Griff the BullRam

Per Mizzou Wrestling's Twitter, their new assistant coach is Kendric Maple. Nice pick up for them

By this token, Myles Martin did not win Big Tens as he did not wrestle in the Big Ten finals, since Rasheed defaulted. Does that mean the third place finished should've been given the opportunity to wrestle in the finals?

Let's supposed there's a high school sophomore, 16 years old, who suddenly drops out of school (maybe it's to help out on the family farm, maybe they have a serious illness that forces them out of school, whatever the reason). A few years later, this person decides they actually want to finish high school and enroll again at 19 to finish their sophomore year, on track to graduate at 21. Should this person be allowed to still complete in high school sports? I realize this is outside of the NCAA umbrella, but just posing a general question/scenario.

He lost to Gadson and Wellington as a freshman. Lost to Snyder and McIntosh at NCAAs as a sophomore. Lost to Wellington (by DQ) his junior year, and went undefeated as a senior. I'll be wearing my Mizzou gear when J'Den and Bo (almost certainly) meet up, but regardless, we'll have a solid representative at this weight!

When Smith became the coach is about the time I really started getting into wrestling, including following Mizzou wrestling. I remember when he kicked Barker off the team. It sounded like Barker had been a cancer in the room (for lack of better team) and didn't want to do thing Smith's way. I may have been fairly young at the time, but I remember thinking to myself that this new coach has the same standards for everyone, regardless of how good of a wrestler they are, and there's a reason he did this. A few years ago after Lavallee made the NCAA finals, he said in a press conference that he kicked Lavallee off the team just the year before for not doing things the right way, and made him make a list of 10 things to change if he wanted to come back on the team. Living in St. Louis, I used to go to Mizzou's first dual of the year against Illinois every year, until Mizzou beat Illinois and "coincidentally" they stopped dualing. There's no doubt whatsoever that Smith completely changed the culture at Mizzou, and if Clemsen has learned even a shred of what Smith has done, it could be fun to see him do to Maryland what Smith did to Mizzou.

I was in grade school when Brian Smith took over the Missouri program so I don't know how everyone reacted to it, but the impression I get is that he wasn't a "big star hire." I've actually heard he got the job because he was the cheapest option for the university. Seems like he's doing just fine with what he has, and I'm sure Clemsen has learned a few things from Smith. Hopefully he can turn Maryland around like Smith turned around Mizzou

This happened a few weeks/months ago. If I recall correctly, the ref is a club coach in the area, and a kid on his club team would've eventually met up with the winner of this match. The kid who was dq'd in this match was the favorite to win the whole thing. I wan't there and can't say with 100% certainty that this is what happened, but everything on social media pointed to this being the case.

Smith has a history of not tolerating guys who aren't willing to put in the work and stay out of trouble. I remember a couple years ago he kicked a senior and 2 time NCAA qualifier off the team for alcohol issues. And when Joey Lavallee made the nationals finals, Smith revealed that he was about to kick Lavallee off the team the prior year and told him he had to make a list of 10 things he would change if he wanted to come back on the team. I'm probably biased as a Mizzou fan, but it's nice to see that Smith doesn't have a different standard for his better wrestlers and I have a ton of respect for him as a result.

Craig Henning from Wisconsin took second at nationals in 2007 and didn't qualify at a senior in 2008. Tyron Woodley from Mizzou was a 2x All American as a sophomore and a senior, didn't quality as a junior. Of course, this was back when coaches voted on the wildcards right after the tournament.

The guy just can't catch a break, can he?

1. Which moment is more exciting, for you? The start of the tournament, OR the start of the Finals? Close call, but I'll go with the finals. Start of the tournament definitely has a unique feel to it too. 2. For what was the LOUDEST applause or reaction that YOU have ever heard? [for example; a PSU wrestler winning, or an OSU (either OSU) wrestler winning (and so on), or a Dake 4th title, etc., etc. Name the occasion for the SINGLE LOUDEST applause that you can remember.] Man, there's a BUNCH that come to mind. But for single loudest applause/reaction, I'll go with Bo sticking Martin in the finals last year. (I've changed my answer to this 3 times before hitting submit) 3. What is the one concession food item that you ALWAYS buy and eat? I try to wait to eat until between sessions, but if I do eat at the arena, usually chicken fingers. 4. What is the one high-priced food item that you really do want but hate to purchase? They're all overpriced. 5. If you’re willing to tell, has there ever been an undefeated top seed that you WANTED to see lose? But provided that he was not wrestling the wrestler for YOUR team. Not particularly. One of the guys in our group is an Iowa fan, so it was fun to give him crap about Marinelli the rest of the weekend, but I wasn't necessarily hoping it would happen. 6. What is the music like? Is it loud and overbearing like at a football game (domed stadium game)? Or is it real good and actually ADDS to the overall atmosphere? Not really as issue. They really only play it before each sessions and during breaks. 7. Excluding all consolation rounds, do you ever feel any LULLS in the action? At times yes, but when you get top level wrestling, you get a lot of 3-2 matches. But there's almost always someone on the mat to root for, whether it's someone from your team, your state, your fantasy team, someone with a feel good story, etc. 8. You who sit up high, how well can you see the action on the floor? Are there TV monitors that you look at? Sat in the very last row of the upper bowl this year, no problem seeing the action. And yes, there are TV monitors along with the big scoreboard. 9. What was the most pleasant conversation that you ever had with a stranger sitting next to you or nearby? On the contrary, you ever get close to fisticuffs with somebody sitting nearby? Or witness such? Last year in Cleveland, we sat right in front of a suite with the Abounader family and sweet talked our way into the suite. Pretty cool being with them when Dominic won his quarters match to AA. Actually, almost every conversation I've had at nationals has been pleasant, wrestling people are pretty cool in general. In 6 years, the only "bad" interaction I've had was in between sessions when my buddy (feeling good at the time) was talking trash to a college foe. We were able to de-escalate the situation pretty quickly. 10. Can you describe any moment that brought you to tears, or near tears? Not tears, but as a Mizzou fan (and maybe for any fan in general), Miklus hugging the Mizzou fans after his blood round win this year was definitely a touching moment. Thank you. I (perhaps we) look forward to reading your responses.

I'm with you Gocke. I keep hearing that both are looking for a sixth year but don't know anything about Rasheed's situation. Can anyone shed some light?

If we're including inactive users, MACtruck vs PD2 would definitely be the last match on Saturday night

He also went to the OTC for a year right after high school, so he was effectively a 2013 high school graduate for NCAA purposes. However, Grant Leeth was awarded 2 medical redshirt years, so we will likely be calling him Dr. Leeth pretty soon.

Demas vs Yianni in the quarters was a pretty dang exciting match. On the contrary, Demas vs Eierman in the third place match was probably the most boring match either of them have wrestled, when I was expecting there to be about 30 points on the board.