2020 Dark-Horse?

[spladle08 427]

I'm bored with the current arguments.
Should Zain give up the spot?
Does Yainni belong in Area 51?
Does Bo actually know best...
So on and so forth.

2020 team dark-horses.
Is there a weight where a completely unknown (on the senior level) has any chance to make the team?
Is Spencer Lee the most likely guy to do this? Or  is it Mehki Lewis?  Cenzo? Cassar? Marinelli? Hall? Suriano? Pletcher? Some junior level guy im currently not loving enough....?
So on and so forth.
I know Spencer gets the most love... from the "what if" people....  But I'm on the Mehki wagon for now,  Obviously Dake, Imar, JB are impossible hurdles but who knows?

[treep2000 728]

1.) A Complete Unknown:  No.  

2.) Most likely that's not on this year's radar.  Yes.  Spencer Lee is most likely/probable in my mind.  Everyone else you've mentioned has some super-studs to take down, and haven't shown that they can do so at this time. 

3.) I think another to watch out for may be Kerkvliet.  This guy is right there with Gable, who is right there with Gwiz, and he hasn't even really begun his collegiate training.  Imagine 20 more pounds of muscle on that freakishly athletic frame and you may have the next superstar on our hands, at a very young age.

[tbert 525]

All roads point toward Mehki in my map.  He had limited freestyle experience.  Dont know much of his training experience or future goals, hopefully in a legit RTC.  Great attitude and ambassador toward the sport in  interviews I have seen.

Hall and Lee seem uninterested in freestyle right now.  Cenzo...I have not seen him in a international style.  

Obviously NS would have a bright future, good partners in room.

[treep2000 728]

14 minutes ago, tbert said:

All roads point toward Mehki in my map.  He had limited freestyle experience.  Dont know much of his training experience or future goals, hopefully in a legit RTC.  Great attitude and ambassador toward the sport in  interviews I have seen.

Hall and Lee seem uninterested in freestyle right now.  Cenzo...I have not seen him in a international style.  

Obviously NS would have a bright future, good partners in room.

Suriano at 61kg... absolutely... at 57 or 65, not so much.

[spladle08 427]

24 minutes ago, treep2000 said:

1.) A Complete Unknown:  No.  

2.) Most likely that's not on this year's radar.  Yes.  Spencer Lee is most likely/probable in my mind.  Everyone else you've mentioned has some super-studs to take down, and haven't shown that they can do so at this time. 

3.) I think another to watch out for may be Kerkvliet.  This guy is right there with Gable, who is right there with Gwiz, and he hasn't even really begun his collegiate training.  Imagine 20 more pounds of muscle on that freakishly athletic frame and you may have the next superstar on our hands, at a very young age.

I was a big Kerk guy last year but his showing against Wood was a little underwhelming for me  but good insight. Deep down I think Gable actually earns the heavy spot, even though I like Gwiz a lot.
Snyder has 0 challengers, Jmiz/DT/Zahid/Ringer/ Nickal make a newcomer seem unlikely.
Dake/IMar/JB make a newcomer seem unlikely but I like Lewis's game.
Yainni/Zain/JO... the newcomer would've been Yainni if he hadnt stormed out like he did this year, but that kind of closes the door on a surprise performance.
Fix/Gilman- I mean I guess by default it has to be at this weight, there are only 2 top guys. Throw Vito, Lee, Suriano?, etc... in here and there is a chance at some fireworks.

Yeah, I guess the story has already been written for most of the weights, but here is hoping we are all pleasantly surprised by a herculean effort.
 

 

23 minutes ago, tbert said:

All roads point toward Mehki in my map.  He had limited freestyle experience.  Dont know much of his training experience or future goals, hopefully in a legit RTC.  Great attitude and ambassador toward the sport in  interviews I have seen.

Hall and Lee seem uninterested in freestyle right now.  Cenzo...I have not seen him in a international style.  

Obviously NS would have a bright future, good partners in room.

And yeah Mehki doing that at Jr's is what has me hopeful, but lord knows he seems to despise FS so much he may not even come out.
Hall (and I don't mean this in a $hitty way) seems like he will always be  a 2nd tier senior level freestyler. The weights are just super deep, and peaking, burnout, whatever you want to call it, feels like Freestyle may just hinder the next venture of his life. 
Feel that way with a lot of our guys like "why still do this" but hopefully its for the love of the sport, and in that regard, I hope they do it until they feel 100% satisfied with what theyve achieved.
 

