Keck v Plott is one of my least favorite things I may ever watch lol.
Plott needs to come out with a football helmet on next time they wrestle.
Plott needs to come out with a football helmet on next time they wrestle.
Cliff Keen
- Thread starter BigD_cowboy
- Start date
Seed v Finish
3 Spratley - 3rd
10 Witcraft - 4th
6 Jameson - 2nd
8 Young - 5th
11 Fish - 3rd
6 Amine - 2nd
2 Hamiti - 1st
2 Plott - 2nd
5 Surber - 3rd
1 Wyatt - 1st
3 Spratley - 3rd
10 Witcraft - 4th
6 Jameson - 2nd
8 Young - 5th
11 Fish - 3rd
6 Amine - 2nd
2 Hamiti - 1st
2 Plott - 2nd
5 Surber - 3rd
1 Wyatt - 1st
Lot to like about this tournament and I have to believe the staff has a good idea where it needs to improve the lineup.
Trying to remember the last major tournament we universally wrestled to or above seed?
Trying to remember the last major tournament we universally wrestled to or above seed?
We compiled 12 major decisions, 9 technical falls, and 4 falls. Wyatt probably had a 5th fall when Feldman got hurt and Surber was working on a major against Novak when he got hurt. Add those in and we bonused at a 50% rate. That is a huge difference compared to the last few years.
Using Intermat rankings, not sure we even gave up an upset. Reece first loss would be the closest thing, but technically its UR v UR.
4 Spratley – Loss to #3 and beat #2
UR Witcraft – Loss to UR, #15 and beat #28
10 Jameson – Loss to #2 and beat #4
20 Young – Loss to #1, 7, beat #14, 17
UR Fish – Loss to #11, beat #10, 12
9 Amine – Loss to #3, beat #20, 31
5 Hamiti – Beat #8, 13, 15, 27
3 Plott – Loss to #2 and beat #26, 31
12 Surber – Loss to #11 and beat #16, 17, 20, 21, 26
1 Wyatt – Beat #6, 8, 28
4 Spratley – Loss to #3 and beat #2
UR Witcraft – Loss to UR, #15 and beat #28
10 Jameson – Loss to #2 and beat #4
20 Young – Loss to #1, 7, beat #14, 17
UR Fish – Loss to #11, beat #10, 12
9 Amine – Loss to #3, beat #20, 31
5 Hamiti – Beat #8, 13, 15, 27
3 Plott – Loss to #2 and beat #26, 31
12 Surber – Loss to #11 and beat #16, 17, 20, 21, 26
1 Wyatt – Beat #6, 8, 28
Ran into Coach Smith on my way out, he saw in my OSU attire and came over to shake my hand and say Hi. Never met him before. He did say the boys are looking good. Just confirmed my opinion that he is a class act
love his classic undersell and overperform.....I suspect that even if we had 10champs that pinned their way through he would undersell the results and talk about areas of improvement. Thats not a bad thing but its frustrating to the media and to fans that want to hear their Coach cheerlead the results. Keep it up DT!!
We met or outperformed every one of our seeds. I was really impressed by performances on the back side.
Let them be frustrated, we just want results and he is bringing them! Some great kids and great coaches on this team.
I don’t see a world where he ever gives us too much info or much info being leaked moving forward. Sounds like they want a tight ship. I’ll take less info, more winning.Let them be frustrated, we just want results and he is bringing them! Some great kids and great coaches on this team.
Still surreal! I’m so glad he’s ours lol. Taylor, Gilman, Kennedy, Piersall, Caldwell, pretty wild
I think it’s clear getting the kids in great shape early in the year is a change. And this tournament (especially in consolations) showed that.
Congrats to your team guys. Excellent results up and down the lineup. This tourney gave the staff a pretty good idea about where the training needs to go from here on out on an individual basis.
I agree, just shows that he is not going to settle for anything but the best. This is a completely new team with this coaching staff and them buying in is showing great improvements.Let them be frustrated, we just want results and he is bringing them! Some great kids and great coaches on this team.
Fish really had a good tournament. He took a loss to Chumbley early on but wrestled back hard in the consolations. Would have liked to see him wrestle Gallagher and Blaze, but they both MFF'ed out. His win against Paniro Johnson was impressive though.
Gotta give Carter some credit too. He put up some points on the board. Lost some close matches to some of the top guys at the weight. I have been hard on his performances in the past, but he showed improvement this weekend. Hopefully he keeps improving.
Seeing Surber win that match against Carroll was great, just saying!
Why does Penn State avoid in-season tournaments like this? Even when they do wrestle one, it seems like it is smaller one and that they do not bring their full lineup. I assume it is an effort to keep guys fresh. If so, is this a one-off deal for DT or is he making a tweak to the PSU model?
I think you are right, but I can't remember when the last one was. I am always so impressed with how fresh they seem in March compared to everyone else. I am hoping we can pull off the same thing with DT.
