wrestle87

This is true, it just seems to extend across upper classmen who are already accomplished all americans themselves. Honestly, I think it happened to Kyle Snyder when he went to that room too.

It appears you are precisely correct.

So, I'm curious, kind of bc I'm from NJ and the dynamic is somewhat similar in regards to high school talent vs viable wrestling destinations, do wisconsin fans continue to root for Wisconsin kids when they go out of state? I know from NJ, that always sort of seems to be the case, you know who the jersey kids are, and you root for them regardless of the singlet, because its good for wrestling within the state. NJ college programs have never been (and still are not) a major proven pathway to major success at the NCAA level. They won't actively get in your way or hinder you, which is great progress, but they aren't going to turn you into a champion. This has always been kind of known and acknowledged, so any time a kid can get an offer to a bigger program with more pedigree, support, and a better track record, it's always viewed as a serious win.

This is tough, are we talking about getting Wisconsin to actually kind of be a program again...or "who is the guy who can come in and make this amongst the best 3 teams in the nation?" In my entire lifetime, Wisconsin has always been the same kind of team...extremely inconsistent across the lineup, but always with a few dudes who the average ncaa qualifer wants nothing to do with. After a brief perusal of AA data, Wisconsin has only had 2 seasons since 1980 with more than 3 AA's, those was 2010 and 2011. The functional high-watermark for the program, which could be something that is an issue at the institutional level instead of the coaching level, is effectively 3 AA's. In that time span since 1980, Wisconsin has had 6 National Champions. Call me crazy badger fans...are you guys a little delusional when it comes to the actual historic strength and institutional support of your program?

Lol, I love this game… Sioredas > Cael J Borrelli > Bormet

My thoughts/feelings on it exactly. He was very one-dimensional last hear, I think people just didn’t take him seriously, so everyone let him throw in legs. This year people just didn’t give him that position, and it went well. Guys who transfer into PSU always take a step down the first year, some improve others don’t. My assumption has always been that life in that room is WAY harder than what they were used to, and it shows because transfers always look shell shocked AND look less practiced in their old style of moves. Truax also looked rather deer in the headlights all year, he just made it happen when it mattered, but nobody would have been super surprised if he didn’t AA either. It’s a room that clearly doesn’t work for everyone, and universally even the full pull PSU guys talk about the first yesr just being a butt whooping.

It's the heel wrap ankle/leg twisting move that Plott used on Truax to attack his knee/break his leg. I first saw Ryan Deakin use it against Jacori Teemer, go to the 6:10 mark to see him just flat out attack teemer's knee when he's in on a single and doesn't actually feel like dealing with teemer's athleticism and counters anymore. Plott did the same piece of sh*t move. In his match with Truax, if you go to the 1:30 mark of the first period, you see him do the same thing, wrap the heel, pull the foot to his body, hip heist under and turn his chest to the sky. It's effectively recreating a heel hook from a single leg finish, it's one of the dirtiest moves you can do, immediate acl surgery almost guaranteed. It just grenades all the cartilage and ligaments all over the knee.

I just went back and watched this year's Brooks Hidlay final. That was an absolute stomping. The score doesn't show it, but that was the least competitive match they've had across the entirety of their series of matches against one another. Hidlay couldn't move Brooks at all. Brooks already looked like the bigger guy at WTT last year, I don't think anybody at 86kg is going to bring any sort of challenge to these two, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a 2021 Tokyo JB/Dake-style dethroning this year. It's not what anybody is expecting, but after watching that match again...I'm penciling that in as my most likely dark horse upset.

Man, this, f*cking this, I was yelling at my computer watching that match, Plott pulling out the Deakin special right in front of the refs and nobody doing a damn thing about it was an extra special level of horseshit.

Lol, I would really enjoy it if the state had to legally change it's name every year depending on which wrestling team finished higher in march. Some day it might even be the Panther State.

Yeah, for real. UW is not shabby at all...OSU...very pronounced shab.

Mediocre season, good post-season, which is all anybody cares about. Davison, Gomez, and Griffith all placed above where people would likely have expected them to place. They brought home the meat when it counted, and they proved to ALL the super-seniors around the country that they are the best environment for a 1-year plug and play.

Unpopular question, did Hamiti have to throw his bloodround match in order to get the transfer deal to go through?

Hamiti's going to be a problem next year, what with actually having coaches and all...

Northwestern is always going to be the most threatened by the Michigan mercenaries next door. They are the most proximate school in terms of academic requirements, and it was just too easy for Bormet to poach davison, cannon and DeAug. That said, even though this was a down year, the program is coming off the strongest 3-4 year run potentially in program history. But...they need stronger assistant coaches. All three coaches in their room are the same size...and the assistants have 3 all-american honors between them. Is there a wildcat RTC? Having Yahya Thomas walk out the door and wind up at the NJ RTC is a loss.

This right here. Yeah, US wrestling has almost no leadership presence at the organizational level. RTC's have effectively replaced Colorado Springs from a wrestling perspective...so what's the point of USA wrestling right now besides pushing paper?

Does he have some CTE issues? This is really starting to look/sound more and more like Antonio Brown level weirdness.

This is an extremely common practice, and RBY talked about this openly in the documentary Flo did on him. I believe the kids these days refer to this story as a big fat nothing-burger…

Gimme Vito, Yianni, Dake I think Spencer has the best game in town when he’s healthy, but he’s like Gomez at this point, knees are always a concern. Yianni, I’m hoping, is back from his dinged noggin. Nick Lee has a very strong anti-Yianni style, but Yianni has the tools to go further. Dake…is Dake. It’s his weight class and, even though the weight class is deep, he’s a generational talent and its his time. Dake was very smart in that he adapted his style to be easier on his body. This was JB’s downfall I believe. 10K reps of ploughing his face into the faces and chests of the strongest people on the planet takes a toll.

No question Salazar would be better at 174 if he can maintain his energy levels. He's built like a brick sh*thouse, but he's also a solid head shorter than a lot of the guys he wrestles. It's only so useful to be yoked if you don't have the limb length to apply it at the angles you need to win positions. But Salazar is also gigantic. The 174/184 divide is one that very few wrestlers cross back and forth between, two distinctly different sizes of human being occupy those weightclasses, the gap is almost as big as the difference between 184 and 197. Just immense differences in horsepower (on average).

Ultimately, stalling is about engagement enforcement, and exists to craft the bounds of the competition setting. The OB stalling and 5-count stalling were really good a few years ago because they were a bigger part of strategy, and got in the way of what many wrestlers used to navigate sticky situations. Now, however, it has gotten pretty bad. Wrestlers have learned "oh, I can actually back my ass all the way out, running practically, but if I circle back in at the last second, no stalling for me. Referees have gotten lazy about enforcing good ol' regular "you're not wrestling and are avoiding meaningful engagement, you sir, are stalling". Meaningful engagement and "presenting yourself" for wrestling is a big part of this. That's why Lewan almost never got hit for stalling. Did he take a ton of shots, no, but he stood there with his arms pretty wide open, standing up pretty straight, he wasn't really bicycle-happy. And...yeah, there were some ATROCIOUS referee performances this year in the finals.

Oh man, if there was a southpark obtuse reference to throw in and I missed it, I am disappointed in myself.

I love shawshank, but I do my best to never pass up an opportunity to include the family guy versions of things