David Taylor has won the hodge trophy, which is the wrestling equivalent of the Heisman. Impressively Penn State finished with three guys in the top 5 and the number 1 and 2 wrestlers which is just ridiculous, and well deserved. Ruth finished 2nd in voting, and I think a strong case could have been made for his winning the trophy as he competed in a deeper weight class this year. Molinaro ended his career 4th in voting.

I also did some digging about the last time a team has had 3 undefeated national champions in the same year. I still have a hunch that one of the Gable teams may have done it in the 80s or early 90s but so far from what I've found, Penn State maybe the first since Oklahoma State in 1930.

As you've probably heard by now the team title is locked up. Granted Penn State still could lose team points, but it would take a Ron Artest like effort from the team running through the Scott Trade center bodyslamming fans through tables to lose the title.

That being said there is still plenty of wrestling left. Penn State will be represented in half of the finals tonight. In fact there is only one weight(197) where the Big Ten is not represented.

Outside of the titles the Hodge Trophy is still on the line. The Hodge is the wrestling version of the Heisman. In fact much like the heisman the media in this case WIN magazine basically just makes up the rules as they go along and pick who they like. The likely remaining contenders are Oliver at 133, Dake at 157, Taylor at 165, and Ruth at 174. Could Taylor get a pin again in the finals, if so that would likely lock up the Hodge.

In non PSU things to watch Minnesota and Iowa are still battling for 2nd although Iowa is likely going to need a stellar round to pull it off.

Penn State has almost locked up the team title, and could clinch as early as this morning. Penn State only has Dylan Alton wrestling this morning he has a consi semi match and could finish as high as 3rd and no worse than 5th.

First up for Alton is Sanjaa from American, this should be a good match up for Alton.

Penn State will be most interested in how Minnesota does in this consi semi round. They can't afford many losses before becoming eliminated.

About a half hour away from session 4 our the NCAA tournament. With this morning's incredible session Penn State has put themselves in the drivers seat for the team title. But there is still work to be done. Both Iowa and Cornell still have potential to put up quite a few points.

Matchups for this round
Semifinals
125: Nico Megaludis vs Frank Perrelli
Perrelli has beaten Megaludis twice this year, just like Sanders. I think there is no question if you look at the tournament to this point Megaludis is wrestling better of the two. But this is certainly a tough match, and a win for Perrelli would give Cornell as good shot at 4 finalists.

149: Frank Molinaro vs Justin Accordino
Accordino is unseeded and he is having an incredible tournament. Including a pin in the 2nd round and a major in the quarters. That being said Frank should be a heavy favorite in this bout. But this is a potential trap match for Penn State Accordino has all the looks of a senior on a mission. Accordino has a win over Molinaro as a freshman.

165: David Taylor vs Bezkod Abdurakhmono
Bezkod is a great wrestler but it really shouldn't matter I don't see anyone beating Taylor in this tournament. One possible intrigue here is that Bezkod is now coach by Dernlan and Letters, Letters should be really familiar with Taylor so at least they'll have a good scouting report.

174: Ed Ruth vs Logan Storley
A rematch of the Big Ten title match, Ruth should win this one fairly easily as Storley didn't challenge him much at all in the Big Ten finals. In the other semi you have Amuchaestagi against Perry from what I've seen I expect Amuch to win comfortably setting up the rematch many fans have been eager to see.

184: Quentin Wright vs Robert Hamlin
A rematch of last years NCAA title obviously won by Wright, but Hamlin did beat Wright in the dual earlier this year. This is a winnable match for Wright but certainly a toss up if anything Penn State a slight underdog. Should be a great match.

Rd of 12 matches
These matches are huge as a win here nets you All American honors.

157 Dylan Alton vs Josh Kreimier
I have to be honest I'm not familiar with Kreimier from Air Force, he's 23 - 14 on the year. He got pinned by Dake in the second round and has wrestled all the way back from there. I did some digging and found he didn't place in the Cliff Keen Tournament early in the season, he was also pinned by Peppleman of Harvard in 30 seconds. He finished 3rd in the West Regional via an overtime win to qualify for NCAAs. It seems Alton should be a heavy favorite in this match but at this point there are no gimmies he has to come to wrestle.

Hwt Cameron Wade vs Nick Gwiazdowski
I swear these are some of the longest wrestling names ever. Another name I'm not too familiar with. Nick got majored in the 1st round by Nelson. He has wrestled picking up a pin and a major along the way. He's a freshman and was intermat's top rated heavyweight recruit(according to Binghamton's website). He seems like he will be a solid tough opponent for Wade. Again Wade should be the favorite, but this may not be easy.

[Cari started working on a wrestling post earlier today, so for the sake of organization, we're combining her work with this fanpost for this morning's wrestling action. -- CG]

Penn State sits in first place after a good day one of the tournament, with 38.5 points. The Nittany Lions also picked up a win in a consolation bracket, meaning all 8 wrestlers are still wrestling,
Action begins today at 10 am.

