ILLINI versus Minnesota on Friday at 7pm (Central)

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

We have a preview of this dual at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond Plus. It's a tad more thorough than what y'all'd currently find over to the Guillotine, which looks like this:

 

Quote

 

Should be a couple competitive matches:
ILL
Ruth/Sparks

Illinois Dual-Roberts/Webster at 149 could be good.

 

 

I think they're wrong on all accounts. First of all, Kannon Webster put his redshirt back on. Secondly, I see a bunch of competitive matches, including but not limited to 133, 141, 165, 174 and 184. Wrestlestat.com is alleging that the ILLINI will win only a couple of matches. I see three plus, as I have the O&B favorites at 133, 165 and 174. Also, 184 was a one-point match last season. Moreover, if the 125 pound bantam rooster they have wrestling for the Gophers gets a little tuckered out in the third period....

Finally, here's the latest episode of the Threeee Is the New Twoooo podcast featuring an interview of ILLINI Head Coach Mike Poeta. I swear that after every time I talk to him this thought crosses my mind: "How can a recruit say no to Mike Poeta?" 

 

 

 

[Lunaticfringe]

I would not foresee Roberts beating Webster. 149 must be rather poor this year because Roberts has next to 0 offense from his feet being ranked top 20. He was within striking distance at the end against Iowa and had no shots at all and ended up getting taken down again. 
 

At 133 I see Wells winning that match solidly. 141 is a coin flip, 165 is a coin flip, 174 is NOT going to be a close match as Ruth should dominate Sparks. Sparks has had so many injuries, he isn’t the same guy anymore sadly(think Brayton Lee). I think Tabor can wrestle with Luffman.

I will say Illinois wins 149, 165 and 174. Final score Minnesota 25 Illinois 11

[JimmyBT]

125 - MN 4

133 - MN 3

141 - MN 3

149 - MN 3

157 - MN 4

165 - MN 3

174 - ILL 3

184 - MN 4

197 - MN 3

HWT - MN 3

MN 27 ILL 3

[Hillbilly Jim]

A little generous, but I will give Illinois 165, 174 and HWT.  Minn 23 - Ill 9.

[flyingcement]

125: Patrick McKee major Justin Cardani 4-0

133: Tyler Wells dec Anthony Madrigal 7-0

141: Danny Pucino dec Vance Vombaur 7-3

149: Drew Roberts dec Jake Harrier 10-3

157: Michael Blockhus major Joe Roberts 14-3

165: Chris Moore dec Blaine Brenner (upset special) 14-6

174: Ed Ruth dec Andrew Sparks 14-9

184: Isaiah Salazar dec Dylan Connell 17-9

197: Garret Joles dec Isaiah Pettigrew 20-9

285: Luke Luffman dec Bennett Tabor 20-12

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

They still have Luke Luffman listed as the starter at Wrestlestat.com, but he's been out since the end of December because of injury. Very sad. He won't be back this year.

To add insult to injury, he's lost all of his digital preview matches on Wrestlestat.com against heavyweights from Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska, even though I think he would've beaten them in real life.

Also, Kannon Webster is taking his redshirt. He's wrestled in six duals this season, but two of the duals happened on the same day, so they count as one for his total of five freebies.

[flyingcement]

2 minutes ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

They still have Luke Luffman listed as the starter at Wrestlestat.com, but he's been out since the end of December because of injury. Very sad. He won't be back this year.

To add insult to injury, he's lost all of his digital preview matches on Wrestlestat.com against heavyweights from Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska, even though I think he would've beaten them in real life.

Also, Kannon Webster is taking his redshirt. He's wrestled in six duals this season, but two of the duals happened on the same day, so they count as one for his total of five freebies.

That absolutely sucks about Luffman

[ionel]

Hoping Jombo will skip the Illini Minny meet and head over to CHA to call STALLING  on the Hawkeyes when they fail to initiate action.  

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

15 hours ago, ionel said:

Hoping Jombo will skip the Illini Minny meet and head over to CHA to call STALLING  on the Hawkeyes when they fail to initiate action.  

Wherever he is needed. Whenever he is needed. You can count on JOMBO™. The hero of the people! 

[Barracuda141]

Illini will have another noncompetitive match against Minnesota. Might win 174 and that's it. Pretty embarrassing actually to watch them stink so badly after watching Mark Johnson's Illini in the early 2000's. Them vs. Northwestern will be the only competitive dual for them. And I'm sure all of about 200 fans will be there to watch.

[russ1847]

They will have to stay healthy (which is not always easy to do) but they are likely to be a top 10 type of team next year if all of their redshirts are back to add to Webster, Ruth, Luffman, Pucino, and Connell.  

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

10-9 Minnesota at the break.

Coach Poeta was smart and started the dual at 125, McKee was a no show. Cardani beats Morvari. 

Then, at 133, Tony Madrigal picks off another ranked wrestler in as many weeks. 

At 141, Vance Vombauer goes down to Danny Pucino. 

The ILLINI could've used Kannon Webster at 149, as stupid Minnesota gets the major. 

At 157, Michael Blockhus with the pin off a headlock throw from the knees. 

