Jimmy Cinnabon

Well to be fair he fell short of winning a NCAA title in his five tries.

America isn’t even the best country for freestyle wrestling though. So why do we assume foreigners would rush to the U.S. to wrestle collegiately?

But speaking English doesn't mean they'd actually be interested in wrestling in America...

He is also extremely short for a projected 133/141 pounder. So was Luke Pletcher, but the lack of length certainly isn't boosting his upside.

1 is only your personal opinion is 2 true? 3 is true of course

Freestyle, more so than folkstyle, allows a wrestler to literally win without scoring an offensive point (passivity->shot clock-> points). I feel it often leads to results where a wrestler who arguably did less than his opponent can be declared the victor. Also, matches are seldom loaded with pushout points which folkstyle haters claim will boost scoring and action. So do we still want to abolish folkstyle and switch college to exclusively freestyle?

Lots of unsavory behavior by Penn State fans (and wrestlers) this weekend at the Olympic Team Trials. Several Penn State immortals fell (David Taylor). Was this the weekend that finally turned the tide on Penn State for both recruits and wrestling fans generally? Is Penn State now the evil empire?

How would that tag team shake things up if they replaced the Brands at Iowa?

Unless he plans on wrestling 184 or 197 next year at NCAAs?

He seems to be flying under the radar a bit.

Maybe OK State now that there's a new head coach there...

I (and many other people) called this as the obvious move when Scott went from HC of UNC to an assistant at OK State. It made no sense unless he was promised the HC job soon.

I could see him landing at Iowa or Ohio State

Spencer Lee is considered the Iowa GOAT even though he "only" won 3 NCAA titles

Bassett to Iowa and Jax to Ohio State

Looks inviting? https://www.instagram.com/p/C5RBvVHu6ts/?igsh=MWM5MWV4OTVxM2ppMg==

I mean I'm sure RBY is crying himself to sleep every night due to the shame...

Even with being held back, RBY was *only* 24 when he finished his NCAA career. Relatively young compared to all 25 and 26 year old 8th year seniors we have these days.

Even if true, what relevance does it have to anything now?

Brooks has the most pins of the 5.

There may be more points (due to pushouts) but does it lead to more takedowns, backpoints, reversals, etc?

Will it though? Wrestlers who play the edge will just circle back in bounds. And wrestlers may just try to push each other to score points rather than taking shots.

Does a new team rise to the top because they're better at pushing guys out? The obvious thought is Iowa moves up to the top. Does a team that likes to play the edge (Arizona State, NC State) fall down a few spots? Or does not much change?

There are 5 nominees and 4 are from Penn State (Haines, Kerk, Brooks and Starocci). The Penn State vote is obviously going to get split and it could be significant. Therefore Keckheisen is likely to win the Hodge this year. https://www.win-magazine.com/2024/03/26/fanvote-2/

Now I know you're saying "But wait, Penn State had 3 guys start that came via the transfer portal in Nagao, Mesenbrink, and Truax!" That's true, but take away their NCAA points (3 for Nagao, 12.5 for Truax and 19.5 for Mesenbrink; a total of 35) and project the points scored by their replacements and Penn State still would have won...maybe by 70 or 80 points instead of 100. Now look at teams that placed in the top 5 and look and their transfer contribution. Would Michigan have taken home a trophy without NIL/transfer portal? They had Deaugustino, Cannon (hurt), Gomez, Griffith and Davison --- all transfers. Would Iowa have placed top 5 without Teske, Woods, Franek and Caliendo? I don't think so. See Penn State is getting so many blue chip recruits out of high school that the only way EVERYONE ELSE can compete is to use the transfer portal to buy proven talent that other teams have recruited/developed. Take away NIL/transfer portal and the gulf between Penn State and everyone else only grows larger.