Right now, Iowa is in control of its championship destiny. They broke the Midlands scoring record, have a new top wrestler in Pat Lugo, and are simply wrestling better than any other program. While some uncertainty remains around Spencer Lee -- who is both coming off his dominant run at Senior Nationals in freestyle and a medical forfeit at Midlands -- there is no question that Iowa has the firepower to break through and win the 2020 NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.
Purdue and Army are having excellent seasons. Teams once forgotten are showing signs of competing and winning at the highest levels. For Army, Markus Hartman (157) beat Quincy Monday (Princeton) at Midlands and dropped a closer 5-3 match to Kaleb Young in the finals. Army had its best-ever performance at the tournament with its highest team finish, most placers, and highest individual placer. The Black Knights also finished seventh in the team standings with 78.5 total points. Purdue is ranked in the top ten and had two champs with Dylan Lydy (174) and Christian Brunner (197). Kendall Coleman (157) will also be an All-American contender for the Boilermakers.
Oh, and can-you-believe that Princeton is ranked higher than Cornell?!
The NCAA rules are flawed, and I don't believe that many people would disagree they need to be updated as soon as possible. The level and style of modern wrestling has far outpaced the ability of the current rule structure and enforcement procedures to create a fair product that is both athletically competitive and rewarding of best talent, while also understandable and fan friendly. Very few people could accurately describe to my mother-in-law what the hell happened at the end of the Austin DeSanto-Seth Gross match, nor could anyone accurately detail the motivation for an out of bounds line that fails to function in its titular role.
As always, there is much more to reflect on during the midway point, but moist importantly it's turning out to be an entertaining season with plenty of plot lines to follow into the conference dual meet season.
To your questions …
Jordan Oliver before his Senior Nationals finals match (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Q: For years I've enjoyed watching Jordan Oliver wrestle. He is consistently one of the most dynamic U.S. wrestlers and I thought by now he would have achieved more on the international stage, especially given how good he is on his feet. Is there something about his style that has kept him from competing for senior world medals, or is there a specific aspect of his wrestling that needs improvement?
-- Vince M.
Foley: From my perspective Jordan just needed a stricter training program. With his recent success I think he's found that among friends and like-minded individuals in Chapel Hill. The offensive explosion and the fact he won his five matches by a combined score of 50-0 shows that he's currently the United States' most offensively potent 65-kilogram wrestler.
The Olympic Trials will certainly be interesting to watch, but also keep in mind that well before those bouts Team USA (i.e. Zain Retherford) will be heading to Ottawa to qualify the spot for Tokyo 2020. If for some reason that doesn't happen, it will be up to the winner of the Olympic Trials to get the ticket punched at the last chance qualifier in early May.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
UWW Freestyle Wrestler of the Year
UWW Women's Wrestler of the Year
Q: Best college wrestler of the decade? Best American freestyle wrestler of the decade? Best American Greco-Roman wrestler of the decade? Best women's freestyle wrestler of the decade?
-- Mike C.
Foley:
College: Kyle Dake
Freestyle: Jordan Burroughs
Women's: Adeline Gray
Greco-Roman: Adam Coon
Q: Some of these college matches are taking forever with all the challenges/video reviews. Then, in many cases, they are still getting all the calls wrong. How could the challenge/video review system be fixed in college wrestling?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Yeah, the time has come for the NCAA to hire some outside consultants to fix these problems. One of the greatest outcomes of the 2013 Olympic-elimination was that wrestling had to access outside consultants on ways to improve a myriad sport and sport presentation issues. The resulting thirty-second shot clock, criteria, and point simplifications has likely done as much as anything else to increase viewership and assist in the accumulation of marketing and TV/streaming deals.
The NCAA rule set makes zero sense. The rules -- which are made to drive wrestlers towards more pinning combinations -- is instead creating a nitpicky game of Buck 'em Bronco where the cowboy with most time on the bull gets the W. That's just not entertaining wrestling and what's more the razor-thin margins determining control are being over litigated, promoted by a system that provides very little disincentive for challenging each and every questionable call.
The best fix is to give the coaches one challenge per match. Win and you keep your challenge. Lose and your opponent gains a point. Make the replays viewable on the main screen. Open the microphones of the referees. And allow a small panel of referees to sit at the event and intercede if/when an Ian Miller type of wrong call does happen.
I know that when providing coaches the tools to challenge the outcomes can sometimes be drug out, but I think that a balanced system filled with disincentives can cut into some of the more erratic challenges we see in dual meets and tournaments.
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