What a fun, deep tough weight class. The semi-finals are going to be a treat! From where I sit this should be a fairly straight forward seeding with one exception. Penn State's Vincenzo Joseph is the clear #1. It's hard for me to believe that at third-second-second the last three years he has yet to win a BIG 10 title. As far as Iowa fans are concerned he won't win one this season either. Alex Marinelli who will be the #2 seed here, defeated him last season in the finals. Wisconsin's Evan Wick in a head to head 10-6 victory takes the #3 seed over Nebraska's Isaiah White.
Where it gets a little fuzzy is where exactly to seed Northwestern's Shane Oster in comparison to Illinois' Danny Braunagel & Ohio State's Ethan Smith. He lost to Smith twice by scores of 12-6 & 5-4 earlier in the season but recently defeated Smith 10-9. Then he lost to Braunagel 10-6 earlier in the season but bested him last meeting 7-6. Almost have to seed Smith ahead of Braunagel in a 3-1 head to head victory. Makes things a bit tricky. What holds more weight? Two wins vs a more recent victory.
As far as I'm concerned this weight should have nine allocations. I'd be surprised if it has less.
How I would seed?
#1 Vincenzo Joseph senior Penn State
#2 Alex Marinelli junior Iowa
#3 Evan Wick junior Wisconsin
#4 Isaiah White senior Nebraska
#5 Ethan Smith sophomore Ohio State
#6 Shane Oster senior Northwestern
#7 Danny Braunagel freshman Illinois
#8 Bailee O'Reilly sophomore Minnesota
#9 Drew Hughes junior Michigan State
Lastly I'll say that I'm almost positive that Emil Soehnlen of Purdue will not wrestle. He's been out since the beginning of December due to injury. However if he is for some reason back and does enter in the tournament, he poses a plausible threat at a steal.
I thought 9 and only got 8. Again not that shocked although I do feel that Hughes will knock someone out.
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