Another fave this year. Loved watching him wrestle this year and another one that I'm glad chose to be a Cowboy. Congrats champ!!
Hamiti a champion!!
- Thread starter bt_ostate
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Came to OSU as a guy who had just lost in the blood round. OSU turned him into a National Champion!
That was great. I hate how the stupid brick can stop a good scramble.
Hamiti National Championship beating Levi Haines in the semi's who is a National Champ, a National runner-up and 3rd place finisher this year. He beat Keegan O'Toole in the finals who is a 2 time Champ, 2 time runner-up, and a 3rd placer and also has 2 age group World Championships. This makes Dean's Championship a super accomplishment.
Dean was champion level last year too but was not at the correct weight. He was at MM's level last year but gassed out. Dean winning is the least surprising result to me. He is THAT good. Congrats to him and all OSU fans.
Extremely talented but 6,6 and BR prior to coming to this room.
Not disagreeing with you on his potential but he did go 6,6, dnp. Moving up aweight was beneficial to him but his technique, match strategy, lifestyle... improved significantly under Taylor as well.
They thing I love most about Dean is his composer. His face almost never changes from a placid nothing. It's as if he's looking out over a calm lake just after the sun comes up in the morning. There was one match in Gallagher where it broke a little where he was clearly mad at his opponent when they shook hands after for stalling the whole match. It was great to see him elated after his last two wins in the tournament.
I still vaguely remember you said he would never beat both KOT and Levi even though he kept winning at the beginning of the season. Not only does he do that, he kept his composure and did it at the most crucial moment.
Talent alone doesn’t bring him here(NCAA champ). DT and rest of the staff worked hard on him. And his dedication to win was more here in Oklahoma state, his dream school.
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If you go back to my earliest writings after he joined OSU, I stated how good he was. He was never a R12 guy at 174. He was R12 at 165. At worst he was a close 3rd at 174, and I even said that he might be the best wrestler on your team. When KOM beat Levi, that’s when I knew Dean could beat Levi as well. To assign the coaching staff credit for getting him from R12 to champion is largely false. Did they help him get from 3rd to 1st? Absolutely. There is credit there but not the leap some are assigning. Most high end transfers already have their successful routines and are living a good lifestyle. What helps them the most is a positive mental place and adding a technical tool or two to the bag. I think your coaches did a great job in that respect.
Yes, I did say those things! I didn’t think he could beat either one but when KOM beat Levi and then when KOM looked less than stellar in a couple matches, I thought Dean had a chance.
Dean had the talent to win a title but being at OSU helped. We are agreeing to a degree. The only difference is the how much credit is assigned to his coaches.
“Did they help him get from 3rd to 1st? Absolutely.”
Do you know how tough to do that when the 2 and 1 guys are Levi Haines and KOT?
Again, you said Dean was at best 3rd in his weight category at the beginning of the season. Even after the Levi loss to KOT you said Levi match up could be bad for Dean and you will take Levi in a match up, because Levi is technically better. I remember it all cause we get very little participation from other team fans like you in here. Which I really appreciate.
Edit: I just saw your second reply. Ignore my second paragraph. Lol
Do you know how tough to do that when the 2 and 1 guys are Levi Haines and KOT?
Again, you said Dean was at best 3rd in his weight category at the beginning of the season. Even after the Levi loss to KOT you said Levi match up could be bad for Dean and you will take Levi in a match up, because Levi is technically better. I remember it all cause we get very little participation from other team fans like you in here. Which I really appreciate.
Edit: I just saw your second reply. Ignore my second paragraph. Lol
DT and the staff will get all the credits to move him to 1 from 3 in my opinion. Which was huge.
I think posters are taking issue with the intent of your post. From what I have read from your past posts, you are a very knowledgeable poster and usually spot on. This time I actually wish you would have kept these thoughts to yourself because the tone of your post sounds like it's initial purpose was to minimize OSU and David Taylor, otherwise I'm not sure why you would have posted it. There is no way to prove or measure the impact that OSU has had on Hamiti. You assume the weight change had far more of an impact, but that is supposition. The only real evidence we have is he went from 6,6,DNP at his old school to national champ at OSU, and all of the interviews he has given stating how much different his overall experience at OSU is. He made 165lb 3 years in a row - I have seen wrestlers cut a lot more weight than him and win a national championship while doing it. So my opinion is that OSU had just as much of an effect on him as moving up a weight and if he would have stayed at his old school and moved up a weight he would not have had nearly the same success. Again it's all opinion, but I don't know why you felt it necessary to post this unless you were trying to minimize OSU - I hope I'm wrong about that.
Hamiti is the freaking man.
Obviously his night is getting a little overshadowed by Hendrickson’s miracle on the mat.
But Hamiti’s run taking out KOT and Haines is legendary as heck! What a stud.
Grateful that he is forever part of the Cowboy family and was able to make the most of his time in Orange.
Obviously his night is getting a little overshadowed by Hendrickson’s miracle on the mat.
But Hamiti’s run taking out KOT and Haines is legendary as heck! What a stud.
Grateful that he is forever part of the Cowboy family and was able to make the most of his time in Orange.
Wyatt is 100% sticking around to train. Pretty sure Dean is as well.
I heard Dean may apply for a waiver for an additional year. Having to face 5/6/7th year seniors for a guy who did it 4 straight was brutal for his career. NCAA has handed out more for less so why not try for it.
I think that Wyatt's unbelievable victory has taken some of the focus off Penn. St team National Championship. Our Penn. St. wrestling brothers are used to the spotlight. When we take a team title hopefully in the near future we will rejoice, and they will not rejoice. I hope that happens before I am dead. My father in-law really loved NDSU football and we won a number of Division II Championships. But he missed our total dominance something like winning 11 of 14 FCS Championships because of his death. I probably still have lots of time but who knows. Not next year but the year after I think we can be a threat with great development. Spratley, Sakamoto, McComas, Forrest, Hughes, Jamison, Vega, Wolbert, Robideau, Routledge, Lockett, Thompson, Robb, Merrill and Ross currently committed or on the roster would be expected to be on our roster 2 years from now. This would make for a real good lineup, and I would expect we will have several more standout wrestlers on our roster by then. I would really enjoy seeing us take over wrestling again. 35 would be great.
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He came in after the free year and wrestled 4 full seasons with no RS. What exactly can he apply for?
Nope. I don’t know if 100% happening but I trust who told me that it’s being or has been considered.
That was my question too, but basically it’s that he got the shaft with the Covid year super seniors for 4 straight years I guess. I didn’t ask the person who mentioned it to me the full details.
Is it something to do with NCAA moving on to total 5 years of eligibility, removing the concept of red shirt, in the future?
Yup the free 2021 year allowing an arbitrary set of guys to wrestle in 5 postseasons was a bad idea.
Went back and checked. Didn’t include this year but technically O’Toole was on his 5th year without a redshirt due to the COVID year too.
Here’s his NCAA losses.
2022 lost to a rsJr (Griffith) and a 3rd year Freshman (Amine)
2023 4th year SO (Amine) and a 5th year Covid SR (Monday)
2024 lost to 6th year Carr and 6th year Olejnik.
I think you could argue the 2024 season with the 6th year athletes screwed him the most obviously.
Here’s his NCAA losses.
2022 lost to a rsJr (Griffith) and a 3rd year Freshman (Amine)
2023 4th year SO (Amine) and a 5th year Covid SR (Monday)
2024 lost to 6th year Carr and 6th year Olejnik.
I think you could argue the 2024 season with the 6th year athletes screwed him the most obviously.
Let me just add that this was more than rumor from who told me. However, I don’t see how the NCAA would ever grant this.
I agree that the staff helped Dean become a champion. How could they not? My point was that they didn't change him from R12 to 1st. It was more like 3rd to 1st. That's not a diss on the staff but the truth as I see it. Dean was elite going into the season. I wish he was a Penn Stater.
I am just seeing this post so sorry for the late reply. I don't post on forums to denigrate other teams. Not even Iowa! I was giving my honest opinion. Dean Hamiti was not and is not a R12 guy. Ever. You guys got a diamond when he transferred, and I said as much 30 different times on this board. Go back and check. I love DT, Kennedy, and Gilman as coaches, but I bet even they would say that Dean was the reason Dean won a NC. He had MM beat last year but because he was starving to death, he gassed in the 3rd and lost. Dean was and is elite. To me, people like Dean are winners, and he chose to surround himself with people who could get him over the hump emotionally and technically to win a title. That's all I'm saying. Remember, I have a different POV than most of you, and so my language probably looks and sounds different than you may expect, but it is sincere.
That certainly wasn't my intent nor are most PSU posters thinking that. I'm very happy that we've won a ton in the past 15 years. I don't expect it to last forever. Most of us fully expect other teams to rise to the challenge. The best match last night was heavyweight. Bar none. Who would dispute that? It was magical. Stop creating enemies where there are none. We all appreciate great wrestling.
He was never 3rd though. His best-ever finish was 6th. Obviously everyone saw his potential and talent, but how many kids with all the talent and potential in the world never get it done? Hamiti did it himself and I give him all the credit, but it would be silly to act like if he had gone 174 at Wisconsin this year he would still be champ. He had to change more than weight to overcome what he overcame.
