Great Day to be a Badger!

[BadgerOne]

To be fair Flo is not the best at ranking kids... look who is doing the rankings.

Sure, especially with Willie gone.  It works both ways.  IMHO, Rivera was underranked.  I can think of a few Badgers who were probably very overranked at the time of their commitment.  The only reason it matters is that there is limited scholarship money and I worry that Wisconsin might be overpaying scholly money on certain kids  and using up scholly funds so they can't be as competitive going after the elite or blue chippers.  Scholly money dried up necessating cutting all the RTC athletes and refunneling RTC raised money. Who is getting 9.9 scholly money plus all the RTC money? I can think of 6 guys deserving big money and a couple more deserving decent money, but if you try to allocate all the scholarships, you obviously have plenty of guys getting good scholarship money who aren't contributing or likely to contribute in the future towards team standing at NCAAs.  To be a consistent top program, good scholarship management is key or an absolute gamechanger.

[BadgerOne]

[/quote]

I would say Rivera is among Bono's best recruits (with Zargo) that wasn't ranked in top 30.  He did win Fargo one year and had a couple nice wins against Jesuroga and Ayala. Its worth noting that he's a year older than Jesuroga. He didn't get much respect from Flo-only 10th at weight and outside top 50 in his class.  While I wouldn't label him a blue chipper, he's a pretty good prospect and if he works hard, hopefully he can AA.

Is it though? He was ranked #1 at his weight class. You've also "noted" that the Badgers will "only" have 1 returning AA...when Dean Hamiti is a Sr.

It seems like you make note of whatever undermines the program.

Agree. A Negative Nelly on here. Let's make note of who is being negative and telling the Badger wrestlers they aren't very good.

Wanting the team to be better, makes me a Negative Nelly?  I see way too much complacency here.  No wonder Badgers program is stuck in mediocrity as too much of the fanbase is content with staying a mediocre Big Ten team.

[wrastle63]

To be fair Flo is not the best at ranking kids... look who is doing the rankings.

Sure, especially with Willie gone.  It works both ways.  IMHO, Rivera was underranked.  I can think of a few Badgers who were probably very overranked at the time of their commitment.  The only reason it matters is that there is limited scholarship money and I worry that Wisconsin might be overpaying scholly money on certain kids  and using up scholly funds so they can't be as competitive going after the elite or blue chippers.  Scholly money dried up necessating cutting all the resident RTC athletes and refunneling RTC raised money. Who is getting 9.9 scholly money plus all the RTC money? I can think of 6 guys deserving big money and a couple more deserving decent money, but if you try to allocate all the scholarships, you obviously have plenty of guys getting good scholarship money who aren't contributing or likely to contribute in the future towards team standing at NCAAs.  To be a consistent top program, good scholarship management is a gamechanger.

I would agree with most of that. The hard part is people see recruits coming in, but don't know how much they are getting. The transfer portal also throws a wrench in the scholarship thing and we have been very active in getting transfers with overall extremely good success! Will be interesting to see what the staff can do with 3 starters (Hillger, Lamont, and Model) all coming "off the books" this year. Bobzien is grey shirting so that will be part of that money, but who else can they get. 

[Healthy and happy]

I would say Rivera is among Bono's best recruits (with Zargo) that wasn't ranked in top 30.  He did win Fargo one year and had a couple nice wins against Jesuroga and Ayala. Its worth noting that he's a year older than Jesuroga. He didn't get much respect from Flo-only 10th at weight and outside top 50 in his class.  While I wouldn't label him a blue chipper, he's a pretty good prospect and if he works hard, hopefully he can AA.

Is it though? He was ranked #1 at his weight class. You've also "noted" that the Badgers will "only" have 1 returning AA...when Dean Hamiti is a Sr.

It seems like you make note of whatever undermines the program.

Agree. A Negative Nelly on here. Let's make note of who is being negative and telling the Badger wrestlers they aren't very good.

Wanting the team to be better, makes me a Negative Nelly?  I see way too much complacency here.  No wonder Badgers program is stuck in mediocrity as too much of the fanbase is content with staying a mediocre Big Ten team.

Everyone in life can look at issues with a different perspective which fine and good.  We all have that right.  Clearly Badger One looks at the UW wrestling program from a pessimistic viewpoint/attitude, which his right. So maybe the positive/optimistic people in this forum should stop engaging him?

[npope]

One man's negativity is his perception of life, and could possibly even be accurate. Optimists could even be in for similar criticism. But as a post immediately above notes, it takes all kinds to have a conversation and I don't know about you, but that's why I come to the forum.

On a different note, I have absolutely no delusions that I personally know more about allocating limited scholarship funds among a room of 30 wrestlers than does an experienced coach as a DI program. So, I don't venture into offering my criticisms of the coaching staff on that front - they simply know far more about the process than I do.

But given the influx of NIL now, scholarship funding is but one of multiple means of funding wrestlers, so I am not sure the 9.9 limitation is near as relevant as it was in previous years. I do know for example, that with JRob's great summer wrestling camp system he was able to offer summer employment at very good wages to anyone on his team that he deemed to do so. So maybe the athletic scholarship money was limited, but other channels were wide open.

[vsmf2010]

I do not think complacent accurately describes most of us on here. Supportive and excited would be more accurate. The Badgers are putting out a line up with 5 AA's in it. That is pretty Dang exciting in my book! Point of reference OSU will have 6, PSU 5, OK St and Iowa 4.

[vsmf2010]

I do not think complacent accurately describes most of us on here. Supportive and excited would be more accurate. The Badgers are putting out a line up with 5 AA's in it. That is pretty Dang exciting in my book! Point of reference OSU will have 6, PSU 5, OK St and Iowa 4.

Funny, my post did not say Dang but the forum automatically changed it. 

[Vir Fortis]

Rivera is going to AA. No doubt.

I think he has great potential, but I think Thielke, Amos, and many other highly ranked guys have shown how hard the transition is from high school to college.  He has a unique wrestling style, so it will be interesting how he transitions against the best guys.  I hope he is an AA type college wrestler!

I think Greco is a big part of that equation. Rivera has incredible attacks to both sides, moves very well. He's not just overpowering guys with double underhooks.

Edit-That is NOT a dig on JT or Amos or anyone else. I just think you see a FAR greater number of highly regarded recruits who focus on Greco vs those who focus on Freestyle. Greco is great for HS kids and to learn how to throw and as a wise coach used to advise me, as importantly, how to not get thrown. But once you get to a higher level, I don't think Greco is helping you nearly as much.

Rivera's leg attacks are elite, but you also saw how his style changed(or expanded). He beat guys in a lot of different ways, but vs the best, the #1 ranked Wrestle in his weight and the #5 in his class(who's a WHOLE year younger) he was able to get in with his leg attacks to both sides and was more physical.

So sure, you never really know. Mason Manville of PSU was one of the top HS recruits in a 5 year period. Hasn't really panned out(still at PSU though...as a 5th year Soph).

[Vir Fortis]

I would say Rivera is among Bono's best recruits (with Zargo) that wasn't ranked in top 30.  He did win Fargo one year and had a couple nice wins against Jesuroga and Ayala. Its worth noting that he's a year older than Jesuroga. He didn't get much respect from Flo-only 10th at weight and outside top 50 in his class.  While I wouldn't label him a blue chipper, he's a pretty good prospect and if he works hard, hopefully he can AA.

Is it though? He was ranked #1 at his weight class. You've also "noted" that the Badgers will "only" have 1 returning AA...when Dean Hamiti is a Sr.

It seems like you make note of whatever undermines the program.

Yes, because in high school age difference matters.  I'm trying to help some of you understand why Rivera is not ranked that highly by Flo, though I think he still is a good pickup.

He beat the #1 ranked Wrestler at all ages and he beat him soundly while dominating one of the tougher tournaments in the Country. Again, you can diminish it all you want, but it's kinda silly.


But sure...it matters. Then you'd think the Bono and the Badgers would get EXTRA credit from you for having the lone True Fresh AA last year...instead you literally pointed to that as a problem. They "only" have him coming back not the year after next, but I guess the year after that one?

Man, I hope you're stretching with some of these reaches.

[Vir Fortis]

I would say Rivera is among Bono's best recruits (with Zargo) that wasn't ranked in top 30.  He did win Fargo one year and had a couple nice wins against Jesuroga and Ayala. Its worth noting that he's a year older than Jesuroga. He didn't get much respect from Flo-only 10th at weight and outside top 50 in his class.  While I wouldn't label him a blue chipper, he's a pretty good prospect and if he works hard, hopefully he can AA.

Is it though? He was ranked #1 at his weight class. You've also "noted" that the Badgers will "only" have 1 returning AA...when Dean Hamiti is a Sr.

It seems like you make note of whatever undermines the program.

Agree. A Negative Nelly on here. Let's make note of who is being negative and telling the Badger wrestlers they aren't very good.

Wanting the team to be better, makes me a Negative Nelly?  I see way too much complacency here.  No wonder Badgers program is stuck in mediocrity as too much of the fanbase is content with staying a mediocre Big Ten team.

I do not believe that first sentence. Or at least I believe you'd rather seen Bono and the coaches fail more than UW succeed. This seems very personal.

[BuckyMatt]

I would say Rivera is among Bono's best recruits (with Zargo) that wasn't ranked in top 30.  He did win Fargo one year and had a couple nice wins against Jesuroga and Ayala. Its worth noting that he's a year older than Jesuroga. He didn't get much respect from Flo-only 10th at weight and outside top 50 in his class.  While I wouldn't label him a blue chipper, he's a pretty good prospect and if he works hard, hopefully he can AA.

Is it though? He was ranked #1 at his weight class. You've also "noted" that the Badgers will "only" have 1 returning AA...when Dean Hamiti is a Sr.

It seems like you make note of whatever undermines the program.

Agree. A Negative Nelly on here. Let's make note of who is being negative and telling the Badger wrestlers they aren't very good.

Wanting the team to be better, makes me a Negative Nelly?  I see way too much complacency here.  No wonder Badgers program is stuck in mediocrity as too much of the fanbase is content with staying a mediocre Big Ten team.

I do not believe that first sentence. Or at least I believe you'd rather seen Bono and the coaches fail more than UW succeed. This seems very personal.

Very Very Personal.  And Very specific in your consistent negative narrative around Bono and his use of his scholarship budget. 

Almost like you have been personally affected by his scholarship decisions...

[Redeemer]

I don't think anyone is exactly content. But negatively ripping Rivera before he even steps on the mat for the Badgers is a bit too pessimistic. Obviously, there is a chance of failure for almost anyone, except for the extremely highly elite.

 But the idea is, Rivera is going to learn a lot in year 1 of wrestling with Barnett and company. Amos is going to figure it out.. he's right there in every big match.

[wrastle63]

I don't think anyone is exactly content. But negatively ripping Rivera before he even steps on the mat for the Badgers is a bit too pessimistic. Obviously, there is a chance of failure for almost anyone, except for the extremely highly elite.

 But the idea is, Rivera is going to learn a lot in year 1 of wrestling with Barnett and company. Amos is going to figure it out.. he's right there in every big match.

Look at Barnett and the jumps he has made. He was similiar to Rivera coming out as a funky unorthodox style of wrestling, but has found what works best for him in college. Using some of the "greco" ties to get to legs and force guys into odd positions. I am sure Gross will be working to get Rivera into those same types of positions. Not many teams have a world team member at their weight working with them who has wrestled some of the same guys they will be competing against.

[kmoc33]

I would agree with most of that. The hard part is people see recruits coming in, but don't know how much they are getting. The transfer portal also throws a wrench in the scholarship thing and we have been very active in getting transfers with overall extremely good success! Will be interesting to see what the staff can do with 3 starters (Hillger, Lamont, and Model) all coming "off the books" this year. Bobzien is grey shirting so that will be part of that money, but who else can they get. 
[/quote]

this is a legit question and not meant to start arguments. As some of you know I have different rooting interests. But the transfer thing has been on my mind for a few years. Do you think this is why some WI. kids are choosing not to go to WI? I get it, it is a dilemna for coaches. Trying to win now and improve there team.  But the flip side is I will be replaced and the coach doesnt care about his recruits. This may not be the case at WI. but this is the preception it gives me. I know people are gonna say you have to earn your spot and I agree with that. I just think development and learning from mistakes is critical at that level.

[wrastle63]

I would agree with most of that. The hard part is people see recruits coming in, but don't know how much they are getting. The transfer portal also throws a wrench in the scholarship thing and we have been very active in getting transfers with overall extremely good success! Will be interesting to see what the staff can do with 3 starters (Hillger, Lamont, and Model) all coming "off the books" this year. Bobzien is grey shirting so that will be part of that money, but who else can they get. 

this is a legit question and not meant to start arguments. As some of you know I have different rooting interests. But the transfer thing has been on my mind for a few years. Do you think this is why some WI. kids are choosing not to go to WI? I get it, it is a dilemna for coaches. Trying to win now and improve there team.  But the flip side is I will be replaced and the coach doesnt care about his recruits. This may not be the case at WI. but this is the preception it gives me. I know people are gonna say you have to earn your spot and I agree with that. I just think development and learning from mistakes is critical at that level.
[/quote]
Trying to win and improve your team is a bad thing now??? LOL  Iowa getting Real Woods, Jaydin Eirman, and Austin Desanto, PSU getting Dean, Hildebrandt, Kerkvliet, etc must show they don't care about their wrestlers.