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2017 NCAA National Championship

I think you're selling gulibon and cassar short, and possibly Cortez/Joseph. Of course Cassar has to enroll first, so am probably on a limb maybe! It took Gulibon a year to adjust to 133 and then he performed well. He's had a year at 141, and many of us expect him to perform much better than he did last season.
Casser has zero quality wins in his career. He made a world team against abysmal competition. Maybe he'll be good, but he has literally proven nothing.
 
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I'm not saying he doesn't have the skill set. I don't see him beating Gilman, Nato, Micic, Dance, Peters. Still have Millhof, Bresser, Schram, McGhee, Cruz, etc. Not to mention some studs coming off of RS. Tall task for a TF. If anyone can do it Suriano can, I just don't think its gonna happen. Think he would benefit better with a RS year, but PSU wouldn't.
Good post. PSU is primed for a run at titles into the foreseeable future, so I don't think Cael sits the better wrestler at this point unless it works for the team in the out years.
 
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Hall is not an automatic redshirt: A decision will be made at some point in the fall.
Also, NaTo is at 133, not 125, and Dance is also at 133.
IMar is at 165, Nolf stays at 157. This does not automatically mean Joseph goes at 165, as I said, a decision has still not been made, and Hall may NOT redshirt.
If Hall wrestles this fall, I'll donate to the GG fund.
 
It is also POSSIBLE, though not probable, that McCutcheon moves up to 197, as Rasheed is now at 184 and is a full head taller than McCutcheon. If this happens, McCutcheon wrestles off with Cassar to determine the starter.

I am not counting on Nevills: At this point he appears injury prone, and it is what it is, some kids just can't stay healthy. If this happens it's possible we go with Cassar at Hwy, which is unfortunate. The key for Iowa, I believe, lies in Stolls ability to be healthy, I don't think we're scoring any points there, and I think if Snyder gets gold in Rio, there is no way he is coming back. Iowa can make up serious ground with a healthy Stoll..
Cutch is not a 197. He's short for 184 as it is imo. Nevills had a pectoral injury while lifting. Hardly something you'd call injury prone. Stuff happens. Injury prone is chronic knee, back, and shoulder problems.
 
Cutch is not a 197. He's short for 184 as it is imo. Nevills had a pectoral injury while lifting. Hardly something you'd call injury prone. Stuff happens. Injury prone is chronic knee, back, and shoulder problems.
Or, it's not being able to wrestle for two straight years. The "reasons" don't really matter. Again, IF Nevills is healthy, I still think he's about a year away from points at Nationals. I HOPE, AGAIN I HOPE, he is healthy when the season rolls around.
 
He has the best upper weight training partners in the country, but I do think a lot of PSU folks are jumping the gun on him. I see him as a huge question mark. Might be an AA might go 0-2.
Not sure who is jumping the gun.

It ain't me.

As I said, I think McCutcheon might move up to 197 this year. No, he is not a 197 pounder, but guess who else wasn't? Morgan MacIntosh. It's very common under Cael that we don't necessarily put everyone where they truly belong, sometimes guys go up for the good of the team, or down...remember, Shak Rasheed could not pull the weight to go at 165, which was why Morelli was there in the first place.
 
Suriano is going to be real stingy to score on, even as a freshman. With that said, I don't think his offense is there yet to be a high AA lock. I'm thinking a ceiling of low AA to a higher probability of going something like 1-2 at nationals.
 
I know this is a Hawkeye board, but I feel like Gilman is getting a little too much benefit of the doubt about repeating so easily. The way I remember his match with Tomasello, I felt NATO was controlling most of the match and was more aggressive. If he stays at 125 and I have to bet my last $100 on the winner I think I'm leaning NATO.
 
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The point being that obviously this isn't a slam dunk either way and NATO has beat Gilman more than Gilman has NATO. So to make the point relating to the thread topic, I don't think you can count a champ at 125 if NATO is still there.
 
OK so NATO won the Big 10 and NCAA title and was undefeated as a freshman right? I assumed since he was seeded higher going into the NCAA's this year that he built Gilan at least twice overall. I'm wrong I'm guessing?
 
I'll bet any amount of money you would like if those to meet in the finals next year Gillman wins. Micic is the one that scares me.

Gillman is 6-2 vs NATO in college.

I think you were watching a different match then I was.
thought Gilman has only one loss to NATO? BIG's last year?
 
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Gilman beat NATO in the dual last year and his first and only lose to NATO came at big's last year. They didn't meet in the NCAA tournament. This year

thought Gilman has only one loss to NATO? BIG's last year?

Dropped a match to him one year at Fila junior trials but still won the overall series.
 
Cortez is probably going to be an upgrade from Conaway.
Gulibon AAed 2 years ago @ 133 and wasn't that far from AAing this year. Jimmy if he remains healthy most likely AAs.
Joseph at 165 will be about as difficult to beat as Nolf was this past season. Joseph in finals is not something that will shock me.
McCutcheon would have been top 8 this year if he had remained healthy. Next year whether McCutchen or Rasheed, Penn State has an AA at 184.
Not sure what to expect at 197. Cassar is intriguing, but he was not enrolled in classes this semester. Supposedly he wrestles McIntosh tough. Stout's father was a multiple AA at Clarion he also supposedly progressed I the room.
Nevills? If he had not missed 2 seasons of progression I think he would have been very good this past season. Right now he has serious catching up to accomplish.
 
Cortez is probably going to be an upgrade from Conaway.
Gulibon AAed 2 years ago @ 133 and wasn't that far from AAing this year. Jimmy if he remains healthy most likely AAs.
Joseph at 165 will be about as difficult to beat as Nolf was this past season. Joseph in finals is not something that will shock me.
McCutcheon would have been top 8 this year if he had remained healthy. Next year whether McCutchen or Rasheed, Penn State has an AA at 184.
Not sure what to expect at 197. Cassar is intriguing, but he was not enrolled in classes this semester. Supposedly he wrestles McIntosh tough. Stout's father was a multiple AA at Clarion he also supposedly progressed I the room.
Nevills? If he had not missed 2 seasons of progression I think he would have been very good this past season. Right now he has serious catching up to accomplish.

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Cortez is probably going to be an upgrade from Conaway.
Gulibon AAed 2 years ago @ 133 and wasn't that far from AAing this year. Jimmy if he remains healthy most likely AAs.
Joseph at 165 will be about as difficult to beat as Nolf was this past season. Joseph in finals is not something that will shock me.
McCutcheon would have been top 8 this year if he had remained healthy. Next year whether McCutchen or Rasheed, Penn State has an AA at 184.
Not sure what to expect at 197. Cassar is intriguing, but he was not enrolled in classes this semester. Supposedly he wrestles McIntosh tough. Stout's father was a multiple AA at Clarion he also supposedly progressed I the room.
Nevills? If he had not missed 2 seasons of progression I think he would have been very good this past season. Right now he has serious catching up to accomplish.

Cortez won so reason to be optimistic.
JG is an enigma. Very difficult to predict his results.
Joseph is really good. I think he will AA, how high?
A healthy MM splits matches with a bunch of guys in the low AA-R16. Rasheed has a good skill set but need to see him @184 before I would lock either as an AA. Not saying they won't.
197 is a big?
Nevills- no reason to think the guy has forgotten how to wrestle during the injury plagued 2 years he's been on campus. Needs to stay healthy to see what he can really do.
 
We'll see Joseph at his new Beefed up weight this weekend....Hall, Valencia, Massa. Etc.

This tournament is absolutely loaded.

Speaking of leightweight problems. Michigan has assad, Youtsey and Micic all at 25. I'm sure a couple other schools wouldn't mind having one of them.
 
We'll see Joseph at his new Beefed up weight this weekend....Hall, Valencia, Massa. Etc.

This tournament is absolutely loaded.

Speaking of leightweight problems. Michigan has assad, Youtsey and Micic all at 25. I'm sure a couple other schools wouldn't mind having one of them.

Micic entered at 60k/132 lbs. been discussed some whether he will be 125 or 133. Not like he was cutting all year and this is an offseason bump up for him. Seems he is going 133, but a lot can change I suppose.
 
Cortez won so reason to be optimistic.
JG is an enigma. Very difficult to predict his results.
Joseph is really good. I think he will AA, how high?
A healthy MM splits matches with a bunch of guys in the low AA-R16. Rasheed has a good skill set but need to see him @184 before I would lock either as an AA. Not saying they won't.
197 is a big?
Nevills- no reason to think the guy has forgotten how to wrestle during the injury plagued 2 years he's been on campus. Needs to stay healthy to see what he can really do.
The Nevills concern isn't that he forgot how to wrestle. It is the progression the kids make from physically wrestling every day in the room and the experience of the competition against other talented kids. It's that progression that he needs to do some catching up with.
McCutcheon when healthy has managed to beat Dudley several times and of course Sammy. McCutcheon also when healthy has some peculiar losses. My thought process on Rasheed has 2 prongs, but is simple. If the gas tank issue is strictly weight loss related then he has shown he can wrestle competitively against upper level kids and that should translate to 184. Also, since I think McCutchen is not bad and very close to AA caliber - if it turns out Rasheed beats Matt out then the expectation of AA is definitely not out of line.
Joseph - I've heard it from Patakey, Taylor, Brown, Quentin and other guys who frequently attend practice that Joseph is the real deal and I am anxious to see him compete.

