Huge upset for him, helped with team score and locked up his spot at NCAAs
UNC Wrestling 2025-2026
- Thread starter 81Heel/M1
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Great effort by Platt against the veteran Stout, before losing 2-4. Think we are tied with state going into the finals with 3 wrestlers each if I am reading this correctly.
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Going into the finals:
Tech - 88.5
Stanford - 78
state - 50
Carolina - 50
Pitt - 37
Virginia - 21.5
dook - 2
Tech - 88.5
Stanford - 78
state - 50
Carolina - 50
Pitt - 37
Virginia - 21.5
dook - 2
We had a chance to edge out State but they had a major in their 2nd finalist tonight whereas we had Dailey lose. Will mean we're finishing 4th overall
Overall, today was more like the early season in terms of good performances from a maybe overmatched team, fun to see
So the tournament is over, and how do you think we did? I feel much better about this year's tournament than last year. That said, here is a weight by weight look at expectations vs results:
125 - Terukina was seeded 4th in a very tough weight class (3 top 10 wrestlers), and he finished in 4th place. He also qualified for the ncaat. On the way to this finish he lost a 2-2 TBRT criteria match to the #1 seed, and #3 wrestler nationally, and lost a 1 point match to last years ncaat champion. He is a graduate transfer that basically replaced Moore with a very similarly ranked wrestler, and represented UNC well. I wish him luck at ncaat, and would not bet against him winning a few matches there. It is hard to say that he exceeded expectations, but he certainly met the expectations that we should have had for him.
133 - Oakley lost 2 straight against wrestlers he was technically supposed to lose to based on seeding. With a 5 seed he was supposed to lose the 4/5 match, and the 3/5 consolation semis match. So he met the expectations based on how he wrestled this year, but if you remember last years dual meet record you would have to be a little disappointed with this result. I am not certain he gets invited to the ncaat at this point, but it is possible. He certainly lost to very good wrestlers, but the fact is that he lost twice. If he is done, I am grateful for the way he represented the University and the team.
141 - Simcox wrestled to seed, and finished 2nd. I still think he is capable of winning this tournament, and he lost on a riding time point (1:30 of riding time). He needed a takedown, but was never able to get it. Still he finished 2nd as a redshirt freshman, and I am looking forward to seeing how far he can go. He is still just a redshirt freshman.
149 - Askew was a true freshman, and I kept hoping he would get that signature win that would change his trajectory. It never came, and he lost twice in the tournament with no wins. It was not fair that he was our starter this year, and I hope he take full advantage of his redshirt year next year. With a 7 seed it is hard to say he did not meet expectations, but this is clearly not a scenario that we can afford going forward. Next year we should have Scott back and some others may bulk up to challenge at this weight.
157 - Root was seeded 4th, and he finished 4th. He could have possibly finished 3rd, as he split with Washleski, winning the 4/5 match before losing to him in the 3rd place match. Again, he is a redshirt freshman, qualified for the ncaat, and I look forward to seeing where he can go in wrestling.
165 - Bryce Hepner, ACC Champion. Enough said, and I think after a rough several week period late in the season he clearly exceeded his seed and the expectations. Great job Hepner, and it seems we may get him for another year. Good luck at the ncaat.
174 - Of all the wrestlers that had to step in and/or step up as a freshman, Carrigan put on the best show today. After winning his last 2 matches in the acc dual meet season, he came on in the acct. He lost to the eventual acc champion at this weight, but he won everything else. He beat the #3 seed in his first match, and beat the #1 seed in his consolation finals match. A 3rd place finish qualified him for the ncaat, and he clearly exceeded expectations. Note that he got that signature win, and the confidence carried over into the acct. Great job by this young wrestler.
184 - I thought Dailey could win this tournament, and a sudden victory loss in the championship match suggests that was a real possibility. He exceeded his 4 seed, and did very well. As with several of the young wrestlers I am really looking forward to seeing how high they can go in the future (starting in about 2 weeks).
197 - Platt has shown some signs of potential that is better than what his average outing looked like this year. He was seeded 5th, and finished 4th. He did not qualify based on only 3 auto bids, but he did make a decent case for him to make the ncaat via an at-large bid. I am not predicting this, but it is possible after solidly beating Brophy and Burrell. He also wrestled well against a very solid Stout from Pitt.
285 - Levy is perhaps the individual most negatively impacted by our 3 season ending injuries. He had to step in late to replace Neves after his injury. He, like Askew, likely needed an extra year to develop. While he ever so slightly underperformed in the tournament today, he only costs the team a half point by losing his second match. Hopefully he and Askew can spend next year learning, developing, and having fun with wrestling.
