Way Too Early Final X Predictions

[Ching 180]

Where the H-E-Double Hockey sticks is this Dayton at 61 convo coming from?? He has freaking wrestling 125 THIS SEASON! Making scratch 125.

 

We've got a world silver medalist and a world gold medalist at 57 and 61kg right now. Those two individuals will have to be dealt with before anyone takes those spots.

[treep2000 901]

Still predicting Moore over Cox, treep?

 

He has the skill set... but probably not... sad day in "treepland". 

[pamela 1,333]

57 Gilman over Terao

61 Garrett over Ramos

65 Steiber over Maple

70 Green over Molinaro

74 Burroughs over IMart

79 Dake over Hall

86 Taylor over Dean

92 Heflin over Cox

97 Snyder over Burak

125 Gwiz over Bradley

 

EDIT: If Jordan Oliver is somehow allowed to compete for a world team spot, I think he'll be our rep.

Edited February 5, 2018 by pamela

[Coach_J 2,014]

Personal opinion, but I think Fix is too short to take on the biggest and best at 61 right now.  When he gets to a point he is dominating 57 on a regular basis, both internationally and nationally, we can talk about 61.  He's not there yet.

[LJB 1,287]

fix hasnt grown in 5 years... in HS he was walking around low 40s... if i had to guess based on looks, he is staying closer to weight now... he looks leaner in the face...

 

he is a career 57...

[Plasmodium 1,470]

I wish Cox would go 86

[de4856 356]

Well now that the Cerro Pelado has been completed, and the Ukrainian tourney is still being contested, we see that Hayden Zillmer has come away with the Gold, beating Ty Waltz twice. However, Waltz picked up a very impressive win over a highly decorated Cuban wrestler in Salas. The Bad news though, is that Nick Heflin unfortunately picked up what appears to be a significant knee injury against his German opponent. Obviously this could impact things for Nick. Before this, I figured that he and Cox would be the front runners at 92. Hopefully the injury is not too serious and Nick can return to action soon.

At 61, Cody Brewer came away with a Silver and was able to put a fair amount of points on the board against a very tough Cuban in Bonne Rodriguez. So now I'm starting to think that maybe Cody will be a factor at 61. I haven't seen the results of the Ukrainian 61 bracket yet, so something might be going on over there that may have some bearing on things for us. But might point is that at 61, we may see two guys in there battling it out for the spot that some of us may have not really thought that much about.

[rpm002 142]

In Ukraine, Colon got 3rd and Garrett got 5th at 61.

 

If Maple goes at 61, I think he'd be the favorite.  If he doesn't, it seems pretty wide open. Don't forget about Graff either... his training scenario is much better than in past years and he has previously beaten many of the others I'd expect to see at that weight.  

Edited February 26, 2018 by rpm002

[de4856 356]

Well no doubt that Tyler Graff is great and a force to be reckoned with, but to me he seems like he's almost a tweener, caught between two weight classes. idk if he can cut the weight to 57, and deal with Gilman, Fix, Lee, and a whole host other others that will show up at this weight. At 61, idk if he can deal with the likes of some of these other guys like a Maple, or a Stieber. To me, Maple looks gargantuan at 61, also I may take some heat for this, but to me, Tyler isn't as consistent as some other wrestlers. Last year he went down and tore through everyone at the Pan Am's but then at the WTT's he seemed like a different wrestler. Maybe it was the competition at the Pan Am's, a style match up, perhaps he missed his peak for the WTT's, idk. Tyler does do well though internationally, I'm not exactly sure how many overseas medals he has, but I know he has a few of them. I think we may get a peak at things to come at the Open.

Edited February 26, 2018 by de4856

[rpm002 142]

I take it as a given Steiber is going up to 65, but maybe I'm wrong on that.

 

Graff beat guys like Brewer and Kindig at 61, so I would tend to think he could do it again. Also, he did great last year until a very disappointing 1-1 loss to Gilman.  Of course, since Gilman went on to dominate Ramos and win world silver, maybe what looked like a bad loss at the time (1 seeds shouldn't lose to 8 seeds!) really wasn't so bad after all. 

