Intermat Rankings based projection as of 2/20/24 - Beware The Mountain Hawks Edition

[Wrestleknownothing]

I pointed this out last week, but it is worth reiterating. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks have been on a roll this season.

Based on pre-season rankings, Lehigh was expected to score 19 points at the NCAA tournament, good for 27th, with the largest share coming from Connor McGonagle at 133 as the #8 ranked wrestler in the weight. My how things have changed.

McGonagle last wrestled a month and a half ago at the David Lehman Open. And Ryan Crookham (or as it was spelled before his family moved from the old country, Crooham), has taken 133 by the throat to sit atop the rankings.

Joining Crookham in storming the rankings are:

• Luke Stanich, who went from unranked in the pre-season to #2 at 125 (I know, everyone thinks their guy is #2 at 125),
• Michael Beard, who went from #10 in the pre-season to #3 at 197,
• Nathan Taylor, who went from #19 in the pre-season to #8 at 285.

On the back of these impressive performances this season, the Mountain Hawks now project as a top 10 team with 64.5 points. And with the spread between 4 and 11 so tight this year, I would not be surprised to see them standing on the podium completely pissed off that this is the year the NCAA decided to cheap out on trophies. I mean, with $1.3 billion in revenue in 2023 and $565 million in assets, I understand the NCAA's need to tighten the belt on those fourth place trophies. Have you seen trophy inflation this year?

 

Now can we talk about Missouri?

Same graph, different highlight.

 

And the race for the title got "tighter".

[BigRedFan]

Crookham hasn't wrestled in a month (Santoro said he was "week-to-week"...for four weeks?), and Stanich has missed the last couple weekends (the cut is hard for him?).  Beard is good for lots of points, and Taylor might surprise some folks.  Between 133 and 197, they have almost nothing.

Match notes for the ASU dual this week show Seymour or Stanich at 125, and Crooham at 133 (as they did last weekend, and the weekend before, and the weekend before).

[Rassling]

14 minutes ago, Rassling said:

sorry my dog was yawning and some how got in between my response.

[ionel]

8 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I pointed this out last week, but it is worth reiterating. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks have been on a roll this season.

Based on pre-season rankings, Lehigh was expected to score 19 points at the NCAA tournament, good for 27th, with the largest share coming from Connor McGonagle at 133 as the #8 ranked wrestler in the weight. My how things have changed.

McGonagle last wrestled a month and a half ago at the David Lehman Open. And Ryan Crookham (or as it was spelled before his family moved from the old country, Crooham), has taken 133 by the throat to sit atop the rankings.

Joining Crookham in storming the rankings are:

• Luke Stanich, who went from unranked in the pre-season to #2 at 125 (I know, everyone thinks their guy is #2 at 125),
• Michael Beard, who went from #10 in the pre-season to #3 at 197,
• Nathan Taylor, who went from #19 in the pre-season to #8 at 285.

On the back of these impressive performances this season, the Mountain Hawks now project as a top 10 team with 64.5 points. And with the spread between 4 and 11 so tight this year, I would not be surprised to see them standing on the podium completely pissed off that this is the year the NCAA decided to cheap out on trophies. I mean, with $1.3 billion in revenue in 2023 and $565 million in assets, I understand the NCAA's need to tighten the belt on those fourth place trophies. Have you seen trophy inflation this year?

 

Now can we talk about Missouri?

Same graph, different highlight.

 

And the race for the title got "tighter".

PSU should be worried.  A week ago it was projected to take OSU, NC State & Ark LR combined (all OSU Smith guys) to beat Penn State.  Now OSU & NC State could do it all by themselves.  

[Wrestleknownothing]

18 minutes ago, ionel said:

PSU should be worried.  A week ago it was projected to take OSU, NC State & Ark LR combined (all OSU Smith guys) to beat Penn State.  Now OSU & NC State could do it all by themselves.