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OSU v. Utah Valley

Why didn't Spratley take bottom in the 3rd period? He was down 0-3. Poor decision for whoevers to blame. Looked a lot different on the mat than last year. Wrestling more like Hawkeye.
 
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Somehow I had both feeds which really pissed me off. Specially at half time where I had Rex talking in Stereo from the 2 interviews going simultaneously. Overall a very good win. I doubt Jamison even made the trip. Burton only a freshman but was no match for #26 Haiden Drury. Bottom half of our lineup is scary good. Double OT loss for Amine who had the only takedown and Barraclough locked his hands at the end and got away with it.
Yes he did. Ref wasn't going to call it again and we had no brick.
 
To me, Spratley and Travis looked basically the same last year. I remember someone commenting right after his transfer that Amine had little offense. Little offense, can't get off the bottom and can't ride for 20 secs means a loss.

The big guys looked aggressive and great. Witcraf with some good throws (duh) and even went to the leg a couple of times. Carter also wrestled well.
 
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Regarding some guys looking like last year's version, let's all remember that translating what you learn in the room to a match is largely mental and can take some time being comfortable enough with your new bag of tricks to try them in a live match. I'd wait until mid January when they have 10-12 matches under their belt before evaluating them.

It's like a pro golfer going through a swing change. It often takes six months or more to duplicate what you are doing on the practice range to the golf course during competition. It's a mental trust issue.
 
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Spratley does not wrestle smart sometimes and tonight almost lost a match that should not have been that close. He did pull out the match with a takedown at the end of the match. 2 clasping penalty points was very foolish. Witcraft has a nice throw and then catching a weak shot and put his opponent on his back for the pin. Good match. Burton tried but is not good and likely will never be a starter. Carter came back nicely after losing a takedown. He ended up teching his opponent who wasn't good and got broken. Travis did not wrestle good but beat a freshman. Amine doesn't have enough offense( couldn't ride or escape) and needed a take down or he was going to lose and he lost. Wrestled like he did at Michigan. Hamiti and Plott were dominant and good winning each by tech. Surber was good and won by pin. Hendrickson won by tech. Early in the season and what I see is we have a much better team than last year, but I don't see great development yet
It’s dual no . 1 man. I know this is your whole schtick but judging a staff’s development ability the very first dual when they’ve been on the job for 5 months is dumb. Sorry no other way to put it. These guys are coaches not wizards who can just snap their fingers and turn everyone into Bo Nickel. Development takes time.
 
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Sprat with a solid takedown when it counted. Teams like this bring their A game. Young program gets a home match against the most historic program ever are going to bring it. Ricks looked solid. I was happy to see Carter Young looking good. Excited for Sundays match.When it’s over my hope is that June Cleaver will say … “ Ward, you were a little hard on the Beaver last night!”
 
Sprat with a solid takedown when it counted. Teams like this bring their A game. Young program gets a home match against the most historic program ever are going to bring it. Ricks looked solid. I was happy to see Carter Young looking good. Excited for Sundays match.When it’s over my hope is that June Cleaver will say … “ Ward, you were a little hard on the Beaver last night!”
Hate to break it to you but June wasn't talking about her younger son... 🤣

Sorry for the non wrestling post but it was too irresistable to pass up.
 
Sprat with a solid takedown when it counted. Teams like this bring their A game. Young program gets a home match against the most historic program ever are going to bring it. Ricks looked solid. I was happy to see Carter Young looking good. Excited for Sundays match.When it’s over my hope is that June Cleaver will say … “ Ward, you were a little hard on the Beaver last night!”
Ricks stayed in perfect position, don't recall him taking a single shot but was apparently he was wearing down in the 3rd.
 
Fun fact, we won our first dual last year 38-6 also, but against Bucknell. Went back to check because I couldn’t remember us scoring 38 against anyone last year. That was our highest team total for the season.
 
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I think he showed you why he couldn’t get into the lineup at PSU he has almost zero offense
 
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Barraclough is a hammer on top, holds position well and is hard to score on. He had zero offense, no shots attempted by him. He ended up in the backpack position a couple of times. One was called stalling after like 20 sec and the other time is was not called at all. He was just trying to take it the distance in hopes the riding time would work in his favor.
 
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Sprat with a solid takedown when it counted.
As I said "basically the same last year" as that's how he wrestled a lot last year.

Air_Thurman said:
It’s dual no . 1 man. I know this is your whole schtick but judging a staff’s development ability the very first dual when they’ve been on the job for 5 months is dumb.
I expected change from those wrestlers that needed the most improvement, i.e., Spratley, Witcaft, Jamison, Travis, Thompson and Surber. I don't remember seeing Amine wrestle before but it seems like this was the way he wrestle previously, according to his detractor on this board.

I thought Witcraft looked improved, going for at least two single legs; Surber attacked continuously.

Spratley and Travis wrestles the same "no offense" style they wrestled most of the time last year. I know they won but I expected DT to be pissed during and after both matches. I want to our coaches to say (during practice and matches) exactly what I do while watching them and that is, "shoot, Shoot, SHOOT..."

