Wrestleknownothing

My greater concern is with the finals presentation. Ten matches took three hours and ten minutes. That comes out to 19 minutes per match. There was more not wrestling (commercials, too long reviews, etc.) than there was wrestling. And it was painfully inconsistent. Sometimes we heard @Jason Bryant's iconic introductions and sometimes the commercial breaks were so long that by the time they returned the wrestlers were already on the mat. As a fan, I found it difficult to watch. For anyone else I would be surprised if they made it past the third or fourth match.

I think that is less true than it used to be. Cael Sanderson said in an interview that he was letting veterans choose when they wresled. And there was talk on here of Yianni skipping an early season tournament because of its proximity to a freestyle event. Those are just two examples, but I suspect it is more common.

Pinfalls used to be a big criteria, but are no longer. Gable Steveson won last year with one. Now the focus is on bonus percentage.

Olympic redshirt standards are specified in NCAA rules. I am not sure to what extent they are coordinated with USAW or if USAW has any input.

I was going to start a thread called "Yianni's Coattails" but then I saw this thread and decided to post this here instead. This year represents a shift in Hodge finalist philosophy. Never before have there been 10 finalists. And never before has there been a finalist with two losses. The stated Hodge criteria are record, dominance/bonus point rate, quality of competition, and sportsmanship. Historically, record has been interpreted as undefeated unless the field of undefeated wrestlers was particularly small (2008 and 2014, for example). But the revealed Hodge criteria this year is: did you win an NCAA title? All ten titlists are also Hodge finalists. By way of contrast, last year only 8 of 10 titlists were also Hodge finalists. The missing two were Aaron Brooks and Max Dean. What did they have in common? They each took a loss. But Brooks is a finalist this year with the same credentials as last year. So what is different about this year? The answer has to be that we have an unprecedented circumstance. We have a four timer who took a lose. I imagine the idea of not including a four timer on the finalist list was not a palatable one. But if you include one titlist with a loss, how do you exclude the other titlists with a loss, or even two? So Keegan O'Toole, Aaron Brooks, and Vito Arujau probably have Yianni Diakomihalis' coattails to thank for making it as finalists this year. The Hodge is ultimately decided by a vote anyway, and has been since 2013. And while the criteria are shared with the voters, that does not mean the voters pay much attention to them. The trend of voters going rogue began in 2019 when four voters voted for a co-Hodge to be split between Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal. Then in 2020 three wrestlers who were not even on the ballot received (non-first place) votes (Mark Hall, Vincenzo Joseph, and Zahid Valencia). There are also instances where votes can be like horseshoes where close is good. In 2021 we had co-winners without a reveal of the actual vote, but a statement that they finished in "a virtual tie" (which is synonymous with not a tie).

And he is a very nice man.

Mike Macchiavello fan. Does that count?

Feel free to keep the source confidential

Yeah, but that guy who only wrestled to seed needs to do much better. And don't start with the excuses like he was the #1 seed.

Forgot to do Better, At Worse analysis for each team. How it is organized: First three columns are the % of a teams wrestler that fit into each column (Better Than Seed, At Seed, Worse Than Seed). The second set of three columns is the average number of positions they were in the three categories. The third set of three is their average starting position (i.e. seed). Sorted by % Better: It may be a while before we here from @jajensen09

I heard he is retiring the NCAA Championship trophy

Let's start with the team race. Expectations We all know who won and by how much. But who made the seeding process look flawed? Well clearly that is American, Clarion, Drexel and Northern Colorado. They just need a few more wrestlers. Sometimes it is more about how you perform relative to expectations, than how you perform outright. But seriously, the out-performers of the tournament were Ohio State and Michigan. Of course, there is more room to out-perform when you start with lower initial seeds, but Ohio State's rise was enough to take them from a pre-tournament predicted 9th place finish all the way up to an actual fourth place finish. Penn State? Right on seed. For all the drama of a 2 for 5 Saturday night, really no drama thanks to guys like Bartlett and Van Ness beating their seed (and to a lesser extent Dean). Missouri over-seeded? Not so much. Can we put that one to bed? No. Never. That was foolish of me. Sorry. Bracketology Most busted? You got it. 125 was the most busted, but not for that reason,. For the other reason. We can credit App State's five seed for the biggest contribution followed by Oregon State's seven seed. That Iowa kid was only the third biggest contributor. On the flip side, 157 went closest to chalk. Seven of the top eight seeds finished on the podium and the won who did not, made it to the blood round (where he lost in SV to another top eight seed). For standard deviation though, it is actually 174. Take your pick. But Why Is It Always About the Big Dogs? After all, who doesn't love an under dog? The biggest out-performance always comes from the guys with the most to gain. Stand up and take a bow, gentlemen. Starting with Northern Colorado's Vinny Zerban who came into 157 as the 32 seed, but made the blood round for a Rocky Mountain High out-performance of 23 slots (I give him credit for ninth. Because). Next we have Virginia Tech's Eddie Ventresca who tore up his bracket, screamed at the Wrestling God's and said, "seeds don't matter." He came in as a 27 seed, but left as an All-American (7th). Not to be outdone, West Virginia's Killian Cardinale said, "yes, please, and thank you. I will take some of that." As he came in as the 28 seed at 125 and finished finished on the podium (8th). (OK, he was slightly outdone in that Ventresca beat him 7-6 in the seventh place match, but come on, why ya gotta be like that?) And not exactly bringing up the rear (but coming from there) Cal Poly's Dom Demas exemplified the "chip and a chair" mentality. When given a second bite at the apple by being awarded the 33 seed at 149 after an injury to another wrestler, he made it all the way to the blood round's blood round (let it be a thing) for a healthy 20 slot jump. Last on my arbitrarily sorted list, but first in Sparty's heart is Caleb Fish. The 165 pounder was seeded 29, but made the blood round. That Fish is a keeper.

What a relief. I almost thought your sources were not unimpeachable. Carry on Pat Min....er....Jimmy.

Jimmy's kindred spirit.

Indianamat too

Round of 12 gets you either 1.5, 2, 2.5 or 3 advancement points depending on your path. They trailed Cornell by six.

And you skipped over Nick Lee.

Finally admitting that the rest of your content is facetious in every way.

Next to Gable? Or on his back at Gable's feet?

I could not love his post- match interview any more. Hanging out with mom and dad. Arm around his dad. Dad with a big goofy grin. The two of them busting each others chops just a bit before crediting mom. And the kiss on top of dad's head to end it. Perfect.

If this is the criteria I will never be able to retire.

Even though he pissed away his shot at five, I think Ferrari can still be a 4 timer. Imagine that.

Moving from second to first gets you an extra four, so they would have also needed 1.5 more bonus points.

For my money, 2018 was more exciting. You had a nail biter of a team race with no one sure if it would be Ohio State's year or Penn State's year. You had a true freshman, Nick Lee, go from staring at the lights in the first round to winning five in a row, and six total, on the backside to provide the margin of victory. You had Captain America waiting in the wings to possibly put a cherry on top of an Ohio State championship. But before that could happen you had one of the most iconic moments in final's history when Bo Nickal goes from "Oh, no" to "Oh, yes" in a matter of seconds to seal the team title. Of course, that was my first time in attendance, so I thought they all would be like that.

There is an argument to be made that winning by a little ALL the time (or almost all the time) is a form of dominance. If it occurs over a short period of time it is easy to find other explanations (luck, weak competition, etc). But, if it occurs over a long period of time I think it is fair to say that it is dominance. Sometimes luck can look like dominance, but sometimes it is the other way around. I think this is one of those times.