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USA MFS Most Likely to Medal/Win Gold

The-Dude-Abides

The-Dude-Abides

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Jan 1, 2023
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How would you rank the USA mens freestyle team in terms of most likely to medal (or win gold)? Interesting when you consider both possibilities. Here's what I've got.

Medal:
1. Snyder
2. Dake
3. Spencer
4. Brooks
5. Zain
6. Parris

Gold:
1. Dake
2. Spencer
3. Snyder
4. Brooks
5. Zain
6. Parris

Hope they all do it, and I truly would not be surprised with six medals. Betting wise I'd say O/U 4.5 medals, 1.5 golds.
 
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MAGAman said:
Our team would suck without them!
Click to expand...
That almost solely depends on if you are counting Dake and Snyder as "PSU" guys. The 2 actual PSU guys are definitely solid, but you could replace them with Zahid and Yianni. Snyder is probably the one guy on the roster where the replacement is considerably behind. As good as Dake is, you still had JB and Nolf was able to beat him.

As strong as the PSU room is, this is probably the deepest talent pool the US has ever had at this level...
 
MSU158 said:
That almost solely depends on if you are counting Dake and Snyder as "PSU" guys. The 2 actual PSU guys are definitely solid, but you could replace them with Zahid and Yianni. Snyder is probably the one guy on the roster where the replacement is considerably behind. As good as Dake is, you still had JB and Nolf was able to beat him.

As strong as the PSU room is, this is probably the deepest talent pool the US has ever had at this level...
Click to expand...
Could say same at 57k. Fix gilman vito(if it wasnt 6 weeks after ncaas with weight mgmt.)
 
Btw, in the one video above they related a Jason Nolf story where he said he had been told that if Spencer has an armbar on you he will pin you 100% of the time. Nolf didn’t believe it, but while he was rolling Spencer put an armbar in, and he said Spencer did pin him. "Now I feel the pain of the other 125 pounders!"

I found what they were referring to here.

 
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MAGAman said:
Could say same at 57k. Fix gilman vito(if it wasnt 6 weeks after ncaas with weight mgmt.)
Click to expand...
Hey, I was simply responding to you saying the team would suck without "PSU" guys. Like I said, unless you were counting Snyder(tOSU) and Dake(Cornell) as "PSU" guys, that simply isn't true. Even then, you could still put this lineup out there and it is pretty damn accomplished:

Lee
Yianni
JB
Zahid
Cox
Parris(Steveson, Gwiz)

As stout as the NLWC is, USA is still loaded with talent...
 
MAGAman said:
Could say same at 57k. Fix gilman vito(if it wasnt 6 weeks after ncaas with weight mgmt.)
Click to expand...

Spencer has separated himself. A healthy (as healthy as he can be at this point) Spencer is a tier above the rest of the Americans. We'll see about Micic, but my money is on Spencer everytime. Spencer just beat Gilman back to back, pinning him the second match. There's a reason Vito isn't at 57kg anymore...no point in including a guy who can't make the weight.
 
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Medal:
1. Snyder
2. Dake
3. Spencer
4. Brooks
5. Zain
6. Parris

Gold:
1. Spencer
2. Dake
3. Snyder
4. Brooks
5. Zain
6. Parris

Dake is Dake and I'll never bet against him.

I feel like Snyder is a lock to medal, no matter what. The guy just gets it done. At this point he's the most consistent wrestler currently going and he's been performing at that high level for damn near a decade. But there are some serious heavy hitters at that weight.

If Spencer medals, it will be for gold. I have two concerns with him: health and a potential early upset against a lower end guy that could knock him out of repechage.
He needs to avoid those big 4 pointers and get to his offense early. If he can snag that 1st TD he can roll anybody in this field.

And my big concern for Brooks, and I think it's justified, is that he's spent the past year almost exclusively training to beat DT and it showed.
He had a couple incredibly close matches and was a cheap singlet pull away from losing to Zahid. Then he faced DT and it wasn't close.
He doesn't have a year to prep for everyone this time.
 
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MSU158 said:
Hey, I was simply responding to you saying the team would suck without "PSU" guys. Like I said, unless you were counting Snyder(tOSU) and Dake(Cornell) as "PSU" guys, that simply isn't true. Even then, you could still put this lineup out there and it is pretty damn accomplished:

Lee
Yianni
JB
Zahid
Cox
Parris(Steveson, Gwiz)

As stout as the NLWC is, USA is still loaded with talent...
Click to expand...
IMO, the team listed above is not nearly as good as the current team.

JB is past his prime and is not remotely close to as likely to medal as Dake is. He hasn't medaled at 74 kg worlds since his bronze in 2019, 5 years ago.

Although Zahid had a good match against Brooks, I think that match is the best he will ever do against Brooks moving forward. Zahid never came close to beating Taylor. Brooks beat Taylor in 2 consecutive matches. I believe Brooks has a much better shot against Yazdani or any other top notch international wrestler than Zahid.

Cox is a shell of his former self. The current version of Cox is not going to medal at the Olympics.

IMO, Yanni doesn't qualify 65kg at the last chance qualifiers.
 
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WPB_lion said:
IMO, the team listed above is not nearly as good as the current team.

JB is past his prime and is not remotely close to as likely to medal as Dake is. He hasn't medaled at 74 kg worlds since his bronze in 2019, 5 years ago.

