I could legit see Iowa going 0-10 here. There needs to be a great awakening for the Iowa wrestling program.
Penn State Dual
- Thread starter BIG10MANIAC
- Start date
100% on this. I don't think LL will be able to hold 125 throughout his career and will want to go right out of the gate next year and Davis will offer little resistance. Not sold on Davis at all and I can see him being a candidate down the road to portal out if he can't be a career 125. Lightning Luke will win multiple titles barring injury, the kid is legit and a savant technically. And one of the nicest genuine kids you'll ever meet but a stone cold baby faced assassin. Pains me to say as an Iowa alum but I don't think Drake is beating him.
Should Iowa be better than they are this year? Absolutely. However, if they didn’t lose Brands, Assad and Cass to a crazy witch hunt, they would be the clear #2 right now.
I know even being the clear #2 sucks right now, but how exactly were they supposed to stop PSU from what they have created? Do you realize how incredibly rare their lineup is?
125: Undefeated and ranked #2
133: Ranked #6 at a very top heavy weight
141: undefeated and ranked #1
149: 1 loss back up ranked #10 filling in for an injured teammate who most likely would be ranked 1 or 2 at this point.
157: undefeated and ranked #1
165: undefeated and ranked #7. Almost certainly should be higher, but this weight is super deep and he is only a freshman.
174: undefeated 3x champ ranked #1
184: ranked #6
197: undefeated 3x champ ranked #1
285: undefeated ranked #1
That is 5 undefeated #1s. Of those, 2 of them(Brooks and Starocci )have won NCAA’s every time they have competed(6 total). Haines is a returning finalist and so is Kerkvliet(3x AA) and Bartlett is coming off a 3rd place finish last year.
After that you have 2 undefeated freshmen that both could win it all. Those 7 alone basically win any dual even if they forfeit the other 3 weights. Still, they have 2 top notch transfers in a 3x top 4 All American at 184 and a top 5 at 133.
Finally, their “weakest” link is a 1 loss freshman ranked #10 and he is only filling in due to injury.
Look, this dual is NOT remotely about how “bad” Iowa is for all you “Negative Nancy’s”. It is solely about how ridiculously good PSU is.
This is the most talented top to bottom team I have EVER seen. Iowa may still hold onto the tournament record, but that performance kind of came a bit out of nowhere. This PSU team won’t be surprising anyone at NCAA’s and no one will be surprising them….
Edited to correct my mistake in giving Haines a Title instead of 2nd his first season.
I know even being the clear #2 sucks right now, but how exactly were they supposed to stop PSU from what they have created? Do you realize how incredibly rare their lineup is?
125: Undefeated and ranked #2
133: Ranked #6 at a very top heavy weight
141: undefeated and ranked #1
149: 1 loss back up ranked #10 filling in for an injured teammate who most likely would be ranked 1 or 2 at this point.
157: undefeated and ranked #1
165: undefeated and ranked #7. Almost certainly should be higher, but this weight is super deep and he is only a freshman.
174: undefeated 3x champ ranked #1
184: ranked #6
197: undefeated 3x champ ranked #1
285: undefeated ranked #1
That is 5 undefeated #1s. Of those, 2 of them(Brooks and Starocci )have won NCAA’s every time they have competed(6 total). Haines is a returning finalist and so is Kerkvliet(3x AA) and Bartlett is coming off a 3rd place finish last year.
After that you have 2 undefeated freshmen that both could win it all. Those 7 alone basically win any dual even if they forfeit the other 3 weights. Still, they have 2 top notch transfers in a 3x top 4 All American at 184 and a top 5 at 133.
Finally, their “weakest” link is a 1 loss freshman ranked #10 and he is only filling in due to injury.
Look, this dual is NOT remotely about how “bad” Iowa is for all you “Negative Nancy’s”. It is solely about how ridiculously good PSU is.
This is the most talented top to bottom team I have EVER seen. Iowa may still hold onto the tournament record, but that performance kind of came a bit out of nowhere. This PSU team won’t be surprising anyone at NCAA’s and no one will be surprising them….
Edited to correct my mistake in giving Haines a Title instead of 2nd his first season.
Last edited:
And the "weakest link" #10 freshman backup's sole loss is to his undefeated #1 ranked teammate one weight class down before he was forced into the starter role. PSU's starting lineup is a combined 109-6, which is insane for a team wrestling a B1G schedule.
you FORGOT to mention the HUGE ALUMNI slush fund that Ira Lubert and Drebelbis put in place as they flew back from offering Cael the coaching job while on their private jet. That 8 million bought a Hell of a lot of great recruiting power long BEFORE NIL was ever legal. But hey.... just overlook that detail as millions of dollars isn't a big deal. Now I return you to your fantasy which is already in progress...How Penn State hired Cael Sanderson. It really doesn't need to go deeper than that. He is this generation's Dan Gable. Could Brands be more active in recruiting? Absolutely. Does Iowa need improved upper weight coaches? Yes. Would it make a ton of difference in the end? Probably not. Cael caught lightning in a bottle and it is what it is. It would take an equally crazy move on Iowa's part to change the trend line and dynamic in collegiate wrestling.
The origins of college sports' most dominant dynasty: How Penn State hired Cael Sanderson
Sanderson went 159-0 as a college wrestler. Now, he's won nine NCAA team titles as a coach. How did Penn State lure him from his alma mater?theathletic.com
My bad, going off memory and I poorly negated AOC’s great season. Sadly, I am so used to PSU winning in the Finals, that I blanked on that one.
Still, the team currently assembled has more top end firepower than I can ever recall. The crazy part is they almost all seem completely upset proof as well. If you had to pick one to be upset, who would you choose and who would legitimately be upsetting them if they won?
Bartlett is far from a lock. In fact, he could easily lose tomorrow if last week was an anomaly for Woods. Mendez has also looked really good, and who knows if Lemley's match was a fluke or not.
Haines could easily lose to Meyer Shapiro. That kid is a beast, too.
My point was more about a clear “upset” and not so much solely about rankings. You named people that have a legit argument to, or already have, beat their opponents. In other words, none of those would be even a slight surprise.
Ok, gotcha. I was thinking you were asking which of the 5 undefeated #1s could be upset.
Yeah, that is why I prefaced it with “legitimately”. I didn’t mean to say they were unbeatable, just that they won’t be pulling a Mack Lewnes or Max Askren or even a Greg Jones at NCAA’s without major illness or injury.
My unsolicited thoughts on likelihood of wins.
Ayala 65%
Schreiver 15%
Woods 60%
CR 45%
Franek 45%
MC 35%
Kennedy 2%
Riggins 1%/Arnold 30%
Glazier 1%
Hill\Kueter 1%
Ayala 65%
Schreiver 15%
Woods 60%
CR 45%
Franek 45%
MC 35%
Kennedy 2%
Riggins 1%/Arnold 30%
Glazier 1%
Hill\Kueter 1%
Trivia question: Of the three NCAA wrestling programs with the most championships, which is the only one to have not been sanctioned for breaking NCAA rules?
I’m pretty sure you have me confused with an internet troll. I am not. I was responding to a question as to how Iowa got to this moment. The answer is that in many respects, Iowa had nothing to do with the present, but that the article I posted describes in the best possible way as to why Iowa is where they are today. Nothing more or less. So please keep your gunpowder dry.
Looks about right. I would classify the 1% as the very small chance some fluke pin happened.
And that is after Van Ness, the #1 ranked favorite at 149 went down with injury. That would have been seven #1 ranked guys and 3 holes ranked top 6. I honestly wonder if you picked an allstar team of the second best/best guy at all ten weights in D1 wrestling and wrestled a dual against PSU they (allstar team) would be an underdog on paper at 6 of the ten weights and very well could lose the dual. PSU is kicking everyone's ass this year, not just Iowa's.
Last edited:
Van Ness is very good and I get your point but he wouldn’t be ranked ahead of Ridge Lovett from Nebraska. But definitely in the top 3.
All Star Dual
125 Ramos Purdue vs Davis. Ramos favored
133 Crookham Lehigh vs Nagao Crookham already beat him 6-4. And it wasn’t that close.
Also Ragusin pinned Nagao and Bouzakis beat him 13-6.
141 Woods Iowa vs Bartlett. Toss up
149 Lovett Nebraska vs Kasak. Lovett favored
157 Zerban Northern Colorado vs Haines. Zerban 1-0 against Haines. Toss up. You could put Franek, Shapiro, Blockhus or Teemer here as well.
165 O’Toole Missouri vs Mesenbrink. O’Toole favored.
174 Lewis VA Tech vs Starocci. Starocci heavy favorite. I think Shane Griffith from Michigan would be the better match up but Starocci would still be favored.
184 Keckeisen UNI vs Truax. Keckeisen heavy favorite.
197 Hidlay NC State vs Brooks. Brooks favorite.
285 Hendrickson Air Force vs Kerkvliet. Kerk heavy favorite.
All Stars favored in 5, PSU favored in 3 and 2 toss ups.
Last edited:
Thanks for that! It would not surprise me at all for it to split 5 to 5. How sickening is that for everyone that isn't a Happy Valley homer.
Penn St would likely get bonus at 174 and 285 as well.
Ragusin's pin of Nagao was a fluky thing in SV and that match was really a toss-up, although Bouzakis obviously beat him pretty badly. You could also put Vito in for Crookham once we see what happens at the EIWAs and he would also be a heavy favorite. Lovett vs SVN was one of the matches I was really looking forward to this year. It's a shame SVN got hurt.
Looks good. Id put Cali at 50/50 though. And Arnold a bit higher also because he is money under pressure in big matches. Schreiver could increase his odds if he doesnt give up that first takedown or have to take down at all.
I’m good with all except for Ayala and Woods. Neither are favored. Real has been hella sick and Drake has been underwhelming so far.
There is no pity for a self-inflicted wound.
I was also looking forward to the Lovett vs SVN match. I'm at least glad the injury occurred very early in the season so SVN can seek a medical redshirt year if he desires.
I guess we’ll just have to settle for Lovett vs. Gomez.
Too bad GFY isn’t one of the programs, cuz that’s my answer.
This team needs to show the wrestling world that they give a shit. I’m thinking someone on this team is going to light a fire and I think the fire will spread. I’m saying the Hawks will go 4-6. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Cael rests a couple of his hammers just because he can.
We absolutely will if we wrestle like we did against Mich! Glazier and Riggins were the only ones who showed up and sadly their best game won’t help against PSU.
Yeah don’t see that happening unless Kerk lays the biggest egg ever. Love BK but he’s not even close to being close to being moderately close to Kerk.
Things are usually never as good or as bad as you think. PSU has overperformed IMO. A lot, we will tend to expect it. But every meet is 10 matches and a great day and a poor day can happen in every match. So IU see how Iowa could win 4-5, but that's unlikely. PSU winning ten is unlikely. So I guess PSU wins something to 6-10 0r 11 for Iowa.
Over performed? How can you so that? Many people have said psu looked flat against Ohio st, maybe they did….but still won that dual 28-9…..pretty good for wrestling flat. Psu starters have lost a combined 6 matches all year…..Nagao 3, Kasak 1(to teammate Bartlett) and Truax 2. Hard to call that an over performance……clearly their just that dominant
lmao at being a clear #2. bet Iowa will be hard pressed for top 5 this year. Who do you trust to put together enough matches in a row to compte?? I'll give you woods but I am not even convinced on him. I think this team lost a spark and it isn't coming back with out some coaching changes.
Are you intentionally ignoring the fact that they had the crazy gambling witch hunt remove 4 starters from the lineup? Are you telling me they aren't the clear #2 if they had Cass and Brands in the lineup? Even then, you are missing the fact that EVERY stat possible shows they are the CLEAR #2 program behind PSU and clearly ahead of everyone else during Brands tenure.
Just since 2020, they were the clear #1 in 2020(Covid year), won it in 2021, took 3rd in 2022(decimated by injuries) and 2nd in 2023.
With all that said, instead of narrow minded complaining, what team is going to sustain success above Iowa other than PSU? The only team that has done it for any matter of time is tOSU and they have been seriously inconsisent since losing Rosselli, Dlagnev and Snyder.
Even when it comes to recruiting, who, other than PSU, is outrecruiting Iowa on a consistent basis? I am sorry, but there is NO COGENT argument that puts anyone but PSU ahead of Iowa and I would argue that there also isn't one that puts any other team even consistently close to Iowa....
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
2025 Florida Three-Star DT Enjoys Iowa Visit, Schedules Official
- Latest: Eliot Clough
-