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Illinois Dual Thread

I agree with you on this. Ruth is currently ranked to place this year and we (Nelson and Brennan) can definitely beat him. Yes, Nelson needs to be more offensive and trust his athleticism more but he is definitely capable of beating everyone at the weight outside of the top 3 or 4 guys.
No reason he can’t bear the top 3-4…

If he wrestled the way he did a couple years ago when he beat Taylor Venz as an undersized 184 lber, then he has it in him to accomplish whatever he wants…
 
that match had way more to do with taylor venz than nelson.
You could be right…

Nelson sure met the eye test in that one though. MY eye test, which is likely an easier scale than most of you guys use. 😆

Thing is, everyone knows how strong he is, but Nelson is also FAST… naturally quick. I think he’s capable of a lot, but it’s up to him and yeah, I know I am optimistic to a point of stupidity sometimes. I sure haven’t counted him out yet tho.
 
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Put me in the camp of ready for a coaching change I could maybe go with the addition of a mid to upper weight guy with scrambling ability and mat skills but a complete overhaul might be in order. I'm sure the position would get plenty of interest. I don't see another team title under status quo Brands. They have too many weak points to their coaching game to get it done from recruiting to technique to strength and conditioning and the childish corner behavior looks worse and worse when the product looks worse. It's boring wrestling and empty talking points.
what about doug schwab as an under the radar candidate? has program ties (which seems to be important for some reason), but hasn't shied away from diversifying his staff and approach. uni guys are aggressive and proficient scramblers. his ceiling is somewhat set at UNI because he has to rely on getting under the radar guys, but he's done a better job of making those guys hammers than Brands has tbh. also has ties to AWA, one of the better up and coming clubs. far superior to sebolt in college production and prospects. it would be fun to see what he could do with a marquee brand to work with.
 
I am in the camp of needing to recruit better athletes with better scrambling ability and more diverse attacks.

I like guys like Young and Assad and Murin - they are all great guys and hard working great teammates - but their ceilings are limited by their athletic abilities and skill sets.

Spencer is on a whole different level, so I can’t say the solution is to get more Spencers

I would like more guys like Eierman for his scrambling, Kemdog for everything he does so well, Woods for his athleticism and complete wrestling abilities, DeSanto for his relentless aggressiveness, Kennedy for his aggressiveness and varied attacks and finishes. Those guys have high ceilings and can succeed very well and challenge for national champions under TnT. Plodders and grinders can get to a low level AA, but aren’t going to win you championships.

I have a great deal of respect and admiration for grinders and other wrestlers with limited athleticism that get the most out of their abilities. There is certainly room for these guys on every team - and may even be the backbone of most teams - but you cannot fill your room with them and expect to win National Championships.
 
what about doug schwab as an under the radar candidate? has program ties (which seems to be important for some reason), but hasn't shied away from diversifying his staff and approach. uni guys are aggressive and proficient scramblers. his ceiling is somewhat set at UNI because he has to rely on getting under the radar guys, but he's done a better job of making those guys hammers than Brands has tbh. also has ties to AWA, one of the better up and coming clubs. far superior to sebolt in college production and prospects. it would be fun to see what he could do with a marquee brand to work with.
No
 
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what about doug schwab as an under the radar candidate? has program ties (which seems to be important for some reason), but hasn't shied away from diversifying his staff and approach. uni guys are aggressive and proficient scramblers. his ceiling is somewhat set at UNI because he has to rely on getting under the radar guys, but he's done a better job of making those guys hammers than Brands has tbh. also has ties to AWA, one of the better up and coming clubs. far superior to sebolt in college production and prospects. it would be fun to see what he could do with a marquee brand to work with.

Certainly a possibility. I think he would be a more open minded version of Brands and seems to be universally liked and respected within the wrestling community. The entire UNI staff moving over wouldn't be an upgrade but him putting together a new staff could have possibilities. A big thing that needs to happen is proper recruiting and modern technique that includes whatever might be needed to win a match in any situation. Also mat wrestling needs to be a strong compliment, PSU makes hay off superior mat wrestling. I'm not wowed by his recruiting there but he's done pretty well and gotten good mileage from mid tier wrestlers. I assume he could elevate his recruiting game with improved brand and resources.
 
Are you all ready to admit that Brands should be recruiting over kids to put the best possible team on the mat or do you still want that dirt bag Cael being the only one doing it?

