So I decided to have some fun with my new Tournament Projection Tool and see what a lineup full of redshirts getting pulled would fare at Nationals. This pulls the shirt on Lee, Murin, Warner, and assumes Downey at 184.
https://www.wrestlestat.com/tourney/projection/id/49d09746dbd648508bab248f6a233d42/view
Add 5.5 points for this with Murin getting 8th at 133, and that gives us ~125.11 points, which is 2nd to PSU at 135.05. (I have a bug where I can't do a "write-in" for a wrestler to a different weight than what he is already assigned on the roster, which is why Murin is left out of this).
Thoughts on this lineup? (I put a little nugget in there if anyone is paying attention...)
As for the lineup, I definitely think Murin at 133 could go in there and bang with guys like DeSanto, Mueller, Micic, McKee, Terao, Forys, Erneste, Pletcher, Brock, Parker, and Gross... Theres nobody really unbeatable anchoring the weight. I've heard only good things about Murin, sounds like he is really progressing in the room. We hear this a lot about so and so developing in the room or really progressing and then maybe they don't perform as well as expected but I'm really optimistic about Murin performing well for us whether its at 133 this year, or next year, or at 141. Especially being a 4x Placer, 3x Finalist, and 2x Champ from PA. Theres no debate that PA and OH kids go on to AA the most at the collegiate level. Theres many examples of #20+ (recruiting ranking) guys from PA and OH who have AA'd since just 2010.
PA: #21 Minotti - #25 R.Cruz - #25 Schram - #26 Port - #26 Henderson - #34 Moisey - #37 Myers - #46 D.Cruz - #53 N.Brown - #54 Parker - #60 Lizak - #61 Renda - #75 Neff - #87 Schopp - #109 Conaway - #116 Thomas.
OH: #21 Collica - #27 I.Jordan - #31 Tessari - #32 Thomusseit - #35 R.Taylor - #36 Miller - #41 Brascetta - #54 Ward - #81 K. Moore - #111 Walz.
Murin fits the mold, and being at Iowa and in our room I don't think predicting 4x AA honors for him is unreasonable.
Whole lotta what ifs, but could potentially have 5 Finalists in Lee-Sorensen-Kemerer-Downey-Warner, with a champ or 2 in that mix. Then Bull as high AA. Stoll Mid AA. Murin Low AA. Gunther R12. Turk R16 or (1-2). Thats serious scoring firepower, and if you're going to make one move then make them all (assuming all parties are on board of course). If not, then shirt them all and be ready to unleash Lee-Murin-Lugo-Warner onto the world next year. But with Murin cutting down, you kind of feel like it is in preparation for a move to be made.. unless he plans on competing at 133 for more than 1 season and just wants to get used to competing at that weight. (Sorensen wrestled 157 for the first part of his RS year then was down to 149 by Midlands and has been there ever since).