For many years, PSU went to the Southern Scuffle with all starters. Before that, PSU had its own early season tournament. Just two weeks ago, PSU was at the Black Knight Open with all starters. I could be wrong here, but Cael does like an early season tournament to simulate conference and nationals, and to see where guys are conditioning-wise. That said, I don't think he is overly keen on going to difficult tournaments for injury reasons. In fact, his wrestlers have gone from 35 matches a season to 20 a season since 2010. Everything done during the season, including tournnaments and dual meets, are training points towards nationals. DT hesitated a little on going to CKLV probably for that very reason. It may be that eventually, he too will scale back participation in difficult early season/holiday events. Just a thought.
PSU limits their in season tough ones, so they are at peak during NCAAs.
In his four championship years, Aaron Brooks never wrestled more than 17 times before nationals in any year. The least was 9. Fully 25% of his career matches were during nationals.
The question is, does Brooks become a 4 timer if he wrestled twice as many matches per year? Cael seems to think that too many matches jeopardizes the end goal.
Do not want to derail the match count discussion as I think it’s really good, but have been thinking about Keck vs Plott a lot. If we’re arm chair QBing it and acknowledging that DT and Co. see and know much more about these guys than we do, how do you game plan to beat Keck? Starocci obviously did it but I think he’s an entirely different animal and style than Plott.
That’s a tough one!
The match seemed much closer than the score and I think they’ll develop a “plan” but it’s going to be tough.
It’s a Perry vs. Howe in a way?
I’d almost rather him have the 4 to beat him in the finals? I think he beats Starocci…or I hope? Plott deserves a title!
First thing is you get approval for Plott to wear a helmet against Keck
Ok gentlemen let me first say I’m extremely proud of the Cowboys and how they wrestled overall! I’ll be back home Monday and Tuesday I’ll give the usual Fartz analysis of how I thought we did individually and include my thoughts on the coaching.
There are two things I want to address here on my phone in my room in Vegas.
1) Reece Witcraft. Haven’t seen anything about it so let me start by saying Reece almost didnt wrestle at all. And NO I’m not talking about Hughes. Reece hurt his knee on Thursday. Unfortunately there was no chance of a replacement because apparently someone likes to much turkey. Reece however sucked it up and wrestled his ass off. He literally yelled out in his first match when that knee got twisted again and couldn’t scramble like he wanted to and got pinned. Then he showed more heart than just about anyone in the damn tournament and came all the way back for 4th and nearly beat Bouzakis. Along the way he scored several points for his team. Think for a moment how Reece wrestles with underhooks and upper body and how difficult that must’ve been with a bum knee! A healthy Witcraft could very possibly have won the damn thing.
So maybe before anyone bitches about Reece having the starting spot, think about what he showed this weekend. He has my vote for the rest of the season hands down!
2) Dustin Plott. Idk what to expect in future matches but Plott battled Keck hard as hell. He gave up a couple of TDs after getting his bell rung in that match and then after he’d recovered stuffed everything Keck through at him. IMO Keck was visibly frustrated as he used to take Dustin down almost at will. Time will tell but I’m not counting Dustin out at all after watching that match.
More to come soon.
Fartz out ✌️
There are two things I want to address here on my phone in my room in Vegas.
1) Reece Witcraft. Haven’t seen anything about it so let me start by saying Reece almost didnt wrestle at all. And NO I’m not talking about Hughes. Reece hurt his knee on Thursday. Unfortunately there was no chance of a replacement because apparently someone likes to much turkey. Reece however sucked it up and wrestled his ass off. He literally yelled out in his first match when that knee got twisted again and couldn’t scramble like he wanted to and got pinned. Then he showed more heart than just about anyone in the damn tournament and came all the way back for 4th and nearly beat Bouzakis. Along the way he scored several points for his team. Think for a moment how Reece wrestles with underhooks and upper body and how difficult that must’ve been with a bum knee! A healthy Witcraft could very possibly have won the damn thing.
So maybe before anyone bitches about Reece having the starting spot, think about what he showed this weekend. He has my vote for the rest of the season hands down!
2) Dustin Plott. Idk what to expect in future matches but Plott battled Keck hard as hell. He gave up a couple of TDs after getting his bell rung in that match and then after he’d recovered stuffed everything Keck through at him. IMO Keck was visibly frustrated as he used to take Dustin down almost at will. Time will tell but I’m not counting Dustin out at all after watching that match.
More to come soon.
Fartz out ✌️
Reece is a dog, proud of him!
No idea about employment but he was here in ISU gear and was with Carroll a lot of the tournament. Coleman Scott was here too, but not in any real capacity. John Smith made an appearance on Day 2 shaking hands with I’m sure old friends. Daniel Cormier was around for at least 1 session
ill tell you what: if you have the chance to come to this tournament when OSU is here-you have to come. The best $50 I’ve ever spent. Quality of wrestling, being basically matside, meeting message board strangers, wrestling parents, coaches and just having a great time. Of course it’s Vegas, so always a good time but for a wrestling fan-I prefer it over Big XII and Nationals. I hope we keep coming back because I will be here
Agreed, it's a great time. My liver might say otherwise though!
Yes, it is a must for any Wrestling fan!
