Top 5 To Stay Home This NCAA Tournament 2018

This is never a fun topic to discuss or write about. Wrestlers who deserve to be wrestling at the NCAA tournament that will either be staying home or watching from the stands. I'm writing this as fair and objectively as I can based on this year's results. Even though it breaks my heart that neither B.J. Clagon of Rider or Javier Gasca of Michigan State will be participating in this year's NCAA tournament, I have to admit that it is fair that they were not selected. 

I've narrowed it down to the top 5 best to not Qualify for the 2018 tournament.

#5
Gregg Harvey
Freshman
Pittsburgh

My number five pick on this list is Pittsburgh redshirt freshman Gregg Harvey.  Harvey ended his season with a 14-14 record that included an impressive Round of twelve finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and a win over NCAA qualifier Dylan Gabel of Northern Colorado. Still young with plenty of time left in his career, look for Harvey to win an ACC title or two before his career is all said and done, as well as contend for All American honors.

#4
Tyson Dippery
Senior
Rider

The Rutger's transfer had a solid final year for the Broncos going 19-8 on the season. Notable victories include an 8-4 and 7-1 handling of NCAA qualifiers Vince Turk of Iowa and Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven.  Had 141 had one more qualification slot, its almost certain that it would have went to Dippery.

#3
Kyle Langenderfer
Senior
Illinois 

Looking over the 157 At Large selections it is difficult to fathom why Langenderfer wasn't selected. It is almost certain he was considered. His best performance of the season was at the Bakersfield Open, where he took the title with a 9-4 win over NCAA qualifier Andrew Crone of Wisconsin. Unfortunately for Langenderfer, although he'd keep it close, he'd lose two heartbreakers to Crone as the season progressed. Inconsistency was the biggest adversary to Langenderfer this year as proved at the BIG 10 championships.  He dropped a 7-3 decision to Jake Tucker of Michigan State only to come back and beat him by an identical score in the 9th place mini-tournament.  Langenderfer ended his career as an Illini with a 58 second fall over Northwestern's Shayne Oster.

#2
Alex Mossing
Junior
Air Force 

The point of the new qualification put into place a decade ago was to make sure that even in spite of a bad conference tournament, wrestlers who proved themselves throughout the season would still get to attend the NCAA tournament. For the most part, that is the way it works and the system has proven itself to be very fair 99/100 times. The 1 out of 100 still occasionally happens, and at least in the opinion of this wrestling enthusiast, Alex Mossing of Air Force is one of them.  A Round of 12 finish at the Southern Scuffle and more importantly a strong fifth place showing at Reno help to illustrate the claim.  A 3-1 sudden victory over PAC-12 runner up Hunter Willits of Oregon State and a 7-6 victory over All American Paul Fox of Stanford also add fuel to the fire.  Thankfully Mossing has another year left of eligibility to make for it.

#1
Ian Parker
Freshman
Iowa State 

Take a stand against my other four picks if you will, but indisputably the best wrestler not participating in this year's NCAA tournament that should be, is Iowa State's Ian Parker.  The why as to why he wasn't selected is quite confusing. Perhaps it is because he went from 133 lbs to 141 lbs mid season and didn't have enough criteria at 141 to qualify.  None the less he finished his redshirt freshman season 22-9, with an assortment of impressive victories.  He was the first to show the vulnerability of potential All American Austin DeSanto of Drexel when he handed the phenom freshman a 7-5 loss. He's also defeated NCAA qualifiers Matt Schmitt of West Virginia and Ali Naser of Arizona State.  If that isn't enough to convince you that he should be wrestling at this year's championships perhaps the 3-1 victory over two time NCAA champion Dean Heil of Oklahoma State he had back in late January will.  Iowa State has had a disappointing season as it is, and being jipped out of arguably their best wrestler not getting a qualification only adds salt to the wound.