Powerline

Great match - aggressive, just got after it, didn't get rattled if he made a mistake. Love the short dump & leg turk. 

Great match - aggressive, just got after it, didn't get rattled if he made a mistake. Love the short dump & leg turk. 

Hobart with the upset by 2 team points. 

Prediction - we won't have Bobby Cox come out of the stands and change the rules on the spot for a wrestler who was not ready to wrestle...

Thanks for keeping up on Mason!  He weighed in at 253 lbs.  the other night against Iowa.  Last 3 or 4 weigh-ins been at 255.  Love following and seeing all the Indiana boys doing great in College.  I'm Masons dad, Mark.
 

Add Cooper Noehre to Purdue's class of 2020!

Your first step, and I mean this sincerely, is to attend the Scholastic Leadership Academy as part of the IHSWCA Fall Clinic. Coach Pete Jacobsen will cover a range of topics designed to help build your program, deal with parents and make wrestling special in your school. Pete turned around a program and made it into a power in New York. You will come away from this event as a better coach.

Definitely thought it was Zain's move. Yianni just wrapped the chest and went with it. The camera from the other side of the mat illustrates the sequence much clearer, IMO. Ultimately, the correct call was made. Sucks it's all become such a mess. No way in the world would I take on reffing a high level FS bout.

Agreed. Big Tens will be crazy again at 133 and 141 next year. Gross may land at 141, I think he cut a lot at 133. He will be interesting at either weight. Top 5 guys in both weights are 2 TDs better in neutral but his top game is on another level with only Spencer Lee being close. Gross has surely benefited from the 4 point nf as much as anyone, and I don't anticipate that will change much after the year off.

And Drew Hughes MSU and former Indiana state champ was in the weight class too.. What a tournament for Walker.
 
Mendez wins the finals!

Got it done - 141 was imo tougher than 133

Yes it is. I remember the last year of the Hinkel regime, they were on some great national recruits ready to jump on board including the Valencia's (Purdue connections with their coach), Stroker out of Iowa, and a couple of others that bailed after the Purdue assistant Athletic Director blew it all up over ego.
Still remember just a few short months before he axed Hinkel, Purdue had gained momentum in state, reestablishing a nationally recognized recruiting trail, and had hosted the 100 year celebration for the program, with a huge opportunity to build on the alumni base that had helped the team fund the new wrestling room, and was ready to do more. Then the same assistant AD got up in front of hundred's of faithful alum, grabs microphone sounding like he was Kevin Hart, and proclaimed loudly in a packed room that "Hinkel's my guy...."...good grief what a load of poopy diapers. Unfortunately, that part of alumni support has never recovered - beyond the direct Alumni, you had 15+ years of former wrestlers making their way to successful high school coaching positions and trees in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, CA, PA, etc. that were starting to pay dividends on raising the awareness of the program...  
Just prior to that, it took a while for Purdue to become the last team in the Big Ten to add a 2nd paid assistant, and even then, the Head Coach had little discretion in choosing the assistants they wanted to hire. Can't think of any other program that has that operational hierarchy.  Can you see a Jay Robinson acquiescing to such nonsense?
 

Yes it is. I remember the last year of the Hinkel regime, they were on some great national recruits ready to jump on board including the Valencia's (Purdue connections with their coach), Stroker out of Iowa, and a couple of others that bailed after the Purdue assistant Athletic Director blew it all up over ego.
Still remember just a few short months before he axed Hinkel, Purdue had gained momentum in state, reestablishing a nationally recognized recruiting trail, and had hosted the 100 year celebration for the program, with a huge opportunity to build on the alumni base that had helped the team fund the new wrestling room, and was ready to do more. Then the same assistant AD got up in front of hundred's of faithful alum, grabs microphone sounding like he was Kevin Hart, and proclaimed loudly in a packed room that "Hinkel's my guy...."...good grief what a load of poopy diapers. Unfortunately, that part of alumni support has never recovered - beyond the direct Alumni, you had 15+ years of former wrestlers making their way to successful high school coaching positions and trees in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, CA, PA, etc. that were starting to pay dividends on raising the awareness of the program...  
Just prior to that, it took a while for Purdue to become the last team in the Big Ten to add a 2nd paid assistant, and even then, the Head Coach had little discretion in choosing the assistants they wanted to hire. Can't think of any other program that has that operational hierarchy.  Can you see a Jay Robinson acquiescing to such nonsense?
 

That’s something I just can’t wrap my head around. Purdue is consistently a better team than IU, but how can they not field at least one good enough wrestler to be an AA? I’m asking for one a decade at this point. It’s getting ridiculous 

I get what you are saying, but losing to #1 Yianni in the second round did not keep Red from wrestling beyond 7th.  If he beat McKee last night, he would have been wrestling this morning and still have a chance for as high as 3rd.

It absolutely mattered. He dropped into consols quickly which caused him to have to wrestle more matches. You are arguing that the seed was wrong, but you think you are arguing that it doesn't  matter. The higher your seed, the easier your path. The lower, the harder. For someone involved in wrestling I am surprised you struggle with this concept. When you take your wrestlers to a tourney do you argue for a higher seed or a lower seed? Come on. Be honest.

Calm down, LL.
I’d say 99% of us on this board want to see Red do well. Just like 99% of us want to see Lee do well. 
 
 
 
 

Streck finishing top 4 in the Big Ten this year seems a bit of a stretch to me.
 
Getting six in is a bit empty in my opinion when none are seeded in the Top 10 and three of the six are seeded in the bottom half of their bracket.  They'll need some serious upsets just to have anyone still alive on Day 2.

Definetly hurts losing Streck, he’s probably top 4 in the Big Ten this year. I really like Ersland for what he has done on the recruiting trail, but these good recruits aren’t getting any better. Parriot has been a huge disappointment so far, Brunner hasn’t really changed in 3 years, and guys like Schroeder, Limmex, and Lyon are just ok. Lydy has been awesome. After watching him in high school and his freshman year, I thought he’d end up being a lineup placeholder, not a potential AA. If this was a more wrestling focused school, I’d say Ersland could be on the hot seat, but as long as they send the majority of the lineup to nationals and stay a ranked duel team, he’ll be staying.  

I have no opinion on the job the Purdue coach is doing, but from a pure math/logic standpoint I am not enamored with your analysis. Wrestling to seed just means the seeding committee accurately assessed their ability, not that they had a good performance. The contra argument would be that their seeds were too low and the coach has the ability to impact that. With 7 of 10 wrestlers in the bottom half of the bracket wrestling to seed seems a minimum standard.
Using a plus/minus analysis it looks like they actually wrestled to one spot below their overall seed.
125: +1
133: 0
141: 0
149: 0
157: 0
165: 0
174: -2
184: +1
195: -2
285: +1
Total: -1

Is Purdue headed in the right direction after year 5 for Ersland?  Where do you grade them?
IMO 2019-2020 is a hot seat year. Some are not exactly seeing the improvement promised by  assistant AD Calvin Williams preemptively pushed for the change at the end of 2014. An AA is needed or next year will be a hot seat season; Lyde could be a job saver. 
It has helped to have Indiana, Maryland, and Michigan State to push around, and Illinois is imploding, but 2 of the 4 programs have made changes, and Illinois will soon.  
I think the Tyrell Todd is good assistant coach, and by all reports they needed to get rid of Tanelli, but like many, I am hopeful Schopp will be a better long term upgrade, but results matter...
PURDUE SEASON Purdue Place     Big Tens Teams Team Points 2018 2019 10 14 42 2017 2018 9 14 59.5 2016 2017 12 14 26 2015 2016 10 14 34 2014 2015 10 14 37.5
2013 2014 11 12 34.5 2012 2013 9 12 38 2011 2012 9 12 51.5 2010 2011 9 12 51

Check out the finals match at the 1:52 mark, great match with a crazy ending.
https://www.ncaa.com/video/wrestling/2019-03-09/diii-wrestling-championship-full-replay

Not even close, Ditka all the way! Before the heart-attack, a 'one-hundred to tree', after the attack, major decision, 'fifteen to tree', these guys couldn't escape Ditka's mustache, end of story. 

Lee is tough, technical, and tenacious, would be a great match.  In my opinion, at that age, he seemed a little stiff when comparing him to his junior year, and that is normal. But it is clear Lee worked his ass off in the Penn State RTC room his senior year off from competition. 
But in Mendez, I saw a little brawler developing since the beginning of the year.  Beating guys and tech falls is unbelievable accomplishment, but it seemed by state he was mauling dudes. He seemed not afraid to be in bad position or if guys tried to score on him, short memory, good head & hand defense. There is a difference in going out knowing you might get beat, teched, or pinned, but knowing you just might get mauled on top of that is another thing.  
Watts put up a good fight in the semis, tough kid, but you could tell even he knew that Mendez was a different kid then he wrestled at Al Smith. That being said, there are not guarantees in the future; as he get's bigger, the kids in those middle weights become more athletic. Will be fun to watch.  
 

Not even close, Ditka all the way! Before the heart-attack, a 'one-hundred to tree', after the attack, major decision, 'fifteen to tree', these guys couldn't escape Ditka's mustache, end of story.