Zeus 117 Report post Posted February 22, 2011 Now that the high school season is over what are everyone’s thoughts about the NCAA’s that will happen in about a month? The first step, like in high school, are the conference tournaments that will happen in two weeks. Because the Big Ten Conference is by far the best and most competitive I have broken down each weight class below. I have also included my predictions. Please feel free to post your predictions, comment on mine, or break down another conference. Not all conferences and colleges have wrestling so qualifying is different for each. I believe to qualify from the Big Ten you have to place in the top 7 or get a wild card. My predictions are only for the top challengers for the title and therefore only include wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in the country. The wrestler’s initial listings are according to the most recent national rankings. The complete rankings can be found at http://www.intermatwrestle.com/rankings/college 125: 1- Matt McDonough (Iowa), 2- Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 5- Zach Sanders (Minnesota), 11- Brad Pataky (Penn St) McDonough has been dominant all year except against Precin. The two have split matches this year. Precin won 3-1 in December to win the always competitive Midlands Championships. McDonough avenged his loss in the dual by pinning Precin. However it should be mentioned that Precin was winning 3-0 when McDonough caught him in a headlock for the fall to give Precin his only loss on the season. McDonough has dominated Sanders throughout his career but Precin has not wrestled him this year I believe. All three should beat Pataky fairly easily. Prediction: Precin, McDonough, Sanders, Pataky 133: 3- Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 7- Tony Ramos (Iowa), 8- Andrew Long (Penn St), 9- BJ Futrell (Illinois), 20- David Thorn (Minnesota) Long owns a convincing win over Graff while Ramos has beaten Long. Futrell has been out much of the year and I do not believe has faced much top competition. Graff has not wrestled Ramos. I see an upset with Thorn beating Futrell to get to the semis where he will lose to Ramos. Ramos will probably face Long in the finals if Long can repeat his recent performance against Graff. Prediction: Long, Ramos, Graff, Futrell, Thorn 141: 1- Kellen Russell (Michigan), 2- Mike Thorn (Minnesota), 3- Montell Marion (Iowa), 4- Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois), 7- Andrew Alton (Penn St) 141 at the Big Ten Tournament is shaping up to be more competitive than some weights will be at the NCAA tournament. The top four wrestlers are from the Big Ten with another at #7. Russell is undefeated on the season and has defeated all of the top competitors in his conference, however several of those victories have been in overtime. Marion owns victories over Thorn and Alton. Thorn has beaten Alton as well. Kennedy has an early season loss to Russell but has been out much of the year and is somewhat unknown. Everyone except Alton is a returning All-American as he is a freshman but has a great record with many pins. Prediction: Marion, Russell, Kennedy, Thorn, Alton 149: 3- Frank Molinaro (Penn St), 7- Andrew Nadhir (Northwestern), 10- Cole Schmitt (Wisconsin), 12- Kurt Kinser (Indiana), 20- Dan Osterman (Michigan St) Molinaro has beaten all of his Big Ten competition this year and should cruise to a title. One wild card that may be added is Jake Ballweg from Iowa. Ballweg has wrestled 141 for most of the season but was beaten out when Marion returned. Since then he has competed at 149 for the Hawkeyes where he has done reasonably well considering he is wrestling up a weight. Schmitt and Nadhir are both solid wrestlers who will place high. Prediction: Molinaro, Schmitt, Nadhir, Ballweg, Kinser, Osterman 157: 3- David Taylor (Penn St), 7- Derek St. John (Iowa), 8- Paul Young (Indiana), 10- Jason Welch (Northwestern), 20- Brandon Zeerip (Michigan) Taylor, a freshman, has taken the college wrestling world by storm this season, cruising to an undefeated record while earning major decisions in all but one of his matches. St. John looks to be the top challenger, he pinned Young and beat Welch in an upset at the time. Welch has done great all year but has had some hiccups, like against St. John. Young is solid but seems to be outclassed by the other three. Prediction: Taylor, Welch, St. John, Young, Zeerip 165: 2- Andrew Howe (Wisconsin), 7- Colt Sponseller (Ohio St), 13- Cody Yohn (Minnesota), 14- Aaron Janssen (Iowa) Howe has looked great in defense of his NCAA Championship from last year, except against Jordan Burroughs from Nebraska who might be the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the country. However in the Big Ten