The last thing I thought Meyers would be this year is . . .

[HoundedHawk]

boring.

I was really looking forward to watching him scrap. But, alas, not one single offensive attempt that whole match.

I'm glad he won, though.

 

[The Vak]

Does that mean we can finally stop pretending he's better then Mike Evans?

 

[HoundedHawk]

Does that mean we can finally stop pretending he's better then Mike Evans?

I'm not sure who "we" is, but, yes, that delusion should be put away.

 

[DonHawkeye]

He sat 2 years on the Iowa bench and is coming in a doing a pretty good job filling a hole left by a top recruit. We all would love him scoring more takedowns but be at least he has the ability to win matches like this.

This is a round of 12 type match. 2-0 is just as good as a 7-2 win.

 

[pinters]

AM is well seems a lot bigger than last year.
Maybe dmlawdad can chime in?

 

[TarpHawk]

Unfortunately this is not an R12 match. This is a first-round match (#12 vs #16)--like the majority of matches today. If we can't bonus first-round guys we're certainly not winning a team title.

 

[Knight563]

Have to disagree with you Don Hawkeye...7-2 win makes it look much better in my humble opinion. this team is starting to look like the others over the past 5 or so years. Start off as world beaters and, well, take 2nd or 3rd - which is still very respectable; just not in Iowa's case. I know 90% will say we're training through but this has just been a pattern of the Hawks for the past few years. What's the definition of insanity??? I'm starting to feel like a Cubs fan...wait till next year. Hopefully the team can get some R & R and peak at Big Tens and Nationals this year.

 

[wasdt21]

#12 and #16 are round of twelve guys by definition

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Unfortunately this is not an R12 match. This is a first-round match (#12 vs #16)--like the majority of matches today. If we can't bonus first-round guys we're certainly not winning a team title.

Along these lines, Meyer needs to get his seed up before Nationals. He's not going to do much damage in NYC if he comes in as the 12 seed. He needs a couple of favorable match-ups early with the hope that he can pull out one or two more on the front side.

 

[TarpHawk]

#12 and #16 are round of twelve guys by definition

If #16 is by definition an R12 opponent then I think we should agree to disagree!

 

[DonHawkeye]

#12 and #16 are round of twelve guys by definition

#5-12 are round of 12 guys. But I am just saying that he is that caliber of a wrestler. Ok he is the round before round of 12 guy. You still gotta win that match if you are on the backside. And I will take a 2-0 win there.

I am just saying we have to be grateful for having a guy that sits on our bench for 2 years and comes in as a jr and is giving a very good shot at an AA finish. A ton of teams would love to have Myers winning 2-0 for them.

His ability to gut out wins like this may be the difference in March of him being on the podium. I have seen so many guys win matches like that on the backside to place.

 

[wasdt21]

easy boys just poking the bear

 

[TarpHawk]

#5-12 are round of 12 guys. But I am just saying that he is that caliber of a wrestler. Ok he is the round before round of 12 guy. You still gotta win that match if you are on the backside. And I will take a 2-0 win there.

I am just saying we have to be grateful for having a guy that sits on our bench for 2 years and comes in as a jr and is giving a very good shot at an AA finish. A ton of teams would love to have Myers winning 2-0 for them.

His ability to gut out wins like this may be the difference in March of him being on the podium. I have seen so many guys win matches like that on the backside to place.

Fair point, DH.

 

[wasdt21]

I will say this I want more from alex, he is the best we got. I think that #3 ranking early in the year got us to hyped.

 

[Omahahawk86]

Along these lines, Meyer needs to get his seed up before Nationals. He's not going to do much damage in NYC if he comes in as the 12 seed. He needs a couple of favorable match-ups early with the hope that he can pull out one or two more on the front side.

His seed should be fine. He's got a big match vs Jackson coming up and if he wins that he should be the 1 seed at big tens.

 

[HoundedHawk]

We all would love him scoring more takedowns . . . .

I would love to see any offensive moves.

 

[Gobblin]

Deep down I think we all know that Meyer is capable of beating any 174lber in the country... Whether or not he does it a few times in March remains to be seen.

 

[86_90]

I would love to see any offensive moves.

This is where I'd like to see a full commitment to offense during the early and mid parts of the season. I see more offense this year than in recent years.

Meyer is an exception, looks significantly less offensive than last year. Brooks, not sure what his story is. I'd like to see more leg attacks and more consistently engaged mentally.

 

[93hawkeye]

Deep down I think we all know that Meyer is capable of beating any 174lber in the country... Whether or not he does it a few times in March remains to be seen.