How our wrestlers fared yesterday:

125: Nico Megaludis (#10) beat Michael Martinez of Wyoming (major decision), #7 Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma. Will next face #2 Zachary Sanders of Minn.

133: Frank Martellotti lost to #1 Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State & beat Frank Lomas of CSU Bakersfield in first round of consies. Will face #6 Devin Carter of VA Tech.

149: Frank Molinaro (#1) beat Christopher Villalonga of Cornell (major decision), Scott Sakaguchi of Oregon St. Will next face Eric Grajales of Michigan.

157: Dylan Alton (#7) beat Jake O'Hara of Columbia (major decision), #10 Anthony Jones of Michigan St. Will next face #2 Derek St John of Iowa.

165: David Taylor (#1) beat Corey Lear of Bucknell (fall), Brandon Wright of Chattanooga (fall)--two first period pins in the first two rounds. Will next face Robert Kokesh of Nebraska.

174: Ed Ruth (#1) beat Jim Resnick of Rider (fall), Dorian Henderson of Missouri (fall)--also had two first period pins in the first two rounds. Will next face Nick Heflin of Ohio State.

184: Quentin Wright (#6) beat Thomas Ferguson of North Carolina (major decision), Ben Clymer of Hofstra (major decision). Will next face #3 Ben Bennett of Central Michigan.

197 Morgan McIntosh beat Taylor Meeks of Oregon St, lost to #1 Cam Simaz of Cornell. Will start wrestling in consies today, facing Andrew Campolattano of Ohio State.

HWT: Cameron Wade beat Quintas McCorkle of Clarion (Tech Fall), Maciej Jochym of Cornell. Will face #3 Clayton Jack of Oregon St.

For up to the minute bracket and team score updates, check out the Penn State Wrestling Club site (shout out to psuwresfan for the link in yesterday's fanpost).

Check out psuwresfan's analysis below, and use this as your open thread.

Continue reading this post »

Penn Stage got off to a good start in session 1. They have a much tougher go of it tonight especially our two true freshman.

Again don't get too worked up about team scores tonight tomorrows sessions are where the separation will come.

I'm not sure how things are going to be run tonight probably 2nd round followed by 1st round consis. So we should be done pretty early since we only have one guy in that 1st consi round.

About a half hour away from Penn State starting their quest to repeat as NCAA champions. Just a reminder action today can be seen on espn3. Also according to the the wresting SID Jeff Byers audio from gopsusports will be free this weekend due to NCAA guidelines. That will be especially helpful in these early rounds where Penn State may not be on the espn3 feeds. Jeff also does a great job keeping you updated on how the other contending teams are doing and any matches that are big upsets. Broadcasts usually start about 15 minutes before the wrestling starts.

I'll try to update as much as possible but I'm at work. Quite a step down from being their live in Philly last year.

The brackets are out for the NCAA wrestling tournament that start next week. They can be found here.

It's mostly good news for Penn State with the exception of 133 (to be expected) and 197.

The most surprising bracket comes at 174, everyone was expecting a seeding of 1. Amuchasteagi 2. Ruth 3. Perry. Which would set up a for a showdown between Ruth and Perry before the rematch with Amuch. But the official seeding is 1. Ruth 2. Perry 3. Amuch. That leaves Ruth a much easier road to the finals and he'll only have to face one of Amuch and Perry. Many fans probably hoping for the rematch with Amuch plus it will knock an Oklahoma State wrestler out of the finals.

Other weight breakdowns.

125: Nico is sitting in a pretty good spot, he avoids all the big names at this weight. If everything goes to chalk which I suspect it won't he'll have either Mele or Mango from Stanford in the consis for a shot at All American honors. Both of those are very winnable matches.

133: Frank got a pretty rough draw, landing top seed Jordan Oliver in the 1st round. He'll have a shot at a win or two in the consis.

149: Molinaro gets an interesting 1st round match with Villonga, and then gets Grajales in the qtrs. Should be a fairly clean draw to the finals though.

157: This bracket is a little odd it's an all Big Ten lower bracket with St. John grabbing the 2 seed, Welch grabbing the 3 seed, and Alton getting the 7. Alton draws St. John in the qtrs, he took him to overtime this past weekend so that match is certainly winnable if he finishes his shots. A loss there sets him up with a possible match against Frank Hickman from Bloomsburg (Alton beat him 14 - 12 earlier in the year) or Justin Lister, that's a very winnable match which will get him to All American honors.

165: Taylor top seed as expected he could hit Kokesh in the qtrs, who he teched in the dual meet. After that he's looking at likely Evans again or Bezkod from Clarion. Bezkod would be interesting since he's now coached by Dernlan and Letters who should know Taylor very well.

174: As mentioned great seeding for Ruth. He's probably looking at Storley or Lofthouse in the semis.

