2024 ACC Championships Preview

The postseason is upon us and the ACC will be taking center stage on Sunday in Chapel Hill. Brackets were just released so let's take a look at what we will see on Sunday. 125: 2 Automatic Qualifiers Jakob Camacho gets the top seed via his victory over Cooper Flynn in the dual. Spencer Moore earns the 3 seed and will look to avenge his only ACC loss against Cooper Flynn in the semifinals. Kyle Montaperto returns from a knee injury to face Logan Agin for a chance to meet Camacho in the semis. I expect this bracket to stay chalk but the Moore-Flynn match could be a dogfight. Moore has had a quietly strong season and his defensive ability could be a huge asset in the postseason. 133: 3 Automatic Qualifiers Dual matches played a big role in how this weight is going to shape up. Kai Orine gets the top seed and Marlon Yarbrough is the 2 with a dominant head-to-head win over Sam Latona who got the 3 seed. Vinnie Santaniello, who has some great wins in an up-and-down season will face Jace Palmer for a chance to square off with Kai Orine in the semis. I’m very much looking forward to Yarbrough-Latona II. Yarbrough has quietly had a great year and looked All-American caliber in his win over Latona in the dual. Latona has consistently shown that he can, and will, win when the stakes are the highest, so I expect a much better outing from him. There is a great chance we see a rematch of last year’s ACC final with Orine and Latona. Their series is 2-2 with the pair splitting in the 2022-23 regular season and the 2023 ACC Tournament. Latona ended the year with a 3-1 win in the NCAA 7th place match, but Orine got a measure of revenge in this year’s dual meet. This one could go a long way in determining the team title. 141: 3 Automatic Qualifiers This was the weight that most were interested to see how the bracket shaped up. And it has the makings of potential chaos. Cole Matthews earned the top seed with his undefeated run through the ACC. Ryan Jack is the 2, Tom Crook the 3 and Lachlan McNeil the 4; Jack Gioffre, who earned the 3rd allocation, will be the 5 seed. If we’ve learned anything from this weight this year, it is to expect the unexpected. Lachlan McNeil is the 5th ranked wrestler in the country and is 0-4 in conference; Cole Matthews entered ACC duals ranked 25 and went 5-0 and has three top-5 upsets on the year. If it goes to seed, we will have All-Americans Cole Matthews and Lachlan McNeil in the top side semifinal and Ryan Jack versus Tom Crook on the bottom. With only 3 allocations, backside matches are going to be critical. The fourth-place wrestler will have a very strong resume for an at-large. This weight will also have a major bearing on team score and will be an important one to keep an eye on. 149: 2 Automatic Qualifiers Top-seeded Caleb Henson and second-seeded Jackson Arrington have separated themselves from the field at this weight and are expected to be the finals matchup. Jayden Scott, the 3-seed, will face Jarred Papscy with the winner getting Arrington in the semis; on the top side, Finn Solomon and Michael Gioffre will square off in a sneaky good matchup to earn the semi against Henson. I would be very surprised to see a final that doesn’t have Henson versus Arrington, but stranger things have happened in the ACC tournament. They have both looked incredible this year and are legitimate NCAA title threats. 157: 2 Automatic Qualifiers This weight had two wrestlers who were on the bubble of earning allocations with Dylan Cedeno and Sonny Santiago, so there will be some stout competition for the two spots. That being said, the two that earned the allocations will be facing off in the semifinals. Sonny Santiago gets the top seed holding a win over Ed Scott. Scott is the second seed with Bryce Andonian at the three coming off a lengthy absence with a knee injury. Cedeno, who is also returning from an injury, will check in at four. If it goes to seed, Santiago and Cedeno will be on the top side and Andonian and Scott will have, yet another chapter in their rivalry, on the bottom side. This match will have major, major implications on the team race. Whoever places third will likely receive an at-large, and the 4th place wrestler will have a good case to be made as well. 165: 2 Automatic Qualifiers I was surprised by the seeding at this weight. The allocations were earned by Derek Fields and Connor Brady, with Holden Heller just missing criteria for winning percentage by 0.5%. Fields gets the top seed, despite a loss to Brady, who lost to Heller. Heller gets the 2 seed with Brady at 3 and Nick Hamilton at 4. Brady will open with Gaetano Console and Hamilton will have Isaias Estrada for a shot at the semis. Seeds have Fields facing Hamilton and Brady against Heller. Fields has looked excellent this year and has the edge over Hamilton, I see Brady-Heller as a complete toss-up. Will we see the Connor Brady who was aggressive and offensive against Fields, or the defensive and tentative Brady who has several close losses? That will determine who we see in finals. 174: 4 Automatic Qualifiers This one shook out mostly as expected; Mekhi Lewis-1, Justin McCoy-2, Tyler Eischens-3, Alex Faison-4. Faison will face Luca Augustine to open the tournament and Eischens will face Jack Wimmer. The Faison-Augustine match is very intriguing to me; Faison is 4-0 lifetime against Augustine, but Luca has looked excellent this year. McCoy and Eischens had a fun match in the dual that will make for an interesting rematch. I lean towards a Mekhi Lewis versus Justin McCoy final; Lewis won a 2-0 decision in the dual. 184: 4 Automatic Qualifiers The final week of the season had a major impact on this bracket. TJ Stewart knocked off Dylan Fishback in the dual, who was ranked in the top ten at the time. Stewart gets the top seed, with Reece Heller 2, Dylan Fishback 3 and returning All-American Gavin Kane 4. Kane will face Ethan Weatherspoon for a shot at Stewart and Fishback will have Conor Becker with a semifinal trip on the line. I love how this shapes up with youth versus veterans for both semifinals. If it goes to seed we have redshirt freshman TJ Stewart versus All-American and two-time NCAA qualifier Gavin Kane on the top side, with redshirt freshman Dylan Fishback against three-year starter and one-time NCAA qualifier Reece Heller. Stewart comes in with an incredible amount of momentum and back-to-back top-10 victories, it will be interesting to see if he can keep that momentum alive. 197: 4 Automatic Qualifiers Trent Hidlay stands alone atop the bracket at 197, having dominant wins over everyone in the conference. Andy Smith was 4-1 in conference and gets the 2 seed with Max Shaw at 3 and Mac Stout at 4. Shaw will open with Kwasi Bonsu for a shot at the semifinal opposite Smith. Stout will face Krystian Kinsey for a spot against Hidlay. The dual match between Andy Smith and Max Shaw was a 4-2 upset in favor of Smith; I would expect another tight match here to earn a finals berth. The Hokies will need Smith to make the finals to stay in the team race with NC State. Hidlay is a heavy heavy favorite here and will be looking to make a statement going into the NCAA tournament. 285: 2 Automatic Qualifiers This is another weight where the conference just missed an extra allocation and it is going to make the semifinals even crazier. Owen Trephan made it through the conference season unscathed to get the top seed. Hunter Catka earned the 2 opposite his brother Ryan who is the 3; we will likely see the brother battle determine a guaranteed trip to Kansas City. The wildcard here is Dayton Pitzer, at the 4, seed who has been out since injuring his shoulder against Cohlton Schultz. Pitzer has shown that he can compete with anyone in the country when healthy--but how healthy will he be when he takes the mat on Sunday? Connor Barket will be looking to play the bad guy and get some upsets on his way to a bid; he has had some big wins this year and Duke heavyweights tend to be dialed in for the postseason. If it goes chalk, we will have Trephan and Hunter Catka which we haven’t seen this season--Trephan got a late takedown to beat Jimmy Mullen in the dual.

Sign In

2024 ACC Championships Preview

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Categories

Rankings

Browse

Activity

Support