Other then the B1G TEN, I have not watched much other college wrestling mostly because of watching my son wrestling in HS. His season has ended, and I find myself for the first time in months, with nothing to get ready for early Saturday morning. TV really sucks I have to tell you!!! So I am searching for SOMETHING-ANYTHING to watch and low and behold I see this dual coming up and I have access to the channel.
OK, not the biggest dual in the world, but some good match ups, should be pretty good? The first thing was the mat. Once again, I will point out that most HS in my area have newer and nicer mats then most college teams including IOWA! The real problem though was the size. The NCAA should really make a minimum size requirement. In HS, at least in my area and I would expect in most too. The problem is the size of the gyms when it comes to using bigger mats.
Not a problem for duals, but just about every tournament I went to this year. There was issue once several mats were down and the mats were all small. In college though, I can not see room size as being an issue. It is either make the mats the size of the HAWKS mat, or add the push out in my opinion.
The next issue was the crowd, or I should say, lack of one. Looked like there was at least as many NCST fans as NC and the match was home for NC. Obviously NCST is the much better program, but you still have to shake your head when you can not at least fill a small gym with an In-state college dual.
Wade Schalles has done many things to help build the sport, or at least try to. He has a new idea of scoring matches where a point earned by each wrestler, is a point scored for their team. It is defiantly something I believe should be considered, even though there are some issues with it.
I try to come up with other ways to bring in crowds like ONLY IOWA can, and I am not sure it can be done. F*** st has certainly started to bring in nice crowds. They have put a winning product on the mat and they are in a hotbed of the sport. Not too sure even if some other places were to have their type of success, if they would draw as well?
I like the idea of a dual meet championship, running several QUAD meets. In the B1G for example. Seed all the teams, make a bracket. Have the first rounds where the IOWAs and F*** STs are facing lesser opponents, a QUAD. Just say it was IOWA, Maryland, Mich st. and Purdue. You have one of the lower teams host. Have 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3, winners and losers wrestle 2nd match. Do like 4 of these events which would build to a final four at the top seeds home arena!
At 157 #3 O'connor Vs. #6 Scott, NOT to insult anyone but I would guess that close to a dozen of the current 165s would have a shot at a title if they could make the cut and still wrestle at a high level which I understand is probable the issue why they aren't there. Makes you wonder though did any even consider it and try?
Saw Tony Ramos, happy to see him coaching although he didn't look to happy about it!
The drop off from TOP guys to the rest of the field is pretty big at some weights. Heavy and 125 certainly fit that bill. We will need to be on top of the BIG BEN situation!!! Having him would be HUGE, not having him, without bring another top guy would also be a huge lose. Not sure how the kid can manage to do both Football and Wrestle!?!?!? I have seen the posts of what some other very rare individuals have done.
OUTSTANDING yes, but NONE have been able to reach the absolute top rung while doing both and I feel that is honestly the kids only goal as it should be. How it plays out has me wondering, as does, how do you go about it if you are Brands and crew? I am not sure I would use the "wait and see" approach! The thing is, can you even make offers and bring in another stud kid with Ben as a possibility?
I though the Referring was a bit off for lack of a better word. Has to be pretty hard to get college Wrestling REFs I understand, but some things just had me SMH wondering if they understood the rules completely. Don't get me wrong, I do not think they were terrible, maybe just a little inconsistent and maybe a little lost at times. Makes me wonder what they get paid per match also, Anyone know?
Just my 2(maybe more) cents.
NC State 28, North Carolina 6
141: #6 Ryan Jack (NCST) over #9 Lachlan McNeil (UNC) (Dec 7-5)
149: #14 Jackson Arrington (NCST) over Wil Guida (UNC) (Dec 10-6)
157: #3 Austin O'Connor (UNC) over #6 Ed Scott (NCST) (Dec 3-1)
165: Matthew Singleton (NCST) over Joseph Mazzara (UNC) (Dec 7-2)
174: Alex Faison (NCST) over #19 Clay Lautt (UNC) (Dec 6-1)
184: #3 Trent Hidlay (NCST) over Carson Tenold (UNC) (TF 24-9)
197: #7 Isaac Trumble (NCST) over Max Shaw (UNC) (Dec 3-1)
285: #11 Owen Trephan (NCST) over Brandon Whitman (UNC) (MD 17-6)
125: #24 Jack Wagner (UNC) over Troy Hohman (NCST) (Dec 8-5)
133: #15 Kai Orine (NCST) over Jace Palmer (UNC) (MD 10-1)
OK, not the biggest dual in the world, but some good match ups, should be pretty good? The first thing was the mat. Once again, I will point out that most HS in my area have newer and nicer mats then most college teams including IOWA! The real problem though was the size. The NCAA should really make a minimum size requirement. In HS, at least in my area and I would expect in most too. The problem is the size of the gyms when it comes to using bigger mats.
