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NW / IA PBP

Brother, we're going to need more than that. 10 AAs without a couple of them winning it all and others placing high won't make it. PSU is looking really good with the moves they've made this last month or so...unfortunately!!
I had some time to kill this morning so decided to see who PSU has wrestled. Competition matters and should be taken into consideration when talking about team races. Here is what I found on wrestle stat. I primarily looked at the number of top 20 match ups since after that you would expect the top guys to dominate.

Hillebrand Has 2 matches which were against #67 and # 219
RBY Has only wrestled 2 guys in the TOP 40. He won by decision over #10 Michael McGee and the #39 guy.
Nick Lee won by decision over #7 and Majored the #20 Cael Happel
Bartlett wrestled the #1 where he was majored. He also wrestled #12 Kyle Parco which he won 3-1 in SV
I skipped 57 and 65 since they never look worth a shit.
Stallrocki The best guy he's faced is #19 Chris Foca. Staller won 3-2
Brooks has wrestled #5, #17, #19, and #20 getting 3 majors and a 1 point decision
Max Dean has wrestled 1 top 20 guy. #13 Kordell Norfleet
The best guy Kirk has wrestled is #20 Lewis Fernandez where he won 5-0

Penn State has a great team but you will always look a lot better against weak competition. I think an argument could be made they have looked pretty subpar considering the level of competition. They have had it really easy so far this year.

Iowa
Ayala Has already wrestled 4 Top 20 guys. #8, #9, !5, 17
DeSanto Only 1 top 20 guy who he majored
Eirman won by decision over #15. Also wrestled 4 guys ranked in the 20's.
Murin has won by decision over #4 and #11
Young Has wrestled the 3, 5, 8, 9, and 11 guys
Bull best win is a TF over #23
Kemdawg TF #15 and won 9-2 over #20
Assad Lost to #3 beat #22
Warner has wrestled 15, 17, 19, 20
Cass has wrestled 1, 4, 6, 10, 18, 19

The race will clear up a lot over the next few weeks. Right now PSU has had a very weak schedule. Ours hasn't been super tough, but it has been filled with much higher ranked match ups. Competition matters so everyone should take that into account.
 
I had some time to kill this morning so decided to see who PSU has wrestled. Competition matters and should be taken into consideration when talking about team races. Here is what I found on wrestle stat. I primarily looked at the number of top 20 match ups since after that you would expect the top guys to dominate.

Hillebrand Has 2 matches which were against #67 and # 219
RBY Has only wrestled 2 guys in the TOP 40. He won by decision over #10 Michael McGee and the #39 guy.
Nick Lee won by decision over #7 and Majored the #20 Cael Happel
Bartlett wrestled the #1 where he was majored. He also wrestled #12 Kyle Parco which he won 3-1 in SV
I skipped 57 and 65 since they never look worth a shit.
Stallrocki The best guy he's faced is #19 Chris Foca. Staller won 3-2
Brooks has wrestled #5, #17, #19, and #20 getting 3 majors and a 1 point decision
Max Dean has wrestled 1 top 20 guy. #13 Kordell Norfleet
The best guy Kirk has wrestled is #20 Lewis Fernandez where he won 5-0

Penn State has a great team but you will always look a lot better against weak competition. I think an argument could be made they have looked pretty subpar considering the level of competition. They have had it really easy so far this year.

Iowa
Ayala Has already wrestled 4 Top 20 guys. #8, #9, !5, 17
DeSanto Only 1 top 20 guy who he majored
Eirman won by decision over #15. Also wrestled 4 guys ranked in the 20's.
Murin has won by decision over #4 and #11
Young Has wrestled the 3, 5, 8, 9, and 11 guys
Bull best win is a TF over #23
Kemdawg TF #15 and won 9-2 over #20
Assad Lost to #3 beat #22
Warner has wrestled 15, 17, 19, 20
Cass has wrestled 1, 4, 6, 10, 18, 19

The race will clear up a lot over the next few weeks. Right now PSU has had a very weak schedule. Ours hasn't been super tough, but it has been filled with much higher ranked match ups. Competition matters so everyone should take that into account.

You seem to be arguing that PSU’s returning champions aren’t all that because they haven’t proven anything yet this year. Well, I will tell you that they are healthy returning champions, so they are all that. There are not a bunch of unknowns here - we know exactly who all these guys are.

With a healthy Desanto, Ironman, and Kemdawg we have a decent chance of winning. Take any one of them out of the picture and the odds get very long. This isn’t complicated. So with ADS and JE suddenly questionable, and Kemdawg - however impressive he has looked - wrestling with one arm, it is impossible not to get a bit pessimistic. We don’t have many years where the championship is within reach, it sucks to see it possibly slipping away during one of those years.
 
You seem to be arguing that PSU’s returning champions aren’t all that because they haven’t proven anything yet this year. Well, I will tell you that they are healthy returning champions, so they are all that. There are not a bunch of unknowns here - we know exactly who all these guys are.

With a healthy Desanto, Ironman, and Kemdawg we have a decent chance of winning. Take any one of them out of the picture and the odds get very long. This isn’t complicated. So with ADS and JE suddenly questionable, and Kemdawg - however impressive he has looked - wrestling with one arm, it is impossible not to get a bit pessimistic. We don’t have many years where the championship is within reach, it sucks to see it possibly slipping away during one of those years.
My only argument was that it's easier to look great against worse competition. I also said PSU has a great team. They are the team to beat but the gap isn't as big as some think IMO. We obviously have to have all of our available and as healthy as possible in March. Which goes back to my statement that we will know where we stand in a few weeks.
 
