Badgers at NCAAs

[imwi]

Do we know what happened to Dean? Great season and looking forward to next season!

Hurt his ankle last night.  One of the pictures of the 3 AA's  showed ice on his ankle, hoping the default was just a precaution.

I will qualify that with I don't know anything other than what I saw last night

[vsmf2010]

He seem to be limping some in the consi semis against Amine. Do not know for sure if it was the same ankle or something else.

[Harris]

That was a fun and exciting season for the Badgers.  Really enjoyed watching them wrestle this year especially in person.

[vsmf2010]

That was a fun and exciting season for the Badgers.  Really enjoyed watching them wrestle this year especially in person.

+1

[dad 2 5]

That was a fun and exciting season for the Badgers.  Really enjoyed watching them wrestle this year especially in person.

+1

+2!

[wrestlemania]

Three All-Americans in the national meet is a good capper to this season but in a larger perspective its basically par for the course for how UW has performed in the NCAAs in the past with the exception of a couple of seasons here and there going all the way back for 50 years. Bottom line is the program will not advance to becoming a consistent Top 10 team nationally or top five in the B1G until the team as a whole, rather than just a few individuals, learns how to be more consistent, learns how not to fade out at the end of seasons in the big meets and learns how to wrestle at or above and beyond their seeds.  The great teams, one wrestler might have a bad meet or wash out, but not six or seven. Until that changes, Wisconsin is basically a middle-of-the-pack B1G team and mid-to-low Top 25 national team.  That's ceiling right now. And this is a problem which goes all the way back. Even when Wisconsin had teams that were tops in the B1G outside of Iowa and had legitimate chances of winning the national title,  I mean, they couldn't do it. Top-seeded guys would get beat in the first round. I member when I was in college and Dan Spilde got knocked out of the national tournament early on. Until this problem is solved, what we witnessed this past month is probably as a good as it gets.

[Ghetto]

Until people come out their pockets and start donating and building a larger RTC, quit crying about how they finish. If you want to compete, donate. Otherwise? 🤫

I snuck into the Michigan party here in Detroit. There's literally hundreds of people in here. There aren't 50 here rooting for the Badgers.

Money talks. BS runs the marathon.

[onwisconsin]

Until people come out their pockets and start donating and building a larger RTC, quit crying about how they finish. If you want to compete, donate. Otherwise? 🤫

I snuck into the Michigan party here in Detroit. There's literally hundreds of people in here. There aren't 50 here rooting for the Badgers.

Money talks. BS runs the marathon.

Exactly.  RTC needs to grow.

[MNbadger]

I get how you feel.  As a Gopher fan first, I get that way too.......It's never enough unless we win it all.  The glory days were fun for a long time.  In our case I think way did well considering we lost 12-19 points when Braxton Lee went down with a broken arm.  It didn't help when O'Reilly tore his knee up in the Big Ten tourney.  I think he'd at least have made the blood round, maybe better.  We could have been top four as a team with just Lee competing. 
The Badgers are getting better rapidly, much better.  It is all recruiting.  Actually it is three things, recruiting, recruiting, and recruiting.  Too much was expected of a true freshman leading to disappointment that is unwarranted and unfair. 
What do you think will happen next year for the Badgers?  My prediction is that they do better next year.   
They did great in the dual season.  Fans were thrilled.  The thing is, the duals are secondary to the big show. 
Long story longer, the Badgers are better and have gotten better each year for the last few. 
Now I have to get back to composing about the Gophers not winning it all!Others expectations were unrealistic from the get go(Weiler).  The same thing happens with MN fans. 

Three All-Americans in the national meet is a good capper to this season but in a larger perspective its basically par for the course for how UW has performed in the NCAAs in the past with the exception of a couple of seasons here and there going all the way back for 50 years. Bottom line is the program will not advance to becoming a consistent Top 10 team nationally or top five in the B1G until the team as a whole, rather than just a few individuals, learns how to be more consistent, learns how not to fade out at the end of seasons in the big meets and learns how to wrestle at or above and beyond their seeds.  The great teams, one wrestler might have a bad meet or wash out, but not six or seven. Until that changes, Wisconsin is basically a middle-of-the-pack B1G team and mid-to-low Top 25 national team.  That's ceiling right now. And this is a problem which goes all the way back. Even when Wisconsin had teams that were tops in the B1G outside of Iowa and had legitimate chances of winning the national title,  I mean, they couldn't do it. Top-seeded guys would get beat in the first round. I member when I was in college and Dan Spilde got knocked out of the national tournament early on. Until this problem is solved, what we witnessed this past month is probably as a good as it gets.

[vsmf2010]

Everyone is welcome to look at the season however you like but 9 qualifiers and 3 AA's in what is probably the most difficult season ever to AA (since they have gone to 8 AA's) and qualify with the number of super seniors participating is a significant achievement.

For some perspective.

Brandon Courtney - 2021 finalist at 125 finished 6th. EB was 1 spot better than last year but his side of the backside was stacked with the probably the best 3 all on the same side. Vito, McKee and EB all won their placement match.

Wrestler/2021 finish/2022 finish

Brandon Courtney/2/6
Tariq Wilson/3/7 - move up a weight
Jaydin Eierman/2/DNP - injured
Chad Red/6/DNP
Austin O'Connor/1/8 - move up a weight
Sammy Sasso/2/5
Yahya Thomas/3/DNP
David Carr/1/3
Kaleb Young/7/DNP
Wyatt Sheets/8/DNP
Jake Wentzel/2/DNP - knocked out by DJ
Zach Hartman/6/DNP
Anthony Valencia/8/DNP - injured last year - healthy this year
Ethan Smith/5/DNP - moved up a weight
Jackson Turley/8/Out of lineup
Mikey Labriola/3/7
Trent Hidlay/2/5
John Pozanski/4/DNP
Dakota Geet/5/DNP
Brit Wilson/6/DNP
Hunter Bolen/7/DNP
Lou Deprez/8/DNP - move up a weight
Nino Bonaccorsi/2/DNP
Jake Woodley/6/DNP
Trent Hilger/6/DNP
Tate Orndorff/8/DNP

I might have missed some but that is 19 out of 80 returning AA's who failed to medal. Really tough to AA this year.

[Vir Fortis]

Amos is good and will become better.  Money would be on him being an AA next year.  Foy however should not be the bar.............

Who is actually the best wrestler that Amos beat this year?

I thought he beat Cardenas...which TBH is why he wasn't in my bracket, but now I see he lost 3-1 in SV...which is basically the same as he loses to Warner or 32 Hoffman(7-5 SV).

I Don't know, I guess Foy? And he beat him a bunch of times. It's like once he believes he can beat you...he's good. Gotta just get past that. He walked Caffey out with that underhook that he should have scored with....but...still a Freshmen.

No, I don't think anyone thinks that should be the bar for one of the better recruits from last year, but...it's just the fact. He lost to pretty much everyone else 3-2 or 3-1 SV. And as I said, he had Caffey out of position so badly on his feet but didn't do anything with it. That tells me it's just a little bit of a confidence issue. Gomez for example, Hamiti, they're letting it fly.

Guys move at their own pace. We had a True frosh who had unearned confidence coming into the year and a RSFR who should have earned confidence...yet it was Hamiti who let it rip all year, and Amos who didn't want to get caught under a guy and as a result, wasn't as offensive as he could have been or hopefully will be in the future.

[wrestlemania]

"Too much was expected of a true freshman leading to disappointment that is unwarranted and unfair. "

I wasn't talking about the freshmen or other underclassmen. You're right, that is unfair to have those kind expectations in a wrestlers' first year in college.

[Oz125]

I think the Badgers had a heck of a year and I really look forward to watching this program get better and better. I think they could get 4-5 AAs next year and possibly a finalist or two. This year's tournament was brutal and quite honestly, is every year. Brand's face said it all during his interview this morning. There are some great Wisconsin high school wrestlers coming up in the next year or two and I hope a few of them choose Wisconsin. Throw in a few transfers and I think the Badgers are going to really excite their fan base. Like MNbadger said, recruiting, recruiting, and recruiting. I believe in Bono and his staff.

[onwisconsin]

https://twitter.com/wrestlingnomad/status/1505142811603177476

All American status and high school graduation year.   Quite interesting how much older some of guys are.   Puts Hamiti's AA in perspective as pretty amazing.   I think he was in 7th grade when Marinelli and Wick were seniors in high school.

Likely was the toughest year ever to AA.

[Army Ant]

They'll only get over the hump if they can keep the top in state kids. I saw 3 WI natives take 1st, 3rd, and 3rd at NCAAs and none of them wrestled for Badgers. Bono is doing a good job but it's tough when you're up against Askren seemingly (I'm not 100% sure) steering top kids toward MO and tough admission standards for in state kids.

Next year MO will have O'Toole, Mocco, and Whiting.