A look at seeding blunders for this year's NCAAs

On Wednesday, after a long, drawn-out process of releasing the at-large selections for the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, the brackets and seeds were released shortly after 6 p.m. ET. As is the case every year, the NCAA Wrestling Committee made some blunders with the seeds.

Logan Storley entered the Big Tens ranked No. 1 by InterMat (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)

There wasn't a bigger seeing blunder than at 174 pounds, where Minnesota's Logan Storley was given the No. 6 seed. Storley's body of work this season should have landed him anywhere from No. 2 to No. 4. Giving Storley a No. 6 seed is unjustifiable. Yes, Storley had a disappointing Big Ten tournament, but let's look at the facts. Storley entered his conference tournament ranked No. 1 in the country for good reason. He had a tremendous regular season. Of the top eight seeds at 174 pounds, Storley pinned both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, was 2-0 against the No. 3 seed, and also defeated the No. 4, No. 7, and No. 8 seeds. At the Big Tens, Storley dropped two close matches to highly ranked wrestlers. His first loss came to Michigan's Dan Yates, 3-2. Storley's loss on the backside of the bracket was an overtime loss to Ohio State All-American Nick Heflin, a wrestler he defeated 12-3 earlier this season. Those two close losses should not have landed him below four wrestlers he defeated during the regular season.

What if Storley would have injury defaulted in the quarterfinals of the Big Tens? Would he have kept his No. 1 seed heading into the NCAAs? Clarion's James Fleming (157) and Lehigh's Robert Hamlin (184) both lost by injury default in their conference tournaments, yet neither wrestler took a hit because of it. Both earned top five seeds and were seeded ahead of wrestlers they would have faced in the conference finals. The NCAA Wrestling Committee is setting a dangerous precedent. Losing matches in the conference tournament will kill a wrestler's seed at the NCAAs, but sitting out matches won't. I'm not implying that Fleming or Hamlin sat out to protect a seed. I believe both were injured and unable to compete. But I believe there needs to be consequences for sitting out matches in the postseason regardless of the reason, especially if a top-ranked wrestler like Storley is going to get crucified for dropping a couple razor-thin matches to highly ranked opponents.

Dom Bradley took a recent loss to Alan Gelogaev but still earned the No. 1 seed (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)

The Logan Storley case indicates that recent results are more heavily weighted. But if that's true, how did Missouri's Dom Bradley receive the No. 1 seed at heavyweight? Bradley took a loss just over two weeks ago in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals finals to Oklahoma State's Alan Geolgaev. Minnesota's Tony Nelson, the defending NCAA champion, has reeled off 12 straight victories, with one of those wins being a pin over Gelogaev. Bradley and Nelson both have one loss this season, and Nelson has more wins over wrestlers seeded in the top eight. Bradley did edge Nelson at the Southern Scuffle (Nelson's only loss) but shouldn't Bradley's recent loss to Gelogaev knock him down a slot or two?

Other surprises

At 125 pounds, Michigan's Sean Boyle failed to be seeded despite two recent wins over Ohio State's Nikko Triggas, who earned the 11th seed.

At 133 pounds, Missouri's Nathan McCormick is seeded seventh, one spot ahead of Oklahoma State's Jon Morrison. The two wrestlers have wrestled four times this season, and split those four matches. However, Morrison won the most recent match 5-1 just two weeks ago.

At 149 pounds, Missouri's Drake Houdashelt failed to earn a seed despite being red-hot heading into the NCAAs. The only wrestler to defeat Houdashelt over his last 14 matches is top-ranked Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State.

At 157 pounds, Iowa's Derek St. John earned the No. 2 seed despite two recent losses. St. John suffered a loss to Missouri's Kyle Bradley at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, and then just days ago lost in the Big Ten semifinals to Nebraska's James Green. He has gone 4-2 over his last six matches, with one of those losses coming to an unseeded wrestler. It seems as though St. John is getting a pass for losing at the Big Tens.

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A look at seeding blunders for this year's NCAAs

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