Great year

[Oracle]

Unequivocally an outstanding year for the Brown & White. Dual-wise, Midlands-wise, EIWA and NCAA.

Three AAs is great any year. Period. The end.

Any expectations to the contrary based on seeds is really ill-advised. Seeds are guides. Educated estimates. Taylor wrestled well. He ran into a 4X AA in the quarters and a really good opponent in the blood round. The second was tough to swallow but completely understandable. It’s a tough game.
One guy said he expected 2 wins by our Little 4 — absurd.
Stanich, in my view, wrestled great. Finished about where he should have seeding notwithstanding. Crookham may have beaten Fix and maybe not, so 3rd is about right. Beard’s knee gave out. You can’t wrestle on one leg against the big boys. Beard did great.

So 15th it is. I’m thinking this is tremendous progress from the past few years (since 2019).

Any reasonable person would agree. So if you don’t you know what that makes you.

[Mountain Hawk]

Great year up until the big dance which was meh. 3 AAs was the bare minimum of expectations based on season long performance. Zero wins out of 141-165 vs largely lower seeds was a major downer. Didn’t hear anyone predicting 15th at NCAAs so you can paint it how u like but it wasn’t a great tourney for the team despite some outstanding individual performances.
Any reasonable person would agree.

[DavidKla]

So it comes down to recruiting. Taylor arrived 3 years ago, Beard (I count the portal as recruiting these days) and Crookham two years ago, last year Stanich. In the years prior to Taylor......

I don't know/follow high school and recruiting as much as others so would like some thoughts. Anyone arriving next year that could make an impact and/or any first year deferrals this year that could be impactful next year? I would think an incoming freshman next year at 133 should be prepared to wrestle his "free five" as I think Crookham will perpetually be on a pitch count.

[FloridaGuy]

>>>>>> Predicting 3 AAs in the pre season was a huge stretch. So ‘only’ 3 AAs with four seeded in the top 5 was obviously less than expectations. The reality of the NCAAs is every match, regardless of seeding, is a battle. Definite movement in the right direction and a very good season despite a less than hoped NCAA performance.

With respect to incoming recruits— I think Lopes will be in the mix for some mat time at 133 and Ziegler at 125. Same with Skellenger at 157/165 and Federico at 174.

Plenty of younger guys returning at the middle/upper weights———we’ll see if any of them can mirror the level of improvement achieved by Taylor this year.

[DavidKla]

I guess the way the year ended next year would be Seymour, Crookham, Hines (Stanich RS), Griffin, Brignola (who is RS eligible), Mays, ????, Wilt, Beard and Taylor. So 3 AA's (I am including Taylor) then 3 the next year with Stanich in and Beard out.

So a baseline to build off. Hopefully some more pieces fill in.

And I know the current wisdom, but will Starocci really pass on the chance to be the only 5 time champ? If he returns I would think that puts Facundo in play. An Iowa board posted that McGonagle entered the portal. More rumors are Jon Reader from Wisconsin assistant to Central Michigan head coach. More (wild?) rumors are Bono out and Cody Sanderson in. I will stop there.

[martinsilvestri]

This was a very good year. Look at the whole season relative to early-season expectations. With that lens the only "disappointment" might be the performances at 141, maybe a little at 157 & 165, and not getting the elite backup at 133 we had expected. Again: zero returning EIWA champs, zero returning AAs; 125 and 133 weren't even decided. 285 was not top 10 and 197 was not AA.

Not to mention as people have been saying all year on here: the NCAA tournament is not the only barometer for success. If now we're suddenly saying it is, then yes everything else is just practice. The NCAA result wasn't even bad. It's not the 1970s any more - 3 AAs for Lehigh and top 15 is a fine accomplishment. But if the dual season matters, that's a lot to be happy about, especially the big win over Cornell and some good wins over Navy and Army. After OK State I think many of us were very discouraged but it was uphill from there. As others have said, a lot to build on and a very good season relative to how it started.

[George Porgie]

Unequivocally an outstanding year for the Brown & White. Dual-wise, Midlands-wise, EIWA and NCAA.

Three AAs is great any year. Period. The end.

Any expectations to the contrary based on seeds is really ill-advised. Seeds are guides. Educated estimates. Taylor wrestled well. He ran into a 4X AA in the quarters and a really good opponent in the blood round. The second was tough to swallow but completely understandable. It’s a tough game.
One guy said he expected 2 wins by our Little 4 — absurd.
Stanich, in my view, wrestled great. Finished about where he should have seeding notwithstanding. Crookham may have beaten Fix and maybe not, so 3rd is about right. Beard’s knee gave out. You can’t wrestle on one leg against the big boys. Beard did great.

So 15th it is. I’m thinking this is tremendous progress from the past few years (since 2019).

Any reasonable person would agree. So if you don’t you know what that makes you.

George Bernard Shaw said “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

[HFO]

Some Perspective

NCAA Champion
Years/Years Between
2017 6
2011 7
2004 2
2002 12
1990 3
1987 4
1983 4
1979 3
1976 1
1975 1
1974 7
1967 2
1965 2
1963 4
1959 2
1957 1
1956 16
1940 1
1939 3
1936 2
1934 3
1931

As great as Billy, Gerry were, it has been Thad, Greg and now Pat producing 3 or All-Americans in a year. Granted, there are fewer programs, nonetheless, to be an All-American is a huge accomplishment of wrestling and coaching.

3 or more All-American. 1950s None. 1960s 3x, 1970s 5x, 1980s 3x, 1990s 1x, 2000s 6x, 2010s 7x
1933
1963
1965
1966
1971
1975
1976
1977
1979
1980 6
1981
1983
1999
2000
2001
2003
2004
2005
2006
2011
2012
2014
2015
2016
2018
2019

[FloridaGuy]

>>>>>> Comparing AA performance requires acknowledging the didn’t always award 8 AAs and did not always have full consolations.

[1/2NELSON]

If Oracle had been on the TITANIC he would have stated unequivocally,.."Relax, I've got some duck-tape!"

He also goes on to say that you can’t wrestle on one leg against the big boys, and that Beard did great.
I respectfully disagree pal, as STAROCCI did quite well wrestling on ONE leg, and Beard was far from great unless one considers an eighth-place exceptional. But not gonna get into a pissing contest with ya as we both can agree that Lehigh had a very nice season that actually took-off with the UPSET of Cornell, and continued thru Easterns/Nationals. Team exceeded my expectations with (( 3 )) All-Americans, and might very well have had a forth.

What's GREAT is that they all return, a CORE group of some outstanding talent, led by the kid whom I'll affectionately refer to as the FACE of the Program. He's earned that distinction I believe. Candid, well spoken, and perceptive, he closes this excellent interview by saying that Stanich will be moving up (TOO). Meaning what(?), he will as well(?),.. and thus a Summer for rampant speculation by us rabid fans!

https://www.flowrestling.org/video/1236 ... -character