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Clarion open

I wouldn’t assume the two are related. If SVN had a preexisting issue, makes more sense to pull him early
Also, the only match left worth wrestling for Van Ness would've been Brent Moore in the finals -- and they're just now in the quarters.
 
Facundo vs. Best (Maryland), on Mat 5.
Scoreless thru 1st.
Best 1-0 after 2nd, Facundo 0:20 RT.
1-1 thru 3rd, going to OT.
No score in 2-min SV, going to stall-out periods.
Facundo 2-1, Best 0:21 RT
2-2, Best 0:13 RT --> Best 3-2 win over Facundo
 
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While all of these may be true, Steen wasn't facing Glory or Arujau. Lewis failed to get out of super regionals last year at 113. Kamdyn Williams (then a HS freshman) beat him 9-7. Kilkeary and Van Dee beat him. Nic Allison pinned him. Steen mustered a reversal + an escape.

Agree with Bordeaux, we're gonna need patience with Steen -- and that's OK, they can't all be Zain right out of the chute.

And we're gonna need someone who can at least hold their own with the Heinselmans and Schroders of the B10 and qualify for nationals this year. Steen needs to improve a lot, very quickly, to be that man.
According to PA-Wrestling.com, Lewis was a four time state qualifier, the AAA state runner up in 2019 and 4th in 2018. He did lose 5-2 to defending state champion Kilkeary (who ended up 3rd) and 6-4 in SV to the state champ Van Dee. He also had lost 9-7 to the undefeated Williams. Williams also knocked off the state champ Van Dee and defending state champ/3rd in the state Kilkeary but apparently didn't get to wrestle at states despite being the undefeated regional Champ (covid?).
 
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Facundo vs. Best (Maryland), on Mat 5.
Scoreless thru 1st.
Best 1-0 after 2nd, Facundo 0:20 RT.
1-1 thru 3rd, going to OT.
Best is tough. Went to Air Force before transferring to Maryland. Not sure what wvu was doing not recruiting the guy.
 
Well that’s a bit disappointing. Not sure it means anything long-term (in fact I’m sure it doesn’t), but definitely saw some of the concerns Alex had coming in.
 
Facundo vs. Best (Maryland), on Mat 5.
Scoreless thru 1st.
Best 1-0 after 2nd, Facundo 0:20 RT.
1-1 thru 3rd, going to OT.
No score in 2-min SV, going to stall-out periods.
Facundo 2-1, Best 0:21 RT
2-2, Best 0:13 RT --> Best 3-2 win over Facundo
lol best stalled about the whole match not one stalling call
 
Guess no one in his corner knew the new overtime rules. Alex looked perplexed. If he knew he only had to ride him for 22 seconds he would have.

that being said..get some takedowns it don’t matter..oh well..
 
Well that’s a bit disappointing. Not sure it means anything long-term (in fact I’m sure it doesn’t), but definitely saw some of the concerns Alex had coming in.
like what best backing up the whole match??tell me what shot count was,about 30 to3?
 
Well that’s a bit disappointing. Not sure it means anything long-term (in fact I’m sure it doesn’t), but definitely saw some of the concerns Alex had coming in.

Facundo apparently didn't know about the change in overtime rules. He was the aggressive more wrestler for the whole match.
 
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Steen vs Braxton Brown (MD) on Mat 1.
Brown up 2-0 midway thru 1.

Brown 2-0 after 1st, 2:34 RT.
Brown 10-0 after 2nd, 3:41 RT.
Brown 14-4 final. Steen got a 3rd period takedown and reversal.

Meanwhile, Aiden Lewis just got teched in the 2nd period by Lock Haven's Noto.
 
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I'm reading that Brown was a 4x state champ out of Allen, TX and ranked 3rd at 113 nationally and the 34th ranked overall recruit.
True enough. Losing to Brown isn't so bad. Still shouldn't be dominated like that.
 
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Wow, probably should look into a Jan. transfer at 125 unless Robbie Howard is healthy. Where the cruise liner been working out lately?
 
Something is off with Steen IMO. I didn’t obviously expect him to dominate but it’s pretty uncharacteristic of him to get manhandled like this.
 
Borden vs. Caleb Hetrick (Clarion) on Mat 5.

