David Taylor -110
- Thread starter jschrantz
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Yazdani is very good but they have wrestled several times and DT won all of them, mainly because Yazdani could not match his pace in the 2nd period. Now maybe Yaz has improved his conditioning but I am certain that a now health DT's conditioning is just fine. It should be a great match. Sure hope due to seeding that it does not happen early in the tournament.
DT has not looked quite the same since returning from injury. We haven’t seen that same level of conditioning and non-stop attacking in his matches. He’s been pushed to the brink by Burroughs and Dean and did not out condition either of them. Looked better against Nickal, but not what we would have expected when we watched DT pre-injury in terms of constant attacks and an endless motor.
I think DT is still the favorite, but with Yazdani in the field I don’t think I’d be touching that line.
He's wrestled differently, while he may not be as conditioned as he once was, if you watched the wrestling he's done it's incredibly more defensive and while Dean was scrambling like crazy DT was in every possible position he could be to not get scored on. I don't want to make excuses and maybe he's got lesser lungs now, but we'll obviously see.
The problem is that in both matches he was getting completely manhandled until Yazdani gassed. He hasn't shown he can outwrestle him when he's fresh. If he doesn't bring his usual pace, he's in trouble imo.
Any idea why his style has changed a bit? Is he just being more cautious to avoid another injury?
Have any wrestlers ever gassed Burroughs or Dean? (With the possible exception of Burroughs' 2016 Olympics that were an obvious outlier to his career.)
IMO the concern with picking Taylor is more about the exact bracket. If he gets one of those goofy freestyle brackets that makes him face the 4 next best guys in succession, then it's less certain.
No I can’t remember those guys gassing, but that’s not really the point. The point is Taylor wasn’t putting the pressure on and attacking for the entire 6 minutes like we’re used to. He was much more cautious and defensive, especially during the second periods.
The past experience with Yazdani has shown he’s going to need to be able to bring an other worldly level of pressure to beat him. I’m not sure if he still has that in the arsenal. If he’s going to rely on winning a technical chess match, that matchup is much more of a toss-up than a definitive Taylor advantage.
Yazdani is a multiple world and Olympic champion who has won weights with peak Burroughs/Gaduev and J’Den Cox. Taylor has to be at the absolute top of his game to beat him. It just doesn’t appear he’s there yet, but hopefully he’s peaking for this moment. I’m sure Cael will have him in his best possible form.
I'm assuming that post injury he wasn't training as hard for a couple of exhibition matches as he will be for the Olympic Gold. We'll know pretty soon if he got back to his previous conditioning or not.
I don't think it's a lungs thing. He always looked fresh. It was a lack of pressure. My theory is that he was limiting his exchanges to limit injury exposure prior to the Olympics. His injury against Foster was in a pretty typical position from him. He's stayed in much more baseline defense/head and hands since returning.
The problem with this is I don't think he's good enough there to beat Yazdani. He has to take Yazdani into flurries and exchanges he's not comfortable in and that's where he gasses. He won't beat Yazdani if he just stays in there and handfights and picks his spots.
My guess is, there is a well established game plan for Yazdani. I doubt seriously the effect of DT’s pressure has been overlooked by DT’s team.
If it’s a psychological limitation—as I feel we’ve seen in his matches with Dake—I’d feel differently, but I feel fairly confident DT will beat Yazdani again. Obviously, Yazdani is good enough to prove me wrong, though.
I am certain the seeds will be totally effed - it seems to be par anymore. That said, DT has, can, and will beat Yazdani if they meet. I know I am emotionally invested in DT, but I am also a natural skeptic/ pessimist. With these Oly’s, I think David’s going to be on a higher level vector, a la Penn Staters in nat’l championships. They’re studied Yaz and know the approach to beat him again. I feel like I’ve been waiting for DT to be here for a long time and I am sending ALL of my energy to aid him to a gold medal. I ask that you do the same. It’s on!!!
The seeds are already set. They are 1) Yazdani 2) Punia 3) Amine 4) Naifonov. DT will be drawn in randomly (ideally in Amine's quarter).
Snyder was the only US wrestler to earn a seed. Burroughs would have been the 4 at 74 if he made the team. Micic earned the top seed at 57.
It's almost like reading a pre-NCAA take from the Lion faithful. The sky is falling and oh me, oh my the Lions, tigers and bears.
Taylor and his plan and will be fine.
Taylor gets his gold metal and everybody on here can tell us all how great he looked doing so and we all knew it would happen this way.
Taylor and his plan and will be fine.
Taylor gets his gold metal and everybody on here can tell us all how great he looked doing so and we all knew it would happen this way.
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Wouldn't go that far lol and frankly it's a little disrespectful of Yazdani. DT is the only guy to beat him since 2016. He's approaching all-time great status with an Olympic title plus 2 more world golds.
