Wish this was on ACCN just to get a less...colored...view of the matches from the commentators.
UNC Wrestling 2025-2026
- Thread starter 81Heel/M1
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Obviously I hate losing to state year after year, but this is the young team that has ups and downs. While it is frustrating, I expected matches like this. I am disappointed that a few older wrestlers dropped the ball in their matches tonight. it is unfair to compare how each wrestled against Virginia, as state had 3 different wrestlers in their lineup tonight, including a national champion.
We started out strong, with a win over a very good ranked wrestler at 141. At 149 Askew is wrestling up from his ideal weight, and still has some adjusting to college wrestling. He needed to have this redshirt year, but he is in the spot and is doing his best. After Askew I felt like Root, Carrigan, Dailey, Neves, and Terukina wrestled to at least the basic expectation.
I felt like Hepner, Plat, and Oakley were not as ready for their opponent as they might have been. Hepner had a tough match, but he shouldn’t have given up a major decision. I felt like the other 2 should be a win going into the match. Win 2 of these 3 matches and don’t give up the major and it is a tie match. After the first match I felt we struggled to find the right time to be aggressive vs the time to defend. As is normal state was aggressive and it paid off for them.
Hopefully they can shake this off and be prepared for #14 Pitt next week.
We started out strong, with a win over a very good ranked wrestler at 141. At 149 Askew is wrestling up from his ideal weight, and still has some adjusting to college wrestling. He needed to have this redshirt year, but he is in the spot and is doing his best. After Askew I felt like Root, Carrigan, Dailey, Neves, and Terukina wrestled to at least the basic expectation.
I felt like Hepner, Plat, and Oakley were not as ready for their opponent as they might have been. Hepner had a tough match, but he shouldn’t have given up a major decision. I felt like the other 2 should be a win going into the match. Win 2 of these 3 matches and don’t give up the major and it is a tie match. After the first match I felt we struggled to find the right time to be aggressive vs the time to defend. As is normal state was aggressive and it paid off for them.
Hopefully they can shake this off and be prepared for #14 Pitt next week.
I thought someone said that our team is young with a lot of freshmen. If so, then freshmen are going to be up and down. This is how freshmen are. Also, beating State at their place was not going to be an easy task. We will just have to bounce back and win the next one. Go Heels!
The team is very much a young team, it was going to be a fairly young team going into the year, and then injuries to two veteran starters pushed us even younger
Based on social media, I realized that Hickey and O’Neill won their weights at a tournament up at App St. Stinson finished 2nd, and Showalter finished 3rd. The tournament was small, but 157 was larger than most.
That was the good news. The bad news is that Neves wrestled 1 full match, and 18 seconds into a second match before defaulting. He did not wrestle his other matches as a medical forfeit. The kid he beat finished 2nd, and he was up 3-1 over the tournament winner when he defaulted. Hope he was just being super cautious, but we need him healthy to finish out the season.
That was the good news. The bad news is that Neves wrestled 1 full match, and 18 seconds into a second match before defaulting. He did not wrestle his other matches as a medical forfeit. The kid he beat finished 2nd, and he was up 3-1 over the tournament winner when he defaulted. Hope he was just being super cautious, but we need him healthy to finish out the season.
Wow, that’s bad news. I’m sure he was wrestling there to get to minimum matches to qualify the weight for ACCs
Hope he is ok, that would be a tough blow to lose him now. It would cost Levy his redshirt, and would just overall be a tough injury season to lose 3 NCAA qualifiers due to injury
Neves is done for the year per UNC Wrestling's X account.
Thanks DDB. Hate to hear it, but did want to know. Below is the instagram post. About have to pull Levy’s redshirt, and hope next year he and Askew get theirs.
Rankings are posted below for this week. Simcox is the highest ranked wrestler at #10.
WS predicts a 15-18 loss to Pitt this week, with 1 upset win for each team (they predict Terukina loses, and Root wins). They split the match with 5 wins each, but give Askew a major decision loss, and Levy a tech fall loss for the 3 point win to Pitt. We need to win the matches we are supposed to win, 125, 133, 141, 165, & 184, and try to get some bonus points somewhere (165 is likely the best chance). Pitt is stronger in the upper weights, with 2 top 10 wrestlers at 197 and heavyweight and a top 18 at 174. Unfortunately, 2 of these match up with weights where we lost our starter for the season. Strong matches from Carrigan, Platt and Levy to limit any bonus points would be very helpful. Even so it may be an uphill battle without an upset win somewhere.
