Takedown Report

2023 NCAA Championships

2023 NCAA Championships: By The Numbers

Our annual analytical deep dive into the greatest college wrestling competition of the year.

It’s time for our annual analytical deep dive into the greatest collegiate competition of the year, the NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships! We’ve been doing these blogs for a while now and are thrilled to bring you another new edition of this celebrated series!

Previous NCAAs By The Numbers: 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

We’ve also got heaps more coverage of the 2023 tournament, so check out the following links if you are looking for something you don’t see in this blog.

More glorious NCAA Championships coverage: Brackets | Results | Live Blog | Upsets | ReturnIng Points | Team Race | Eligibility Tracker | Toughest Half Bracket | Best Freshmen

Now on to the wonderful charts, graphs, maps, tables, chairs, breakfast cereals, and what have you. 

We will start with All-Americans by conference. Here are the totals since 2012. I even moved all the teams around, so AAs for Missouri are now all counted for the Big 12, even though Mizzou was in the MAC for most of that time period. Also all the old EWL teams are now in the MAC, etc. 

Note that Ivy League teams did not compete in the 2021 season (thanks, stupid covid, my least favorite of all the coronaviruses) so the EIWA numbers are abnormally low that year. … rest of story at Flowrestling.org/articles/10778346-2023-ncaa-championships-by-the-numbers

NCAA Wrestling Weekend That Was: Examining Spencer Lee’s legacy and more from Tulsa

Semifinal loss stings, but doesn’t diminish his accomplishments

The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Tulsa, Okla., was filled with greatness, intensity and surprise. Everything we have come to expect from the biggest wrestling event in the world. Here is the Wrestling Weekend That Was, NCAA edition.

Spencer Lee’s legacy

Iowa’s Spencer Lee earned his fourth All-America honor at the NCAA tournament, giving him five All-America honors when added to the National Wrestling Coaches Association award in 2020. The conclusion to a stellar career wasn’t what Lee, the Hawkeye program and fans hoped and expected.

Purdue’s Matt Ramos shocked the college wrestling world (yes, cliché and all) by pulling the biggest modern national tournament upset with a semifinal win.

Cornell University’s Yianni Diakomihalis, a friend of Lee’s, who won his fourth NCAA title Saturday, said he didn’t know what to think of the outcome.

“He’s been one of those guys that’s been very dominant, probably more dominant than I’ve been,” Diakomihalis said of Lee. “You gotta feel for him a little bit, right? I’m kind of in a similar position. The whole arena is waiting for you to lose. Maybe they’re not cheering against you, but secretly in the back of their head, it gets a little louder when the other guy is going to score. It’s tough. It’s tough having that for Spencer, and you can’t help but feel for him a little bit. It’s tough to have that taken from you.”

Lee’s loss stung, along the lines of Lincoln McIlravy/Steve Marianetti, Jason Kelber/Terry Brands and Dan Gable/Larry Owings. It doesn’t overshadow a career that included 98 career wins, three Big Ten Wrestler of the Year awards, three conference titles, two Hodge trophies and the AAU James E. Sullivan award, while consistently battling knee injuries, which may have impacted his final season as well. It would be short-sighted to hang everything on his last performance, or him not wrestling the final day for whatever reason. One that may, or may not, be revealed later.

Lee isn’t, and shouldn’t, be defined by any win or loss. … rest of the story at Gazette.com/hawkeye-wrestling/ncaa-wrestling-weekend-that-was-examining-spencer-lees-legacy-and-more-from-tulsa

PSU should appreciate Sanderson’s greatness

The Penn State wrestling team won its 10th national championship in the last 12 contested NCAA Championships over the weekend in Tulsa.

Think about that. Think about how unbelievable that is. Think about what the program was like before Cael Sanderson took over as head coach.
I don’t know if Penn State fans and administration fully appreciate how fortunate they are to have Sanderson coaching the wrestling team.

Matches at Rec Hall are a happening. There have been sellouts at 66 straight matches at Rec Hall. Sellouts have occurred in 75 of the last 77 home matches, including nine of 11 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State fans have come to expect greatness from the program. Many of those fans who squeeze into Rec Hall on Friday nights or Sunday afternoons know what it takes to continue the dynasty — how much it takes to remain as college wrestling’s powerhouse.

But I’ve been wondering how much fans who really don’t pay a great amount of attention until the NCAAs appreciate what Sanderson has done. … rest of story at Altoonamirror.com/sports/psu/2023/03/sanderson-doesnt-get-enough-love/

Wrestling Mailbag: NCAA tournament recap, Spencer Lee, catching Penn State, ISU, UNI, more

Had a lot of questions regarding Iowa wrestling and the state of the program and whether or not an overhaul is needed if the Hawkeyes want to compete with Penn State moving forward, so let’s just go ahead and knock this one out at the top, because I have some thoughts on this.

Iowa took second at the NCAA Championships last weekend. If you’ve been reading or listening at all this season, that was largely the expectation, at least to me. Others might disagree, but in October, I figured a comfortable and decisive second-place finish at the NCAA Championships would be a successful season.

It was always going to take a monster effort for the Hawkeyes, or anybody, to catch Penn State in a tournament setting. It was possible, sure, but a lot needed to go right.

When the dust settled Saturday, Iowa did take second, but not very comfortably, beating third-place Cornell by 6 points and fourth-place Ohio State by 12. On top of that, the Hawkeyes finished 55 points behind Penn State, team champs for the 10th time in the last 12 NCAA tournaments.

Despite all of that … I thought Iowa wrestled pretty well over the weekend, all things considered. … rest of story at Desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/iowa/wrestling/2023/03/21/wrestling-mailbag-ncaa-championships

March 26, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized