Hillbilly Jim

Screw Bormet and Michigan. I will openly root against them at any event.

I am no college sports expert so Help me understand your point. I hate nil and how stars from small and medium will get poached. I hope Michigan’s model crashes and burns somehow. But if I am the AD at Little Rock and Nasir Bailey leaves—why will I cut the program? I may not like it…but the program costs the same as it did before Bailey came there. Most of these programs have no expectation of beating the power schools—same as all sports. In fact, wrestling offers them a better chance to get an AA than say basketball does. Don’t laugh at me if I am missing the obvious—just sincerely asking why nil will cause programs to be cut? I ask because we the wrestling community are rightfully angered by what Title ix did to wrestling. But when we scream about how we expect wrestling programs getting cut all the time, I think it almost gives AD’s the go ahead and do it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I am not apt to scream about the sky falling for reasons that maybe isn’t the cause unless I can understand why. And again, we agree—nil does suck.

What’s the word on Hamiti? Is he gonna take his time and negotiate for the best deal? Or does he already have it narrowed down to a couple specific destinations?

I don’t know about that—I tend to doubt it. They bumped him up to 149 against Northwestern true freshman and it seemed to me too much for him. Also, they have the Bennett kid from Ohio coming in who is a 149/157. Seems like best case scenario is if Byrd can stay at 133. Baysingar takes over at 141 when Pucino is done?

Facundo and Kennedy are the interesting ones. Do they leave programs that they seem to love? i don’t see Talshahar leaving. Coming off medical redshirt at a premium school with a so-so record and so-so hit list. I mean what’s his market? Where will he go and be the starter that would give and be a better situation? Taye to Michigan makes sense though.

I would love to see the stats on the at large bids. Which conference’s at large bids did the best (and hence maybe deserved more love from the selection committee). I realize maybe there aren’t enough AAs in the at larges to be statistically relevant so maybe just win %?

To be honest, I don’t see a ton of upside on this roster. Feldman has some. 125 has some I suppose. But I think Welsh overachieved in a very weak weight class. And by no means will Birden ever see 149 again. He is like 6 ft tall and I think went 165 this season. I suppose he is an upgrade over Hepner. PSU will kill them in the Tournament.

Maybe--but Chittum doesn't look that big to me. And Paniro doesn't look like a 157 either. And it is hard to say where Paniro will be in the fall after being out all year. Will be interesting....

They got some guy named Chittum there....

A little generous, but I will give Illinois 165, 174 and HWT. Minn 23 - Ill 9.

Keep going! 149, 157, 165???

Well they will also get a boost with Talshahar coming back next year. The medical RS would give him two more years if he wants them.

Depends on who the top wrestler is

BTN

Rathjen/Ferrari > Rooks/Bond

I don’t know what makes me lose more respect for Cornell Wrestling: a) the ducking; or b) Grey’s sad excuse message—dude is literally ducking the duck issue. #ownitorjustsaynothing

Imagine the scramble to get in late season open events to make it in the top 32..........

If you seed all 32, everyone has continual incentive to wrestle and post wins.

Just thinking out loud, but what about keeping seeds and incentivizing wins and quality wins--don't punish losses at all? Just seed based on who has the most wins weighted for quality. This way guys will be encouraged to get as many wins as they can--particularly the quality wins--and no downside for losing. Put in some guardrails for allowable number of matches so guys don't wrestle too much.

So does no Webster mean redshirt?

I agree with that. Shapiro is technically superior and I knew Andonian's best shot was some big or freaky....

I wouldn't say any weakness--but was it my imagination or did you notice once the score got lopsided that Andonian was kind of playing and toying with positions? Like he wasn't looking to pull the trigger or score--just looking for some big move openings to exploit next time....

Don't forget Gomez....

idk--Murin, Kaleb Young and Warner were as boring as it gets. Particularly Young.

157: Downey dec P Gallagher