Big Ten Tourney

[harley25]

Let's go DJ!

I'll root for a kid from Wisconsin over a kid who wrestles for Wisconsin every day all day. Just me!!

[harley25]

Great battle, disappointing result - hope we see a rematch in 2 weeks. 

Disappointed a Wisconsin kid won a big ten title interesting

[DocWrestling]

Barnett and Hamiti are so much fun to watch with their talent.  What makes them great also leads to getting out of position and losing some scrambles and ending up on back and thus some bad losses.  You have to wrestle smarter in the big ten final with a 9-2 lead.  I think Hamiti got too cocky.

My frustration is in the mentality that the Big Ten title is on the line and you are down 2 with a minute left and you just lay on your belly.  He gave no effort in that last minute. 

[wrestlemania]

The calls to get Barry out were loud and I was hopeful Bono would deliver on his promise of a top 5 program. He hasn't. It's that simple. And there is nothing in the future to indicate we will.

So what does that tell you? That maybe Barry wasn't the problem given all the garbage he took from some of the fans around here. And if the program right now is about the same level as it was under Davis (which I agree with) then maybe Bono really isn't the problem either?

[littleguy301]

Messenbrink is gonna make a fool of hamati. When are all of you going to realize the Bono experiment was a mistake and start calling for his release? We are worse now than we ever were with Barry and Bono's  recruiting classes are not going to get UW into the top 5 as he promised when he took the job. We were sold a false bill of goods. Time to start looking for a new head coach.

First, I don't think anyone is going to make Dean look like a fool.

Second "if you don't bleed badger red, why continue to blast the program?"

Well, does anyone want to maybe recend any of there posts?

[littleguy301]

Agreed BigOil!

I think Hamiti opens it up a lot more than people are thinking.
Expect Dean to come out blazing and look for points.

PSA: Tune in to the finals this afternoon! No doubt we will see Mitchell on his back

I missed it when mitchell was on his back. I did see DJ on his back

Great job Mitchell! Good job DJ it was a heck of a match!

[wrestlemania]

"My frustration is in the mentality that the Big Ten title is on the line and you are down 2 with a minute left and you just lay on your belly.  He gave no effort in that last minute."

And what does that tell you? Not good.

It sounds like this was (or is going to be) the match of the whole meet. The one that clinched it for Penn St. The one that's going to be in the highlight reel for some time. