Black Shoe Diaries - BSD's NCAA Wrestling Championship CoverageDOMINATE THE STATEhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47529/blackshoediaries_fave.png2015-03-26T12:26:24-04:00http://www.blackshoediaries.com/rss/stream/80235982015-03-26T12:26:24-04:002015-03-26T12:26:24-04:00Wrestling Team Finish Analysis
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<p>For the first time since 2010, Penn State wrestling finished outside the top-5, in 6th place.</p> <p>What is this heresy? "Not National Champion" does not compute. How did Penn State finish in 6th place?</p>
<p>A bunch of reasons, really. Let's examine them!</p>
<h4>2015 Wrestling Nationals Final Team Scores</h4>
<h4></h4>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Place</th> <th>Team</th> <th>Total Points</th> <th>Plc Pts</th> <th>Adv Pts</th> <th>Bonus Pts</th> <th>Champs</th> <th>Finalists</th> <th>AAs</th> <th>Qualifiers</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>Ohio State</td>
<td>102</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>21.5</td>
<td>19.5</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>Iowa</td>
<td>84</td>
<td>47</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>Edinboro</td>
<td>75.5</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>16.5</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>Missouri</td>
<td>73.5</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>18.5</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5</td>
<td>Cornell</td>
<td>71.5</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>6</td>
<td>Penn State</td>
<td>67.5</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7</td>
<td>Oklahoma State</td>
<td>66</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>5</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>8</td>
<td>Minnesota</td>
<td>59.5</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>5</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>9</td>
<td>Nebraska</td>
<td>59</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>3</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>10</td>
<td>Virginia Tech</td>
<td>56</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>4</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>Apologies to Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Virginia Tech. Blognalysis has its inherent limits.</p>
<h4>Bonus Points</h4>
<p>Every team in front of Penn State scored at least double the amount of Bonus Points that Penn State did. That looks really, really weird, given PSU's Bonus production the past couple years:</p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
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<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Year</th> <th>Place</th> <th>Total Points</th> <th>Plc Pts</th> <th>Adv Pts</th> <th>Bonus Pts</th> <th>Champs</th> <th>Finalists</th> <th>AAs</th> <th>Qualifiers</th> <th>NQ Weights</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2010</td>
<td>9th</td>
<td>49.5</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>20.5</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>133, 141, 174, 197</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2011</td>
<td>1st</td>
<td>107.5</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>31</td>
<td>16.5</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>165, 197</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2012</td>
<td>1st</td>
<td>143</td>
<td>82</td>
<td>35.5</td>
<td>25.5</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>141</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2013</td>
<td>1st</td>
<td>123.5</td>
<td>68</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>29.5</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>n/a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2014</td>
<td>1st</td>
<td>109.5</td>
<td>64</td>
<td>25.5</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>n/a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2015</td>
<td>6th</td>
<td>67.5</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>141, 157, 165</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>PSU was bound to drop back to the Bonus pack some with the graduation of David Taylor & Ed Ruth, but what maybe hurt this year's Bonus Points most was only qualifying seven wrestlers. Kade Moss benefited from some forfeits in scoring 21 points at the Scuffle, but he also had three pins, including one over Oklahoma State's Dean Heil--who placed 4th last weekend! Thirteen of Garett Hammond's 23 wins this season were bonuses. We'll get into the root causes of 157 later, but suffice it to say that not everybody is All-American James English. Maybe if oft-injured, career 149-pounder Luke Frey had been, and maybe if Moss & Hammond had won their 9th place matches at Big Tens and actually competed in St. Louis, they would have scored 4 Bonus Points between them?</p>
<h4>Just Win Baby</h4>
<p>We covered the individual performances of <a href="http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/25/8283115/penn-state-wrestling-crowns-five-all-americans-ncaa-championships" target="_blank">Penn State's seven wrestlers in detail yesterday</a> and <a href="http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/24/8276967/penn-state-wrestling-national-champion-matt-brown-cael-sanderson-174-tyler-wilps#comments" target="_blank">on Tuesday</a>. Four of them lost at least one ridiculously close match that, had they won, would have altered the close team race fairly dramatically. Starting from the top:</p>
<ul>
<li>McIntosh battled back for third to make up 10 of the 12 points he missed out on by not being in the finals. Structurally, in the context of the bracket, though, his loss in the quarterfinals was damaging. Had he scored that last takedown against the Dukie and advanced to the semis, he would have earned 7 points immediately applied on Friday morning and would have set himself up for his first match of the season vs Iowa State's eventual champion, Kyven Gadson. Ohio State's Snyder was on the other side of the bracket and was unaffected by McIntosh's stumble, since they would not have seen each other until a Finals rematch anyway.</li>
<li>Iowa's Cory Clark definitely earned his win over Jimmy Gulibon in the 133-pound semifinals, but it was close. At one point after a Gulibon shot, the referee signaled a takedown for Jimmy, who saw the signal and released the leg he'd corraled in order to change position. Clark kept hustling, though, and the ref waved off the Gulibon takedown, instead awarding it to Clark. Had Gulibon secured that takedown (and not given up an ensuing reversal, which Clark may have earned anyway) and hung on for the W, Penn State would have earned another 7 points on Friday night alone. If you watched Oklahoma's Cody Brewer maul the field, you wouldn't have given Gulibon much more of a chance against him than Clark, but after that loss, Gulibon only scored one more team point, so the +6 difference would have been helpful.</li>
<li>Jimmy Lawson wasn't very close to winning any of the matches he lost--all to better, more experienced heavyweights--so we'll leave his hypothetical wins alone.</li>
<li>Jordan Conaway was a couple matches away from significant point differentials, but they were definitely winnable. Had he finally solved Thomas Gilman in Round 2, not only would Iowa's potential later points have taken another hit (and who knows what kind of psychological toll a fourth(!) top-5 seed losing in the first two rounds would have had on later Hawkeye performances), but Jordan would have faced a rematch with 3-seed Joey Dance. Conaway won their first matchup and could have really started sending his team some points with another win against him in the quarterfinals.</li>
<li>Ahead of even Gulibon on the 'thiiiiisss close to significant team points' scale is Matt McCutcheon. If he had been able to hold on to his 3-0 second-period quarterfinal lead over Ohio State's Kenny Courts...man. Seven more points go right to Penn State's team score. That one win would have moved PSU from 6th to 4th place by itself! It also would have taken seven points off of Ohio State's team score and jeopardized Courts' ability to score any more by dumping HIM into the Round of 12 instead of McCutcheon. As it was, Courts only scored one additional point anyway, but the 14-point swing was massive. Big, big missed opportunity to sway the team race right there. Even after that, McCutcheon left another 3.5 points on the table by dropping the 5-2 decision to Dudley. With the way he had been wrestling and the beautiful upset of 3-seed Stauffer in Round 2, Mouse was set up very nicely to really affect the team race, but he couldn't quite get over the hump.</li>
<li>Zack Beitz was also a couple matches away from significant a team points change, but a win in his match with Villalonga would have brought PSU closer to Cornell. Had he squeaked a win by Pantaleo in the consis, he would have only brought an additional .5 points and would then be facing 4-seed Clark in the R16. So, not much to see here as far as the team race is concerned.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Tourney Turmoil</h4>
<h4></h4>
<p>If Gabe Dean had lost his finals match, Penn State would have tied Cornell and maintained its streak of consecutive years in the top-5, at five years. But that was a tall order for Lehigh's Nate Brown, whom Dean had already beaten three times this year. But the what-if game can be really fun in dissecting a double-elimination wrestling tournament, what with the three flavors of scoring and the closeness of so many individual matches.</p>
<p>A more accurate possibility (accurate meaning 'closest to reality / closest to actually having happened) was if the refs and the Old Dominion coaches, and the NCAA for that matter, had all handled the Ian Miller - Brian Realbuto quarterfinals snafu better. Miller had a nice lead in the third, 8-4, but Realbuto gassed him and came roaring back. He got an escape and a takedown to bring it to 8-7, Miller. Realbuto immediately cut Miller and took him down again. The officials failed to award that escape point to Miller (the cut point) and instead mistakenly scored two consecutive takedowns, showing the score to be 9-8 in favor of Realbuto. Most scoring software does not allow for that, and the trackwrestling scoresheet indicates a workaround was used; it says, consecutively for Realbuto, 'E1, T2 +2.' What the hell is the +2? It's a workaround to give Realbuto two points that the scorekeeper probably wasn't allowed to key in because the entry immediately before that was a Realbuto takedown (and not a Miller escape / E1). So the end-of-regulation result was, after Miller's riding time point was awarded, 9-9 and in OT, Realbuto swooped in for the winning takedown.</p>
<p>Another missed call that would have drastically changed Penn State's score was an apparent pin by Jimmy Gulibon over A.J. Schopp. Gulibon had him stacked up, with both shoulder blades flat on the mat, for a good three seconds. Control had not yet been awarded, however, and that was all the ref seemed to care about. He never even lowered himself to the mat to evaluate it, instead focusing on the control aspect, which Schopp gained soon after and pinned Gulibon himself. The two missed Bonus Points, the missed .5 Advancement Points and the missed 3 Placement Points would have put PSU in 5th place alone. And a Gulibon win in the 3rd place match, over Minny's Chris Dardanes who barely beat Gulibon in the dual, could have even overtaken Missouri for 4th place. You get the idea: it's a crazy tourney where anything can--and does--happen.</p>