The team appreciates the support and opposing teams notice it too.
First off, just wanted to say to PennState 1985 - welcome to the board. I've found your insights to be spot on.
Now for my thoughts on the state of the program. Just looking at the number of upsets by our wrestlers, the lack of wrestlers being upset and the number of bonus points being scored is indisputable evidence for the elite quality of this coaching staff. I've been watching OSU wrestling for many years. There has never been an issue with recruiting talent, if you look at the talent OSU has been able to recruit historically I'm sure they would be #1 - Cael has taken the talent mantle lately of course.
The issue has always been a matter of development. Well, that is no longer an issue. The minute I heard that Taylor was taking over the reigns, I felt he was a homeroom hire, although I did feel bad for Coleman. Then I saw the staff that he brought in, the staff he let go, Caldwell being retained, the emphasis on making the RTC world class, emphasis on recruiting world class level juniors, filling holes with All American class athletes, nutrition emphasis, lifestyle emphasis, psychology emphasis, PROPER training and recovery cycles, setting a world class standard and expectation, weeding out all the wrestlers not willing to live the lifestyle required to meet this standard... I could go on and on about how much better this coaching staff is. Having said that, it's one early season tournament so I'm trying to temper my expectations a bit. I realize they trained a lot during the summer and were obviously very ready for this tournament. Hopefully they will not peak before nationals. Overall, this coaching staff has exceeded even my extremely high hopes for them and I feel this team can challenge Iowa for 2nd place this year. I could see a world, in the not too distant future, in which OSU and Penn State are the 2 premiere programs in the country battling each other for the collegiate title nearly every year and supplying the US freestyle program with most of its elite wrestlers.
Now for my thoughts on the state of the program. Just looking at the number of upsets by our wrestlers, the lack of wrestlers being upset and the number of bonus points being scored is indisputable evidence for the elite quality of this coaching staff. I've been watching OSU wrestling for many years. There has never been an issue with recruiting talent, if you look at the talent OSU has been able to recruit historically I'm sure they would be #1 - Cael has taken the talent mantle lately of course.
The issue has always been a matter of development. Well, that is no longer an issue. The minute I heard that Taylor was taking over the reigns, I felt he was a homeroom hire, although I did feel bad for Coleman. Then I saw the staff that he brought in, the staff he let go, Caldwell being retained, the emphasis on making the RTC world class, emphasis on recruiting world class level juniors, filling holes with All American class athletes, nutrition emphasis, lifestyle emphasis, psychology emphasis, PROPER training and recovery cycles, setting a world class standard and expectation, weeding out all the wrestlers not willing to live the lifestyle required to meet this standard... I could go on and on about how much better this coaching staff is. Having said that, it's one early season tournament so I'm trying to temper my expectations a bit. I realize they trained a lot during the summer and were obviously very ready for this tournament. Hopefully they will not peak before nationals. Overall, this coaching staff has exceeded even my extremely high hopes for them and I feel this team can challenge Iowa for 2nd place this year. I could see a world, in the not too distant future, in which OSU and Penn State are the 2 premiere programs in the country battling each other for the collegiate title nearly every year and supplying the US freestyle program with most of its elite wrestlers.
I don't imagine after this year that DT will wrestle Iowa so late in the year. It doesn't support the goal.
As for CKLV, I hate that I missed it but as it turned out, it was for the best. Hope to meet you guys in the future.
I see a close nationals between OSU and Iowa, with Iowa getting 10 points more than you, but if DT can coach them up, anything is possible. After that, I don't see Iowa being competitive after 2025 no matter what Slumlord Bob pays.
As for CKLV, I hate that I missed it but as it turned out, it was for the best. Hope to meet you guys in the future.
I see a close nationals between OSU and Iowa, with Iowa getting 10 points more than you, but if DT can coach them up, anything is possible. After that, I don't see Iowa being competitive after 2025 no matter what Slumlord Bob pays.
Personally I think you’ve gotta go with ole reliable to assure Keck is off his A-game: gas station sushi.
Every athlete is different. Some need more matches and some need less. The great John Wooden compared athletes to birds. He said some you have to hold tight or they will get away. Others, if you hold too tight, they will die. I feel Kyle Snyder would do much better if he wrestled more. Same with Daton Fix. They seem to get rusty while sitting. Could be why Kyle, who is an “all-timer“, has struggled some on the free style scene. What I mean by this, he seemed to have performed better when he was on a college schedule. Could also be why some wrestlers perform better in high school than college. Some of those kids are hitting 50+ matches a year. College doesn’t allow them to focus only on wrestling as much. Just my 2 cents.
I agree that Iowa should finish second, more front line talent. Maybe Taylor can make some magic happen?
Fartz.... thanks for airing out your anal-ysis. It was neither silent nor deadly!! It may however, clear the room of any doubters!! It takes a true fan to step up and let their opinion rip! This team wrestled very inspired and nobody seemed to gas out!! The aroma of winning is strong!!!
Got my wife to watch it this year and she’s agreed to go next year if OSU goes.
She wants to find a way to write it off but that’s her problem to solve.