We shall see how things play out.

Right now I am more concerned with my lack of anything consistent when swinging a golf club.
 
I've got Penn State next year at
125 Suriano 4th
133 Cortez 7th
141 Gulibon R12
149 Retherford 1st
157 Nolf 1st
165 Joseph 7/8th
174 Nickal 2nd
184 Rasheed/McCutcheon R12
197 Cassar R16
285 Nevills 7/8th

Which I don't think is an insurmountable lead.
If this is how PSU finishes, I like our chances of finishing higher quite a bit if we stay healthy and wrestle a solid tournament. Of course, tOSU and Okie State will have a say, too, as could a couple of others.
 
Dropped a match to him one year at Fila junior trials but still won the overall series.

Gilman was 4-0 against Tomasello at Junior World Team Trials. 6-1 and 7-2 in 2013, 8-4 and 3-2 in 2014.

They have wrestled three times in college, a 2-1 win in the 2015 dual meeting, a 3-2 loss at the 2015 Big's, and a win by fall at the 2016 NCAA's.
 
I guess I am corrected with authority LOL. I still maintain that it isn't a shoe in for Gilman to beat NATO given how close it has been between them.
 
How about this... sig bet for 12 months. I take NATO and you take Gilman. If one wins the NCAA championship the person who is betting on them gets to choose the signature for a year for the loser? I'll take a 50/50 bet if you are willing?
 
I'm not sure. I think he has all of the physical attributes to be an AA right away at 125. Its probably the easiest weight class for true freshman to transition into, and considering he was a top 3 overall recruit hes pretty darn good. He has incredible defense as well, which will serve him well at the D1 level imo. I think he'll have a similar freshman year to Megaludis except probably not as high of a finish on the podium. He wont be a bonus point guy, but more of a Sorensen type for them is my prediction, a winner.

I've seen Suriano enough to think this - I believe he will be better than Nico was a freshman and has a shot to be better than Nico as a senior. Whether he places higher is another question. His defense is at a crazy level and from what I've seen, he may be better than Nico in the other two positions. To give an anecdotal example, I saw Nick wrestle Vitali Arujau twice this year and Arujau didn't really get close to taking him down in either match. Arujau wrestled Brian Courtney this weekend and was taking down Courtney at will. Suriano's feet defense is at another level. Iirc, he was taken down one time in four years of high school competition.

The op did a great job on his analysis. I think he overestimated a couple of Iowa wrestlers and underestimated a couple of PSU guys but that's sort of "we'll see" stuff. Bonus points are the big thing. I believe PSU will have 4-5 guys that will get significant bonus points and three (Zain, Nolf and Nickal) that will pile them up. If Penn State can stay healthy, which they really haven't done over the last six years, those bonus points will add up to another championship.

Oh, I think Cortez might have been overrated a bit. I think he's a 5/6 guy, but who knows? Getting to the razor-thin area.
 
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Casser has zero quality wins in his career. He made a world team against abysmal competition. Maybe he'll be good, but he has literally proven nothing.

Total wild card. His upside coming out of high school seemed tremendous. Wrestled in a middling, at best, high school program. Didn't qualify for states as a junior. Came back as a senior and went 47-0 to win an NJ championship. Was a really light 197 his redshirt year but adjusted to college grappling pretty well. Did very well for an inexperienced freestyle wrestler last summer, then got hurt. He could shock either way this year.
 
If this is how PSU finishes, I like our chances of finishing higher quite a bit if we stay healthy and wrestle a solid tournament. Of course, tOSU and Okie State will have a say, too, as could a couple of others.

If this is how PSU finishes (2 champs, 3 finalists, 7 AAs, 2 R12s, 1 R16) they will most likely win the title. That's 130+.

Everyone overestimates how their teams (including PSUs) will ultimately do come NCAA time. There's lots of other schools with lots of talented wrestlers to knock all the top teams off. You're not going to have 4 teams with 120+ points next year.
 
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