Midlands, Dec 29-30th.

[Wisconsin Wrestling Fan]

Here is an article on the Badger entrants:

http://www.uwbadgers.com/news/2017/12/27/wrestling-weekend-outlook-at-the-midland-championships.aspx

[mkm13]

Jimenez wrestling attached? Is that a mistake or is he no longer redshirting?

[leg turk]

I don't get it.  No Wicks or Robertson?  Does Barry do this just incase they don't do well here, and might lose a better seed come NCAA time?  It seems like every year he holds out some of our best wrestlers at Midlands.  Just trying to understand the WHY part of it.  Anyone?

[GradeTough]

Yeah...I am curious why the Wick brothers wouldn't be there. Great tests.

[Numbers]

Neither Wick brother is entered. 

Attached
125-Ethan Rotondo (Fr./ 7-5)
125-Johnny Jimenez (Sr./ 0-0)
133-Jens Lantz (RS-Jr./ 11-5)
133-Michael Cullen (RS-So./ 2-4)
141-Cole Martin (RS-So./ 9-4)
141-Eli Stickley (RS-So./ 13-4)
149-Patrick Spray (RS-Fr./ 2-3)
157-Andrew Crone (RS-Sr./ 10-5)
174-Ryan Christensen (RS-Jr./ 13-5)
174-Jacob Covaicu (RS-Fr./ 7-5)
197-Hunter Ritter (RS-So./ 11-5)
197-Mason Reinhardt (RS-So./ 7-4)
285-Ben Stone (RS-So./ 5-6)

Unattached
133-Paul Konrath (Fr./ 9-1)
157-Devin Bahr (Fr./ 6-1)
285-Trent Hillger (Fr./ 9-4)

The 55th annual Midlands Championships will be available for live stream through both BTN Plus and Flowrestling. Live brackets and updates can be found through Trackwrestling, while live updates will be on the official Twitter @BadgerWrestling.

So if the coach selects 10 attached wrestlers that count for team score is Stone the 10th pick?  Not that Midlands team score matters to the Badgers program because if it did you would not have 3 of your top wrestlers taking the tournament off.

[wrastle63]

Where did you find their lineup

[Wisconsin Wrestling Fan]

Where did you find their lineup

http://www.uwbadgers.com/news/2017/12/27/wrestling-weekend-outlook-at-the-midland-championships.aspx

[stbird]

That's crazy that Robertson isn't wrestling!  Some articles are looking at him as the first seed.  He must be hurt or something, otherwise Robertson would surely like a chance at being a Midland's champion no matter what Barry said.     

[stbird]

Looks like Johnny is going all in! 

[Razor Ramon]

Are the Finals going to be on BTN? I was just looking through the tv schedule and didn't see it listed.

[leg turk]

Rumor has it, Michigans studs won't be there, and Imar is sick also.  What a downer tournament this is turning into.

[CLC FAN]

I predict Barry has Evan stay home.

No Evan Wick, no Zander Wick, no Ricky Robertson.


I understand a coach has to always do what he thinks is best for his athlete, but if it becomes predictable on a yearly basis that our best 2/3 wrestlers will be sitting out of the toughest tournament test we have all year short of Big 10s and NCAAs... I have to doubt that coach's decision-making.  Why choose to look at it as a way we could hurt our seeds for Big 10s?  It seems like the strategy is to do enough to be a top 4 seed at Big 10s and then try to protect that at all costs.  How has that worked out for our top tier guys?  Is there another program that successfully employs this strategy?  

If the argument is that none of these guys are healthy enough, again, let's look at why it's so predictable that our best 2/3 guys are frequently  just banged up enough that they need to sit this one out.  Also, how often is anybody on any team 100% healthy for NCAAs?  I would argue that late December is the exact right time to push through a low-level injury.  The reward of knowing you can win while banged up and having the confidence that comes from having done it is by far greater than the risk of having to miss some of January to heal something you re-aggravated.  

Super frustrated in the coaching staff's decision, and unfortunately not at all surprised.

[wrastle63]

I predict Barry has Evan stay home.

I understand a coach has to always do what he thinks is best for his athlete, but if it becomes predictable on a yearly basis that our best 2/3 wrestlers will be sitting out of the toughest tournament test we have all year short of Big 10s and NCAAs... I have to doubt that coach's decision-making.  Why choose to look at it as a way we could hurt our seeds for Big 10s?  It seems like the strategy is to do enough to be a top 4 seed at Big 10s and then try to protect that at all costs.  How has that worked out for our top tier guys?  Is there another program that successfully employs this strategy? 

If the argument is that none of these guys are healthy enough, again, let's look at why it's so predictable that our best 2/3 guys are frequently  just banged up enough that they need to sit this one out.  Also, how often is anybody on any team 100% healthy for NCAAs?  I would argue that late December is the exact right time to push through a low-level injury.  The reward of knowing you can win while banged up and having the confidence that comes from having done it is by far greater than the risk of having to miss some of January to heal something you re-aggravated. 

Super frustrated in the coaching staff's decision, and unfortunately not at all surprised.

+10000000000

[Ghetto]

I rarely agree with that CLC guy, but I'm on board.

[crossface21]

Agreed. I'm not able to go to our team's holiday tournament because of my daughter's birthday, so I don't even get a chance to watch the best UW wrestlers while ignoring my kid during her party. So annoying. My dad always said that as long as Barry Davis runs a clean program, they'll keep him around. He's been saying that since the late 90's. Apparently he's right.