Sorry if it rubs anybody and I know it's early but I bought and drank heavily of the new DT, bright orange kool-aid. I expected and expect significant improvement and fairly quickly.

And don't get me wrong, I believe Coach Smith needed to retire at least 3-4 years ago and in hindsight, it probably would have been the best for his legacy if he'd retired after 2006 (15yrs) but that's for a different thread.
 
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As I said "basically the same last year" as that's how he wrestled a lot last year.


I expected change from those wrestlers that needed the most improvement, i.e., Spratley, Witcaft, Jamison, Travis, Thompson and Surber. I don't remember seeing Amine wrestle before but it seems like this was the way he wrestle previously, according to his detractor on this board.

I thought Witcraft looked improved, going for at least two single legs; Surber attacked continuously.

Spratley and Travis wrestles the same "no offense" style they wrestled most of the time last year. I know they won but I expected DT to be pissed during and after both matches. I want to our coaches to say (during practice and matches) exactly what I do while watching them and that is, "shoot, Shoot, SHOOT..."

Sorry if it rubs anybody and I know it's early but I bought and drank heavily of the new DT, bright orange kool-aid. I expected and expect significant improvement and fairly quickly.

And don't get me wrong, I believe Coach Smith needed to retire at least 3-4 years ago and in hindsight, it probably would have been the best for his legacy if he'd retired after 2006 (15yrs) but that's for a different thread.
Expecting every wrestler to be massively improved after 5 months is just unrealistic. Being better in March is the goal not November.
 
Barraclough is a hammer on top, holds position well and is hard to score on. He had zero offense, no shots attempted by him. He ended up in the backpack position a couple of times. One was called stalling after like 20 sec and the other time is was not called at all. He was just trying to take it the distance in hopes the riding time would work in his favor.
Amine best offense comes from reattacks and counters. Barraclough had a game plan obviously and he followed it. He's had 3 or 4 majors this year already. He took Garvin down multiple times. He had no offense in this match by design but that doesn't mean he has no offense
 
I’m not gonna sweat Spratley’s first match. UVU kid wrestled tough in his other matches. More practices, more live matches (which are going to feel totally different from live go’s in practice), and just more time in general is gonna give us a better idea of where Spratley is.
 
No worries where Spratley and Travis are concerned. It was their first matches, and the guys they wrestled had no intention whatsoever of shooting and trying to score. All they wanted to do was wrestle defensively and try to keep it close and It can actually be really be hard and frustrating to wrestle those kind of guys. Ask Daton because every MF he wrestled at NCAA’s besides Vito wanted to wrestle him defensively and keep it close.

Team looked awesome. Great things ahead for Oklahoma State Wrestling!

Edit: went back and really looked at some of the comments. I understand that some people don’t see things that some other people see. As far as Spratley, he probably should’ve pulled the trigger more. I agree with that. But his footwork and hand fighting were absolutely freaking superior in that match to anything I saw him do last year. He also looked strong against an obviously strong Ricks.
 
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I would’ve liked to see Spratley and Travis risk it more. Get uncomfortable. Have the skill to come out on top of scrambles but didn’t get to that point. Same thing I said a few times about Fix too. Waiting for perfect shot opportunities that don’t come. Surber is a good example of the opposite. Exposes himself some but works out more often than not.
 
As I said "basically the same last year" as that's how he wrestled a lot last year.


I expected change from those wrestlers that needed the most improvement, i.e., Spratley, Witcaft, Jamison, Travis, Thompson and Surber. I don't remember seeing Amine wrestle before but it seems like this was the way he wrestle previously, according to his detractor on this board.

I thought Witcraft looked improved, going for at least two single legs; Surber attacked continuously.

Spratley and Travis wrestles the same "no offense" style they wrestled most of the time last year. I know they won but I expected DT to be pissed during and after both matches. I want to our coaches to say (during practice and matches) exactly what I do while watching them and that is, "shoot, Shoot, SHOOT..."

Sorry if it rubs anybody and I know it's early but I bought and drank heavily of the new DT, bright orange kool-aid. I expected and expect significant improvement and fairly quickly.

And don't get me wrong, I believe Coach Smith needed to retire at least 3-4 years ago and in hindsight, it probably would have been the best for his legacy if he'd retired after 2006 (15yrs) but that's for a different thread.
I guess it’s our problem we expected change from you too? Are you related to Harley?? It’s the FIRST match!!
As I said "basically the same last year" as that's how he wrestled a lot last year.


I expected change from those wrestlers that needed the most improvement, i.e., Spratley, Witcaft, Jamison, Travis, Thompson and Surber. I don't remember seeing Amine wrestle before but it seems like this was the way he wrestle previously, according to his detractor on this board.

I thought Witcraft looked improved, going for at least two single legs; Surber attacked continuously.

Spratley and Travis wrestles the same "no offense" style they wrestled most of the time last year. I know they won but I expected DT to be pissed during and after both matches. I want to our coaches to say (during practice and matches) exactly what I do while watching them and that is, "shoot, Shoot, SHOOT..."

Sorry if it rubs anybody and I know it's early but I bought and drank heavily of the new DT, bright orange kool-aid. I expected and expect significant improvement and fairly quickly.

