Midlands Day 1 Thread

[uncle bernard 173]

47 minutes ago, goheels1812 said:

Yeah that’s definitely a fair assessment. He’s usually the kind of guy that will rip off shot after shot in a match but Desanto was just way too much for him in every aspect. Also Desanto kind of dwarved him size wise. Desanto is a big 33 and Hernandez seems to be a small 33. UNC needs to bulk Hernandez up a little. 

Hernandez started his career at 141. Actually beat Headlee at wrestle offs as a true freshman. Also wrestled 138 in high school. Definitely not small at 133 if I had to guess.

[Witherman 351]

42 minutes ago, HokieHWT said:

I’ll take McFadden to win it all.

Certainly an unbiased opinion coming from hokiehwt lol

what have you seen from his two decision wins today that leads you to believe this?

[goheels1812 483]

18 minutes ago, uncle bernard said:

Hernandez started his career at 141. Actually beat Headlee at wrestle offs as a true freshman. Also wrestled 138 in high school. Definitely not small at 133 if I had to guess.

It’s tough to tell how much he’s cutting. I’ve watched every match he’s wrestled at UNC and he usually looks like the smaller 133 on the mat. It may just be that he’s average size and guys he’s lost to like Desanto, Russell, and Hart are just big 133s. He bumped to 141 last year for a few matches when Headlee was inconsistent and he was severely outsized there. 

[HokieHWT 475]

3 minutes ago, Witherman said:

Certainly an unbiased opinion coming from hokiehwt lol

what have you seen from his two decision wins today that leads you to believe this?

Mehki has shown him the way 

[goheels1812 483]

4 minutes ago, Witherman said:

Certainly an unbiased opinion coming from hokiehwt lol

what have you seen from his two decision wins today that leads you to believe this?

I will say in McFaddens defense Sawyer Davidson is a professional at keeping matches against ranked guys close even though he’s nowhere close to winning haha. He’s done that for a majority of his career at UNC. I know the final was only 4-1 but McFadden was in control from start to finish. 

[wrestlingnerd 2,573]

23 minutes ago, goheels1812 said:

It’s tough to tell how much he’s cutting. I’ve watched every match he’s wrestled at UNC and he usually looks like the smaller 133 on the mat. It may just be that he’s average size and guys he’s lost to like Desanto, Russell, and Hart are just big 133s. He bumped to 141 last year for a few matches when Headlee was inconsistent and he was severely outsized there. 

I don’t think Desanto cuts as much as you think. With 2-hr weighins, it’s impossible to wrestle like a bat out of hell the entire match and show no signs of fatigue if you’re cutting even a modest amount. He did wrestle little Spencer Lee his senior year of HS and I don’t think he’s gotten any taller since then. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by wrestlingnerd

[goheels1812 483]

1 minute ago, wrestlingnerd said:

I don’t think Desanto cuts as much as you think. With 2-hr weighins, it’s impossible to wrestle like a bat out of hell the entire match and show no signs of fatigue if you’re cutting even a modest amount. He did wrestle little Spencer Lee his senior year of HS and I don’t think he’s gotten any taller since then. 

That’s very fair. My point was just I’d like to see a little more size (in muscle) on Hernandez. The guys he loses to just look a tad bigger than him on the mat. I was probably exaggerating saying he’s a small 133 because he’s definitely not a guy you look at and say oh wow he’s tiny. But in these matches he’s lost he has looked to be a little bit smaller and out muscles by his opponents. Especially Russell from App State. He had a ton of muscle mass on Hernandez. 

[potentiallydangerous 191]

2 hours ago, jchapman said:

Was Cole Martin a high profile recruit coming out of high school?

The internet, where people argue whether water is wet. Cole Martin is an experienced guy who has been ranked in the 12-24 range for most of the past two seasons. He shouldn't be ready to wrestle the first match?

[wrestlingnerd 2,573]

I agree he does not look strong enough to go against the likes of Desanto. 

[pamela 1,274]

3 hours ago, Witherman said:

Dylan palacio said he was going to enter but like most of the **** that kid does - just clickbait. 

no other post grads that I’m aware of. 

hate to say it but flap might have been onto something. Seems like NW just gave up on making this a good tournament when CKLV and Scuffle got better and better. 

Was there ever an explanation why NU moved Midlands back to the Sears Centre?  They have a nice arena that was just renovated in part for wrestling but for some reason they decided to hold the event all the way in Hoffman Estates instead of on campus at Welsh Ryan. Like wtf

[uncle bernard 173]

36 minutes ago, goheels1812 said:

It’s tough to tell how much he’s cutting. I’ve watched every match he’s wrestled at UNC and he usually looks like the smaller 133 on the mat. It may just be that he’s average size and guys he’s lost to like Desanto, Russell, and Hart are just big 133s. He bumped to 141 last year for a few matches when Headlee was inconsistent and he was severely outsized there. 