 

The ILLINI need wins at 165 and 174 and to pick off another weight--most likely 184, then 197. 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

ILLINI lose at 165, but Edmond Ruth wins 7-1 over Andrew Sparks. 13 Minnesota; 12 ILLINI. 

Connell versus Salazar up. 

[headshuck]

Guillotine’s Final

#11 Minnesota 28 Illinois 12
125 Justin Cardani (Illinois) dec. Brandon Morvari (Minnesota) 7-6 tb-2
133 #30 Tony Madrigal (Illinois) dec. #18 Tyler Wells (Minnesota) 4-0
141 #26 Danny Pucino (Illinois) dec. #20 Vance VomBaur (Minnesota) 8-5
149 #17 Drew Roberts (Minnesota) maj. dec. Jake Harrier (Illinois) 15-3
157 #4 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) fall Joe Roberts (Illinois) 2:27
165 #27 Blaine Brenner (Minnesota) dec. #33 Chris Moore (Illinois) 8-2
174 #8 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) dec. Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) 7-1
184 #5 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) dec. #31 Dylan Connell (Illinois) 6-0
197 #20 Garrett Joles (Minnesota) fall Isiah Pettigrew (Illinois) 2:25
285 #30 Bennett Tabor (Minnesota) fall Peter Marinopoulos (Illinois) 2:06

[Lunaticfringe]

The Illini need more Italian wrestlers

[MNRodent]

Here is the escape call to force overtime at 125 with 1 second on the clock. 

[ionel]

2 hours ago, Lunaticfringe said:

The Illini need more Italian wrestlers

@flyingcement has a new method to help identify them.  

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

9 hours ago, MNRodent said:

Here is the escape call to force overtime at 125 with 1 second on the clock. 

Good point. 

However. How do you say somebody is in control when their opponent has a tight front headlock on them? You can see in the image below that Cardani had cinched up a real tight front headlock before the ref called time: 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

The way the dual started, I was very excited. Three wins in a row for the good guys. Of course, Patrick McKee didn't wrestle, but neither did Lucas Byrd, both Brawlnagels, Luke Luffman, Kannon Webster and Braeden Scoles. (Blockhus is on a mission and very hot right now, so Scoles really wouldn't have helped here. Someday.). 

Excuses, you say?

Yes. I've got lots of them. 

But the fact of the matter is this: The ILLINI will be 5x more powerful next season, assuming everybody stays healthy and comes back. Having interviewed the Braunagel twins recently and having watched Lucas Byrd on the sidelines at duals, along with his coaching of the younglings at open tournaments, they are craving their return to the ILLINOIS lineup. 

I thought the dual was going to have a number of competitive matches because although Minnesota has a very nice dual record, their competition, on average, hasn't been that stellar. Winning four matches was the upper limit of my predictions for this dual, and the ILLINI met that. 

Of course, the stupid Gophers have a lot of impressive young talent as well. Should be fun the next couple of years! 

[JimmyBT]

30 minutes ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Good point. 

However. How do you say somebody is in control when their opponent has a tight front headlock on them? You can see in the image below that Cardani had cinched up a real tight front headlock before the ref called time: 

I didn’t see the match but since it was an escape wouldn’t that mean Movari had control and Cardani has to totally escape his control?   Looking at that photo and the ref with the one point up doesn’t look like he’s totally separated.  Again I haven’t had a chance to watch it live yet.  

[JimmyBT]

On 2/8/2024 at 3:29 PM, JimmyBT said:

125 - MN 4

133 - MN 3

141 - MN 3

149 - MN 3

157 - MN 4

165 - MN 3

174 - ILL 3

184 - MN 4

197 - MN 3

HWT - MN 3

MN 27 ILL 3

Credit to Illinois at the lower weights.  I had Minnesota winning all but one match and they secured four.  

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

29 minutes ago, JimmyBT said:

I didn’t see the match but since it was an escape wouldn’t that mean Movari had control and Cardani has to totally escape his control?   Looking at that photo and the ref with the one point up doesn’t look like he’s totally separated.  Again I haven’t had a chance to watch it live yet.  

I'm not a rules maven and have been called out as wrong, rightfully, in the past, but it seems to me that the issue is control and loss of control. In this case, I believe that Morvari lost control when Cardani gained control with the tight front headlock. I could be wrong, but I think I see what the ref did there. 

On another note, the refs were very fair in my opinion. I say that based upon the fact that I was upset with them a couple of times during the match! LOL! One of those instances, and I think it was during Pucino-Vombaur, the refs decided to review a call even though the stupid Gophers had used and lost their only challenge. I think it was the Pucino match because I wanted the wrestlers to keep wrestling, and I believe that Pucino has the best gas tank in the NCAA. It turned out all right (see image below) but I was angry that the refs were being fair. 

[JimmyBT]

I’m interested in watching the match in its entirety. Movari is a Minnesota kid that originally committed to Illinois before deciding to stay home. I wasn’t expecting to see him in this dual. 

[1032004]

On 2/10/2024 at 12:21 AM, MNRodent said:

Here is the escape call to force overtime at 125 with 1 second on the clock. 

It was a weird position, but I don’t hate that call.

[1032004]

Hey @ILLINIWrestlingBlog, what’s up with Luffman?  Injured?  He hasn’t wrestled since Midlands