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Ohio State Wrestling (2015/2017/2018 B1G Champs, 2015 National Champs, 2019 National Runners-up)

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RB07OSU said:
Will gladly indulge after watch dual live. I don't ever do it live because I'm too into the matches haha. We won, so I reckon that's a good start:

125: Malik beat a good opponent, I would expect him to flirt with AA but pretty much do what you expect.
133: Mendez is really, really good. But conditioning and strength are just a little ways away, a redshirt year would be great for him. Sky is seriously the limit for this kid, unreal attacks from the mat and great technique, just needs another year.
141: Bouzakis is almost identical to Mendez, he'll be a great wrestler but was wrestling up a weight and clearly doesn't have the conditioning. He'll be a great one next year, him and Mendez are going to be incredible.
149: Sasso better have a come to Jesus moment and in a major way. He looks so uninspired, out of shape and overall just doesn't seem to care. He won't even get on the podium if that's what he is going to put out. Tom Ryan needs a practice with nobody but Sasso in the room to be brutally honest.
157: Paddy is going to be a good wrestler and his talent is clear...but are we teaching leg defense or even doing cardio? We look gassed and unable to defend a leg attack. Paddy I feel like is only going to get better but hell, only 1 minute of the match looked good.
165: Kharchla wrestled a smart match and I have no complains. Brady is a tough MFer and they know each other well, so a win of any sort is a good win there.
174: Ethan wrestled a damned good match and Lewis stalled out of his mind. Bring that same match in the spring and the outcome could be different. Ethan is the one kid you know will lay it on the line every match. Man I want him to win a title so bad.
184: Romero wrestled like a stud, I hope he brings that's mentality to every match because he was a damn warrior today. I will roll with that performance every day.


Agree with you on almost every point...my only caveat with Sammy is he was totally wiped by the second period and to me that indicates possibly the flu hit him earlier in the afternoon or else he had quite a bit of cutting to do. Maybe we'll find out, maybe not but the guy has been here going on 4 years and shown nothing but class and respect so I'm riding with him .
I think this season is going to be a good one and next season should be a great one.
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If Sammy was sick, then that would explain a lot but I'm not so sure that was the case just because of how we wrestled last year. He's had some great performances in his career and obviously I am happy he is a Buckeye, but I feel like as of later in his career he has just been too passive and refuses to be aggressive. Granted he typically used defense as offense in most scenarios (the front cradle after his opponent shot, front headlocks after a shot, etc.), but he isn't even doing that now and is getting taken down regularly by walk-on types that aren't even ranked. I remember it happening all the time last year and it was maddening, usually he won the match but it would be like 6-5 against some team's backup. His leg defense just isn't what it used to be and it is getting exposed.

Some wrestlers just wrestle close matches no matter what, but I want to see him try to be dominant and I think he usually will be if he goes in with that approach. I hate to say it, but PSU wrestlers of the caliber of Sammy don't find themselves in that position and they constantly attack. Iowa was the prototype back in the 70's/80's/90's (and still are a model of that really), but PSU is the new version of it. We're recruiting at the level of PSU at the moment, so I just hope we develop those recruits with a bit more of an attacking style. Some kids will do that by nature, some it has to be drilled into.

It's the first dual so I'm not going to be too critical, but more often than not it feels like our wrestlers are letting the action come to them rather than initiating it. Maybe it's the Graham in me, but that ain't the way wrestling works. And moreover, we always seem to start slow and then get better as the year goes along, so it is a win against a very good opponent and a learning experience.

I think moving forward you see Bouzakis wrestle unattached and RS, and honestly might want to think about that for Mendez this year too, but I think that is touch and go depending on how Mendez looks as the year wears on and if the team has any remote shot at winning a title (highly doubtful, would take a bunch of key injuries imo). Wrestling can just be tough to get the right mix at the right time with scholarship limits, but it looks like the best play is likely stringing together our Big 3 with the last recruiting class and the next one, and making our run next year. And for this year, let's root for Malik, Sammy, Carson, Smith, Romero, Hoffman and Tater to end up as high on the podium as they can.
 
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Lineups for Friday vs. Columbia

125 - #11 Malik Heinselman(sr) vs. Nick Babin (jr)
133- #13 Jesse Mendez(fr) vs. Angelo Rini (jr) or Boris Whitmer (soph)
141- Jordan Decatur (sr) vs. Matt Kazimir (sr) or Kai Owen (fr)
149- Klay Reeves (rs jr) vs. Danny Fongaro (sr) or Rich Fedalen (fr)
157- #21 Paddy Gallagher (rs fr) vs Andy Garr (jr)
165- #6 Carson Kharchla (rs jr) vs. Josh Ogunsanya (jr) or Chim Tasie-Amadi (sr)
174- #6 Ethan Smith (rs sr) vs. Lennox Wolak (jr) or Aaron Ayzerov (soph)
184- #4 Kaleb Romero (rs sr) vs. #9 Hunter Bolen (grad)
197- #15 Gavin Hoffman (rs sr) vs. Javen Javero (soph) or Mike Baker (jr)
285- #7 Tate Orndorff (rs sr) vs. Dan Conley (sr)

Sasso and D'Emilio are not wrestling. Best match should be at 184 between two high seeds.
Big Ten Plus at 7pm EST. Much tougher dual coming Sunday vs. the Tar Heels.
 
