2023 NCAA Championship Session VI (Finals) Thread

Tom McAndrew

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Not me. Nobody in the BT would have challenged him........with the speed Vito brought to the party. RBY has had a great career and it will be great to see what his next moves will be. I am grateful he came back.

he told me in December that he's first going to try for the Olympics. After that, he plans to give MMA a try.
 

SRATH

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Oct 30, 2021
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Important update. The brisket was great. We have had lake effect snow since mid afternoon. A different kind of white out and temps are down 10 degrees. While the evening was a bit of a downer with the BBall team losing and only winning 2 of 5 in the finals, there is a ton to be exited about the future and PSU sports. A great weekend of sports.
 

SRATH

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PSU - 137.5
Iowa - 82.5
Cornell - 76.5
Ohio St. - 70.5
Missouri - 64.5
Michigan - 58.5
ASU - 55.0
Nebraska - 54.0
VT - 49.0
NC State - 48.0
Iowa St. - 47.0
UNC - 42.0
Princeton - 37.5
S. Dakota St. - 37.0
Minny - 30.5
Northern Iowa - 29.0
Wisky - 29.0
Air Force - 28.5
Okla. St. - 28.5
Lehigh - 28.0
Purdue - 28.0
Pitt - 27.0
Northern Colorado - 26.0
N. Dakota St. - 25.5
NW - 24.5
Stanford - 18.0
Cal Poly - 17.5
etc.
Amazing........ 55 point spread. There cannot be too many larger spreads............. Now the team will hit a large spread.
 

STL_Lion

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Oct 12, 2021
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PSU - 137.5
Iowa - 82.5
Cornell - 76.5
Ohio St. - 70.5
Missouri - 64.5
Michigan - 58.5
ASU - 55.0
Nebraska - 54.0
VT - 49.0
NC State - 48.0
Iowa St. - 47.0
UNC - 42.0
Princeton - 37.5
S. Dakota St. - 37.0
Minny - 30.5
Northern Iowa - 29.0
Wisky - 29.0
Air Force - 28.5
Okla. St. - 28.5
Lehigh - 28.0This
Purdue - 28.0
Pitt - 27.0
Northern Colorado - 26.0
N. Dakota St. - 25.5
NW - 24.5
Stanford - 18.0
Cal Poly - 17.5
etc.
thx Tom
 

razpsu

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Oct 19, 2021
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Pat glory was probably thinking oh my gosh lee lost. I have an incredible chance now to win it all. He won. Great Job to him.
Great slam by Alize to beat woods. Woods had no answer since he wasn’t used to having to attack near the end.
 

GregPickel

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Sep 20, 2021
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All:

Thank you for joining us throughout the season and this tournament. @Tom McAndrew can't type enough words to thank you but you are appreciated. It's time for me to write some of our wrestling copy for the next Blue-White Illustrated magazine. If you are not a subscriber, please consider checking out this link and becoming one: https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/blue-white-illustrated

And, to those of you who are already BWI subscribers here on the site, thank you! If you're not one, please consider giving us a try for just $10 for four months as spring football practice and recruiting continue: https://www.on3.com/teams/penn-state-nittany-lions/join/?plan=monthly

My inbox here on the site is always open, please reach out anytime. Until next time, good night, and good wrestling!
 

Karl_Havok

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Oct 6, 2021
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What a great season for our squad. What a great season for everyone here on this board. A big shout out to @GregPickel and @Tom McAndrew for their unwavering support of PSU wrestling which makes this board the best wrestling board this side of the Milky Way Galaxy.

All of our guys performed lights out. There is nothing to be ashamed of for any of our wrestlers. What a season and what a tournament.

We Are!
 

razpsu

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A huge thanks to @GregPickel. He helped me out with PBP, wrote articles for each round for the BWI site, and provided lots of content and interesting info.

It takes A LOT to provide good PBP, and cover the entire Nationals. I think that between Greg and myself, we did an excellent job.