184: Interesting here that Wright got the 6 seed and Ihnen who placed higher got the 7. Wright has a pretty good road, he'll hit Bennett in the qtrs which is probably the most favorable high seed for him. He should be able to make All American. Another interesting note the highest Big Ten wrestler at this weight is 5th.

197: That brings us to McIntosh who got the absolute worst draw of any Penn State wrestler, and honestly I don't see him reaching All American honors, in fact worse yet this could be a very low scoring weight for Penn State. He has a very winnable match in the 1st round. In the 2nd round he draws top seed Cam Simaz of Cornell. A loss there drops him into a colossal mess. His 1st wrestle back could be against Camp again which has proven to be close the past two times they've wrestled. That's followed by a likely match against Powless/ Hernadez (Wyoming) a win there and he's look at a match against Sonny Yohn or Big Ten champ Mario Gonzalez, which he would need to win for All American honors. Honestly I think he's capable of beating anyone on that list outside of Simaz and Gonzalez but that is a very tough row to hoe.

Hwt: Wade got a decent draw he got the 6th seed which honestly is a bit generous. He'll get Tucker Lane in the 2nd round who he beat 8 2 in the dual meet. After that he gets 3rd seed Clayton Jack like Wright I think this is best possible high seed for Wade. He lost to Jack in the Southern Scuffle 4 3 but that match is certainly winnable. Even with a loss there he's looking at a very favorable match to get to All American honors.

Overall I really like Penn State's placements. They're looking at a pretty good shot a 7 All Americans, granted they have to get it done on the mat. The other thing I like is unlike the Big Ten Penn State has a lot of chances to wrestle above seed in this tournament. Where as I felt most of their seeds were their ceiling in the Big Ten tournament. I haven't had a chance to break down much of the other teams. Iowa's spots look pretty good as well, although I see a few weights with some potential stumbling blocks.

I'm not gonna tell anyone how they should or shouldn't react. Every person is different and I understand that.

I just urge people to use some restraint from acting hastily. If you're giving up your tickets that's your prerogative as I understand they are substantial investment for most people. However think about why you've been going to Penn State games for the past however many years. Has it been because of the AD, the president, or the board of trustees. My guess is many of us didn't know who was on the board of trustees until a few months ago. I would also guess most of you, went to see the guys clad in plain blue and white uniforms, the somewhat haggard looking nittany lion, the incredible video played on the stadium before each game, or maybe the blue band when they're audible over some crappy pop music playing in the stadium(remember when that was the biggest issue regarding going to games). A lot of us also probably went to the games hoping to get a glimpse of Joe walking the sidelines, taking what might be one final glance at a living legend. One we all have admired and adored and even looked up to for years.

The fact of the matter was no matter who was hired that would be gone. The sting of not seeing that would still be there, the childhood memories of Joe's glory days flashing back when Joe ambled out of the tunnel would be gone.But those other things all remain, and those are the things Joe has tried to teach all of us. Penn State should be about Penn State, it should be about the guys on the field, not some suits sitting in a office somewhere. It's about the alumni, the student section, and even those who are just fans, coming together as one Penn State family. And while it may not seem like it right now. All of that will still be true no matter who coaches in the fall.

What I have learned from Joe is that it's up to all of us to ensure Penn State remains Penn State. It's up to all of us to make it known a dip in graduation rates isn't acceptable. It's up to all of us to make it known that you need to act like you've been there before, even if you haven't. Now it's up to all of us to show Joe we've been listening. So if you want to give up your tickets and take down your banners, that's fine, everyone handles situations differently. But if you're considering it I just ask that you take a second to think about what Penn State really means to you, what it really meant to Joe, and what's really important.

The Penn State Women's Vball team is on the Big Ten Network tonight at 8 taking on Nebraska live. It's Nebraska's first big ten game, and a big match up between the #5 and #10 teams in the country. 

While all the attention has been on the football team the volleyball team has had their own struggles this year. With a freshman and sophomore laden line up the team has really struggled to find a leader. Their play has been very inconsistent. This past weekend they struggled at times against teams they would normally wipe the floor with. 

Russ Rose who is a master motivator and commonly will knock his team down a few pegs in the media to get them to play better, seems genuinely concerned this year. And has been mixing line ups quite a bit in the early going. After moving last year's starting setter Kristen Carpenter to libero, he benched her this past weekend for poor play. Then brought her in Saturday and Sunday and ran a psuedo 6  - 2 formation, although Micha Hancock was mostly acting as an outside hitter. 

Penn State will likely need to play their best match of the year, thus far to win in front of what will likely be a hostile Nebraska crowd. Although important to remember there is a long way to go in the volleyball season, although a loss tonight will put penn state behind the eight ball in their quest to keep their streak of Big Ten titles alive. 

