Sorry @GregPickel but I can't insert a poll into the final thoughts thread.
If we Penn State fans haven't been spoiled enough, the team goes and sets records for a 3rd straight season. What an incredible season and NCAA tournament! Now the long wait begins for what is promising to be another incredible season in 26/27. But in the meantime, let's do a poll since @mcpat has been slacking. Keep in mind that I'm limited to 10 choices. For this one, you can select 3 of those 10. Sorry @RoarLions1, I know you want to select every Penn State wrestler. And @El_Jefe, we know Mike Evans still isn't impressed.
Here we go:
125 - Luke Lilledahl
Lightning Luke runs the table and wins his 1st NCAA championship. He took out an Iowa and an Oklahoma State wrestler along the way and defeated a wrestler who had zero interest in actually wrestling in the championship match. He contributed one bonus point to the team, going MD-D-D-D-D.
Oklahoma State
I was thinking of singling out Jax Forrest but due to the 10 response constraint, I decided to lump OSU all together. I'm not sure if many outside of OSU homers predicted 4 finalists and 3 champions. There is a lot to unpack with OSU's performance. Jax with an incredible run through a loaded 133 bracket as a true freshman, Vega slaying a returning 2x champion and Robideau (yes, with some ref assistance) defeating another returning champ. We can debate all we want about who is Penn State's biggest "rival" but one thing is for certain is that the Cowboys are the most serious competition going forward.
Stanford
From the chopping block to a 6th place finish, Chris Ayres and staff have done a wonderful job with the Cardinal wrestling program. Stanford is capably filling in the west coast power vacuum as programs have been scuttled from Boise to Fresno to Riverside along with the decline of ASU. Aden Valencia had what was arguably the biggest upset of the night as a 7-loss 10 seed upsetting undefeated Shayne Van Ness. Along the way Aden also beat #7 Stiles and #2 Joy. Stanford ended up with 4 AAs with only one seeded in the top 8.
157 - PJ Duke
Bad calls are unfortunately part of any sport but PJ Duke didn't crumble under the adversity and finished strong with a TF in the 3rd place match. As a true freshman, he contributed the most bonus points for the team getting two pins and two TFs. He is going to be a force we have the privilege to watch for another three seasons.
165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink
Psycho gets his 2nd championship with gobs of style points in the absolute destruction of Mikey Caliendo in the finals. Mitchell was on a mission going TF-MD-D-TF-TF. He ended up having the toughest draw in the 165 bracket (as if it matters to him). Both his 2nd round (Gallagher) and quarterfinal (Hepner) opponents finished as AAs. Btw, Assisi is a cool place to visit. (@darkknight , I know I gave you a hard time but I like your use of "style points" so I'm adding that to the board lexicon. Mesenbrink has the Hodge locked up.)
174 - Levi Haines
Levi finished his storied Penn State career in style with his 2nd NCAA championship. He was Penn State's second biggest bonus point contributor going F-TF-TF-TF-D. Levi also contributed the quote of the day, "a buck is a buck".
197 - Josh Barr
Josh gets his first NCAA championship defeating another wrestler who didn't want to wrestle. While his unblemished bonus streak came to an end, he was still the #3 team contributor going TF-MD-TF-MD-D.
The rest of the Penn State team
Of course props are well deserved for Rocco Welsh with his second 2nd place finish. True freshman Marcus Blaze (and younger than Jax Forrest) in a loaded 133 bracket defeated two-time finalist Drake Ayala for a 3rd time and picked up a 4th place finish. Van Ness had a strong tournament with a Fall and two TFs with his 2nd place finish. I'm looking forward to him finishing his career on top of the podium next season. While they didn't AA, Scooter and Cole did get a couple of victories each and were contributors to yet another record breaking team point total.
Iowa's 4th place finish
I'm beginning to think that @Corby2 is an undercover Penn State fan as he and MSU have formed an unholy alliance in defending the marvelous coaching efforts of TnT in guiding Iowa to a remarkable 4th place finish. To quote another Big 10 coach, TnT did their best with the hand they were given. Corby, keep up the yeoman's work over on HR! TnT remaining at Iowa is good for Penn State.
Other
Opportunity for you to add anything that I missed.