Thanks Greg for the help on NCAAs!
Lol. If you do say so yourself.

you two did do an amazing job. Free pancakes for you. Just have to fly down to get them.
 
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KSLion

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Oct 6, 2021
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O'Connor is much stronger...
O'Connor: 6 years older, 6 years more experienced, physically in the prime years of his life. Haines: 6 years younger, 6 years less experienced, not yet in his physical prime. God-given ability aside, at age 18 six years represents 1/3 of a lifetime -- and that's quite a set of deficits for any 18-year-old wrestler to attempt to overcome.
 
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watoos

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Oct 31, 2021
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O'Connor: 6 years older, 6 years more experienced, physically in the prime years of his life. Haines: 6 years younger, 6 years less experienced, not yet in his physical prime. God-given ability aside, that's quite a set of deficits for any 18-year-old wrestler to attempt to overcome.
O’Connor won because of Big Boy strength.
 

razpsu

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O'Connor: 6 years older, 6 years more experienced, physically in the prime years of his life. Haines: 6 years younger, 6 years less experienced, not yet in his physical prime. God-given ability aside, that's quite a set of deficits for any 18-year-old wrestler to attempt to overcome.
And that is my point. All these 5 and 6 year guys still wrestling perhaps denying guys like Haines to reach 4 nat champs.
 

Tom McAndrew

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Oct 27, 2021
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Did CStar tell you what his plans are?

No, I didn't ask him.

I think some may be overreacting to his post-final interview. He was asked, "what's next?" CStar has indicated in interviews that he plans on winning a gold medal at the Olympics. (I think Jordan Burrough was interviewed earlier this week and talked about the challenge that CStar would be in FS.) He's also mentioned MMA as being in his future plans. Neither the question, nor his reply, gave any timeframe. CStar may have been responding in the context of what he plans to do after his college career is over. Or, he could have been giving an indication that his college career is going to end earlier than many of us anticipated.
 

hohmadw1978

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No, I didn't ask him.

I think some may be overreacting to his post-final interview. He was asked, "what's next?" CStar has indicated in interviews that he plans on winning a gold medal at the Olympics. (I think Jordan Burrough was interviewed earlier this week and talked about the challenge that CStar would be in FS.) He's also mentioned MMA as being in his future plans. Neither the question, nor his reply, gave any timeframe. CStar may have been responding in the context of what he plans to do after his college career is over. Or, he could have been giving an indication that his college career is going to end earlier than many of us anticipated.
I wanted to chime in here. I met Carter along with Aaron, Max and Kerk at the first Success with Honor event for Wrestling during last year’s Blue/White game. I asked him if he thought we could repeat as National Champion for a third time. He told me that his goal was to win four. FWIW.

He had a 15 minute conversation about his journey to Penn State.

Just an opinion, but NIL will help determine if Carter does come back. The money that RBY got from NIL was the main reason he came back. @Tom McAndrew @GregPickel @Tgar
 

Tgar

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I wanted to chime in here. I met Carter along with Aaron, Max and Kerk at the first Success with Honor event for Wrestling during last year’s Blue/White game. I asked him if he thought we could repeat as National Champion for a third time. He told me that his goal was to win four. FWIW.

He had a 15 minute conversation about his journey to Penn State.

Just an opinion, but NIL will help determine if Carter does come back. The money that RBY got from NIL was the main reason he came back. @Tom McAndrew @GregPickel @Tgar
I would agree. I guess it’s better to ask “ show me the money “ after winning some titles than before. He certainly should get equal money if available.
 
Dec 23, 2021
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that in of itself is no longer stalling. If you do nothing at all with it (I think O'Connor did a bit more than you're giving him credit for, beyond just sitting back), the ref could ding you for stalling. But that's more if you're sitting back, and making no effort with your hands to either try to turn the bottom guy to control him as he moves about.
I agree Tom. Some reference strength difference, personally I think the difference was O'Connor's ability to ride. I don't recall anyone else being able to ride Haines like that all year. That wasn't about strength difference, it was simply great technique. It was similar to what Brooks did to Amine in last year's final. Once he was effectively down 2-0 going into the 3rd, that made the hill into a mountain.
For comparison on riding vs stalling, I would suggest you all compare O'Connor to Woods. The stall call again Allirez by Angel was outrageous. Woods was "sitting back" (really laying back).
 

