AnklePicker

DT tech and pinned his way through this year if I’m not mistaken. People always made such a big deal of gable not giving up a point and rightfully so that’s super impressive, but give me the guy who pins or tech falls his way through all day every day.

Musukaev is def not Hungarian.

Tsabalov took third.

So Burroughs won 6 world titles and 1 Olympic title and he’s behind a guy who won 1 Olympic title 3 world titles? Wow.

Dake shot one time and scored cleanly. When it was 3-3 he should have went on the attack. Sidakov was well prepared for the chest wrap. Kept shelving that leg and getting it off the mat. After the first time Dake should have know. Better but that’s his natural reaction. Great match.

The question is when does Taylor start to decline. He’s 32 to Yaz’s 28. Crazy how little the best of the best actually compete. DT probably wrestled 100 matches as an 8 year old but as the best in the world he barely competes.

Ahh my bad. But even if they aren’t in the military that doesn’t mean they have nothing to do with it or don’t support it. Maybe you should have to denounce the war before being allowed to participate.

How do you know the Russian wrestlers, “have nothing to do with what’s going on?” Seems many Russian wrestlers are entrenched in their government often going from athlete to politician once retired.

Meant Lilledahl and Mendez struggled. Neither one took barely any shots in their finals matches.

Thing about messinbrink and Shapiro is they both wrestle so hard. They both also have a nasty club/collar tie. They just keep coming. I think Messenbrink may be a little more savvy in his leg attacks but Shapiro’s defense…my god.

I mean they did bang him for a point. But it was so excessive. Ahh my elbow. Ok now it’s fine and I can get off the match winning shot 5 secs later.

Also can we please acknowledge what a heck of a coach Ben Askren is. I know Mitchell’s dad was his HS coach but man, two junior world champs on your club is pretty impressive.

If you’re a college coach. Who you taking if you could only have one…Shapiro or Messenbrink? I’ll go Shapiro. He just seems special. I think it was all the rolling around on that exercise hall that gives him that uncanny lateral motion. Messenbrink just so good at getting to the legs. That’s where Lilledahl and Berge struggled was just getting off an attack. Took Mitchell all of 1 sec to get a shot off.

That match was so frustrating to watch. Couldn’t believe he pulled it out at the end after just giving up a point for not getting the hell up and wrestling.

Ok but the EIWA was a 19-6 win for Vito. He crushed him. Then he lost. That doesn't happen often.

Vito could wrestle RBY next week with a totally different outcome. Remember he crushed Glory last year at EIWAs only to lose to him at nationals. That said when Vito is on he is obviously world champ class. I think what set him apart is all of those high level matches vs international competition. He's wrestled guys who are better than RBY.

Best wrestling room of all time? Add Brooks and Starocci and RBY, Kerk. Unreal.

Dang Sammy Alvarez transferring? Anyone know the reasons why and where he might be headed?

No injuries? I seem to remember Kem having major shoulder problems no?

Yes agreed, lighter coaches more influence over lighter guys and heavier coaches more influence over heavier guys. But all work very well in their roles.

Their secret sauce, and it’s not very secret at this point, is Casey Cunningham. Wrestling coaching is about personality, Casey’s is the perfect yin to Cael’s yang. Obviously the burger is Cael, Cody is the lettuce and tomato but Casey is the secret sauce that brings it all together.

There should certainly be a category for defense as well. When you add that to the list, O’toole is the best wrestler in the country.

Well at the end of the day it’s the old eye test. I think his defense is better than all of the guys you listed. I also think he’s better on top than all but Lee. He doesn’t have a deficiency on bottom and his takedowns are underrated. The kid has one loss in his career and it occurred as a true freshman bumped up a weight. He also teched 11-0 in the finals of the junior worlds. Now I know it’s not senior worlds but it’s also nothing to sneeze at. I think he’s a better overall folkstyler than anyone on your list. Freestyle is harder to argue at this point but if I’m a coach doing a draft, give me O’Toole.

I think it was Mocco. I remember getting into some heated debates with JTTS about Mocco / McCoy. BTW both of those dudes look about 60 pounds. lighter these days.

My takeaways: O'Toole is the best wrestler in the NCAA this year. That includes Spencer, Yianni et al. He's the man. Completely dominated every second of his match with a game Hamiti. He is terrific in every position and his defense is even better. I said after his loss his freshman year that he would never lose again. Now I'd be a lot of money on it. Brooks looked bigger, stronger and just completely superior to Keckiesan. He's at a different level. I don't see Mekhi ever beating Carter. Carter stalked him the entire match and I don't think Mekhi even got a shot off let alone scoring on one. Carter is better on bottom and much better on top. Rode Mekhi easily. Elam has leg attacks, Warner doesn't. Credit to Warner for funking out of a shot and taking it to OT but Elam is the better wrestler imo. Cass just kept walking right into Kerk's low level attacks and had no answer in terms of a counter. Kerk started to gas but not enough to make a difference. Gomez's knee pull shot is one of the best in the game. Once he knew he needed to score he just turned up the heat and got to his offense. How can you not like this kid's style of wrestling? Alirez just kept attacking. He's the man right now at 141 which seems like a weak weight overall.