If we Penn State fans haven't been spoiled enough, the team goes and sets records for a 3rd straight season. What an incredible season and NCAA tournament! Now the long wait begins for what is promising to be another incredible season in 26/27. But in the meantime, let's do a poll since @mcpat has been slacking. Keep in mind that I'm limited to 10 choices. For this one, you can select 3 of those 10. Sorry @RoarLions1, I know you want to select every Penn State wrestler. And @El_Jefe, we know Mike Evans still isn't impressed.
Here we go:
125 - Luke Lilledahl
Lightning Luke runs the table and wins his 1st NCAA championship. He took out an Iowa and an Oklahoma State wrestler along the way and defeated a wrestler who had zero interest in actually wrestling in the championship match. He contributed one bonus point to the team, going MD-D-D-D-D.
Oklahoma State
I was thinking of singling out Jax Forrest but due to the 10 response constraint, I decided to lump OSU all together. I'm not sure if many outside of OSU homers predicted 4 finalists and 3 champions. There is a lot to unpack with OSU's performance. Jax with an incredible run through a loaded 133 bracket as a true freshman, Vega slaying a returning 2x champion and Robideau (yes, with some ref assistance) defeating another returning champ. We can debate all we want about who is Penn State's biggest "rival" but one thing is for certain is that the Cowboys are the most serious competition going forward.
Stanford
From the chopping block to a 6th place finish, Chris Ayres and staff have done a wonderful job with the Cardinal wrestling program. Stanford is capably filling in the west coast power vacuum as programs have been scuttled from Boise to Fresno to Riverside along with the decline of ASU. Aden Valencia had what was arguably the biggest upset of the night as a 7-loss 10 seed upsetting undefeated Shayne Van Ness. Along the way Aden also beat #7 Stiles and #2 Joy. Stanford ended up with 4 AAs with only one seeded in the top 8.
157 - PJ Duke
Bad calls are unfortunately part of any sport but PJ Duke didn't crumble under the adversity and finished strong with a TF in the 3rd place match. As a true freshman, he contributed the most bonus points for the team getting two pins and two TFs. He is going to be a force we have the privilege to watch for another three seasons.
165 - Mitchell Mesenbrink
Psycho gets his 2nd championship with gobs of style points in the absolute destruction of Mikey Caliendo in the finals. Mitchell was on a mission going TF-MD-D-TF-TF. He ended up having the toughest draw in the 165 bracket (as if it matters to him). Both his 2nd round (Gallagher) and quarterfinal (Hepner) opponents finished as AAs. Btw, Assisi is a cool place to visit. (@darkknight , I know I gave you a hard time but I like your use of "style points" so I'm adding that to the board lexicon. Mesenbrink has the Hodge locked up.)
174 - Levi Haines
Levi finished his storied Penn State career in style with his 2nd NCAA championship. He was Penn State's second biggest bonus point contributor going F-TF-TF-TF-D. Levi also contributed the quote of the day, "a buck is a buck".
197 - Josh Barr
Josh gets his first NCAA championship defeating another wrestler who didn't want to wrestle. While his unblemished bonus streak came to an end, he was still the #3 team contributor going TF-MD-TF-MD-D.
The rest of the Penn State team
Of course props are well deserved for Rocco Welsh with his second 2nd place finish. True freshman Marcus Blaze (and younger than Jax Forrest) in a loaded 133 bracket defeated two-time finalist Drake Ayala for a 3rd time and picked up a 4th place finish. Van Ness had a strong tournament with a Fall and two TFs with his 2nd place finish. I'm looking forward to him finishing his career on top of the podium next season. While they didn't AA, Scooter and Cole did get a couple of victories each and were contributors to yet another record breaking team point total.
Iowa's 4th place finish
I'm beginning to think that @Corby2 is an undercover Penn State fan as he and MSU have formed an unholy alliance in defending the marvelous coaching efforts of TnT in guiding Iowa to a remarkable 4th place finish. To quote another Big 10 coach, TnT did their best with the hand they were given. Corby, keep up the yeoman's work over on HR! TnT remaining at Iowa is good for Penn State.
Other
Opportunity for you to add anything that I missed.