[pamela 1,333]

I haven't seen Dieringer's matches from Ukraine but saw the results. Does anyone think he could possibly get by Dake at trials?

Edited February 27, 2018 by pamela

[de4856 356]

Hard to say, Kyle went to the Yarygin and faced off with some very tough guys, and managed a Silver medal. I don't know the caliber of the guys Alex faced at the Ukrainian Memorial except for Hasanov, who is an Olympic Bronze medalist, ( at a lower weight ). Additionally, I don't recall Alex beating Kyle at any tourneys yet, so I have to believe it's still advantage Dake.

[wrestlingnerd 2,574]

Dake is a bad matchup for Dieringer. He can be upset, but I can't think of anything Ringer can do better than Dake. Maybe being physically bigger, but that's about it. Ringer is good enough to get a TD towards the end if Dake plays it too close. He has a shot. I wouldn't bet on it though.

[rpm002 142]

Dake is a bad matchup for Dieringer. He can be upset, but I can't think of anything Ringer can do better than Dake. Maybe being physically bigger, but that's about it. Ringer is good enough to get a TD towards the end if Dake plays it too close. He has a shot. I wouldn't bet on it though.

 

In a tight, low scoring defensive struggle where no one can get to the other's legs  (which is what the last 2 Dierenger/Dake matchups have been), isn't being bigger and stronger pretty huge advantage?  Seems like Alex has improved more than Dake in the last year and they weren't that far apart before, so I definitely think Alex has a great shot in this one.

[wrestlingnerd 2,574]

I wouldn't call his shot great. Wrestling Dake close isn't exactly a feather in your cap. Lots have done it. Has Ringer ever scored an offensive point on Dake? I can't remember, but if he has it might've been once. I don't know if Ringer has improved that much--he may have. He was already damn good and had a win over an Olympic medalist before his last outing, so what he did doesn't surprise me at all (impressive nonetheless, as Ringer always is).

 

Also, the last time they met, I felt Dake was conserving energy for JB. Similar to how he won  his NCAA semis 1-0 before taking his 4th title. He has been known to do that. The match prior to that, Dake teched and blanked Ringer.

 

Again, he has a shot, and I love watching Ringer wrestle. I generally root for him. But I think Dake is a bad matchup for him. As he proved against the field at 86 kg, giving up weight affects Dake less than it would most guys because he can score from space and has such great scrambling skills and shiftiness.

[rpm002 142]

Dake teched Ringer in the finals of a tournament in Paris 10-0.  Then beat him 3-0 in the US Open.  Then beat him 2-1 in WTT.  (in the last one, Ringer got a pushout a millisecond after the final whistle, which would have made it 2-2, but Dake would have won either way.)

 

So yeah, you can totally look at that pattern and see Ringer's improvement, or you could say Dake controlled all 3 and the last one was only close because he was saving energy.  Hopefully they both stay healthy and we get to find out!

[wrestlingnerd 2,574]

Fair enough. His results vs. Dake have gone from terrible to competitive in a span of 3 matches. I saw all of them and didn't think Dake was really in danger of losing (even that third time), but Ringer has narrowed the gap vs. Dake. I still think the last match would have been different if it was the last match of the day and Dake didn't do the minimum to advance, though, but that's just an opinion based on watching him in tournaments over the years and comments he has made throughout interviews.

 

Either guy will be a great rep for us, but my money is on Dake every time against Ringer.

[PSUMike 440]

57 - Lee over Gilman...yeah I said it. 

61 - Maple over Brewer

65 - Zain over Steiber

70 - Green over Molinaro

74 - Burroughs over IMar

79 - Dake over Hall

86 - Taylor over next man up

92 - Cox over Heflin

97 - Snyder over Gadsen

HWT - Gwiz over Steveson

[pamela 1,333]

I'd be surprised if Spencer Lee competed in freestyle in the offseason. I'm sure he will want to, but his time might be better invested with continued rehab of that knee, conditioning and adding some overall muscle mass.