SWINfan

Indiana is unique. It's been discussed. The majority opinion is wrestlebacks would be preferred. But thinking it may happen is like banging your head against a wall.

Do you have a schedule for Gorilla Radio this week? Which night you'll preview which SS? Will they be on the YouTube Channel live as well? Think I saw on Twitter you're starting with FW?

Some random thoughts after a quick peek at the brackets... 106 - Isaiah Schaefer has a win over LaRocca but will he do it again? One of those great wrestlers goes home. If Schaefer wins, expect a crazy battle in the semi against Luke Rioux. Rioux won 14-13 this year. Didn't see it, but can't imagine it was boring! 113 - I like Evan Seng's draw to the Final, but a semifinal against Liam Krueger is far from a given. Krueger and Eddie Goss should be a fun ticket round match. Preston Haines will likely be the Champ in a tough Final. 120 - Lane Gilbert is really solid and I expect him to win, but a TR match against Reese Courtney should be fun. The quadrant of Noah Lykins, Vince Kessinger, Seth Syra and Reed Egli makes my head hurt. Lykins has a TF over Kessinger, but Vince has a win by fall over Reese Courtney and Reed Egli. Egli later avenged the loss, but Kessinger can't be overlooked even though he's the lowest ranked in the group. An opener with Syra and Egli is crazy. Expect fireworks from the beginning and whoever gets out of that quadrant will have earned it. 126 - Michael Tharpe finished 4th at SS last year. He opens against Landon Horning, a freshman who's very good and likely toughened up the past few weeks against KT Nelson. My guess is Horning isn't ready for Prime Time, but don't be shocked if I'm wrong. Joey Buttler and KT Nelson should be one helluva semifinal! 132 - TR match Wyatt Krejsa and Coy Hammack should be fun! Neither deserves to go home this early! Odin Fortune and Ayden Amento are solid wrestlers but landed in the wrong quadrants and both will go home early. Would have liked to see them get someone not named Ison/Schoeff in the TR. 138- Gavin Garcia vs. Keegan Williams is an interesting TR match. Garcia is tested, favored and should win. But Williams is a live dog. Will this be his year to break through? Garcia vs. Turner will be tough. Think the winner faces Hayhurst. 145 - It's Hayden Watson and everyone else for 2nd. 152 - Delaney Ruhlman is the prohibitive favorite. Hunter May seems to be healthy and back on track. Can Nick Cicciarelli crash the party? 160 - Deep Deep Deep - J Conway has to be the slight favorite, but would not be surprised to see Landon Boe or Kade Law win it at all. Chris Newman and Luke Kemper are sleepers. Newman is a senior and is poised to make a run. His 11-6 loss to Conway is as close as anyone not named Kade Law has been. 170 - It's the Brody Baumann show. Codei Khawaja is game, but Brody has handled him over the past few years, both in folk and freestyle. I like the potential Caden Brewer - Aiden Farmer TR match. Freshman vs. Senior. 182 - Reid Schroeder and Drake Buchanan made the SS Semifinal last year, but Schroeder Inj Def. Will he get his shot at him this year? I expect Gunnar Henry to get to the Final, but his TR match against Bray Emerine could provide a surprise. 195 - The shock here will be if the top 3 aren't Sollars, Purdy and Willman. Can Willman find a way to knock off Purdy? Can Purdy bounce back after losing the last 2 against Sollars after beating him early? 220 - Critchfield is the favorite, but this weight is deeper than I initially thought. Could see several guys advancing to State. Can anyone knock off Critchfield? 285 - Anything can happen with the big boys. But a semifinal match between James Ralph and Jacob Johnson should be fun. Ralph won 7-4 at the MD Holiday Classic. Can Ashton Hartwell surprise Leighton Jones? I'm guessing no. Jones wins it all.

YOU being the first one to make picks get the honor of being "people". The quintessential internet of taking an example and making it the norm. I'll say this.... I think you're nuts to leave out Gunnar Henry. BUT, only a little nuts, because Bray Emerine is no slouch. So I give you credit for taking that shot. That's the beauty of picks. Some may be a lot crazy, some a little crazy, but if everyone picked chalk it would be boring as hell. I haven't done picks yet, but I'm sure people would think some of mine are nuts. Many people already think I'm nuts!

Had to do some work today and couldn't watch the Dual until about 5:00. It was hell staying off all sites to keep from finding out the results. Even had to tell my dad to shut down the texts real quick. Glad I was able to. Nice win for Nick. Again, workmanlike.

The good thing is he can wrestle 61kg to transition before the next Olympics, should he so choose. He's also getting older so who knows how long he'll continue to pursue Intl. Wrestling. Don't discount he's in his 8th year of "college".

It's my understanding he went 141 this year because he is transitioning to 65kg. Apparently, 57kg was too big of a cut and likely played a big part of why he didn't wrestle well in the Olympics. He may change his mind, of course, or choose to 61kg in non-Olympic years, but that's what I heard when it came out he was going 141.

Great match! Courtney almost had a takedown late in the 3rd, but couldn't quite finish. Center Grove guys announcing thought Courtney should have had a takedown in the 3rd (I disagree) and thought Courtney should have scored on a Peterson in SV before Miller rolled through for the takedown and back points to win (not sure on that one as I don't know how a Peterson is called in that type of situation). They admitted they were biased. Regardless, a tight, fun match to watch. Glad somebody has video!

Reitz' Odin Fortune beat Central's Ayden Amento 11-8 after losing to him the past 2 weeks. All close matches. Ashton Hayhurst with a 7-6 dec over Keegan Williams. Two strong wrestlers that could surprise.

The ticket round next weekend at 106 could/will be crazy!

Anyone at Castle that can tell us what has happened in the Horning - KT Nelson match? Looks like Horning jumped out to a lead, then Nelson came back for a 12-7 win? There was a misconduct penalty on Nelson in the 3rd. Any details?

I just want to know who Puffy is, that your talk to text auto-corrected to that? Ha ha

Are they related to Purdy and Willman?

I believe the score was 13-3. There was a late stalling point too and I think they were slow to add on TV. I thought it was 12-3 initially too. BTN can be slow to update scores from time to time.

Micic looked very outmanned to me. He's struggling to get off bottom and just doesn't look strong enough for the weight. He certainly has work to do and there isn't much left this year. Maybe he'll grow into it and be fine, but I see him struggling at 65kg as well.

A few additional results from Friday Feb 4.... Both Jordan Slivka (Fall) and Carson Brewer (MD) got wins in Ohio U's dual with Kent State. Brayton Lee won 10-4 over Joseph Roberts of Illinois

I didn't look to find out, but my question is does the Esteemed State Ranker go chalk with Regional predictions or does he toss in an upset or two?

It's not listed there under Live/Upcoming yet. I'm hoping there are more that haven't loaded links yet, including Mooresville.

We shall see on Red/Micic soon. The dual started at 149, so they will end with that feature match!

Nick Lee might be the only wrestler I can think of that it makes sense if you call his performances business-like. Maybe workmanlike is a better word to use. Chad Red vs. Stevan Micic will be the final match of the Nebby - UMich dual, on ESPN now

I'm just hoping to get ,video from the Castle Regional. Have yet to see any indication there will be any. And don't forget, sandwiched around the Regionals, there is some great college wrestling. 141 lbs is hot this weekend, with Chad Red scheduled to face Stevan Micic and Michigan on Friday night and Nick Lee and PSU on Sunday. Both are on the Big Ten Network. Purdue and IU are in action on Sunday against Minnesota and Illinois respectively. Both are on BTN+.

Chad Red has a big weekend ahead. While waiting for the match with Lee on Sunday, don't miss his scheduled match on Friday night against Stevan Micic. IN ties all around this weekend! Friday night on BTN: Ohio State @ Penn St. - 6 pm ET Michigan @ Nebraska - 8 pm ET A nice warmup for Regionals on Saturday

Any word on video for Castle Regional? Or any of these 4, for that matter?

Yeah, not sure of the relevance of the salaries of the football and basketball coaches. The only surprises in those #s to me are I figured the wrestling coaches would be making a bit more and it looks like Matt Painter is underpaid. What ya thinkin?

That would make more sense! Guess I got him mixed up with Ty Henderson. I blame it on both FC and VL being at the MD Holiday tournament and both sporting green! That or early onset senility.