Eagle26

The fan vote doesn’t decide the hodge it’s just one factor they use. Keck could win the fan vote and they are still going to give it Brooks (rightfully so). Their stats are very similar but Brooks had tougher competition and is a 4 timer. I think they should not have even included the other three Penn state wrestlers on the voting options and just made it between Brooks and Keck. But either way, I doubt the Penn state vote is going to split much, 90%+ will be voting for brooks and they have a pretty big fan base.

Good for Hardy for being a good sport, but sometimes I just don’t understand why wrestling is its own worst enemy. I mean this is like the biggest viral picture from the NCAA championships? Come on! This is what the non wrestlers see and think that’s why they never want to wrestle or want their kid to wrestle. How about promoting all the awesome stories more than posting the most embarrassing picture you can find!

Exactly. And this is huge. I saw a post that AWA kids scored like 70 points at NCAAs which would have put them in 4th place, just ahead of Iowa. So it doesn’t even matter if its Ben or Bono in the wrong, the number one priority of Wisconsin HAS to be keeping the AWA kids in state. Then you could have a similar opportunity as Penn state (just not quite to that level because PA is the best )

This is actually a good question and I don’t follow any other sports so I have no idea lol. Good info from @SocraTease, but I’m curious too if there are any current dynasties going on right now that can rival what Penn State has done?

Your lack of understanding of freestyle wrestling is very evident. First off, the example you used of stalling on bottom is about the worst example you could use. In freestyle on bottom, you actively defend turns for about a 10 second sprint. Even if one guy tries to stall, it’s only 10 seconds. I literally saw matches at NCAAs with one guy riding another guy with zero turns, escapes, anything for 4 minutes! Furthermore, “no one” watches freestyle in America because it’s simply a cultural thing. Many other countries a ton of people watch freestyle. Of the those that truly know and understand both styles, I find that the vast majority prefer freestyle

Thanks for the insight on Smith! I admittedly don’t know much about his career and that’s great info. I was aware of Yianni winning as a true freshman as well but wasn’t sure of Smith. As I said before I think it’s the combination of winning as a true frosh and dominating DT that sets Dake apart. Maybe Smith has a better argument for that number two slot than I thought though

I totally agree that it’s 1. Cael, 2. Dake, and then splitting hairs. Yes Steiber probably should’ve lost to Oliver but he also probably had the toughest competition and was 119-3, so you can make a pretty good argument for him. Pat smith was before my time, so it’s hard for me to say where he falls. I would give him extra credit for being the first, but he does have the most losses of the group.

I agree that the stat on Dake winning 4 different weights is more of a neat trivia question rather than something that bolsters his argument. But the fact that he won as a TRUE freshman is huge. That and owning David Taylor who is one of our all time greats easily puts him right behind Cael.

Everybody is always critical of announcers no matter what. Kinda like being a ref, you’re always going to upset some people. So I do feel bad for him. That said, I have to admit that I thought DC talked way too much and it was often about things that weren’t really relevant

Well yeah, it’s not called best coach award. It would be pretty boring if they just gave the award to the coach of the team that won nationals every year. Cael is obviously the best coach so he doesn’t need the extra recognition. Although this year, I would’ve been fine with seeing him get it. 100 point differential is crazy. But the award is meant to be who stood out this year as opposed to what was expected. Little Rock getting their first two AAs definitely fits the bill

I agree he doesn’t look huge at 165, but his conditioning is his best weapon. Why run the risk of loosing that by cutting too much? He lost a super close match to a 6th year senior and the weight is all his next year. No reason for him to risk losing his edge by going down.

I don’t know about Mesenbrink going down, but I just can’t envision Haines staying at 157 again. He looks huge to me and I think his gas tank was down a bit this year. He’s pretty young so likely still growing. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he leap frogs MM and takes over at 174 if Starocci is done.

Few things more pathetic than attacking someone for their religious beliefs anonymously on the internet

Wow. Duh… getting my years mixed up. I need to stop posting and go to bed

Doesn’t he have a bye to the semi finals?

100 point margin of victory is insane! Congrats to Penn State and it was cool watching a historic event. Now let’s hope for some more parity next year. I’d love to see a close team race with someone different winning next year!

Yes, I agreed it’s a reality. I just don’t really think it’s a great thing to say as the announcer. I’m not real concerned about it though. I still love JB and loved his response to Nickal

I actually did think it was unprofessional to say on the mic and I am a HUGE JB fan. I understand it’s a reality but he shouldn’t be saying that as an announcer

And the 2,3,4 nearfall… it really does make a huge difference in bonus. I demand an asterisk lol

Impressive mental toughness by Starocci. I was never a fan of his but you have to respect his grit. On crutches 12 days ago… to winning a national title with a really tough draw!

Yes I know. But there were at least two others he should have had that were close to the edge and didn’t go out right away

Another reason this OOB stalling rule sucks is that the refs wait to call stalling now until they go out. In prior years, if some one is backing up and the other guy is shooting, they would throw up the stall as soon as the guy shoots (as they should). Now they wait and if they don’t go out, they avoid a stall call. Fix (and many others) dodged some stall calls that way

Wow! This is crazy! Right call for no takedown both times, but it sure is making it look like Fix is the villain

Need a point of emphasis on whether or not this is a takedown. It should be universally known as its a super common position. All these challenges are killing us

JB knows how blood can kill momentum… bringing up bad memories from 2016