Mace wrote:I guess you were right, Suncoast, Iowa really does suck at wrestling this season. Hell, they only managed a 15-15 tie on the road at Okie State that snapped a 69 dual meet win streak for the Hawkeyes. Damn, they really do suck.
You didn't actually watch the match did you? I watched with my father and uncle. First of all Oklahoma State was robbed of 16-15/18-15/19-15 victory. Oliver was robbed of his bonus points for riding time at 133; what was even worse was the Iowa's Tyler Clark blatantly stalling the entire match after the first minute because Oliver was rolling him up constantly and should have had points deducted but only received two formal cautions and numerous verbal warnings from the official. Oliver should have been awarded the major decision rather than just the decision on points. I thought either John Smith or Oliver himself was going to turn the official into a pretzel after that match. Dallas Bailey pinned Janssen at 165 and instead was only awarded near fall points after the ref stood there with his thumb up his ass waiting for the Iowa kid to finally create some momentum and roll off his back.
At the NCAA tourny Oklahoma State will easily finish far higher in points than Iowa. All I saw out of Iowa last night was one wrestler who will compete for even all american status (Matt McDonough at 125). Oklahoma State has three legitimate national title contenders with Oliver, Parks, and Foster; one other threat for All American accolades. What I came away with from watching Iowa was they have one great grappler in McDonough at 125, three above average kids, two serviceable, and four kids that
might qualify for the NCAA tourny and if so I would consider it lucky for the Hawkeyes if they even garner points in the wrestleback brackets.
I'd pretty much guarantee that Cornell, Penn State, Boise State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Wisconsin, American, Lehigh, Virginia Tech, and Minnesota all finish above Iowa at the NCAA tourney while they suck wind and ride out the storm in a pack that includes Arizona State, Central Michigan, Rutgers, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, and Iowa State. Iowa has one real threat to produce any real points at the NCAA tourney while they star up at a number of teams who have between 3 and 6 wrestlers who aren't just threats for All American status but at standing on the podium with a medal at the end.
I think Hawkeye nation just needs to come to terms that they are likely staring into an era where they're looking at the dust trail on Penn State even in their own conference. Cael Sanderson in just two seasons has brought Penn State back and now they're so damn deep they have kids who don't see themselves ever getting on the mat transferring out west and being ranked in the top 10 from day 1 according to intermat, themat, and Wrestling Report. They have developed a squad which has a wrestler in the top 20 of all but one weight class. Right now the only team I can even see competing with Penn State this season or next is Minnesota and
maybe Wisconsin.