You seem to be arguing that PSU’s returning champions aren’t all that because they haven’t proven anything yet this year. Well, I will tell you that they are healthy returning champions, so they are all that. There are not a bunch of unknowns here - we know exactly who all these guys are.

With a healthy Desanto, Ironman, and Kemdawg we have a decent chance of winning. Take any one of them out of the picture and the odds get very long. This isn’t complicated. So with ADS and JE suddenly questionable, and Kemdawg - however impressive he has looked - wrestling with one arm, it is impossible not to get a bit pessimistic. We don’t have many years where the championship is within reach, it sucks to see it possibly slipping away during one of those years.
The Big Ten Tournament starts March 5th. If only 1/2 of our Starters show up then, that's the time for the tears to fall, not mid-January.
 
I had some time to kill this morning so decided to see who PSU has wrestled. Competition matters and should be taken into consideration when talking about team races. Here is what I found on wrestle stat. I primarily looked at the number of top 20 match ups since after that you would expect the top guys to dominate.

Hillebrand Has 2 matches which were against #67 and # 219
RBY Has only wrestled 2 guys in the TOP 40. He won by decision over #10 Michael McGee and the #39 guy.
Nick Lee won by decision over #7 and Majored the #20 Cael Happel
Bartlett wrestled the #1 where he was majored. He also wrestled #12 Kyle Parco which he won 3-1 in SV
I skipped 57 and 65 since they never look worth a shit.
Stallrocki The best guy he's faced is #19 Chris Foca. Staller won 3-2
Brooks has wrestled #5, #17, #19, and #20 getting 3 majors and a 1 point decision
Max Dean has wrestled 1 top 20 guy. #13 Kordell Norfleet
The best guy Kirk has wrestled is #20 Lewis Fernandez where he won 5-0

Penn State has a great team but you will always look a lot better against weak competition. I think an argument could be made they have looked pretty subpar considering the level of competition. They have had it really easy so far this year.

Iowa
Ayala Has already wrestled 4 Top 20 guys. #8, #9, !5, 17
DeSanto Only 1 top 20 guy who he majored
Eirman won by decision over #15. Also wrestled 4 guys ranked in the 20's.
Murin has won by decision over #4 and #11
Young Has wrestled the 3, 5, 8, 9, and 11 guys
Bull best win is a TF over #23
Kemdawg TF #15 and won 9-2 over #20
Assad Lost to #3 beat #22
Warner has wrestled 15, 17, 19, 20
Cass has wrestled 1, 4, 6, 10, 18, 19

The race will clear up a lot over the next few weeks. Right now PSU has had a very weak schedule. Ours hasn't been super tough, but it has been filled with much higher ranked match ups. Competition matters so everyone should take that into account.
I'm a big believer in that if our hammers stay healthy, and "if" other non-PSU hammers stay healthy, PSU could be limited to maybe one national champ, and even that isn't guaranteed. We just need our hammers to take out PSU hammers where possible, kind of like what happened at B10s last year. And then we need guys like Fix, Steveson, Amine/Hidlay to also keep the PSU hammers from winning it all or even making the finals. If we can do that and then have our Hawks wrestle to their seeds we have a chance. If PSU wins a bunch of finals like they did last March IMO we're screwed.
 
I'm a big believer in that if our hammers stay healthy, and "if" other non-PSU hammers stay healthy, PSU could be limited to maybe one national champ, and even that isn't guaranteed. We just need our hammers to take out PSU hammers where possible, kind of like what happened at B10s last year. And then we need guys like Fix, Steveson, Amine/Hidlay to also keep the PSU hammers from winning it all or even making the finals. If we can do that and then have our Hawks wrestle to their seeds we have a chance. If PSU wins a bunch of finals like they did last March IMO we're screwed.
Your best path to a Team Title is to beat your closest competition head to head when you have that opportunity, whether it's the first round or the last. Don't leave it up to Minnesota, Okie State, etc. Sometimes we're going to be outmatched and sometimes they are, but when it's fairly even we have to step up.

I'll go to my grave thinking Michael Kemerer and/or the Iowa Wrestling Coaching Staff wrestled the worst possible tactical match against Starocci in the history of Iowa Wrestling at NCAA's ( with the possible exception of the Metcalf/Caldwell Finals - I can't help but think Metcalf must have contracted COVID that night, before it was a thing, he was so out of sorts it was amazing, and mind boggling).
 
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Your best path to a Team Title is to beat your closest competition head to head when you have that opportunity, whether it's the first round or the last. Don't leave it up to Minnesota, Okie State, etc. Sometimes we're going to be outmatched and sometimes they are, but when it's fairly even we have to step up.

I'll go to my grave thinking Michael Kemerer and/or the Iowa Wrestling Coaching Staff wrestled the worst possible tactical match against Starocci in the history of Iowa Wrestling at NCAA's ( with the possible exception of the Metcalf/Caldwell Finals - I can't help but think Metcalf must have contracted COVID that night, before it was a thing, he was so out of sorts it was amazing, and mind boggling).
I was thinking the same thing last year WRT the comparisons between that match and Metcalf’s loss. I couldn’t believe either one of them when they happened!
 
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