I listened to the Flowrestling Podcast that Christian Pyles puts on and there was some interesting conversation. Pyles interviews Willie and they discussed a couple Hawkeye related issues. First, CP critiqued Willie's new P4P HS rankings where he has Alex Marinelli at #4. Daton Fix dropped from #2 to #9 after losing twice at Super 32. CP said that Alex doesn't have the signature wins that Fix, Suriano, Yianni or some of the other names have and thinks he should be way down based on the fact that Alex doesn't wrestle the schedule that these other guys do. Willie defended Alex basically saying, the tournaments Alex decides to compete in, he wins and he doesn't have any bad losses. I thought it was interesting that Willie was defending a Hawk commit the way he was.
Second, Willie mentioned that he was on the Hawkeye Report recently, to which CP groaned and asked him why. Willie said "actually the Hawkeye Report has been really good lately." He went on to talk about the thread about Alex Thomsen's Super 32 losses and the debate about choosing down by default. He made what I thought was a good point. In state you probably have a decent idea about your opponents tendencies and whatnot, but at a national tourney like this, Alex may have never even heard of Tyshawn White, let alone wrestled him before. So he doesn't know whether White is a monster on top or not and maybe choosing down isn't the best option. He 's gone neutral with him for a few minutes and probably feels that he can keep getting to his legs and finish. I like that he (Thompsen) wants to be where he's best (which is on his feet and he feels he can take anyone down). Obviously, he's going to have to work on his bottom game, so that he can get away from anyone. Hopefully Alex chooses Iowa and the Brands Bros can work on that with him. Anyway interesting conversation and nice to see Willie enjoying our little dumpster fire!
Second, Willie mentioned that he was on the Hawkeye Report recently, to which CP groaned and asked him why. Willie said "actually the Hawkeye Report has been really good lately." He went on to talk about the thread about Alex Thomsen's Super 32 losses and the debate about choosing down by default. He made what I thought was a good point. In state you probably have a decent idea about your opponents tendencies and whatnot, but at a national tourney like this, Alex may have never even heard of Tyshawn White, let alone wrestled him before. So he doesn't know whether White is a monster on top or not and maybe choosing down isn't the best option. He 's gone neutral with him for a few minutes and probably feels that he can keep getting to his legs and finish. I like that he (Thompsen) wants to be where he's best (which is on his feet and he feels he can take anyone down). Obviously, he's going to have to work on his bottom game, so that he can get away from anyone. Hopefully Alex chooses Iowa and the Brands Bros can work on that with him. Anyway interesting conversation and nice to see Willie enjoying our little dumpster fire!
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