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Good points, if i remember correctly when i watched (or listened to) an interview a while back Parriot was quoted as beating Berge a few times when they wrestled.

That's not a good road to go down.

Recruiting ranking is one of several pieces of information useful at enrollment, for rough expectations at that time.

Everything changes when they step on campus. For too many reasons to list.

Adjusting Berge's expectations for Berge's results is one thing.

Adjusting Berge's expectations for somebody else's results makes no sense. Whitman is 18-13 this year -- should we hold that against Beard?
 
(1) This year's not over yet, still some work to do...and some fun to have.
(2) We are blessed with a solid foundation for the future, at least as far as we can see (5 years), which includes the incoming greyshirting and redshirting guys that haven't yet donned a PSU singlet.
(3) No one can predict the future, and building a new team each year is significant enjoyment for the coaching staff, and this fan as well. There are no promises. PSU has a bulls-eye on its back, right where they want it, so every future Penn State team must prepare, improve, and wrestle with effort. Winning championships, imo, WILL GET TOUGHER, looking ahead...I'm grateful and thankful that (it appears on paper) we'll be in the mix each year. How the kids respond to the opportunity is much of the intrigue, for me. I enjoy watching it unfold.
(4) It was a pleasure watching Jason and Bo, best wishes to them in their next adventure. Say what you want, there's no guarantees for their level of bonus point production in the future.
(5) Iowa (Stoll only), and Michigan (Older Amine only), on paper, are the two teams that could test PSU the most in 2019-2020.
(6) tOSU (McKenna, Jordan, Campbell, and Martin), and OSU (White, Weigel, Ja. Smith, JoJo Smith, Rogers), are losing the most, other than PSU if Shak and Cassar don't get their sixth years.
(7) Having Shak and Cassar back next year would be huge for PSU's prospects in 2020.

A model I created takes the year-end finishes at NCAA's, removes the seniors, and makes predictions for the succeeding year. Others can be inserted (true and redshirt freshmen, other redshirts, etc.) to give a glimpse on paper. It will be posted after NCAA's. Right now, the losses (seniors) by weight class, according to InterMat rankings, top-10 only, are as follows; 125 - 4, 133 - 2, 141 - 2, 149 - 4 (including top-3), 157 - 4, 165 - 1, 174 - 2, 184 - 6 (including 4 of top-5 if Shak does not get 6th year), 197 - 4, 285 - 6 (if Cassar does not get 6th year).

Sorry so long.

"6) tOSU (McKenna, Jordan, Campbell, and Martin), and OSU (White, Weigel, Ja. Smith, JoJo Smith, Rogers), are losing the most, other than PSU if Shak and Cassar don't get their sixth years."

Good analysis of what top teams have returning/losing. One small correction--pretty sure Joe Smith has another year of eligibility left.
 
"6) tOSU (McKenna, Jordan, Campbell, and Martin), and OSU (White, Weigel, Ja. Smith, JoJo Smith, Rogers), are losing the most, other than PSU if Shak and Cassar don't get their sixth years."

Good analysis of what top teams have returning/losing. One small correction--pretty sure Joe Smith has another year of eligibility left.
I believe you're right...will look later. InterMat had him as a Senior.

He's a RSJR now...thanks!
 
Just saying Berge was a Big10 semi-finalist.
Berge has 3 losses for the year.
Berge just beat Iowa HR declared national champ Lugo.

I wonder what today's wrestling board would have to say about 2012 Nico Megaludis during the 2 weeks between Big10s and NCAAs.

Perspective is a wonderful thing to have, a very difficult thing to achieve.
 
I totally forget Nico finished higher at Big Tens than Nationals only ONE time.

FR: 5th at B1Gs, 2nd at Nationals
SO: 3rd at B1Gs, 2nd at Nationals
JR: 2nd at B1Gs, 3rd at Nationals
SR: 2nd at B1Gs, 1st at Nationals

Talk about showing up when it counts the most .... now if only he shows up in the room....
 
I totally forget Nico finished higher at Big Tens than Nationals only ONE time.

FR: 5th at B1Gs, 2nd at Nationals
SO: 3rd at B1Gs, 2nd at Nationals
JR: 2nd at B1Gs, 3rd at Nationals
SR: 2nd at B1Gs, 1st at Nationals

Talk about showing up when it counts the most .... now if only he shows up in the room....

Apparently he left the room cuz he couldnt beat anyone, thats the story round here anyway...
 
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Just saying Berge was a Big10 semi-finalist.
Berge has 3 losses for the year.
Berge just beat Iowa HR declared national champ Lugo.

I wonder what today's wrestling board would have to say about 2012 Nico Megaludis during the 2 weeks between Big10s and NCAAs.

Perspective is a wonderful thing to have, a very difficult thing to achieve.
Unlike Berge, freshman Nico got pinned in B10 consis. By Levi Mele.

