Locket vs Ruiz

[Cowboy1989]

I went back and re-watched the Locket vs. Ruiz match to see if my initial feelings were true when I watched it live and they were. First off, Ruiz is ranked 10th in the nation and just beat 6th ranked Downey to make the finals and after beating Lockett and Downey he will be ranked very high - he is very tough.
2nd - I'll talk about the first 7 minutes. At the end of regulation, Lockett had taken 7 hard legitimate shots, multiple fakes and studders, some snap downs, and some offensive hand fighting. Do you know what Ruiz had done? Nothing. 0 takedown attempts, no fakes, studders....absolutely nothing. He got in a super low defensive defensive stance with one hand on the mat, sometimes 2, sometimes on a knee. He took little baby steps the whole match to never get out of a defensive position or expose a leg. He stalled the first 7 minutes and he did it exactly like Blaze does against top guys. During the first overtime period, most of the time was spent in a scramble from Locket's really good duck under that he couldn't quite finish. Ruiz did get in on his 1st legit takedown attempt and Locket fed him hips.
So anyone saying Lockett did not wrestle hard, or he wrestled a bad match against Ruiz, I disagree 100%

 

[EvilPOKES]

Cool, but not to be an ******* about it, but winning is really all that matters. Get it done by any means allowable.

 

[Cowboy1989]

Cool, but not to be an ******* about it, but winning is really all that matters. Get it done by any means allowable.

My post wasn't about who won or lost was it? We had a lot of guys lose in this tournament. Your comment has nothing to do with my post.

 

[glorycowboy]

100% agree @Cowboy1989 . Stalls need to be called on holder center and putting pressure bs instead of actually trying to take shots and wrestle.

 

[okokzach]

I went back and re-watched the Locket vs. Ruiz match to see if my initial feelings were true when I watched it live and they were. First off, Ruiz is ranked 10th in the nation and just beat 6th ranked Downey to make the finals and after beating Lockett and Downey he will be ranked very high - he is very tough.
2nd - I'll talk about the first 7 minutes. At the end of regulation, Lockett had taken 7 hard legitimate shots, multiple fakes and studders, some snap downs, and some offensive hand fighting. Do you know what Ruiz had done? Nothing. 0 takedown attempts, no fakes, studders....absolutely nothing. He got in a super low defensive defensive stance with one hand on the mat, sometimes 2, sometimes on a knee. He took little baby steps the whole match to never get out of a defensive position or expose a leg. He stalled the first 7 minutes and he did it exactly like Blaze does against top guys. During the first overtime period, most of the time was spent in a scramble from Locket's really good duck under that he couldn't quite finish. Ruiz did get in on his 1st legit takedown attempt and Locket fed him hips.
So anyone saying Lockett did not wrestle hard, or he wrestled a bad match against Ruiz, I disagree 100%

I've been saying the same thing. Dee gets hated on because he likes to work from space instead of ties and is slow to return to center after an out of bounds. But in basically every match he's in he takes the majority of the shots.

No one made a peep about Ruiz doing absolutely nothing in the match. You only heard complaints about Dee

 

[Cowboy1989]

I bet Dee figures out a way to get through his defence next time.

 

[chasepollard]

Cool, but not to be an ******* about it, but winning is really all that matters. Get it done by any means allowable.

Get better…

 

[OAMC99]

I've been saying the same thing. Dee gets hated on because he likes to work from space instead of ties and is slow to return to center after an out of bounds. But in basically every match he's in he takes the majority of the shots.

No one made a peep about Ruiz doing absolutely nothing in the match. You only heard complaints about Dee

This is me and it punches holes in my theory that it is a conditioning issue. For me it is the optics. His tricks/techniques look awful. If he wrestled against us we would be ragging on him hard. And it cannot look good to the officials either. So he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt on stalling calls.

There was a dual this year recently where Coach DT kinda called him out a little bit. Lockett came out fired up and tore his opponent apart. I think he could do this almost every match. But he doesn't. And not always having that mentality will cost you. He now has two losses and escaped a couple of others late. No one he has wrestled is better than him or more talented.

 

[Cowboy1989]

This is me and it punches holes in my theory that it is a conditioning issue. For me it is the optics. His tricks/techniques look awful. If he wrestled against us we would be ragging on him hard. And it cannot look good to the officials either. So he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt on stalling calls.

