maligned

They're very rigid with their seeding formula because it's very intuitive in slotting guys correctly--IF the top guys have all wrestled a lot of matches and seen other top guys. But it rigidly considers MFFs at conference tournaments the same as regular losses, and it blindly ignores previous years' results or non-NCAA matches like the All-Star classic. So if Carr or Arujau haven't seen this year's top guys and theyve lost twice, they get put behind the undefeated or one-loss guys.

Brackets for nationals came out tonight: Indiana natives: C. Rooks, #32 Lemley, #8 Mendez, #1 G. Rooks, #17 Lee, #11 Baumann, #32 Bates, #33 Allred, #10 Davison, #10 Willham, #32 Others from Purdue: Ramos #4 Clark #29 Blaze #23 Buell #24 Others from IU: Fongaro #23 Lillard #17

Tentative rotation: 2024 Maryland2025 Northwestern 2026 Penn St. (brought back in after only 5 years bc of no-fan covid edition in 2021)2027 Purdue2028 Illinois2029 Wisconsin2030 Ohio State2031 Iowa2032 Indiana2033 Michigan State2034 Minnesota2035 Rutgers2036 Nebraska2037 Michigan

It's official. Northwestern in 2025; Penn St. in 2026 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pennlive.com/penn-state-wrestling/2024/03/penn-state-wrestler-carter-starocci-earns-at-large-bid-to-ncaas-nittany-lions-to-host-big-tens-in-2026.html%3foutputType=amp

As someone said on another thread, Bates gets in and Washington, Boarman, Sollars miss out.

You mean which wrestlers? Or who's going to watch?

I wonder I he would have been better off going all MFFs at Big 10s. He'd have had a 25 ranking and he could have communicated to selection committee that he'll be recovered finally for nationals after 3.5 weeks off. Now, he's put 2 more performances out there way below his level and given them clear reasoning to leave him out of the tournament if they want since they know he's hurt.

I just mentioned him because recent RTC info still lists him as a resident athlete (and the other guys mentioned are in fact still competing). You're right, though...not sure he's actually been at it.

100% agree. Starting with him winning one of his losses, there are actually about 12 scenarios around the country that would have gotten Boarman in if he indeed misses out.

Ha, no. I just knew Boarman is 7th in line with 6 spots available, and I noticed Cayden would have faced Teske/Van Dee with normal seeding of Teske--but I wanted to spell it out if people didn't know how the system worked.

Sadly, Blake Boarman, Chattanooga (Evansville Mater Dei) 133, got put to his back and pinned when he was leading 8-0 in a match that he needed to secure a spot at NCAA nationals this weekend. Double sadly, even though he was in a good spot in the Coaches' ranking and RPI to get an at-large bid if he lost, the 133 results went haywire across the country. A full 8 of the 27 guys at that weight who earned automatic allocations for their conferences did not earn the automatic bids. There are only 6 at-large bids to be handed out, and, as it turns out, among those 8 unlucky losers, Blake is ranked 7th. He would be the final guy not to get into the tournament at 133 if the committee decides to stick to its pre-tournament assessments. Several of the other "losers" were ranked near him, and I'm not sure what's happening with the injury situation of Wells from Minnesota, so not all is lost. But it's not looking great. So here's a twist: In the Big Ten, Bouzakis of Ohio St. and Wells of Minnesota didn't earn their allocations and stand in front of Boarman in the line for that last NCAAs bid. One of the things that happened there was a seeding glitch: Brody Teske of Iowa didn't get a seed (well..automatically fell to 14th) because he won the Iowa wrestle-off too late for his information to be submitted for a seed. He takes out 3-seed Bouzakis, who falls into the wrestle backs and loses to 4-seed Van Dee. If Teske had been seeded, he would have been the #6, and he would have had a first round match with Cayden Rooks, who would have dropped a line from his given #10 to #11. Even if Cayden had wrestled lights out, he would have arguably lost that match to the hot Teske. Making a long story short...Bouzakis would have likely gotten 4th to 6th, even with how he wrestled this weekend; Teske would have placed about the same as he did; and Rooks would have had to face Van Dee of Nebraska in the Consi 2nd Round. Assuming he'd lost that match as he did this weekend (11-6), Bouzakis would have gotten the automatic bid and Rooks wouldn't have. ....And Blake Boarman would be sitting in the final NCAAs bid position instead of one spot out. Obviously, Cayden Rooks earned his spot, and Indiana wrestling fans who know his story--among whom I am one--are ecstatic. And obviously Blake Boarman put himself where he is by not finishing the job on Saturday. But what a twist of fate that one Indiana native who just lost 9-8 to another Indiana native just a couple weeks ago might have subbed in to his NCAAs spot in his last-gasp year--in part because of a seeding rule technicality!

I agree with your thought that it's a big deal for IU to get this many too. Nothing would be better for recruiting and drawing attention to the RTC than if Lee and Rooks are All-Americans and Red, Moran, Lacey, and others keep banging on the freestyle circuit.

Yeah, IU and Ohio St. are the two that stand out as being much better duals teams than tournament teams. OSU were 2nd in the duals standings and are going to end up with all 10 at nationals, but finished 5th. IU ends up 12th, but were tied for 7th in the duals standings and will end up as high as tied for 6th in number of qualifiers once things shake out.

With the Willham correction, those match what I had on the other thread. Boarman out of the SoCon, Washington, Sollars, and Bates are all going to be in the at-large discussion too.

If we want to dig even deeper into this point: I think our whole culture teaches us that being happy is the meaning of life. Which is all well and good. But the way happiness is defined nowadays has evolved into this: "obsessively chase what you think should be yours so you can be happy for you." That's a counterfeit happiness--it's a rigid individualism and potentially narcissism. True happiness doesn't happen on an island. It happens in relationships and in respect of community. Relationships involve self-sacrifice--the opposite of "get mine for me." As a parent, I'm trying to learn better how to teach "chase your dreams" in a way that also involves celebrating others' successes. It's tough to do!!

He's so physical. I did not expect that he'd become such a physically dominating 141. It feels like the sky's the limit for him.

Nick Willham follows suit with a takedown in sudden victory over the 5-seed veteran Nevills of Maryland! He heads to nationals too!

Cayden Rooks with a huge 5-1 rivalry win over Norris of Purdue to get his NCAAs spot.

Conference tournament results for our 18 Indiana natives as of 2:45pm ET on Sunday: Alive for an at-large berth, but eliminated from an automatic bid: Boarman, 1-2 (As the 3-seed needing top 3, loses a 5-4 semi's heartbreaker to the #2 in the last minute...then was up 8-0 in the consi semi's and gets put to his back and pinned with 3 seconds left in the 2nd period. Both were guys he beat in the duals. He earned one of the 3 allocation slots for the SoCon, so he'll have a shot to get an at-large; but he'll be sweating it out for sure with a 1-2 SoCon performance. Sadly, he's one of 7 allocation guys that have lost so far at 133 nationally, and there are only 6 at-large bids. ) Washington, 0-2 (As the 8-seed, falls 10-5 to the 9-seed and 8-0 to the 7-seed. He came in #24 in the Coaches' Rank, but he's struggled so much recently and forfeited out of the 9th place round. It could be dicey for him on selection day.) Sollars, 0-2 (As the 10-seed, falls 6-2 and 8-3 to the 7- and 8-seeds. He comes in #33 in the Coaches' rank and #31 in the RPI. The good news is that there's been a lot of chalk at 197 nationally, so he will be in the at-large discussion. But he's at the tail-end of that discussion, so he too will be sweating on selection day.) Bates, 8th place (As the 8-seed, goes 2-3 to pick up 8th. He's 32 in the Coaches' Rank and 26 in the RPI, and he finished where he was expected in Big 10s, so he's squarely in the middle of the at-large discussion. He'll be hoping for chalk results in the last couple conference tournaments so he stays in a good position.) Eliminated from NCAAs entirely: Wilson, 1-2 Porter, 1-2 Watson, SoCon 4th Filipovich, 0-2 Barket 0-1, needed Top 2 Advanced to NCAAs: Lee, going for 5th Lemley, going for 3rd Mendez, going for 1st Allred, going for 3rd Davison, going for 3rd Baumann, 8th place G. Rooks, 7th place C. Rooks, 7th place Willham, 7th place

Not saying that's wrong, but I don't understand why they're wrestling for 9th place when there are only 8 slots. I'm not sure what the protocols for injury backfill at nationals are, though, so it could be for that. (I'd thought injury backfills were determined nationally, not through the conferences; but I must be wrong.)

They put up a 9th place bracket at 174 now on Track. I think that could only be for the purpose of determining True 8th, since there are only 8 slots. DJ Washington really needs to win a couple matches. It's not looking good for him.

He does get some luck there, but I'm not sure if they'll wrestle back to 9th and do a True 8th match at that weight. Otherwise, he goes loss-bye-forfeit...NCAA bid. Does anyone know if they wrestle back to 9th and do a True 8th at weights that have 8 allocations?

Conference tournament status for our 18 Indiana natives as of 3:45pm ET: Alive for an automatic berth: Bates 1-1 Baumann 0-1 C. Rooks 0-1 G. Rooks 1-1 Sollars 0-1 Washington 0-1 Willham 1-1 Barket (tomorrow) Alive for an at-large berth, but eliminated from an automatic bid: Boarman 1-2 (As the 3-seed needing top 3, loses a 5-4 semi's heartbreaker to the #2 in the last minute...then was up 8-0 in the consi semi's and gets put to his back and pinned with 3 seconds left in the 2nd period. Both were guys he beat in the duals. He earned one of the 3 allocation slots for the SoCon, so he'll have a shot to get an at-large; but he'll be sweating it out for sure with a 1-2 SoCon performance. Sadly, several other 133s that earned allocations have also fallen, meaning the at-large competition will be stiff. ) Eliminated from NCAAs entirely: Wilson 1-2 Porter 1-2 Watson 2-1, wrestling for SoCon 3rd Filipovich 0-2 Advanced to NCAAs: Lee 2-0 Lemley 2-0 Mendez 1-0 Allred 2-0 Davison 2-0

I'm keeping tabs on results and NCAA advancement status in the "Who Gets In?" article thread...please help me add results! They're coming hot and heavy

Conference tournament status for our 18 Indiana natives as of 1:50pm ET: Alive for an automatic berth: Boarman 1-1 Allred 1-0 Bates 1-0 Baumann 0-1 Davison 1-0 Filipovich 0-1 C. Rooks 0-1 G. Rooks 1-1 Sollars 0-1 Washington 0-1 Willham 1-0 Barket (tomorrow) Alive for an at-large berth, but eliminated from an automatic bid: Eliminated from NCAAs entirely: Wilson 0-1 Porter 0-1 Watson 0-1 Advanced to NCAAs: Lee 2-0 Lemley 2-0 Mendez 1-0