We haven't seen DT in a big world tournament since his title in 2018. Reasonable to not be as confident as we would be otherwise.
Agreed, hope DT isn’t as nervous as the Nancies on here
Remember in ‘18 he met Yaz in the first round. I think DT is over the nerves lol.
I'm not in the camp that DT doesn't look as good as he did in 2019. He struggled with the Cuban in the past and absolutely destroyed him at Pan Ams which was his first tournament back. He'll handle the underhook better this time around. He'll give up a pushput or two and pull away in the second. Yazdani will puke in the trash can and Americans outside of Iowa will rejoice.
No idea if this has anything to do with his “style change” but he’s gotten a lot bigger. He’s a horse at 86kg. Hope he wins gold and hope it’s easy to find on tv so I can watch it lol.
We said that last time around and he got bullied just as bad. Just makes me nervous when the strategy relies on the other guy faltering. You won't find a bigger (non-PSU) fan of DT than me. I'm pretty sure I've seen every match he's wrestled post-high school.
I'm hoping, and maybe anticipating, he comes out guns blazing like he used to and the last year was more about just getting to Tokyo healthy.
Now you've used Bullied and Manhandled to describe DT's matches against Yaz. I could be wrong, but I think you are letting your bias show a little.
When fresh it appeared like Yazdani was winning the positions, and wisely DT would just give up the points when he lost the position. Hardly bullied or manhandled imo. Score was close at the half and Yaz was gassed with nearly two full minutes remaining.
Yazdani has to bring that pace as well, or Taylor will eat him up from outside.
It's an interesting match up that we all probably enjoy watching. I would never overlook Yazdani, but if anyone was getting bullied it was probably the guy who could barely walk off the mat.
How many wins do you get for winning the first period? 😂
He got marched all over the mat. In the first match, he was almost DQ'd in the first period on cautions because he couldn't hold his ground.
In the second, he got marched around again. He was extremely close to being down 9-0 at the end of the first. He stole a takedown that Yaz had 99% finished on a go behind (extremely savvy and probably saved the match because it made it 3-2 instead of 5-0 after a minute). Then he gave up another 2 and was saved by the bell to prevent a last second 2 again and only gave up 1 to be down 6-2 at the break.
If you don't want to call getting marched all over the mat for 3 minutes "bullied" that's your call, but that was bullying to me.
And there's no bias against DT either. I'm nervous because I want the man to win so bad. USA baby! You should see me during Spencer's matches.
Hopefully, the third time's the charm figuring out that underhook. DT is the more skilled wrestler, but that position is so dominant it keeps Yazdani in the match.
DT Breaks Down His Epic Match With Yazdani
David Taylor takes a look at his incredible 2018 first-round match with returning world champion, Hasan Yazdanicharati
You can listen for yourself.
"He just throws guys around and he's done that to me a couple times, so I need to make adjustments when I wrestle him the next time."
Good video. You guys might like to hear David talk about his wrestling and he's pretty funny with some self deprecating humor. One thing he mentions is that Yazdani puts so much pressure on you that he forces you to make mistakes, which DT did. If he had a plan, it didn't involve being dominated through the first 3 minutes and he was clear about that.
... and if Yazdani had a plan, it didn't involve losing twice.
Whatever their respective plans, Taylor won both times. The onus is on Yazdani to adjust, not on Taylor.
Whatever their respective plans, Taylor won both times. The onus is on Yazdani to adjust, not on Taylor.
The middle child in me would like to say everyone is right.
The Magic Man would be best to not go down big early and even if he does everything can be just fine.
The quick 10-0 in freestyle is always possible, albeit unlikely to ever happen to DT no matter the opponent.
Yazdani is awesome and yet has still lost each time. DT is a freak and tireless worker it would be shocking to see him "gas" or not be able to bring it for 6 mins at the Olympics.
In Cael we Trust. In Tom we Tan. & In Brands we Stall. Amen.
The Magic Man would be best to not go down big early and even if he does everything can be just fine.
The quick 10-0 in freestyle is always possible, albeit unlikely to ever happen to DT no matter the opponent.
Yazdani is awesome and yet has still lost each time. DT is a freak and tireless worker it would be shocking to see him "gas" or not be able to bring it for 6 mins at the Olympics.
In Cael we Trust. In Tom we Tan. & In Brands we Stall. Amen.
That’s correct, but the problem is it appears that Taylor has adjusted to a slower paced more controlled style of wresting. He’s changed from the way he beat Yazdani in the past. The question is can he get that back or turn it back on as many have suggested he’s purposefully dialed it down.
I’m pretty sure Yazdani is going to force Taylor to dial it up. Although…I wonder if Yaz will try to conserve energy until the 2nd period before unleashing his fury.