There was a dual this year recently where Coach DT kinda called him out a little bit. Lockett came out fired up and tore his opponent apart. I think he could do this almost every match. But he doesn't. And not always having that mentality will cost you. He now has two losses and escaped a couple of others late. No one he has wrestled is better than him or more talented.

I agree that he has plenty to work on and to learn. Hopefully he will. He wrestled a good match against Ruiz though. Sometimes you just lose.

 

[EvilPOKES]

My post wasn't about who won or lost was it? We had a lot of guys lose in this tournament. Your comment has nothing to do with my post.

It has everything to do with it. EVERYONE else will see it as a loss and will not care HOW it happened. Your post is just participation trophy.

 

[Cowboy1989]

It has everything to do with it. EVERYONE else will see it as a loss and will not care HOW it happened. Your post is just participation trophy.

Don't tell me what my post was about. I wrote it. He lost this weekend as did most of our wrestlers. Winning or losing was not at all what my post was about. According to your logic, 6 out of 10 of our wrestlers suck because they lost and there is nothing else to wrestling besides winning or losing - that is a terrible view on life. Ruiz is now ranked #4 in the nation BTW.

 

[EvilPOKES]

Essentially, yes, that is exactly what I meant and how I interpreted your post, participation trophy. I'll say whatever the hell I want when it pertains to your posts, my posts, everyone's (ya know, a forum and all that...). You sound like Nebraska football fans always telling us "your boys played hard and tough" after they beat us. Six of our wrestlers need to improve to be the winner (I didn't say they sucked). That's how that works, no? Winning is the goal.

Life comparisons don't mean **** in this conversation since we are talking about a competitive sport where there is a winner and a whole bunch of not winners. I am not discounting anyone's effort, mentality, et al, but in sport, being an attractive loser isn't the plot.

It's sports talk, chill tf dude.

 

[Howie_Fartz]

Dee is ridiculously talented. But when he's winning close matches he doesnt push the pace even against inferior opponents. That makes it more difficult when he's against a game opponent. Pace is something that a lot of people forget about and is huge.

If someone had told me at the start of the season that Dee would only have a 28% bonus rate I'd of told them they were a hater and an idiot.

 

[Cowboy1989]

Essentially, yes, that is exactly what I meant and how I interpreted your post, participation trophy. I'll say whatever the hell I want when it pertains to your posts, my posts, everyone's (ya know, a forum and all that...). You sound like Nebraska football fans always telling us "your boys played hard and tough" after they beat us. Six of our wrestlers need to improve to be the winner (I didn't say they sucked). That's how that works, no? Winning is the goal.

Life comparisons don't mean **** in this conversation since we are talking about a competitive sport where there is a winner and a whole bunch of not winners. I am not discounting anyone's effort, mentality, et al, but in sport, being an attractive loser isn't the plot.

It's sports talk, chill tf dude.

You can say anything you want, but when you try to tell a poster who originated a thread what the intent of his post was you sound like a moron. Telling a poster that he doesnt know the intent of his own post is asinine. Disagreeing with a post is fine, but that's not what you are doing. You still don't understand the intent of my post. Are you an Iowa fan trying to stir up trouble? We support our wrestlers in Cowboy country - we don't eat our young.

 

[Cowboy1989]

Dee is ridiculously talented. But when he's winning close matches he doesnt push the pace even against inferior opponents. That makes it more difficult when he's against a game opponent. Pace is something that a lot of people forget about and is huge.

If someone had told me at the start of the season that Dee would only have a 28% bonus rate I'd of told them they were a hater and an idiot.

Agreed

 

[Pokes1988]

Frog jumping into a pointless double leg attempt to me doesn't scream 'outwrestling'. He does it way too often and he got worn down. Everyone hear said he was ignoring DTs coaching mid-match and it came up and bit him.

His style is very similar to the Ferrari's, defensive and heavy countering. He drops to one knee way too often and stays on the edge to avoid any serious danger. It can work in situations but DTs been stresses high scoring, high octane offenses and it shows who is busier and whose not.

The same freshmen on the team are scoring at much greater clips vs Lockett and his schedule can be argues as one of the easier ones compared to the other 4 Freshmen.