And Dub, the question isn't really directed at you. The ones who should be answering the question knows who they are. I only quoted you to ask the question because you're one of the few that thought they were idiots for thinking recruiting over kids was a bad thing.
Michigan does it and seems to pay off. They just have t won 9/11years l
 
I hate to pile on, but this version of the Hawks is scoring behind at least 6, if not 7 of Carl's 10 wrestlers this year. The upper weights over the last 5-8 years are way behind PSU. Our guys just don't score much at the upper weights, barring a couple wrestlers recently. We try to eek out 3-1 wins at an alarming rate at the upper weights, which results in a lot of upsets and boring matches. We need a different, non Iowa, upper weight coach brought in imo.
 
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My 10 year old Grandson said we were “sloppy” we missed our takedowns, chicken wings and half Nelson. He’s been wrestling for 2 months. We had a great time.

Brands had two good opportunities to finish single legs against Ruth. He didn’t.
Ruth is good.

Warner was favoring his bad knee the whole match. I am not making excuses, I saw what I saw. The injury season is in full swing now, per usual.

As a team we are not good at scrambling and are uncomfortable being there. Kem Dawg is the only guy I can think of who didn’t make me feel scared in scramble situations over the last several years. Young was ok.

Iowa wrestling just isn’t exciting to watch, especially if you have been a fan for 40 years.
We lack quickness, explosiveness and athleticism.
We knew this year was a rebuild.
I am also very confident we’ll finish 2nd this year.
Did you forget Eirman? He was a scrambling fool. Only way Lee beat him was learn to finish efficiently and not get into a scramble.
 
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Majority of the night was a snooze fest.

Thought it was a pretty decent crowd for Illinois.

Favorite part of the night was watching Laura Vandeberg walk back and forth in front of me. She looked as good as ever and I’m pretty sure she had a baby bump. She’s a goddess.
The cheerleader falling off the top of the pyramid and smacking her face only to get up like a man. Colored me impressed.
 
2020 Number 1 rated team
2021 Champs
2022 Pre season #1. Placed 3rd, with injuries wiping out any chance. Many 6 and 7 year (Covid and RS ) seniors
2023 Natural reload year, except Lee back. Woods & Teske transfer in. Rated #2

Yes, disappointed last night. Woods and Teske would have made a difference. Did flu make a difference too? Not sure, but I'd like to evaluate the team and staff over more than one meet. I still feel this team can win. Presently, 1 chance in 4, but a chance

2024 Listing starters and quality back ups
Ayala (Not counting NJ due to uncertainty)
Teske
Woods Block
Not sure
Chit
PK
Nelson Arnold
Assad Arnold
Franklin
Cass Kueter

This team has a chance to win, and has dynamic twitch point scorers. I do believe at least two weights will fill with impact transfers. If that happens, this team will win

Is this 5 year record really that bad?
 
Certainly a possibility. I think he would be a more open minded version of Brands and seems to be universally liked and respected within the wrestling community. The entire UNI staff moving over wouldn't be an upgrade but him putting together a new staff could have possibilities. A big thing that needs to happen is proper recruiting and modern technique that includes whatever might be needed to win a match in any situation. Also mat wrestling needs to be a strong compliment, PSU makes hay off superior mat wrestling. I'm not wowed by his recruiting there but he's done pretty well and gotten good mileage from mid tier wrestlers. I assume he could elevate his recruiting game with improved brand and resources.
The next Iowa head coach is currently wrestling for Iowa.

Of course I can’t speak for the man, but it would be a colossal failure by the athletic department and this program if it doesn’t happen. I think we could all agree on that.
 
2020 Number 1 rated team
2021 Champs
2022 Pre season #1. Placed 3rd, with injuries wiping out any chance. Many 6 and 7 year (Covid and RS ) seniors
2023 Natural reload year, except Lee back. Woods & Teske transfer in. Rated #2

Yes, disappointed last night. Woods and Teske would have made a difference. Did flu make a difference too? Not sure, but I'd like to evaluate the team and staff over more than one meet. I still feel this team can win. Presently, 1 chance in 4, but a chance

2024 Listing starters and quality back ups
Ayala (Not counting NJ due to uncertainty)
Teske
Woods Block
Not sure
Chit
PK
Nelson Arnold
Assad Arnold
Franklin
Cass Kueter

This team has a chance to win, and has dynamic twitch point scorers. I do believe at least two weights will fill with impact transfers. If that happens, this team will win

Is this 5 year record really that bad?
This team has no chance at winning the title this year. Zero.