<h4>Injuries</h4>
<p>I'm sure part of it was my new vantage point only feet from the wrestlers, but this year's nationals felt like a hospital room at different points. The biggest disappointments were in the 157 pound weight class, where there were five very exciting wrestlers and two of them were brought low by injuries. The first was fan favorite Dylan Ness from Minnesota, and Realbuto and Cornell were again the benefactors. In the middle of the third period, Ness hurt his shoulder and had to default out at the 2:28 mark. Realbuto advanced and scored 9 points in that round, the maximum possible in any one tournament round. Realbuto had beaten Ness at National Duals in February, so it's obviously very possible he could have done so again. But the fans missed out on a great match.</p>
<p>After that quarterfinal loss to Realbuto, Ian Miller scored a 24-6 technical fall in the Round of 12 and an 8-4 decision in the consi quarters, before facing Nebraska's James Green in the consi semis. Somewhere in that match with Green, Miller hurt his knee pretty badly.</p>
<p>Green sure felt it.</p>
<p>He proceeded to finish the match while blatantly avoiding that left leg altogether, including cutting Miller after a late takedown so he could finish the match on his feet. It was really bizarre; I'd never seen such blatant sportsmanship over an injury in wrestling before, although it's probably more common than in my experience.</p>
<p>James Green ended up finishing the tourney in third and finishing his career as a 4x All-American (7th, 7th, 3rd, 3rd). In the offseason, he was my pick to win 157 and to challenge Stieber for the Hodge Trophy if anybody might manage to zPain him. But then Isaiah Martinez happened, and Green's quest for a title ended without one. Still, he is going to be missed.</p>
<p>The injuries to Miller & Ness reached a momentarily surprising end, when Miller limped out to center at the start of their scheduled 5th-place match. Even though Ness had shown he could not physically finish his previous match with Realbuto, Ness appeared in his corner and very gingerly slipped his singlet up over his shoulder. I was all like 'no way! Neither of these guys should be wrestling.'</p>
<p>And they weren't.</p>
<p>Ness was forfeiting to Miller. But unlike most medical forfeits where the injured wrestler doesn't even usually appear, this was the official end to the career of the Great Dylan Ness, who finishes as a 4x AA, 2x Finalist and 0x Champ. That such a wrestler as Ness never achieved a title underscores the difficulty of the endeavor, and the impressiveness of Logan Stieber's feat. Ness brought a brand of wrestling to the mat that excited fans of all teams, and the standing ovation he received was the only such unanimous applause heard in the arena the entire weekend. Both Iowa and non-Iowa fans joined in appreciating an entertaining and classy wrestler.</p>
<p>Dylan Ness is definitely going to be missed.</p>
<h4>The Alton Twins</h4>
<p>The biggest injury contributors to Penn State's 6th-place finish were inside their own house, however. As recently as the middle of January, Dylan Alton was wrestling well and ranked in the top-8 at 157. But then in the Purdue dual on the 18th, he dislocated one of his two surgically repaired shoulders in a 3-1 overtime loss to Doug Welch. He had spent the fall of this season recovering from his second labrum surgery and the prognosis was pretty good. He'd debuted in the Southern Scuffle and went 5-2 for 4th place and 17.5 team points, including wins over R12 Anthony Collica and Realbuto.</p>
<p>Before the Purdue meet, he continued to look good, going 3-0 with an overtime win over Ohio State's then-#5 Josh Demas and an 11-3 Major Decision over Rutgers. It was absolutely gutting to see him get dinged yet another time. We hoped against hope he could recover one more time, but the coffin nail appeared in the middle of February when Dylan's shoulder failed him again and Oklahoma State's Anthony Collica tech-falled him in the dual in Stillwater.</p>
<p>In Dylan's best, healthiest finish in 2012, he scored 15.5 points battling back to 3rd place after a quarterfinals loss. 157 was pretty wild this year, but one of the guys he pinned in that Scuffle debut was finalist Realbuto. And with the eventual injuries to both Miller and Ness, who's to say Dylan couldn't have reached the finals himself, depending on which side of the bracket he landed with respect to Martinez? Penn State finished 16.5 points behind second-place Iowa; could a healthy Dylan have made up that point difference?</p>
<p>Andrew's luck was perhaps even worse than Dylan's. He was the only one of the two who could squeeze into 141 when they first arrived on campus in the 2011 season, so he was thrown to the wolves in his true Freshman year. And in a very stacked weight!</p>
<p>Andrew came out doing what he does best--big headlocks, throws and pins and got the Rec Hall crowd very excited for what the future might hold. Fourteen(!) of his first 17 wins were pins. His first loss was to #1 Kellen Russell, an eventual 2x Champ, in a 4-3 decision. In the Iowa dual that year, he brought the Rec Hall faithful to its feet when he threw Iowa's returning AA Montel Marion to his back and had what looked like a pin, before running out of steam in an 11-9 loss. In fact, all of Andrew's 10 losses that season were to eventual All-Americans, including a 5-4 decision to Penn's Zach Kemerer in the Round of 12, when the weight cut and battles against the top studs finally took their toll and ended his season.</p>
<p>The next year, Andrew redshirted while Dylan placed third and the following year, both Altons suffered the first of many shoulder injuries. Bizarrely, or maybe not for identical twins, both boys each suffered injuries that required surgery to both of their labrums. Because only one shoulder could be repaired at a time, they wrestled the next two seasons with either two injured labrums or with one injured and one recovering from surgery or with two recovering from surgery. Given the long history of those injuries, fans were cautious about the prospect of having both, or one, available for this first year post Taylor-Ruth. Andrew answered that question pretty quickly when he busted a knee early last Fall that required surgery, and he never wrestled a match this season. It sounds like a medical redshirt possibility path is being embarked upon, but it might be a long-shot, and it's unclear if Andrew would even wrestle that last season at PSU if it is indeed successful.</p>
<p>It's possible that the field may have eventually caught on to Andrew's pinning tricks, although David Taylor continued to pin people at a high rate as his career evolved. But it's really difficult to believe that two healthy Altons this year would have both missed the podium. If we gave a really conservative estimate (again, based on their healthy peformances in 2011 & 2012) of 10 points each, Penn State would have finished this year in second place. And if both of them had made the finals and one won a title, both with a few Bonus Points along the way, say, finishing with 20 and 16 points, Penn State would have closed the 35.5 point gap between 6th and 1st place. And Gable's nine-straight titles streak could still be in reach after Penn State won its fifth national championship in a row.</p>
<h4>Real Talk</h4>
<p>But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is the Altons were hampered and their careers were unluckily impeded by poor health. Another truth is that Cael Sanderson, after wrestling both Nico Megaludis and Zain Retherford in their true Freshman--team title contention years--redshirted both of them this year. We could do some quick math and give Nico 10 more points than Conaway and Retherford 15 more points than the goose egg at 141, and that second-place gap would be closed and the first-place one would be in hypothetical jeopardy. But that message is over. You get the point.</p>
<p>The real truth is that we pretty much knew what we had most of this season. We saw promise in a few up-and-comers and we heard the coaches religiously stick to their message of positivity, but Penn State's seedings for nationals were pretty fair; they were earned by their season's body of work. When the season was over, Cael admitted that "we always have to believe that we can win, but we also have to have the guys who can score points."</p>
<p>He added, "I think we did a nice job."</p>
<p>So the question: is how nice of a job? Depending on how the algo was constructed, Penn State was projected to finish slightly worse than where they did. There are two key ways to analyze final placements versus the pre-tourney seedings. One is a measurement of the ordinal difference between the seed and the placement. If you were seeded 11th, like Conaway, and finished in 8th, that's a +3 over-performance of seed. The second way is to use an algo to project the non-Bonus Points a particular seed would earn and compare that to the points the actual placement would/did earn. Conaway's 11-seed, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VU2n8a3ytUgNo64K5d8e_u4gG-O5BQ7wcp2xUhQuKNk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">using the algo I used all year in the Phat Mat Stats rankings posts</a>, projected to earn 2 non-Bonus Points (Advancement + Placement(which would be zero since 11 is off the podium and out of range of the last scoring place: 8th)). When he finished 8th and earned 5.5 points, the Team Point Differential is 3.5. So Jordan has a +3 Ordinal Differential and a +3.5 Team Point Differential.</p>
<p>Got it?</p>
<p>Penn State's chart looks like this (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VU2n8a3ytUgNo64K5d8e_u4gG-O5BQ7wcp2xUhQuKNk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here's a link to the whole spreadsheet</a> if you'd like to download it and use it yourselves):</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Weight</th> <th>PSU Wrestler</th> <th>Seed</th> <th>Projected Tourney Points</th> <th>Placement</th> <th>Non-Bonus Tourney Points</th> <th>Team Point Differential</th> <th>Seed to Placement Ordinal Differential</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>125</td>
<td>Jordan Conaway</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>5.5</td>
<td>3.5</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>133</td>
<td>Jimmy Gulibon</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>3.5</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strike>141</strike></td>
<td><strike>Kade Moss</strike></td>
<td><strike>33</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>33</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>149</td>
<td>Zach Beitz</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>-1</td>
<td>-5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strike>157</strike></td>
<td><strike>Luke Frey</strike></td>
<td><strike>33</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>33</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strike>165</strike></td>
<td><strike>Garett Hammond</strike></td>
<td><strike>33</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>33</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
<td><strike>0</strike></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>174</td>
<td>Matt Brown</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>184</td>
<td>Matt McCutcheon</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>197</td>
<td>Morgan McIntosh</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>-2.5</td>
