The Guru

I disagree. Fighting off the bottom is one of the hardest things to do during a match and the psychological toll of being held down against your will is huge. A 1:59 spent beating on a guy, tiring him out and breaking his will is not wasted time.

Based on what? What makes you think we need smoke pots and laser shows to "stay alive?"

Dake wasn't running around like a d*ck doing backflips with time left on the clock either.

to get rid of Goldman at IU and land a guy like Michael Lightner, Mark Branch, Doug Schwabb etc?

Some trends that I see: **The position game continues to be a huge factor. Avoiding poor extended positions, and a lot of bailing on attacks if no clear finish/angle is immediately there. The head/hands defense game is so good these days the process of SHOT>BAIL>SHOT is beginning to replace traditional setup action in terms of creating scoring opportunities (along with the front head release stuff and go-behinds I like so much - see below). **The single leg is still king, and finishing low on the mat has overwhelmingly become the high percentage norm. If you're not practicing this every day, working through these positions, the sport has passed you by. **Front head defense and positioning has passed up high percentage short offense. I see the position successfully defended more often these days, even against the best guys in the country. If you know me at all, you know I'm particularly interested in the little battles of angling and squaring, creating action and chain-wrestling from this position. Although the emphasis has shifted, front head continues to be an extremely important position and my mantra of 'if you wrestle well here, it's a difference maker' holds true. **The Burroughs/Howe scenario has filtered down and affected the lower weights. The faster guys, when faced with a brute hand-fighter are working more and more from a tripod stance, and in some cases, even all fours. Why? To control the tempo? Maybe in some cases, but more than that, to dictate how contact takes place and to control the setup action. If you keep the heavy-handed guy off your head, you take away his ability to wrestle in that push/pull style. If he get's frustrated, he'll come out of position and get wild/sloppy (see Ramos v Steiber). Guys are looking to 1. get tough hand-fighters to follow them around the mat and 2. get both of those heavy hands up at the same time. Some guys are looking single (Delgado/Waters/Perry) some are looking for that Burroughs timing double (Steiber/Garrett). A really good example of this strategy and positioning is in the Delgado/McDonough match from BIG10's. Delgado got him to follow him, he had the timing down on McD and every time he got both his hands up, he was in on him (sequence to look for on video: Follow>Left club>right club>SHOT). The change from that tourney to this one... McD was still following guys but was more in control, dropping his lead hand down when there was distance (Brands 101 - Think Metcalf) and rarely getting both hands up high in the tie at the same time. Things didn't go his way but it was obvious they had worked on it since B10's. A good example of a heavy handed guy who did not allow this strategy to get him frustrated and out of position was Matt Brown from PSU. He followed Perry around, but with his HANDS DOWN at distance and his only few scoring opportunities came when Perry hung in the ties long enough for Brown to get his push/pull going. **Technique and strategy near the edge, in ALL positions, continues to be a big part of being successful. Again, if you're not talking about scenarios and strategy on the edge, you're behind. **I would like to point out (here it comes lol ) that I continue to be proven correct about the ancient concept of HAND CONTROL!!!! Hand control from the bottom position is not even remotely as important as A LOT of coaches seem to think. Weight shifting off the whistle, keeping a low center of gravity and then working a methodical tripod stand-up continues to gain in popularity and slowly replace the era of explosive first moves. If you see your kids fighting for hand control on their belly, or on their knees with their head on the mat for a post, you're stuck in a 1980's time warp and you gotta break out. Keep in mind these trends are not fads. Wrestling is as much chess as it is street fight and these trends simply follow the percentages. Keep your hands away from your belt at all costs to avoid tying up your wrists and just... get... up. From a percentage standpoint, you're WAAAY more likely (<<< scientific term) to be able to get to your feet using your hands and then to be released to avoid the stall call or the tiresome process of taking you back down. For even more proof of this trend.... **Guys going to the ankles on top! This more recent trend is a direct result of the greater and greater emphasis on just getting to your feet. Some people may think it's the opposite in that guys are dropping tight-waist ankle more, and that has led to more slow tripod standup action. But you'd be wrong. If you don't believe me, carve out a Sunday for Youtube research and you'll see that I'm right. **Top: running all your weight out on the head and looking to bump guys to elbows and work a near wrist offense is giving way to the riskier process of jamming>clawing>changing direction>crabbing. This is one of the more mysterious trends in folkstyle. Technique trends usually follow predictable patterns of efficiency of motion and risk/reward. So what are we seeing here? Here is my current thought process: The scrambling abilities of even the average wrestler have reached a certain level that most are not as afraid of the risk associated with crabbing guys and rolling them on top of you, making the reward even more tempting. At a high level, the ability to get a two count on most opponents and create the 'scrambly' pinning opportunities (Taylor) can make the average qualifier a high AA. I honestly think, and this may sound weird on the surface, that this is an effect that Cael Sanderson is having on the sport. If you go back and watch the way those guys wrestled at ISU (Cael/Cody/Heskett/Robeson/Fanthorpe etc etc etc) they ALL had a floating kind of style on top that the current more dominant PSU guys have. Letting guys base out and looking to hook stuff up on them. And if you remember, Cael used to work a crabby half-nelson roll series as much as anything else that's very David Taylor looking. And guess who else used to float and look to rip cross-face cradles on everyone like Ruth does? Heskett. Don't believe me? Add that to your Youtube Sunday.

