TakeTheShot

My guess is…both.

I have never seen that done before and I can think of many times it would have been the “right” thing to do. My hat’s off to Coach Snyder. Hopefully Haines is not badly injured.

This tournament is notorious for last second, weigh-in shenanigans. Doesn’t matter if there are qualifiers, day before, day-of (mat side, shoes on/off), no weight changes day of— there has always been someone getting in when they didn’t deserve to. Never the kid just getting into wrestling and didn’t understand the rules either. Almost always someone who knows someone and usually a champ. More hoops to jump through means more room for shenanigans.

Odd year to have this argument. They just placed 4th amongst the largest schools. Why go down in class and compete with the smaller teams with what would logically have less depth? Heck, why 3A? I think by enrollment they would be a 1 or 2A school. That doesn’t sound like fun for anyone.

The 5 starters who didn’t make weight may have contributed to coach’s decision. Plenty of “slamming” to go around.

Just my 2 cents, but with teams begging to get into this tourney, why would anyone let Warren Central return. Save even more time next year and don’t even come. 15 min drive and show up an hour late and leave 2+ hours early. Stay home.

Another great quote. And in no way what happened. Do you watch tv and movies with the sound off and make up their conversations in your head, too?

I’m terms of the EMD/CG HWT match you are definitely ttrying to stir the pot, weren’t watching very closely, and can’t read lips. it was a heavyweight match and MD did ff but the rest of your details are incorrect, unless “warmed up and ready” means sitting on bench in his full warmup pants and team shirt and headgear on the ground.

Not that Orlando hasn't been a very good wrestler throughout his high school career, but I was even more impressed by his wrestling this season. He has (or at least used) more offense than in years past. His success, in terms of his win-loss record, takedown record, speaks to the same. He was fun to watch at State. Not always does a wrestler continue to make big gains later in high school, but he seems to have done it. Best part, he isn't done. I hope the takedowns continue to add up at Purdue.

MD's strength has always been its depth, especially during those early 2000s teams. In any dual they could expose another team's weakness but "pulling a kid off the bench." and beat a state placer so one of their state finalists could bump up a weight (or 2) and beat another team's state champ. So many top 8 (or better) guys have gone through MD and never actually placed at state or only did it once, when they could have multiple times due to the quality of the guys wrestling ahead of them. That's why I don't really think you should consider a team by the guys who "should have": been there. Those guys need to make the weight, keep the grades, not do things they shouldn't be doing. Next man up, that's part of the difference between team and individual champs.

Not really an either/or thing. All one weight class at a time doesn’t have to have empty mats. Keeping mats busy doesn’t have to allow 1 mat to fall behind. Most tourneys run first available anymore. Gives Whitehead a better chance to announce wrestlers, too. Doesn’t have to race through 8 names all at once. Just one guy’s opinion, I guess. Bringing it up since the crowd looks a little thin and seems more quiet this year. Forcing schools to scatter their crowds around the stadium probably doesn’t help that either.

Empty mats lead to less fans in the seats in my opinion. Ghost town by the time heavies go.

I have been to the state finals every year since early 2000s and I don’t recall ever waiting for each weight class to finish for the next to start. Rarely is the last match the one that has everyone’s interest. I find it to be a momentum killer. Obviously, placement matches are different and we should wait for those Don’t get me started on the Friday afternoon 1.5 hour break between “sessions.” If they aren’t really sessions, where you can leave and return, don’t schedule it as such. So far, been a lot of great matches though and the waits have been worth it, just not necessary.

I'm sure the Ford Center will do a better job next year. Hopefully, people like it so much we don't have to worry about Gainbridge again.

Have a sense of humor. The fact that everyone knows what he is talking about means there is a little truth to it. No matter where he goes, he is a great wrestler and a great pick up for any program.