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Better performance overall but Columbia may not win a dual all season. The real disappointing match was Ethan Smith losing, he looked really gassed after the 1st period. Conditioning seems to be an issue so far on the team.

Today we face #17 UNC, which just started. Should be a good matchup but unfortunately I don't have ESPN+ and I refuse to buy yet another streaming service, especially ESPN. I'll follow the results on Twitter and will weigh in later.
 
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Hell of a win, great job wrestling Bucks! Couldn't watch the match but just seeing the results...great job Mendez, Tater and Sasso with the falls. Wrestler of the dual has to be Smith getting a 2-0 win over the #5 wrestler in the country...to shut out a wrestler that good is remarkable and that is a huge step in the right direction for Ethan. Really good win for Romero as well. This is the best performance we've had by far. Hopefully we convert that into a big performance at the Cliff Keen Invitational.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Hell of a win, great job wrestling Bucks! Couldn't watch the match but just seeing the results...great job Mendez, Tater and Sasso with the falls. Wrestler of the dual has to be Smith getting a 2-0 win over the #5 wrestler in the country...to shut out a wrestler that good is remarkable and that is a huge step in the right direction for Ethan. Really good win for Romero as well. This is the best performance we've had by far. Hopefully we convert that into a big performance at the Cliff Keen Invitational.
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Like you pointed out in an earlier thread Ethan Smith appeared to be totally gassed in his first match. Boy did he make up for it against Lautt! Threw him to the mat about 6 times in 2nd per.and rode him out. Definitely the performance of the night although Mendez' fall was against a ranked wrestler too. Good luck to all the Buckeyes at Cliff Keen!
 
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Akron Rick said:
Like you pointed out in an earlier thread Ethan Smith appeared to be totally gassed in his first match. Boy did he make up for it against Lautt! Threw him to the mat about 6 times in 2nd per.and rode him out. Definitely the performance of the night although Mendez' fall was against a ranked wrestler too. Good luck to all the Buckeyes at Cliff Keen!
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Absolutely, unfortunately I could not watch the match but when you shut out a guy there was obvious dominance in riding on top...I am guessing an escape and then riding time for the 2-0 win? That is exactly what Ethan needed to get back on track, didn't really think of him as a great top position guy, but that is really impressive. And Mendez getting the fall is fantastic, he is going to be really dangerous by the time he hits the Tourney. I think we can definitely do some damage at the CF Invite, maybe win the thing. Just really wish we had another year from Romero, Hoffman, Smith and Sasso...the Big 3 talent could catch up in the other weights. But that's how it goes I suppose.
 
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RB... I couldn't watch it live OR stream it live but I was messing with the You Tube channei Monday night and searched "wrestling-Ohio State vs UNC " and voila! there it was. You were correct about how the Smith match went. He was so dominant I thought maybe this wasn't the nationally ranked UNC wrestler but the announcer confirmed it. I remember some preseason chatter about Ryan emphasizing better riding this season and we are seeing results from Malik,Smith,Romero,Tater,and even Decatur. I love it.BTW we do get one more year from Sasso (covid year) if he chooses to use it.
 
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Akron Rick said:
RB... I couldn't watch it live OR stream it live but I was messing with the You Tube channei Monday night and searched "wrestling-Ohio State vs UNC " and voila! there it was. You were correct about how the Smith match went. He was so dominant I thought maybe this wasn't the nationally ranked UNC wrestler but the announcer confirmed it. I remember some preseason chatter about Ryan emphasizing better riding this season and we are seeing results from Malik,Smith,Romero,Tater,and even Decatur. I love it.BTW we do get one more year from Sasso (covid year) if he chooses to use it.
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Well I'll have to look then, that's what I have. I would love to watch the dual. Great match for Smith, glad we're emphasizing the top position...at the college level, you can rack up the wins being dominant on top with riding time. Didn't know that on Sasso, hopefully he uses it, we could really use him back and probably the only shot at a title since Yianni is there this year.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Well I'll have to look then, that's what I have. I would love to watch the dual. Great match for Smith, glad we're emphasizing the top position...at the college level, you can rack up the wins being dominant on top with riding time. Didn't know that on Sasso, hopefully he uses it, we could really use him back and probably the only shot at a title since Yianni is there this year.
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Speaking of Sasso, he wrestled in an All Star event in Texas earlier this week in Texas against Austin Gomez who recently stuck 3 time 149 champ Yianni Diakomihalis by a 9-3 decision. Sammy jumped on him in the 1st and looked great and held a 7-4 lead (I think) after 2nd but just like his 1st loss the gas tank seemed empty in the 3rd and Gomez took him down 3 straight times with single-legs..all on the left leg.. to win 10-9. Sammy just had no answer but yeah this guy is fast and will probably now be favored in 149 but Coach Ryan may have a decision to make at 157, we will see.
 
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