Borden up 9-0 thru the 2nd, 1:24 RT.
Borden 12-1 MD final on a takedown at the buzzer.
 
Noto was a 4x champ and 2x MOW in NY. Redshirted at NC State last year.

125 was apparently loaded with young talent. Seriously.
 
Borden quick turn-around, in the hole vs. Weyandt (unrostered), Mat 5.
 
catching up now and my takeaways

1) Steen is not a qualifier. you're not getting points here if he's the guy. no shame in that. he's a mid-level recruit true freshman. just isn't ready.

2) judging by the brace, SVN did not come in healthy. yet despite only a minute or so on the mat, you still got the full SVN experience. extremely sloppy positioning leading to giving up an easy takedown followed by a really nice powerful knee pick to the back for the fall. given the injury, odds have to be heavily in bartlett's favor here. hope he's not seriously hurt.

editing to say i missed his first match in the bracket. he looked good. his snaps are really slick. reminds me of a more fluid version of high school gilman who scored 90% of his points with front headlocks and didn't learn leg attacks until he came to iowa. i think he'll run into trouble against strong positional wrestlers who he can't bully. a redshirt to tighten things up makes a lot of sense to me (with the caveat i'm obviously not in the room to see), but he has something that can be hard to teach, a relentless attack rate.

3) facundo looks huge at 165. he's also confusing. the way he moves and defends makes you think he could score at will. extremely smooth. but he just doesn't. freshman mistake not knowing to rules, but i can't judge him because i also forgot they changed that. open up and see what happens. it's the clarion open, not the ncaa finals. kind of the opposite of SVN.
 
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Noto was a 4x champ and 2x MOW in NY. Redshirted at NC State last year.

125 was apparently loaded with young talent. Seriously.
True. And he might not start at Lock Haven with Luke Werner returning.
 
freshman mistake not knowing to rules, but i can't judge him because i also forgot they changed that. open up and see what happens. it's the clarion open, not the ncaa finals. kind of the opposite of SVN.
Donovan McNabb didn't know the OT rules either. Facundo at least had the excuse of the rule changing and having no coach in his corner.
 
Missed this when it happened: Wang got pinned in his next consi after the Crookham MFF, and is done.
 
3) facundo looks huge at 165. he's also confusing. the way he moves and defends makes you think he could score at will. extremely smooth. but he just doesn't. freshman mistake not knowing to rules, but i can't judge him because i also forgot they changed that. open up and see what happens. it's the clarion open, not the ncaa finals. kind of the opposite of SVN.
Sounds like the way every Iowa fan describes Jacob Warner lmao
 
Sorry to be so negative about our 125 woes. I've been quiet and holding back in recent years, and something finally decided to let loose in me. Perhaps it's the "LemonPie Penn State Pessimism". Or maybe it's the building frustrations I've had in recent years seeing our 125's get repeatedly dominated with no answers in sight. Yeah, I know there still might be hope for Robbie even with his shoulders, or a 1 year miracle spring transfer that more often than not doesn't come to fruition. I just feel that we should be able to do better than what we have been at 125. Nothing bugs me more than repeatedly starting off our duals in the hole. I'll zip it for now.
 
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I hope you guys realize when you recruit a blue chipper and he's injured, there will be a hole at a weight generally ...

Just for the record, here's the explanation of PSU's hole since Suriano:
2017 - 2018: Kind of hard to find a backup when your guy leaves in the summer. Found Kuhn second semester and he was basically not remotely in wrestling shape. His scrappiness did save the OSU dual though! He came close to qualifying for NCAAs even.
2018 - 2019: Recruited Teske, redshirted him, we didn't really need the points that year considering we won by 40 with a relatively subpar tournament. Didn't make much sense to go for a transfer here.
2019 - 2020: Teske was our guy but was injured and also homesick, leaves PSU after Fall semester. Can't fault the kid, as someone on the board previously posted, the kid was going through A LOT and needed to get back home.
2020 - 2021: Howard (with basically a month of mat time) ... injured at NCAAs
 
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Borden vs. Weyandt on Mat 6.

Borden 3-2 after 1st, 9 sec RT.
Borden 11-3 after 2nd, 0:39 RT.
17-5 MD final
 
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