Oklahoma State's Kaid Brock opened his season 4-0 before suffering an injury (Photo/Oklahoma State Athletics)It was announced this week that Oklahoma State wrestler Kaid Brock suffered an injury that will end his season and potentially his college career.
The injury announcement was the third of Brock's career, which started promising but had been riddled with injuries. His opening match was against Oklahoma's Cody Brewer. Brock won by fall, in what must be the first wrestler to ever open their career defeating an NCAA champion.
The NCAA season is usually long and brutal. This one is truncated by plague, but the injuries and disappointments will still be with us in 2021. The act of wrestling -- traveling against your will from your feet to the mat and from your belly to your back -- relies on the resistance of muscles and toughness of the mind. What's most disheartening for Brock and other athletes is that no matter how much your mind can endure, sometimes the body doesn't play its part.
As fans we spend a good amount of time on X's and O's, rankings and melodramas, and the managerial side of the NCAA wrestling experience. Brock's career, ending as it might with yet another injury, is a powerful reminder that these 18-23-year-old men and women are on the mats fighting for a spot on the roster, a place in the lineup, a spot on the NCAA tournament, and ultimately the satisfaction to know that they tried their best in each endeavor.
I trust that Kaid Brock, no matter the disappointment he must be feeling, recognizes that he's done more than most could ever hope, and gave us all a little inspiration along the way.
To your questions …
Q: Why did the NCAA cancel the DIII Championships? Are the DII Championships going to follow suit?
-- Ethan S.
Foley: The NCAA believed that there wasn't enough participation in 2021 season to support the expense (and risk) associated with hosting the 2021 NCAA Division III Championships. That was true in all sports.
The NCAA is currently at-risk regarding its treatment of student-athletes and their welfare at-large. The various image rights cases in the courts are an existential threat to the way the NCAA funds its largess for use in the championships of the non-revenue sports. Additionally, COVID has severally restricted their money-making efforts while also leaving them vulnerable to lawsuits for any type of competition management that would put the athletes at-risk.
The latter can be overcome when the incentives of the former are in play. Without the money of the larger institutions and TV deals there is an incredibly low incentive for the NCAA to host tournaments where they burn much-needed cash, expose themselves to lawsuits, and probably don't field a large number of programs for participation given their localized debts and obligations from the COVID fallout.
The same might happen with Division II sports. When you line up the incentives and the costs it would seem to still be a risky proposition for the NCAA to host 30-plus national gatherings of athletes, coaches, administrators, and fans if there isn't a large financial windfall. I don't know how it'll end up balancing out but given the cost of what it will take to host the Division I Championships I'd be optimistic in saying 50/50.
And that's to say nothing of Division I non-revenue sports who are still at risk of finding their year-end tournaments reduced in size or canceled. It's a frustrating time to be alive, much less trying to compete in collegiate athletics, but the organizations that host these events are responsible for the health and safety of those in attendance. If something happens to jeopardize that safety, then they will act accordingly.
The national wrestling community has been living in a bit of a bubble when it comes to competitions, camps, clinics, and tournaments. Many of the states with relaxed regulations about COVID also severely under report and do no contact tracing. When tournaments were being held with no quarantining, social distancing, and poor mask etiquette there was a 100% chance of COVID transmission. But no tests, and nobody cared. Just last week a tournament in Louisiana had more than 40 known cases of transmission due to their event. And it was a relatively small tournament. What was the COVID infection rate from the larger tournaments that aren't regulated?
We won't know and never will, but we can't lie to ourselves and say that COVID isn't being transmitted at these tournaments and club practices and whatnot. While I understand some people want to move past COVID, the NCAA and institutions who are held liable for their events can't go forward without costly protocols and an increased risk profile. That means tournaments get canceled, teams pull out of competitions, and seasons end early.
Wear a mask. Take the vaccine. And let's all enjoy a healthy second half of 2021.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Link: Etched in Stone Podcast Series
Kaid Brock pins Cody Brewer
Good Throwback to Yazdani Taking 2017 World Title
Q: It's the 2021 NCAA Championships. Spencer Lee must tech or pin his opponent to win the match and he's aware of the conditions, but his competition is not (to avoid intentional stalling). Is he favored?
-- @theNFish
Foley: Are you asking if Spencer Lee -- with the entire weight of Iowa's 2021 titles hope riding on the outcome of the match -- would be able to find a technical fall or pin against an opponent thinking only of NOT letting that happen?
If that is the question, then I think there is nothing this poor soul could do to stop Spencer Lee from earning the technical fall. I truly believe that he would win the match via technical fall or pin even if there were not title hopes on the line. The Spencer Lee we have seen so far in 2021 is about the best a wrestler has ever looked at any weight class, for any amount of time, in the history of the NCAA.
This is generational excellence. Spencer Lee is stronger, faster, tougher, more technical, and more committed than his peers. That's not to say the rest of the 125-pounders class doesn't have those attributes, I don't think any wrestler at any weight class is as pound-for-pound dominant as Spencer Lee.
One influencing factor for this year's performance might be the extra focus on earning the starting spot on the 2021 Olympic squad. To do that he'll need to better former teammate (and current rival?) Thomas Gilman. That won't be an easy match, and it might be one where Lee is the underdog but being underestimated is also motivation to keep pushing himself in the early months of the year.
So yes, regardless of the situation I believe that Spencer Lee wins NCAA by technical fall or pin in 99/100 championship simulations.
Q: Any idea what impact Tom Brands' positive COVID test will have on the season? Will it affect Iowa's upcoming dual meets?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Coach Brands said in the press release that he would continue to work from home until it was appropriate for him to return to action. My feeling is that indicates he was exposed much earlier than the release and had already taken factors into account regarding dual meet eligibility and exposure to athletes.
No impact on the student-athletes or the outcome of the duals unless one of the athletes is somehow dragged into COVID protocol. Coach Brands has complete control of his team and the lessons of the Hawkeyes aren't lost because there is a substitute coach at the helm. More than most programs, Iowa Hawkeye wrestling is a vibe.
Q: With it being Black History Month, who do you view as the five greatest Black wrestlers in American history?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Here are my top five …
1. Jordan Burroughs
2. Kenny Monday
3. Kevin Jackson
4. J'den Cox
5. Lee Kemp/Dremel Byers
Q: Kamaru Usman is a UFC champion who is 12-0 in the UFC. Why doesn't he get more respect? Is it his style? Or personality? Shouldn't he be the face of the organization?
--Mike C.
Foley: Interesting follow-up on the Black History Month. I think you're probably referencing your own thoughts in the way this question trailed the last.
The UFC is about the draw and for whatever the reason fans haven't been as attracted to Usman as they were to Colby Covington. Maybe that's a race thing, and maybe it's because Ben Askren so often tore down Usman? Unclear.
What is clear is that Usman has his work cut out for him against Gilbert Burns. The UFC is testing Usman's ground game against one of the most effective jiu-jitsu fighters in the league, who also happens to throw his hands with bad intent. Usman has survived Demian Maia, but Burns will have more opportunities on the ground than did Maia. Both have great wrestling, but Burns is a little better than Maia at bullying the positions on the fence. If he closes distance and gets Usman to the ground, I can see there being an issue for Usman.
All that said, I want to see more of Usman in the octagon, but I don't think he has the star power (yet) to be the face. It takes a charisma that so far has eluded him and his fans.
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