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wkend recap

a_mshaffer

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Dec 8, 2014
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recap - keep thinking of what might have been without some of the 'first' losses. Beau B wins the first match he lost, Berge, Lee and Beard as well and we could have had a lot more positive comments! Lots of thoughts over the weekend - forgot most - but here is my quick recap. My overall sentiment is I hope we can get back to a 'normal' year!

RH - Fr showing up in the inability to get through hands D and quickly finishing his shots. Needs to have a more diverse ride outside of the claw (could have been hit for stalling once) looks very bright and I don't see him at 133 anytime soon. We are going to be happy with him at 125! Also think Ragusin (mich kid) is top 5 wrestler and is going to be heard of. A lot of folks would not want him at NCAAs - bracket buster. RHs win over him was all attitude!
RBY - I think he could have poured it on in the finals. Looking great.
NL - matches can go both ways. So Solid. Expect to see him in the finals against one of his B10 foes.
BB - slim chances of getting the bid but he certainly didn't disappoint. Same comments with RH but Beau is going to be a gem. Just wish he would get a chance at Nattys.
BBerge - Disappointed in the 'finishing of matches'. Hope he is OK. His style is to not provide openings thus doesn't cause a lot offensive openings.
JL - I think something is up, maybe not. THink he has a lot of good to come... I'm not getting down on him... but another one that has to finish when you should! Call it want you want but he is a freshman when going through the Big10s - or a full season.
CS - A lot of talent. We see scrambling getting to high levels in his last two matches. I am surprised Cael allows the dancing - I like the feet movement though! Wanted to see some damage from top (like against Washington)
AB - Wow. So polished, so soon. Nothing to say as he is a replacement for those recent 'great' grads
MB - Gas tanks started to show but it would be hard not to during all of this crap going on. I always thought he was a good shot finisher but that hurt him over the weekend. A lot of good will come from him as he will be a perennial AA - maybe even this year!
GK - Hoping what we saw is not what we'll get - bit of a gas tank and inability to get off of bottom against the heavy guys. However, I think we'll see his dominance next year as far as getting into the top 3

Recap - gotta watch it on the board... We have guys that represent a lot of the what the board gives out - appearance of stalling, not shooting, etc. I think we have to keep it in perspective as there are a lot of people 'in the room' that haven't met our expectations. Regardless - super young team so my observations of points on top, finishing out matches, and finishing shots will all be taken care of in time.
I am into this season but it is still an asterisk from a fans perspective... Not taking anything away from the champions but every one of the schools have had different restrictions and conditions to work through. Obviously season being shorten also weighing the most. Hope we can all enjoy the perseverance of all of these young men.
 
recap - keep thinking of what might have been without some of the 'first' losses. Beau B wins the first match he lost, Berge, Lee and Beard as well and we could have had a lot more positive comments! Lots of thoughts over the weekend - forgot most - but here is my quick recap. My overall sentiment is I hope we can get back to a 'normal' year!

RH - Fr showing up in the inability to get through hands D and quickly finishing his shots. Needs to have a more diverse ride outside of the claw (could have been hit for stalling once) looks very bright and I don't see him at 133 anytime soon. We are going to be happy with him at 125! Also think Ragusin (mich kid) is top 5 wrestler and is going to be heard of. A lot of folks would not want him at NCAAs - bracket buster. RHs win over him was all attitude!
RBY - I think he could have poured it on in the finals. Looking great.
NL - matches can go both ways. So Solid. Expect to see him in the finals against one of his B10 foes.
BB - slim chances of getting the bid but he certainly didn't disappoint. Same comments with RH but Beau is going to be a gem. Just wish he would get a chance at Nattys.
BBerge - Disappointed in the 'finishing of matches'. Hope he is OK. His style is to not provide openings thus doesn't cause a lot offensive openings.
JL - I think something is up, maybe not. THink he has a lot of good to come... I'm not getting down on him... but another one that has to finish when you should! Call it want you want but he is a freshman when going through the Big10s - or a full season.
CS - A lot of talent. We see scrambling getting to high levels in his last two matches. I am surprised Cael allows the dancing - I like the feet movement though! Wanted to see some damage from top (like against Washington)
AB - Wow. So polished, so soon. Nothing to say as he is a replacement for those recent 'great' grads
MB - Gas tanks started to show but it would be hard not to during all of this crap going on. I always thought he was a good shot finisher but that hurt him over the weekend. A lot of good will come from him as he will be a perennial AA - maybe even this year!
GK - Hoping what we saw is not what we'll get - bit of a gas tank and inability to get off of bottom against the heavy guys. However, I think we'll see his dominance next year as far as getting into the top 3