Howe should cruise to his third title. Sponseller has looked great throughout his career. Janssen and Yohn are about equal but Yohn won a tight match in their dual last Sunday. Prediction: Howe, Sponseller, Janssen, Yohn 174: 2- Ed Ruth (Penn St), 9- Jordan Blanton (Illinois), 11- Ethan Lofthouse (Iowa), 13- Nick Heflin (Ohio St), 14- Ben Jordan (Wisconsin), 15- Scott Glasser (Minnesota), 20- Justin Zeerip (Michigan) Like his teammate two weights below, fellow freshman Ed Ruth has also sprinted out of the gate in his freshman season. He has only lost one match all year and has since avenged it. He should cruise to his first Big Ten title. Blanton, Lofthouse and Glasser are all tough and should place high. Predictions: Ruth, Blanton, Glasser, Lofthouse, Heflin, Jordan, Zeerip 184: 3- Travis Rutt (Wisconsin), 8- Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), 11- Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 17- Quentin Wright (Penn St) 184 seems to be a pretty wide open weight class in the Big Ten conference as well as the nation. Rutt is ranked third in the country but has not looked especially impressive. Wright was an All-American two years ago before redshirting last year and had high expectations coming into this year. However it seems that a shoulder injury has severely hampered his season so far. Predictions: Rutt, Gambrall, Steinhaus, Wright 197: 2- Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin), 4- Sonny Yohn (Minnesota), 8- Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 9- Matt Powless (Indiana), 10- Logan Brown (Purdue), 11- Anthony Biondo (Michigan) Brandvold is the class of this weight as he owns wins over all the top competitors. Lofthouse won a close match against Yohn last Sunday but owns the advantage throughout their careers. Biondo is tough and I think he will surpass Powless and Brown in the tournament. Predictions: Brandvold, Yohn, Lofthouse, Biondo, Powless, Brown 285: 6- Cameron Wade (Penn St), 8- Tony Nelson (Minnesota), 9- Ricky Alcala (Indiana), 10- Eric Bugenhagen (Wisconsin), 15- Blake Rasing (Iowa), 16- Ben Apland (Michigan) Wade has beaten all of his competitors in the conference and is the favorite to win the title. Nelson has looked tough all year but has lost to Alcala and Rasing. Alcala has also beaten Rasing. Predictions: Wade, Alcala, Bugenhagen, Rasing, Nelson, Apland Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DBW 1 Report post Posted February 23, 2011 Nice job, but didn't Taylor hurt his shoulder about the time of the Iowa Duel? Has he recovered? (You West KY folks should be glad you get the Big 10 Network) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LChawk12 0 Report post Posted February 23, 2011 That's a really good breakdown. Mine won't be as in-depth, but I'll go ahead and post my predictions. 125- McDonough, Precin, Sanders, Pataky I see McD keeping it close in the first two minutes, and then winning in the 3rd period like Iowa always does. Sanders hasn't wrestled good enough all year to be in the finals with these two. 133- Graff, Ramos, Futrell, Long, Thorn Ramos doesn't have the strength to beat Graff, although it will be close. I have seen Futrell wrestle a couple times and am really sold on him. Long has been inconsistent all year, which will hurt him here. 141- Marion, Russell, Kennedy, Thorn, Alton A stacked weight class which could have the 4 semifinalists at the NCAA's as well. Marion knows how to get the job done in the postseason and Alton has slowly declined as of late. 149- Molinaro, Kinser, Nadhir, Schmitt, Ballweg, Osterman Kinser has been in the top 15 for a couple of years and I think he will finally breakthrough this year. Molinaro is strong as an ox, and Ballweg may sneak up on some people. 157- Taylor, St. John, Welch, Young, Zeerip Taylor is my pick to be national champ, he is looking pretty good this year. St. John and Welch are both tough and pose the biggest threat to Taylor, but he is just too good. 165- Howe, Sponseller, Janssen, Yohn Sponseller has always been near the top, and his finals match with Howe will be closer than the experts think. I see Howe looking past him to Burroughs 2 weeks later, but Sponseller won't have enough to trip him up. 174- Blanton, Ruth, Lofthouse, Glasser, Zeerip, Jordan, Heflin My upset pick is Blanton over Ruth. Blanton has been injured part of the year, but has enough to beat the young Ruth. Lofthouse and Glasser is a toss up for 3rd, and Zeerip may finish higher than expected. 184- Rutt, Gambrall, Steinhouse, Wright Like jpizar said, this is an open weight class. Any of the top 3 have a legitimate shot of winning. Wright has shown peeks of promise all year, but has never been able to emerge. 197- Brandvold, Lofthouse, Biondo, Yohn, Powless, Brown This will be one of the most exciting weight classes. Brandvold will have to fight his way to the top, and Biondo will raise a few eyebrows. Yohn's knee got injured agains Lofthouse Sunday, and I see that hindering him a bit. 285- Wade, Bugenhagen, Alcala, Rasing, Nelson, Apland I don't know much about the big guys other than Wade has been the top dog all year. Teams- Iowa, Penn State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Northwestern Brands and the Hawks come alive, with Penn State's inexperience getting the best of them. Watch out for Illinois and Michigan, they could get a few upsets and be up there too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeus 117 Report post Posted February 23, 2011 Now that the high school season is over what are everyone’s thoughts about the NCAA’s that will happen in about a month? The first step, like in high school, are the conference tournaments that will happen in two weeks. Because the Big Ten Conference is by far the best and most competitive I have broken down each weight class below. I have also included my predictions. Please feel free to post your predictions, comment on mine, or break down another conference. Not all conferences and colleges have wrestling so qualifying is different for each. I believe to qualify from the Big Ten you have to place in the top 7 or get a wild card. My predictions are only for the top challengers for the title and therefore only include wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in the country. The wrestler’s initial listings are according to the most recent national rankings. The complete rankings can be found at http://www.intermatwrestle.com/rankings/college 125: 1- Matt McDonough (Iowa), 2- Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 5- Zach Sanders (Minnesota), 11- Brad Pataky (Penn St) McDonough has been dominant all year except against Precin. The two have split matches this year. Precin won 3-1 in December to win the always competitive Midlands Championships. McDonough avenged his loss in the dual by pinning Precin. However it should be mentioned that Precin was winning 3-0 when McDonough caught him in a headlock for the fall to give Precin his only loss on the season. McDonough has dominated Sanders throughout his career but Precin has not wrestled him this year I believe. All three should beat Pataky fairly easily. Prediction: Precin, McDonough, Sanders, Pataky 133: 3- Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 7- Tony Ramos (Iowa), 8- Andrew Long (Penn St), 9- BJ Futrell (Illinois), 20- David Thorn (Minnesota) Long owns a convincing win over Graff while Ramos has beaten Long. Futrell has been out much of the year and I do not believe has faced much top competition. Graff has not wrestled Ramos. I see an upset with Thorn beating Futrell to get to the semis where he will lose to Ramos. Ramos will probably face Long in the finals if Long can repeat his recent performance against Graff. Prediction: Long, Ramos, Graff, Futrell, Thorn 141: 1- Kellen Russell (Michigan), 2- Mike Thorn (Minnesota), 3- Montell Marion (Iowa), 4- Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois), 7- Andrew Alton (Penn St) 141 at the Big Ten Tournament is shaping up to be more competitive than some weights will be at the NCAA tournament. The top four wrestlers are from the Big Ten with another at #7. Russell is undefeated on the season and has defeated all of the top competitors in his conference, however several of those victories have been in overtime. Marion owns victories over Thorn and Alton. Thorn has beaten Alton as well. Kennedy has an early season loss to Russell but has been out much of the year and is somewhat unknown. Everyone except Alton is a returning All-American as he is a freshman but has a great record with many pins. Prediction: Marion, Russell, Kennedy, Thorn, Alton 149: 3- Frank Molinaro (Penn St), 7- Andrew Nadhir (Northwestern), 10- Cole Schmitt (Wisconsin), 12- Kurt Kinser (Indiana), 20- Dan Osterman (Michigan St) Molinaro has beaten all of his Big Ten competition this year and should cruise to a title. One wild card that may be added is Jake Ballweg from Iowa. Ballweg has wrestled 141 for most of the season but was beaten out when Marion returned. Since then he has competed at 149 for the Hawkeyes where he has done reasonably well considering he is wrestling up a weight. Schmitt and Nadhir are both solid wrestlers who will place high. Prediction: Molinaro, Schmitt, Nadhir, Ballweg, Kinser, Osterman 157: 3- David Taylor (Penn St), 7- Derek St. John (Iowa), 8- Paul Young (Indiana), 10- Jason Welch (Northwestern), 20- Brandon Zeerip (Michigan) Taylor, a freshman, has taken the college wrestling world by storm this season, cruising to an undefeated record while earning major decisions in all but one of his matches. St. John looks to be the top challenger, he pinned Young and beat Welch in an upset at the time. Welch has done great all year but has had some hiccups, like against St. John. Young is solid but seems to be outclassed by the other three. Prediction: Taylor, Welch, St. John, Young, Zeerip 165: 2- Andrew Howe (Wisconsin), 7- Colt Sponseller (Ohio St), 13- Cody Yohn (Minnesota), 14- Aaron Janssen (Iowa) Howe has looked great in defense of his NCAA Championship from last year, except against Jordan Burroughs from Nebraska who might be the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the country. However in the Big Ten Howe should cruise to his third title. Sponseller has looked great throughout his career. Janssen and Yohn are about equal but Yohn won a tight match in their dual last Sunday. Prediction: Howe, Sponseller, Janssen, Yohn 174: 2- Ed Ruth (Penn St), 9- Jordan Blanton (Illinois), 11- Ethan Lofthouse (Iowa), 13- Nick Heflin (Ohio St), 14- Ben Jordan (Wisconsin), 15- Scott Glasser (Minnesota), 20- Justin Zeerip (Michigan) Like his teammate two weights below, fellow freshman Ed Ruth has also sprinted out of the gate in his freshman season. He has only lost one match all year and has since avenged it. He should cruise to his first Big Ten title. Blanton, Lofthouse and Glasser are all tough and should place high. Predictions: Ruth, Blanton, Glasser, Lofthouse, Heflin, Jordan, Zeerip 184: 3- Travis Rutt (Wisconsin), 8- Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), 11- Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 17- Quentin Wright (Penn St) 184 seems to be a pretty wide open weight class in the Big Ten conference as well as the nation. Rutt is ranked third in the country but has not looked especially impressive. Wright was an All-American two years ago before redshirting last year and had high expectations coming into this year. However it seems that a shoulder injury has severely hampered his season so far. Predictions: Rutt, Gambrall, Steinhaus, Wright 197: 2- Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin), 4- Sonny Yohn (Minnesota), 8- Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 9- Matt Powless (Indiana), 10- Logan Brown (Purdue), 11- Anthony Biondo (Michigan) Brandvold is the class of this weight as he owns wins over all the top competitors. Lofthouse won a close match against Yohn last Sunday but owns the advantage throughout their careers. Biondo is tough and I think he will surpass Powless and Brown in the tournament. Predictions: Brandvold, Yohn, Lofthouse, Biondo, Powless, Brown 285: 6- Cameron Wade (Penn St), 8- Tony Nelson (Minnesota), 9- Ricky Alcala (Indiana), 10- Eric Bugenhagen (Wisconsin), 15- Blake Rasing (Iowa), 16- Ben Apland (Michigan) Wade has beaten all of his competitors in the conference and is the favorite to win the title. Nelson has looked tough all year but has lost to Alcala and Rasing. Alcala has also beaten Rasing. Predictions: Wade, Alcala, Bugenhagen, Rasing, Nelson, Apland I didn't post my team predictions. I'll agree with LChawk12 though. Iowa, Penn St, Minnesota, Wisconsin... don't really care about the other teams. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeus 117 Report post Posted March 1, 2011 bump... what does everyone think will happen this weekend? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeus 117 Report post Posted March 3, 2011 Because the pre-seeds have been announced my predictions have changed a little. The new ones are below (only top three): 125- Precin, McDonough, Sanders (same as before) 133- Long, Ramos, Graff (same as before) 141- Marion, Russell, Kennedy (same as before) 149- Molinaro, Nadhir, Terrezas- from Illinois, I forgot about him from before 157- Taylor, Welch, St. John (same as before) 165- Howe, Sponseller, Janssen (same as before) 174- Ruth, Glasser, Lofthouse (apparently Blanton is still hurt and will not compete) 184- Steinhaus, Rutt, Gambrall (Steinhaus looked great in his final dual against Gambrall) 197- Brandvold, Lofthouse, Yohn (Lofthouse got the monkey off his back by finally beating Yohn at the dual) 285- Wade, Rasing, Alcala (same as before) What does everyone else think will happen? Below is a press release from USA Wrestling website previewing the tournament. http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=23236 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
D1 Fan 9 Report post Posted March 6, 2011 Finals of the Big Tens will be broadcast on the Big Ten network today... if you would like to see pics of the Wisconsin boys you can check them out on my web site... here's the direct link... http://bluegrasswrestling.smugmug.com/Badger-Wrestling/2011-Big-Tens Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