Andrew Long the wrestling teams starting 133 pounder is in serious trouble once again. Long came to Penn State after being dismissed from Iowa state for several drinking related arrests. Centre Daily Times is reporting he was arrested Friday morning by state college police and charged with rape and sexual assault among other various charges. Full story can be found here.

Because of the nature of the crime I won't speculate too much about what possibly happened. And while he's innocent until proven guilty this is a big black eye for the wrestling program. Cael was expected to really clean the program up and if this proves to be true many outside the program will look to Long's half season tenure at Penn State as Penn State winning at all costs. 

If Penn State is forced to wrestle without Andrew Long this year, it will be a huge hit to their team chances. If Frank Martellotti is able to return from academic issues he could potentially fill in but it's difficult to see him finish as high as Long would have. Sherlock who was a highly rated recruit at 133 two years ago seems poised to wrestle 141 this year with Andrew Alton redshirting. That would leave Bryan Pearsall who has been ineffective in several starting stints at the weight and redshirt freshman Rob Vollrath battling for the job. Neither is likely to match Long's 3rd place finish from a year ago. 

Cael Sanderson's return to the mat got off to a successful start this weekend. Cael won the trials with relative ease, and has qualified for the 2011 World Championships. He went to three periods in one match and wasn't really in danger in any of his matches. The finals match with returning world Silver Medalist Jake Herbert was closer than the score but still decidedly one sided. Up next will likely be the world championships in September. I don't think it's out of the question we will see him in wrestle in a smaller international tournament before that just to get a little bit more practice in. While the weekend went extremely successful not just for Sanderson but for the whole Nittany Lion Wrestling Club some questions remain and there are improvements to be made. It has been an exciting month for the wrestling program, as they announced a very highly rated recruiting class and released a fairly exciting schedule for next season. Continue on after the break for a breakdown of this weekends action and all the big program announcements the past few months. 

Continue reading this post »

As mentioned posted by jtohep Cael Sanderson will return to the mat this weekend in the World Team Trials. However the intermat article seem to have some incorrect information, as Cael will not be doing this "just for fun". Cael has informed Sports Illustrated this is the first step towards an Olympic run in 2012.

The article can be found here. I think personally this is not only an amazing comeback but it should be great for the program. 

I also don't really for see this interrupting his coaching duties at all. He may have less time for camps and recruiting but that can be left in the hands of his very capable staff. Luckily most of the freestyle season will not conflict with the College season. 

This also should be a huge recruiting boost for the school to have a current olympian as the head coach. First things first he needs to win the team trials this weekend. jtothep will be keeping everyone posted over the weekend with how he is doing, and I'll return monday to recap everything. 

A bit of a surprise but Cael Sanderson will be back on the mat this weekend. You can read about it here. Nothing to get to worked up about. Doesn't sound like he's making a full comeback just gonna get back on the mat for fun. For those wondering he's wrestling at 211 pounds. 

It is pretty neat to see a coach that is willing to make this sort of deal with his wrestlers, and is still in good enough shape to compete. Unfortunately he and Jake Varner are in different weight classes as it would have been really interesting to see those two go at it. 

In what was a whirlwind 3 days of wrestling, that saw some dramatic upsets, injuries, and a nip and tuck team race, Penn State emerged victorious. If you would have said going into the tournament that Taylor would get pinned, Pataky would win only one match, Ruth would lose in the quarterfinals, and Alton and Wade would fail to reach All American honors, most would assume Penn State would be lucky to finish in the top 5. But due to picking up serious bonus points, and another amazing run by Quentin Wright, Penn State found themselves at the top of the podium. As you've probably read this is the first title Penn State has won since 1953. It's also the first of Cael's young coaching career. It took him just two years at Penn State to win it. Although I feel some credit should be given to Troy Sunderland, Hughes and the rest of the previous coaching staff. Who are responsible for bringing in Wade, Wright, Ruth, Pataky, and Molinaro. They certainly didn't leave the cupboards bare by any means. They did a great job recruiting some truly amazing wrestlers, and they deserve some credit for that. 

via www.pennstatewrestlingclub.org

In the next few weeks I'll take a look at where the program is headed next year. Along with the other teams to watch, surprise Iowa will be back. But continue reading for a weight by weight breakdown of how this went down. 

Continue reading this post »

Cael Sanderson had one goal when he came to Penn State win championships. For this season the team had two goals win a Big Ten title and win an NCAA title. They achieved the first by the slimmest of margins and will now head to philly to try and win their first NCAA title in over 50 years. Penn State survived several disappointing performances at Big Tens namely Cameron Wade and Brad Pataky. The points lost at those two weights were made up by James Vollrath who managed a 7th place finish and a huge pin that 7th place match. And of course Quentin Wright who avenged 3 losses on the year to find himself at the top of the podium. 

