C P made the comment about Caliendo being an “upgrade” presumably over Kennedy. I’m in the camp that‘s happy Caliendo is on board but I consider him on par with Kennedy not a clear upgrade. What am I missing?
Flo video on Franek/Caliendo transfer
- Thread starter Reymundo
- Start date
I agree. Unless he is mauling PK, he is no upgrade and should be in role to give PK a little rest during the season. PK looked like he could have used it last year.
Probably based off of the AA finish and having a victory over Shane Griffith? I'm not sure what other notable wins Caliendo has, but I'd say they're fairly even.
I think it's a reasonable take. While I love PK, and agree with others that he would have AA'd had he been in Caliendo's position in the bracket. I think Caliendo has the higher ceiling.
He accomplished what he did after 2 years in NDSU's room. PK has been at Iowa for 3 years.
Caliendo also took O'Toole down 2 times in their match, and was close on a couple other attacks. Also had a 2 TD win against Griffith. Kennedy didn't sniff a takedown against Carr, and had a 1 TD win against Amine. Overall results were pretty equal, but Caliendo's offense against high level opponents was more impressive.
He accomplished what he did after 2 years in NDSU's room. PK has been at Iowa for 3 years.
Caliendo also took O'Toole down 2 times in their match, and was close on a couple other attacks. Also had a 2 TD win against Griffith. Kennedy didn't sniff a takedown against Carr, and had a 1 TD win against Amine. Overall results were pretty equal, but Caliendo's offense against high level opponents was more impressive.
I don’t get your logic. His results are already (very) slightly better and if he shows to be better than PK in the room and in competition, why would he be the backup? The spot should be consistently earned, not just given.
That said, as I’ve said in other threads, I think this will soon all make a lot more sense than it does at the moment.
He’s probably looking at the fact one scored more points at NCAA’s then the other.
PK had a stellar regular season. His only losses were to Hamiti 2X and David Carr. He sh*t the bed at NCAAs losing to Amine and Ramirez from Cornell in a meat grinder of a weight class. Caliendo had a much easier path. I imagine these two are quite evenly matched. In a best of 3 my money would be on PK.
Bracket position is debatable, imo.
PK and MC both lost a 'revenge' match [Amine and Griffith]. I think the majority would say Griffith > Amine.
And they both lost to non-AA's [Ramirez and Kharchla]
fwiw- Kharchla is 3-0 vs Ramirez.
To that point in the tourney [R16], PK beat #27 & #28. MC beat #8 & #26
-MC went on to win a few more from there and AA.
So how was PK's draw so tough compared to MC? Doesn't MC's appears to be slightly tougher?
I don't either bracket position was necessarily tougher/harder in a vacuum. Just based on my opinion of style matchups. I think Kennedy matches up better against Olguin/Kharchla than he does Amine/Ramirez.
I certainly do not know. But maybe. Or maybe there are other things like weight changes going on.
PK had to beat Sparks, Ramirez and Griffith on the back side to AA. MC had to beat Olguin, McCoy and Fish. PK path significantly tougher. Another way to look at it. PK lost to #4 and T12. MC lost to #5 and T12. About a push.
PK getting slighted some in the flo ponderings IMO.
Said this before. Listen to Flo for entertainment value to get your wrestling fix. I do not take what they say about Iowa as expert knowledge. They have proven this many times over the years.
Agree. The whole video was speculation based on no inside knowledge.
Doesn’t matter what they say on FRL. It always comes back to a PSU love fest. How they do it right and Iowa does it wrong. That’s why I got rid of my membership
I think we are in general agreement but the ying to this yang is that Kennedy's best win at the NCAAs was the 27 seed, and he wrestled below his seed. Caliendo beat 4 guys seeded higher than that including the 8 and the 12. He beat a guy who placed (albeit 8th), and he wrestled to his seed.
It's razor thin and will be a hell of a battle if there is one. I am more miffed by the earlier post that simply assigns the spot to Kennedy. He's gotta earn it.
Kennedys loss to Amine coupled with #28 Fish upset of #4 Ramirez was bad for Kennedy and good for MC.
MC beat the 15 and the 28 to AA. Much easier for MC IMO.
I agree there’s more in play here and more options after next year
I hope Kennedy lives up to his blue chip ranking he had coming into Iowa.
Where are you hearing these rumblings? And who we talkin bout?
I think Kennedy was # 4 or 5 and don’t think Caliendo was any higher than Riggins? We still don’t get enough blue chips to miss on any. PSU stock piles them, so if a few don’t pan out, no big deal. Hopefully we can get there some day.
It was early in the year, and he did improve after that, but I agree, a top 5 pfp guy in his 3rd year at Iowa should have been more competitive. Terrible style and body type match up for him. At that point, I knew he wouldn’t beat Hamiti, with his length and slick skills.
They spoke as if PK has no chance to be in the lineup in the future if it comes down to him and caliendo at the same weight.
I'm not going to libel myself on this with naming specific wrestlers.
I probably said too much already.
If they wrestle off, I take PK. $25 to HWC if he loses actual match not loses starts due to injury. I've said it before. I like our guys.
I don’t believe he ever once said PK has no chance. You’re listening to it as a biased Pk fan. I like PK too but I don’t think the comments were unreasonable at all.
I said they spoke “as if”. It wasn’t a direct quote. Every scenario they gave were they may not be able to be in separate weight classes, ended with them saying Pk may end up out of the lineup, not Caliendo may end up out of the line up. Just pointing out they don’t think it’s a coin toss like many of us Iowa fans think it is. Not saying they are unreasonable.
That was my basic point all along. Fair comments from someone without understandable bias.
Do we have any punishment precedent for gambling by a NCAA athlete? Are talking about a semester, year of eligibility, or something else?
I think some of you are looking at it wrong. HTH, PK can definitely beat Caliendo. They were on the same tier last year.
But as a prospect? Caliendo is younger, has better wins, shown more scoring ability against elite talent, and has a better improvement trajectory. If I had to bet on the better guy over the next 3 years, I'm taking Caliendo.
But as a prospect? Caliendo is younger, has better wins, shown more scoring ability against elite talent, and has a better improvement trajectory. If I had to bet on the better guy over the next 3 years, I'm taking Caliendo.
I'm in on that action as well. $100 to HWC if Kennedy doesn't start when it matters purely because the other guy was better. Also, I sure hope we hear the scoop before too long on this whole gambling deal. Seems like so many people know something but nobody knows everything. Just looking for this madness to be done so we can get down to business...
You could be right. I’m just not sold yet that Caliendo is next level. Beating Griffith in January is a good win but Griffith has taken multiple pre-NCAA losses over his career. I’ll be in your camp when we see Caliendo beat O’Toole, Carr or Hamiti (which I don’t see Kennedy doing).
Yes he is. They also could have transferred in OToole, Hamiti and Carr with him and Kenedy is still my guy.
Not sure anyone knows or at least nothing made public. One would hope if they didn't bet on their own competition, the penalty wouldn't be as severe.
Kind of uncharted territory.
