The don't clog the board with final/stay thoughts from NCAAs, post them here, thread
- Thread starter GregPickel
- Start date
Let's not forget the dirty elbow that MC threw at Mitchell's head at the end of the finals last season. People minimized that as well. Of course when you get your a** kicked 9x in a row one will be frustrated, but show some class. Kid is a punk.
One of my friends - a two-time qualifier who spent his first couple of years at 126/134 before finally winning EIWAs at 142 and then 150 - remarked that Bouzakis’ body was likely drastically different after a season of making 125 and that this tournament wouldn’t be kind to him.
I walked out next to Nick after Friday morning’s session and was pretty shocked by how he looked. I’ve been in his presence a few times in the past and he didn’t even look that small and weak in HS. Really tough, makes you feel bad. But what else was he to do if he didn’t want to lose the year? I have respect for the attempt, but it was probably always going to end badly. I don’t think 141 would be any issue at all for him after a full offseason to reverse the damage.
I am tempted to go back and watch since I never noticed Max looked bigger than Rocco. Always felt Rocco was pretty solid at 184. The largest difference to me was Josh vs Merrill. Looked like Josh was much bigger.
Why doesn’t that happen in freestyle then?
I was hoping it wouldnt end like that for Nick. But I think a lot of people saw that coming. I feel bad for him. He put himself through a lot.
I think it has been getting progressively worse for decades. There was a time when someone ran their mouth you just smacked them or doubled them to the ground. Now if someone verbally berates you, your wife, kid or grandkid and you knock them on their asss you end up in trouble. There are no consequences for verbal abuse. Without negative feedback assshole behavior grows.
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Good for him, though for USA Wrestling hopefully he can keep training and competing in wrestling. He's a U23 world champ and senior bronze at the 2024 Zagreb Open.
An added consideration is in SV if the ref awards the points and action stops, that is it. You can challenge, but the challenge must be for an objective reason (headgear pull before the move that scored) and reversed based upon objective evidence (video evidence headgear pull occurred).
Not something as asinine as "well, I the reviewer do not agree with the mat official's judgement that the defensive wrestler had sufficient reaction time."
We need one like this of Palacio. DiJulius just tweets stupid stuff a lot. Palacio comes across as some bitter dude that screams and crys a lot.The guy stuck underneath Jordan Conaway.
I have always been wary of the push out. I am now to the point that even if everybody all of a sudden became a disease truck and just kept pushing people out of bounds, can that be any worse than having people unabashedly racing to the edge to wrestle with a foot in bounds with the other basically standing next to the gym foor.
Referee' postion would need addressed. It's already pathetic that the top guy is allowed to use the edge to maintain control.
Regarding SVN, I think his nose did him in. He is used to pushing the pace and wearing out his opponent. The frequent blood breaks allowed his opponent to recover and stay fresh.
I watched the interview with mcgowen after his semi win. You have to ga back and watch it. Its hilarious. Basically everything he claimed to be he didn't do in the finals match
Ryan said in an interview this past weekend that he basically starved for the team
With just 4.5 points scored combined for Cole and Braeden, I foresee a really large jump next year for those two weights. It was also cool to see that PJ outscored Robideau, although I'm sure he finds no consolation in that : (Team Scores – Penn State Wrestling Club
pennstatewrestlingclub.org
As others have noted, I am surprised how weak Cornell looked. They seem to be a program in decline after the coaching turnovers.
Cornell has 5 high-end guys grayshirting this year. I don't think they'll be top 5 next year, but their decline might be exaggerated.
And…..as long as refs are not calling the edge rules properly, the edge becomes an extra defender which is precisely why wrestlers retreat there and why the current OOB rule was added about 10 years ago to stop it.
Well….Merrill on the Podium with the height advantage of the riser was shorter than both 3rd and 4th place finishers. That lack of height may have been a reason Josh didn't not get to his legs easily.
For the most part, our guys are not smaller. It just seems that way though I’m not sure why it matters. We keep winning. And by wider margins.
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Just like the Duke Taylor match, where the wrestler got two reactions, which must be the new reaction time. Robi moved his hand off and then back on the leg. So not sure why that’s allowed. And when I say “on” I mean “on”….not “around” or anything other that would constitute a defense to a TD.
Asinine. Agreed.
Exactly, aside from the fact that the ref didn't immediately call the takedown and did in essence give Robideau reaction time before he did so, I'm not sure why anyone is suggesting that somehow because Robideau "had the leg" that it's some sort of defense to what a takedown has always been. PJ locked up the cradle, Robideau was "on a hip" and that's it. Even if having a hand on PJ's leg meant anything at all, as you pointed out, he dropped it, then went back to it. By any definition of takedown and by any definition of reaction time, PJ won that match in sudden victory. I'm not even a little bit less pissed off about it given that a day and a half has passed. And while I still don't necessarily expect it, I still want the NCAA to address it and make a public admission that they got it wrong.
