2026 NCAA Championship Session VI Thread

[lionlover]

It was also funny to hear Casey tell Mitchell to just take his one when he was on bottom leading by 14. Mitchell said to himself, "Nope. I'm gonna' jump over him for the reversal." : )

Don't be surprised when Casey & Cael bench his a$$ next year for his insubordinate response!

 

[GregPickel]

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

Don't be surprised when Casey & Cael bench his a$$ next year for his insubordinate response!

Literally because NCAA Wrestling thought it was too hard to call.

One of our best posters on BSD dug this up from the last year's Rules Committee:



Only a committee full of smart people couldn't foresee the new incentive for strategic stalling.

Also, freed from the burden of having to identify finger-lacing violations, the refs forgot what a takedown is.

I couldn't agree more, El_Jefe. I have been thinking about this topic a lot as people have been discussing what can be done to combat stalling. Doing away with the finger grabbing prohibition last year was a big mistake in my book. I really think they need to bring it back in some form.

Deciding who to penalize under the previous rule doesn't seem that difficult to me. Most of the time the same wrestler grabbing the fingers is also the one blocking off, backing up, dropping to a knee, etc. It is overwhelmingly used by the wrestler who is trying to avoid action, i.e. stalling. There is a reason freestyle doesn't allow it, as it slows down matches and rewards the defensive/stalling wrestler. Here is the UWW rule on it:

"Anytime the refereeing body agrees a wrestler is blocking, interlocking fingers, thwarting his opponent and/or generally avoiding wrestling: the referee signals to the wrestler “Caution blue or red”. First offence, the action is stopped briefly to give a verbal warning (V): “Attention”. Second offence: the action is stopped briefly to designate the guilty wrestler and a 30-second mandatory-score period begins."

In my opinion, the UWW rightfully includes "interlocking fingers" in the broader category of what folkstyle calls stalling. Bringing back the prohibition should be a priority.

 

[Tom McAndrew]