Jimmy Cinnabon

It's shocking to me that he hasn't been poached to be a head coach. Listen to any interview with former Penn State wrestlers, or watch who a Penn State wrestler hugs first after winning a NCAA title. There's a reason Penn State's most successful weights have been middleweights 157-184 over the last decade. If Iowa wants to retake the mountain making Cunningham their new HC would be the biggest, fastest and most effective move to make.

I'm not very high on Facundo. Just not enough offense.

Star said he loves wrestling but not school. I think he's done. Would love to see Hamiti win a title in blue and white.

Assuming Bartlett, Starocci and Kerkvliet don't come back. 125 Lillledahl 133 Davis 141 Kasak 149 SVN 157 Mesenbrink 165 Haines 174 [transfer - how about Dean Hamiti?] 184 [transfer - how about Parker Keckeisen?] 197 [transfer - does Michael Beard want to come home?] HWT [Kerk seems like he may come back. If not, Nathan Taylor from Lehigh?]

Yup, owning Taylor is the most impressive thing. Much more so than 4 different weights or winning as a true freshman.

Perhaps we can tier them by dominance at their peak in college Tier S - these guys make their opponents look silly; winning is so easily they just experiment with new moves during matches Ruth Taylor Zain Nolf Nickal Tier A - very dominant where the outcome is never in doubt and almost always bonus Brooks Starocci Tier B RBY Joseph Wright Lee Haines Kerk Tier C Hall Cassar Dean Brown Megaludis Molinaro Davis

Agree, and Dake was HUGE in each of those weight classes. He never looked small for the weight he was in. For example, Frank Molinaro was a hulk at 149 and Dake made him look 20 pounds lighter. Dake must have bird bones.

This seems to be giving no credit to the Cornell room, his RTC or any of his other training partners. I'm sure it wasn't Dake rolling with a bunch of newbies for 4 years.

There are 80 AA spots across 10 weights. The Big Ten had 74 qualifiers (63 auto and 11 at large). 30 made AA, so a little over 40% of the Big Ten's guys made AA.

While Mr. Dale was impressive it's not like he wasn't a full sized wrestler in each of those 4 weight classes. There's nothing inherently more challenging about winning in 4 different weight classes than winning the same class 4 years in a row like Spencer did (or was supposed to).

Those seem like 2 factors you can't really blame Brooks for...

Based solely on performance during their college years, how do you rank these guys: Jason Nolf (3x champ, 4x finalist) Bo Nickal (3x champ, 4x finalist, Hodge) Ed Ruth (3x champ) Zain Retherford (3x champ, 2x Hodge) Aaron Brooks (4x champ, Hodge) Carter Starocci (4x champ) David Taylor (2x champ, 4x finalist, 2x Hodge) Quentin Wright (2x champ, 3x finalist) Vicenzo Joseph (2x champ, 3x finalist...missed last shot due to COVID cancelling season) Of the current group I expect the following to be multi-time champs by the time they finish college: Kasak (at 141) Levi Haines Mesenbrink Kerk (if he comes back)

Why was he able to avoid Zahid?

#4 at 125 (and returning finalist) Matt Ramos going 2-2 and not placing

1. Sanderson 2. Brooks 3. Starocci (would have been #2 without the knee injury) 4. Dake 5. Smith 6. Yianni 7. Stieber Brooks and Starocci over Dake because Dake had a much lower career bonus percentage

#3 at 165 Julian Ramirez going 2-2 and not placing #5 at 165 Dean Hamiti going 2-2 and not placing

Another nominee #5 at 174 Philip Conigiliaro went 0-2 BBQ. FRL highlighted how he was seeded 4 seeds higher than Starocci.

You might be thinking #1 Braeden Davis going 2-2, but he lost to the eventual champ in Richie Figs and AA placer Volk. 125 was also such a crazy weight that being the number 1 seed meant very little in terms of predicative power. Instead, might it be #2 Bastida who also went 2-2? Bastida had knocked off all the top heavies and was coming for Kerk's head. Yet he failed to make the podium.

Pindrickson?

Having a loss 99% of the time eliminates you from contention for the Hodge

But Starocci technically has two losses this year.

They really should switch. Haines is huge and Mesenbrink is a small 165 pounder. He got big brothered by Carr last night, especially when Carr was on top.

Sadly I think his shoulder is cooked.

NFM

Realistic contenders (must be undefeated): Brooks (4x NCAA champ) Keck (1x NCAA champ) Kerk (1x NCAA champ) Haines (1x NCAA champ) Unrealistic contenders: 1. Vito (has multiple losses but is a 2x champ) 2. Starocci (has multiple medical forfeits but is a 4x champ beating two former champs in Lewis and Griffith) 3. Carr (has multiple losses but is a 2x champ)