Finishing 2nd would be great for this team, but I’m not solely focused on where they finish. I care more about how they finish. This team is an absolute snooze fest to watch wrestle. Brands sounds like a broken record preaching more offense when half of his guys hang out in the collar tie and play push and shove the whole match.

As for 24, I’m not sold on Teske at 33 until proven otherwise when he couldn’t even AA at 25. I’m also hoping Chittum can make 49 instead of 57 as I think he could be a monster at 49. We’ll downgrade at 25 and 97. Think Ayala will be great, but Lee is Lee with his bonus points in a tournament format. That leaves 33, 57, 74 (would like to see Arnold here next year), 84, and 97 where Iowa needs to make major improvements to legitimately contend for a title.
 
I hate to pile on, but this version of the Hawks is scoring behind at least 6, if not 7 of Carl's 10 wrestlers this year. The upper weights over the last 5-8 years are way behind PSU. Our guys just don't score much at the upper weights, barring a couple wrestlers recently. We try to eek out 3-1 wins at an alarming rate at the upper weights, which results in a lot of upsets and boring matches. We need a different, non Iowa, upper weight coach brought in imo.
No lies here.
 
This team has no chance at winning the title this year. Zero.

Finishing 2nd would be great for this team, but I’m not solely focused on where they finish. I care more about how they finish. This team is an absolute snooze fest to watch wrestle. Brands sounds like a broken record preaching more offense when half of his guys hang out in the collar tie and play push and shove the whole match.

As for 24, I’m not sold on Teske at 33 until proven otherwise when he couldn’t even AA at 25. I’m also hoping Chittum can make 49 instead of 57 as I think he could be a monster at 49. We’ll downgrade at 25 and 97. Think Ayala will be great, but Lee is Lee with his bonus points in a tournament format. That leaves 33, 57, 74 (would like to see Arnold here next year), 84, and 97 where Iowa needs to make major improvements to legitimately contend for a title.
Did you snooze while watching 25, 49, 65 and Heavy? You musta been real tired.

As I said, I believe we'll find a couple more in the "Woods" to come along next year to fill er up. Every weight doesn't have to have a finalist for the team to win
 
Did you snooze while watching 25, 49, 65 and Heavy? You musta been real tired.

As I said, I believe we'll find a couple more in the "Woods" to come along next year to fill er up. Every weight doesn't have to have a finalist for the team to win
You can cherry pick matches all you want, but as a whole for the season this team has been boring to watch. I can’t remember a more limited offensive team in a long time. If you haven’t seen it it’s because you don’t want to or don’t know what you’re watching.
 
2020 Number 1 rated team
2021 Champs
2022 Pre season #1. Placed 3rd, with injuries wiping out any chance. Many 6 and 7 year (Covid and RS ) seniors
2023 Natural reload year, except Lee back. Woods & Teske transfer in. Rated #2

Yes, disappointed last night. Woods and Teske would have made a difference. Did flu make a difference too? Not sure, but I'd like to evaluate the team and staff over more than one meet. I still feel this team can win. Presently, 1 chance in 4, but a chance

2024 Listing starters and quality back ups
Ayala (Not counting NJ due to uncertainty)
Teske
Woods Block
Not sure
Chit
PK
Nelson Arnold
Assad Arnold
Franklin
Cass Kueter

This team has a chance to win, and has dynamic twitch point scorers. I do believe at least two weights will fill with impact transfers. If that happens, this team will win

Is this 5 year record really that bad?
For that lineup Bob,

133 could easily not be AA
149 could easily not AA
174 could easily not AA
184 could easily not AA
197 very unlikely AA

125 is possibly mid to low AA
141 title contended
157 Hopefully mid to high AA
165 hopefully mid to high AA
285 high AA

They better be bringing in 2 title contenders if they want to be in discussion to win it. It's been a lot more than 1 meet. From 2010 to 2020 they were not getting it done. They got some better recruits and fortunate transfers and had a good two years but quickly slipping back to pre 2020 form.
 
IMO it's all to easy to look in the mirror and get fixated on a few warts and overlook the rest, but when you look at others are too easily dazzled only by the beauty. A dirty little secret, there are no perfect teams out there, and several of the top contenders have a lot of makeup attempting to hide rather prominent warts.

It's early January. You have at least 3 guys who are serious contenders to be finalists, and one who should waltz all the way if he remains healthy. Any serious inspection should reveal Iowa remains the strongest #2 today by a comfortable margin.

There is no reason to worry unless and until it's late February and the performances are lacking.
 