Not a problem for duals, but just about every tournament I went to this year. There was issue once several mats were down and the mats were all small. In college though, I can not see room size as being an issue. It is either make the mats the size of the HAWKS mat, or add the push out in my opinion.
The next issue was the crowd, or I should say, lack of one. Looked like there was at least as many NCST fans as NC and the match was home for NC. Obviously NCST is the much better program, but you still have to shake your head when you can not at least fill a small gym with an In-state college dual.
Wade Schalles has done many things to help build the sport, or at least try to. He has a new idea of scoring matches where a point earned by each wrestler, is a point scored for their team. It is defiantly something I believe should be considered, even though there are some issues with it.
I try to come up with other ways to bring in crowds like ONLY IOWA can, and I am not sure it can be done. F*** st has certainly started to bring in nice crowds. They have put a winning product on the mat and they are in a hotbed of the sport. Not too sure even if some other places were to have their type of success, if they would draw as well?
I like the idea of a dual meet championship, running several QUAD meets. In the B1G for example. Seed all the teams, make a bracket. Have the first rounds where the IOWAs and F*** STs are facing lesser opponents, a QUAD. Just say it was IOWA, Maryland, Mich st. and Purdue. You have one of the lower teams host. Have 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3, winners and losers wrestle 2nd match. Do like 4 of these events which would build to a final four at the top seeds home arena!
At 157 #3 O'connor Vs. #6 Scott, NOT to insult anyone but I would guess that close to a dozen of the current 165s would have a shot at a title if they could make the cut and still wrestle at a high level which I understand is probable the issue why they aren't there. Makes you wonder though did any even consider it and try?
Saw Tony Ramos, happy to see him coaching although he didn't look to happy about it!
The drop off from TOP guys to the rest of the field is pretty big at some weights. Heavy and 125 certainly fit that bill. We will need to be on top of the BIG BEN situation!!! Having him would be HUGE, not having him, without bring another top guy would also be a huge lose. Not sure how the kid can manage to do both Football and Wrestle!?!?!? I have seen the posts of what some other very rare individuals have done.
OUTSTANDING yes, but NONE have been able to reach the absolute top rung while doing both and I feel that is honestly the kids only goal as it should be. How it plays out has me wondering, as does, how do you go about it if you are Brands and crew? I am not sure I would use the "wait and see" approach! The thing is, can you even make offers and bring in another stud kid with Ben as a possibility?
I though the Referring was a bit off for lack of a better word. Has to be pretty hard to get college Wrestling REFs I understand, but some things just had me SMH wondering if they understood the rules completely. Don't get me wrong, I do not think they were terrible, maybe just a little inconsistent and maybe a little lost at times. Makes me wonder what they get paid per match also, Anyone know?
Just my 2(maybe more) cents.
NC State 28, North Carolina 6
141: #6 Ryan Jack (NCST) over #9 Lachlan McNeil (UNC) (Dec 7-5)
149: #14 Jackson Arrington (NCST) over Wil Guida (UNC) (Dec 10-6)
157: #3 Austin O'Connor (UNC) over #6 Ed Scott (NCST) (Dec 3-1)
165: Matthew Singleton (NCST) over Joseph Mazzara (UNC) (Dec 7-2)
174: Alex Faison (NCST) over #19 Clay Lautt (UNC) (Dec 6-1)
184: #3 Trent Hidlay (NCST) over Carson Tenold (UNC) (TF 24-9)
197: #7 Isaac Trumble (NCST) over Max Shaw (UNC) (Dec 3-1)
285: #11 Owen Trephan (NCST) over Brandon Whitman (UNC) (MD 17-6)
125: #24 Jack Wagner (UNC) over Troy Hohman (NCST) (Dec 8-5)
133: #15 Kai Orine (NCST) over Jace Palmer (UNC) (MD 10-1)
Last edited:
