Dear Penn State Fans,

[Rockhard]

I guess my thought is with all the PSU homers, "act like you've won before."

[Jointdoc55]

I haven't been witness to hating by PSU fans, but I haven't been on many other boards either. Bryce your commentary was informative and entertaining. Nice job buddy.

[leglace]

Nice write up Bryce.

One thing. I am rooting for Green, however keep in mind that he is like 0-7 against Alton career wise. He just can't beat him.

[sgallan]

Dear Penn State fans,

I want to thank you for your classy and thoughtful responses to my All American picks that you're making on other forums.  I appreciate you taking the time to come to our forum, sign up an account and join in discussion here.  If you'd like to link this response on the boards you're berating me on, bashing me on, and insulting me on that I don't frequent I would appreciate it as well.
It seems that you have issue with the picks I have made.  I'm sure in the brackets you completely filled out to help preview the competition tomorrow that you had different results.  That's what great about NCAA Pick'em.  People struggle to pick winners on just the topside of brackets, so good for you taking the time to run back losers from the first round through the drop downs from the quarterfinals headed into the round of 12.  You obviously know how difficult it is to do and I applaud your effort.

125:  I have Megaludis at 5th.  Why??!?!?!?  In my bracket I have him dropping a close decision to Garnett in the quarterfinals.  This isn't insane, this is a 4 vs a 5.  Mega is Absolutely the on paper favorite, but I think that Garnett put a run together this year and finishes in the top 4.  I have Mega making it to the consi semis where he runs into the McDonough vs Delgado loser.  I have McD winning on the topside which means he faces Delgado again.  I picked Delgado to win that sending Mega into the 5th place match against Kraisser where he wins.  It must seem just insane having a 4 seed finish 5th, but it happens.  Why did I choose McD over Delgado?  Because I think McD will do whatever necessary to get himself into the finals and a shot at winning 3 titles.  Even if he loses in the semis in my bracket he'd wrestle Mega and I would pick him to win that match as well. 
133: I have Conaway losing in the round of 12 to Sentes from CMU.  I hope none of you are upset at me having a 12 seed make it to the round of 12.  Why is Ramos beating Stieber you ask?  Well the matches can't get any closer and the "sneer" is getting uglier!  Seriously I don't know I flipped a coin and said why not Ramos?  To be fair he could lose to Graff in the semis. 
141: Pearsall could beat Cobb, but then he'll get crushed by Maple.  At best that would put him round of 12 and a beating thrown to him by Henderson.  I have Ballweg making it to seed by advancing to the Quarters, then beating Mecate and losing to Ugi.  He wrestles to seed no better.
149:  This seems to be one of the weights you're really losing your mind over.  I have Houdashelt UPSETTING (see it's an upset) Alton in round 2.  Keep in mind that Andrew has not been an AA.  So picking him to Not AA again as a 9 seed is not some insane or hate.  I have him scoring bonus point wins all the way back until match 451 where he runs into Grajales from Michigan.  He could win that and then wrestle Lopouchanski from Purdue to AA, but I have Grajales getting the win.  Go ahead and spew venom, but how am I completely insane with my choice?  Even if I have him winning first round then I'd have him losing to Ness on the topside and running into Sueflohn in the round of 12.  Guess what...that means he doesn't AA.
157: We can have an argument here.  I have DSJ winning his side of the bracket with close matches over Dong and Dieringer.  Not a huge stretch.  I think Dieringer is freshman of the year, but I'm giving the nod to DSJ.  Yes, Yes, Yes, I have Alton losing to Welch (who he has never lost to).  Yes I know there is NO way that Welch as the 1 seed is able to get past the 8 seed in the quarters.  Did you not watch the Big 10 finals where Welch wrested victory from the jaws of defeat?  Welch has 1 loss this year and it's not to Alton (ok yeah the All Star Dual).  But why doesn't Dylan AA on the backside you say?  Because I have him wrestling Walter Peppelman of Harvard in the round of 12.  I think Peppelman wins that match and actually as the 12 goes on to a 6th place finish.  EVEN IF Alton beats Peppelman I'd have him matched up against Green and I'd pick Green there sending Alton to the 7th place match.  If you're unwilling to believe that Peppelman can beat Alton I understand.  In your bracket you can have it another way.
165: You can't actually be upset here.  Dake beating Taylor is not some pipedream.  It's History rearing it's ugly head.  Dake has never lost a finals match, Taylor has.  I have Moore losing to Caldwell in the round of 12.
174:  I'm sure you are all up in arms about this weight as well.  I can understand that, Brown IS the number 2 seed.  Storley had a terrible Big Ten tournament but every knows that it is because of "the runs" aka "poopy butt" aka "diarrhea".  He and Perry were by and away the best two wrestlers at this weight this season.  Brown had a great Big Ten tournament beating Evans.  He capitalized on that halfshot by Evans and pancaked him flat!  That being said I think he is the weakest two seed in the tournament.  I have him losing to Blanton in the Quarters.  Blanton wrestles well at Nationals and their matches have been close.  But for arguments sake lets say he beats Blanton (which is probably very likely) then he loses to Storley.  Or he loses to Evans.  I have Stlorley beating Evans actually.  In fact I have Storley as your champ.  IF Brown does make it to the Semis and loses I'd have him wrestling Asper on the backside and dropping that match and heading to 5th place match up.  I'm sorry for those of you PSU fans who had him penciled in as a National Champ.  I have Evans beating Kokesh to get into the Consi finals where  he beats Blanton again.  To be fair Evans has a much better draw on the backside than potentially Brown would.  A loss to Storley doesn't hurt him making it to seed.  Brown losing would though.  He could sneak past Asper and finish top 5, but I think it would be a struggle for him to be top 3.  And I'm sure I'm not the only person.  But feel free to call me a moron or an idiot for actually looking at a bracket.
184: Really what complaints could you have here EXCEPT my one truly homer pick.  I have Lofthouse beating Sheptock in the R12.  Yeah probably not the case but I still have him only taking 7th.  So you can remove that and Ruth still wins and it's no big change.
197:  Are you really going to argue Q over Kilgore?  I was at the Midlands tournament and watched Kilgore.  That's all that needs to be said.  He is a Monster who is probably AS athletic as Q is.  He is certainly stronger.  Q wrestles to seed so I 'm not sure what there is to throw a hissy fit about here.
Hwt: Lawson could beat Johnson, but then he'll get thrown around like a rag doll by the mad russian.  The R12 at this weight is BRUTAL and I don't even have him making it that far.  I'm sorry, but he isn't a top 8 Heavyweight.  It's that simple.  I don't really think Telford is, but his backside draw after he loses to Z sets him up to at least AA.