Somebody fire up the Retroactively Concerned About Nico thread.
 
I think a lot of people sometimes forget just how good Micah Jordan is cause they're used to seeing Zain, Nolf wrestle him. I could be wrong but I don't think Micah has ever lost by bonus to anyone else besides those two (and they were both by TFs)

For the record, I think it's overstated about how bad Micah is on bottom. I think he's bad on bottom against Elite Riders (Zain, Nolf, Ashnault) but he can get out against basically most 149 pounders with ease. I was hoping Brady would be able to ride him a bit but he hasn't shown that ability. Combine that with his clear fatigue and Micah's elite neutral abilities and I can't say I'm too shocked by the result and I also can't say I'm writing Berge off for Nationals yet.
 
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I totally forget Nico finished higher at Big Tens than Nationals only ONE time.

FR: 5th at B1Gs, 2nd at Nationals
SO: 3rd at B1Gs, 2nd at Nationals
JR: 2nd at B1Gs, 3rd at Nationals
SR: 2nd at B1Gs, 1st at Nationals

Talk about showing up when it counts the most .... now if only he shows up in the room....
It’s never been about the B1G Tournament. It has always just been another stop on the road to nationals.

Berge will be dynamite at 157. Gas tank will not be a problem next year. It has been this year and he wrestles a lot of times to conserve energy.
 
Just looked at Flo's 14 top P4P HS and seen no Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan or Nebraska recruits? Correct me if I'm wrong but that just seems odd to me?
 
Good points, if i remember correctly when i watched (or listened to) an interview a while back Parriot was quoted as beating Berge a few times when they wrestled.

Brady and Parriot have only wrestled once, with Brady winning in the Minnesota Christmas tournament his junior year in high school. They trained together quite a bit at Pinnacle wrestling club. I'm not sure which interview you are referring to but last year Jason Bryant interviewed them both before Midlands as they were working out together. Griffin said that Brady was getting the better of those exchanges.
 
Just looked at Flo's 14 top P4P HS and seen no Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan or Nebraska recruits? Correct me if I'm wrong but that just seems odd to me?
Not a great year for elite wrestlers. Next two years are better. PSU got two good ones in Starocci and Ball (Cassar like?) though.
 
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Hope I'm wrong, but I think we come back to the field a bit. I like Berge and RBY but they look more like "very good" than great, i.e., Taylor, Ruth, Nolf, Retherford, Nickal. We haven't seen Brooks, Beard, Nevills. They will have big shoes to fill.

On top of that, there is the recent trend to fill gaps with transfers, something PSU has yet to embrace. Iowa and tOSU both had two prominent transfer starters. Will be hard to maintain an edge if the competition continues to take that route and PSU experiences more transfers out than in.

NCAA decisions on Cassar and Shak will be huge for next year.

I don't agree with that characterization. In addition to going hard after McKenna, Cael has brought in several other transfers who played a prominent role** on the team including Andrew Long, Jimmy Lawson, Gino Morelli, Jered Cortez, Carson Kuhn, and Corey Keener.

** If you manage to crack the starting lineup for the best team in America, I call this a prominent role.
 
I don't agree with that characterization. In addition to going hard after McKenna, Cael has brought in several other transfers who played a prominent role** on the team including Andrew Long, Jimmy Lawson, Gino Morelli, Jered Cortez, Carson Kuhn, and Corey Keener.

** If you manage to crack the starting lineup for the best team in America, I call this a prominent role.
Cael also went hard after Micic when he left NW.

And wasn't that Kyle Conel in Rec Hall a few weeks ago?
 
Just looked at Flo's 14 top P4P HS and seen no Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan or Nebraska recruits? Correct me if I'm wrong but that just seems odd to me?

JoJo Aragona is ranked one behind Alex Facundo. If you've ever seen both wrestle, that should tell you all you need to know about those rankings. ;) But yeah, Penn State is off-cycle with everything in the pipeline.
 
Just looked at Flo's 14 top P4P HS and seen no Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan or Nebraska recruits? Correct me if I'm wrong but that just seems odd to me?
Ohio State has 3 (Kerkvliet, Kharchla, Decatur).

Also Kurt McHenry is likely not in the PFP because he early enrolled at Michigan in January.

The earlier point is correct: there is some high end talent but 2021 and 2022 look better. Cael got the one guy he needed in Starocci. He also pursued a few others (McHenry, Kerk, Ferrari, Kharchla), but none needed, all nice to haves.
 
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If you see his matches at 70kg/154 from last summer, and his matches this year, you wouldn't believe they are the same kid. He's either hurt, sucked down too far, or something else. But he's got the goods. I think he's sucked down and gassed before the match starts.
Agreed - I saw these matches - a tough hungry wrestler.
 
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