have gained us? Nothing from my perspective.
Now if Levi lays it on Franek, that might tell me something from a style perspective.
On the contrary, I think the Davis-Ayala match will at least tell ME something. Ayala will be the best opponent Davis has faced so far. If he can hang, even in a loss, that tells me something I don't know yet. I already know that Ayala is among the top guys. I'm starting to think that Davis might be as well, but he hasn't faced anyone in the very top tier yet - and won't until next Friday. And as good as Davis has looked of late, it's not like he's doing Mesenbrink things where you can just say.."yeah, he's going to win a NC or two or..."
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Agreed on 125. I’ve been impressed with Davis. Ayala will have his hands full. I’m also looking forward to MM and Caliendo because you have two guys looking to score and not hang around until the 3rd.
Paraphrasing what someone posted but if someone said before the season PSU would have a 125 ranked in the single digits in late January, everyone would have said "Great to see Robbie is healthy" or "Dang McHenry added 20 pounds fast"
Regardless though, I would classify (and might get crucified here) Drake as a straight favorite over Davis (despite losses) BD has been ice cold but will need to be ready for someone to be in his face an entire match with a hostile crowd behind him. Challenge unlike anything he's seen yet.
I'd like to see him duplicate Nico's path or make a better one for himself But I do agree, if he can hang with Ayala then that is really good, at this point
But I do agree, if he can hang with Ayala then that is really good, at this pointLately the script for PSU guys has been to lose their first meeting with Iowa and then figure them out, I wouldn't be surprised to see Davis do the same.
Thank you for affirming that PSU fans are usually right.
I really like you Madden..
I think people forget this kids dad was a coach. Having said that, I don't think a lot rattles this kid. It will be close but he does have ice in his veins and man does he push forward. I don't know if he's taken a step back all year he's relentless with forward motion and is always looking for a turn when he's on top. Just solid all around this kid.
I don't think so. I can't recall the order of the matches but he was flat on his back the first match after he took a shot to the head.
He lost with very noticable concussion symptoms, then lost the second subsequent match still under apparent duress. The key takeaway, if you toss out those matches and even the next one he is back to form and just killing people now. By March Levi is going to have is hands full in spades and everyone else at that weight will be on the outside looking in IMO.
The brackets are still in Flo arena. He lost to Cardenas first and then lost his first consi match to Chumbley after that.
Down goes Iowa's Real Woods (#1) to Michigan's Sergio Lemley (#19). Wow. Beau has to slot in to #1 ranking.
And Beau’s match with Lemley looks a little different in light of this result 👍
Real was pretty sick very recently, I think everyone is blowing this perplexing loss way out of proportion. Especially the GIA clan. He will be back to top 4 if not 2 form, likely by next Friday. Beau will have to be on top of his game, without a doubt or his time at #1 will be like he's a 125er.
Fast forward to about 11:50. I can’t believe Iowa fans would boo a high schooler suffering a huge upset while trying for his 4th state title.
He seems to have that Bo Nickal gene where he's his own worst enemy at times. I was glad to see him shut it down last night instead of trying something crazy while he was cradled.
Clarion’s Joey Fischer beat #8 Anthony Noto 9-6
I get the point he was sick but from what I got from gia was that he has underperformed all year and hasn't been as active which I would agree with. I think there's something to the argument that most kids get tired after four or five years of wrestling it's only the special ones that live out that life long dream of wrestling til their forty
Ed Scott lost in SV1 to some dude named Santiago. Oof. The score was officially 8-5, but I don’t know why it wasn’t 12-5. Scott was in on a single in SV and Santiago hipped over and put him straight to his back. Not that it matters, but there definitely should have been NF as well.
Sonny Santiago was a CA state champ and was #1 in the country at his weight for most of his SR year, including beating Mastro at WNO. He also took 5th at U23 Worlds in October.
His college career has not lived up to that, surprisingly.
DJ Shannon beat Donnell Washington on a last second takedown
Not 100% fit for this thread, but Soldano just stuck Rogotzke after trading scrambles, reversals and exposures. Really fun bout.
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Spratley's had some nice wins. Seems to be developing. Majored Richie Figs. Might be a problem for some folks in post season.
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