The tournament was between Iowa and Penn State most of the weekend and it was clear one of those two was going to win it. The back and forth between both teams was truly amazing as each time one would get a big win the other would counter with a big win of their own. At several points in the tournament namely Sunday morning Penn State looked dead in the water but every time they bounced back the next round to put themselves back in contention. In place matches Penn State was 9 - 0 with a pin, tech fall and Wade's major decision. In what's a real testament to both Iowa and Penn State they managed to storm the field scoring points at just 9 weight class, as Iowa picked up 0 at 149 and Penn State picked up 0 at 197. 

It's a win that should be celebrated by the fans but for the team there is still work to be done. Wade is in obvious need of improvement if he hopes to have any chance to reach All American honors. He went most of the tournament without a takedown until the final bout. Many matches he rarely attempted a shot even when down in the match. As mentioned in the preview story, several opponents got a lead and then forced him to take top when it was his choice. Every single person in the tournament for Penn State it seemed had at least one scary moment along the line but most survived. Which is the key in a tournament like this. I feel pretty confident in saying I don't think the team will rest on their laurels too much. I expect they had a solid week of practice last weekend to get ready for this weekends tournament. 

At nationals you can expect the hawkeyes to be in the mix again, they should never be counted out. But I think the toughest test will likely come from Cornell. Who I expect to win the tournament, I think they are just way too talented this year. If they slip you can expect Penn State, Iowa and Oklahoma State to be in the mix. 

The NCAAs are a whole different beast than any other wrestling tournament in the country. There are 33 guys per weight, winning this tournament is a battle of survival. For the new wrestling fans don't get too hung up early on how "impressive" guys are winning, the key is just winning. The tournament could come down to bonus points, but you get far more points for placing high in the tournament so just focus on the Penn State guys getting through. Unlike the NCAA basketball tournament where you rarely see a top seeded team go down in the first few rounds anyone can be beat in the NCAA wrestling tournament if they have an off match and the other person rises to the occasion. As always you can expect some of the most fierce competition to come in the quarterfinals as a win there ensures a all important All American finish. 

Following Along The NCAA Tournament

This is a huge tournament but it's actually pretty simple to follow, much like the Big Tens don't get hung up on early team scores, late Friday is when the team race will really start to take shape. As long as Penn State doesn't completely collapse on Thursday they should be fine. There are two big rounds to watch the quarterfinals and the 'round of 12'. If you win in the quarterfinals you are guaranteed an All American finish, ditto with the round of twelve which includes the semifinals and the consolation quarterfinals. In fact if you follow the tournament at all you'll likely hear the round of twelve mentioned a good bit. A loss there means the wrestler fell just 1 win shy of being an All American.

Don't be surprised by big names dropping, the NCAA tournament has tons of huge upsets every year. It's part of what makes it so fun to watch. So don't be surprised to see some of the top 4 seeds beat in the first two rounds. Just hope they aren't wearing blue and white. 

As for watching the tournament there is wall to wall coverage thanks to ESPN. The schedule is as follows:
Thursday:
11 AM First Round Action - Espn3.com
6:30 PM 2nd Round and Consolation Round 1 - Espn3.com

Friday: 
10:30 AM Quarterfinals and Consolation Rounds - ESPNU HD/ Espn3.com
7 PM Semifinals - ESPNU HD

Saturday:
11 AM - Medal Rounds (3rd, 5th, 7th place matches) ESPNU HD
7:30 PM - Championship Finals ESPN HD

Here's Jtothep's scoring breakdown per round, this shows the possible points one can pick up in a session:
Session 1
- Championship Pigtail (Only 1 match per weight); Adv Pts (1), Bonus (2), Plc (0) 
- Championship Round of 32: Adv Pts (1), Bonus (2), Plc (0) 

Session 2 
- Championship Round of 16; Adv Pts Possible (1), Bonus Possible (2), Plc Possible (0)
- Consi Pigtail (1per Weight); Adv Pts (.5), Bonus (2), Plc (0)
- Consi Round 1 of 16; Adv Pts (.5), Bonus (2), Plc (0)

Session 3 
- Championship Quarterfinals; Adv Pts (1), Bonus (2), Plc (6)
- Consi Round 2 of 16; Adv Pts (.5), Bonus (2), Plc (0)
- Consi Round 1 of 8; Adv Pts (.5), Bonus (2), Plc (0)

Session 4 
- Championship Semifinals; Adv Pts (1), Bonus (2), Plc (6)
- Consi Round 2 of 8; Adv Pts (.5), Bonus (2), Plc (3)
- Consi Round 1 of 4; Adv Pts (.5), Bonus (2), Plc (3)

Session 5
- Consi Round 2 of 4; Adv Pts (.5), Bonus (2), Plc (3)
- 3rd Place Match: Adv (0), Bonus (2), Plc (1)
- 5th Place Match: Adv (0), Bonus (2), Plc (1)
- 7th Place Match: Adv (0), Bonus (2), Plc (1)

Session 6
- Championship Finals; Adv (0), Bonus (2), Plc (4)

Below you'll find my weight by weight Penn State recap of Big Tens along with some previews and predictions of Penn State's wrestlers at Nationals along with the guys from what figures to be their top competition, Iowa and Cornell. All three teams got some really tough draws in the tournament, and a few really good ones. I don't think any team can be labeled as having an edge although I think Iowa may have gotten some of the worst seeding. 