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The issue I see is that there’s not a whole lot of emerging talent ready to step in. There should be a fresh wave of talent in the room this year, with both last years and this years recruits, and I just don’t see it. Why? That’s 100% on TnT. There should be plenty of money. You don’t wait until a stud is gone to backfill.
Iowa recruiting hasn’t caught up to PSU. Nobody has caught PSU, they're on their own recruiting island. They now have the best college program in the world, the best FS club in the world, and a soon-to-be top MMA club in the world. And they got NIL money to throw around. PSU recruiting is only going to get better in the coming years. Until Cael leaves, the race for team titles is over.
The problem i see is that everyone else has caught Iowa for dibs on what’s left after PSU chooses. NIL has changed everything. East coast and major city teams have a huge advantage. And with the new schools entering the B10, more kids on the west coast will be staying home.
I agree with some of the stuff you said up front, but I don't buy into that last paragraph. Look at the fricking talent out there that did not go to PSU. Let's look at 133, there are at least 10 wrestlers better than our 133 guy, regardless of who we put on the mat. Only 1 of them are from PSU. Look at 157, none of the guys in the top 15 are from PSU; why didn't we get any of those guys. Top 2 guys are from Fargo, ND and Lincoln, NE...definitely not major city teams. 165: Kennedy is the 7th ranked sophomore and he was one of our big time recruits, yet many of you don't think he will make the top 5. Oh, and none of those other sophomores are from PSU. 174: There are five sophomores in the top 15: we didn't get any of those. My point is that there is a shitload of talent out there that doesn't belong to PSU...and many are wrestling for similar or smaller schools in communities that aren't major cities. If you look through the rankings there are a good number of wrestlers from Iowa State, UNI, NE, and NDSU, to name a few, that are outranking our guys. That shit has nothing to do with Cael or PSU; that's all on us. If those guys are better then I'm thinking we should have done a better job of luring some of that talent to Iowa. In the end I'm a firm believer, especially when looking at the past, that if Cael can do it, we should be able to do it...and if we can't we need to figure out what we're doing wrong or what we need to be doing better. And NIL just started so we can't use that excuse for PSU beating our asses all but a few year the past 12-13 years. We've got to take responsibility for what we are or are not doing...and then fix it.

Look at the top 55 colleges in average wrestling attendance during last season (link below). We bring the fans to CHA...10, 15, even 20 times more fans than many of the schools who have better wrestlers at different weight classes and only one of those schools is named PSU. If we're not getting the talent, we need to fix it. If we're not selling our style, we need to fix it. If we're not doing a good enough job of selling the university or the community, we need to fix it. In the end, whatever the problem is, we need to fix it.

 
Brands mentioned in his interview that Warner has had an ongoing issue with that knee, tbf.
If the knee is so bad that it only allows him two attempted TDs in 7 minutes then we need to allow him to heal in time for March as he does bring his best at NCAAs. 11 days ago he wrestled 4 matches in the Soldier Salute resulting in a Fall, TF, MD and DEC, so perhaps that TD with 5 secs remaining in the match caused an issue that wasn't there 11 days ago...
 
I just about turned it off before the dual was finished. It was boring for the most part.

We only have three guys on the team capable of consistently performing at a level needed to be successful in March.
I’d add in 149 and 165 as well.
I can't disagree with 149 as we've been there before, but I will gladly wager for whatever cause that PK will not finish outside the top 6. And if Quincy runs back to 57, I'll say the top 5. He's going to get better the deeper we go and he will be taking out whoever faces him on the the mat during the regular season, including Hamiti and Amine.
 
Have any of you ever seen a guy break quicker than the dude who wrestled Murin did?

I honestly don’t know if I have. Dude came out and bounced around and got taken down and boom… he had enough.

Lol, that had to have felt good, being Max Murin in that moment.
Spot on; he just laid down...
 
Spot on; he just laid down...
Lol like a dream come true… Haha with literally every match I can remember wrestling in youth/HS/College, I don’t recall ever having a match where I didn’t start out leading and didn’t immediately begin thinking to myself, “alright guy, you know you aren’t as good as me… just break… PLEASE break so we can get off the mat and my dad will be happy! PLEASE!” 🙏🏼 Haha yet, I don’t recall it ever happening that way as I wished… I don’t ever remember someone EVER just giving up like that against me. Nah, I never had the luxury of wrestling a one-legged dog trying to ice skate on a wrestling mat… nah, the dogs I had generally had at least kept all their legs the entire match… Fortunately enough for me, I did wrestle against my share of ice-skating fish, though…. Which maybe I could have broken these types if I didn’t insist on pinning them in 10 seconds every time. But yeah, always wondered what “breaking someone” feels like.

