Season 6, Column 83: Championship Meanderings and a double dose of straight shooting

The NCAA Division I Championships have come and gone with stories large and small worth noting and two eye-opening, thought-provoking books on where America has been, where it’s going, and options for change.

First and foremost, kudos to Cael Sanderson’s Penn State Nittany Lions who blitzed the field in fully expected fashion to claim the Division I National Team title again. Tom and Terry Brands Iowa Hawkeyes finished 2nd for the 2nd straight year with Cornell a somewhat suprising 3rd and an equally impressive Ohio State filling out the team podium placements at 4th. In reverse order from least to most shocking to the Scribe, these observations….Penn State won. The BIG 10 had five teams finish in the Top 10. Religion and a former President became hot button topics. And now the real news-this sites most beloved conference, the SoCon, bottomed out with a miniscule 15 participating athletes who collectively won 6 matches. Worst hurt-2X AA Jon Jon Millner of Appalachian State was waylaid by a wonky knee, unable to compete for a 3rd AA honor (he would have earned one), disallowed from raising his redunkulous career win total to nearly 130, and prevented from shepherding/uplifting/leading his 5 Mountaineer teammates into battle in Tulsa. Imagine Brad Pitts Achilles forced to stay in bed that morning (actually not that tough to imagine). What would have happened to Agammemnons boys? Exactly what occured to App State and, frankly, the SoCon as a whole. It can only get better, and it will. There’s too many quality coaches, too manygood athletes and too much program support for there not to be a better showing in Kansas City in 2024. App State wasn’t the only powerhouse conference champ to get beaten up, though. Newly crowned PAC12 bully boy Oregon State had their pelts handed to them as the Beavers rolled into Tulsa with 7 studs and left skinned. After the 1st day only 184lb Trey Munoz was still chasing a title. And that was the way the cookie crumbled for Chris Pendletons crew as Munoz alone limped home with a All American, 6th place finish. The Beavers say bye bye to just four folks so that plus great recruiting plus the rocket speed growth going on in Corvallis should make for a better NCAAs next year. On the positive side of things was the presence and progress of athletes from two teams this column has cast an admiring eye on this season, George Mason and American University. Coach Frank Beasley’s Patriots had Grad student and Mid American Conference champ Peter Pappas at 165 as well as rs freshman 149lb Nathan Higley hit the mats in Tulsa. … rest of story at Morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2023/03/21/season-6-column-83-championship-meanderings-and-a-double-dose-of-straight-shooting

March 27, 2023 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

NCAA Championships 2024

2023 NCAA Qualifiers Eligible to Return for 2023-24

by Earl Smith; Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com

It’s never too early to look ahead to next year! So, with that, we’ve highlighted all of the wrestlers that competed at the 2023 NCAA Championships and have eligibility to return for the 2023-24 season. Normally, this is easy to track, but with eligibility still out of wack due to the 2021 Covid year, these things can be difficult to follow.

Some of the wrestlers that qualified for nationals will have a decision to make, as to whether or not they intend on returning to the mat. Let me know if there is someone below who does not intend on competing in 2023-24 or if there is someone omitted who has been granted extra eligibility.

Wrestlers are grouped by their weight class and how they finished at nationals; starting with placewinners then by the farthest consolation round they advanced to.

125 lbs

Matt Ramos (Purdue) 2nd

Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) 4th

Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) 7th

Round of 12

Eric Barnett (Wisconsin)

Dean Peterson (Rutgers)

Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado)

Brett Ungar (Cornell)

Consolation Round of 16

Nick Babin (Columbia)

Patrick McKee (Minnesota)

Jarrett Trombley (NC State)

Consolation Round of 24

Braxton Brown (Maryland)

Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern)

Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State)

Ryan Miller (Penn)

Tucker Owens (Air Force)

Noah Surtin (Missouri)

Jore Volk (Wyoming)

Consolation Round of 32

Ethan Berginc (Army West Point)

Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State) … rest of list and story at Rokfin.com/article/13021/2023-NCAA-Qualifiers-Eligible-to-Return-for-202324

Who Returns The Most Team Points For The 2023-24 Wrestling Season?

A breakdown of the returning team points for every team at the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships.

The 2023 NCAA Tournament just concluded and it was incredible! So, what will the 2024 Tournament look like? We can’t forecast everything yet but we can look at how many team points every team in the country is returning. The below article has a breakdown of a “way-too-early” look at the landscape of next year’s team race by examining returning points and rosters for the top 10 teams.

Team Rank By Returning Points From 2023 NCAAs

The table below shows the ranking of every team based on points scored at the 2023 NCAA Championships from athletes who are eligible to return in the 2023-24 season. We also included columns that show the points scored by each team at the 2023 Tournament along with the points earned that each team will “lose” from wrestlers graduating.

March 27, 2023 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Facts, Trends, and Numbers from the 2023 NCAA Championships (post-Tournament)

by Earl Smith; Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com

The NCAA Tournament has come and gone, along with the 2022-23 season. With a boatload of results, 80 All-Americans and ten national champions there are plenty of opportunities for me to have fun. And by fun, I mean looking for new facts, trends, and numbers to talk about from the tournament. Here’s the pre-tournament version that focuses on conference results, seeding, and qualifiers.

And I’ll need your help with the fact at the end of this article. It’s rare, I’m just not sure how rare!

NCAA Title Notes

Keegan O’Toole is only the third multi-time champion for the Missouri Tigers (Ben Askren and J’den Cox are the others).

Nino Bonaccorsi won Pittsburgh’s first national title since his head coach Keith Gavin did so in 2008.

With Austin O’Connor (North Carolina) and Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) winning titles, it marked the first time since 1994 that the ACC had multiple national champions. Back in ’94, Sammie Henson (Clemson) and TJ Jaworsky (North Carolina) won titles.

After going ten years between national titles (2012-22), Michigan has had champs in back-to-back seasons (Nick Suriano/21 and Mason Parris/22).

Cornell had multiple champions for the first time since the 2016 tournament (Nahshon Garrett – 133 and Gabe Dean – 184).

Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks’ titles extended Penn State’s streak with at least one national champion, one that dates back to the 2011 tournament.

Penn State’s two national champions are the school’s fewest since they had two in 2016 (Nico Megaludis/125 and Zain Retherford/149).

The 2023 Tournament was the first one since 2013 where a freshman did not capture a title (if you’re counting Keegan O’Toole as a freshman in 2022).

Team-Related Notes

Andrew Alirez’s performance set plenty of records at Northern Colorado. He was the first All-American since future-UFC star Justin Gaethje in 2010 and the first national champion since 1962 when Jack Flasche won the 157 lb weight class. Alirez is also the first NCAA placewinner for the Bears under head coach Troy Nickerson. … rest of story at Rokfin.com/article/Facts-Trends-and-Numbers-from-the-2023-NCAA-Championships-postTournament

March 27, 2023 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

2023 NCAA DI National Championships: By the Numbers

7 min read

by Richard Mann; Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com

Another NCAA tournament is in the books. 10 champions were crowned, and there were several standout statistical performers. The following looks at those top performers even though not all of them managed to bring home national titles.

Point Differential

Spencer Lee +1.70
Mason Parris +1.30

Things certainly did not end for Spencer Lee (Iowa) as many Hawkeye fans had hoped. Instead of bringing home his fourth NCAA title, Matt Ramos (Purdue) pinned him in the final seconds of the semifinals. The loss sent Lee to a sixth-place finish and effectively ended his collegiate career.

While Ramos had wrestled Lee tough earlier in the season, the loss was still unexpected due to the fact that Lee was wrestling well. He ran through the Big Ten tournament where he outscored his opponents 45 to four and finished with a tournament-high +2.18 point differential. His patented scoring was also on display in the earlier rounds of the NCAA tournament. Prior to the match against Ramos, Lee had outscored his opposition 33 to four.

Even including the loss against Ramos, Lee still scored 2.34 points per minute and allowed only 0.64 points per minute. That leaves him with a +1.70 point differential, which was the highest across the entire tournament. Lee’s ability to score from the top position was basically unmatched during his collegiate career. His 2.34 points per minute was also the highest scoring rate of the entire tournament. This year, he finished with the highest point differential in all three tournaments he entered: the Soldier Salute, the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament.

The second-highest point differential of the tournament belonged to Michigan heavyweight Mason Parris. On his path to the title, he averaged 1.48 points per minute and allowed only 0.18 points per minute. His +1.30 differential was ahead of all other competitors outside of Lee.

Parris had the fifth-highest scoring rate in the field, but he allowed more than one point in only one of his matches. Four of his five opponents, including Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) … rest of story at Rokfin.com/article/13029/2023-NCAA-DI-National-Championships-By-the-Numbers

March 27, 2023 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

2023 US Open Wrestling Championship Entries – Senior

Every senior-level wrestler registered for the 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships.

The 2023 US Open will take place from April 26-30 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This tournament is will help determine the world team for the United States with a spot in Final X up for grabs at every weight. Check out the current entries in all three styles below.

Check out the entries for the other age levels at the US Open at the below links:

U20 | U17

Men’s Freestyle

March 27, 2023 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment