NCAA'S

[jaguarwrestler]

I do not think the Badgers finish in 16th place.
I will predict 17th place.

ooops I forgot we could lose a spot.

[DocWrestling]

After watching the tournament, I think you can throw out seeds, you have a good idea how each individual wrestler compared to the competition.

Can't be disappointed about Medberry's finish.    Sure, he coulda finished as high as 2, but he is not significantly better than a couple guys behind him either.

Zeke and Taylor slightly underperformed, they coulda shoulda been a couple notches higher.

Ricky Robertson could have all-Americaned if had gotten better draws, he's better than a couple of the AAs.

So .... not a great performance.   But also not that far from their ceiling.    A lot of good wrestling from the Badgers, not a flop at all.    I'm impressed with the talent level across the final 16, some wrestlers are far better than their record, they are peaking.   Zeke losing to Taylor Walsh sucked, but it's not like Walsh isn't a top tier guy.

Badgers have only 1 senior qualifier, right?  Cousins.   So should be more progress next year.
edit: forgot about McCall

I really don't disagree with you at all.  But you speak of how we could have done better and I agree.  But both Taylor and Jordan also needed overtime victories to become All-Americans and Medbery got an overtime victory in quarterfinals.  The badgers were just as close to having no All-Americans.  Things could have been better but also could have been worse.  That is the NCAA tourney.  Wrestle it next weekend and results would be different for everyone (unless you are stieber or Dieringer ).  To get into the top 10 you need depth because it always happens where some underperform and others out-perform.  Ohio St has had both

[ramjet]

Oh boy those two are something else.

[jaguarwrestler]

Really looking forward to next year with the great recruiting class we have.

Last year was the year we where waiting for, then that didn't work out so it turned into this year was our year... no we finished lower in both B1G and maybe lower in NCAA's and we are now talking about looking forward to next year as our year.... people give me a hard time because I want to be better, they can feel great about 16th or 17th or 18th or whatever we will be, I think we could have been better, I believe half our team did not perform at or above their potential and that is on the coaches if you ask me. PSU lost like 5 or 6 AA's from last year and are still 6th because they get the most out of their talent.

[neutral]

Really looking forward to next year with the great recruiting class we have.

Last year was the year we where waiting for, then that didn't work out so it turned into this year was our year... no we finished lower in both B1G and maybe lower in NCAA's and we are now talking about looking forward to next year as our year.... people give me a hard time because I want to be better, they can feel great about 16th or 17th or 18th or whatever we will be, I think we could have been better, I believe half our team did not perform at or above their potential and that is on the coaches if you ask me. PSU lost like 5 or 6 AA's from last year and are still 6th because they get the most out of their talent.

I don't think anybody is happy with a 16th-17th place finish ... especially not the team.  If they are ... then we have something to worry about - but they're the only ones who can do something about it ... so what difference does it make if we're happy with it or not.

We can either support them ... and look for the positives - or nit-pick them ... and pretend that focusing on the negatives is supporting them.  Everything is not rosy.  They could have done better.  Everything is not bleak.  They could have done worse.  There is reason to look forward to next year with optimism ... which is what fans do.

[Dale]

Jag, I agree with you...which I usually do.

[Huckfinn]

The badgers were just as close to having no All-Americans.  Things could have been better but also could have been worse.  That is the NCAA tourney.  Wrestle it next weekend and results would be different for everyone (unless you are stieber or Dieringer ).  

Ya, this is kinda what I was getting at.    Taylor and Zeke were 2 seeds, if memory serves.   But all that really meant was they were among about about 6 elite wrestlers.   Those guys wrestle a round robin, and they knock each other off unpredictably.

Was listening to Billy Baldwin remark during NCAAs tonight that the talent gets better every year, and there is MUCH more parity than back in 70s.   This in line with my comment of how consistently good the first cut of 16 guys were, and especially the round of 12.