Randy, Nice post.
Luckily for me, I was pretty busy right after midlands so didn't have the chance to post my full "end of the world" posts I was feeling after some of our matches.It's hard not to be too emotional in the immediate aftermath of disappointing results, I am always thankful when I take a pause before posting.
Spencer - As upsetting as it is for us as fans to see our premiere guy take a loss, its hard to imagine how much worse he and his coaches feel. Contrary to popular opinion prior to Midlands, I was not under the impression that he was unbeatable. I posted after the first match with Glory how close I thought the match was beyond just the score. Glory was able to get to legs and was tough on top and working for a reversal from bottom.
I seem to remember another hawk 125 having issues at times with a NW guy, Brandon Precin. Looking back on it, the only time you hear that name is when you are talking about the time McD put him to his back and finished him off. Truth is, Lee is not unbeatable, but he is clutch and he's the returning champ. I'll take him this year all day long.
As for those of you who feed in to scat fan like he's a soothsayer or something, get real, he's picked his teams guys 3 times to win or keep it close, being right 1 out of 3 times is not a talent and anyone who's seen how Spencer looks early this year compared to ending last year, knows something's up, he'll be just fine once he gets back on track. I've watched every match both folk and free that SL has on youtube, right now he's the slowest offensively I have ever seen him and his defense is nothing like what he displayed against Nato and Suriano in the NCAA. He'll be fine once the season wears on. Sebastian is no Nato, and Lee pinned Nato last time they met.
Warner - I am a little more worried about Warner, but still see the upside. For the most part 197 isn't about flash, it's about a solid skill set, which I think Warner has. Look at Moore, he's not shock and awe, he's methodical, tough and fundamentally sound. Warner can be all those things. I am not ready to throw in the towel and I believe he will pull it together for a solid podium finish this year and be ready to challenge for top 3 next year. He's the guy at 97 and I think the final product can be pretty good.
A few other things;
Young is the model of what our guys should be doing, putting it all out there and working every minute, very impressed with his work ethic on the mat.
Murin, pretty much the same. You could tell he regretted waiting so long to get on offense after the loss, he will learn from this, effort is A+,
Desanto might not be the most talented 33 out there (right now) or the quickest, but I think he will improve more than anyone because he has a never ending motor and tons of passion. Love the attitude and the team vibe.
Lugo showed signs of what he can be. Hard to see him lose to Sasso since most of us thought Sasso could be out 49, but if he is on point every match, like the semi's, he a top 4 guy this year.
Bowman - can't count this tournament since it's his first at 74. He beat a top 10 97 so he can more than what he did this weekend, can he do it with the cut? I think he can. I have trouble with
Wilke some times because when he wants to, he looks like he can beat anyone and that's frustrating when he doesn't. I hold out hope that he starts wrestling like Young and Murin, because he might find he can beat nearly anyone. The
Bull is the Bull, but he seems smarter and more focused this year. He can be beaten, but he can beat anyone at this weight and beating Wick was, in my opinion, a bigger win than his win at psu last year.
Stoll will be Stoll come march. He's not going to do cartwheels or even a blast double, but he's going to throw some dudes, back em up and snap em down, which is what he's been doing since he got here, oh yeah, he's gonna pin some guys for us in March for sure.
Cass - cut him some slack. I think he might have been reading some of the hype garbage people have been writing about him. He's good and he will be a top guy when his time comes. He'll get smarter with throws and start wrestling his matches instead of the ones we want him to wrestle, that's when he will shine.
One last thing for anyone dumb enough to read this far
, we really need to focus on getting off bottom. Time for CC and BS to work with some guys.
Ok, one last last thing, to all Hawk fans: Please Stop feeding the trolls. Block them or at least stop responding to them. It does us all a favor.If a guy starts a thread about his team 10 times and the only posters responding happen to be fans of other teams, don't jump in, let those threads die, don't feed them.