To say that PSU would only have 1 National Champion isn't hating.  It's quite possible.  And to think that you might not win the tournament is quite possible as well.  It sets up well for you with Iowa and Minnesota having a few matchups (Evans vs Storley) that have serious placement implications, but PLENTY of teams have gone into Nationals expecting to win and not doing it.
See: "Poke Choke", Iowa State, Minnesota, Iowa's "X" singlet.
I get that you haven't been on top for as long as some of these other teams so you're still dealing with the newness of people picking against you.  Get over it.  It's going to happen.  In my case it wasn't hate...I did some crunching and I stand by my predictions.  On a few guys I may be off by a placement or two, but I'm sorry it's how I ran my bracket.  Some of you are throwing fits like you think I actually decide who wins this weekend.  Don't worry it gets decided on the mats.  And I'm glad some of you are showing your true colors and class as a fanbase by calling me names on the internet.  Nice work internet tough guys.  When you put together a prediction with your Name on it (not just your internet handle) we'll talk. 

Anyways, I hope this encourages some of you to come to theopenmat and join the forums and discuss things rationally, but we'll see.  For those of you wondering at some of the things being said here are a couple of links.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=157&f=2977&t=11391398
http://bwi.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2685&tid=163467649&mid=163467649&sid=890&style=2

I hope that some of you come up to the social and say hello.  I'm sure you're very nice people in general.

LOL... it is not hating, but it does show you have a bias against Penn State. Mega making the finals last year and somehow going backwards to fifth, while plausible (most things are plausible at this level), shows the bias.... but  I don't have a problem with that.... when Iowa was on top this happened, when OSU was on top this happened, and so it is only logical it should happen now. My view is Sanderson has some of that coaching magic to get his guys ready for the big show, but the actual wrestling takes place on the mat.