So many things still going through my mind about the tournament and most of them bittersweet at least (still pissed off about PJ's screwing and a bit sad for Shayne), but I'm back to the Caliendo thing. I said immediately that anyone could understand his frustration or even bitterness at having to wrestle Messenbrink yet again for his last chance at eternal glory and I also do agree with Bo Nickal to some degree that maybe Caliendo was in his own world right at that moment and didn't really see/know what was going on (or maybe had he been given a couple of seconds longer to consider/think about it he would have come to his senses), but given the fact that he didn't, he actually made himself look worse for taking the drubbing that he took. Had he been classy, shaken Mitch's hand, congratulated him for his success, almost everybody (including 80% of the posters here) would have said, "Mikey Caliendo is a great guy and a great wrestler and his only fault was that he was unfortunate to wrestle in Mitch Messenbrink's weight class". Very few would have mentioned the tech fall in the future and most would have repeated that "at least Caliendo brings it" and presented himself to Messenbrink in each of their matches. But now because of his short-sighted refusal to shake hands, people will always remember him as a sore loser, rather than remembering that he was a tough competitor and likely did have a better chance to knock off Mitchell than anyone else (maybe less apparent after his later losses than a few of the earlier ones, but still). Now instead of remembering him as a gritty wrestler, some folks will remember the couple of times that he was "snitty" (like throwing an elbow in frustration or refusing to shake hands with the champion).
I still give him this one. I really think he probably regrets not offering his hand and I really think that had he been given another second to consider it (or had Mitch said, "Hey, Mike, you're been a GREAT competitor and I appreciate you" when he offered his hand) that he would have reached out. It's just a shame. And it's generally why I'm proud of the PSU guys. I'm not saying that no Penn State guy has ever been in a snit, but when a PSU guy does it, nobody here makes excuses for them, and they get called out for it. Think about Shayne Van Ness, who in "his year" loses in overtime and he still makes a classy bow to the crowd even after having his dreams shattered.
I know that the PSU haters can't bring themselves to acknowledge that PSU does do it the right way and that it really is about being grateful, having fun, recognizing that "it's just a game and there are more important things", etc. etc., but it's why I'm so proud of the PSU wrestlers (generally almost all of them) and of the coaching staff.
I still give him this one. I really think he probably regrets not offering his hand and I really think that had he been given another second to consider it (or had Mitch said, "Hey, Mike, you're been a GREAT competitor and I appreciate you" when he offered his hand) that he would have reached out. It's just a shame. And it's generally why I'm proud of the PSU guys. I'm not saying that no Penn State guy has ever been in a snit, but when a PSU guy does it, nobody here makes excuses for them, and they get called out for it. Think about Shayne Van Ness, who in "his year" loses in overtime and he still makes a classy bow to the crowd even after having his dreams shattered.
I know that the PSU haters can't bring themselves to acknowledge that PSU does do it the right way and that it really is about being grateful, having fun, recognizing that "it's just a game and there are more important things", etc. etc., but it's why I'm so proud of the PSU wrestlers (generally almost all of them) and of the coaching staff.
Janteloven or Tall Poppy Syndrome; whatever you want to call it, it is a progressively popular phenomenon in western culture. People love to criticize/dislike high achievers. It is more apparent in Europe, but IMO it is rapidly growing in the U.S. It's also obviously closely correlated with a political ideology that rhymes with "tocialism".
I've seen so many comments on social media about how PSU wrestling is the team of stalling. Nothing wrong with having allegiance to your team and not liking the top dog, but when it results in loss of objective reality it becomes concerning. How anyone can suggest that PSU is a team of stallers when their takedown ratio is like 10:1 at the NCAA tournament, they have like half of all top-10 individual point scorers, etc. is a special kind of delusion. That special kind of delusion is becoming a mass hysteria, making people increasingly comfortable with outwardly expressing it. Rant over.
Surprised me also. Certainly were going the wrong way at end of season. Weight cuts???
Merrill looks like, and wrestles like a heavyweight.
… it’s been over ten years, but whenever I watch an NFL game and I see/hear WR Stephon Diggs, all I can think about is how he and his cohorts refused to shake hands with the Penn State captains at the pregame coin toss…and I can’t help but root against him, no matter what team he’s on!
Meanwhile Merrill’s 18 year old brother looks like he’s 35 with 3 kids and a mortgage
With Caliendo's post, the excuse that he didn't see Mitch's hand is gone ... So, it absolutely was intentional
Your stats as presented offer a clear direction for Blaze’s development. Over the years I’ve observed that almost all freshmen (especially true freshmen) struggle to broaden their tactics. They cling onto what got them into our room. Nick Lee would be an obvious example. Assuming that Marcus is a willing learner, we have the staff and teammates required to expand his offense. I think once he steps outside his shell he will be just short of unbeatable. Development is the name of the game and PSU has a proven record in this regard.
I think Duke will not lose again. His growth between year 1 and 2 will be frightening since it starts from a scary place already.
Robi was coached to keep PJ away from his body. There aren’t many tactics to do that he hasn’t now been exposed to. He will be on a Mesenbrink roll but with more pins.