Based on the seeding, we should have been 5th, well behind 4th place Pitt. We actually finished 16 points ahead of Pitt, and 4 points behind state. I would say this clearly ranks as exceeding expectations for the tournament. Tech, Carolina, and Virginia were the 3 teams that most exceeded their seeding for the tournament. While the points over expectations are sort of dramatic, each team finished 1 place higher that the seeding would have predicted.
Overall I am really pleased with this year's acct. On top of that, we should return a champion, and a group of redshirt freshmen that did well (2 in 2nd place, 1 3rd place wrestler, and 2 4th place wrestlers). More on potential holes in the lineup and/or transfer portal possibilities later, but for now it was a good showing, and hopefully we can get 1-2 at-large bids (Oakley and/or Platt). Here is hoping they can do equally as well at the ncaat.
125 - Terukina was seeded 4th in a very tough weight class (3 top 10 wrestlers), and he finished in 4th place. He also qualified for the ncaat. On the way to this finish he lost a 2-2 TBRT criteria match to the #1 seed, and #3 wrestler nationally, and lost a 1 point match to last years ncaat champion. He is a graduate transfer that basically replaced Moore with a very similarly ranked wrestler, and represented UNC well. I wish him luck at ncaat, and would not bet against him winning a few matches there. It is hard to say that he exceeded expectations, but he certainly met the expectations that we should have had for him.
133 - Oakley lost 2 straight against wrestlers he was technically supposed to lose to based on seeding. With a 5 seed he was supposed to lose the 4/5 match, and the 3/5 consolation semis match. So he met the expectations based on how he wrestled this year, but if you remember last years dual meet record you would have to be a little disappointed with this result. I am not certain he gets invited to the ncaat at this point, but it is possible. He certainly lost to very good wrestlers, but the fact is that he lost twice. If he is done, I am grateful for the way he represented the University and the team.
141 - Simcox wrestled to seed, and finished 2nd. I still think he is capable of winning this tournament, and he lost on a riding time point (1:30 of riding time). He needed a takedown, but was never able to get it. Still he finished 2nd as a redshirt freshman, and I am looking forward to seeing how far he can go. He is still just a redshirt freshman.
149 - Askew was a true freshman, and I kept hoping he would get that signature win that would change his trajectory. It never came, and he lost twice in the tournament with no wins. It was not fair that he was our starter this year, and I hope he take full advantage of his redshirt year next year. With a 7 seed it is hard to say he did not meet expectations, but this is clearly not a scenario that we can afford going forward. Next year we should have Scott back and some others may bulk up to challenge at this weight.
157 - Root was seeded 4th, and he finished 4th. He could have possibly finished 3rd, as he split with Washleski, winning the 4/5 match before losing to him in the 3rd place match. Again, he is a redshirt freshman, qualified for the ncaat, and I look forward to seeing where he can go in wrestling.
165 - Bryce Hepner, ACC Champion. Enough said, and I think after a rough several week period late in the season he clearly exceeded his seed and the expectations. Great job Hepner, and it seems we may get him for another year. Good luck at the ncaat.
174 - Of all the wrestlers that had to step in and/or step up as a freshman, Carrigan put on the best show today. After winning his last 2 matches in the acc dual meet season, he came on in the acct. He lost to the eventual acc champion at this weight, but he won everything else. He beat the #3 seed in his first match, and beat the #1 seed in his consolation finals match. A 3rd place finish qualified him for the ncaat, and he clearly exceeded expectations. Note that he got that signature win, and the confidence carried over into the acct. Great job by this young wrestler.
184 - I thought Dailey could win this tournament, and a sudden victory loss in the championship match suggests that was a real possibility. He exceeded his 4 seed, and did very well. As with several of the young wrestlers I am really looking forward to seeing how high they can go in the future (starting in about 2 weeks).
197 - Platt has shown some signs of potential that is better than what his average outing looked like this year. He was seeded 5th, and finished 4th. He did not qualify based on only 3 auto bids, but he did make a decent case for him to make the ncaat via an at-large bid. I am not predicting this, but it is possible after solidly beating Brophy and Burrell. He also wrestled well against a very solid Stout from Pitt.
285 - Levy is perhaps the individual most negatively impacted by our 3 season ending injuries. He had to step in late to replace Neves after his injury. He, like Askew, likely needed an extra year to develop. While he ever so slightly underperformed in the tournament today, he only costs the team a half point by losing his second match. Hopefully he and Askew can spend next year learning, developing, and having fun with wrestling.
Based on the seeding, we should have been 5th, well behind 4th place Pitt. We actually finished 16 points ahead of Pitt, and 4 points behind state. I would say this clearly ranks as exceeding expectations for the tournament. Tech, Carolina, and Virginia were the 3 teams that most exceeded their seeding for the tournament. While the points over expectations are sort of dramatic, each team finished 1 place higher that the seeding would have predicted.
Overall I am really pleased with this year's acct. On top of that, we should return a champion, and a group of redshirt freshmen that did well (2 in 2nd place, 1 3rd place wrestler, and 2 4th place wrestlers). More on potential holes in the lineup and/or transfer portal possibilities later, but for now it was a good showing, and hopefully we can get 1-2 at-large bids (Oakley and/or Platt). Here is hoping they can do equally as well at the ncaat.
Very satisfying performance yesterday, after it looked like our momentum built earlier in the season was gone.
Not having anyone “underperform” is unusual and was key for us outperforming expectations overall.
We stole two bids that weren’t allocated to our wrestlers. Root had a great tournament, he wrestled very aggressively and smartly. Too bad he lost the 3rd place match but beating that guy in the first round was the key to getting the NCAA bid. Carrigan was outstanding and really proud of how he has progressed.
Not having anyone “underperform” is unusual and was key for us outperforming expectations overall.
We stole two bids that weren’t allocated to our wrestlers. Root had a great tournament, he wrestled very aggressively and smartly. Too bad he lost the 3rd place match but beating that guy in the first round was the key to getting the NCAA bid. Carrigan was outstanding and really proud of how he has progressed.
Bids will likely go out tomorrow for the at-large bids to the ncaat. 6 are automatically qualified based on their tournament showing (Terukina, Simcox, Root, Hepner, Carrigan, and Dailey. The 2 wrestlers that might be in the conversation for an at-large bid are Oakley and Platt.
The case for Oakley to get a bid is that he was ranked around 27 prior to the acct, and lost to the #26 wrestler (in SV) and to the #21 wrestler. Neither would be considered a bad loss, and in essence he could have possibly won, but was actually predicted to lose. The other point would be that theoretically 6 wrestlers with a better resume would have needed to have missed getting an auto bid in order to knock him out of the tournament. This could come from a higher ranked wrestler having a bad conference tournament, or a lower ranked wrestler have a good tournament though not quite qualifying. The argument for him not making the tournament is that he did nothing to claim his spot in the acct. The other point is Tallmadge from Pitt also didn’t get an auto bid after finishing 4th and beating Oakley, so he will likely get a bid. After that bid is awarded the question is will they give the acc 2 at-large bids?
For Platt you are hoping for the opposite logic to play out. Going into the acct he was on the outside looking in (not ranked in the top 33 wrestlers at the weight). Unlike the 133 pound weight class where there were 3 top 21 ranked wrestlers and 2 mid-20s ranked wrestlers the acc only had 3 top 12 wrestlers ranked at this weight. So in spite of finishing 4th behind 3 highly ranked wrestlers, the acc has no other potential qualifier whose bid Platt could steal. He will likely need 1 or more low ranked wrestlers to have under performed in their conference tournament, and/or some ranked wrestlers to have been hurt and unable to compete with no more likely replacement criteria than Platt’s 4th place acct finish.
If I had to guess, I would guess that we get 1 at-large bid. Oakley seems the more likely, but Platt could be more helpful down the road if he got to experience the ncaat early on. You just never know what will happen. Some years back we had a wrestler that got a bid and was placed in the pigtail match pitting the 32 vs 33 seed. He picked up a pin, with the extra bonus points for the team, before facing the 1 seed in the first round. Even getting to the pigtail match puts you in the experience, and a bonus points for win in pigtails adds the same bonus points as any other match.
Final note on at-large bids is that Carrigan stole the bid awarded to the acc for Augustine from Pitt. Augustine will certainly get a bid, but someone else will not because of Carrigan. To that I say job well done young man.
Adding a post script: Last year we qualified 8 for the ncaat, and this year only 6. Of note is the fact that we lost 3 wrestlers for the season, and all 3 were qualifiers last year. Only 1 of the backups qualified for ncaat, so it is reasonable to think that if they had been healthy we might have again qualified at least 8 wrestlers.
