Konquest

Blaze is a tough out on the senior level. Not sure if you could say the same about Duke or Lockett.

A lot of people hate on Wisconsin, but Massoma Endene is a first-time D1 starter that is going to have people talking. He just won U23's, although that was kind of a weak weight. But he's been training at UNI in addition to Wartburg, so I've got to imagine that he's rolling with Keckeisen, Voelker, and Gunderson, which is a great room to be in for a guy in the upper weights.

I'd bet Antrell Taylor and Kannon Webster are both 157 next year. It's pretty well known that Taylor went 165 because 4x AA Peyton Robb was at 157 for Nebraska.

He's gone on a pretty nice run this Spring. Won nationals in Greco and got 6th in FS (losing to the aforementioned Cael Hughes in a wild 11-10 match), and today he won the WTT. I don't know if he's doing freestyle too, but that's pretty crazy at that level, where most all of the top Greco guys are specialists, for him to turn around and be right in the freestyle mix as well.

Cory Land at UNI

Danny Ainge is considered the best high school athlete of all time, FWIW.

I don't always wear sweatpants, but when I do, I tuck them into my socks.

Calling it "corrupt" (for an org that's adjacent to a college program) to hire a parent of an athlete/recruit is dependent on the qualifications of said parent. A wrestling program at any level hiring Nate Carr for a leadership position is pretty much beyond reproach, as he might be the 2nd best wrestler in ISU program history. Derek Fix, on the other hand, was a 3x state champ in HS and Cadet World Champ. Went to OSU and injuries derailed his wrestling career, but became a top HS coach for decades. So it's not like he's some rando that they hired with zero qualifications, either. Another reality in the recruiting game is the changing landscape of NIL deals and work from home/remote jobs. For example, in the last century it was considered shady if a family of a top recruit moved into a community (HS or College) and there would be questions of how this family got jobs and got ties to the community so quickly. Now, depending on the careers of the family's breadwinner, there are families who can pack up and follow their children all over to be closer to their sports endeavors.

It's obviously not done yet, seeing as how they don't have wall mats, signage, etc. and there are literally boxes of equipment in plastic wrap all over. I think they put the mats down to show a reference for how massive the wrestling area is, and yeah, it's huge. As for it looking dark and gloomy, well, their color scheme is black with a tiny little bit of yellow, and I'm sure there are going to be some lighting updates as well. I think new mats have a powdery substance on them to keep them from being sticky, not unlike how new machinery has oil all over it that has to be wiped off when it comes out. Bottom line, this is going to be the biggest and best facility.

The thing I like about Cayden and Crosby on "Clash of Combat", is that they are the same age and going through the same grind (albeit at the Division 2 level) as the college wrestling stars they interview. So there is a more familiar, casual, sometimes goofy, and candid conversational vibe about it rather than the interviewee acting like he or she is talking to some media figure. It's college wrestlers talking to other college wrestlers and it's pretty unfiltered. A good example was when they just hung out on Real Woods' front porch and shot the shit for an hour. Still, the best wrestling podcast I've ever heard was the multi-part "Wrestling Changed My Life" show where they talked about Northern Iowa NCAA champ Tony Davis' VERY rough backstory in Chicago. That was eye opening, and unique storytelling for a sport that historically has stronger ties to predominantly white rural and suburban locations.

Lovett was not emotionally ready to come back after his semi loss.

For what it's worth, Burroughs made the EXACT same comments last year when Munoz lost to Keckeisen in the semis. If you remember, Munoz tore his knee up and couldn't really move, so Keckeisen just circled and posted on his head and let the time wind down. In the post-match interview, Parker said (I'm paraphrasing) that he knew that Munoz was hurt bad and would be forfeiting to 6th, so why would he kick him while he was down? Well, during the match, Burroughs said that he would attack the injury and "finish him" like in "Mortal Kombat".

Laying in bed tossing and turning, and praying that I'd float 1.5 lb overnight and not have to put on the sweats and jog too much in the morning.

Alberts cut UNO wrestling over the phone during the celebration of their national title. Then when the team got back to Omaha the next day, he had already placed padlocks and chains on their facility entrances, locking them out.

Deakin was the most gigantic wrestler for his weight that I have seen in a long time. He looked like a jacked 174 lber. I don't know how bad his cut was. Usually top athletes don't talk about their weight cutting but 3 that regularly talk about how miserable they were are: Austin Gomez when he was 133 for ISU, Isaiah Martinez when he was 157, and most of all Alex Dieringer when he was making 157. I never heard him complain about it, but you know Matt McDonough was suffering, too.