Tuesday, March 8, 2022

PAC 12 - I Need An At Large/Wildcard

 Last but certainly not least before At Large/Wildcards are announced today is who I feel in the PAC-12 is eligible to get one. 


125 lbs
Antonio Lorenzo of Cal Poly 

Had he finished 4th instead of 5th at the PAC-12's, I'd like his chances better, but nevertheless they are still there.  #28 ranking with a good record for Cal Poly's Antonio Lorenzo. 

141 lbs
Angelo Martinoni of CSU-Bakersfield & Lawrence Saenz of Cal Poly 

Do you take Angelo Martinoni of CSU-Bakersfield who finished 4th & Lawrence Saenz of Cal Poly who finished 5th before you take Ramon Ramos of Arizona State who finished 3rd?  Yeah, in this case I think you do, and I'll justify my reasoning right now. 

Even though Ramos defeated Martinoni 5-4 for 3rd place, Martinoni defeated him earlier in the Quarter-finals 16-2.  Martinoni also holds a #32 ranking with wins over Dylan D'Emilio of Ohio State & Shannon Hanna of Campbell. He also placed 8th at CKLV. 

I give the nod for Saenz over Ramos too, because Saenz holds a #33 ranking. 

Nothing against Ramos, but really the only thing of significance he did this season was wrestle very well at the PAC-12's.  Coming back to win a match against a guy that almost tech'd you on the same day? That is very, very impressive. 

149 lbs 
Jaden Abas Stanford

I would think that Jaden Abas of Stanford stands a very good shot at getting into the NCAA tournament today. #12 ranking with victories over Kaden Gfeller of Oklahoma State, Michael Blockhus of Minnesota, Legend Lamer of Cal Poly & Cory Crooks of Oregon State.  He placed 5th at CKLV. 


165 lbs 
Anthony Valencia of Arizona State 

You go into your final PAC-12 tournament a four time champion & you finish the day not only in 4th place, but wondering if you'll even get into this season's NCAA tournament. That has to mess with a guy's head & I can't imagine what it's like trying to get back into the mental preparedness that you need to have to wrestle at this level.  Yet I know one thing is for certain.  If anyone can do it, it is Anthony Valencia of Arizona State. 

You wanna define irony? Here's what's really ironic about the situation.  Valencia could very well go into the NCAA tournament and have the best NCAA 's he's ever had in his career.  That is actually a very likely situation. He just needs to get a Wildcard/At Large entry into the tournament first & there's absolutely no reason on this Earth why he shouldn't. 

#8 ranking with a 16-8 major over Will Formato of Appalachian State & a 6-3 victory over Jake Wentzel of Pittsburgh. 

174 lbs
Triston Wills of Little Rock, Albert Urias of CSU-Bakersfield, Aaron Olmos of Oregon State


If you're going to take someone at 174 from the PAC-12, who do you take? Triston Wills of Little Rock? Albert Urias of CSU-Bakersfield? Aaron Olmos of Oregon State?

Conference wise, Wills was 3rd, Urias 4th & Olmos 5th. 

Ranking wise we have #27 Olmos, #31 Urias & U.R. Wills

Records? Wills = 14-12

Do we go head to head?  Wills defeated Olmos 7-1 at the PAC-12's, but lost the dual 8-5.  He also defeated Urias 8-1 at the PAC 12's but lost the dual 6-4.   Olmos defeated Urias 6-4 in the dual. 

How about quality wins? 

Wills has Andrew McNally of Wisconsin, Thomas Flitz of Appalachian State & Mason Kauffman of Northern Illinois on his victory list. 

Urias has PAC-12 champ Tyler Eischens of Stanford, Anthony Mantanona of Oklahoma & Sam Wolf of Air Force on his. 

Olmos has Austin Murphy of Campbell on his list as well as two wins over PAC-12 champion Eischens. 

So you tell me, who would you pick if you had to? 








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