And don't get me wrong, I believe Coach Smith needed to retire at least 3-4 years ago and in hindsight, it probably would have been the best for his legacy if he'd retired after 2006 (15yrs) but that's for a different thread.
 
I would’ve liked to see Spratley and Travis risk it more. Get uncomfortable. Have the skill to come out on top of scrambles but didn’t get to that point. Same thing I said a few times about Fix too. Waiting for perfect shot opportunities that don’t come. Surber is a good example of the opposite. Exposes himself some but works out more often than not.
As I said pulling the trigger more. Surber’s opponent wasn’t wrestling nearly as defensively as Troy and Teagues guys.
 
Barraclough is a hammer on top, holds position well and is hard to score on. He had zero offense, no shots attempted by him. He ended up in the backpack position a couple of times. One was called stalling after like 20 sec and the other time is was not called at all. He was just trying to take it the distance in hopes the riding time would work in his favor.
This
 
As I said pulling the trigger more. Surber’s opponent wasn’t wrestling nearly as defensively as Troy and Teagues guys.
Bridger Ricks took Caleb Smith #4 from Nebraska to overtime last week. He made no shots during the match and Spratley was never in trouble. Ricks has good defense but that is based on taking no chances. I completely agree with coaches and Troy about not going down in the 3rd period behind 3-0. It would have just wasted time and Troy was able to break through
his defense in the 3rd. All of our wrestlers looked ready to wrestle. I think we are too hard on Kolter Burton as he is a freshman and his future looks bright. As far as Cam Amine goes, he is a 5th or 6th year wrestler who is very tough to take down and his opponent is a master on the mat. He has to improve on bottom and on top if he wants to AA again. Cam will win most of his matches this year and the future around this weight looks very bright with what we have coming in.
 
It’s dual no . 1 man. I know this is your whole schtick but judging a staff’s development ability the very first dual when they’ve been on the job for 5 months is dumb. Sorry no other way to put it. These guys are coaches not wizards who can just snap their fingers and turn everyone into Bo Nickel. Development takes time.
You should be careful calling someone names when your reading comprehension is not good since I was describing our wrestling last night. I used terms like "early in the season" and "I don't see great development in our wrestlers, yet". I have been reading about this great development, which I hope occurs. However, I will need to see it first before I write about it. Also I thought I was balanced pointing out how well Witcraft, Young, Hamiti, Plott, Surber and Hendrickson wrestled.
 
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I mean there’s not a ton to question at the moment. They absolutely smoked an inferior opponent with 6/10 guys getting bonus points, and the only 2 losses being a true freshman and a guy losing a top 5 matchup. A few guys had matches closer than they should’ve been, but it’s hard to draw any conclusions from a single match.
 
I mean there’s not a ton to question at the moment. They absolutely smoked an inferior opponent with 6/10 guys getting bonus points, and the only 2 losses being a true freshman and a guy losing a top 5 matchup. A few guys had matches closer than they should’ve been, but it’s hard to draw any conclusions from a single match.
Agree and if look at starters only, who was ever in trouble? I'd say the only one was Hendrickson and only for 5 seconds. Ricks never attempted a takedown nor did Barraclough.
 
Agree and if look at starters only, who was ever in trouble? I'd say the only one was Hendrickson and only for 5 seconds. Ricks never attempted a takedown nor did Barraclough.
I rewatched the takedown on Hendrickson and even that seemed flukey at best. I don’t know how planned the UVU kid’s shot was. Almost thought he just kinda… dove as Hendrickson reached to tie up?
 
You should be careful calling someone names when your reading comprehension is not good since I was describing our wrestling last night. I used terms like "early in the season" and "I don't see great development in our wrestlers, yet". I have been reading about this great development, which I hope occurs. However, I will need to see it first before I write about it. Also I thought I was balanced pointing out how well Witcraft, Young, Hamiti, Plott, Surber and Hendrickson wrestled.
If you want to talk about reading comprehension I didn’t call anyone names. I said commenting about development dual 1 is dumb. I didn’t call YOU dumb.

A one match sample size is not really a good way to gauge if these guys have “developed” or not. Frankly, some of these guys might not get a lot better. Amine has been in college for a long, long time. This is probably just who he is.

Development isn’t linear and most of the time it’s a long process.
 
Agree and if look at starters only, who was ever in trouble? I'd say the only one was Hendrickson and only for 5 seconds. Ricks never attempted a takedown nor did Barraclough.
The fact that Barraclough didn't attempt a takedown and still won should temper everyone's enthusiasm about Amine. He is a known quantity. He will win most bouts by decision but is challenged in a number of areas that limits his high AA ability. He is a 5-8 AA at best. It is too late to change his style so he is what he is. Unfortunately. Just my honest opinion.
 
The fact that Barraclough didn't attempt a takedown and still won should temper everyone's enthusiasm about Amine. He is a known quantity. He will win most bouts by decision but is challenged in a number of areas that limits his high AA ability. He is a 5-8 AA at best. It is too late to change his style so he is what he is. Unfortunately. Just my honest opinion.
I am hoping that DT and staff can get him out of his comfort zone and have him start taking some chances.
 
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