Jump to content

Penn State


Recommended Posts

I was able to watch the Penn State vs Illinois match on the Big10 network and after watching a couple of their duals, I have to say what Cael Sanderson has going there is amazing. Illinois national champion Isaiah Martinez managed just a 3-2 victory over redshirt freshman Vincenzo Joseph. Youngster Nick Suriano is a future star at 125/133. Next year they add Nick Lee to the mix (unless they redshirt him).

 

And that's not even the highlights of the team! The trio of Retherford, Nolf and Nickal make wrestling fun to watch. They are all going for a pin or tech fall every match, sometimes throwing caution to the wind. I believe they said on the broadcast that both Retherford and Nickal are averaging over 5 team points per match -- so average between a tech fall and a pin!

 

And the scary part is... they will likely only get better. None of the 3 mentioned above are seniors. Mark Hall just began competing midseason - he could possibly be another #1 next season.  I'm not sure what is considered the best dual team of all time, but Penn State has a legitimate chance to have 3 or 4 national champions out of 10 weight classes and that is pretty amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was able to watch the Penn State vs Illinois match on the Big10 network and after watching a couple of their duals, I have to say what Cael Sanderson has going there is amazing. Illinois national champion Isaiah Martinez managed just a 3-2 victory over redshirt freshman Vincenzo Joseph. Youngster Nick Suriano is a future star at 125/133. Next year they add Nick Lee to the mix (unless they redshirt him).

 

And that's not even the highlights of the team! The trio of Retherford, Nolf and Nickal make wrestling fun to watch. They are all going for a pin or tech fall every match, sometimes throwing caution to the wind. I believe they said on the broadcast that both Retherford and Nickal are averaging over 5 team points per match -- so average between a tech fall and a pin!

 

And the scary part is... they will likely only get better. None of the 3 mentioned above are seniors. Mark Hall just began competing midseason - he could possibly be another #1 next season.  I'm not sure what is considered the best dual team of all time, but Penn State has a legitimate chance to have 3 or 4 national champions out of 10 weight classes and that is pretty amazing.

Oklahoma State 2005?  5 NCAA champions. 7 total AA.

Penn State 2012? 5 guys in the finals.  

 

Flo just wrote an article on this mock dual:

http://www.flowrestling.org/article/51782-time-machine-dual-meet-2005-oklahoma-st-vs-2012-penn-state#.WKReUm8rJxC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing that stands out to me when watching this team is how loose and creative they are. You can see the wear and tear on a lot of teams, even early on. They all seem to be wrestling with a sense of joy. Nobody is matching this team offensively right now. Most of these guys do not struggle getting to their opponents... at all. Yes they're getting one blue chip after another, but even middling guys like Gulibon seem like they can get to their offense at will. 


Gulibon was getting owned in this match before the 3rd period then this happened

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Ohio State wrestled at such a high level this weekend across the board. Penn State definitely had some guys falter, although if they had Suriano they may have won. The Big10 has some amazing wrestling - what a meat grinder of a tourney!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd say Ohio State is favored in 2 weight classes with Tomasello and Snyder (Snyder is a near-lock).

 

The championship for them may be decided by the next 4 guys -- Martin, Moore, and the 2 Jordan boys.  Depending on their matchups and if they are "on" they could vie for a title, or (in my opinion) be mid-level placers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With a healthy Suriano in the line up and Bo's head out of his rear, I think Penn State takes it (as they would've yesterday had those two things occurred).  I do believe that Bo will be a very different wrestler next weekend but I have no idea if Suriano will be ready.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do believe that Bo will be a very different wrestler next weekend but I have no idea if Suriano will be ready.

As much as he may hate to do it I think Nickal has to wrestle different style than his usual when facing Martin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

6 nati0nal championships in 7 years. Between recruiting and improvement, what Sanderson has going on is pretty amazing. I'm really excited to see how Nick and Joe Lee develop there

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.