I was referring to Freshmen only, though with the eligibility thing, one might say he’s a freshman also.
Very early Iowa vs Penn State predictions
- Thread starter bwfight
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I was referring to Freshmen only, though with the eligibility thing, one might say he’s a freshman also.
Got it. I still think of Brooks as a frosh. Same class as all of our RS Frosh except he did a grey shirt year.
Here’s the thing, we pretty much know Iowa’s ceiling and in my opinion the PSU ceiling is higher if these kids are as good as advertised. This is Cael 3.0. The third wave. Besides, PSU would have won last year if not for the injury bug. Just having a healthy Cassar would have tilted things PSU’s way.
With Cassar we may have won the dual but we needed everyone healthy to have a chance at NCAAs. That would mean Berge top 6. Rasheed & Conel top 4 and Cassar finalist and that still would not have been enough if Iowa wrestled to seeds at NCAAs.
This season if both PSU & Iowa stay healthy it's going to be a dog fight, assuming COVID doesn't screw everything up. Here's hoping.
I think Cael considers other measures if Cassar was available also, possibly pulling Beard in January and getting his conditioning up with how open 197 was last year outside of Moore. We'll never know, it was pretty obvious Kerkvliet being eligible was a long shot and losing Cassar was WAY too much to overcome.
I think the biggest thing about having Cassar is it puts the pressure on Iowa if we hang around into Saturday night. As it stood last year, they could have underachieved quite a bit and ran away with it just because we weren't expected to score more than 1-2 points at half our weights.
History shows Penn State EXCELS in Watershed moments that can swing a tournament. Does Iowa do the same? I actually do think the Iowa "choking" at nationals is a bit of an overblown narrative. That being said, who are you betting on Friday and Saturday night based on history?
How many times have we gone to the tournament as a clear cut favorite? I am counting just 2, 2016 and 2019.
Cassar, just think If he DID opt to wrestle the second year he was gifted by NCAA, with this being “free year” good lord he could have made a career of of this.
OHIO State was the #1 team, when Bo did BO
I don’t have a prediction for this year. I will predict that Iowa has a two year window to win one or two titles, and they should be favored both years (if their guys stay an extra year).
After that the window slams shut, and the bonus point machines in Bartlett, Van Ness, Starocci, Brooks, Kerkvliet, possibly Bouzakis, and others will roll over Iowa and everyone else in their path. 🌊
After that the window slams shut, and the bonus point machines in Bartlett, Van Ness, Starocci, Brooks, Kerkvliet, possibly Bouzakis, and others will roll over Iowa and everyone else in their path. 🌊
It's amazing how much one wrestler can mean to a program. Spencer pretty much breathed new life into the program. Pretty amazing that he left Pennsylvania.
We agree with you, PA really is the Mecca of Wrestling!
I’d agree. The interesting thing will be Desanto’s response when RBY gets him in a pinning move.
Fight it or fake it!
Like highest scoring NCAA Tournament 2nd place winning team?
Now there is a record that the Brands Bros could be proud of!
When he claims knee injury again he needs to remember to limp off the mat.
Since Iowa needs to catch those other teams closest to PSU, replacing Ohio State as the best second place team would be a great start.
125 - Iowa fall. 6-0
133 - PSU decision 6-3
141. - Iowa decision. 9-3
149 - PSU decision. 9-6
157 - Iowa decision. 12-6
165 - Iowa decision. 15-6
174 - Iowa decision. 18-6
184 - PSU decision. 18-9
197 - Iowa decision. 21-9
HWT Iowa 24-9
If Kerkvliet goes, Cass will get drilled on
The bigger issue for Iowa is scholarships. Lee, Desanto, Eirman, Young, Marinelli, Kemerer all seniors who will effect their ability to go after top recruits. Plus recruits already there or coming next year. We will see how they can juggle the scholarships next year.
Fortunately, PSU does not have that problem!
Fortunately, PSU does not have that problem!
Probably not. NCAA waived this for fall sports.
"For D1 fall sports, seniors who have scholarships and who will be using the extra year of eligibility will not count against the team's scholarship limit for the 2021-22 season."
NCAA Extra Year of Eligibility | Coronavirus Rules
Learn more about the NCAA decision to grant an extra year of eligibility relief to Division 1, 2 and 3 athletes due to COVID-19.
www.ncsasports.org
I don't think they've waived this yet for winter/spring sports, but they've been remarkably consistent with applying fall virus policies to winter/spring sports, so we can expect they will. Does anyone really think Iowa won't accept the one-year cost increase?
It’s more likely that Kerk scores 5 or 6 than Cass scores 3.
I’d also say it’s more likely that Kerkvliet scores 5 TDs than Cass scores 1 TD.
Gable didn’t seem to mind dishing out extra scholarships 😉
They'd need to find about $140k to keep all 6 of them on 50% ride as non-residents. If they can't find that for a strong national title contender, then the Inner Circle is all talk.
If I were Brands, I'd be looking into HWC making a sizeable donation to Iowa Wrestling to cover their scholarships for next year, since most/all 6 would be HWC next year anyway.
Gable won 15 titles as a coach...how many would it have been without the extra scholarships?
www.chicagotribune.com
NCAA SET TO PUNISH BIG 10
The NCAA has censured the Big 10 and will withhold $75,000 in grant money to the conference as penalties for a faulty league policy that allowed seven schools to hand out more scholarships than per…
www.chicagotribune.com
Probably quite a few. Rarely did Iowa barely squeeze by. However, my guess is subjective. The fact that they had an illegal advantage is objective.Gable won 15 titles as a coach...how many would it have been without the extra scholarships?
NCAA SET TO PUNISH BIG 10
The NCAA has censured the Big 10 and will withhold $75,000 in grant money to the conference as penalties for a faulty league policy that allowed seven schools to hand out more scholarships than per…