[leglace]

Mega at 5th is plausible considering he has Delgado, Waters, and McDonough who will likely place ahead of him

[Cruocified]

I think PSU being at the top is only a good thing for college wrestling.  Everybody talks about all the new PSU fans, and asks them things like, "Oh yeah, where were you 3 years ago?"  I think fans are fans, and the only way to grow the sport is with a larger fan base.  That being said... I wonder how those fans will react when PSU steps down after their current run.  College wrestling has changed since Gable won it every year.  I don't think there will ever be another coach that can get kids to perform like he did.  The new pattern is a cycle where a team will have a dominant run, then drop off slightly while another team has a dominant run.  Okie State won 5 in a row, then Iowa 3, now PSU is looking for 3.  Minnesota is always right there.  There will be that outside team like Cornell and Ohio State who have the occasional spectacular season, but just not quite good enough to win it.  Iowa State was always right in it as well until the last few years.  I think Cael will keep PSU right up there with Iowa, Okie State, and Minnesota as a contender every year, but it isn't realistic to think he'll just reload every year like Gable was able to do.  Right now they are on the top and justifiably feel like they are going to win it all, but I think they will eventually be another fan base like Okie State and Iowa that are disappointed with anything but a national title at the end of the year.  They haven't reached that status yet, but there is no reason to believe Cael won't keep PSU in the discussion for many years to come.  If Iowa State can get back to the top it'll just make things that much more interesting.

[RYou]

...and don't forget Oklahoma.  They are going to be a beast next season.

[vaisforlovers]

Ill certainly take Jarrod Garnetts track record at NCAAs over Nicos every day of the week.

[brycemus]

one National tournament does not a career predict

[vaisforlovers]

one National tournament does not a career predict

Maybe..heres my contentions after a cursory glance.
Nico will do better than 5th, McD wont win
 Ramos is 0-4 against Stieber, only someone who is biased views that as a coin flip.
Dont see Durso placing.
Dierienger at 3rd would shock me.
Dylan Alton losing to Walter Peppelman is not happening.  Dylan not placing would also shock me.
Josh Condon is not placing.
Either is Blake Stauffer.

If Penn State gets third you can have my sig for the rest of my life.

Some ballsy picks, and theyre yours to make, but lets not say any amount of number crunching lead you to many of these decisions.  We all are biased to a degree.

[TobusRex]

...and don't forget Oklahoma.  They are going to be a beast next season.

?

[vaisforlovers]

...and don't forget Oklahoma.  They are going to be a beast next season.

?

Patterson, Brewer, maple, rutt and howe all back.

[Wire]

...and don't forget Oklahoma.  They are going to be a beast next season.

?

Check out their RS's ....  You would need a large Club Cab Pickup Truck to hold them all. Or a small bus.

[MetsFan]

Mega at 5th is plausible considering he has Delgado, Waters, and McDonough who will likely place ahead of him

C'mon, a 4-seed who finished 3rd in his conference finishing 5th at nationals?!? Preposterous

[brycemus]

one National tournament does not a career predict

Maybe..heres my contentions after a cursory glance.
Nico will do better than 5th, McD wont win
 Ramos is 0-4 against Stieber, only someone who is biased views that as a coin flip.
Dont see Durso placing.
Dierienger at 3rd would shock me.
Dylan Alton losing to Walter Peppelman is not happening.  Dylan not placing would also shock me.
Josh Condon is not placing.
Either is Blake Stauffer.

If Penn State gets third you can have my sig for the rest of my life.

Some ballsy picks, and theyre yours to make, but lets not say any amount of number crunching lead you to many of these decisions.  We all are biased to a degree.

I'm sorry I had to clear all of my picks with you and the Penn State fans.  You don't see Durso placing, that's great put it in your bracket.  I think Dieringer is freshman of the year and a 3rd place finish seals it.  Why can't Dylan lose to Peppelman?  You saw that I'm not the only guy that had that thought right?  Condon has to beat Massa and Polz to place, so he has no shot at winning those?  Stauffer had a bad Pac 10 after coming back from injury, sure he is a freshman at the National tournament but he has shown himself to be tough.  Could he not place?  Sure, but anyone who makes it to the round of 12 has a shot.