<td>-1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HWT</td>
<td>Jimmy Lawson</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>5.5</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>3.5</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Totals/Avgs</b></td>
<td><b>15.5</b></td>
<td><b>49.5</b></td>
<td><b>14.8</b></td>
<td><b>61</b></td>
<td><b>11.5</b></td>
<td><b>7</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>AA Counts</b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Underperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>2</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Wrestled to Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>0</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Overperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b></b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>The more I look at that chart, the more I'm bummed about our three holes at 141, 157 & 165. There HAD to have been some points there, if those guys could have just <i>gotten </i>to St. Louis. In any event, that's not too bad: 5 guys over-performing their seed. Cael twice failed to mention Beitz under-performing his seed, both in the hallway after the finals and at the PSWC social when he was busting McIntosh's balls for only finishing 3rd, but I can't tell if that was deliberate or just slipped his mind. Lawson never really threatened to do better than he did and Beitz was two rounds away from his seed, but each of Conaway, Gulibon, McCutcheon & McIntosh were very, very close to improving on even their over-performances of seed. Five over-performers and differentials of +11.5 / +7 are pretty good, right?</p>
<p>Cael's assessment seems apt: they did a nice job this year.</p>
<p>But that's enough about the Nittany Lions for now. We'll have plenty of time this offseason to talk lineups and incoming & returning studs and their prospective impact on the 2016 team race.</p>
<p>Let's look at how those teams ahead of Penn State <i>this year</i> did.</p>
<h4>Brutus on Top (1st Place, 102 Points)<br>
</h4>
<p>I've been crowing Ohio State as my favorite to win this year's title since last summer, based primarily on the presence of multiple top-end firepowers. They had the staple--the returning 3x Champ, a returning third-place AA, three elite newcomers just coming off redshirt or high school and they had a balanced cast of five Tier Two guys who could threaten the podium at any time. Penn State fans had just finished watching some variation of that formula the past four years: a couple bonus-scoring finalists ameliorated with a few All-Americans.</p>
<p>So anyway, all that did indeed happen (nbd) and brutus earned its first ever wrestling National Championship.</p>
<p>Gradulations, brutus.</p>
<p>But check out Ohio State's 2015 variation on it, in terms of performance vs. seed:</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Weight</th> <th>Ohio State Wrestler</th> <th>Seed</th> <th>Projected Tourney Points</th> <th>Placement</th> <th>Non-Bonus Tourney Points</th> <th>Team Point Differential</th> <th>Seed to Placement Ordinal Differential</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>125</td>
<td>Nathan Tomasello</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>7.5</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>133</td>
<td>Johnni DiJulius</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>-11</td>
<td>-9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>141</td>
<td>Logan Stieber</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>149</td>
<td>Hunter Stieber</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>157</td>
<td>Josh Demas</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>-8</td>
<td>-11</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>165</td>
<td>Bo Jordan</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>3.5</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>174</td>
<td>Mark Martin</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>-1</td>
<td>-7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>184</td>
<td>Kenny Courts</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>197</td>
<td>Kyle Snyder</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>3.5</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HWT</td>
<td>Nick Tavanello</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Totals/Avgs</b></td>
<td><b>11.7</b></td>
<td><b>79.5</b></td>
<td><b>12.5</b></td>
<td><b>83</b></td>
<td><b>3.5</b></td>
<td><b>-8</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Placement Counts</b></td>
<td><b>6</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Underperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Wrestled to Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Overperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b></b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>Now some of that weird data is the result of subjective decisions regarding how exactly to treat either the unseeded wrestlers ranked 17-33 or the ambiguity of the exact finish of four or more wrestlers who got eliminated in the same round, but had no further wrestle-offs. Four wrestlers got eliminated in the R12 of each weight and four also got eliminated in the R16, while 8 wrestlers got eliminated in consi rounds 24 and 32. There's no way to accurately distinguish their rank within that round. Hunter went 0-2 and finished R32. We could have named his 'placement' at anything from 25 through 33. Similarly, given his unseeded position to start, we could have set his seed at anything from 17 through 33. But to keep the comparative data reasonable, we subjectively set both his starting point & end point at 33.</p>
<p>Martin went 1-2 for a R24 finish, meaning we could set his 'placement' at anything from 17 to 24. In order to avoid skewing the desired resultant competitive data, we chose the lowest gap of under-performance available and set it to 17. Choosing that number over, say, 24, had no effect on the Team Point Differential (it equaled 1pt either way), but it was a big difference in the Ordinal Differential (resulted in -7, instead of -14). Hopefully that explains any variances in the data. In short, I erred on the side of the most minimal impact to Ordinal Differential when selecting a subjective placement or seed inside a group of commonly eliminated wrestlers.</p>
<p>Ohio State had three wrestlers under-perform their seeds. Johnni DiJulius and Josh Demas combined to leave 19 points on the table by not wrestling to their seeds (-11, -8 respectively). Mark Martin's under-performance was swallowed up and barely meaningful in Team Point Differential (starting at the 10-seed with only two projected points, it's difficult to fall too far), but the dive from 10th to Round of 24 made up the overwhelming majority of brutus' team Ordinal Differential (-15). Tomasello's 7.5-point gain and Courts' 9-point gain, combined with Jordan's & Snyder's modest 3.5-point gains, balanced those losses out, though, for a net gain of +3.5 points in Team Differential.</p>
<p>Really, brutus' performance (mostly chalk for its 4 non-injured studs + vast under-performance by Tier 2 Not Named Kenny Courts) really left the door open for some erstwhile challenger to attack them. Lucky thing for Ohio State was...nobody in the field seemed willing to do so.</p>
<h4>On Iowa (2nd Place, 84 Points)</h4>
<h4></h4>
<p>This is the fifth year in a row Iowa did not win a team title. More damningly, to both the worst of the rabid psycho fans expectant of Dan Gable-esque dominance in a modern era of 9.9 scholarships and to the moderate, objective, still die-hard but immensely disappointed reasonable folk, the vaunted number one recruiting class of 2010 finished with <a href="http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/wrestling/2015/3/18/5925441/iowa-wrestling-recruiting-the-class-of-2010-and-the-perils-of-hype" target="_blank">zero individual Big Ten Champions and zero individual National Finalists</a>. They meekly rounded out their careers with a shared Big Ten Tourney title and a second-place finish at nationals, which prompted this quip from Sophomore All-American, Thomas Gilman:</p>
<blockquote lang="en" class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Gilman on 2016 after no Hawkeye senior finished top four: "We’ve got a lot of big shoes to fill, but then again the shoes aren’t that big."</p>
— Chad Leistikow (@ChadLeistikow) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChadLeistikow/status/579338925098991617">March 21, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
<script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</p>
<p>Iowa's got bigger problems, though, than failure to meet unreasonable expectations. They've got style problems that BHGP has been expressing disappointment in for at least two years and which came to a head in their <a href="http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/wrestling/2015/2/23/8088443/iowa-missouri-national-duals-final-recap" target="_blank">finals loss to Missouri in February's National Duals</a>. Fans of all teams, though, can see it: the product on the mat looks more pushy and less... score-y.</p>
<p>All that would be fine, even, if they merely met the <i>reasonable </i>expectations. Say, the ones set by the seeds earned in their regular season bodies of work:</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Weight</th> <th>Iowa Wrestler</th> <th>Seed</th> <th>Projected Tourney Points</th> <th>Placement</th> <th>Non-Bonus Tourney Points</th> <th>Team Point Differential</th> <th>Seed to Placement Ordinal Differential</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>125</td>
<td>Thomas Gilman</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>3.5</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>133</td>
<td>Cory Clark</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>2.5</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>141</td>
<td>Josh Dziewa</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>-8.5</td>
<td>-11</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>149</td>
<td>Brandon Sorensen</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>157</td>
<td>Mike Kelly</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>165</td>
<td>Nick Moore</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>174</td>
<td>Mike Evans</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>-4.5</td>
<td>-3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>184</td>
<td>Sammy Brooks</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>197</td>
<td>Nathan Burak</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>-2.5</td>
<td>-1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HWT</td>
<td>Bobby Telford</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>-3.5</td>
<td>-2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Totals/Avgs</b></td>
<td><b>10.5</b></td>
<td><b>83</b></td>
<td><b>11.9</b></td>
<td><b>70</b></td>
<td><b>-13</b></td>
<td><b>-14</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>AA Counts</b></td>
<td><b>7</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>6</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Underperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Wrestled to Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Overperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>2</b></td>