Continue reading this post »

I'll be posting day one action in the comments of this thread as much as possible to keep everyone up to date. This mornings action sees us wrestle out to the quarterfinals which if you followed the preview thread and the brackets there are some huge matches for Penn State. Quentin Wright taking on Rutt, Alton vs. Kennedy, Wade vs. A heavyweight pulse. What more could anyone ask for. 

Evening thread brings the semifinals some say the most exciting round of a wrestling tournament. 

I'll also do my best to try and keep everyone up to date on the all important  team results. 

Tomorrow I assume we'll have a combo open thread on the main page as the Bball team squares of with Minnesota in the season finale, followed by the hopefully Penn State heavy finals of the wrestling tournament. 

Yes that is correct in the somewhat storied history of Penn State wrestling they have never won a Big Ten title. They have a realistic shot of changing that this weekend in Evanston, but it won't come easy. Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota will all pose serious threats, a slip by Penn State or a solid tournament for any of those teams and Penn State will be heading to Philly with out a conference championship. 

I actually think Penn State has a better shot at a title in two weeks at the NCAA tournament then they do this week in the Big Ten. That may seem strange but with all the teams in the NCAA tournament there is a little more room for error, and Penn State is extremely top heavy this year. Most of their seeded wrestlers at the Big Tens will also likely draw seeds at the NCAA tournament. 

I'll break down each weight individually below but here are some general notes and things to look out for this weekend, mostly for our new wrestling fans. 

First, don't get too hung up on the scores early in the tournament. If Penn State has a bunch of upsets early there is room for concern. But most of the scoring will come from placing, the scoring after session two will include 2nd place points for all those in the finals. So that is a score to pay closer attention too. 

Bonus point will be key. This figures to be one of the closest team races in a long time. This is why I've been harping on all those 7 point decision wins throughout the season. Penn State will need to convert on bonus points every chance they get. 

The draws in the opening round are random, so don't be stunned if some 1 seeds or 2 seeds don't get byes. In a strange twist it would actually be beneficial for Penn State to get as many opening round matches as possible, as it will be a good opportunity for some of our guys to get extra bonus points. 

Penn State has the most 1 seeds in the tournament with 5, however that means there is no room for those guys to wrestle above seed, Penn State needs at least 4 to wrestle to seed to win in my opinion. If they manage to get all five their golden. 

Minnesota is dangerous, they are the only team to have guys seeded at all ten weights. They have quite a few guys seeded in the lower half, but if they wrestle above seed they could steal the title away from Iowa and Penn State. 

Wisconsin is a giant question mark, Graff is entering the tournament coming off and demolishing from Andrew Long, how will he look? Andrew Howe the returning NCAA champ is returning and is supposedly a 100% can he win the title? Is Rutt for real in an open weight class? If those guys and Brandvold deliver they could be looking at a title on Sunday. 

Iowa has a great shot to reign supreme once again, I would say Penn State is the favorite by the slimmest of margins. Iowa will need a few guys to wrestle above seed to win it but they're more than capable of pulling that off. On the other hand their some of their upper weights looked rather ordinary against Minnesota. If any of those guys falter below seed they'll have a very tough time winning the title. 

The tournament very likely could come down to heavyweight. As I've said numerous times none of the Big Ten heavys have impressed me all that much this season. Most of them have wrestled with a point or two of each other most of the year. If Wade gets upset early Penn State is in trouble, if Raising continues to improve Penn State is in trouble. I honestly think any one of the top seeds could win this weight. 

How close is the tournament well if you take away advancement points and go solely by placement points it's pretty darn close:
Penn State 93
Iowa 91
Wisconsin 73
Minnesota 65

Following The Tournament
Well unfortunately the Big Ten Network is again covering as little as they possibly can, having just one televised session and no internet streams available. The finals will be live on the BTN and it should feature several Penn State guys, and some great wrestling definitely worth tuning in. For the other sessions your only options are the Penn State radio feed which can be heard on the radio in state college or on gopsusports.com for a small fee. The open mat will also have live blogging and I believe audio available for most of the tournament. But remember they will be covering the big matches which won't always be the Penn State matches. However they should be able to keep you up to date on how everyone is doing. I don't have an exact link for the Open Mat coverage but their main page can be found here. You can also check out their predictions for the Big Ten tournament. 

