SunDevils

For those who didn't see Mendez got a shout out on the McAfee show:

125 - Noto (12) 133 - Vito (6) 141 - Lemley (8) 149 - Gomez (6) 157 - Lee (11) 165 - Carr (4) 174 - Starroci (9) - Wildcard 184 - Plott (3) 197 - Brooks (1) 285 - Kerkvliet (1)

Unreal. And I suspect that 21:03 could be less, had Parris decided he wanted to finish matches sooner. I'd imagine he had a few cuts, just for good measure prior to finally pinning an opponent, but I could be wrong. I do think of dominant as the wrestler imposes their will and is in total control from start to finish, no danger of losing at any point, and they dictate how they are going to win. Parris is a prime example pins. Howe by Tech Fall.

It has to be some form of @FCFIGHTER170, @GenHeavyHandz, or @TeamGarcia. Certainly Mt. Rushmore. For hilarity DogPoundRed or Caliboy.

Andrew Howe (still a legitimate claim to GOAT status, certainly Mt. Rushmore of Indiana) Reece Humphrey Steven Bradley (people forget how dominant he actually was)

I'm not entirely sure if it is weird or epic - likely a blend of both - that he has a chain with his own rib on it. Feels like something straight out of the movie 300. Great read. Love the drive and determination. Hoping he is a 3xer following that read.

IHSAA is cancelling the rest of state tournament per advice of DawgPoundRed and awarding Crown Point a record 14 individual state champions.

@Christopher Bohn vs Hobart Hotdogs! BTW thanks for the reviews. Some of the best content on the site this year. Always an entertaining read.

What people are (rightfully) questioning are the intentions of some athletes, coaches, and possibly even parents. No one would disagree, if a wrestler is genuinely hurt they can call their own injury time. But lets be real, this can be manipulated. It can be a strategy to catch breathe, get yourself out of a compromised position, or etc. Some would call it gamesmanship or strategic. I do think that 90-95% of athletes won't call injury time unless they are genuinely hurt but there are 5-10% who will take advantage of a system, if there are no repercussions (i.e. position choice, loss of team point, etc). This is a situation where a few bad actors can negatively impact the whole.

"He is the hardest worker in the room" or "The most competitive kid I have seen" It is especially cliche when rooms have 3-5 wrestlers that are all the hardest workers and most competitive kid a coach or parent has ever seen. "He is on a mission this year."

Is it getting worse or are wrestlers just becoming increasingly mat savvy? Forget tiger style, manatee style! Athletes calling for (fake) injury time should also be using non-sticky tape on their shoes and have a inhaler in the coaches hand.

As someone who has worked for multiple institutions - Texas A&M, ASU, and SMU - I can confidently tell you that universities do not pay athletes. NIL deals are from businesses or functionally, fake non-profit foundations established by businesses and alumni (Texas A&M and Ohio State Football lead the nation in this practice). Additionally, the average deal outside of football or basketball and attractive athletes in fringe sports (female gymnastics and NCAAW basketball) the deals are minimal at best. Of course, there are a few anomalies in wrestling, but many boosters and businesses aren't throwing millions of dollars at wrestlers, there is not a lot of ROI in wrestling (sadly). That being said maybe IU can get Mark Cuban to sponsor some top tier talent for IU wrestling.

I'm not entirely sure that spirits exists anymore across sports at any level. Sports have in many ways become a means to an end, for athletes (and parents). However, I do hope that spirit is recaptured. It would make the sport far more enjoyable to watch from the fans perspective as well. Mason Parris always wins with a joyous smile on his face, seems like he really loves the sport. A lot of the Penn State wrestlers seem very happy and genuinely love the sport (Mark Hall, Bo Nickal, and so on) probably one factor that propels them to such great heights.

Many of them are anomalies. I liken it to football there is only one Peyton Manning and Tom Brady each of them are 1 of 1, it is foolish for NFL teams to try and replicate it. The likelihood is your team will not have the same path to success since you do not have those same transcendent quarterbacks. Christian Carroll and Nick Lee were head and shoulders above the rest. Wrestling in Indiana their senior year wasn't going to improve their skill level. Without question they were going to find success on the next level. Mason Parris, Andrew Howe, Chad Red, J. Tsirtsis, Escebedo, and Micic are a few others who I am fairly confident could have skipped their senior year and still found success based on their D1 placement history. If Indiana is claiming Gable Stevenson, he too would fit that bill. Bottomline, for a vast majority of athletes, enjoy high school. Chase your state title and go to college not with wrestling, olympics, or MMA as a goal but as a means of receiving a strong education at a subsidized cost (or if you are fortunate free). Then leverage your experience wrestling and the determination, grit, and mental toughness it forms to be a rockstar in the professional world. Not all can be world class winners on the mat, but everyone has the opportunity to be a winner at life.

Legitimate question: is wrestling truly an individual sport? Or is it just coincidence that the top-talent chooses to go to Iowa, Penn State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Michigan, and Cornell to have the best training partners and increase their odds for success. If it were truly an individual sport then in theory if you are "that dude" you can lace em' up anywhere and win the state title or national title - and some guys did (i.e. Mason Parris). It seems obvious, and 100% reasonable, that the top talent wants to be an a place to maximize their potential and being surrounded by the right team and coaches allows for it - iron sharpens iron. Unfortunately, it is negatively impacting smaller schools with less resources. JV wrestlers at Brownsburg, Avon, EMD, Penn, Perry Meridian, Belmont, Center Grove, Crown Point, Portage, Merrillville, Lawrence North, Cathedral, and so on (throughout various points in their schools history the last 25 years) have been able to compete when called upon because of getting beat up in practice by their state ranked partner(s). A benefit small school athletes do not have.

Attendance notwithstanding hard to argue that classed basketball hasn't produced stellar basketball talent from Indiana: the Plumlee's, the Zeller's, the Teague's, Etwaun Moore, Juan Johnson, Gordon Heyward, Eric Gordon, Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr, George Hill, Courtney Lee, Desmond Bane, Trey Lyles, Gary Harris, Yogi, and so on. All of which made it to major college basketball or the NBA at some point. The success of Indiana High School wrestling has not mirrored that of high school basketball. There are multiple reasons for that - not the least of which is the physicality and mental toughness required to compete in wrestling versus basketball. Additionally, culture, Indiana is a basketball state. From the movie Hoosiers, to the demi-god status of Bob Knight, and successful D1 programs in Purdue, IU, Notre Dame, and Butler.

Maybe the coach was thinking long-term (potential) semi-state match up. If you think it is going to be close, or a 50-50, why let one person get the mental edge over the other going into semi-state. 100% just speculating.

Very large gap between CP and BB in your prediction, especially given the fact BB has outperformed them at Ironman and won the stacked Carnahan. Two top tier quality teams with fantastic coaching going at it. My suspicion it will be within 3-5 point victory for either team.

99.9% certain power poll is strictly based on individual rankings. Not votes or other criteria. For example, an individual ranked #1 counts for (hypothetically) 16 points in the poll. A coaches poll could have different results.

ChatGPT responds to the prompts. Different prompts solicit different answers. I prompted "what are the 10 best high school wrestling programs in Indiana historically?" and generated (still some glaring omissions, but Belmont was not one of them): Determining the "10 best" high school wrestling programs in Indiana historically can be subjective and may change over time as new teams rise to prominence. However, here are 10 high school wrestling programs in Indiana that have had a strong historical presence and have achieved significant success: 1. Perry Meridian High School - Perry Township 2. Crown Point High School - Crown Point 3. Warren Central High School - Indianapolis 4. Portage High School - Portage 5. Evansville Mater Dei High School - Evansville 6. Penn High School - Mishawaka 7. Brownsburg High School - Brownsburg 8. Avon High School - Avon 9. Indianapolis Cathedral High School - Indianapolis 10. Bellmont High School - Decatur These schools have consistently performed well in wrestling competitions and have produced numerous state champions and nationally recognized wrestlers. Keep in mind that the rankings and success of these programs can change from year to year, so it's essential to research current performance and achievements when assessing the best high school wrestling programs in Indiana. When prompted - "what are the 10 best Indiana high school wrestling programs from 2016-2021?" this is the response received (fairly accurate): Ranking high school wrestling programs over a specific period, such as 2016-2021, can be challenging as team performance can vary from year to year. However, during this time frame, several Indiana high school wrestling programs consistently excelled. Here are 10 of the best wrestling programs in Indiana from 2016 to 2021, based on their performance and achievements: 1. Crown Point High School - Crown Point 2. Perry Meridian High School - Perry Township 3. Brownsburg High School - Brownsburg 4. Avon High School - Avon 5. Warren Central High School - Indianapolis 6. Evansville Mater Dei High School - Evansville 7. Indianapolis Cathedral High School - Indianapolis 8. Penn High School - Mishawaka 9. Portage High School - Portage 10. Roncalli High School - Indianapolis These schools consistently had strong wrestling teams, produced state champions and top-performing wrestlers, and often competed at a high level in state and national competitions during the 2016-2021 timeframe. Please note that specific rankings may vary from one source to another, so it's essential to consider multiple factors when evaluating the best programs during this period. It might be closer to taking over than we think...

I was confused as well. I am assuming the placers list qualifies as hall of fame? As opposed to simply a list of previous placers. But this does bring up a question... should Joe start an Indianamat Wrestling HOF? Enshrine top posters and content contributors.

The metric I provided doesn't account for weight. Nor is my previous statement less true, even if that is the context. The metric I provided simply took a weighted average of high school state placement and NCAA placement. However, it is theoretically possible to add a weighted factor that accounts for state championships and NCAA placement in multiple vs single weight classes.

This is precisely why I weighted only similar styles. Since it is entirely likely he is the best "freestyle" wrestler of all time. And folkstyle top 6 of all time. Numbers suggest Andrew Howe is the best folkstyle of all time. However, I do understand all the IF arguments. For example, Mason Parris beat 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Amir Zare at the 2019 Jr Worlds. How would we factor that in as an effective measure? I don't think you can objectively. We can't just assume that had Gable not been the U.S. representative in 2020 that Mason would have earned Gold or Silver. Though history shows he is quite capable of that feat. Mason might end up like Andrew Howe stuck behind a PFP all-time legend.

Great catch - it was strictly an oversight. I have updated it accordingly. Did Stevan happen to qualify all 4 years at NCAA's? It looks like he was strictly a 3 time placer at NCAA's and lost a year of qualifying due to transferring out of Northwestern.

Best ever - focused strictly on high school and college accolades since the styles are the same: Wrestler/Avg High School Placement/ Avg College Placement/Combined Total Andrew Howe, 1.25, 2, 3.25 Nick Lee, 2, 3, 4 Angel Escebedo, 1, 3.25, 4.25 Jason Tsirtsis, 1, 5*, 6 Mason Parris, 1.5, 4.25*, 5.75 Reece Humphrey, 4*, 5.75*, 9.75 Chad Red, 1, 7.5*, 8.5 Stevan Micic , 2, 4.5*, 6.5 *years they were strictly a qualifier for NCAA's or state it is assumed a place of 9th. Like golf the lower the number the better. Simply following this logic: 1) Andrew Howe; 2) Nick Lee; 3) Angel Escebedo; 4) Mason Parris; and 5) Jason Tsirtsis.