wrestlenewbie

I've got Lee at 145, the rest are pick em's.

Flo's Tier 1 has only Demas and Lee. Tier 2 (no order), Kaden Gfeller, Mitch McKee, Kyle Schoop, Chad Red, Tarique Wilson, Kanen Storr. Tier 3 Grant Leeth (6th year junior? dropping down in weight?), Real Woods (only true "new" talent in weight), Yahya Thomas, Tristan Moran, Max Murin, Sam Turner, Michael Carr. The debate centered around: Hard to see much difference between tier 2 and tier 3 in many cases. Red and Gfeller perhaps should be tier 1, but Red's regular season and Gfeller's NCAA held them back. Storr was borderline 2, perhaps should be 3. More emphasis placed on post season than regular season results. If DeSanto goes up in weight he would be Tier 1.

Flo talked about their 141 tiers this week (though they have not yet posted the article at least that I can find) and they have Nick Lee as their pre-season number 2 behind Dom Demas. Demas won their h2h in the consolation semis (I believe) 13-9 at the NCAAs last year. Diakomihalis, and Eierman are taking Olympic redshirts and McKenna graduated, so that makes sense too.

Makes sense. He has beaten everyone in the conference who has not graduated. Highest returning NCAA placer from the conference too.

I like your picks with one exception. I'm going Bo in the surprise over Cox. (And I want to pick Retherford, but holy crap Yianni). My only other concern is Taylor's injury. I don't think anyone really knows how that will factor in (other than Taylor himself) right now.

Wow, wow, wow. Scoring on his offense, scoring on his defense and taking out the world number 1 is so impressive. He looks better in freestyle than he looked at the NCAA tourney. And he looked darn good at the NCAA tourney.

I was of the same opinion. I thought Retherford would be too much for Diakomahalis, but boy was I wrong. None of his wins were flukes. He showed he is the real deal. I was very impressed with him at NCAAs, but this just takes him to an even higher level in my mind.

Flowrestling says, why so quiet on this class debate? They posted an article on Pro today analyzing the class set ups for each state. They draw no conclusions on what the "right" number of classes are for each state, but they took the time to do some math. Making no claims about the quality of those participants, they list the easiest and the hardest states in which to win a wrestling state championship. Participation / (number of classes x 14) = average number of participants per weight class. Hardest: California - 1710 participants per weight class (1 class) New Jersey - 648 (2) New England region - 622 (1, I guess) Indiana - 511 (1) New York - 411 (they don't say, I assume 1) Texas - 405 (2) Pennsylvania - 349 (2) Easiest: Vermont - 12 (1) DC - 15 (1) New Hampshire - 15 (3) Arkansas - 20 (3) Maine - 25 (2) Wyoming - 27 (3) North Dakota - 32 (2) Montana - 33 (3) New Mexico - 36 (3) Louisiana - 41 (3) Connecticut - 44 (4) South Dakota - 48 (2) I made the easiest list a bit longer because they include both the individual states in New England and New England as a region (since their state championships also roll up into a regional championship). Expanding to 2 classes would move Indiana to 255.5 per weight and drop you from 4 to 9 (behind Ohio at 265 per weight). Expanding to 3 classes would move Indiana to 170.3 per weight and drop you from 4 to 11 (behind Minnesota at 194 per weight). So, at least you are no California. Or, if you are envious of California, you need to consolidate to 4 weight classes to out tough them.

Triple amen. I mentioned heavy lifting in a previous post and you pooh poohed the notion, but we know better. Thanks again for the effort.

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.

You are exactly wrong. It is because of his seed that the best he can do is seventh again. By being seeded 16 he runs into the 1 almost immediately and it is off to the consols. If he finishes 7th he will suffer the irony of having a better record than whoever takes 6th purely because of his seed. Seeds absolutely matter. That's why they exist.

My thoughts almost exactly. The only difference is I am removing doubt. Lee with the win. You heard it here first. McKenna has wrestled well, but Nick has wrestled as well as I have ever seen. Yet to concede a take down. And only one escape point per match. He is flying high and yet somehow below the radar. Shane Sparks missed him when he was listing Penn State's semifinalists.

My pleasure. He used that move in a match near the end of the year (I forget who it was against) for a pin (I think), but that time he went over the side. This time he tried going over the head.

Illegal head lock. He tried to do a flip over the top with the head locked. Desperation move at the end to try and pull it out.

Scooped by SWINfan in the Day 1 thread. And he even made the adjustment for Gunning's withdrawal.