When I see guys like Murin breaking dudes right away like that, I can’t help, but think about how I’m witnessing something that I wished for every time I ever took the mat (and led from the beginning of the match).

It was like the dude was petrified of snakes and Murin whispered something in his ear about feeding him to his pet snake, Miss Hiss if he didn’t stop trying! I suppose that could make someone breakdown pretty quickly….

That HAS to be a great feeling… imposing your game fiercely to the point where your opponent just wants off the mat IMMEDIATELY like that! Must be nice! Kind of makes me want to consider investing in a pet snake!
 
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Lol like a dream come true… Haha with literally every match I can remember wrestling in youth/HS/College, I don’t recall ever having a match where I didn’t start out leading and didn’t immediately begin thinking to myself, “alright guy, you know you aren’t as good as me… just break… PLEASE break so we can get off the mat and my dad will be happy! PLEASE!” 🙏🏼 Haha yet, I don’t recall it ever happening that way as I wished… I don’t ever remember someone EVER just giving up like that against me. Nah, I never had the luxury of wrestling a one-legged dog trying to ice skate on a wrestling mat… nah, the dogs I had generally had at least kept all their legs the entire match… Fortunately enough for me, I did wrestle against my share of ice-skating fish, though…. Which maybe I could have broken these types if I didn’t insist on pinning them in 10 seconds every time. But yeah, always wondered what “breaking someone” feels like.

When I see guys like Murin breaking dudes right away like that, I can’t help, but think about how I’m witnessing something that I wished for every time I ever took the mat (and led from the beginning of the match).

It was like the dude was petrified of snakes and Murin whispered something in his ear about feeding him to his pet snake, Miss Hiss if he didn’t stop trying! I suppose that could make someone breakdown pretty quickly….

That HAS to be a great feeling… imposing your game fiercely to the point where your opponent just wants off the mat IMMEDIATELY like that! Must be nice! Kind of makes me want to consider investing in a pet snake!
Hell yes...wish they all went that easy! :)
 
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Did you snooze while watching 25, 49, 65 and Heavy? You musta been real tired.

As I said, I believe we'll find a couple more in the "Woods" to come along next year to fill er up. Every weight doesn't have to have a finalist for the team to win
But every weight needs to be a threat to score pts at the ncaa's. At this point, would be score anything at 133, 157, 174? Not real confident anyone we put out at these weights could win more than 1 match. Is assad going to make r12? Can murin finally get on the stand? Which is more likely- warner finishing 2nd or 6th? Kennedy is at an extremely deep weight so odds of him placing top 4 or getting much in bonus pts is going to be challenging. Cass could go anywhere from 1st-5th depending on matchups/how the brackets work out. I think if healthy, Woods is the best guy. Any version of Spencer wins the title and most versions do it pretty easily. All that be said, if we aren't careful, isu could finish ahead of us.
 
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Realistically, does anybody have a chance against PSU at nationals if the nittany lions are all healthy? At the beginning of the season I thought it would take a season ending injury to RBY, CStar, or Brooks and Warner and Cass placing higher than Dean and Kerkvliet for iowa to be there. But that still might not even be enough.
 
Realistically, does anybody have a chance against PSU at nationals if the nittany lions are all healthy? At the beginning of the season I thought it would take a season ending injury to RBY, CStar, or Brooks and Warner and Cass placing higher than Dean and Kerkvliet for iowa to be there. But that still might not even be enough.
No. No one does, and in my opinion, the way they are recruiting and the kids they’re bringing in, no one will for quite a while.
 
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For that lineup Bob,

133 could easily not be AA
149 could easily not AA
174 could easily not AA
184 could easily not AA
197 very unlikely AA

125 is possibly mid to low AA
141 title contended
157 Hopefully mid to high AA
165 hopefully mid to high AA
285 high AA

They better be bringing in 2 title contenders if they want to be in discussion to win it. It's been a lot more than 1 meet. From 2010 to 2020 they were not getting it done. They got some better recruits and fortunate transfers and had a good two years but quickly slipping back to pre 2020 form.
Most of what's being discussed has some validity, but you do realize Warner placed 2nd last season, or am i missing something. He is having a bad streak and is dinged up, he will be ready come march... he is a gamer!
 
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