I didn't mind the entrances, but the steam things shooting off was ridiculous.

Regardless of outcome, that was probably 3 swipes at least.

Dake 3-2. No TD's. After scoreless first, DT escapes, 1-0 in to 3rd. Dake chooses down, get's reversal, riding time goes above 1 minute, DT get's escape 3-2

IU...... is an embarassment

Pepsi clear is straight from hell.

Absolutely everything in one place: http://matref0.tripod.com/2013NCAAD1/2013_NCAA_Division_I_Wrestling_Resource_Page.pdf

Valid point

AWN/TOM Special Edition Comprehensive 96 page NCAA preview... FREE http://awn.theopenmat.com/2013/03/2013-ncaa-division-i-wrestling-tournament-preview/

Sliga owned Ricky Robertson and Hurford looked poised and very crafty.

I just don't get why this is such a big deal.

2013 NCAA Wrestling Championships Schedule: Date Time Match Network Thu, Mar 21 Noon NCAA Wrestling Championships First Round (Session 1: Mat 1, Mat 2, Mat 3, Mat 4)Shawn Kenney & Jim Gibbons ESPN3 7:30 p.m. NCAA Wrestling Championships Second Round (Session 2: Mat 1, Mat 2, Mat 3, Mat 4)Shawn Kenney & Jim Gibbons ESPN3 Fri, Mar 22 11 a.m. NCAA Wrestling Championships Quarterfinals (Session 3: Mat 1, Mat 2, Mat 3, Mat 4)Adam Amin, Tim Johnson, Anthony Robles & Quint Kessenich ESPNU/ ESPN3 7 p.m. NCAA Wrestling Championships Semifinals (Session 4) Adam Amin, Tim Johnson, Anthony Robles & Quint Kessenich ESPNU Sat, Mar 23 11 a.m. NCAA Wrestling Championships Medal Round Shawn Kenney, Tim Johnson & Anthony Robles ESPNU 8 p.m. NCAA Wrestling Championships Finals Adam Amin, Tim Johnson, Anthony Robles & Quint Kessenich ESPN

Good points. If we (wrestling community) demand better performance from our in-state college programs could that pressure make a difference? What are some of the larger, more obvious things other states are doing better than us in their youth programs?

MERICA!

That we're not doing? http://awn.theopenmat.com/2013/03/2013-ncaa-division-i-qualifiers-by-home-state/ Indiana NCAA d1 qualifiers: 6 ..............Iowa 14, Illinois 17, New Jersey 24, Ohio 33, Pennsylvania 52.

Man your blog sucks. j/k I agree with your thoughts on team state.

I think McDonough throwing his medal in the trash is awesome.

http://awn.theopenmat.com/2013/02/naia-releases-national-championship-qualifiers/ http://www.naia.org/pdf8/1444250.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=27900 Indiana Tech Kris McKinley 125 So. Fort Wayne, Ind. 17-24 Indiana Tech Travis Barroquillo 133 So. Wolcottville, Ind. 22-9 Indiana Tech Sidney Logan 149 Fr. Mishawaka, Ind. 21-21 Indiana Tech Adam Fahs 157 Jr. Portage, Mich. 8-10 Indiana Tech James Bennett 165 Sr. Bowden, Ga. 29-11 Indiana Tech Tanner Martin 174 So. Fort Wayne, Ind. 27-10 Indiana Tech Darryl Grayson 174 Fr. Springfield, Ohio 18-19 Indiana Tech Logan Rimmer HWT Fr. Temperance, Mich. 25-19

Hrovat In an atmosphere unlike anything we have in the USA our team lost to Iran 6-1. This is the most difficult arena in the world to wrestle. We will bounce back tomorrow and wrestle against Bulgaria in the morning. We have to win in order to wrestle for the bronze medal. Our fate is in our hands and we are focused to finish as high as we can at this point. The team appreciates all the support back home. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10102376353969413&id=2222879

http://awn.theopenmat.com/2013/02/mat-mayhem-draws-released-by-nwca/ The National Dual Meet Championship Finals, scheduled for February 22-23 in Williams Arena, located on the campus of University of Minnesota, will see first and second rounds of competition featuring the following match-ups: #1 Oklahoma State v. #8 Illinois #4 Ohio State v. #5 Missouri #3 Minnesota v. #6 Virginia Tech #2 Iowa v. #7 Cornell BRACKETS: http://www.nwcaonline.com/nwcawebsite/docs/downloads/bracket.pdf?sfvrsn=0

February 17 NWCA National Duals Cornell 42, Hofstra 0 Nebraska 28, Virginia 8 Cornell 19, Nebraska 17 Virginia 21, Hofstra 15 Missouri 27, Maryland 13 Purdue 20, Wyoming 16 Missouri 27, Purdue 15 Maryland 20, Wyoming 12 Oklahoma State 34, Kent State 10 Northern Iowa 24, Wisconsin 15 Oklahoma State 39, Northern Iowa 7 Kent State 33, Wisconsin 10 Oregon State 22, Michigan 13 Virginia Tech 33, Oklahoma 6 Virginia Tech 20, Oregon State 15 Michigan 27, Oklahoma 19 http://awn.theopenmat.com/2013/02/awn-college-scoreboard-february-11-25-2013/