The Mendez match was pretty frustrating really, no way he should have lost that with the start he had and a little disappointed with the coaching there. Sasso hopefully wins and he looks to be at his peak right now in every phase. Romero has wrestled really well, but odds of beating Brooks are pretty slim. Either way B1G finals are always a blast to watch if you are a fan of wrestling in general.
In the most recent news:
125: Gonzo went 2 and out, so we'll have nobody there at NCAA's
133: See above, extremely disappointing to not have Mendez in the finals.
141: D'Emilio strung together two wins in consolations and will place no lower than 6th, great showing and he has a winnable match to get him to 3/4 place match. Very good tourney for him.
149: Sasso wrestling for the title.
157: Gallagher goes two and out, awful showing for him. Unless there is an injury, there is an issue here...super inconsistent.
165: Kharchla got destroyed by Hamiti, not a good match for him to say the least. No lower than 6th but I think Kharchla is injured pretty badly, not sure if he ends up on the podium.
174: Ethan lost another close one to Labriola, not sure he is ever going to beat that dude though he is capable of it. No lower than 6th but I would say 3rd or 4th is the lowest he takes.
184: Romero in finals, he has looked great. Road probably ends at Brooks, might be a close match but I don't see anyone beating Brooks this year absent an injury or a fluke.
197: Looks like Hoffman took a medical forfeit and only had one win...could be another weight with nobody at NCAA's, he might have a spot allotted but seems pretty clear he is still injured or just not with it. Damn shame.
HWT: Tater won two in consolations and will take no lower than 6th...likely falls to Hillger in his next match, but good tourney from him all things considered.
We'll see how we round out this tourney and wrestle in the NCAA's, but I will say I am not thrilled with the progress of many of our wrestlers under this staff. I'm not going to go into every previous year, but look at this roster in terms of recruiting rankings (which in wrestling tend to be damn accurate) versus results from top to bottom. Malik was #1 nationally at his weight in HS, not once did he get on the podium (this year he got injured, but even healthy it was not going to happen). Mendez was the #1 overall recruit and I get he is a true frosh, but true frosh guys at PSU with that talent are not losing the matches he is. D'Emilio is fine and about on par with his ranking. Sasso was #1 nationally in HS, zero titles though he has overall been very good. Gallagher was #1 nationally at his weight in HS and shows talent, yet barely has a winning record. Kharchla was #1 at his weight in HS and never on the podium and even lost his wrestle off before the season. Smith has exceeded expectations without a doubt, no qualms there. Romero has had some injuries but even still, another guy ranked #1 that never got close to a title. Hoffman was #1 at his weight in HS and got that one AA by the grace of god, but came nowhere near his ranking while others in his recruiting class did. And that take doesn't even take into account the Decaturs (both #1 at their weight and did nothing here), Echemendia, Singletary from Blair and I know that is not the whole list.
Point is that the staff better get these highly rated recruits up on the podium higher...maybe it is unrealistic to expect PSU-level results as long as Sanderson is there, so I am not saying I expect that. BUT we are so far off the mark of actual results when our recruiting classes have been pretty similar overall. Yes you had RBY, Brooks, Starocci (list goes on) come in at the top of their classes, but so have we and we don't get close to the same results, to the point I am wondering if guys like RBY, Brooks, Starocci, etc. would be doing so well in Columbus. I would even throw out Haines as a guy from PSU to mention, certainly a good HS wrestler but nowhere near the accolades of Gallagher and can run circles around him right now. I don't think there is a better alternative out there than Ryan, but we need to take a look at how we are developing wrestlers and also at our assistants. I knew we weren't a top 3 school this year, but we have serious talent on the roster next year that we cannot squander...plus I think the recruiting run we have been on will dry up if top recruits are noticing the same thing.
I am also concerned about our coaching at the lower weights...results have been abysmal there lately and we love Logan Stieber for what he did at OSU as a wrestler, but is he a good coach? MH has underperformed by a lot and now it looks like Gonzales won't be the answer at 125, the Decaturs never developed into anything, D'Emilio did about what would be expected, Sasso you thought may be a multiple national title winner...the results in the lower weights have to get much better, plain and simple. And on Pletcher or McKenna, that had nothing to do with Logie except he did help Pletcher in the covid year where he could have won it and probably would have, but with or without Logie. Could be guys that just didn't pan out, put in the work or got injured, but the amount of shortcomings is getting to the point where I am more inclined to say it is not every single wrestlers fault.
Sorry for the rant, excited to watch some great wrestling today!
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