I’d say this weekend, we regressed to the mean more than anything.
Regressed is not remotely the correct word.
125: Ayala was the 2 seed in a weight class where the 7 seed had already beat him and beat him again. STILL, he took 3rd, beating the 1 seed and returning NCAA runner up. What more was he supposed to do?
133: Teske took 5th from the LOWEST SEED POSSIBLE. On top of that he absolutely wrestled his ass off. He got ridiculously screwed out of being in the 3rd place match by multiple reviews and took the eventual champ to the brink in a great match. That tournament was probably the best wrestling Teske has ever done.
141: Woods is banged up and still wrestled to seed, avenging a loss where he got crushed the last time. Mendez is really good and has improved enough on bottom to pretty much take Woods advantage away. Woods at much less than 100% is very unilikely to beat Mendez.
149: Rathjen is also pretty banged up. Still, he has actually been a pretty pleasant surprise and taking 5th is more than I think many would have realistically thought if someone told you he would be the guy before the season started.
157: Franek was seeded 4th and took 4th. He wasn't beating Haines and that is the only guy he lost to. There was no true strategic benefit to wrestling Robb yet again, so it makes sense that they held him out the last match.
165: Caliendo beat Amine twice. That is really hard to do. Sadly, he is just simply out matched by the top 4 guys at the weight.
174: Kennedy just had the unlucky draw. He wrestled Griffith much better than last time and took him to the brink. the tOSU kid is really tough, just ask Gabe Arnold.
184: Gambling Fiasco.....
197: Glazier has done the literal opposite of regress. In fact, I would say he has squeezed every possible ounce of his capabilities to absolutely maximize his output so far.
285: Hill-See 197. He has done the absolute max anyone could realistically expect.
Look, it has nothing to do with regression. They all damn near matched their maximum output and that is readily apparent if you compare the results to their respective seeds. The simple truth is they just don't have remotely close to the talent that PSU has this year. This is especially true having lost Brands, Assad and Cass to the gambling controversy.