<td><b></b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>It could be fairly argued the Jevva over-performed his previous body of work by reaching the Big Ten Finals, and that he was subsequently seeded inaccurately at #5. He he made up the majority of Iowa's under-performance in both Team Point and Ordinal Differentials. But even if he had been seeded 8 or 12, the Round of 16 finish was a disappointing, if not a wholly unexpected, result. Mike Kelly and Nick Moore crawled to the finish line of tough, hard careers and we shouldn't be surprised if either or both of them announce they'll be getting surgery on some broken piece of their beaten & weary bodies soon here this offseason.</p>
<p>And still (!), with Hunter Stieber's ineffectiveness and brutus leaving the door to the title open in what could be a rapidly-closing window for the Hawkeyes, and Iowa sporting a lineup of seven remaining very capable wrestlers, the requisite achievement fell short.</p>
<p>Gilman and Clark over-performed like the leaders they are quickly becoming and Sorensen clawled back to even after a shocking second-round loss to Penn's 13-seed CJ Cobb. But Sam Brooks had a rough draw that confined him to a seed/placement which all signs indicated he was probably above (although 184 was a really tough weight nationally this year). Senior Mountain Man Bobby Telford also failed to navigate an unlucky early draw and finished in 5th place, far away from the title he was capable of. And lastly, another Senior leader, Mike Evans, for the second year in a row, failed to win a match after losing a super-tight semifinal contest.</p>
<p>This was their year.</p>
<p>Penn State was reloading after Taylor & Ruth, Ohio State looked vulnerable from injury and under-performance, Missouri was choking on a massive scale, Edinboro didn't have quite enough firepower and Cornell had too many holes. This was the perfect year for Iowa to banish their demons and ascend to their rightful place to sitteth at the right hand of Dan the Father Algable.</p>
<p>But, le sigh and la-ment and lalalalalalalet'stalkaboutMissouri.</p>
<h4>Them Scots Sure Can Fight (3rd Place, 75.5 Points)</h4>
<p>Sorry, no disrespect intended, Edinboro. I was just in a hurry to address Missouri's massive, debilitating choke. Did we mention Missouri choked? We'll get to them in plenty of time. Let's talk about you.</p>
<p>First, mad respect.</p>
<p>You rolled into St. Louis with only six wrestlers, three of whom were studs and one of whom had been hanging around the edges of stud for a full season. Your two 2-seeds both reached the finals, where they suffered defeat at the hands of great champions and did so with class and dignity and fight. Your injured former title challenger got healthy enough to win seven straight consi matches after losing a tight one in the first round and your fourth man, hoo boy. He rode his 13-seed to wins over the 3, 4, 5 & 6 seeds and a 3rd-place finish. Just studly.</p>
<p>Here's how it looked on paper:</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Weight</th> <th>Edinboro Wrestler</th> <th>Seed</th> <th>Projected Tourney Points</th> <th>Placement</th> <th>Non-Bonus Tourney Points</th> <th>Team Point Differential</th> <th>Seed to Placement Ordinal Differential</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>125</td>
<td>Korey Mines</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>133</td>
<td>AJ Schopp</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>11.5</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>141</td>
<td>Mitchell Port</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>149</td>
<td>David Habat</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>2.5</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>157</td>
<td>Austin Matthews</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>165</td>
<td>Casey Fuller</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>174</td>
<td>Patick Jennings</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>184</td>
<td>Vic Avery</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>197</td>
<td>Vince Pickett</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HWT</td>
<td>Forrest Christman</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Totals/Avgs</b></td>
<td><b>20.4</b></td>
<td><b>35</b></td>
<td><b>18.7</b></td>
<td><b>61</b></td>
<td><b>26</b></td>
<td><b>17</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Placement Counts</b></td>
<td><b>2</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Underperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>0</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Wrestled to Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Overperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b></b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>Three wrestling to seed and three over-performing doesn't jump out at you, but Schopp's and Avery's over-performances shook both the Team Point and Ordinal Differentials. Only Avery returns from that group and Edinboro's top-5 days are over for the time being, until coach Tim Flynn can convince the next superstar from Bellefonte to eschew Penn State and come on up to the Northeast.</p>
<h4>Tiger? I Barely Knew Her (4th Place, 73.5 Points)</h4>
<p>If you're any kind of a people-watcher sports fan, this tournament is for you. Teams are divided, roughly, by arena section and errybody is reppin their squads' labels. Mizzou fans, representing the official host school, and hoping to watch their team earn their very first NCAA wrestling championship, were out in force.</p>
<p>We all thought they had a lot of reason for hope. They looked amazing in winning February's Nationals Duals, they had three legit individual title threats and a stable of tough Tier Two / podium challengers, and they were the highest-scoring team as projected by seeds.</p>
<p>Slowly, though, session by session, the energy dissipated from their fans' section as nearly all of their highest projected point-scorers fizzled and fell.</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Weight</th> <th>Missouri Wrestler</th> <th>Seed</th> <th>Projected Tourney Points</th> <th>Placement</th> <th>Non-Bonus Tourney Points</th> <th>Team Point Differential</th> <th>Seed to Placement Ordinal Differential</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>125</td>
<td>Alan Waters</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>-6.5</td>
<td>-2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>133</td>
<td>Zach Synon</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>141</td>
<td>Lavion Mayes</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>-3.5</td>
<td>-2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>149</td>
<td>Drake Houdashelt</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>157</td>
<td>Joey Lavallee</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>165</td>
<td>Mikey England</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>174</td>
<td>John Eblen</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>-11</td>
<td>-9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>184</td>
<td>Willie Miklus</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>5.5</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>197</td>
<td>J'Den Cox</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>-10</td>
<td>-4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HWT</td>
<td>Devin Mellon</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Totals/Avgs</b></td>
<td><b>10.7</b></td>
<td><b>87.5</b></td>
<td><b>10.2</b></td>
<td><b>63.5</b></td>
<td><b>-24</b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>AA Counts</b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Underperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Wrestled to Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Overperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b></b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>Joey Lavallee and Mikey England placed slightly better than their seeds, so only Willie Miklus did significantly better than he was seeded to do. And on the other end, two of their three projected champions fell significantly, to 3rd and 5th, costing the team 16.5 points in the Team Point Differential.</p>
<p>The worst offender, though, was a victim of his own stupidity as much as he was the perils of the field. Missouri's probably-overseeded 174-pounder, John Eblen (at the 4-seed), got knocked to the consis in the first round by an unseeded lad from Oregon State.</p>
<p>He appeared to have been shaking off the frustration of that first-round loss in ensuing Major Decision wins in the Rounds of 32 and 24, but something snapped in the R16 match vs 11-seed Zac Brunson of Illlinois. Eblen deliberately headbutted Brunson, earning himself a swift disqualification from the match and the tournament. The offense was egregious enough that the NCAA took the extra step of removing the four points Eblen had scored to that point from Missouri's overall team score.</p>
<p>Check out its effect on Missouri's chart:</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
<tbody>
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<th>Weight</th> <th>Missouri Wrestler</th> <th>Seed</th> <th>Projected Tourney Points</th> <th>Placement</th> <th>Non-Bonus Tourney Points</th> <th>Team Point Differential</th> <th>Seed to Placement Ordinal Differential</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>125</td>
<td>Alan Waters</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td>-6.5</td>
<td>-2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>133</td>
<td>Zach Synon</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>141</td>
<td>Lavion Mayes</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>-3.5</td>
<td>-2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>149</td>
<td>Drake Houdashelt</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>157</td>
<td>Joey Lavallee</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>165</td>
<td>Mikey England</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>174</td>
<td>John Eblen</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>12.5</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>-11</td>
<td>-9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>184</td>
<td>Willie Miklus</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>6.5</td>
<td>5.5</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>197</td>
<td>J'Den Cox</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>-10</td>
<td>-4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HWT</td>
<td>Devin Mellon</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Totals/Avgs</b></td>
<td><b>10.7</b></td>
<td><b>87.5</b></td>
<td><b>10.2</b></td>
<td><b>63.5</b></td>
<td><b>-24</b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>AA Counts</b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Underperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Wrestled to Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Overperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>3</b></td>
<td><b></b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>Practically every session, another of Missouri's hopes were dashed by one upset or another. Their previously formidable fanbase whimpered through to Saturday night when they were finally rewarded with a Drake Houdashelt championship to soothe their woes.</p>
<p>It was an important win for Missouri fans.</p>
<p>This tournament can absolutely gut you--and most of this year's tourney did so to Missouri. Watching so many talented and hopeful wrestlers fall short of their goals is a rite of passage for any new fan at this tournament, so when some bright light finally shines and you can celebrate a single individual crowning achievement, it's not only a relief, but it reminds you of the glory this beautiful sport can provide.</p>