WS predicts a 15-18 loss to Pitt this week, with 1 upset win for each team (they predict Terukina loses, and Root wins). They split the match with 5 wins each, but give Askew a major decision loss, and Levy a tech fall loss for the 3 point win to Pitt. We need to win the matches we are supposed to win, 125, 133, 141, 165, & 184, and try to get some bonus points somewhere (165 is likely the best chance). Pitt is stronger in the upper weights, with 2 top 10 wrestlers at 197 and heavyweight and a top 18 at 174. Unfortunately, 2 of these match up with weights where we lost our starter for the season. Strong matches from Carrigan, Platt and Levy to limit any bonus points would be very helpful. Even so it may be an uphill battle without an upset win somewhere.
The goheels article is up for tomorrow‘s match, see link below. Pitt’s lineup is as WS called it, except with Priest (62) in for Santaniello (30) at 141. We have obviously replaced Neves with Levy, and we have O’Neill listed as an “or” with Askew at 149.
goheels.com
Wrestling Hosts Pitt Friday In ACC Home Opener - University of North Carolina Athletics
Action between the Tar Heels and Panthers gets underway Friday at 7 PM inside Carmichael Arena.
Will be a really tough match. 9 of 10 Pitt wrestlers are ranked. We have 6. Lots of swing matches. Important for us to wrestle well and put last week behind us.
Just finished watching the match, and there are 2 ways to look at this loss. First, this is a young team with 3 start of the season starters out, a freshman making his first start days after learning that he was going to have to drop his redshirt, and some close matches just didn’t fall our way. Solid wins by Hepner, Dailey, and Terukina, with good effort by Root, Platt, and really most of the team in their losses. All that is true, but it feels like a lousy perspective on this match.
O’Neill made a good effort, but he wrestles better at 141. Against a ranked wrestler he avoided any bonus points. I’m hoping either he, Simcox, or Scott can be top 20 too 25 at 149 by this time next year. While you can’t complain about a 1-4 loss by Root to the 17th ranked wrestler, this was a missed opportunity to get a signature win that could be the difference in his bid to become a ncaa qualifier. Hepner won, but for a 2nd week it was not the fun and enthusiastic style of wrestling that he was consistently showing a few weeks back. Carrigan wrestled a tough match against the #19 wrestler, losing 1-3. I can’t complain about the loss, but he has limited time to make signature wins happen that will help him qualify for ncaat. Dailey has shown the kind of consistency that no other wrestler on the team, freshman to graduate, has shown. After a really good match 2 weeks ago and a bad match last week, Platt wrestled well against a top 10 wrestler. Had chances to get a takedown, but never quite finished and lost 1-4. In his first match replacing Neves, Levy kept it close until he seemed to run out of gas. Still I give him a pass this week and hope he moves forward to fully take hold of his new role. Terukina took care of business, and went for the major, before getting caught trying to press the action. In spite of giving up a late takedown he got the critical win. I think Oakley has honestly tried to become more aggressive, and it has hurt his defense. He needs to figure this out, or his final season of wrestling will fall short of reasonable expectations. Botello wrestling at 141 felt like we expecting a possible scenario where the match was lost, and had him ready to go. Maybe Simcox needed a rest, but it seems like if he wasn’t able to go we would have used O’Neill at 141 after wrestling that weight last weekend. Maybe it was a last minute thing, or maybe they wanted to give Botello a test up a weight.
All this to say tonight’s results were not surprising, but we should not accept them as status quo. Some of the freshmen need to find that key win that gives them the confidence to wrestle for the win vs trying to keep matches close. At key points Pitt looked more aggressive, and it cost us at least making this a close match. This is a fun year from the perspective that you never know what will happen. It will be more fun when the young wrestlers start finding the way to consistently win close matches. As to the 3 older wrestlers they are what they were coming into the program, meaning top 15-25 wrestlers, but none of them are consistently migrating to a top 15 level wrestler. As a side note I expect we will likely need transfer portal replacements for Terukina and Hepner, but I expect Botello and Guanajuato to compete for the 133 spot next year.
A little long, but just my thoughts after the match. Next week dook comes to Carmichael.
O’Neill made a good effort, but he wrestles better at 141. Against a ranked wrestler he avoided any bonus points. I’m hoping either he, Simcox, or Scott can be top 20 too 25 at 149 by this time next year. While you can’t complain about a 1-4 loss by Root to the 17th ranked wrestler, this was a missed opportunity to get a signature win that could be the difference in his bid to become a ncaa qualifier. Hepner won, but for a 2nd week it was not the fun and enthusiastic style of wrestling that he was consistently showing a few weeks back. Carrigan wrestled a tough match against the #19 wrestler, losing 1-3. I can’t complain about the loss, but he has limited time to make signature wins happen that will help him qualify for ncaat. Dailey has shown the kind of consistency that no other wrestler on the team, freshman to graduate, has shown. After a really good match 2 weeks ago and a bad match last week, Platt wrestled well against a top 10 wrestler. Had chances to get a takedown, but never quite finished and lost 1-4. In his first match replacing Neves, Levy kept it close until he seemed to run out of gas. Still I give him a pass this week and hope he moves forward to fully take hold of his new role. Terukina took care of business, and went for the major, before getting caught trying to press the action. In spite of giving up a late takedown he got the critical win. I think Oakley has honestly tried to become more aggressive, and it has hurt his defense. He needs to figure this out, or his final season of wrestling will fall short of reasonable expectations. Botello wrestling at 141 felt like we expecting a possible scenario where the match was lost, and had him ready to go. Maybe Simcox needed a rest, but it seems like if he wasn’t able to go we would have used O’Neill at 141 after wrestling that weight last weekend. Maybe it was a last minute thing, or maybe they wanted to give Botello a test up a weight.
All this to say tonight’s results were not surprising, but we should not accept them as status quo. Some of the freshmen need to find that key win that gives them the confidence to wrestle for the win vs trying to keep matches close. At key points Pitt looked more aggressive, and it cost us at least making this a close match. This is a fun year from the perspective that you never know what will happen. It will be more fun when the young wrestlers start finding the way to consistently win close matches. As to the 3 older wrestlers they are what they were coming into the program, meaning top 15-25 wrestlers, but none of them are consistently migrating to a top 15 level wrestler. As a side note I expect we will likely need transfer portal replacements for Terukina and Hepner, but I expect Botello and Guanajuato to compete for the 133 spot next year.
A little long, but just my thoughts after the match. Next week dook comes to Carmichael.
That was a tough match to watch. After the first matchup, pretty much nothing went as we hoped.
The gurus on here warned that this was probably a rebuilding year, though we had a chance for some good head-to-head wins. After some decent early promise, it now has pretty much crystallized as a season to build on for the next.
With that said, we have dook next: lets remind them who is boss on Tobacco Road.
The gurus on here warned that this was probably a rebuilding year, though we had a chance for some good head-to-head wins. After some decent early promise, it now has pretty much crystallized as a season to build on for the next.
With that said, we have dook next: lets remind them who is boss on Tobacco Road.
In recruiting scoop on the FB board they note they are recruiting Christian Alvarez as an interior OL. He is currently committed to Delaware for football, and there is an article talking about why he is not going to continue wrestling that requires a subscription. That said, he is FloWrestling’s #6 heavyweight, and I am hoping Koll has at least been part of the conversation with this young man.
This week’s rankings are out, though I haven’t seen an instagram post with them yet. I did find the one below, and we should celebrate academic success of the student athletes (not sure what the trickle down is for revenue share, but I am pretty certain this young man has not received life changing money).
The team ranking basically switched places with Pitt, dropping from 11 to 14. Keep in mind that we wrestled 2 true freshmen that were new in the lineup, after losing Neves for the season last week. Sort of wish they had let Askew wrestle 149, O’Neill at 141, and dropped Botello down to 133.
This Friday we get dook, and WS predicts a 32-7 win. Wallace (174) and Barket (285) are both ranked 23, which is a good ranking position for freshmen attempting to find a signature win. Not predicting this, but it’s possible for either of these young men to win their match. Others just need to take care of business, and this match should not be close.
The team ranking basically switched places with Pitt, dropping from 11 to 14. Keep in mind that we wrestled 2 true freshmen that were new in the lineup, after losing Neves for the season last week. Sort of wish they had let Askew wrestle 149, O’Neill at 141, and dropped Botello down to 133.
This Friday we get dook, and WS predicts a 32-7 win. Wallace (174) and Barket (285) are both ranked 23, which is a good ranking position for freshmen attempting to find a signature win. Not predicting this, but it’s possible for either of these young men to win their match. Others just need to take care of business, and this match should not be close.
A little tangent by me on player compensation:
My understanding is that the "revenue share" portion of player compensation for Olympic sports is zero.
