1. The pushout is found effective at the NWCA event, but we watch all season as an avalanche of new snore ride holds take effect and edge-playing once again defines neutral.
3. Penn State wins fifth straight NCAA title. Though dominance can be good for business, a new face atop the national stage would help promote the sport.
4. The loss of another Division I program in 2014-2015 due to a lack of self-promotion or self-awareness.
5. Being stung on the back of the neck by a Tomcat while on vacation.
Q: What's the deal with Wartburg not being ranked and only having two individuals ranked?
-- Mitch B.
Wartburg has won four straight NCAA titlesThough a massive slide in the rankings seems to indicate something awful, the answer seems to be simply that second-year head coach Eric Keller is in the midst of a rebuilding scenario not too dissimilar from what Jim Zalesky and Tom Brands had to endure on their returns to Iowa. The Wartburg transition seems come with a more sudden drop-off, but let Coach Keller develop his wrestlers and team over the next few years in order to gauge the overall direction of his program. He is also missing out on four NCAA finalists that he lost to graduation. Three were NCAA champions.
Good luck to Coach Keller. It's never easy to replace a longstanding, successful coach.
Q: Thoughts on the NCAA changing the team scoring at the NCAA tourney and teams getting points for National Duals to start the tourney.
-- @JakeHerbert84
Foley: There has to be some credit given to the competition committee in engineering a two-tournament solution for increasing fan involvement in the sport of wrestling. The truth about college wrestling is not enough of the dual meets scheduled have an impact on the outcome of the season -- therefore lacking incentive for fans to attend, or media to care.
The NCAA is trying to change that by forcing the dual meets to matter. There are several issues arising from these attempts, but they are right to be pushing for some type of new format that will allow growth.
The current model seems to hurt teams with 4-5 high-caliber wrestlers but have large holes in the rest of their lineup. In the current system these teams can place as high as third or fourth, but with points carried in from dual meets, that seems less possible.
The devil's advocate would argue that these new dual meet rules would then prompt these schools to focus on a more balanced lineup, but the situation of these schools is often more a condition of institutional support than it is lack of effort by the coaching staff.
Making dual meets matter is vital to the growth of wrestling. Right now we have one marketable weekend of wrestling, but that could be expanded (along with a fan base) should a dual meet matter work.
For now, I like that we are delaying the release of the system, but I do think that tinkering with this, or something similar, will be a net positive for the sport of wrestling.
... Along with the one-semester season.
Q: Thoughts on double knee pads?
-- @IndianaMat
Foley: Unless you're shooting from both sides the double knee pads are only working to make you look like a volleyball player, or the old guy at the gym playing racquetball. It may also make you look like an old guy at the gym playing volleyball.
I write this as a man who once wore two knee pads with pride, but who was forced through peer pressure and the hassle of maintenance to move to one. Eventually that knee pad was eliminated due to hassle. Now I forge on like most, absent the knee pad and at least one bursa sac.
Q: Has a team that has never won before (Ohio State) ever had so many potential breaks go their way before? Iowa, Penn State, Minnesota and Big Ten tourney all at home, and the seniors those three teams lost should make tOSU the favorite.
-- @wrestlingnomad
Foley: I think "breaks" implies a lot of luck, and though some was probably involved, Tom Ryan and his staff also positioned themselves to be in the 2015 title race through very competent on-the-mat coaching and top-level recruiting. Also, know that the redshirt game also plays a role in when certain athletes are eligible. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that Coach Ryan had this season circled for years as his first real chance to win an NCAA title and prepped his lineup and redshirts according to that possibility.
Now, the scheduling was a bit of luck. We know that teams perform better at home and with so many of their top opponents faced in Ohio the team will be in position to earn wins and therefore better seeds at the B1G Tournament. The logic would then progress that better seeds at the conference tournament would result in better seeds and better performances at NCAAs -- not an unlikely outcome, but also riddled with possibilities.
As for Logan Stieber, I think that Ohio State will benefit greatly from the distraction of his fourth title hunt. The pressure to win the NCAA crown won't be shared equally by members of the Ohio State wrestling team. Stieber and his star power will dominate the news and I think provide extra room to youngsters like Kyle Snyder to improve throughout the season without a strong outside focus.
Still, there is no question this is the Buckeyes' year to make it happen, and from the outside everything has lined up. Now the issue becomes execution.
Q: How many undefeated NCAA champs will we have this year?
-- @koatig?
Foley: Two. Logan Stieber and Gabe Dean.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Always some of the best preseason viewing ... especially with the Gophers ranked No. 1.
Link: The Last Maverick Good riddance, Trev Alberts. Marysville's wrestling program is No. 1 in the nation and you're still a no-talent wannabe begging to get into the Summit League.
Link: Traditional wrestling in India
Link: Lebron? Sure, why not ... LEBRON!
Q: Similar to no info on redshirting, expected participants in freestyle events (example: Bill Farrell) can never be found until 1/2 days before the event.
-- @Eagle_Fan?
The inscriptions (a fancy word for entries) are not usually known until a day or two before an event because wrestlers and their coaches don't often apply until a week or two before the first whistle.
One reason for the delay is that off-season tournaments like the Bill Farrell Invitational come as wrestlers are progressing through their basic training and making decisions on which tournaments to attend before the season gets truckin' in early February.
For more important international events, like the continental and world championships, there are guidelines that require entry lists, and must be provided by countries within a certain timeframe. Of course that's not always the case, but the process has been improved over the past year to ensure there are more countries active in the sending of inscriptions. (You can also expect it to continue to improve over the next several months as new guidelines are instituted.)
While it does seem like a minor point to some, the release of the inscriptions are key to the promotion of the event. Like you, I hope we see more names and earlier.
Q: Now that the NCAA Division I rankings are released, who are your "sleepers" at each weight class and the overall team race?
-- David E.
Foley: That's the topic for an annual (and upcoming) Platinum article!
COMMENT(S) OF THE WEEK
By Nick M.
I just wanted to alert the masses that Maranatha Baptist University is in dire straits. Here is a Division III program that was coached by Andy Peterson, son of Ben Peterson. It appears that Andy has left Maranatha for whatever reason, and they are contemplating dropping the program. They need wrestlers! Here is a school in Watertown, Wisconsin that needs our help.
By Doreen R.
I saw the best of what the world could offer in wrestling during those years. Wrestlers knew the rules and the consequences for their actions. While the rules remained stable, wrestlers improved their skill to win matches on skill. Dan Gable, Russ Hellickson, John and Ben Peterson were successful within that set of rules.
Enter money into wrestling and the sport tumbled quickly. The answer is not to continue to change the rules ... set them back to the 1970-80s and require wrestlers to increase skill to be able to compete at the national and world level.
There has always been a rule in high school, college and international wrestling that you cannot leave the mat -- fleeing the mat. If you apply that rule consistently, it's amazing how wrestlers will quickly adapt and stay within the circle.
To watch our great sport be demeaned and supported by MMA brutal fighting is a sad thing. Do you want your child to try wrestling when it is associated, supported and glorified by MMA? Thank god my two boys wrestled when wrestling had role models such as Dan Gable, Russ Hellickson, John and Ben Peterson, whom we call our friends.
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