<h4>Cornell Medium-Sized Red (5th Place, 71.5 Points)</h4>
<p>Cornell qualified nine wrestlers, but with significant, season-long struggles at 133, 174 and Heavyweight, they were really only challenging with six. But of those six, four were top-5 material with 2-3 genuine shots at titles, and two more were threatening around the edges of the podium. But with three seeded in the top-2, their chart didn't have much room to go anyplace but down:</p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
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<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>Weight</th> <th>Cornell Wrestler</th> <th>Seed</th> <th>Projected Tourney Points</th> <th>Placement</th> <th>Non-Bonus Tourney Points</th> <th>Team Point Differential</th> <th>Seed to Placement Ordinal Differential</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>125</td>
<td>Nahshon Garrett</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>-6</td>
<td>-3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>133</td>
<td>Mark Grey</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>141</td>
<td>Nick Arujau</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>149</td>
<td>Chris Villalonga</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>-1</td>
<td>-1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>157</td>
<td>Brian Realbuto</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>165</td>
<td>Dylan Palacio</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>-0.5</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>174</td>
<td>George Pickett</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>184</td>
<td>Gabe Dean</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>197</td>
<td>Jace Bennett</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>-0.5</td>
<td>-4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HWT</td>
<td>Jacob Aiken-Phillips</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Totals/Avgs</b></td>
<td><b>11.5</b></td>
<td><b>83</b></td>
<td><b>12.4</b></td>
<td><b>75</b></td>
<td><b>-8</b></td>
<td><b>-7</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Placement Counts</b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Underperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>4</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Wrestled to Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>5</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><b>Overperformed Seed</b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b> </b></td>
<td><b>0</b></td>
<td><b></b></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>And down they did go. Four of them did. Palacio's and Bennett's drops were not significant. We covered Realbuto's path pretty well above, and Gabe Dean remains the class of 184. I can't decide if he's lucky that he and Ed Ruth only crossed paths at that weight for one year, or if the fans got totally jobbed out of a bunch of epic battles. Probably a good dose of both. Former very-highly-ranked recruit Villalonga finally made the podium in his last chance and their three holes mostly wrestled to seed.</p>
<p>The real disappointment was 2-seed Nahshon. He has certainly had an erratic season, missing weight once and also losing to Mizzou's unranked 133-pounder in the one match he tried to wrestle up a weight, so it wasn't completely unforeseen. But when you've got a title challenger (he was a finalist last year) who finishes 5th, it's always a disappointment, and it greatly reduces hopes for a nice team run.</p>
<p>Cornell's young, though. It's always difficult to keep up with their remaining eligibility because of the way they drop wrestlers out of school to community colleges in order to circumnavigate the Ivies' self-imposed no-redshirt rules (I'm all ears on this phenomenon, so educate me if you've got it). But Gabe Dean, Realbuto and Palacio all have two more years of tourneys. Nahshon's got one more. So they'll be around again next year, but with still a lot of work to do with their back six.</p>
<h4>Fin</h4>
<h4></h4>
<p>So that's it, kids. Another amazing national wrestling tournament is in the books. And it once again showcased why it's such a great sporting event. It has it all: upsets, heroes, goats, punks, class acts. Awesome, enthusiastic fanbases. Action. Inaction. Inconsistent zebras. You know, like all sprots.</p>
<p>Best of all, it's got wrestlers, wrestling coaches and wrestling fans. The Wrestling Community is a great thing to be part of.</p>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/26/8288659/penn-state-wrestling-finishes-6th-national-championships-ohiostate-iowa-edindbor-missouri-cornelljtothep2015-03-25T12:40:32-04:002015-03-25T12:40:32-04:00Penn State Crowns 5 All-American Wrestlers
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zwSw6Hd8ceMRHPppn18Hoq8rVxw=/0x40:3288x2232/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45977548/usa-today-8431320.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Penn State sent seven wrestlers to nationals, and brought home five All-Americans and one National Champion as the team finished outside the Top-5 for the first time since 2010.</p> <p>The Cael Sanderson era is producing All-American wrestlers at a rapid clip. In Cael's first year in 2010, Penn State had three AA's and added new wrestler Cyler Sanderson to the list. In 2011, five made the podium as David Taylor, Ed Ruth and Andrew Long made their AA debut. 2012's changes included six AA's, the debut of Nico Megaludis & Dylan Alton, and Frank Molinaro joining the list of 4x AA's. In 2013, Matt Brown debuted and Quentin Wright joined the 4x AA club as five wrestlers made the podium. Last year introduced newbies Zain Retherford, Morgan McIntosh and All-American James English; Ed Ruth & David Taylor joined the 4x club; and we watched seven Penn Staters receive AA medals. This year, nobody joined the 4x AA club (Matt Brown was blocked by Ed Ruth in his first year of eligibility), but Penn State crowned five All-Americans as Jimmy Gulibon, Jimmy Lawson and Jordan Conaway all made it for the first time.</p>
<h4>All-American Morgan McIntosh (197)<br>
</h4>
<p><a href="http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/24/8276967/penn-state-wrestling-national-champion-matt-brown-cael-sanderson-174-tyler-wilps" target="_blank">Yesterday we looked at the stellar career of Matt Brown</a>, who finishes at Penn State as a 3x AA, 2x Finalist and a National Champion. Junior Morgan McIntosh will have one more year to reach the first and last of those accomplishments and by the way he wrestled this year--and if he is blessed by good health--he will have every opportunity to become Penn State's 24th National Champion.</p>
<p>This year Morgan elevated his mat wrestling and became an imposing top-rider. With only brief blips against last year's champion J'Den Cox and this year's runner-up Kyle Snyder in January, he also vastly improved on bottom. His neutral game remained as strong as before and he continued his dominance against 3x AA Scott Schiller and 2x AA Nathan Burak, beating the former three times and the latter twice. He also avenged those earlier losses, dominating Kyle Snyder in the finals for his first Big Ten Championship and then this weekend getting an amazing last-second takedown against Cox in the national consolation semifinals.</p>
<p>If close losses were the number one recurrent them for this year's squad, it seemed fitting that the only loss Morgan suffered at nationals was one as well. In the quarterfinals, Morgan faced the squirrely 10-seed Conner Hartmann, who wrestles for Duke and, as such, Morgan never got to face him during the season. He had three really, really good shots that he was unable to finish, including one at the end of p3 that seemed like he and Hartmann circled six times, and the Dukie scrambled long enough for time to expire and to advance with a 3-2 win over the 2-seed McIntosh.</p>
<p>It was a heartbreaking loss because it looked for the world like McIntosh was peaking at just the right time to earn his first championship. Worse, a loss in the quarterfinals drops you to the consolation R12--the Blood Round, where one more loss can end your season and keep you off the podium. Morgan didn't bat an eye, though, and he went 4-0 on Friday evening and Saturday morning, beating the 13, 6, 5 and 1-seeds to finish third. It was the first time a Penn State quarterfinal loser had fought back for 3rd Place since Dylan Alton did it in 2012.</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
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<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>21.5%</th> <th>197 #2 McIntosh</th> <th>Adv</th> <th>Bonus</th> <th>Plc</th> <th>14.5</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>pigtail</td>
<td>bye</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>W over #US Zach Nye (Virginia) (Dec 3-0)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>W over #15 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska) (MD 14-5)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Qtrs</td>
<td>L #10 Conner Hartmann (Duke) (Dec 3-2)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>R12</td>
<td>W over #13 Shane Woods (Wyoming) (Dec 8-3)</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>3.0</td>
<td>3.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Consi Qtrs</td>
<td>W over #6 Nathan Burak (Iowa) (Dec 6-3)</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>3.0</td>
<td>3.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Consi Semis</td>
<td>W over #1 J`Den Cox (Missouri) (Dec 3-1)</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>3.0</td>
<td>3.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>3rd</b></td>
<td>W over #5 Scott Schiller (Minnesota) (Dec 12-7)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h4>All-American Jimmy Gulibon (133)</h4>
<p>To all observers, Jimmy Gulibon also really stepped up his wrestling this year. Cael has been saying since summer that he turned a mental corner, relaxed his approach and began to have fun with the sport's challenges. Gulibon sounded like he was reciting the fun mantra in every one of his interviews and it really did manifest itself on the mat. Additionally, we heard he improved his nutrition discipline and took consistent control over his weight. This also appeared visible on the mat, as Gulibon looked much bigger for his weight class than he had last year.</p>
<p>While the trademark toughness that was such a part of his stellar high school career returned, he only rarely suffered from bouts of inconsistency resulting from an apparent lack of focus. In almost every close match, he had just as much of a chance to finish with the W as did his opponent. The close matches got the better of him in the Big Ten Tourney, as he stumbled to an 0-3, 6th-place finish after dropping a controversial 7-5 sudden victory loss to Wisconsin's Ryan Taylor.</p>
<p>That result dropped what was shaping up to be a top-4 seed to a 7-seed at nationals, but he avenged the loss to Taylor in the quarterfinals, frustrating the Badger 9 to 4 and earning his first All-American honors. He lost two close scrambles to 3-seed Cory Clark and couldn't quite make the finals. He then ran into Edinboro's consolation buzzsaw A.J. Schopp, before beating longtime rival Mason Beckman of Lehigh for 5th place. All in all, a very fine season for Gulibon and one that portends lots of promise for the Sophomore in his next two years of D1 eligibility.</p>
