NCAA Tournament

Talk about the champions, or the Top 25 nationally-ranked team!
Post Reply
ngineer
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 10:54 pm
Contact:

NCAA Tournament

Post by ngineer » Fri Mar 15, 2019 1:03 pm

Brackets are now out along with seedings. Lehigh has four guys seeded in top 8--That has not happened too often. Wood has the top seed at #4, but not an easy first round as he gets Sam Stoll of Iowa. Stoll must have had injury issues earlier in the season. In some polls he was ranked #1 or 2, but then wasn't wrestling. Ended up with a 9-5 record and DNP at Big Ten. Very strange, but also very dangerous for Wood. Guy is a 'true' 285, so Wookd will be giving away about 30 lbs.

Kutler garnered a #5 seed and could have a decent shot at a high finish. He's technically excellent and will hopefully come out blazing. Preisch comes in with a #8 seed after finishing second to Dean in EIWA. Like 174, 184 class is loaded with top shelf wrestlers. Nothing guaranteed regardless of last year's finish. Would be great for Ryan to get an AA before leaving. True frosh Humphreys at 157 snatched a #8 seed, also. Very exciting to watch. He gets himself caught at times by being overly aggressive, but it has paid off more times than not this year. Thing is, at this level, the aggressive mistake can be deadly. Hopefully we see some early bonus points from these three.

The other four guys going to Pitt are all capable of scoring points and some, I think, capable of getting on the podium. Some have extremely tough first round draws, but they are all capable of wrestling back for placement. Paetzel, Schuyler, Wolf and Jakobsen have all shown flashes of excellence against top 10 opponents and we hope they can put a run together. Fun starts Thursday. ESPN/ESPNU are covering.


ngineer
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 10:54 pm
Contact:

Re: NCAA Tournament

Post by ngineer » Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:22 pm

What a nice finish to a very tough year! Yes, there are always some disappointments because that is the way tournaments go. A couple extremely 'near miss' opportunities that could have gotten the school 5-10 more points. Overall, was great to get 3 AA's, especially for Preisch getting 4th in his final season. Wood came oh-so-close to making the finals with a SV loss in the semis where he just missed a takedown and was countered. Kutler is such a warrior. Badly injured ankle Friday night, but came back to in the 'blood round' to make it onto the podium, again.
Humphreys showed he can be really special in the coming years and Jakobsen was very, very close to being on the podium as well. Knocking off Honis, who beat him twice during the season, was a barrier breaker. Next year the upper end of the line should be a line of hammers: Kutler, Weiler, Jakobsen and Wood. Humphreys could stay at 157 or move to 165, depending on growth. May be a bit short at 165. Not known if Walter will be able to return. Speaking of 165, Wolfie was Wolfie giving the fans a lot of thrills and spills. Like Jakobsen, just missed making the podium. Kid never quit.

Hopefully, the lighter weights kick it up a notch or two. Paetzel showed grit and has the quickness to succeed at the next level with some additional strength. Felt sorry for Schuyler not being able to get some wins out there, but he battled as he always does. Hopefully, we have some reinforcements next year at 125, 141 and 149, either through the new recruits or some of the current roster stepping up their game. Karam will be due back and likely at 149. Much to be proud about in this this team fought back all year. Gives much optimism for 2019-20.
mookie
Posts: 2180
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 3:43 pm

Re: NCAA Tournament

Post by mookie » Mon Apr 01, 2019 9:28 am

Karam really needs to improve on his feet. Right now he's a sitting duck and the book on him is avoid mat wrestling. His skills on top are superior but most of his opponents simply choose neutral and then pick him apart from neutral.
ngineer
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 10:54 pm
Contact:

Re: NCAA Tournament

Post by ngineer » Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:46 pm

No question that is where he needs to improve and we all hope he has been focusing on that a strong Karam at 149 would really add to the lineup. At the very least, he needs to learn how to funk. Wolf usually allowed his opponent the leg and then worked off that. The problem with that approach is that it takes so much time as opposed to getting the quick takedown, if time is of the essence.
mookie
Posts: 2180
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 3:43 pm

Re: NCAA Tournament

Post by mookie » Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:41 am

Jimmy Hoffman at 141 and Malyke Hines at 149 with Karam as a backup makes the most sense. Hines will be a superstar.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], BP-LU87, Chico and 51 guests