Edited July 17 by spladle08

[MDogg 123]

Nobody worth mentioning is completely unknown, but of guys most don’t consider real threats I’d say Eierman might have the best shot. He’s shown he’s right there with Yianni and everybody else but he gets manhandled by Zain. He’s on the U23 team and taking an Olympic RS next season so he’s going to get a lot of freestyle experience and training between now and the trials. 

To be clear I don’t think Eierman is making the team but if we’re picking our long shots he’s mine. I consider long-shots to be guys Vegas would currently have to 7-1 odds or greater (if there were betting odds this far out).

[Keisha_Phillips 9]

Anthony Echemendia 65 KG 

[Scorenomore 28]

What about Nolf?  Not saying that he is under the radar, but I initially did not give him enough credit, but his performance against I-mar and then I-mar getting a w against JB forced me to rethink Nolf’s upside.  I think a year to bulk up and focus on freestyle makes him a deeper threat to at a minimum upset someone.  I believe 74 will be insane next year with JB, Dake, I-mar, Ringer, Lewis and Nolf. 

[tbert 525]

7 minutes ago, Scorenomore said:

What about Nolf?  Not saying that he is under the radar, but I initially did not give him enough credit, but his performance against I-mar and then I-mar getting a w against JB forced me to rethink Nolf’s upside.  I think a year to bulk up and focus on freestyle makes him a deeper threat to at a minimum upset someone.  I believe 74 will be insane next year with JB, Dake, I-mar, Ringer, Lewis and Nolf. 

I thought of nolf but seemed to be guys still in school.

Ringer will not be @74 next year.  Going 86.

[rpm002 136]

The 2016 dark horses (Frank and Dennis) were not people unknown to freestyle, but rather people who were always right there but were overlooked because they never had their big breakthrough.  Candidates along those lines for 2020:

 

Nico - He is the best equipped of the 61 guys to go down to 57 and I think he’s improved quite a bit over the past couple of years

Frank - Kind of the forgotten man at 65kg, but his win over Oliver for 3rd makes me think another run is possible

Ness - It is all matchups with him, but doesn’t seem impossible 

 

(I know the lower weights the best, but I also think that’s where dark horses are most likely to prevail, as they did in 2016)

 

[mspart 134]

Remember in 2000 OTT's where Brands had to fight a virtually unknown Kerry Boumans?  I hadn't heard of him and he came close to wining the spot. 

It could happen in 2020, but we have an awful lot of really really good people going for the few spots.  Some spots will have multiple World Champs trying to get them.  Tough to see this OTT having a dark horse.  But you never know.

mspart

[Housebuye 1,662]

JB said by the end of last summer he had some trouble taking Mekhi down. 

  

My asssumption is their matches werent in question, but JB has to work for it. When the summer started he didn’t. 

[Billyhoyle 1,579]

16 hours ago, Keisha_Phillips said:

Anthony Echemendia 65 KG 

Pablo Sanchez, 57 Kg. Kid has got exceptional power and speed. 

[bnwtwg 98]

Ben Whitford

[WillieBoy 583]

The Major Surprise will be the Coach and three wrestlers from Utah Valley making the Olympic team.

The balance will be incoming Freshmen from North Dakota State.

All the old guard will be swept away and the world will be surprised!

 

[steamboat_charlie v2 500]

I don't think we'll have any true dark horse make the team next year. 

But if we're throwing names out there... how about Aaron Brooks?   He's a tweener and there are world champs above and below him, but he's one guy that hasn't been mentioned that has an incredibly high ceiling, and serious freestyle chops.  

[spladle08 427]

19 minutes ago, steamboat_charlie v2 said:

I don't think we'll have any true dark horse make the team next year. 

But if we're throwing names out there... how about Aaron Brooks?   He's a tweener and there are world champs above and below him, but he's one guy that hasn't been mentioned that has an incredibly high ceiling, and serious freestyle chops.  