<p><i>Note: Taylor was so frustrated that he bolted off the mat without shaking hands and began sprinting for the tunnel. Wiscy coach Barry Davis was up to the task, though, and hawked him down, grabbed his neck aggressively and sent Taylor back to the mat for the requisite handshake before the ref raised Gulibon's hand. I love Barry Davis.</i></p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
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<th>16.3%</th> <th>133 #7 Gulibon</th> <th>Adv</th> <th>Bonus</th> <th>Plc</th> <th>11.0</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>pigtail</td>
<td>bye</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>W over #US Scott Delvecchio (Rutgers) (MD 11-3)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>W over #US Jade Rauser (Utah Valley University) (Dec 8-4)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Qtrs</td>
<td>W over #2 Bradley Taylor (Wisconsin) (Dec 9-4)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>6.0</td>
<td>7.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Semis</td>
<td>L #3 Cory Clark (Iowa) over James Gulibon (Penn State) (Dec 7-5)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Consi Semis</td>
<td>L #9 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro) over James Gulibon (Penn State) (Fall 3:39)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>5th</b></td>
<td>W over #10 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) (Dec 9-5)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<h4>All-American Jimmy Lawson (HWT)</h4>
<p>One thing Jimmy Lawson was this year that he may not have been in the prior two years since he arrived at Penn State from playing football at DII Monmouth was consistent. At least as far as his results went. Actually, his wrestling was similar to his results (funny how that works, huh?), in that against less-talented opponents he opened up and wrestled aggressively--in neutral, top and bottom. In those matches he unveiled an absolutely gorgeous freight-train double-leg takedown that had all his fans wishing, hoping, praying he would attempt it against the top guys. Unfortunately, even mental game guru Cael Sanderson was unable to inspire him to do so.</p>
<p>Except for maybe once. In the Big Ten consolation semifinals against Michigan's giant 2-seed Adam Coon, Lawson exploded right off the whistle and scored a beautiful takedown. Unfortunately, he injured his shoulder in the shot, lost 9-5 and medically forfeit his 5th-place match. Worse, Offensively Experimental Jimmy went back into his shell.</p>
<p>At nationals, though, he didn't lose any matches he shouldn't have, went 4-3 with wins over 9-seed Michael Kroells and 10-seed Ty Walz (both of whom finished on the podium behind him) and dropped Major Decisions to 2x Champ Nick Gwiazdowski and 3rd-place finisher and 4x AA Mike McMullan, along with a 6-0 decision to Bobby Telford to finish 6th place.</p>
<p>Cael quipped at the Saturday night social for the Penn State Wrestling Club that Lawson placed 6th 'without taking one shot,' which belied the struggle they've shared over the issue for the past three years. When a struggle results in an All-American finish in your last attempt, though, things are going pretty well. I shook hands with Lawson's dad that night, and I'll tell you that no number of coaching digs would diminish that proud papa's happiness.</p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
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<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>13.3%</th> <th>HWT #8 Lawson</th> <th>Adv</th> <th>Bonus</th> <th>Plc</th> <th>9.0</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>pigtail</td>
<td>bye</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>W over #US Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cornell) (Dec 9-3)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>W over #9 Michael Kroells (Minnesota) (Dec 5-2)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Qtrss</td>
<td>L #1 Nick Gwiazdowski (North Carolina State) by Major Decision 14-1</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>R12</td>
<td>W Dec #11 Devin Mellon (MIZZ) 4-1</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>3.0</td>
<td>3.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Consi Qtrs</td>
<td>W over #10 Ty Walz (Virginia Tech) (SV-1 3-1)</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>3.0</td>
<td>3.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Consi Semis</td>
<td>L #2 Michael McMullan (Northwestern) (MD 10-1)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>6th</b></td>
<td>L #3 Bobby Telford (Iowa) (Dec 6-0)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<h4>All-American Jordan Conaway (125)</h4>
<p>Most wrestling fans suspected that Conaway would be an AA at 125, if only based on his R12 performance at 133 in 2013, and Jordan did not disappoint. Excepting, perhaps, himself. He had a really nice season with some big wins and only two really big losses and quite a few almost-there very close losses. He could never get over the hump against Iowa's 4th-place finisher Thomas Gilman, losing by one point three times--twice in overtime. But he had a nice win over then-#3 Joey Dance in the December dual, and he finished 29-9, in 3rd place at Big Tens and in 8th place at nationals in this, his first season at what many consider his most natural weight.</p>
<p>This past weekend, he went 3-0 after another squeaker with Gilman to earn a spot on the podium, before dropping a Major Decision in a mismatch with Cornell's 2-seed Nahshon Garrett. Then in perhaps his most disappointing match of the season, he dropped a close 5-4 decision to 7-seed Eddie Klimara in a match he was winning until the last few seconds.</p>
<p>What happens next year for Jordan in his last year of eligibility depends on a lot of moving parts. 3x AA Nico Megaludis and 1x AA Zain Retherford are likely returning from redshirt. Nico has not yet qualified for an Olympic Redshirt and it's not clear at this point whether he would use it even if he did, and there is lots of mat-room talk about the possibility that Retherford might bump up a weight to 149. But whatever happens with the lineup, it's clear the coaches really like Jordan competing in it, and he is now an All-American.</p>
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<th>8.1%</th> <th>125 #11 Conaway</th> <th>Adv</th> <th>Bonus</th> <th>Plc</th> <th>5.5</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>pigtail</td>
<td>bye</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>W #US Joaquin Marquez (The Citadel) (Dec 12-7)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>L #6 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) over Jordan Conaway (Penn State) (SV-1 3-1)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>R24</td>
<td>W over #US Scott Parker (Lehigh) (Dec 4-3)</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>R16</td>
<td>W over (US) Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) (Dec 7-3)</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>R12</td>
<td>W over #US David Terao (American) (Dec 8-5)</td>
<td>0.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>3.0</td>
<td>3.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Consi Qtrs</td>
<td>L #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) over Jordan Conaway (Penn State) (MD 10-1)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>8th</b></td>
<td>L #7 Eddie Klimara (Oklahoma State) over Jordan Conaway (Penn State) (Dec 5-4)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<h4>Matt McCutcheon (184)<br>
</h4>
<p>You guys remember Ed Ruth, right? How hard would it be for you to follow Penn State's only 3x National Champion in your redshirt freshman season? Pretty tough, right? McCutcheon did an awesome job of it, if you ask me. I think a good bar to measure his 2015 performance against is not Ed Ruth, obviously, but Jimmy Gulibon's 2014 RSFR season. Gulibon then struggled at times mentally, often wrestled inconsistently and finished off the podium in the Round of 16. The next year he bounced back and earned AA.</p>
<p>McCutcheon's RSFR season this year was slightly better. Mouse finished 26-14, whereas Gulibon finished 18-15. Mouse also performed better at nationals and was thiiiiis close to earning AA honors last weekend. After appearing to have hit a wall in mid-February, dropping four out of five dual meet bouts at one point, he turned things around at Big Tens with a 6-4 upset of 1-seed Sam Brooks. He finished that tourney in 4th place after injuring his kneecap and forfeiting the 3rd place bout. Then last weekend, he came out on fire in St. Louis, mauling unseeded Nick Fiegener in a 20-5 technical fall in round one. In the next round, he upset 3-seed Blake Stauffer, frustrating Arizona State's coach and former head of the U.S. National team Zeke Jones so much that he darted out of the arena without speaking to his own wrestler.</p>
<p>Things looked to be set up beautifully for McCutcheon to earn AA honors on Friday morning, as Ohio State's unseeded Kenny Courts surprised some folks by reaching the quarterfinals as Matt's opponent. In the January dual, McCutcheon had looked pretty good and perhaps poised to steal the winning takedown when Courts surprised and took it instead. And after Friday's first period, things looked really good for McCutcheon after he had a nice takedown and a strong ride during which Courts rarely had his forehead off the mat and he'd forced the first stall warning on Courts. When Courts deferred to start the second, Matt chose down and quickly escaped to lead 3-0 with riding time over a minute. Things looked great!</p>
<p>But then Kenny Courts did something surprising: he shot and scored a takedown. Mouse escaped again to lead 4-2 heading into the third. Courts chose down, escaped to a 4-3 deficit and then scored the winning takedown. Mouse escaped again but could not secure the necessary takedown and it ended with Courts advancing to his first All-American honors with a 5-4 decision.</p>
<p>We heard later that McCutcheon had reinjured his knee during that first takedown, but Cael of course didn't say anything about that. Instead, in this hallway interview I was absolutely thrilled to be part of, he just said that McCutcheon stopped wrestling:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hT-vOS97EDQ"></iframe></p>
<p>Cael added that 'that was just an experience opportunity for him,' and most would guess its one that many redshirt Freshmen could use before taking the next step up in their careers. Later that night in the Blood Round, the matchup again appeared favorable and McCutcheon drew Nebraska's 16-seed TJ Dudley, whom Matt had absolutely destroyed in the Southern Scuffle before forcing him to withdraw from injury. But it was not to be and Dudley advanced to AA with a 5-2 decision. Next year's upperweight lineup looks pretty set with Bo Nickal stepping in for Matt Brown at 174 and McCutcheon and McIntosh coming back at 184 and 197 respectively, so McCutcheon should have another great opportunity to continue to progress.</p>
