"There are certain things that happened out there that cannot happen ever," said Brands. "Lack of hustle, putting your head on the mat. It just cannot happen. Those are things you iron out throughout the year. When you're doing it at this point in the year, then we're going to have conversations because that's not how you're going to get yourself to where you want to be."
The Hawkeyes advanced six wrestlers to Sunday's championship finals, including four wrestlers who have not suffered a defeat all season: Matt McDonough (125), Brent Metcalf (149), Jay Borschel (174), and Dan Erekson (285).
"That's what you do," said Brands of his undefeated competitors. "You get ready to wrestle, go out every time to do what them guys have done. The thing is ... they're trying to win by big margins, especially the first three. The heavyweight is a heavyweight ... and he's trying to win by big margins too with those chicken wings and being tough on top."
McDonough, a redshirt freshman, advanced to the finals with a dominating 8-0 win over returning All-American Zach Sanders of Minnesota. It marked McDonough's third victory over Sanders this season.
"It's a little bit extra spark being the starter and being the No. 1 weight for a team that has a lot of guys who could use that momentum," said McDonough. "As far as my match goes, I knew it was going to be a battle. I know he's a fighter and he's not going to give up for seven minutes. If I stuck to my game plan and worked hard and didn't give him any room to breathe the entire match, I could get what I wanted."
It will be a battle of undefeated wrestlers in the finals at 125 pounds as McDonough will now face No. 1 Angel Escobedo of Indiana, a 2008 NCAA champion and three-time All-American. Escobedo advanced to the finals with a lopsided 14-1 victory over Brad Pataky of Penn State. It's a matchup McDonough has very much been looking forward to all season.
"You come out in a season like this, being a freshman and seeing a lot of guys that are returning All-Americans, returning national champs, that's what my eye has been on since the season started," said McDonough. "It's an important match for me. It's something I've looked forward to. I'm getting pumped for it."
Metcalf was untested on Saturday, winning by pin in the quarterfinals against Nick Bertucci of Purdue before dominating Penn State All-American Frank Molinaro, 12-3, to advance to the finals. The Hawkeye senior 149-pounder will be vying for his third straight Big Ten title on Sunday when he faces second-ranked Lance Palmer of Ohio State in the finals.
"It's exciting," said Metcalf. "It kind of takes me back a little bit to the first championship here against a guy who is pretty tough, and against a guy who maybe I have rivalry with because it's Ohio vs. Michigan and Ohio vs. Iowa. But there's more to it than that. It's St. Eds vs. Davison. Same thing that it was when it was Schlatter vs. Metcalf. I'm going to be ready to go and I'm excited."
Second-place Minnesota advanced four wrestlers to the finals. Those wrestlers include Jayson Ness (133), Mike Thorn (141), Scott Glasser (174), and Sonny Yohn.
Ness, who is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country, fell behind early against Wisconsin freshman sensation Tyler Graff in the semifinals, giving up the opening takedown, but came back to win 11-4.
"Down early, I just kept thinking I have to keep wrestling the way I wrestle, just keep trying to wrestle hard, and just keep going after it the whole time," said Ness. "That's how good things happen ... When you wrestle hard the whole time."
Ness will now face Daniel Dennis of Iowa in the finals at 133 pounds. Dennis won a thrilling 5-4 match over defending NCAA champion and two-time Big Ten champion Franklin Gomez of Michigan State.
Thorn, a returning NCAA qualifier who placed fifth at the Big Ten Championships a year ago, won by major decision, 12-3, over Iowa's Montell Marion, the same wrestler who defeated him by major decision (15-7) less than a month ago on February 14.
"These last couple weeks I've really focused in on just all the things that are helping me be a good wrestler," said Thorn. "The way I'm training ... I trained harder. I worked on my conditioning. My relationship with God. My relationship with my family. It really tightened things up for this tournament. I just remembered why I was wrestling. Just having fun with it ... enjoying my teammates, enjoying the tournament, just enjoying the chase."
Thorn will now face Ohio State's Reece Humphrey in the finals. Humphrey defeated Thorn, 5-3, at the NWCA Cliff/Keen National Duals on January 9.
"I think I just need to keep wrestling the way I'm wrestling right now," said Thorn. "I'm going to go out there, show him my best stuff, and try to beat him in that seven-minute match."
Glasser advanced to the finals with a 3-1 victory over surprise-semifinalist Ian Hinton of Michigan State. The Gopher junior has had one of the biggest turnarounds of any competitor in the Big Ten this season. Last season, Glasser lost 15 of his last 19 matches, which included an 0-2 performance at the Big Ten Championships.
So what's the biggest difference this season?
"Basically it helps to be healthy," said Glasser. "Last year, I had a couple injuries that didn't exactly help me ... They hurt me. Also, my mentality. I gained a lot of confidence. I believe more in my training. I believe in our system more. I'm just wrestling Minnesota's style. I'm trying to go out there and wrestle seven minutes hard ... and it's been working out. I just keep thinking, 'Go hard the entire time and good things happen.'"
Glasser will now face Iowa's second-ranked Jay Borschel in the finals at 174 pounds. Borschel is the only wrestler to defeat Glasser since December 29. (Borschel has two major decision victories over Glasser)
"I've just got to think attack, attack the entire time," said Glasser. "Just wrestle hard, wrestle intense, and just be physical."
Ohio State sits in third place with 86 points and advanced three wrestlers to the finals. In addition to Humphrey (141) and Palmer (149) winning their semifinals matches, Colt Sponseller (165) advanced to the finals with a 3-1 victory over Iowa's Ryan Morningstar, a wrestler who had defeated him in all three of their previous meetings ... with all three of those matches decided by two points or less.
"It was really just no fear, not being afraid at all," said Sponseller. "I usually hype up this match in my mind. Today I just said, 'He's another guy in your way and I just have to go out there and win. I have to wrestle match my match. In the other matches, I let him really control a lot of the pace. This time I really turned it on to him."
Sponseller will take on Wisconsin's top-ranked Andrew Howe in the finals.
"He's a high-tempo pace wrestler like me, so it's going to be a battle out there. It's exciting to wrestle guys like this. He's ranked No. 1 in the nation. Those are the people you want to see if you want to win a national title."
Ohio State has been ranked in the top four all season long, but suffered a humiliating 32-3 loss to Iowa on February 19. The third-place Buckeyes enter the final day of the Big Ten Championships trailing the Hawkeyes by 51 points. However, despite that, Sponseller still believes the Buckeyes are capable of dethroning the Hawkeyes and winning a national title this season.
"We're very capable," said Sponseller. "As long as we show up to wrestle, which is sometimes our problem. We've just got to go out there, be confident and feel good about our technique, our conditioning, everything. Once that happens, we're going to click on all cylinders. All it takes is one fault by Iowa and we can catch them. I don't know about Big Tens this weekend, but definitely nationals in two weeks."
Team Standings (After Day 1)
1. Iowa 137
2. Minnesota 104.5
3. Ohio State 86
4. Wisconsin 82
5. Penn State 66
6. Purdue 65
7. Michigan State 58.5
8. Indiana 55
9. Illinois 48.5
10. Michigan 46.5
11. Northwestern 17
Finals Matchups
125: No. 1 Angel Escobedo (Indiana) vs. No. 3 Matt McDonough (Iowa)
133: No. 1 Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs. No. 3 Daniel Dennis (Iowa)
141: No. 2 Reece Humphrey (Ohio State) vs. No. 8 Mike Thorn (Minnesota)
149: No. 1 Brent Metcalf (Iowa) vs. No. 2 Lance Palmer (Ohio State)
157: No. 6 Cyler Sanderson (Penn State) vs. Colton Salazar (Purdue)
165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) vs. No. 6 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State)
174: No. 2 Jay Borschel (Iowa) vs. No. 7 Scott Glasser (Minnesota)
184: No. 2 John Dergo (Illinois) vs. No. 10 Phil Keddy (Iowa)
197: No. 7 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) vs. No. 13 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota)
285: No. 2 Nathan Everhart (Indiana) vs. No. 10 Dan Erekson (Iowa)
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