Recap - gotta watch it on the board... We have guys that represent a lot of the what the board gives out - appearance of stalling, not shooting, etc. I think we have to keep it in perspective as there are a lot of people 'in the room' that haven't met our expectations. Regardless - super young team so my observations of points on top, finishing out matches, and finishing shots will all be taken care of in time.
I am into this season but it is still an asterisk from a fans perspective... Not taking anything away from the champions but every one of the schools have had different restrictions and conditions to work through. Obviously season being shorten also weighing the most. Hope we can all enjoy the perseverance of all of these young men.

I know he’s from Utah, but I don’t think Cael is that big of a fuddie duddy. I do think the words “if you’re gonna Ali shuffle, you better win” are relayed to him.
 
On the freshmen, Carter of course looks very good, but I really like Howard. He’s got some things to work on and he needs to gain more experience, but I really like his attitude and he’s got a lot of fight. He’s definitely got some things that the coaches will be able to work with.
true - mixing it up top with throw attempts and inside trips. Ragusin win showed a lot!
 
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This teams ceiling is much higher than we saw this weekend. We already know Iowa’s as they’ve scored the same two years in a row. But everyone on PSU’s squad can improve even the winners... Cael will have them ready for Nationals but it’s so hard with six freshmen in a shortened season but not bad being a solid second in the toughest wrestling tournament around.
 
On the freshmen, Carter of course looks very good, but I really like Howard. He’s got some things to work on and he needs to gain more experience, but I really like his attitude and he’s got a lot of fight. He’s definitely got some things that the coaches will be able to work with.
robbie needs to get bigger and stronger. he's got everything else.
 
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Let me preface this by saying I can’t wait to see these guys with 2 weeks of adjustments.

125-Howard looked better as the tourney went on. I think the three guys he lost to he is right there with.
133-Only thing I got here is I think RBY may have shut down a little soon against DeSanto. However, he’s looking sharp and we see something new every match ( arm drag )
141-Glad Nick got to feel this version of Jaydin. I don’t think Jaydin can change too much from what he did. I do think Nick learned a lot from this meeting and will make the necessary changes needed to get the win. An escape makes a huge difference. I have a feeling he won’t be with anyone but Zain in the room. Sorry Nick
149-Let’s hope for an at large. If that’s the last for this year, thanks for stepping up Beau. Can’t wait to see you with another year under your belt.
157-First, I hope he’s ok and it was just precaution. He shows flashes of offense, and constant good defense. When he’s offensive I think he could beat anyone not named Deakin, sorry just being honest. The name of the game was to advance and he did.
165-Hard to find the right words for Joe. I think I want to use the word inconsistent but it doesn’t feel right. This is a hard tournament to navigate through without making it more difficult on yourself. I think the best thing for him to do is to simplify his game. Some of the unorthodox stuff he’s used to getting away with, he can’t pull off at this level yet. He’s talented, and if he sticks to the basics, I think they’ll take him a long way. He makes the tournament and that’s something to build on.
174-Great tournament for CStar. Gotta find an angle on Kem. He wrestled a hard 7 minutes against the odds on favorite to win nationals and one scramble blew the match open. Other than that, it was close. Kem still was never in danger, but CStar was atleast in striking distance. He did a great job to make the finals, showed more offense there than I think the rest of the tournament. Hopefully we get a rematch Saturday night.
184-We got another special one. It’s like watch Ruth with how easy he makes it look and how relaxed he is. Glad to see the ankle was ok. Interesting to see what the seeds end up with him, Hidlay, Bolen, and Deprez.
197-Wanted to see Beard knock off Amine, and without that slip, I think he does. Then I wanted to see him in the consi finals, then I wanted to see him get the next best thing. He didn’t have a real good second day. He needs that one notable win to get over the hump.
285-We got what we were all hoping for, Kerk to wrestle. I think we all now need to take a step back and pump the brakes. We seem to have all forgot this was his first real college competition as a freshman, coming off an injury. We put unfair expectations on him, and some of us need to relax. He didn’t lose to nobody’s, he lost to Parris and Cass. 2 pretty darn good heavys. I’d like to remind everyone, we’ve seen this from guys in the past, and a different outcome 2 weeks later. Excited to see Kerk in 2 weeks, and for the years to come. We’re in good shape.

