Jimmy Cinnabon

BIG TEN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS INDIVIDUAL AWARDS Wrestler of the Year: Spencer Lee, Iowa Freshman of the Year: Levi Haines, Penn State Coach of the Year: Cael Sanderson, Penn State Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships: Spencer Lee, Iowa 2023 ALL-BIG TEN TEAM Spencer Lee, Iowa Real Woods, Iowa Mason Parris, Michigan Silas Allred, Nebraska Sammy Sasso, Ohio State Roman Bravo-Young, Penn State Aaron Brooks, Penn State Levi Haines, Penn State Carter Starocci, Penn State Dean Hamiti, Wisconsin

I said it before and will say it again. 4x NCAA champ Spencer Lee is a lock for the Hodge.

125: Steen - F. Sorry to be mean to Gary but he went 0-3, was dominated his first two matches and lost his 3rd match to one of the few guys he actually beat this year. He regressed throughout the year. The kid tries hard but is too small to be a D1 125 pounder. 133: RBY - A-. He won, albeit in an unimpressive fashion. Nagao is really good -- very Daton Fixesque. But RBY could have done more. 141: Bartlett - B-. Seeded 2nd, finished 3rd. Hardy is very good. Bartlett still lacks neutral offense and can struggle on bottom against good riders. I think he still AAs this year though (6th-8th). 149: SVN - B+. Seeded 5th and finished 4th. Still hasn't scored in an offensive point in 3 matches against Murin. Dominates lower competition but can't seem to beat a top 10 guy. 157: Haines - A+. True freshman wins Big 10s. Did he get lucky on that no-TD call? Absolutely. It was a questionable or even bad call. That said, he still got the winning takedown in OT. Seems like pulling his shirt was the correct decision. 165: Facundo - D. Seems to be regressing. His limited offense is becoming even more limited. Earlier this year I projected him as a mid-low AA type. Now looking more like a R12 guy at best. The weight is brutal and he just doesn't score enough. 174: Starocci - A - Labriola never stood a chance. Pace and aggression is looking rock solid. 184: Brooks - A - Made a great wrestler in Romero look like a chump. Could have stalled him out if he wanted. 197: Dean - C. Looked small, slow and weak against Allred. Lacking in neutral offense and couldn't score without getting on top. Now looking at a tough slog to repeat over even place top 4. Will need an incredible luck streak like last year to reach the finals again. HWT: Kerk - B. Better match gameplan against Parris this time, still couldn't get it done. Parris is Kerk with a bigger gastank. Penn State needs to figure out a way for him to score a TD against Paris. Team overall: B+. Seems like a harsh grade given they won Big 10s but Bartlett (slightly), Facundo (badly) and Dean underperformed while SVN and Haines overperformed. Penn State will need to improve a lot to lock up NCAAs...definitely not a sure thing at this point. Iowa has to be feeling very good about their chances at NCAAs given this weekend.

Kerk was gassed

Dean is too small for the weight. He was last year too but it really showed versus Allred.

I think Nebraska is my new second favorite team. Their guys are just so damn likable.

Dean looked tiny compared to Allred. Allred owned him in every position.

They were never counting on any points from 125 at B10s or nationals.

Cass shrunk and got worse (at least vs Kerk) Hilger went Fat Thor and got worse Kerk got big and got better

Kid was an offensive dynamo coming out of high school with a David Taylor-esque ankle pick. Now he seems to have forgotten how to shoot and how to ride. Is he hurt?

He didn’t get a major. Unless they changed the score after the match ended.

Van Ness has scored zero offensive points vs Murin in two matches, so what logical reason to you have to believe this?

Kerk could have taken down Orndorf 20 times that match. Instead settles for 3 takedowns and rides for 6:30. Orndorf doesn't even more for a good 6:29 and doesn't get hit for stalling at all. Kerk doesn't try to get the major and settles for a 8-1 win. Very odd. Even more odd the PSU coaches aren't yelling for him to cut him and get the major. Why not cut him and get the major at least? Iowa is bonusing like crazy; Penn State needs every bonus point they can get.

Outbonusing Penn State big time. They've won every match in which they've been favored and won a few where they were the underdogs. And they've won all the head to head matchups.

Real Woods

Spencer pins both of them. At the same time.

The documentary should solely be about Spencer Lee.

I remember coming out of high school Malik and Kurt McHenry were the 2 big "can't miss" prospects at 125. Malik had a solid, but unspectacular career. How is McHenry doing?

Does this open the door for Steen?

Iowa

Of the 2nd ranked wrestlers on Intermat, who has the best chance at winning it all at NCAAs? My take - from most likely to least likely. 1. Real Woods - he's been dominant this year. A primo transfer for Iowa. He may actually be the favorite over #1 Alirez. 2. AOC - undefeated former champ. Certainly capable of taking out Robb. 3. Kerkvliet - Parris is undefeated but I think Greg can beat him with a smarter gameplay that doesn't result in him gassing himself early 4. Fix - although he's 0-2 versus RBY you have to think 3rd time is a charm. 4. O'Toole - although Carr dominated him he could flip the script. 5. Beard - 197 has been pretty open all year, except Nino hasn't taken a L yet 7. Labriola - the funk doesn't work against someone as sound as Starrocci 8. Keckeisen - I think Hidlay actually has a better shot at taking out Brooks 9. Gomez - would have been much higher had he not gotten injured 10. Pat Glory - Spencer is the GOAT.

Penn State is the best team in the country and in the Big 10. Iowa will comfortably take 2nd but Penn State rolls to a 20+ point victory in the team race.

The annual question about Big 10+. Do you need the conference pass or just the school pass (Penn State for me) to watch Big 10s?

These are fair and balanced pre-seeds.

Both 4x champs. Both known for incredible strength. Both known for being super tough on top. Lee is smaller but it has been said he would be able to win titles at weights up to 157 pounds. At their primes who wins?