The Open Mat Forum

J'den Cox fails to make weight.

He made weight, but he was late to weigh-ins so they didn't count it.

I missed the finals. Too bad. I REALLY wanted to see ferraris dad again. What was he doing and wearing? Somebody please let me know.

You missed 4 PSU guys wrestling Oklahoma State style to win individual titles, support for Stanford wrestling, Ferrari bleeding again, Gable being way better than anybody else, and Spencer Lee revealing in the post match interview that he tore his ACL in the 2nd period vs. Mueller in the 2019 finals, and then dominated two seasons of NCAA wrestling and Sr. Nationals with a torn ACL. Then he tore his other ACL a couple weeks ago and claimed that he can now barely wrestle, but still outscored his opponents 58-8 on his way to another national title, and then saying he didn't say anything until now because "excuses are for wusses" and he didn't want to use it as an excuse if he happened to lose. Pretty stale wrestling overall though. Not really a single match I'd call exciting.

This year doesn't count toward eligibility, so a true freshman could wrestle this year and still have 4 years of eligibility. Meaning they could go this year, redshirt next year, and start their redshirt freshman year as a junior. So it is possible to have a freshman as a returning national champion. It also means someone like Mekhi Lewis can become a 5 time national champion, and Fix could still potentially be a 4 timer. And it means that in a few years, there will be guys facing off where one opponent was a 6th grader while the other was already in college (Think Fix, who redshirted, olympic redshirted, and gets this year not counted toward eligibility, so next year he'll be classified as a sophomore as a 5th year senior). Also, since they assigned All American honors last year, there'll be a handful of 5 time All Americans, and Lee still has a shot at 3 Hodge trophies.

Hard to say, but this could start the discussion:

Frank Gotch
Dan Gable
Barry Davis
Tom Brands

A handful of Olympic champs and a bunch of multi NCAA champs could make a case.

Biggest loss for the fans is another chance to see Marinelli and Joseph throw down. Biggest loss for the wrestlers are the seniors who were poised to either AA for the first time or have a legit chance to win their first and only title. That and Spencer Lee's chance to be a 4 timer. Lugo was looking impossible to score on and I thought he had a 90% chance of coming out on top. The stars aligned to put UNI in a position to claim the 84 title two years in a row. Hall and Joseph don't get their chance to end their careers where they started. The insane competition at 133 despite all the redshirting. So many more stories like that denied.

I'll just go ahead and pick the champions now, and the NCAA can decide whether or not they'll recognize them as such:

Lee (100% positive pick)
Gross (30% positive pick)
Lee (60% positive pick)
Lugo (90% positive pick)
Deekin (65% positive pick)
Marinelli (60% positive pikc)
Kemerer (30% positive pick)
Lujan (50% positive pick)
Moore (100% positive pick)
Steveson (100% positive pick)

Cocaine might boost performance, but it is still considered recreational and not a PED.

Gotta believe DeSanto will be back for the Big Ten tournament regardless of the extent of the injury. It looked really bad when the foot was flipped out and then lifted and pulled hard forcing the knee to move in a way it isn't supposed to, but if it was season ending then he probably wouldn't have limped his way back out to the bench later that night. I was there and glanced over at the bench from time to time. He wasn't able to jump around with the boys during the big matches, but he was able to stand and walk with support.