Penn State wrestling: Cael Sanderson talks Big Ten tournament, preseeds, and more
Penn State wrestling has long made clear that it enjoys the regular season. However, the program has also never made it a secret that the postseason it what it works for year-round, and specifically the NCAA Tournament.
First, though, the Big Ten Tournament kicks off the postseason this Saturday and Sunday in Ann Arbor. The Nittany Lions will be the favorites over host Michigan and the rest of their conference foes.
“I’d like to win as a coach,” Sanderson said. Penn State lost the team race to the Wolverines last year. “But, we haven’t really talked about that. We don’t talk a lot about winning and losing; it’s kind of an expectation these guys have. I mean, little kids want to win; you don’t have to tell them they want to win. It’s something they’re born with.
“We want to compete well. Our eyes are always on the nationals. That’s the biggest goal. But, the conference is part of the nationals because you have to quality to get there, and it determines your placing and your seed there. That’s just the way I’ve always looked at it because that’s what my coach used to say is, that this is like the first two rounds of the nationals. So, your question is ‘do we want to win the Big Ten Conference?’ Heck yeah, let’s go.”
The action begins Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on Big Ten Network. Session II starts at 5:30 p.m. and features consolation bracket action on BTN+. Then, the semifinals begin at 7 p.m. back on BTN. Sunday features a pair of sessions. The consolation semifinals and seventh-place matches are at 1 p.m. on BTN+. Then, the finals plus third- and fifth-place matches start at 4:30 on BTN.
Sanderson sees no issues with Penn State in the preseeds
In past years, fans have expressed frustration about how the conference’s coaches voted to determine preseeds. Those are used to finalize the official bracket later this week. However, there was little angst inside or outside of the program when those were released on Monday. They break down for the Lions as follows:
125 pounds: Gary Steen, No. 11
133 pounds: Roman Bravo-Young, No. 1
141 pounds: Beau Bartlett, No. 2
149 pounds: Shayne Van Ness, No. 5
157 pounds: Levi Haines, No. 2
165 pounds: Alex Facundo, No. 4
174 pounds: Carter Starocci, No. 1
184 pounds: Aaron Brooks, No. 1
197 pounds: Max Dean, No. 1
285 pounds: Greg Kerkvliet, No. 2
“Anytime you have the coaches [vote], for the most part, I feel like it’s going to be pretty fair,” Sanderson said. “There’s not a committee or somebody that’s weighing something on the outside. It’s just the coaches looking, basically look at like, the number one guy is the last person anybody else should want to wrestle. Number two, the second to last person, anybody wants to wrestle. And you just go down the line. There’s some screwy things here and there. But, they get washed out.”