DavidM

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Cornell's Arujau is the quickest wrestler I've ever seen, and I'd be stunned if he isn't able to dominate international wrestling in the future. RBY is fast and slick, and this kid is faster and slicker. We should have been warned when he dominated Daton Fix earlier.
 
Dec 23, 2021
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Bonaccorsi got away with an illegal start on top. He didn't have his hand on the belly button. Not a biggie, but a ref at this level should catch that
Not surprised you saw it too Tom. Even more shocking is that the ref did see it the first time. He received a caution for the exact same thing earlier. I made the same comment to my wife when it happened the second time and no call. Non-impacting to bout but was very obvious.
 
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Spinpsu

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I wanted to chime in here. I met Carter along with Aaron, Max and Kerk at the first Success with Honor event for Wrestling during last year’s Blue/White game. I asked him if he thought we could repeat as National Champion for a third time. He told me that his goal was to win four. FWIW.

He had a 15 minute conversation about his journey to Penn State.

Just an opinion, but NIL will help determine if Carter does come back. The money that RBY got from NIL was the main reason he came back. @Tom McAndrew @GregPickel @Tgar
Yes NIL will play a huge factor if Carter comes back for a 5th title. Next season will hopefully be his 4th. Great off season should help.
 

ptomaselli

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Top Ten Individual Point Scorers:
1. Starocci (PSU-174) - 24.0
2. Parris (Michigan-285) - 23.5
3. Brooks (PSU-184) -23.0
3. Glory (Princeton-125) - 23.0
4. O'Toole (Mizzou-165) - 22.5
5. Alirez (No Col-141) - 22.0
5. Arujau (Cornell-133) - 22.0
5. Diakomihalis (Cornell-149) - 22.0
6. Hendrickson (USAF-285) - 21.5
7. Bonaccorsi (Pitt-197) - 21.0
7. O'Connor (UNC-157) - 21.0

The rest of PSU:
Kerkvliet - 19.0
Haines - 18.0
Bravo-Young-17.0
Van Ness - 15.5
Bartlett - 14.5
Dean - 6.5

Just going off who I think could (not would) come back, we have 114 points returning. With luck and NIL, next year could be very good as well!
(CS-24, AB-23, Kerk-19, Levi-18, SVN-15.5, Beau-14.5.)

EDIT: I missed Hendrickson as a top scorer and added him above.
 
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hohmadw1978

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Top Ten Individual Point Scorers:
1. Starocci (PSU-174) - 24.0
2. Parris (Michigan-285) - 23.5
3. Brooks (PSU-184) -23.0
3. Glory (Princeton-125) - 23.0
4. O'Toole (Mizzou-165) - 22.5
5. Alirez (No Col-141) - 22.0
5. Arujau (Cornell-133) - 22.0
5. Diakomihalis (Cornell-149) - 22.0
6. Bonaccorsi (Pitt-197) - 21.0
6. O'Connor (UNC-157) - 21.0

The rest of PSU:
Kerkvliet - 19.0
Haines - 18.0
Bravo-Young-17.0
Van Ness - 15.5
Bartlett - 14.5
Dean - 6.5

Just going off who I think could (not would) come back, we have 114 points returning. With luck and NIL, next year could be very good as well!
(CS-24, AB-23, Kerk-19, Levi-18, SVN-15.5, Beau-14.5.)
Thanks for the excellent summary @ptomaselli!
 

Tgar

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Cornell's Arujau is the quickest wrestler I've ever seen, and I'd be stunned if he isn't able to dominate international wrestling in the future. RBY is fast and slick, and this kid is faster and slicker. We should have been warned when he dominated Daton Fix earlier.
We were warned.
 
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