It was a lot closer than what people thought. It will be an exciting National Tournament. Sit back, and enjoy the show, you never know what could happen. We Are!
 
I was pretty impressed with Brady actually for the most part. He majored 3 kids including one NQ so he is wrestling with some confidence and he is willing to open it up.

It seems against guys around his level or slightly higher (Brayton Lee/Kendall Coleman) he feels he HAS to play it safe to win. I don't know about you but Brady has shown quite a bit in his arsenal this year. Some of the takedowns he uses ... the ankle pick, the blast doubles against lesser competition, just let it fly against the better kids! As he's learned against Lee and Coleman, you're better off controlling your own fate. I don't know, it's kind of frustrating when you see he has an array of offensive attacks and scrambling/defensive abilities that made him a junior world medalist.

First things first though, praying that he was just medically forfeited for precautionary reasons.
 
Freshmen

Howard - asserted himself very well. With little prep time and coming back from injury and a layoff, he flashed the talent, NCAAs is gravy can't wait for next year

Beau - a bad draw at Bigs was pretty unfortunate. Under different circumstances, an earlier start, more matches at 149, more time to grow into the higher weight. He pushed #4 and #6 to very close matches. Next year he will either shirt or start tearing into guys. He was the first to take down Sammy this year. The kid has what it takes, let's sit back and enjoy.

Joe - love the heart and the fly by the seat of his pants style .... to an extent. As gut wrenching as it can be, I enjoy his matches more than a guy like Verk. Most matches we can see the bad position developing well ahead of time. Some kids have a natural 'feel' for wrestling and the positioning of self and the opponent, angles, leverage, danger.... Aaron and Nolf come to mind. You could see their feel even before they were seasoned. To be honest it looks like Joe might be lacking in this area, and it isn't something that can be taught. So Joe might have to throttle back the scrambling significantly at this level, which is also hard to do. I think the jury is still out on how much he can clean this up.

Carter - I think we all know we have another great one here. I am on an island thinking he looks a little small, but so did Mark his whole career. 165???

Beard - A solid AA type guy at a tough weight that will get even tougher as guys like Ferrari and Braxton Amos hit their stride. He has the talent from neutral to win a lot and after he tightens up some things he could win some big matches for us.

Kerk - he is just a young pup. Think about it, a great freestyler coming off of injury wrestling at an AA level as a freshman. Snacks cant guarantee us the bonus that Kerk has already delivered, and is 'maybe' an AA, maybe not. Kerk makes our team better immediately and had the quickness, athleticism, and frame to become elite. He will be fun to watch.
 
That Sasso kid looked like he might have chance to be National Champ. If he's in our lineup add 17.5 points to our total.
Just saying.😉
Merely having some fun with a couple of you posters that told me 2 years ago that they thought Verk was better.
Penn State would have benefited immensely in wrestling a full season and if Beau and Nick would of flipped weights.
 
B1Gs played out pretty much as I thought it would. Our more seasoned wrestlers (RBY, NL, BB, AB) looked good and are providing great leadership for our very young team. I'm proud of these guys!

With the exception of Carter, our freshman looked like typical freshman: difficulties on bottom, inconsistencies match to match, not often getting past head/hands defenses, and sometimes looking like the moment was just a bit too big for them. If anyone expected anything else in a shortened season where they hardly got any match experience and wrestled in no tournaments, that's on you. We have a very talented bunch that IS getting a 'room bump' but you just can't magically skip the experience and lessons learned from going through a full B1G schedule. I expect huge leaps from these guys next year and am proud of them for their efforts!

I expect Nationals will be much the same. This past weekend gave the team some GREAT experience and finishing second is a major accomplishment but our freshman aren't going to be magically transformed into something else in two weeks. Now you wanna talk next year? Watch out!
 
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Merely having some fun with a couple of you posters that told me 2 years ago that they thought Verk was better.
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That Sasso kid looked like he might have chance to be National Champ. If he's in our lineup add 17.5 points to our total.
Just saying.😉
Merely having some fun with a couple of you posters that told me 2 years ago that they thought Verk was better.
Penn State would have benefited immensely in wrestling a full season and if Beau and Nick would of flipped weights.
Sasso has been impressive especially when you consider that he writhers away in "the house that Tom built". Hell, at this point, he should transfer to Sparty.
 
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