Takedown Report

This Week….A Year Ago

Now that we’ve finished the DI regular season, it seems like the year is just about over. Right? Only two more tournaments for each team. With about four full months of data points, we’ve figured out how March will play out. Right? 
Maybe not. We’ve used last year as an example. What did the landscape look like in the final week of February? How did it change from February to mid-March? There were some huge chances. At this time last year, there was some uncertainty about the availability of two of the sport’s biggest stars (Both ended up winning titles. Congrats Vito and Carter). 
Two tournaments shouldn’t change THAT much right? You might be surprised how much opinion can be formed or changed over the next couple of weeks.  They always say that hindsight is 20/20, so let’s try to avoid looking at last season through the lens of what we know now. We’re getting into our DeLorean’s and traveling back to February 26th of 2024 to check the pulse of college wrestling fans. 
The eventual national champion at 125 lbs, Richie Figueroa, finished the regular season ranked #19th in the country. He hit a skid at the beginning of February that saw him lose three of four matches. He did show hints of righting the ship as he defeated Luke Stanich and Caleb Smith during the final weekend. 
Braeden Davis, the eventual Big Ten champion at 125 lbs, was ninth in the nation. In his final Big Ten dual of the season, Davis was majored by Caleb Smith. He later won the Big Ten tournament with wins over three straight past All-Americans. 
At this point, we were wondering if Vito Arujau would be … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/this-weeka-year-ago-r100047/

February 28, 2025 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized