2013-14 team

[BuckyMatt]

With the season now officially behind us, my early predictions for next's years team.  Should be exciting!!

125-Ryan Taylor; The #35 ranked recruit in 2012.  Showed tremendous dedication by following a plan that had him start at MATC and transfer in to UW at semester.  Can't wait for him to get into a Badger singlet.  Wouldn't be shocked to see him make some noise at Nationals his first year.  Should be a loaded B1G with Delgado and Corey Clark and Niko so I am curious how he stacks up against them!  Maybe start out ranked 20ish given he didn't wrestle in many opens but should climb the rankings quickly.

133-Graff; High AA next year, I have a feeling he is going to work this summer harder than he ever has  (which is saying something given his well documented work ethic) to improve on his 5, 5, 3 finish at nationals.  Can't wait to see his SR year play out.  Will go down as one of my all time favorite Badgers given his commitment to the team through all of the turmoil and his modest, hard working attitude.  Will start the season ranked #3 behind Ramos and Logan S.

141-Thielke-Jesse is arguably one of the greatest high school wrestlers in Wisconsin history and did nothing to quite the hype with a very strong showing at the Midlands.  Working out with Graff, there is no reason not to expect him to be a high AA next year.  Should be the face of the Badgers for years to come.  I am interested to see how he handles the weight class bump but if anyone can do it, Jesse certainly can!   Starting ranking 10ish?

149-Lubeck or Ruschell.  There is talk about Kalvin going down to this weight but I am very excited for Rylan or TJ given how strong they both looked at open tournaments. Only a few points seperated thesee two in matches against each other at 141.  Rylan beat and was very competitive with several national qualifiers so I wouldn't be surprised if whomever starts here qualifies next year!

157-I. Jordan; given his spectacular RS year, has fans EXTREMLY excited for the future.  Beat several national qualifiers and I don't see any reason he isn't highly ranked and considered a candidate to AA as a freshman.  With Thielke, appears to be the face of the Badgers for years to come. 

165-Cousins- This will be his 3rd year as the starter.  Let's hope he has a strong summer of work as he has shown flashes in the past.  Will be exciting to see him pushed by Koethe or Kalvin as well.

174-Liegel-I'm excited for Scott's Senior year as he showed flashes at the Cliff Keen and the Midlands and barely missed qualifying. Wrestled AA Logan Storely extremely tough and I wouldn't be shocked if he made a huge improvement a la Jackson Hein from this year to next.  I think he will start out the year ranked #15th or so.

184-Icky or Genrich- Kind of a wild card weight given Dylans injury and Keegans redshirt.  Will be interesting to see how this weight plays out.  We got zero points at B1G and several tournaments so I see a major improvement in that category.

197-Hein-phenomenal improvement from last year to this.  Let's hope the trend continues and he has a great Senior year.  Would expect him to start the year ranked #12th or so given his finish and make a strong push to AA with a summer working with Trevor.

HWT-Medberry- Fantastic freshman year culminating in being named B1G freshman of the year.  Wrestling in a STACKED weight class and I would think he would start out ranked 8th or so with him finishing higher!

[Chedd]

Nice summary of each weight.

I think the team has a legit shot at 8 qualifiers and either 4 or 5 AAs.

That would have equated to finishing in the 7-8 range as a team.
Oregon State, with 7 qualifiers and 3 AAs finished 8th.
Missouri, with 10 qualifiers and 5 AAs, finished 7th.


You really don't score points at nationals unless you AA. Nick Hucke won two matches and only scored 1 team point for Mizzou. Hein and Medberry only scored one a piece with their wins. Not the best determination of overall team strength.

[billymurphy]

Penn State with 5 in the finals and Minnesota with 8 All Americans.  Very hard to compete with that.  I watched the Dapper Dan Classic and the Michigan recruits were very impressive so their future looks bright. 
Dieringer alone scored more points than Wisconsin.  Having studs like Graff are the only way to rack up significant points at nationals. Next years team should have some good seniors and hopefully the team depth will never be what it has been the past two years.

[dad 2 5]

good work Bucky Matt! Here are my questions and commends:
Will Tyler be able to stay at 33?
With 7 or 8 of the top 20 gone from 25 plus guys moving up will Ryan Taylor crack the top 20 (#17 is my guess) soon into the season
41 looks to be stacked national again next season so Jess may start out 12 and then I see him finishing in the top 6, top three would be great
49 has about half the top 20 going so that is promising
57 has like 7-10 guys graduating so we need to make the most of
65 have 5 or so, I don't think Cousins will start out in the top 20 but I think he can end up some where between 15 and 20
74 is loaded again next year but Icky showed a lot of promise
84 has about half the top 20 graduating so there is opportunity
97 has 8 or 9 graduating but i think a couple are coming up from 84 and i would say Jackson start out 12-15
Connor should start out ranked between 5-8.

Should be a funny season. 

[DocWrestling]

Will more guys move up with more confidence seeing Dake, Ruth, and Wright all win titles again after moving up a weight class

[mkm13]

Another big thing about next year is we won't be crippled by an injury like we were this year due to our lack of depth.  Even with an injury, we should have a guy at most weights that could step in and be competitive.  The only weights we are still thin is 174/184.  Hopefully Gennrich will be big enough by next year to be competitive at that weight.  Can Cox get big enough where he can be more competitive if need be?

[FinalWord]

I'm sure everything will be just great with next years team as long as we still have Barry

[badgerguy]

Nice summary.  From listening to the Tom Ryan interview during the NCAA finals he made it sound like several of his guys will move up.  Would not be surprised if the Steibers were two of them....Would Ramos follow??  Not that Ramos couldn't make 33, but there is a pretty good battle going on between those two.  If so, Graff would be in really nice shape to finish his career off with a national title.

[npope]

Nice summary.  From listening to the Tom Ryan interview during the NCAA finals he made it sound like several of his guys will move up.  Would not be surprised if the Steibers were two of them....Would Ramos follow??  Not that Ramos couldn't make 33, but there is a pretty good battle going on between those two.  If so, Graff would be in really nice shape to finish his career off with a national title.

If the character of the battle that Ramos and Stieber are having suggests that they are closely competitive then how might you characterize the competitive nature of the Graff-Ramos matches? The recent scores have approximated each other, OT matches, etc. If Ramos and Stieber have something going on then so to do Graff-Ramos. And if Ramos is close to Stieber then might one also think that Graff is comparably close?

My point is that no one gives Graff his due. He is right there with Ramos (and maybe Stieber - we just don't know until they wrestle). While I understand guys on the national forum missing the point, I don't see how "locals" can over look how close Graff is. This is not to say that I think he should be interjected into that conversation at the national level (he has to beat one of those two before anyone should have those expectations), but give Graff his due locally; he doesn't need good guys vacating his weight in order to challenge for a title - he's there already.

[badgerguy]

Im not at all saying Graff isn't right there with them, at least Ramos.  I think Graff is a great wrestler and I am glad he is on the team.  I would enjoy seeing these three battle it out again next year.  But from watching a few flowrestling interviews (can't link them now as I am at work) it just seems like Ramos really really works and wants to beat Steiber.  There is a rivalry going on there, and everyone knows it.  All im saying is if Steiber goes up I would not be surprised if Ramos follows.

As far as the competitive nature of Graff-Ramos, I would characterize it as a great rivalry.  Two very close competitors.  One rivalry which could go either way any given match.  Again, just from watching interviews, I don't think Ramos gives a rip about the Graff-Ramos matches as much as he cares and is dedicated to beating Steiber.  He doesn't have many opportunities left.  See the pre match finals interview on ESPN.  Makes me think he actually thinks he is that much better then Graff is..which isn't true.  The guy needs an attitude adjustment, but that's just my opinion.

This has nothing to do with me giving Graff his due.  He is outstanding and I was cheering and as excited as anyone was Friday night during the semi finals.  I know he is right there..but other teams are going to be making moves that are best for their team.  Just one of these moves could mean the top two guys at 33 move up. 

[blastdouble]

Highly doubt Ramos moves up next year.  I think he is a 133 lifer.  He could've made 25 in needed.  Not big enough for 41.  Look forward to more Ramos-Graff next year if Graff stays at 133.

[Musky Hunter]

love the optimism.  i am a firm believer ryan will make waves in his first year at 125.  keep the injury bug away from the team and i hope they can finish in the top half of the big ten.  i think we should have a wait and see approach before getting to excited. 

[Wisconsin Wrestling Fan]

Here are my projected preseason rankings -

125 # 20 Ryan Taylor (Could move up quickly after some early season wins)
133 # 2 Graff (I think Stieber moves up to 141)
141 # 16 Thielke (Will go up when he shows he handles the weight jump)
157 # 10 Jordan (Isaac beat some ranked wrestlers at the Midlands)
174 # 20 Liegel (Was ranked between 20 - 30 most of this season and showed tremendous improvement)
197 # 10 Hein (9 Seniors were ranked ahead of him at the end of the season)
285 # 5 Medbery (Top 6 Ranked wrestlers might all be from the Big 10)

We will need to prove ourselves at 149, 165, and 184 before we can get ranked.  The battles between Kelliher, Ruschell, Lubeck, York, Cousins, Yde, Koethe, Gennrich, Iczkowski for varsity spots will be interesting.  Also - Will Lubeck challenge Thielke? What weight will Matt Kelliher go? Will let Robertson compete for a varsity spot as a freshmen? Also, I wonder if they move some guys up a weight, like York, Cousins, and Liegel?  They would have to get on the Bugenhagen weight training program to do that !!

[dad 2 5]

Plus we have guys like Cox, McCall, Hines, Weber that could push guys seem to be headed in a good direction. The key now is solid recruiting behind this class.

[Wisconsin Wrestling Fan]

McCall and Tobin could compete well at 197 and 285 at the Big Ten and possibly NCAA level if and when called upon.

Tobin did make it to the round of 24 last year at the NCAA's.  McCall lost to Hein in OT in the wrestleoff, so we have not heard the last of Timmy McCall, I am quite sure of that.