Of the $20.5 million cap:
- 65% ($13 million) to football
- 35% ($7 million) to men's basketball
- $250,000 each for baseball and women's basketball.
Instead, all the other sports are focused on increasing scholarship availability. Prior to the House V. NCAA settlement there was a cap for our teams of 338 scholarships, but now everyone on the roster is eligible. And UNC committed to a massive increase of 194 scholarships to get us from 338 to 532 in year 1 under the new rules.
That will include +20 in FB, +2 in MBB, +0 in WBB, and up to +22 in baseball. So that will leave ~150 additional scholarships for all of the other sports. That will not max out all the teams right away (UNC has around 800 varsity athletes), but they will focus on getting to 100% over time.
For wrestling specifically, we have gone from 9.9 scholarships to a potential 30. (I doubt we maxed out immediately, so probably less than 30.) under the old system we had partials: while the very top few may get a full ride, maybe three second-tier guys split one scholarship, each getting 1/3 of a full ride. So most of these guys were paying their way at UNC either partially or fully.
It is highly likely that a guy like Cade Tenold was paying his way here at least partially and receiving no revenue share. Then again, if he is the brain on the team he may be on academic scholarship.
Of course the other side of player compensation is NIL: business deals for player marketing rights. Some athletes like Anna Frey on the tennis can get a bunch of this on their own. And UNC will link athletes to pretty legit deals from corporate sponsors for some more. For the average athlete, that will be minimal, especially in a sport like wrestling.
The other form of NIL is booster enthusiasm disguised as business deals. This is what the big boys use to really pull in top football and basket ball players. This is the "pay-for-play" that are private contracts and only lightly regulated? For Olympic Sports it is all about if you program has a couple of rich alumni who want top buy a team. I have no idea what exists at UNC, but I bet this is pretty rare generally, and probably not at UNC specifically for wrestling. And any enthusiastic donors will be steered towards funding new scholarships instead of NIL for now.
Thanks for the information Char.
Still haven‘t seen a SM post with rankings. I believe they are Terukina-14, Oakley-24, Simcox-10, Root-28, Hepner and Dailey - 13.
Still haven‘t seen a SM post with rankings. I believe they are Terukina-14, Oakley-24, Simcox-10, Root-28, Hepner and Dailey - 13.
Probable Lineups: No. 13 North Carolina vs. Duke
125: No. 14 Kysen Terukina or Cameron Stinson Jr. vs. Spencer von Savoye
133: No. 24 Ethan Oakley vs. Riley Rowan
141: No. 10 Luke Simcox or Marco Tocci vs. Raymond Adams
149: Nate Askew vs. Dylan Ross
157: No. 28 Laird Root vs. Mikey Boulanger
165: Joey Showalter vs. Aurelius Dunbar
174: Collin Carrigan vs. No. 23 Aidan Wallace
184: No. 13 Jake Dailey vs. David Hussey
197: Robert Platt vs. Owen McGrory
285: Jacob Levy vs. No. 23 Connor Barket
Interesting lineup options. Given that Hepner is not in the lineup for a match where he could easily get back on track, I am assuming that there is some sort of injury and we are giving him a chance to heal. Maybe it is just that Coach Koll wants to give others a chance to wrestle when we have a match that should be easy. That said, the key matches that I want to watch are Carrigan and Levy. Neither should win, but this is the kind of opportunity where a young wrestler can improve their confidence if they can pull off the upset.
125: No. 14 Kysen Terukina or Cameron Stinson Jr. vs. Spencer von Savoye
133: No. 24 Ethan Oakley vs. Riley Rowan
141: No. 10 Luke Simcox or Marco Tocci vs. Raymond Adams
149: Nate Askew vs. Dylan Ross
157: No. 28 Laird Root vs. Mikey Boulanger
165: Joey Showalter vs. Aurelius Dunbar
174: Collin Carrigan vs. No. 23 Aidan Wallace
184: No. 13 Jake Dailey vs. David Hussey
197: Robert Platt vs. Owen McGrory
285: Jacob Levy vs. No. 23 Connor Barket
Interesting lineup options. Given that Hepner is not in the lineup for a match where he could easily get back on track, I am assuming that there is some sort of injury and we are giving him a chance to heal. Maybe it is just that Coach Koll wants to give others a chance to wrestle when we have a match that should be easy. That said, the key matches that I want to watch are Carrigan and Levy. Neither should win, but this is the kind of opportunity where a young wrestler can improve their confidence if they can pull off the upset.
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Great start by Root and Showalter. Hope Carrigan is ready, as his match will be tougher.
Back after more matches. Carrigan lacked enough offense and lost, before Dailey and Platt took care of business. Platt was a bloody mess in his win (worse than Carrigan last week). Levy up next.
Levy lost. Stinson was up early, and held on to win. Oakley won a major decision. Tocci lost on a late takedown given up, and Askew lost after giving up the first takedown to lose 1-4 in sudden victory.
Back after more matches. Carrigan lacked enough offense and lost, before Dailey and Platt took care of business. Platt was a bloody mess in his win (worse than Carrigan last week). Levy up next.
Levy lost. Stinson was up early, and held on to win. Oakley won a major decision. Tocci lost on a late takedown given up, and Askew lost after giving up the first takedown to lose 1-4 in sudden victory.
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Rankings this week:
125- Terukina #13
133- Oakley #27
141- Simcox #10
157- Root #25
165- Hepner #12
184- Dailey #13
Basically, we have 2 wrestlers 1 upset in the ncaat away from AA, and 2 more 2 upsets away from AA.
WS predicts we win 4 matches against VaT, Simcox, Root, Hepner, and Dailey. Terukina has Ventresca (#4), Askew has Gaj (#5), Oakley has Seidel (#7), and Platt has Sasso (#10) as there highest ranked wrestlers. A win against any of those 4 would be huge, but unlikely. Simcox has beaten Crooks early in the season. It was an upset then, but now the pressureis on Simcox.
125- Terukina #13
133- Oakley #27
141- Simcox #10
157- Root #25
165- Hepner #12
184- Dailey #13
Basically, we have 2 wrestlers 1 upset in the ncaat away from AA, and 2 more 2 upsets away from AA.
WS predicts we win 4 matches against VaT, Simcox, Root, Hepner, and Dailey. Terukina has Ventresca (#4), Askew has Gaj (#5), Oakley has Seidel (#7), and Platt has Sasso (#10) as there highest ranked wrestlers. A win against any of those 4 would be huge, but unlikely. Simcox has beaten Crooks early in the season. It was an upset then, but now the pressureis on Simcox.
Probable Lineups: No. 13 North Carolina at No. 6 Virginia Tech
125: No. 13 Kysen Terukina vs. No. 3 Eddie Ventresca
133: No. 27 Ethan Oakley or Matthew Botello vs. No. 6 Aaron Seidel
141: No. 10 Luke Simcox or Nick O'Neill vs. No. 22 Tom Crook
149: Nate Askew vs. Noah Nininger or Drew Gorman
157: No. 25 Laird Root vs. No. 16 Ethen Miller
165: No. 12 Bryce Hepner vs. No. 33 Mac Church
174: Collin Carrigan vs. No. 30 Sergio Desiante
184: No. 13 Jake Dailey vs. No. 32 Jaden Bullock
197: Robert Platt vs. No. 14 Sonny Sasso
285: Jacob Levy vs. No. 17 Jimmy Mullen
Adding a few thoughts. Not sure why Oakley and Simcox have an "or" option, but they need to be working towards their acct seeding. Oakley has not wrestled well in conference, and that may come back on him in seeding. Regardless, Seibel is very highly ranked, as you can see, and it may help him if he does not wrestle this week. Simcox has beaten Crook in an early season tournament, so him missing this match may not be a real factor. Their only "or" option is at 149, which is good news for Askew as Gaj is ranked #5. Nininger is #10 on WS, so he may not be a much better option (note also that Henson #2/returning national champion is redshirting at this weight). They are stacked at this weight, and Askew's best chance is if they put out Gorman (#36 at 141). That would be fair, as Askew is also actually a 141 pounder, I believe.
Tomorrow nights match will be tough, and there is not an easy path to a W for this one. Possible, but it will require everyone wrestling at the top of their capability.
On a side note, I believe I saw a social media post recently that included Guanajauto in the picture. He had obviously been working out, and the picture was taken in the mat room. I count that as a good sign. I would love to think he could get back down to 125, but more likely he will be battling with Botello for the 133 slot.