If you can't see the difference in strategy/performance between the 5 of them, IDK what to tell you.

 

[EvilPOKES]

You can say anything you want, but when you try to tell a poster who originated a thread what the intent of his post was you sound like a moron. Telling a poster that he doesnt know the intent of his own post is asinine. Disagreeing with a post is fine, but that's not what you are doing. You still don't understand the intent of my post. Are you an Iowa fan trying to stir up trouble? We support our wrestlers in Cowboy country - we don't eat our young.

I'd think my handle would give my allegiance away. I don't post in 34 and counting often, admittedly, but even if I was an Iowa supporter, nothing I said was disparaging toward OSU Wrestling's performance aside from not winning. Crazy concept.

You can spout participation trophy all you want, but nothing changes the L. I interpreted your post that way, I told you I interpreted your post that way, and I am not to be convince otherwise. I didn't say he wrestled poorly, I didn't say he sucked, I said he lost. In a sport where W/L matter most, his wrestling did not produce the needed outcome. That's literally what I said from the beginning.

 

[Air_Thurman]

Dee has a lot to work on. He is way too talented to have the close matches he has had. I do think people have lost the plot a tad. He is a true freshman who has lost twice with some big time wins. Some people are acting like he is 10-10 and needs to be cut from the team.

 

[Pokes1988]

Dee has a lot to work on. He is way too talented to have the close matches he has had. I do think people have lost the plot a tad. He is a true freshman who has lost twice with some big time wins. Some people are acting like he is 10-10 and needs to be cut from the team.

Sure he's a Freshmen but when there's a dozen freshmen or so competing for National titles and NOT having similar setbacks...I mean, sorry? He's getting paid, he was ranked #1 in his class.

Bonus Points %

Jax - 86%
Vega - 53%
Robideau - 61%
Merrill - 24%
Lockett - 28%

He's not as busy of a wrestler and his schedule has been easier. Merrill has wrestled a much harder schedule imo and he's got 4 losses to Lockett's 2.

Just get better and win.

 

[Wrestleks]

I went back and re-watched the Locket vs. Ruiz match to see if my initial feelings were true when I watched it live and they were. First off, Ruiz is ranked 10th in the nation and just beat 6th ranked Downey to make the finals and after beating Lockett and Downey he will be ranked very high - he is very tough.
2nd - I'll talk about the first 7 minutes. At the end of regulation, Lockett had taken 7 hard legitimate shots, multiple fakes and studders, some snap downs, and some offensive hand fighting. Do you know what Ruiz had done? Nothing. 0 takedown attempts, no fakes, studders....absolutely nothing. He got in a super low defensive defensive stance with one hand on the mat, sometimes 2, sometimes on a knee. He took little baby steps the whole match to never get out of a defensive position or expose a leg. He stalled the first 7 minutes and he did it exactly like Blaze does against top guys. During the first overtime period, most of the time was spent in a scramble from Locket's really good duck under that he couldn't quite finish. Ruiz did get in on his 1st legit takedown attempt and Locket fed him hips.
So anyone saying Lockett did not wrestle hard, or he wrestled a bad match against Ruiz, I disagree 100%

Great observation might have to work on hand fighting like Landon and Alex to open up guys.

 

[Corby2]

Lockett is probably the 4 with Ruiz maybe getting the 5. I want to see Mesenbrink vs Lockett I hope that match happens

 

[FourCornersCowboy]

Wrestling is hard so this is not an excuse but Dee looked different after taking that shot to the mouth. TONS of potential that needs sharpening.

 

[newguy123]

Cool, but not to be an ******* about it, but winning is really all that matters. Get it done by any means allowable.

And how does one get better? By analyzing the performance. Get on board lol

 

[Cowboy1989]

So, getting back to the title of my thread...
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to beat Ruiz's defense? I'll call it the "Blaze defense" - it looked identical to me.
When a really good wrestler gets in a super low square stance with a hand on the mat and only takes baby steps and never shoots or engages offensively - how do you score against that? And secondarily , why do the referees allow them to do that? Real answers, involving technique and strategy are what I'm looking for, not stuff like try harder.

 

[Corby2]

So, getting back to the title of my thread...
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to beat Ruiz's defense? I'll call it the "Blaze defense" - it looked identical to me.
When a really good wrestler gets in a super low square stance with a hand on the mat and only takes baby steps and never shoots or engages offensively - how do you score against that? And secondarily , why do the referees allow them to do that? Real answers, involving technique and strategy are what I'm looking for, not stuff like try harder.

Ask Routledge he put up 9. In his 5 losses he only gave up 1 takedown in each match . The 1st semester he was average and now he's looking really good

 

[Anon1751751898]

I went back and re-watched the Locket vs. Ruiz match to see if my initial feelings were true when I watched it live and they were. First off, Ruiz is ranked 10th in the nation and just beat 6th ranked Downey to make the finals and after beating Lockett and Downey he will be ranked very high - he is very tough.
2nd - I'll talk about the first 7 minutes. At the end of regulation, Lockett had taken 7 hard legitimate shots, multiple fakes and studders, some snap downs, and some offensive hand fighting. Do you know what Ruiz had done? Nothing. 0 takedown attempts, no fakes, studders....absolutely nothing. He got in a super low defensive defensive stance with one hand on the mat, sometimes 2, sometimes on a knee. He took little baby steps the whole match to never get out of a defensive position or expose a leg. He stalled the first 7 minutes and he did it exactly like Blaze does against top guys. During the first overtime period, most of the time was spent in a scramble from Locket's really good duck under that he couldn't quite finish. Ruiz did get in on his 1st legit takedown attempt and Locket fed him hips.
So anyone saying Lockett did not wrestle hard, or he wrestled a bad match against Ruiz, I disagree 100%

Then our coaches did not take care of Dee because they should have been screaming stalling to the refs. Stalling is called usually with backing up but should be called for not shooting any takedown and stuck in a defensive stance. Dee does not back people up but coaches should be pointing out his opponent has not shot a takedown once and is in a defensive stance all of the time. However he needs a variety of attacks he can use to score on someone stalling. Example you can not stall on Mesenbrink, Barr or Jax. That stance you want to shoot outside single legs, get in close single legs or ankle picks, heavy hands and movement can set up an opening. He should know straight on double legs isn't going to work with a low stance with 2 arms right in front to either catch your shot or use his head as a defense which I believe happened.

 

[Cowboy1989]

Ask Routledge he put up 9. In his 5 losses he only gave up 1 takedown in each match . The 1st semester he was average and now he's looking really good

I like Routledge, he's a good solid wrestler. He lost to Ruiz 10-9. Having said that, Ruiz was ranked #17 at the time and judging by how he was wrestling at that point in the season I'd say that was pretty accurate. The Ruiz in the Big 12 tournament was a significantly better version than earlier in the season for the following reasons: First, against Routledge, Ruiz had a different stance, it was significantly higher, hand wasn't touching the mat and his bend at the hip wasn't as much. His legs were a lot more exposed. Second, two of Routledges takedowns were counters off of Ruiz's shots. Ruiz actually opened up and was shooting against Routledge, so he was exposing himself to counter offense. Two very different versions of Ruiz here. So... how does a wrestler score against the "Blaze defense", anyone?

 

[Howie_Fartz]

Didnt Routledge make 57 for AF then went to 165 against ASU in the same weekend?

 

[Cowboy1989]

Sure he's a Freshmen but when there's a dozen freshmen or so competing for National titles and NOT having similar setbacks...I mean, sorry? He's getting paid, he was ranked #1 in his class.

Bonus Points %

Jax - 86%
Vega - 53%
Robideau - 61%
Merrill - 24%
Lockett - 28%

He's not as busy of a wrestler and his schedule has been easier. Merrill has wrestled a much harder schedule imo and he's got 4 losses to Lockett's 2.

Just get better and win.

Looks like according to the latest Flo Big Board ranking for the 2025 class the rankings for our freshman coming in were:

Locket#3
Robidou #5
Vega # 7

Flo's latest college ranking has them at:

Locket #5
Robidou #4
Vega #2

I'd say all of our true freshman are doing pretty darn well. It should be very interesting to see how they all finish at nationals.

 

[DPJ1]

Didnt Routledge make 57 for AF then went to 165 against ASU in the same weekend?

