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Iowa-Illinois Grades

WWDMHawkeye

WWDMHawkeye

HB Heisman
Nov 13, 2014
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Webcast: A-. Price was right! Pretty decent video. Froze on me quite a few times. Glad to be able to watch. Thumbs up to Illinois for providing the feed. Frustrating not to be able to see the score/clock, but I'll take it.

125: A. On a mission. Incredible bridge by that kid to avoid the fall on several occasions.

133: C. Richards is tough. Cory has always struggled to score on him. Slow start comes back to bite him again. Unable to ride him much at all. These two are very evenly matched. Cory needs to step up his work from neutral against the top guys. He's been struggling to score consistently from his feet. Frustrating to get to OT and then give up the takedown. Richards seemed to want it a little more. Still a huge Clark fan, though.

141: B. Pretty ugly win, but it's a W. I think Topher has the physical skills to be pretty solid. He looks like he lacks a lot of confidence. Wrestles like he doesn't yet believe. Hopefully the mental lightbulb goes off some time soon.

149: A. Dominated a decent opponent. Really widened the gap compared to last year's dual meet, which was a more competitive match. Really crisp on his finishes.

157: C. Not much you can do against IMar, but Coop seemed to concede the match from the start. Would have liked to have seen more fight. Edwin has skills but didn't show it tonight. Easier said than done when you're going against the defending national champ, however.

165: C. See 141, except a pretty ugly loss. Good opponent, but Patrick really seems to lack confidence like Topher, IMO. He was in really deep on a nice double-leg shot, for example, and just gave up on it. He was right there. Explode with the hips and it's two. Gave up some takedowns from positions where he was about to score, himself. A sign of a lack of belief, IMO. He works hard but doesn't seem to believe.

174: A-. Very weak opponent with Brunson sitting out. Minus for no backs. Impressive hair on that guy -- I was amazed that he pretty much kept it all in his headgear! Looked like Troy Palomalu out there.

184: B. Decent opponent but not much offense. Hopefully Sammy picks it up over the rest of the Big Ten schedule.

197: A-. Inexperienced opponent with some physical ability but lacking polish. Workmanlike win. Must admit I was in the John for part of this one, so I'm guessing a little here.

285: A. Quality win, and dominant on top. Physically handled Black without much trouble. Liking Sam's development and seeing AA in his future this season.

Now, let's go dominate NW!
 
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WWDM: Can't argue with anything you got. Gilman might not have had the best opponent tonite, but he was an animal.

All the Illinois guys looked small at their weights. Maybe it's just me.

I'm like you on Clark. Not much from neutral.
 
Hopefully Cory picks it up as he recovers from the knee tweak. I'm sure it slowed him down some. I'd much rather see him lose to Richards now and return the favor at Big Tens than the other way around. At least now he'll have a little more chip on his shoulder the next time they meet.
 
WWDMHawkeye said:
Webcast: A-. Price was right! Pretty decent video. Froze on my quite a few times. Glad to be able to watch. Thumbs up to Illinois for providing the feed. Frustrating not to be able to see the score/clock, but I'll take it.

125: A. On a mission. Incredible bridge by that kid to avoid the fall on several occasions.

133: C. Richards is tough. Cory has always struggled to score on him. Slow start comes back to bite him again. Unable to ride him much at all. These two are very evenly matched. Cory needs to step up his work from neutral against the top guys. He's been struggling to score consistently from his feet. Frustrating to get to OT and then give up the takedown. Richards seemed to want it a little more. Still a huge Clark fan, though.

141: B. Pretty ugly win, but it's a W. I think Topher has the physical skills to be pretty solid. He looks like he lacks a lot of confidence. Wrestles like he doesn't yet believe. Hopefully the mental lightbulb goes off some time soon.

149: A. Dominated a decent opponent. Really widened the gap compared to last year's dual meet, which was a more competitive match. Really crisp on his finishes.

157: C. Not much you can do against IMar, but Coop seemed to concede the match from the start. Would have liked to have seen more fight. Edwin has skills but didn't show it tonight. Easier said than done when you're going against the defending national champ, however.

165: C. See 141, except a pretty ugly loss. Good opponent, but Patrick really seems to lack confidence like Topher, IMO. He was in really deep on a nice double-leg shot, for example, and just gave up on it. He was right there. Explode with the hips and it's two. Gave up some takedowns from positions where he was about to score, himself. A sign of a lack of belief, IMO. He works hard but doesn't seem to believe.

174: A-. Very weak opponent with Brunson sitting out. Minus for no backs. Impressive hair on that guy -- I was amazed that he pretty much kept it all in his headgear! Looked like Troy Palomalu out there.

184: B. Decent opponent but not much offense. Hopefully Sammy picks it up over the rest of the Big Ten schedule.

197: A-. Inexperienced opponent with some physical ability but lacking polish. Workmanlike win. Must admit I was in the John for part of this one, so I'm guessing a little here.

285: A. Quality win, and dominant on top. Physically handled Black without much trouble. Liking Sam's development and seeing AA in his future this season.

Now, let's go dominate NW!
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For some reason I was surprised when Carton got his hand raised, felt like he was losing. He and Rhoads just don't seem to have the positional awareness down very good. They get in where they need to be and find a way not to make it happen. Was hoping Rhoads would keep looking better every time out, seems to be a hard nosed grinder with some skills at times, but he looked a lot worse tonight than he had previously.

Cory isn't good enough on his feet to go undefeated IMO, so no real shocker here, just a matter of time. If he doesn't step up his game from his feet, he won't see the top step at NCAA's either, again IMO. He fights hard, plenty of effort, just gotta make it pay off.

Good overall team win tonight however.
 
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Agree on Carton and Rhoads, sloe. That's why I think so much of it is mental with them. They do tend to get into good position but then give up the score when they're right there to score points, themselves. Most of the issue is between the ears for those guys, IMO.
 
Clark had offense galore as a freshman. Not sure what happened.
 
Just giving pass/fail tonight:

Gilman: Pass.
Clark: Fail. Not enough offense.
Carton: Fail. Sloppy--we got a ref freebie here.
Sorensen: Pass.
Cooper: Fail. Whew.
Rhoads: Fail. Whew.
Meyer: Pass.
Brooks: Pass.
Burak: Pass.
Stoll: Pass. Showing consistency.
 
Brooks needs find some O from neutral. Especially when the under hooks and 2 on 1s aren't working. He seems to be falling into the same track as he was toward the end of the year last year. I love me some Sammy Brooks though.
 
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Flo only predicted a major from Gilman which I thought was pretty odd.

Thought Carton got given one...he hustled but Ervin was clearly outshooting him and the ref could have given the guy a break going out of bounds because he shot a hell of a lot. Would of liked to have seen him finish it off with a TD.

No real surprises...I liked that the ref was quick with the stall call...it's how it should be done.

Stollhouse needs to get a shot he can count on and he'll be good...Black wanted no part of his ties; a shot or two would have earned him some stalling calls from this ref as Black had on his track shoes.

Overall, Illinois's overall plan was to stay out of our ties and shoot from space. For my money, they win best hair in the B1G...dude's rattail popping out was worth the price of admission.
 
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25-A+ Dominant. Just happened to go up against a wrestler with the slipperiest back in the BIGs.
33-B Clarks right leg looked ready for mummification
Definitley looked limited out there. I'm certain now that a healthy Clark takes out Zane with ease.
41-B Carton looked solid. He's a goer with a motor. Opponent wasn't a push over either.
49-A+ Dominant. Seeing more and more separation from same opponents he faced last year. Sorenson is the best 49lbers in the country.
57-C IMar is IMar. I don't think anybody can slow him down. Not Nolf, Jo Jo... Cooper is not in his league so can't really gauge.
65-C- S Rod is good. Good effort tho, I guess. IDK, this weight is so meh.
74-C- Still worried about Meyer. He rarely shoots anymore and gets caught walking into opponents shots. He should have tech'd that kid with ease. Hope he gets to full health.
84-B Koepke is tougher than I thought. Brooks looked very solid on his feet. Koepke had a good game plan on bottom with his wide base so Brooks couldn't use his tilt. Brooks needs to add more to his arsenal if he wants to continue scoring bonus points.
97-B- Like to see more offensive from Burak against weaker opponents.
Heavy-B Good win for Stoll. He's a strong boy.
 
Very good write-up WWDM. I missed the Gilman match, regrettably, and wish I had seen it.

My 2 cents:

Sammy B. looked like he got winded, and took his foot off the gas pedal half way through.

Sammy S. looked to be on another level from Black. Never in danger and dominated Black in a punishing ride. They could have wrestled another 30 minutes and I don't think Black would have threatened Stoll. Black looked much smaller than Stoll, and Black is a huge man. I like our HWT a lot.

Carton's opponent was spent after the first period but Carton couldn't/didn't capitalize. I agree some of it looks to be mental and a lack of confidence. Ervin gassed big time.

Finally, as impressive as Sorenson was in his victory, I thought IMAR was even more impressive in his. Cooper didn't stand a chance. Damn, IMAR's good. Three years is a long time, but I think there's a real prospect he'll match Cael's record and run the table for his career. IMiller or Nolf? I don't see either of them taking IMAR this year.
 
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Gusaford said:
Very good write-up WWDM. I missed the Gilman match, regrettably, and wish I had seen it.

My 2 cents:

Sammy B. looked like he got winded, and took his foot off the gas pedal half way through.

Sammy S. looked to be on another level from Black. Never in danger and dominated Black in a punishing ride. They could have wrestled another 30 minutes and I don't think Black would have threatened Stoll. Black looked much smaller than Stoll, and Black is a huge man. I like our HWT a lot.

Carton's opponent was spent after the first period but Carton couldn't/didn't capitalize. I agree some of it looks to be mental and a lack of confidence. Ervin gassed big time.

Finally, as impressive as Sorenson was in his victory, I thought IMAR was even more impressive in his. Cooper didn't stand a chance. Damn, IMAR's good. Three years is a long time, but I think there's a real prospect he'll match Cael's record and run the table for his career. IMiller or Nolf? I don't see either of them taking IMAR this year.
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I think IMar will MD both of them. There doesn't seem to be a lot of talent at 157 or at 165 for that matter. I assume everybody is dodging IMar and Dieringer. Did anybody see the Bo Jordan/Steven Rodrigues match from last week? Jordan looked horrible. If he's the #2 guy at 165 then it's the worst weight class in college.
 
Gutt15 said:
I think IMar will MD both of them. There doesn't seem to be a lot of talent at 157 or at 165 for that matter. I assume everybody is dodging IMar and Dieringer. Did anybody see the Bo Jordan/Steven Rodrigues match from last week? Jordan looked horrible. If he's the #2 guy at 165 then it's the worst weight class in college.
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Lewis from Mizzou gave him a go too. Not the wunderkind that was predicted. Not a top two guy if he keeps it up. Cutting too much I wonder?
 
Big Fall said:
Clark had offense galore as a freshman. Not sure what happened.
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That seems to be a trend with many of our wrestlers. Mike Evans seemed like a high energy guy with lots of offense his first year and by his senior year there was no offense. Keddy was kind of the same way. Even Ramos seemed to win a lot of close matches as a senior.

Look at Ramos' results from Nationals his senior year. No majors. He beat unseeded Mack in the 1st round 3-1 the 14th seeded Richards 6-4 in SV in the second.

The year before, Ramos had pins in the first and second rounds and beat Morrison 6-1 in the quarters. I almost wonder if our wrestlers start competing not to lose.
 
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Imar will not major Nolf. He may pin him, but the match will be close.
 
Pretty much agree with WWDM.

I will also give a big thumbs up on the webcast - it would be nice to show the scoreboard now and then. But it was free, and very nice that the camera actually followed the action, unlike Midlands where many times the action moved away but the camera stayed focused on the logo in center of mat.

The lack of a student announcer saying "he's a great player" or calling returning a guy to the mat "another takedown"... I can live with that.
 
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Gutt15 said:
I think IMar will MD both of them. There doesn't seem to be a lot of talent at 157 or at 165 for that matter. I assume everybody is dodging IMar and Dieringer. Did anybody see the Bo Jordan/Steven Rodrigues match from last week? Jordan looked horrible. If he's the #2 guy at 165 then it's the worst weight class in college.
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Not sure I see it that way as far as dodging. Other than Realbuto to start the season and Ramos recently who of note left those 2 weight classes. BoJo actually came down to 165 and I think he'll look better as his body settles. I think it's less a lack of talent and more that IMar and Ringer make good wrestlers look bad and very good wrestlers look average.
 
You guys presumably already know this, but those losses as a true freshmen don't count against his overall record. Most probably know that Cael lost to Hawkeye Paul Jenn during his true freshman year, and that loss, of course, didn't count in his 159-0 record.

I think IMar has a very good shot at running the table all 4 years. He overcame the toughest hurdle last year; it will only get easier for him from here on out, and nobody is coming close to him so far this year.
 
rafferty06 said:
Like Iowa football sometimes. Plays not to lose instead of playing to win???
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Kind of but id call it playing more to your strengths. Kirk had Norms defense to fall back on so why make mistakes on offense. Cory is an elite rider and scrambler and for the most part theis allows him to impose his game plan and manage the match. Problem with Cory and this is the same way for Sorenson to beat Retherford is is you have to get that first period TD and flip the game managment on them. I thought Mark Perry was about as good of managinfg 7 min as oyu could with this type of plan. All differant dudes but same skill sets and game plans. Of course the Perry's could also eat up time with a bad shot and an iron like grip to try and suck the leg in when they felt they needed to look active. I thought you saw this training in Delgado alot.

Cory will be ok but hes the type to have 3-4 losses with this style then show up to a tourney then put the game plan together another notch.
 
WWDMHawkeye said:
You guys presumably already know this, but those losses as a true freshmen don't count against his overall record. Most probably know that Cael lost to Hawkeye Paul Jenn during his true freshman year, and that loss, of course, didn't count in his 159-0 record.

I think IMar has a very good shot at running the table all 4 years. He overcame the toughest hurdle last year; it will only get easier for him from here on out, and nobody is coming close to him so far this year.
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Like you said....I think most know this already. Still, it's fair to point it out. When somebody says Sanderson was undefeated in college you can correct them and say he lost once in college. Same with IMar and his loss to DSJ. They happened. It may not show up on their "official" record but they aren't imaginary matches. They are losses.
 
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Right -- it just seemed that there might have been some question about whether those losses during his RS season counted on his official record. Thought it was worth clarifying, in case anybody wondered.
 
Gutt15 said:
Like you said....I think most know this already. Still, it's fair to point it out. When somebody says Sanderson was undefeated in college you can correct them and say he lost once in college. Same with IMar and his loss to DSJ. They happened. It may not show up on their "official" record but they aren't imaginary matches. They are losses.
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Should Brooks loss to DT at Midlands be considered a loss? Just playing devils advocate here. Are all losses created equal?
 
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