So, Desmond vs Nagao in a wrestle off?
- Thread starter NittanyChris
- Start date
The one who is a past AA and a legitimate 141 pounder. Now, if Desmond had come in to the season already planning on wrestling 141 and had been lifting and eating appropriately he would probably already be our 141 pounder.
The ability is clearly there. If he can pack on 5 lbs of good weight I think it is a battle.
Room familiarity, true freshman development and Nagao being a real dog on top, makes me certainly lean Aaron.
Can a broken wrist heal completely and not expose is to a reinjury come big 10 tourney time and beyond? I have concerns.
I was all over Nagao winning the slot from Davis aside from redshirt strategy, just based upon the assumption of a lot of growth and development in Nagao's wrestling over the past year +. Honestly, the eye test tells me he is the same kid as before, and probably at his ceiling. Very talented, a beast on top, certainly capable of a top 4. Then again he was all over the place sloppy in multiple matches. Riding too high with boots in, losing tilts only to be nearly caught on his back in several matches. He could easily be a 2-2 guy at Nationals, or get hurt again and leave us empty handed.
I think it's way too early to jump fully on the Desmond hype train based upon a relatively small sample, but everything he has shown so far this year creates a lot of excitement.
Pushing him up to 141 is a pretty big deal and may have permanent sizing implications. I don't think Cael is big into 'experiments'. He obviously sees a real opportunity.
The far easier and more obvious choice was simply to hold on to Davis as the backup plan. Cael is seeing something very real here. I am liking the redshirt 5 dates thing. Consiglio next week should provide another good data point up at 141.
Can RS freshman use their 5 dates second semester? I thought not, but if so #5 Olivieri on January 10th is the real test.
Room familiarity, true freshman development and Nagao being a real dog on top, makes me certainly lean Aaron.
Can a broken wrist heal completely and not expose is to a reinjury come big 10 tourney time and beyond? I have concerns.
I was all over Nagao winning the slot from Davis aside from redshirt strategy, just based upon the assumption of a lot of growth and development in Nagao's wrestling over the past year +. Honestly, the eye test tells me he is the same kid as before, and probably at his ceiling. Very talented, a beast on top, certainly capable of a top 4. Then again he was all over the place sloppy in multiple matches. Riding too high with boots in, losing tilts only to be nearly caught on his back in several matches. He could easily be a 2-2 guy at Nationals, or get hurt again and leave us empty handed.
I think it's way too early to jump fully on the Desmond hype train based upon a relatively small sample, but everything he has shown so far this year creates a lot of excitement.
Pushing him up to 141 is a pretty big deal and may have permanent sizing implications. I don't think Cael is big into 'experiments'. He obviously sees a real opportunity.
The far easier and more obvious choice was simply to hold on to Davis as the backup plan. Cael is seeing something very real here. I am liking the redshirt 5 dates thing. Consiglio next week should provide another good data point up at 141.
Can RS freshman use their 5 dates second semester? I thought not, but if so #5 Olivieri on January 10th is the real test.
Fair enough. On the other hand, Cael pretty much ruled out Desmond ever wrestling 125 again. To me that suggests it was a tough cut for him. If he's walking around at 136 or so, adding 5 pounds of muscle would not be impossible. I agree Nagao would be favored, but I wouldn't be shocked if a healthy Desmond knocked off a frequently dinged up Nagao.
I asked AI to summarize it in 75 words:
The potential for improvement is clear, and adding 5 pounds of muscle could make a significant difference. I'm leaning towards Aaron due to his familiarity with the environment and development as a true freshman. Concerns remain about a broken wrist fully healing before the Big Ten tournament. Although I initially favored Nagao, his recent performances show inconsistency, signaling he may have hit his ceiling. Desmond's move to 141 could have long-term implications, and while it's early to fully endorse him, his growing performance is exciting, making the upcoming match against Consiglio crucial for assessment.
my 3 character summary:
idk
Healthy young 20 something. I would expect that wrist to be healed in 6 weeks.
Was discussed in a different thread, but that's not what Sanderson said.
I agree. I believe Desmond gets Big Brothered (both weight and experience) in that match. I would go Nagao by MD right now.
I would be way more concerned with a soft tissue or ligament injury. When a bone heals on a healthy person, that's it. Its healed.
"Desmond can add 3-5 lb" ...
Which would make him still around 10 lb undersized vs Nagao and the rest of the field.
Which would make him still around 10 lb undersized vs Nagao and the rest of the field.
I just listened to the interview again and Cael suggested that a reason Desmond would not go at 41 is because with descent rules it would take him 3 full months to get back down to 25 so that would eliminate him as an option for 25. With all that said, he ran him out at 41 yesterday, which is very interesting.
Nagao's lack of neutral defense gives Desmond a decent shot imo.
Moot point because I don't think Aaron is able to go with his wrist.
Might ask myself what gives us more points, Desmond 133 and Marcus 141 or Marcus 133 and Nagao 141.
I won't tho...
I won't tho...
As mentioned earlier. another data point is that having weighed in at 138 for the dual, Desmond would need seven weeks to get back to wrestling 125 per the NCAA weight descent rules.
You nailed it. Nagao scores all of his points from scrambles, counters and from the top nothing from his feet. The neutral position is a big liability. Can a freshman exploit Nagao weakness into a starting spot? Will see.
Don’t disagree with those in this thread who mentioned Nate would be undersized at 141, and be an underdog to Nagao.
But one point I’m not sure has been mentioned. If Luke, Blaze and Ono all go next year, that doesn’t appear to leave any spots for Nate, Aaron or Davis. So Nate may just want to give his all to get in the lineup this year, with no desire for redshirting.
But one point I’m not sure has been mentioned. If Luke, Blaze and Ono all go next year, that doesn’t appear to leave any spots for Nate, Aaron or Davis. So Nate may just want to give his all to get in the lineup this year, with no desire for redshirting.
I don’t put much stock in Nate’s win up at 141. Severely undersized and believe if there was any doubt that Nagao wasn’t returning we’d have been seeing Braeden Davis out there.
If Nagao has a 50/50 chance to return health even as late as mid-January, there is zero reason to roll Davis out there now, and immediately burn his redshirt inso doing .
Davis is likely backup plan A, but they won't pull that trigger until absolutely needed, even if it meant that a birth at Nationals rests on his finish at the conference tourney.
For the record Desmond has 5 free dates, I think it would be great to see him again this weekend vs Consiglio. Cael's latest comments about maintaining his weight may put more doubt in that, as it seems he is still plan A in serving as Lilledahl's emergency backup.
Davis is likely backup plan A, but they won't pull that trigger until absolutely needed, even if it meant that a birth at Nationals rests on his finish at the conference tourney.
For the record Desmond has 5 free dates, I think it would be great to see him again this weekend vs Consiglio. Cael's latest comments about maintaining his weight may put more doubt in that, as it seems he is still plan A in serving as Lilledahl's emergency backup.
Which means his weigh ins will be as light as possible if he goes this weekend. 2 weeks to the next dual now, and always 1 week after that.