Although Zahid had a good match against Brooks, I think that match is the best he will ever do against Brooks moving forward. Zahid never came close to beating Taylor. Brooks beat Taylor in 2 consecutive matches. I believe Brooks has a much better shot against Yazdani or any other top notch international wrestler than Zahid.

Cox is a shell of his former self. The current version of Cox is not going to medal at the Olympics.

IMO, Yanni doesn't qualify 65kg at the last chance qualifiers.
Click to expand...
The point is, the team doesn't "suck" without the 2 true PSU guys. But, I am not the least bit surprised a PSU fan jumped in here to respond to that post.....

To be fair, Zahid IS a world medalist(bronze), just last year at 92kg. Yianni is a world medalist(silver), in 2022 at 65kg.

No matter the age of JB and Cox, they have more than proven they win medals at these tournaments.....

Look, I am not saying the guys that are wrestling the best aren't the current reps. I wouldn't argue a single guy over anyone on the current team(unless Steveson actually wrestled and was in wrestling shape). But, to act like the team would literally suck without 2 PSU guys is ridiculous...
 
I actually like Zain a lot, but 65 KG is insane.

Medal:
1. Dake
2. Snyder
3. Spencer
4. Brooks
5. Parris
6. Zain

We won't be favored for any Golds. 97 KG and 125 KG might be impossible for us (or anyone else) to upend the reigning champs. [Sadulaev is out of the Olympics. IOC found a "Let's Go Ruzzia" poster in his bedroom.]

Gold:
1. Dake
2. Spencer
3. Brooks
4. Zain
5. Snyder
6. Parris
 
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A Fist Full of Hawkeyes said:
I thought Yianni was going to be a cornerstone on the senior lvl for years to come. Not sure what's up with him.
Has he regressed, plateaued, or are we simply stacked at 65kg and anyone can beat anyone?

Perhaps he needs a change of scenery.
Click to expand...

Bring him to the HWC. I think he's got one more cycle in him.
 
pablow said:
[Sadulaev is out of the Olympics. IOC found a "Let's Go Ruzzia" poster in his bedroom.]
Click to expand...

Anyone know what Sadulaev has said about Ukraine and the Russian invasion? I can only find articles saying that he's been banned, but none specify what he said.
 
A Fist Full of Hawkeyes said:
Has he regressed, plateaued, or are we simply stacked at 65kg and anyone can beat anyone?
Click to expand...

Man. he's been snakebitten. Illness, injury and this time the weight cut was just too much.

Yianni just isn't athletic enough to overcome some things. Everything has to be perfect for him. When that happens? You get world silvers.

His run at the open when he beat JO and Frank? that was because he had JO in the room beating him down. It's clear he definitely needs someone to push him. He definitely has regressed a bit since Dake left.
 
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vhsalum said:
Man. he's been snakebitten. Illness, injury and this time the weight cut was just too much.

Yianni just isn't athletic enough to overcome some things. Everything has to be perfect for him. When that happens? You get world silvers.

His run at the open when he beat JO and Frank? that was because he had JO in the room beating him down. It's clear he definitely needs someone to push him. He definitely has regressed a bit since Dake left.
Click to expand...
i was wondering if Dake leaving has any affect on Yanni. I didnt know if they ever had much work together or not.
 
Hawkgma said:
i was wondering if Dake leaving has any affect on Yanni. I didnt know if they ever had much work together or not.
Click to expand...
He has a world champ in Vito in the room though. On one of the FRLs Pyles said the cut for Yianni was hard and he’ll be going up
 
Spencer, Dake, Snyder, Parris, Zain, Brooks
For both medal and gold. You could put the top 3 in any order though.
Yanni has hit his ceiling IMO, JB is past his prime, Cox is well past his prime.

I have no clue how Parris is going to do but I have a feeling he is going to Medal.
I think Zain has a shot at a medal because he is so damn tuff, but the weight is freaking loaded without a doubt the toughest weight to medal.
Brooks is going to take a bath, call it a hunch.
 
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Most Likely to Medal

1. Snyder
2. Dake
3. Brooks
4. Spencer
5. Parris
6. Zain

I think we go 6-for-6 in Medals. Zain having the toughest draw to do so.

Most Likely to win Gold

1. Spencer
2. Dake
3. Brooks
4. Parris
5. Snyder
6. Zain

Spencer is winning gold. Period. It's over. He's going to look even better in August. Dake, Brooks, Parris and Snyder all have guys in front of them I don't see them beating.
 
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24timenattychamps said:
Snyder and Dake are bought wrestlers and shouldn’t count towards whatever makes you feel better..
Click to expand...

Is_there_vodka_in_heaven said:
Spencer has separated himself. A healthy (as healthy as he can be at this point) Spencer is a tier above the rest of the Americans. We'll see about Micic, but my money is on Spencer everytime. Spencer just beat Gilman back to back, pinning him the second match. There's a reason Vito isn't at 57kg anymore...no point in including a guy who can't make the weight.
Click to expand...
Vito would of been a handfull.
 
vhsalum said:
Most Likely to Medal

1. Snyder
2. Dake
3. Brooks
4. Spencer
5. Parris
6. Zain

I think we go 6-for-6 in Medals. Zain having the toughest draw to do so.

Most Likely to win Gold

1. Spencer
2. Dake
3. Brooks
4. Parris
5. Snyder
6. Zain

Spencer is winning gold. Period. It's over. He's going to look even better in August. Dake, Brooks, Parris and Snyder all have guys in front of them I don't see them beating.
Click to expand...
Will Spencer go to the ranking event?
 
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