He didn't "bump" up to 141 last year. He wrestled every match of his first 2 seasons at 141 (26 matches total). He was wrestling 138 as 4 years ago. He's not small at 133. He likely had to cut down because he couldn't beat Sherman at 141. 

[rcoates1 154]

Cassiopi’s ability to pin as a freshman heavy is very impressive.  A final with him and Matt Stencel could be very entertaining.

[uncle bernard 173]

10 minutes ago, rcoates1 said:

Cassiopi’s ability to pin as a freshman heavy is very impressive.  A final with him and Matt Stencel could be very entertaining.

Stencel pinned him here last year.

[goheels1812 483]

12 minutes ago, uncle bernard said:

He didn't "bump" up to 141 last year. He wrestled every match of his first 2 seasons at 141 (26 matches total). He was wrestling 138 as 4 years ago. He's not small at 133. He likely had to cut down because he couldn't beat Sherman at 141. 

That’s fine. Neither one of us are sitting in the room and checking his weight every day. I’m just stating that to me he looks a little smaller muscle wise to the guys he’s losing to. If you don’t agree I’m completely okay with that. Let’s get back to enjoying Midlands and stop filling up the thread with a silly argument.

[rcoates1 154]

Best quarterfinals matches

125- DeAugustino vs Hildebrandt- give me Hilde

133- Rivera vs Hayes - Rivera without much trouble

141- Heil vs Profaci and Murin vs Duncan - I’ll take Heil and Murin with a little revenge against Illinois since the last time he wrestled an Illini they made him cry

149- all four matches pretty bland to me, someone gets upset though.

157-Ruffin vs Artalona- I’ll take Ruffin because he has a cool name

165- Perez vs Wick- Perez has looked good this year, I’ll give him a 2% chance to take out Wick

174- Lydy is fun to watch so I’ll tune in for that

184- Assad vs Harvey Brands vs Braunagel- Harvey will be a great test for Assad, I’ll take the young pup in the upset.  I’ll take Braunagel over Brands in a tight one

197- Brunner vs Davison- this has potential to be the best match of the round.  I’ll take Brunner.

285- Big Cass vs Elam- not sure if Elam has the size to stay competitive with the big guys.  Here his chance to prove people wrong

[Housebuye 2,008]

2 minutes ago, rcoates1 said:

Best quarterfinals matches

125- DeAugustino vs Hildebrandt- give me Hilde

133- Rivera vs Hayes - Rivera without much trouble

141- Heil vs Profaci and Murin vs Duncan - I’ll take Heil and Murin with a little revenge against Illinois since the last time he wrestled an Illini they made him cry

149- all four matches pretty bland to me, someone gets upset though.

157-Ruffin vs Artalona- I’ll take Ruffin because he has a cool name

165- Perez vs Wick- Perez has looked good this year, I’ll give him a 2% chance to take out Wick

174- Lydy is fun to watch so I’ll tune in for that

184- Assad vs Harvey Brands vs Braunagel- Harvey will be a great test for Assad, I’ll take the young pup in the upset.  I’ll take Braunagel over Brands in a tight one

197- Brunner vs Davison- this has potential to be the best match of the round.  I’ll take Brunner.

285- Big Cass vs Elam- not sure if Elam has the size to stay competitive with the big guys.  Here his chance to prove people wrong

Ruffin is very good and will AA before the end of his career. He was a true freshman qualifier. 
  
141 - Sherman>Moran for the upset

[goheels1812 483]

Does anyone know how the sessions are divided up? Are quarters tonight (session 2) then tomorrow semis are session 3 and finals are session 4? Trying to move some things around at work tomorrow if the semis are at 1 eastern. 

[hootie 3]

The semis are tomorrow, but there are always a round of wrestlebacks that lead off Session 3.

[goheels1812 483]

Just now, hootie said:

The semis are tomorrow, but there are always a round of wrestlebacks that lead off Session 3.

Awesome thanks. I’m probably just going to take a half day haha. I think a doctors appointment just popped up...

[MSU158 1,449]

4 hours ago, rcoates1 said:

Johnni DiJulius said Dylan would wrestle midlands for 500 retweets.  
 

Outside of CKLV all these tournaments are fairly weak.  It’s kind of sad that the regular season is going by the wayside.  It’s going to be hard to draw new fans to the sport when nobody cares about anything other than conference and nationals.  