The schedule is as follows:
Saturday:
11 AM: First Round and Quarterfinals
6 PM: Consolation First Round and Quarterfinals, Championship Bracket Semifinals

Sunday: 
2 PM: Consolation Semifinals and 7th place matches
4 PM: Championships, 3rd place matches, 5th place matches (Live on the BTN)

Brackets can be found here. These are the final brackets if someone pulls out now it will be a forfeit. Penn State and Iowa both got a lot of byes in the first round which could limit extra bonus points for both. Pataky got a 1st round match which he should win but Penn State probably doesn't want as it's one more chance for Pataky to get injured. 

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Penn State ended the dual meet season in style, with probably their best performance of the year, and definitely the best since the Southern Scuffle in late December. There were a few disappointing results late in the match, but in the three marquee bouts Penn State dominated. 

Cael said the team took a bit of a break this week so the guys would be fresh for Friday's match and it showed, almost every guy in the lineup looked considerably better than they have in recent weeks. If they're able to duplicate this performance at the Big Ten championships in a few weeks Penn State could be looking at their first Big Ten title in a long time. 

The team has two weeks to prepare for Big Tens so I imagine they'll have some pretty tough spirited practices this week before taking it a little easy next week to ensure everyone it 100% for the tournament. While there won't be any action on the mat this week it's still a big week for the team as the automatic qualifiers for each conference will be announced this week. These will be important for guys like Pataky and Wright who likely will not get a wild card selection if they have a bad Big Ten tournament. 

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Amazingly we've reached the final dual meet of the season already. And this Friday's match against Wisconsin should be a great finish. All but one weight(165) will feature a wrestler ranked 11th or higher, 8 bouts will feature a wrestler ranked 7th or higher. There will be several critical bouts pitting top ten wrestlers especially 133 and 184, where Penn State could really use big wins. It also looks like this could be another sell out at rec hall which would be great to see. 

This is a dual that Penn State should win fairly easily, especially since Wisconsin star Andrew Howe will not be back in time to wrestle. But more important than winning is how they look doing it. With just two weeks until the Big Ten tournament Penn State really needs to start clicking on all cylinders. They've been a bit inconsistent the final month of the season, and it will be key for them to start putting it all together this week. Guys like Quentin Wright and Cameron Wade need to get things turned in the right direction and quickly. As Penn State's title hopes could be riding on their shoulders. 

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Penn State fell just short of a really great weekend beating Illinois on friday before tying Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. Penn State wrestled pretty tough this weekend for the most part. There were a few weights where Penn State really struggled, which is getting concerning this late in the year. But in most cases the fight was there that was missing against Iowa and in some of the previous wins. 

There were also several missed opportunities for key team points that would have won the dual against Minnesota. The result was a little disappointing but outside of two matches 149 and 184 pretty much everything in this match was expected. And even in those two matches the outcomes were a possibility I just expected much more from two of Penn State's veterans. Which would have been a big win for the team.

Overall some solid wrestling by most of the team this weekend. But there is plenty of areas that could use some improvement. There's just one dual meet left in the season against Wisconsin this Friday. Once again a few of Penn State guys will be really challenged in this match, and it should be a good measuring stick to see where Penn State is heading to the post season. Follow after the break for the weight by weight break down. 

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Penn State will face two big tests this weekend in Illinois and Minnesota. With Wisconsin hamstrung by injury these will likely be the toughest matches left for Penn State. Both Illinois and Minnesota are dealing with a few injuries of their own which should greatly improve Penn State's chances especially against Minnesota, who will be without Sonny Yohn their very good 197 pounder. 

Illinois is a solid team they don't have many names or rankings that jump out at you but they have very few weak weights. They will come to wrestle hard, there's a reason Penn State had a long losing streak against Illinois until a couple of years ago, they come to fight. I expect you may see a lot of Penn State guys held to decisions and in closer matches than what you may expect on paper. It should be a good exciting dual for the Rec Hall faithful. 

The match on Sunday against Minnesota is a scary one. Minnesota after a down year is back and loaded with talent, as mentioned they'll likely be without Yohn but this is still a formidable team. Add in the strange travel arrangements where Penn State wrestles at home Friday then must fly to Minnesota for an early afternoon dual, and this has all the makings of an upset. 

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The Penn State wrestling team was able to bounce back from the loss to Iowa this weekend with two lopsided wins against over matched foes Michigan and Michigan State. The team basically did as expected going into the weekend and seems to not be suffering any linger effects from the Iowa match. 

That being said the match Friday against Michigan State, the team looked a bit flat. It's tough to say if that was a product of most of the Michigan State guys refusal to actually wrestle, or a product of the team still no over last week's loss. Or it could be that the atmosphere at Michigan State's Jenison Field house lulled them to sleep. Having been there now I can say it has nothing on rec hall that's for sure. Whatever the cause despite the lopsided final score it wasn't their most impressive performance. The team was actually trailing at the midway point, before reeling off five straight wins. 

