What Non-D1 Programs Would Find Success in D1?

[1032004]

9 minutes ago, JimmyBT said:

You make it sound like you’re going out on a limb to make that point.  Of course it’s rare. Marcus Lavesseur was a 4x HS Champ that I believe was committed to Minnesota but decided late to attend DIII Augsburg where I believe he played football too.  Won 4 nattys and never lost a match. 

Levesseur did attend U of Minnesota at first.

But sounds like we agree.  There are certainly guys that can compete in D1 that might not have gotten recruited so choose to go D2/D3 instead.  But 4x champs from decent states are going to have been recruited by D1 schools, unless they have off the mat issues.

[JimmyBT]

19 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Levesseur did attend U of Minnesota at first.

But sounds like we agree.  There are certainly guys that can compete in D1 that might not have gotten recruited so choose to go D2/D3 instead.  But 4x champs from decent states are going to have been recruited by D1 schools, unless they have off the mat issues.

But didn’t wrestle there ???  Like Wells didn’t wrestle at Scsu 

Edited January 23 by JimmyBT

[1032004]

1 minute ago, JimmyBT said:

But didn’t wrestle there ???  Like Wells didn’t wrestle at Scsu 

I believe he stayed for a full year and redshirted

[Jason Bryant]

Marcus wrestled his true freshman year at Minnesota - where he redshirted.

[JimmyBT]

The entire point of the OP was if there were schools that could find success at the d1 level that currently aren’t d1.  
IMO St. Cloud State could. Great coach, history and an hour from the TwinCities.  Wells lived closer to St Cloud than downtown Mpls and might have even stayed there if they were d1   

[JimmyBT]

5 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

I believe he stayed for a full year and redshirted

Got it.  My memory doesn’t always go get all the details as I thought he enrolled but didn’t finish the year.  

Edited January 23 by JimmyBT

[1032004]

7 minutes ago, JimmyBT said:

The entire point of the OP was if there were schools that could find success at the d1 level that currently aren’t d1.  
IMO St. Cloud State could. Great coach, history and an hour from the TwinCities.  Wells lived closer to St Cloud than downtown Mpls and might have even stayed there if they were d1   

Define success though.  IMO, at best you’re looking at finishing around 40th at NCAA’s.  Probably a few guys they could win a match or 2 at NCAA’s, but that’s about it.  Maybe 1 AA like every 5 years or so.

[WrestlingFan89]

St Cloud State would likely get a good number of the kids that are going to SDSU, NDSU and Wyoming from the state of Minnesota.  I think they could be an 8-20 type of team.

[JimmyBT]

52 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Define success though.  IMO, at best you’re looking at finishing around 40th at NCAA’s.  Probably a few guys they could win a match or 2 at NCAA’s, but that’s about it.  Maybe 1 AA like every 5 years or so.

See Ndsu, SDSU, Wyoming, Northern Iowa 

[1032004]

16 minutes ago, JimmyBT said:

See Ndsu, SDSU, Wyoming, Northern Iowa 

Wyoming maybe but not really for the rest.  SDSU finished 13th, UNI 15th, NDSU 23rd last season.

@WrestlingFan89 seems to be talking about if they actually went D1.  That’s a different convo, I thought we were talking about how they’d do as is.

[JimmyBT]

1 hour ago, JimmyBT said:

The entire point of the OP was if there were schools that could find success at the d1 level that currently aren’t d1.  
IMO St. Cloud State could. Great coach, history and an hour from the TwinCities.  Wells lived closer to St Cloud than downtown Mpls and might have even stayed there if they were d1   

I posted this a while back. I thought it was clear. 

[JimmyBT]

9 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Wyoming maybe but not really for the rest.  SDSU finished 13th, UNI 15th, NDSU 23rd last season.

@WrestlingFan89 seems to be talking about if they actually went D1.  That’s a different convo, I thought we were talking about how they’d do as is.

See the post above this one 

[blueandgold]

On 1/23/2024 at 5:23 PM, 1032004 said:

I said I used the qualifier that you don’t usually see 4x state champs from decent wrestling states (of which I’d include Minnesota) go D2 or D3 right out of HS.  Did a very brief search and can’t seem to find the list of names, but I believe it’s a single digit list for Minnesota.  Have any of them gone D2 or D3 out of HS?

Isn’t Destin McCauley one of them?

[jchapman]

2 minutes ago, blueandgold said:

Isn’t Destin McCauley one of them?

No.  He went to the OTC out of high school.  Then to Nebraska and competed unattached the fall of his freshman year before going D2.

[Winners Circle]

On 1/23/2024 at 5:20 PM, JimmyBT said:

The entire point of the OP was if there were schools that could find success at the d1 level that currently aren’t d1.  
IMO St. Cloud State could. Great coach, history and an hour from the TwinCities.  Wells lived closer to St Cloud than downtown Mpls and might have even stayed there if they were d1   

Depends on which situation you mean. If you're meaning take a D2 team, like St. Cloud, move them to D1 and give them time to establish themselves/recruit D1 level kids etc. Then yea I could see a number of D2's doing well. Such as:

• St. Cloud State
• Nebraska Kearney
• Wisconsin Parkside
• Lander Univ.
• Maryville
• Central MO

But if you're saying take a current D2 team as is, and put them in the D1 tournament, I don't see any being in the top 50.