Midlands definitely is NOT what it once was, but it is STILL a very solid tournament. 

per intermat rankings

125- 5 top 10, 9 top 20

1.  Lee

3.  Glory

8.  Hudkins

9.  Hildebrandt

10.DeAugustino

11. Colaiocco

17. Schwarm

15.  Curry

18.  Manchio

133-  all top 3 guys and 5 of top 11

1.  DeSanto 

2.  Gross

3.  Rivera

9.  Piotrowski

11.  Gonser

18.  Hayes

141-  3 top 10, 5 top 20

8.  Murin

9.  Moran

7.  Heil

20.  Kazimir

17.  Laney

149-  5 top 10, 9 top 20

1.  OConnor

3.  Lugo

7.  Thomson

8.  Thomas

9.  Parriott

14.  D’Angelo

15.  Clarke

17. Martin

19. Spencer

Storr would be top 10ish, but is RSing

157- 4 top 10, 6 top 20

 

5.  Monday

8.  Young

9.  Coleman

10.  Artalona

19.  Ruffin

20.  Headlee

165-4 top 11, 9 top 20

2.  Marinelli

3.  Wick

6.  McFadden

11. McCormick

15  Hartman

18.  Oster

16.  Perez

17.  Monday

19.  Conigliaro

174- thinnest weight but would have had 5 top 11 if Kemerer wrestled

4.  Lydy

5.  Steiert

10. Gunther

11.  Harvey

184- 6 top 20

8.  Lujan

14. Brands

10.  Harvey

12.  Stewart

19.  Stefanik

20.  Sebastian

197- 4 top 10

2.  Warner 

3.  Brucki

8.  Brunner

7.  Lane

16.  Aiello

285-  

4.  Cassioppi

5.  Hillger

8.  Stencel

12.  Heino

15.  Isley

13.  Hokit

18.  Miller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by MSU158

[drag it 224]

53 minutes ago, pamela said:

Was there ever an explanation why NU moved Midlands back to the Sears Centre?  They have a nice arena that was just renovated in part for wrestling but for some reason they decided to hold the event all the way in Hoffman Estates instead of on campus at Welsh Ryan. Like wtf

They had to move it there the first time, which I think was 2017, because Welsh-Ryan was being substantially modernized/renovated (as you touched on).  Beyond that, there has been very little if any solid public information given as to whether and why it was staying out there, as it has the last two years. 

I recall some talk that they were going to move it back to campus either last year or this year, but obviously that hasn't happened.

I know that there were issues in past years at the campus arena in terms of mat space.  The last year or two there they had a couple of mats in the back behind the stands, not visible to the spectators, because they couldn't fit enough mats on the basketball floor, which was certainly not ideal.  I do not know, nor do I think anything has ever been said regarding, how many mats could be squeezed into the renovated campus arena.  By contrast, they can get 10 comfortably down in the Sears Center, which is obviously a plus.

The current arena is also a little closer to the airport and to expressways than the campus arena.  

They lose a lot, though, in my opinion.  On campus is always better.  Evanston is itself a more vibrant town and closer to Chicago.   And the on campus arena produces a much better and more intimate atmosphere.  I found attending the atmosphere at the finals last year to be remarkably dry and dead compared to past years in Evanston.  The mats just have a dark, distant feel from the stands.

These are just my thoughts, I don't think anything has ever been made public on this, or if it has been, I've missed it.  As discussed in other posts, this lack of transparency and explanation is consistent with the way the tournament seems to be heading recently. 

Bottom line to me is it would be nice to know why they don't try it one year at the new on campus arena to have an apples to apples comparison with Hoffman Estates and then make an informed decision (or why the new campus arena is just untenable to even try).  

[jchapman 932]

1 hour ago, potentiallydangerous said:

The internet, where people argue whether water is wet. Cole Martin is an experienced guy who has been ranked in the 12-24 range for most of the past two seasons. He shouldn't be ready to wrestle the first match?

I didn’t see the match, only that he got pinned in the 2nd period.  What happened?

[nhs67 592]

1 hour ago, rcoates1 said:

Cassiopi’s ability to pin as a freshman heavy is very impressive.  A final with him and Matt Stencel could be very entertaining.

I don't think Stencel beats Hillger. I think Hillger wins that 9 of 10 times. Styles make that match rather simple win for Hillger. I do believe if Stencel does meet Cass that it will end within a minute.

[JBluegill133 259]

Couple upset picks but nothing too out of this world.....speaking of upsets anyone see Glazier damn near take out Brucki?  Iowa's upperweights look awesome.

 

125: #6 Brock Hudkins (Indiana) vs #13 Michael Colaiocco (Penn)  

141: #7 Max Murin (Iowa) vs Dylan Duncan (Illinois)

184: #11 Tanner Harvey (American) vs Abe Assad (Iowa)

 

 

 

[goheels1812 483]

Looking at the brackets O’Conner has a solid chance to wrestle 3 Iowa guys in the next 3 rounds. Their room is pretty deep at 149. I’d love to see O’Conner and Lugo in the finals.