 Also the officiating at this dual was horrendous, this is the second straight match where it seemed like the official really wasn't ready to be reffing a Big Ten match up. In the Iowa dual the ref, who I'm not blaming for any outcomes, seemed really unsure of himself and almost seemed afraid at times to make a tough call, against both teams. In this dual the ref simply didn't call anything, there were casses of extreme stalling by Michigan State notably at 133, and again some at 174, and calls just didn't come. Then he was talked into a fleeing the mat call at 157 by Cael which was awfully peculiar. The 133 pound match was probably the worse as the kid just refused to wrestle, there were several occasions where Long would cut the kid loose and he just laid on the mat. Any ref with a limited level of skill would have called stalling on that immediately but this ref let it go time and time again. In the 184 pound match there was a wild scramble where quite honestly Wright should have been called pin in a defensive fall, and then he rolled through and had a pin of his own, that wasn't called. Really rough night for the zebras. 

The team seemed to be a little sharper and better focused on Sunday against Michigan. Although there were still a few struggles, namely at 165 and heavyweight. At heavyweight Cameron Wade seems to have completely fallen apart in recent weeks. He got dominated from the neutral position in both matches, luckily for the team he was able to dominate Apland from Michigan from the top position to get the fall when he was getting hammered in that match. 

This weekend the team will get two much tougher tests from Illinois and Minnesota. Both are matches Penn State should win but they are loaded with key match ups between highly ranked wrestlers, that will be big for not only confidence but Big Ten seeding. 

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Penn State will now get it's second test in as many weeks. This one will be slightly different as the team tries to bounce back from it's first lost of the year. The young guys on this team just got punched in mouth and knocked to the canvas now it's time to see if they get back up and fight or stay down. They'll try to regroup with a two match swing through Michigan. 

Friday night they will take on a  Michigan State team, that is weak on paper but coming off a big win against 14th ranked Illinois. Penn State should be heavily favored, as they will be overwhelming favorites in just about every bout contested, but will need to wrestle like it to pull out the win in East Lansing. It should provide a good chance to lick their wounds, and move on from the Iowa dual. 

Sunday will see a rematch of the Virginia Duals final a match Penn State won 24 to 12. There's reason to believe things could be much tighter this time around. Penn State will likely be without Brad Pataky who picked up a key win at 125. Brad has been mentioned as being questionable but I have my doubts we'll see him till right before the Big Tens to get him as healthy as possible.

There's also the question of Quentin Wright was extremely ineffective on Sunday. Whether it's the shoulder or something else he clearly was no where near 100% on Sunday. Really I'm not sure why the coaches sent him out there, and I really don't think he should wrestle this weekend if he's in the same shape. I understand no one is completely healthy at this point in the year, but there is no point sending him out there to get beat on and risk his injured shoulder.

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The Nittany Lions entered Rec Hall yesterday too much fan fare, and prohibitive favorites against a supposedly rebuilding Iowa team. What transpired in front of packed rec hall whiteout was a humbling beat down, to say the least. In a match that was being compared to some of the all time greats at Rec Hall in the lead up, is now in the company of some of the all time greatest disappointments in program history.

You have to take your hats off to an Iowa team, that came into enemy territory, and out-worked, out-wrestled and out-coached Penn State. You can say what you want about the coaching staff of Iowa and the way they act during matches, but quite frankly Brands out-coached Sanderson yesterday, by a wide margin. For a coach who hasn't really proven at this point in his career that he can take a team from great to national title contender yesterday was certainly a troubling sign. Honestly for all the hype Sanderson has gotten since he's come here I've watched Troy Sunderland coached teams that wrestled Iowa better than that. Iowa wrestled far smarter than Penn State, they also seemed to know every move Penn State was gonna do before it happened. Penn State on the other hand looked completely lost at times, many guys had no plan b for when their primary attack didn't work. You had Alton looking for the headlock over and over when it clearly wasn't there, Kemerer tried only a high crotch to left the entire match with no set up at all. 

For those hoping that Penn State was starting a new dynasty is college wrestling this was a rude awakening. With Penn State unable to win this year, with as many things in their favor as they had their future prospects against Iowa certainly look bleak. 

As I said going into the match, the dual meets mean very little, so in the grand scheme of things they still have as good a chance of winning Big Tens and Nationals as they did on Sunday before the match started. Although quite honestly what I saw yesterday was not very encouraging, I saw only two guys in Blue and White who looked like they had a shot at being All Americans. The team that wrestled yesterday in my opinion will be luckily to be a top ten team. And again that's not to take anything away from Iowa, they wrestled good smart matches yesterday. And they showed far more heart and fight than anyone on the Penn State roster. Penn State will get a chance to bounce back against a poor Michigan State team on Friday before heading to Ann Arbor for a rematch with Michigan that looks awfully daunting without Pataky in the lineup. 

Continue after the break for the unpleasant match by match breakdown. 

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