The case for Oakley to get a bid is that he was ranked around 27 prior to the acct, and lost to the #26 wrestler (in SV) and to the #21 wrestler. Neither would be considered a bad loss, and in essence he could have possibly won, but was actually predicted to lose. The other point would be that theoretically 6 wrestlers with a better resume would have needed to have missed getting an auto bid in order to knock him out of the tournament. This could come from a higher ranked wrestler having a bad conference tournament, or a lower ranked wrestler have a good tournament though not quite qualifying. The argument for him not making the tournament is that he did nothing to claim his spot in the acct. The other point is Tallmadge from Pitt also didn’t get an auto bid after finishing 4th and beating Oakley, so he will likely get a bid. After that bid is awarded the question is will they give the acc 2 at-large bids?
For Platt you are hoping for the opposite logic to play out. Going into the acct he was on the outside looking in (not ranked in the top 33 wrestlers at the weight). Unlike the 133 pound weight class where there were 3 top 21 ranked wrestlers and 2 mid-20s ranked wrestlers the acc only had 3 top 12 wrestlers ranked at this weight. So in spite of finishing 4th behind 3 highly ranked wrestlers, the acc has no other potential qualifier whose bid Platt could steal. He will likely need 1 or more low ranked wrestlers to have under performed in their conference tournament, and/or some ranked wrestlers to have been hurt and unable to compete with no more likely replacement criteria than Platt’s 4th place acct finish.
If I had to guess, I would guess that we get 1 at-large bid. Oakley seems the more likely, but Platt could be more helpful down the road if he got to experience the ncaat early on. You just never know what will happen. Some years back we had a wrestler that got a bid and was placed in the pigtail match pitting the 32 vs 33 seed. He picked up a pin, with the extra bonus points for the team, before facing the 1 seed in the first round. Even getting to the pigtail match puts you in the experience, and a bonus points for win in pigtails adds the same bonus points as any other match.
Final note on at-large bids is that Carrigan stole the bid awarded to the acc for Augustine from Pitt. Augustine will certainly get a bid, but someone else will not because of Carrigan. To that I say job well done young man.
Adding a post script: Last year we qualified 8 for the ncaat, and this year only 6. Of note is the fact that we lost 3 wrestlers for the season, and all 3 were qualifiers last year. Only 1 of the backups qualified for ncaat, so it is reasonable to think that if they had been healthy we might have again qualified at least 8 wrestlers.
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Agree with all you wrote. Oakley is definitely a possible at-large, but it will be very close. Intermat has a good rundown of who needs at-large bids. According to Intermat rankings, there are 3 guys ranked higher than Oakley that didn't get an auto-bid. In addition, there are two guys ranked lower who were "allocated" a bid for their conference. Oakley was not. That could affect things. As well as Oakley's performance at NCAA last year where I believe he was 0-2.
Platt is probably unlikely. there are only 4 at-larges at 197 and there are 7 guys ranked ahead of Platt that need one.
Platt is probably unlikely. there are only 4 at-larges at 197 and there are 7 guys ranked ahead of Platt that need one.
Looks like we didn't get an at large bid for either guy, a little disappointed but not completely surprised. Brackets should be out tomorrow and will be interesting to see how our guys are seeded and start looking at matchups and paths.
As stated it’s not a huge surprise that neither wrestler got a bid, but there is still a very legitimate question of why did Oakley not get invited. In the ncaa d1 rankings released after the conference tournament, Oakley was ranked 26. That is 5 spots higher than Lopez and 7 spots higher than Willochell, and both of them got at-large bids. I am not saying that Oakley should have gotten in, but the logic for leaving him out is difficult to see. He clearly did not have a great year, and obviously needed to win something at the acct to improve his case. While he is certainly capable of competing at a high level and winning matches at the ncaat, there is little to suggest he would have contributed much to the team score at there.
I will take a closer look at prospects after seeding has been announced, but we have 1 wrestler ranked to lose 2 straight matches and not score. 3 wrestlers are ranked to lose 1 match, win 1 match, and then be eliminated. We have 1 wrestler ranked to lose in the blood round. As noted above the rankings will not necessarily match the committee’s thoughts, so seedings will likely vary some.
I will take a closer look at prospects after seeding has been announced, but we have 1 wrestler ranked to lose 2 straight matches and not score. 3 wrestlers are ranked to lose 1 match, win 1 match, and then be eliminated. We have 1 wrestler ranked to lose in the blood round. As noted above the rankings will not necessarily match the committee’s thoughts, so seedings will likely vary some.
was hoping we would have done a little better in the seeding, obviously going to have to pull some upsets for most of our guys, though Hepner is seeded only one spot off of AA so that is good opportunity. Of interest Spencer Moore got the 18 seed so he and Terukina continue to be neck and neck in how they have performed on the season