125: No. 13 Kysen Terukina vs. No. 3 Eddie Ventresca
133: No. 27 Ethan Oakley or Matthew Botello vs. No. 6 Aaron Seidel
141: No. 10 Luke Simcox or Nick O'Neill vs. No. 22 Tom Crook
149: Nate Askew vs. Noah Nininger or Drew Gorman
157: No. 25 Laird Root vs. No. 16 Ethen Miller
165: No. 12 Bryce Hepner vs. No. 33 Mac Church
174: Collin Carrigan vs. No. 30 Sergio Desiante
184: No. 13 Jake Dailey vs. No. 32 Jaden Bullock
197: Robert Platt vs. No. 14 Sonny Sasso
285: Jacob Levy vs. No. 17 Jimmy Mullen
Adding a few thoughts. Not sure why Oakley and Simcox have an "or" option, but they need to be working towards their acct seeding. Oakley has not wrestled well in conference, and that may come back on him in seeding. Regardless, Seibel is very highly ranked, as you can see, and it may help him if he does not wrestle this week. Simcox has beaten Crook in an early season tournament, so him missing this match may not be a real factor. Their only "or" option is at 149, which is good news for Askew as Gaj is ranked #5. Nininger is #10 on WS, so he may not be a much better option (note also that Henson #2/returning national champion is redshirting at this weight). They are stacked at this weight, and Askew's best chance is if they put out Gorman (#36 at 141). That would be fair, as Askew is also actually a 141 pounder, I believe.
Tomorrow nights match will be tough, and there is not an easy path to a W for this one. Possible, but it will require everyone wrestling at the top of their capability.
On a side note, I believe I saw a social media post recently that included Guanajauto in the picture. He had obviously been working out, and the picture was taken in the mat room. I count that as a good sign. I would love to think he could get back down to 125, but more likely he will be battling with Botello for the 133 slot.
Man, it seems like Ventresca has been in their lineup for 10 years. Excited to see that match although unlikely Terukina pulls the upset.
VT really stacked at the lower weights, including some young guys in the mix.
I hope Root and Hepner wrestle aggressively and that Simcox can repeat the early season win against Crook. Getting 4 wins total would be a very good outcome for the Heels.
VT really stacked at the lower weights, including some young guys in the mix.
I hope Root and Hepner wrestle aggressively and that Simcox can repeat the early season win against Crook. Getting 4 wins total would be a very good outcome for the Heels.
I agree that Terukina vs Ventresca may be the match of the night, and that Ventresca seems to have been around forever. He's tough, and nothing will come easy. Simcox, Hepner, and Dailey are our "should win" matches, but there are no easy matches against the #7 dual meet team (Intermat ranking). Root needs to be aggressive, as he has shown some ability to win tough matches and this one would help his ranking and potentially his seeding at acct and ncaat.
I think Oakley needs to approach this match like last year, and be completely defensive unless there is a clear opening to shoot all the way through Seibel. I wanted him more aggressive this year, but this is not the match to take chances in my opinion. Askew kind of reminds me of Spencer Moore his freshman year, when he just couldn't quite get that signature win. If he gets Gorman tonight, that could be an opportunity against someone his own size. Carrigan also has an opportunity against a lower ranked wrestler that is still ncaat qualifier level. I don't expect anything to be easy tonight, but there could be some fun matches to watch. I think Platt, like Oakley, needs to be thinking defense, but aggressively shoot any shots he gets. They need to win the move versus end up in a scramble. I will be watching Askew, Carrigan and Levy to see how they wrestle. Hoping they are still aggressively trying to score, and not just trying to limit the damage.
As NYH92 pointed out, 4 wins would be a good outcome, and 3 wins is the actual expectation. Even with our lost starters this match would be tough. Ogunsanya would certainly be favored, but likely Scott and Neves would be the underdogs in their matches.
I think Oakley needs to approach this match like last year, and be completely defensive unless there is a clear opening to shoot all the way through Seibel. I wanted him more aggressive this year, but this is not the match to take chances in my opinion. Askew kind of reminds me of Spencer Moore his freshman year, when he just couldn't quite get that signature win. If he gets Gorman tonight, that could be an opportunity against someone his own size. Carrigan also has an opportunity against a lower ranked wrestler that is still ncaat qualifier level. I don't expect anything to be easy tonight, but there could be some fun matches to watch. I think Platt, like Oakley, needs to be thinking defense, but aggressively shoot any shots he gets. They need to win the move versus end up in a scramble. I will be watching Askew, Carrigan and Levy to see how they wrestle. Hoping they are still aggressively trying to score, and not just trying to limit the damage.
As NYH92 pointed out, 4 wins would be a good outcome, and 3 wins is the actual expectation. Even with our lost starters this match would be tough. Ogunsanya would certainly be favored, but likely Scott and Neves would be the underdogs in their matches.
Match going as expected, overall, but Carrigan picked up a nice win after Hepner dropped a match that he could have possibly won if the officiating had been consistent with how they called the 133 match. He still doesn’t look like he did a month ago.
Again, great win for Carrigan.
Again, great win for Carrigan.
I thought we challenged the wrong thing in Dailey's match, it didn't look like a reversal to me at the point they awarded it as he was on his feet and I don't think their guy got behind before Dailey got his hands off the mat and if he did it wasn't for long enough to not just be reaction time, and if we won that challenge it would have taken away the whole sequence
Tech is, and will be for the next few years, the top of acc wrestling. They wrestled a great match. Still don’t think Hepner is full strength, or at least something has changed from a month ago. Terukina wrestled a really good match against someone that will be in the discussion for a national championship.
O’Neill and Carrigan stepped up big time, but we lost a few matches due to inexperience. Guess that is how you get experience. This is the surprise wins and losses we discussed all year, as young wrestlers tend to provide both. If I had known we would lose 3 ncaat qualifiers for the season, even I would not have been very optimistic for the season.
Next week we wrestle Stanford. Early on I would have circled this as a key match to win, but with 3 losses in conference and a few wrestlers likely not fully healthy we might prioritize the acct in 3 weeks. Still, WS predicts we lose by 1 point, so it could be a fun match.
O’Neill and Carrigan stepped up big time, but we lost a few matches due to inexperience. Guess that is how you get experience. This is the surprise wins and losses we discussed all year, as young wrestlers tend to provide both. If I had known we would lose 3 ncaat qualifiers for the season, even I would not have been very optimistic for the season.
Next week we wrestle Stanford. Early on I would have circled this as a key match to win, but with 3 losses in conference and a few wrestlers likely not fully healthy we might prioritize the acct in 3 weeks. Still, WS predicts we lose by 1 point, so it could be a fun match.
Watching replays now, what absolutely innane officiating.
133 we were getting called for stalls left and right.
157 we take 2 unnecessary roughness calls for hands to the face, successfully challenge to even them out 1-1.
Then at 165, Hepner gets hit in the face no less than 3 times without any calls. Then Hepner rides the entire 3rd period out without a single stall call. Cannot believe this is the same ref that was so trigger happy 20 minutes earlier.
133 we were getting called for stalls left and right.
157 we take 2 unnecessary roughness calls for hands to the face, successfully challenge to even them out 1-1.
Then at 165, Hepner gets hit in the face no less than 3 times without any calls. Then Hepner rides the entire 3rd period out without a single stall call. Cannot believe this is the same ref that was so trigger happy 20 minutes earlier.
100% agree. That ref went into,133 knowing that VT wanted to go TF and I guess the ref deemed that his birthright. The calls were effectively anticipatory. any attempts at all by our wrestler to play any defense stacked up immediate warnings, as if he is just supposed to concede points.
but 165 was the exact opposite. Infuriating.
Yeah, was a frustrating match in general. Particularly as, looking back, Carrigan’s match gave us a path to 5 wins, although a very slim one that ended up 3 short.
141 was supposed to be a win, but not with O’Neill, who pulled the huge upset and pin. That’s the two we won.
Hepner and Root wrestled hard and pressed the issue, but had their offense turned around for the points that swung the match. I wonder why Hepner didn’t let him up once he secured the riding point and go for the takedown instead of the stall call. I could see it either way
Bailey’s match was probably a good learning point. He wrestled super-assertively as always.
That’s 4. The last was I really thought Askew might turn the momentum in the 3rd.
The strong Northern Iowa and WV Wins, and UVa beatdown got me overly excited. But we’re actually still maturing this year, which we knew.
Adding a couple of extra comments on rankings. First, Intermat rankings are generally better than WrestleStat rankings, but WS ranks everyone vs Intermat ranking only starters from 1-33. Intermat is obviously targeting a prediction of the ncaat field. Because of this it is limited when you’re looking at lineups with backups and mid to lower ranked wrestlers. Most of us know this, but some may not have followed what the rest of us assume to be true.
So O’Neill and Carrigan both jumped up 25-30 spots in the WS rankings after beating a top 30 ranked wrestlers last week. O’Neill is now #26 and Carrigan is #61 in the WS rankings. Going back to Intermat rankings, we have 3 wrestlers ranked as high, or higher than Lachlan McNeal currently. Would love to have him back at UNC, but for whatever reason her is not having a typical year this season at Michigan. I would still not bet against him in the ncaat next month.