<p><i>Note: this is the closest I've ever gotten to Cael Sanderson and his jaw is the most imposing structure I've ever seen on a human face. Earlier he was chewing gum and it looked like it could crush rocks. Above it, his crystal blue eyes have a piercing look that, combined with his relaxed demeanor and slow pace of speaking, warn even the most intrepid reporter to watch what you say. The other PSU beat writers were very nice to me, especially BWI's Tim Owen, and standing among them in the hallway interviewing Cael made me feel more like a journalist than I ever imagined I would. I'll have more words on the meta aspects of my press credential experience later, but this interview and the ensuing handshake was the the highest highlight of a supremely thrilling weekend. As we all split up to head our separate ways, Cael joked, faux-apologetically for the 6th-place finish, 'stay with us now, ok?'</i></p>
<p>
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<table class="tableizer-table">
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<tr class="tableizer-firstrow">
<th>5.2%</th> <th>184 #14 McCutcheon</th> <th>Adv</th> <th>Bonus</th> <th>Plc</th> <th>3.5</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>pigtail</td>
<td>bye</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>W over #US Nick Fiegener (Cal Poly) (TF 20-5 7:00)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>1.5</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>2.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>W over #3 Blake Stauffer (Arizona State) (SV-1 3-1)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Qtrs</td>
<td>L #US Kenny Courts (Ohio State) (SV-1 7-5)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>R12</b></td>
<td>L #16 Timothy Dudley (Nebraska) o(Dec 5-2)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<h4>Zack Beitz (149)</h4>
<h4></h4>
<p>Beitz' opportunities in next year's lineup may not be as rosy if the Zain bump to 149 rumors come to fruition. I'm a little nervous for one of these guys if Nico doesn't earn or take the Olympic Redshirt, because Penn State would have five wrestlers for four spots at 125/133/141/149: Nico, Conaway, Gulibon, Retherford and Beitz. The first four could be debated as to what weights they could realistically go at, but Beitz at 141 seems loooong gone and with super frosh Jason Nolf set to debut at 157 in the lineup, somebody is gonna get pinched out.</p>
<p>If 2015 was a season of close losses, nobody exemplified that trait more than Zack Beitz, and his 2015 nationals tourney was its pinnacle. After posting a Major Decision in round one, Zack had back-to-back losses to 5-seed Chris Villalonga and 6-seed Alex Pantaleo and was knocked out of the tournament. Both were one-point losses, one was in overtime.</p>
<p>It stinks most, I think, because Zack wrestles exactly like this coaching staff wants its wrestlers to: he attacks, all the time. All of the takedown points scored by his nationals opponents were earned on counters to Zack's offense. The Villalonga overtime one was particularly frustrating, as it appeared to be only Villalonga's 5th-year physical maturity that allowed him to shrug under Zack's shot and get the win. The Pantaleo bout was also frustrating in that Zack had a successful double-leg takedown that was not awarded when Pantaleo landed out of bounds, Beitz' feet still inside the circle, as time expired.</p>
<p>Here is Zack's record against this year's final podium denizens:</p>
<ul>
<li>Champ Drake Houdashelt of Missouri: 3-2 loss at the Scuffle</li>
<li>4th place Brandon Sorensen of Iowa: 6-4 loss in the dual</li>
<li>5th place BJ Clagon of Rider: 6-3 win in the dual</li>
<li>6th-place Chris Villalonga of Cornell: 6-4 OT loss at nationals</li>
</ul>
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<th>3.0%</th> <th>149 #12 Beitz</th> <th>Adv</th> <th>Bonus</th> <th>Plc</th> <th>2.0</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>pigtail</td>
<td>bye</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>W over #US Shawn Greevy (Chattanooga) (MD 10-1)</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>1.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>L #5 Christopher Villalonga (Cornell) over Zack Beitz (Penn State) (SV-1 6-4)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>R24</td>
<td>L #6 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) over Zack Beitz (Penn State) (Dec 5-4)</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>The guys at <a href="http://www.bloodround.com/" target="_blank">bloodround.com</a> are fond of saying 'what have you done beyond close losses?' and legitimately so. Measuring success by a series of close losses is a hollow technique. It's not without some merit, but they're right: if Beitz has a spot left for him in next year's lineup, it will be high time for him to turn more of those close losses into W's. The kid seems to respond very well to the staff's style of coaching, so I really hope he gets another shot.</p>
<p><i>Coming tomorrow: team race analysis including the top six teams' performances against their seed and upsets, injuries and other factors that contributed to the final team ladder.</i></p>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/25/8283115/penn-state-wrestling-crowns-five-all-americans-ncaa-championshipsjtothep2015-03-24T11:02:08-04:002015-03-24T11:02:08-04:00Penn State's latest National Champ: Matt Brown!
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5QXo5ytZalrjpqOJNqNdK9mzz2g=/0x0:1024x683/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45970410/15863260073_f8da8f4662_b.0.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>The 2015 Division I National Wrestling Championships have come to an end, and Penn State's Matt Brown has finished his collegiate wrestling career as Penn State's 23rd National Champion.</p> <p>Matt Brown finished his career this weekend in St. Louis as a National Champion, a 3x All-American and a 2x National Finalist. The senior co-captain led Penn State's 5 All-Americans to a 6th-place finish, and continued the nation's longest active streak of consecutive years with an individual champion at 5. He can now add his name to this list of PSU wrestling greats:</p>
<p> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xdBnpiziOWjRaEVpxw1rAB0QZis=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3533276/psu_national_champs.0.jpg">
</figure>
</p>
<p>In the 75 years between Howard Johnston's title and coach Cael Sanderson's arrival, Penn State crowned 18 National Champions who earned 21 titles. That's an average of one national title every 3.5 years. Since Sanderson arrived in 2009, Penn State has earned 9 national titles (by 5 wrestlers) in 6 years for an average of 1.5 national titles a year.</p>
<p>Brown had a very nice tournament that included wins over four seeded wrestlers and two Major Decisions. He enacted revenge on one of the two wrestlers who blemished his record this year, Virginia Tech's 7-seed Zach Epperly (who finished 7th), but was denied an opportunity at the other when Pitt's 8-seed Matt Wilps knocked off #1 Robert Kokesh in the semifinals. That of course became a secondary afterthought before Saturday night's finals and Brown entered the arena exhibiting a Sanderson-esque relaxed focus, which would prove helpful in the late stages of the match.</p>
<p>Wilps effectively blocked all of Brown's offensive attacks in the first period, chose bottom to start the second, escaped and began blocking again. This earned him his first stall warning, the 15th stall call Penn State offensiveness provoked in its opponents across the three-day tourney, and set the stage for a wild third period. Brown immediately escaped from bottom and got a quick takedown to lead 3-1. Then, like many talented wrestlers who have adopted a similar eyesore of a strategy, Wilps became inspired by short time and a deficit and he escaped himself and earned a nice takedown that caught Brown off-balance.</p>
<p>Leading 4-3 with about 20 seconds left, Wilps reverted to course and dropped to Brown's ankles from top and forced him out of bounds, earning another well-deserved stall call and conceding a penalty point to Brown to tie the bout. Then with 5 seconds left, he added insult to his own injury by failing to release his locked hands when Brown, with his veteran savvy, brought his own knee back to the mat after first attempting to escape by standing (while it is within the rules to lock hands around a waist when the bottom wrestler is on his feet, it's a violation to do so when his body is on the mat). Hindsight being 20/20, Wilps would have been better off releasing Brown, conceding the one-point escape, and taking his chances in overtime.</p>
<p>As it was, Brown recognized the mistake immediately and even gestured to the ref by pointing at the infraction during live wrestling time. Time expired with the score tied 4-4. When the referees reviewed the video following Cael's waving of the green challenge flag, the penalty point was awarded and Brown was the National Champion.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_iS2KU01RA">In the interview room afterward,</a> he was asked to begin with an opening statement and, addressing the ugliness of the victory, said: "When you're a little kid, you dream of hitting that grand slam in the ninth inning, but sometimes it's a bunt.</p>
<p>"Still gets the job done."</p>
<p>Brown is almost 25 years old, nearly a 4.0 student (Cael likes to remind him that he once got an A-), is married and in the Army ROTC program. He handled all the interview questions about the penalty-pocked bout with a calm confidence. He made a vague reference to the controversial performance by Oklahoma State's famous staller Chris Perry in their finals match together two years ago and added: "I didn't expect the match to end like that. But that's how the ball bounces and it landed my way this time."</p>
<p>This was my first time in a post-match interview room and I thought he looked relaxed too:</p>
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</figure>
</p>
<p>That table curtain, though, obscured two of Brown's most feared weapons. But, thanks to my kids asking me for a specific picture, I was able to grab this exclusive shot of the real source of Brown's power and the root of his BSD nickname:</p>
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</p>
<p>Hulk Hands will definitely be missed at my house next year.</p>
<p>While the team's 6th-place finish was not what anybody on the team had hoped for, Brown certainly did his part--at this year's tourney, as well as in the 2014 and 2013 team championships. He averaged almost 18 team points per tourney and nearly 20% of Penn State's team totals in his three years as a starter.</p>
<p><b>2015</b></p>
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<p><b>2014</b></p>
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<p><b>2013</b></p>
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<p>In 2012, Matt Brown returned from a two-year Mormon mission in Angola, and by all reports he showed up in incredible shape. Unfortunately for Brown, Penn State had not yet adjusted its lineup and he lost a year of starter competition sitting behind 3x National Champion Ed Ruth, who was then still wrestling 174. Here's Assistant Head Coach Casey Cunningham Saturday night describing Brown's fitness and relative national ability had he been a starter that year:</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4MutFArzOLU" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Brown finishes his distinguished wrestling career with 113 wins against 16 losses and his name can now be found all over <a target="_blank" href="http://pennstatewrestlingclub.org/history/index.php?view=recordbook">Penn State's record books</a>. To wit:</p>
<ul>
<li>16th in Career Wins</li>
<li>18th in Career Winning Percentage at 87.6%<br> </li>
<li>12th in Career Falls, with 30</li>
<li>10th in Career Technical Falls, with 11<br> </li>
<li>4th on PSU's career Major Decisions list, with 33</li>
</ul>
<p>Matt Brown has solidified his place in Penn State wrestling history and will be remembered for his leadership and contributions across a magnificent career. Best of luck to you, Matt and thanks for all the great memories!</p>
<p><i>Author note: more posts are forthcoming this week as I organize my notes and pictures and videos. Up tomorrow: an analysis of the performances of the rest of Penn State's wrestlers and after that a deeper dive into the team race</i></p>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/24/8276967/penn-state-wrestling-national-champion-matt-brown-cael-sanderson-174-tyler-wilpsjtothep2015-03-22T18:37:44-04:002015-03-22T18:37:44-04:00Penn State Wrestling Official Finals Video<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DIt-C6aY4IA" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>
<div class="source source-img"><p><p>The Penn State Athletic Department was active on the ground in St Louis over the three days of the NCAA Tournament, and the final compilation video is now up--taking into account Matt Brown's crazy, controversial title win at 174.</p>
<p>Speaking of Matt Brown, be sure to also check out<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8qqrUHsvaM" target="new"> this video of Hulk Hands' post-match presser,</a> in which BSD's own jtothep gets a few great questions in.</p></p></div>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/22/8274201/penn-state-wrestling-official-session-6-finals-video-matt-brownCari Greene2015-03-22T09:35:56-04:002015-03-22T09:35:56-04:00NCAA's by the Numbers (Wrestling)<h3 class="link-title"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flowrestling.org/coverage/252093-2015-NCAA-D1-Championships/article/30546-2015-NCAAs-By-The-Number#.VQ7EzOF93m5">NCAA's by the Numbers&nbsp;(Wrestling)</a></h3>
<div class="description"><p><p>Pennsylvania once again leads the way with the most All-Americans. I was surprised to see that Oklahoma only had one. The sport must be dying there.</p></p></div>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/22/8272205/ncaas-by-the-numbers-wrestlingGerry Dincher2015-03-21T19:55:51-04:002015-03-21T19:55:51-04:00NCAA Wrestling Championship Open Thread
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<figcaption>BSD/Galen</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Penn State heads to St. Louis, Mo for the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Join us for the Championship open thread.</p> <p>Penn State has one champion contender.. Go Brown!!!</p>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/21/8270997/Matt-Brown-Cael-Sanderson-March-MadnessGalen2015-03-21T10:00:03-04:002015-03-21T10:00:03-04:00Wrestling Championship Session 5 Open Thread
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<figcaption>BSD/Galen</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Penn State heads to St. Louis, Mo for the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Join us for the Session 5 open thread.</p> <p>It's the consolation semi-finals to determine if our guys are wrestling for 3rd or 5th place tonight. We are....</p>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/21/8269347/NCAA-wrestling-penn-state-cael-sanderson-march-maddnessGalen2015-03-20T18:48:30-04:002015-03-20T18:48:30-04:00NCAA Wrestling Tournament Session III Recap
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<figcaption>Galen/BSD</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After going 12-2 on day one of the 2015 Division 1 National Championships, Penn State's already slim chances to win their fifth straight title took a huge hit this morning. PSU wrestlers went 4-4 and the team fell to 8th place in the team race.</p> <p>Do you guys remember that phrase--'close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades?' Its application to wrestling's premier tourney was showcased in crushing fashion in three of PSU's four losses this morning. Zach Beitz was trailing Michigan's Alex Pantaleo 5-4 with time running out when he took a beautiful single to double leg shot, brought Pantaleo to the mat outside the ring and verrrrry nearly earned the takedown with his own feet still in bounds. But it was not awarded as time expired, and Beitz's season is over. Close losses to the top guys have been one of the defining traits of Beitz's young two-year career, and if the rumors of Zain Retherford bumping up to 149 next year come true, it could be the last chance for Beitz to make the podium. Whatever Retherford does, Beitz will have two more seasons of eligibility to try and finally get over the proverbial hump. Zack finishes this year at 19-11, in the Round of 24 and he sent 2 points to Penn State's team score.</p>
<p>After upsetting Arizona State's 3-seed Blake Stauffer in Round 2 (and prompting ASU coach Zeke Jones to hurriedly exit the mat without looking at or talking to his wrestler), Matt McCutcheon had a very winnable draw in Ohio State's and Central Dauphin's unseeded Kenny Courts. And after the first period it sure looked like he would, getting a takedown and a studly rideout to get the riding time over a minute. Courts barely got his forehead off the mat in that first period, but we learned later that McCutcheon reinjured the kneecap that forced him to MFF out of the Big Ten Tourney two weeks ago. And Kenny Courts can be a very dangerous wrestler when he wants to be. Courts roared back with two takedowns to send the match into Sudden Victory where he got to McCutcheon's legs pretty easily and ended it with another takedown. I'm not gonna lie: that one stung. McCutcheon had been wrestling very, very well and he looked set to earn All-American honors and advance to the semifinals in his redshirt freshman season. As it is, he'll get one more chance tonight when he'll face Nebraska's 16-seed TJ Dudley (a guy he absolutely dismantled in January's Southern Scuffle) in the high-stakes, high-pressure blood round. Win, and he's an AA; lose, and his season's over. If his knee is not too debilitated, I really like his chances.</p>
<p>Penn State's quarterfinal disappointments didn't end there, though, as Morgan McIntosh had great position on a late third period shot, but Duke's 10-seed Conner Hartmann scrambled and scrambled and scrambled and held on for a 3-2 victory. Cael Sanderson used one of his three coach's challenges, but the non-takedown call was upheld during video review, and Morgan drops to the consolation bracket and will wrestle for his season in tonight's blood round. This was a particularly disappointing loss because McIntosh has been wrestling at a very high level and represented one of Penn State's best chances to continue their four-year streak of having at least one individual National Champion. Last year, Morgan lost an early match in the championship bracket, fought through the blood round to AA, but drew Iowa State stud Kyven Gadson and ended up placing 7th. This year his consis draw looks a little easier as be first faces Wyoming's 13-seed Shane Woods, with a possible ensuing matchup with Iowa's Nathan Burak to whom he's never lost. Morgan is absolutely talented enough to battle back for third place, but no Penn State wrestler has done so after a quarterfinals loss since Dylan Alton did it in 2012. (Miss you, Dylan).</p>
<p>At Heavyweight, we didn't have high hopes that Jimmy Lawson would upset 1-seed returning champ Nick Gwiazdowski and, well, he didn't. Bman proffered a half-hearted theory that maybe against a heavyweight who actually wrestles Jimmy might discover his own offense, but it was not to be. Gwiz mauled him in an 11-3 major. No shame in that, though, and Lawson has a great opportunity to become Penn State's first heavyweight All-American since, I think, Kerry McCoy in 1997 (check me on that please). He faces off against Missouri's 11-seed Devin Mellon. You know the drill by now, and it's what makes tonight's Session IV the best of the weekend: win to climb the podium or lose to slink home with no hardware and a whole lifetime to lament it.</p>
<p>But not all was rainclouds and teardrops for Penn State this morning! Jordan Conaway went 2-0, beating Lehigh's Scott Parker in one helluva battle and Minnesota's Ethan Lizak 7-3. Tonight he faces AU's unseeded David Terao for a chance to earn his first All-American honors and to advance Penn State's now extremely bleak hopes for a fivepeat.</p>
<p>All-American Jimmy Gulibon! How's that sound to you guys? It was pretty freakin awesome for me. Brought back some James English tears and I was glad I watched from a new perch on the 5th-floor penthouse media room. I was free to cheer there and I did. I'm so happy for Gulibon and his tourney is far from done, as he faces Iowa's 3-seed Cory Clark tonight for a chance to wrestle on the raised stage tomorrow night. Clark is a really tough grinder not all that dissimilar to Gulibon and we should not be surprised to see a mirror image of their battle in the dual, which Gulibon won with a last-second body slam takedown. At this point Jimmy is one of our two remaining hopes for a champ.</p>
<p>The other is Matt Brown, who earned his third All-American honors in as many years competing as a starter (he lost a year of eligibility behind Ed Ruth before he bumped up to 184 in 2013). Brown looked like his typically bruising self in grinding out a 2-1 revenge win over Virginia Tech's Zach Epperly, who handed Brown one of his three losses on the season back in December's dual. And guess who Brown gets to see in tonight's semifinal match. Yep, Iowa's Mike Evans in what will be their ninth (!) career matchup. Brown leads the series 5-3 including identical 2-0 victories that featured only escape & riding time points this season. Brown looked great in both of them and Evans has increasingly abandoned the offense that made him so fearsome in High School at Cumberland Valley, but for some reason I'm becoming more & more anxious about this battle. Probably because they are both so similar and so even. I'm nervous, but if Brown can repeat the same gameplan from the dual and from the B1G tourney semifinals, he will advance to tomorrow night's finals. Previously undefeated 1-seed Robert Kokesh was knocked to the consis by Pitt's Matt Wilps, who was still injured at the time of the Pitt dual, so if Brown can get by Evans one last time, his chances for a title are really good.</p>
<p>In the team race, Ohio State has taken a nice lead with 64.5 points and five semifinalists. But the rest of their lineup is finished and Iowa (47.5) and Missouri (45) each have 7 wrestlers alive and both have far more maximum potential points still available. Not that any team will remotely approach these totals, which can only be achieved by winning every remaining match by pin, but Iowa could still finish with 170.5, Mizzou could get to 168 while Ohio State's max is only 139.5. Penn State currently sits in 8th place with 33.5, which underscores how painful those close McCutcheon & McIntosh losses were. Penn State left 12 team points on the mat in those two matches, which would have put us in 3rd place behind Iowa and ahead of Missouri.</p>
<p>And that is what this brutal tournament can do. Every round it shatters dreams and crushes hopes. And while the double-elimination format provides a secondary hope, at this level, in this tourney, close just doesn't cut it.</p>
https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2015/3/20/8267433/penn-state-wrestling-ncaa-tournament-day-two-close-only-counts-in-horseshoes-and-hand-grenadesjtothep