OK, I'm going to chime in, and I'm sure this will get long. If you don't agree with some of what I'm going to say, that's your right, but hear me out, and I believe most of you will see my point, even if you disagree.
This really sucks for these athletes. Not just the wrestlers, but all the ones losing eligibility at both schools, but they brought it on themselves, as explained below.
It stinks that only Iowa and ISU athletes are being singled out and punished. I'm sure that if every state investigated athletes at every NCAA-sanctioned institution (I don't know if NAIA has similar rules), there would be thousands of violations found, all over the country.
Our society has gradually accepted gambling as an acceptable behavior, especially since the government realized that it couldn't stop it, so it might as well get its cut and benefit from it. Wrong or not, kids growing up today think of it as normal, as it is legal in so many places now, and don't even think of it as unacceptable.
It's a shame, if this story is true, that one such athlete decided they couldn't tell their parent(s) that they were using their credit card to gamble, if indeed that is what led to this investigation in the first place.
It is wrong if a government agent violated students' Constitutional rights to obtain information in this investigation. Unfortunately, that is the way our government is headed, mainly at the Federal level. If you think your rights have never been violated in this way, you are probably naive.
I hate that this whole thing, as minor as it probably really is, has impacted our team and these athletes as much as it has. For some (maybe or maybe not as much the wrestlers) it could profoundly affect the rest of their lives.
All that being said, the bottom line is, that these guys knew, or at least should have known, that they were violating a long-time (even if maybe outdated) NCAA regulation. If they willingly broke that regulation they should willingly accept the punishment handed down, whether it is fair or not.
This whole ordeal makes me sick for these guys, but we have no control over it, and they gave up their control when they broke the rules.