Nice mention, I don't know why he had escaped my "list of contenders/Darkhorses" probably because he is in there with juggernauts but that said, he is head and shoulders above his age group. Will be interesting how he does with the next year of preparation for wrestling men, and possibly making the team (I would assume he takes an Olympic SHirt)...
He wrestled some senior level stuff last year or the year before right? Always hard to decide how much credit to give a kids results while still in HS.
#OneToWatch

 

13 hours ago, Housebuye said:

JB said by the end of last summer he had some trouble taking Mekhi down. 

  

My asssumption is their matches werent in question, but JB has to work for it. When the summer started he didn’t. 

I'm telling you, the kid is very hard to score on, and has enough offense of his own.. The weight has some greats at it, but would just be neat if he came out and made the team like winning the title this year.

[Creek chub 151]

I’d love to see mehki take an oly shirt. I don’t think he’s on JB’s level yet. But after reading JB’s comments I think he could close the gap and make it very competitive if he trained in FS exclusively with senior level studs. 

[Jon_Kozak 109]

On 7/17/2019 at 2:37 PM, spladle08 said:

And yeah Mehki doing that at Jr's is what has me hopeful, but lord knows he seems to despise FS so much he may not even come out.
 

What makes you say he seems to despise FS? I heard he was inexperienced in FS but was definitely going to make a run at 2020. Think it was in an interview with Frayer.

[Creek chub 151]

1 hour ago, Jon_Kozak said:

What makes you say he seems to despise FS? I heard he was inexperienced in FS but was definitely going to make a run at 2020. Think it was in an interview with Frayer.

I think was quoted saying that he really didn’t like FS and preferred folk. I can’t remember if he said that before or after junior worlds  

[alliseeisgold 35]

On 7/17/2019 at 5:27 PM, rpm002 said:

The 2016 dark horses (Frank and Dennis) were not people unknown to freestyle, but rather people who were always right there but were overlooked because they never had their big breakthrough.  Candidates along those lines for 2020:

 

Nico - He is the best equipped of the 61 guys to go down to 57 and I think he’s improved quite a bit over the past couple of years

Frank - Kind of the forgotten man at 65kg, but his win over Oliver for 3rd makes me think another run is possible

Ness - It is all matchups with him, but doesn’t seem impossible 

 

(I know the lower weights the best, but I also think that’s where dark horses are most likely to prevail, as they did in 2016)

 

does anyone think metcalf isn't the rep if we had the final x system...........2 different tournaments, 2 different best of 3s is alot different than 1 single elimination with 1 best of 3.........final x not an ideal system for the underdogs, suprises, and dark horses. It will ensure the best win the spot

[rpm002 136]

The Olympic year doesn't have final X.  It will be single elimination until the finals, as it was when 9th seeded Frank beat 1 seed Metcalf in the quarters in 2016.

Edited July 19 by rpm002

[Jon_Kozak 109]

10 hours ago, Creek chub said:

I think was quoted saying that he really didn’t like FS and preferred folk. I can’t remember if he said that before or after junior worlds  

Interesting-yeah Id be shocked if he doesn’t make a go at a 2020 Olympic run if he’s healthy. We’ll see soon enough!

[spladle08 427]

Interesting-yeah Id be shocked if he doesn’t make a go at a 2020 Olympic run if he’s healthy. We’ll see soon enough!

Yeah after Jr. Worlds definitely said he doesn't like freestyle and prefers folk then I think after NCAAs he said something about not wanting to do freestyle I'll find the exacts. Definitely surprising as his game is made for freestyle, but he likes what he likes.

Sent from my SM-S260DL using Tapatalk

[Housebuye 1,662]

On 7/17/2019 at 5:27 PM, rpm002 said:

The 2016 dark horses (Frank and Dennis) were not people unknown to freestyle, but rather people who were always right there but were overlooked because they never had their big breakthrough.  Candidates along those lines for 2020:

 

Nico - He is the best equipped of the 61 guys to go down to 57 and I think he’s improved quite a bit over the past couple of years

Frank - Kind of the forgotten man at 65kg, but his win over Oliver for 3rd makes me think another run is possible

Ness - It is all matchups with him, but doesn’t seem impossible 

 

(I know the lower weights the best, but I also think that’s where dark horses are most likely to prevail, as they did in 2016)

 

I like how you think but man Ness isn’t going to make the team. There is no way