This Hawk wrestling fan does not know that. I think his big wins last year (Brunson, Virginia kid (name escapes me) were won on effort/energy. He hasn't shown very much of that in certain matches this year. My theory is that he had more energy and motivation each time on the mat last year because he had fewer opportunities (and importantly, fewer times to make weight). I want to be wrong but my eyes tell me this year he will go 1-2 or 2-2 at NCAAs and not place

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Blaise Butler of Virginia, now with Mizzou, was the other big win over a 6th-ranked guy last year.

As for Meyer's placement at Nationals, I'd say it's a crap shoot, and I think a lot of it will be determined by how he does down the stretch in the regular season. If he beats Jackson of IU (in Carver, where he's made magic happen before), he goes into Big Tens with a good seed. Huge match there. If he lands a good seed at Nationals, he'll get favorable match-ups in the first couple of rounds that he should win. Get into the quarters, and who knows.

The down side with Meyer is that he doesn't rack up huge points against lesser opponents, and those matches can be scary close sometimes. However, the up side with Meyer is that he seldom gets blown out. His Midlands loss to Walters was ugly, but that was a rarity with Meyer. He's shown that he can hang with top guys and pull out wins in the end. He won't be winning any style points, but fundamentally sound grinders like him can pull off upset wins over flashier opponents. We've seen a lot of Hawks do just that over the years.

I still think Alex AA's this year. Probably won't score a single bonus point in the process, but I think he gets it done.

 

[Omahahawk86]

Where's the upper body stuff from him?

Here's a fun video(might want to scroll to 4:30)

 

[Omahahawk86]

Jackson just lost to the Michigan kid at 174. That could throw a wrench in things.

 

[Mike_a_TetonValley]

Mahomes, Michigan. We certainly need winning results from Meyer come the Big 10s and the NCCAs. Go H

 

[ChloeDancer]

Mahomes, Michigan. We certainly need winning results from Meyer come the Big 10s and the NCCAs. Go H

I'm as disappointed as anyone with Meyer winning the ice cream award but I did see that "chump" from PU tech'd Wanzek 18-2 today.

 

[Nashville_Hawkeye]

Have to disagree with you Don Hawkeye...7-2 win makes it look much better in my humble opinion. this team is starting to look like the others over the past 5 or so years. Start off as world beaters and, well, take 2nd or 3rd - which is still very respectable; just not in Iowa's case. I know 90% will say we're training through but this has just been a pattern of the Hawks for the past few years. What's the definition of insanity??? I'm starting to feel like a Cubs fan...wait till next year. Hopefully the team can get some R & R and peak at Big Tens and Nationals this year.

I concur. I watched the entire dual on BTN2GO, and was thinking to myself the entire time, WTH?? It was like everyone wanted to be so cautious as to not allow the Cornhuskers to score on them. If we wrestle like that in the NCAAs, we'll be lucky to finish 4th behind PS, Okie, and OSU. We looked flat...like total crap. Even Gilman, who is usually a scoring machine just didn't seem to be his on his game. And that move that Brooks got caught in was unbelievable...the announcer even mentioned how good Dudley was with the cradle two minutes before it happened. We've got to step it up a notch. I love our fellas, but they have to wrestle to destroy, not wrestle to survive matches....

 

[#10Hawk]

I saw that his thumb was taped the last several matches; maybe that slowed him down and made him more cautious?

 

[hawknut]

I've got some real annoying buddies that wrestled at Iowa State. They're always claiming that juniors and seniors at Iowa tend to get burned out because of Brands's training regimen. They are also afraid to fail and are trained in the attacking mode, and are ill prepared for counters.. So they get less and less offensive in their last couple of years. I don't even know if it's true or not, but they claim that Cael gives the wrestlers one complete day off per week when he was at Iowa State and Penn State. At Iowa, he claims they don't get any days off during the week for training or mental rest. One of these guys is a real Iowa hater, but I do think he has a couple valid points. I actually think the Brands have changed somewhat over the last couple years for the better.

 

[Actiondouble]

Just like to add that Nebraska is no push over. Biggest home crowd in Nebby history? Nebraska was up for this meet. They came out with lots of intensity and gave Iowa everything they had. Hawks won 7 of 10 matches. Except for Brooks, they did their jobs.

 

[DonHawkeye]

I've got some real annoying buddies that wrestled at Iowa State. They're always claiming that juniors and seniors at Iowa tend to get burned out because of Brands's training regimen. They are also afraid to fail and are trained in the attacking mode, and are ill prepared for counters.. So they get less and less offensive in their last couple of years. I don't even know if it's true or not, but they claim that Cael gives the wrestlers one complete day off per week when he was at Iowa State and Penn State. At Iowa, he claims they don't get any days off during the week for training or mental rest. One of these guys is a real Iowa hater, but I do think he has a couple valid points. I actually think the Brands have changed somewhat over the last couple years for the better.

How are those days off working for ISU these day?

 

[Omahahawk86]

Just like to add that Nebraska is no push over. Biggest home crowd in Nebby history? Nebraska was up for this meet. They came out with lots of intensity and gave Iowa everything they had. Hawks won 7 of 10 matches. Except for Brooks, they did their jobs.

There Is no way this was the biggest crowd in Nebraska history. The last two times we've went there the place was packed to the rafters. This was half full-maybe. It didn't help that it was on a Sunday afternoon where Nebraska has their youth tournaments.

 

[Actiondouble]

I thought so to Omaha. Check Huskers.com website. The wrestling story states in opening paragraph that "Iowa handled Nebraska 21-11 in front of a school record crowd 3,592."

Oh well, no biggie.

 

[pinters]

I thought so to Omaha. Check Huskers.com website. The wrestling story states in opening paragraph that "Iowa handled Nebraska 21-11 in front of a school record crowd 3,592."

Oh well, no biggie.

The article is the correct total for the last Iowa v Neb. So they broke their own record.

 

[Omahahawk86]

I thought so to Omaha. Check Huskers.com website. The wrestling story states in opening paragraph that "Iowa handled Nebraska 21-11 in front of a school record crowd 3,592."

Oh well, no biggie.

I didn't mean to call you out more so that they are wrong. It was actually on the news here. I got the to the dual 30 minutes before it started and a group of 8 of us sat front row, right behind the scores table. A couple years ago, I was sitting up in row 100.

 

[Omahahawk86]

2 years ago it was actually really cool. They had a middle school all star match and Skutt vs. Davenport Assumption before the dual. Then they wrestled Iowa vs. Neb.

 

[ChloeDancer]

There Is no way this was the biggest crowd in Nebraska history. The last two times we've went there the place was packed to the rafters. This was half full-maybe. It didn't help that it was on a Sunday afternoon where Nebraska has their youth tournaments.

Must be biggest paid attendance. They probably let in a bunch of kids/schools for free in the past?

 

[Lsanders20]

I've got some real annoying buddies that wrestled at Iowa State. They're always claiming that juniors and seniors at Iowa tend to get burned out because of Brands's training regimen. They are also afraid to fail and are trained in the attacking mode, and are ill prepared for counters.. So they get less and less offensive in their last couple of years. I don't even know if it's true or not, but they claim that Cael gives the wrestlers one complete day off per week when he was at Iowa State and Penn State. At Iowa, he claims they don't get any days off during the week for training or mental rest. One of these guys is a real Iowa hater, but I do think he has a couple valid points. I actually think the Brands have changed somewhat over the last couple years for the better.

How did that work out for Cael at ISU? He always had talented teams but rarely ever beat the Hawks. He is still the same guy but getting some unbelievable talent. When kids come in as freshman and are beating 3 timers and undefeated national champions I have to give the coaches that worked with them growing up in high school most of the credit. Take nothing away from Cael he is amazing, but I see the Brands making some recruiting adjustments so we will see how the next few years plays out bUT at present Cael is making the right moves.

 

[sloehawk]

I've got some real annoying buddies that wrestled at Iowa State. They're always claiming that juniors and seniors at Iowa tend to get burned out because of Brands's training regimen. They are also afraid to fail and are trained in the attacking mode, and are ill prepared for counters.. So they get less and less offensive in their last couple of years. I don't even know if it's true or not, but they claim that Cael gives the wrestlers one complete day off per week when he was at Iowa State and Penn State. At Iowa, he claims they don't get any days off during the week for training or mental rest. One of these guys is a real Iowa hater, but I do think he has a couple valid points. I actually think the Brands have changed somewhat over the last couple years for the better.

Are they annoying because they wrestled at Iowa State, or are there other reasons?

Everybody has an opinion, apparently that is there's. Maybe you can have those buddies explain to you why their golden boy tucked his tail and left the state, when his fun time boys with all that time off couldn't beat Iowa. I guess that schedule/process got better as his recruits did. Hmmmm.

 

[JBJRFL]

There Is no way this was the biggest crowd in Nebraska history. The last two times we've went there the place was packed to the rafters. This was half full-maybe. It didn't help that it was on a Sunday afternoon where Nebraska has their youth tournaments.

I think they said it was the largest at the Bob Devaney center. Have they had more in another arena?

 

[Omahahawk86]

As far as I know all of their duals have been at the devaney center(every one I've ever been to). They built a huge new arena but I don't believe they've ever had a dual there. It's owned by the city so it's not just UNL's.