So O’Neill and Carrigan both jumped up 25-30 spots in the WS rankings after beating a top 30 ranked wrestlers last week. O’Neill is now #26 and Carrigan is #61 in the WS rankings. Going back to Intermat rankings, we have 3 wrestlers ranked as high, or higher than Lachlan McNeal currently. Would love to have him back at UNC, but for whatever reason her is not having a typical year this season at Michigan. I would still not bet against him in the ncaat next month.
Foca Added To Wrestling Staff - University of North Carolina Athletics
A four-time NCAA qualifier, Foca finished third at 174-pounds in 2023 and fifth at 184-pounds a season ago.
Some national pub for this as well ...
Tomorrow is senior night against Stanford. The list of seniors includes Oakley, Terukina, Darracott, Fea, Cade & Carson Tenold, and Martin. Not listed is Hepner, so he must have had a medical redshirt while at tOSU. We wish these young men well, where ever life takes them.
Probable Lineups: No. 12 North Carolina vs. No. 20 Stanford
125: No. 13 Kysen Terukina vs. No. 9 Nico Provo
133: No. 27 Ethan Oakley vs. No. 8 Tyler Knox
141: No. 10 Luke Simcox vs. No. 16 Jack Consiglio
149: Nate Askew vs. No. 12 Aden Valencia
157: No. 27 Laird Root vs. No. 10 Daniel Cardenas
165: No. 16 Bryce Hepner vs. EJ Parco
174: Collin Carrigan vs. Collin Guffey
184: No. 15 Jake Dailey vs. No. 29 Abraham Wojcikiewicz
197: Robert Platt vs. No. 8 Angelo Posada
285: Jacob Levy vs. Brokton Borelli
Stanford will be expected to win at least 5 matches. Provo has been tough this year, including a win over Robinson at state. Terukina could win this one, but it would definitely be an upset. Likewise, Oakley beat Knox last year in the dual meet, but since that time their fates have gone in opposite directions. Knox became an AA at the ncaat, and Oakley did not do well in the tournaments. Askew, Root and Platt have top 12/10/8 wrestlers respectively, and hopefully can keep the score low and close. I actually think we may need an upset win in order to win the match, as there is a chance for bonus points from any one of the 5 top 12 wrestlers we will face. Also, Levy is facing the WS #30 wrestler at 197, and hopefully the weight advantage is worth more than any potential quickness advantage of the lighter wrestler in this match. Simcox is coming off an injury presumably that has impacted his availability for the last several weeks, and has a similarly ranked wrestler. Obviously Hepner, Carrigan and Dailey need to have a good match.
This is the final dual meet before tournaments, and all of our wrestlers that have a chance to go to the ncaat need to be building momentum going into the tournaments. Good luck Heels.
Probable Lineups: No. 12 North Carolina vs. No. 20 Stanford
125: No. 13 Kysen Terukina vs. No. 9 Nico Provo
133: No. 27 Ethan Oakley vs. No. 8 Tyler Knox
141: No. 10 Luke Simcox vs. No. 16 Jack Consiglio
149: Nate Askew vs. No. 12 Aden Valencia
157: No. 27 Laird Root vs. No. 10 Daniel Cardenas
165: No. 16 Bryce Hepner vs. EJ Parco
174: Collin Carrigan vs. Collin Guffey
184: No. 15 Jake Dailey vs. No. 29 Abraham Wojcikiewicz
197: Robert Platt vs. No. 8 Angelo Posada
285: Jacob Levy vs. Brokton Borelli
Stanford will be expected to win at least 5 matches. Provo has been tough this year, including a win over Robinson at state. Terukina could win this one, but it would definitely be an upset. Likewise, Oakley beat Knox last year in the dual meet, but since that time their fates have gone in opposite directions. Knox became an AA at the ncaat, and Oakley did not do well in the tournaments. Askew, Root and Platt have top 12/10/8 wrestlers respectively, and hopefully can keep the score low and close. I actually think we may need an upset win in order to win the match, as there is a chance for bonus points from any one of the 5 top 12 wrestlers we will face. Also, Levy is facing the WS #30 wrestler at 197, and hopefully the weight advantage is worth more than any potential quickness advantage of the lighter wrestler in this match. Simcox is coming off an injury presumably that has impacted his availability for the last several weeks, and has a similarly ranked wrestler. Obviously Hepner, Carrigan and Dailey need to have a good match.
This is the final dual meet before tournaments, and all of our wrestlers that have a chance to go to the ncaat need to be building momentum going into the tournaments. Good luck Heels.