Yeah I'm pretty sure he did

 

[Okie_Pat]

I like Routledge, he's a good solid wrestler. He lost to Ruiz 10-9. Having said that, Ruiz was ranked #17 at the time and judging by how he was wrestling at that point in the season I'd say that was pretty accurate. The Ruiz in the Big 12 tournament was a significantly better version than earlier in the season for the following reasons: First, against Routledge, Ruiz had a different stance, it was significantly higher, hand wasn't touching the mat and his bend at the hip wasn't as much. His legs were a lot more exposed. Second, two of Routledges takedowns were counters off of Ruiz's shots. Ruiz actually opened up and was shooting against Routledge, so he was exposing himself to counter offense. Two very different versions of Ruiz here. So... how does a wrestler score against the "Blaze defense", anyone?

Holding center without any attempt at a shot or engaging action is stalling. Unfortunately, its usually called only when the wrestler is backing up and not attempting any offense. Stall calls need to be more consistent, when a wrestler is not at least attempting to engage in their offense regardless of their positioning on the mat they should be called.

Now to your question, how do you score on a "Blaze Defense"? Either by forcing enough offense in a flurry to get them out of position for a quick re-attack or you bait them into shooting and counter. Its hard to score points when only 1 person is wrestling.

someone said it earlier, Dee was the only one initiating any offense in that match, but his long recovery times between whistles is why Ruiz was never called. If Dee had hustled back to center repeatedly and continued to shoot like he was then I bet Ruiz would of been called and probably would have opened the match up more.

 

[Corby2]

Holding center without any attempt at a shot or engaging action is stalling. Unfortunately, its usually called only when the wrestler is backing up and not attempting any offense. Stall calls need to be more consistent, when a wrestler is not at least attempting to engage in their offense regardless of their positioning on the mat they should be called.

Now to your question, how do you score on a "Blaze Defense"? Either by forcing enough offense in a flurry to get them out of position for a quick re-attack or you bait them into shooting and counter. Its hard to score points when only 1 person is wrestling.

someone said it earlier, Dee was the only one initiating any offense in that match, but his long recovery times between whistles is why Ruiz was never called. If Dee had hustled back to center repeatedly and continued to shoot like he was then I bet Ruiz would of been called and probably would have opened the match up more.

Refs look at body language and Dee body language never says the other guy is stalling

 

[Cowboy1989]

Holding center without any attempt at a shot or engaging action is stalling. Unfortunately, its usually called only when the wrestler is backing up and not attempting any offense. Stall calls need to be more consistent, when a wrestler is not at least attempting to engage in their offense regardless of their positioning on the mat they should be called.

Now to your question, how do you score on a "Blaze Defense"? Either by forcing enough offense in a flurry to get them out of position for a quick re-attack or you bait them into shooting and counter. Its hard to score points when only 1 person is wrestling.

someone said it earlier, Dee was the only one initiating any offense in that match, but his long recovery times between whistles is why Ruiz was never called. If Dee had hustled back to center repeatedly and continued to shoot like he was then I bet Ruiz would of been called and probably would have opened the match up more.

That's a good take. I imagine Dee will watch film and try to figure something out.

 

[ionel]

I want to see Mesenbrink vs Lockett I hope that match happens

Not me ... I want to see someone knock off Mesenbrink before Dee gets to the semis and on to the finals.

 

[glorycowboy]

Lockett is probably the 4 with Ruiz maybe getting the 5. I want to see Mesenbrink vs Lockett I hope that match happens

You probably want this cause you dont want Caliendo to be defeated by MM again, lol. I hope Dee stays away from MM and has to go through either Caliendo or Blaze.

 

[Corby2]

You probably want this cause you dont want Caliendo to be defeated by MM again, lol. I hope Dee stays away from MM and has to go through either Caliendo or Blaze.

Some are saying that Dee isnt gassed it's just part of his plan. I think he gets tired. Wrestling Mitchell will tell us for sure which one it is

 

[chasepollard]

Some are saying that Dee isnt gassed it's just part of his plan. I think he gets tired. Wrestling Mitchell will tell us for sure which one it is

That’s BS dude!

You know the game.

MM could gas Exxon.

 

[Corby2]

That’s BS dude!

You know the game.

MM could gas Exxon.

What do you think the score will be?

 

[chasepollard]

What do you think the score will be?

No sir

 

[vhsalum]

What do you think the score will be?

A lot to a little.