JT#1's Notes, Thoughts & Observations From Week 6 of Collegiate Wrestling (12/6-12/2021)

 Another great week of collegiate wrestling & I want to start off by saying this.  On Twitter I saw a tweet that has been shared close to 50,000 times of a basketball player from the University of Houston who after watching his coach act like a hooligan & throw a fit, took the time to clean up the mess that his coach had made by throwing chairs, ect everywhere.  That's character. That's class. That's something I hope we see more of in wrestling. That young man impressed me.  Wrestling needs THAT. It doesn't need the way his coach acted. 

Ok, feet off the soap box and onto the ground.  Here we go.  

NDSU's Kellyn March showed up to wrestle this weekend! Holy Cow! Setting a fastest pin record, then sticking Binghamton's Anthony Sobtker & a solid 6-0 victory over Buffalo's Derek Spann.  Looked as sharp as I've ever seen him. 

I was not expecting Maryland to beat Navy in the dual. The Terrapins victory was due to the outstanding performances out of Kyle Cochran and Jaron Smith.  Cochran with an 8-3 decision over David Key and Smith with a 7-5 decision over Jacob Koser. I said earlier in my Maryland preseason preview that I felt Smith was one of the best seniors in the nation yet to qualify for the NCAA championships. He has proven why yet again. 

Bonnie Raitt must have talked to the Cleveland State Open, because in more ways than one it gave us something to talk about. 

Michigan's Pat Nolan looked very solid this tournament. In route to winning a title he took out Indiana's Cayden Rooks 7-5 sudden victory and shut out Central Michigan's Drew Marten 6-0.  Two nice wins for the Wolverine. 

149 lbs sure was a weird weight class.  Michigan's Chance Lamer defeating Indiana's Graham Rooks 8-6 & Cleveland State's Marcus Robinson 10-7 & then dropping a 12-5 decision back to Robinson. One of the 1,000's of examples of parity you can find in collegiate wrestling. 

Saw that Buffalo's Michael Petite ended up injured and had to medical forfeit to 4th place. It seems every tournament someone ends up injured. Not saying that we should do something about it or if we even could. Wrestling has become so technical & physical, that injuries are inevitable.  They are my least favorite part of the sport. Hate seeing them happen. I hope Petite is able to recover quickly and get back to action soon. 

Logan Massa is back!! And YES, that DOES mean that Michigan is now in the discussion for this year's NCAA team title. Albeit still a Darkhorse but IN the discussion.  Anyone who thinks differently is a nut. Massa is a two time All American with finishes of 3rd & 5th.  He'll be big points at both the BIG 10's and the NCAA's.  Michigan has as good of a team as I've ever seen them have & I've been watching wrestling for 30 years. 

UNI OPEN 

I was upset that Iowa's Brennan Swafford got upset early on.  I was hoping to see him get another shot at Northern Iowa's Pat Schoenfelder.  That is a rematch I was wanting to see.  Do I think Swafford could have won the UNI open had it not been for being upset? I don't know. Minnesota's Bailee O'Reilly who did end up winning the tournament is a really tough competitor.  It amazes me though that Iowa State's Julien Broderson tech's the guy who pinned Swafford & then Swafford beats Broderson 8-5 for 3rd. P-A-R-I-T-Y. 

If you look solely at the team score the dual between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State resembled genocide a lot more than it did bedlam. Is that really fair to say about all of the Sooners though? It certainly is some, but some came out to fight.  The Justin Thomas Vs Wyatt Sheets match could have gone either way. It really could have.  Darrien Roberts got beat 8-2, but keeping it to a decision showed a lot of heart and fight considering that Dakota Geer has absolutely torn him apart in previous meetings. Considering how far ahead Trevor Mastrogiovanni is in front of Joey Prata in the rankings, I think Prata gave him a heck of a match too.  Lastly, Jake Woodley as I predicted he would gave A.J. Ferrari a scare in a 6-3 loss. Take into consideration that some Cowboy fans & even some people who aren't Cowboy fans think Ferrari could give Gable Steveson of Minnesota a match, I think that's saying something. 

Did I expect Oklahoma to give more of a fight than what they did? Yes, I did. I was very clear about that in my Oklahoma Vs Oklahoma State preview.  I thought that being in Norman, that'd make a big difference.  It didn't.  Yet I stick to my guns.  There was some fight in some of these matches that is getting overlooked because of the overall team score. The two meet again in February for Bedlam part II.  This time it'll be in Stillwater. Oklahoma better get to work. 


See you next week for week 7!  This week in particularly I would pay attention to more than just DI.  Some of the best NAIA, DIII and DII wrestling will take place this weekend, along with some great duals and the Reno tournament of champions.  

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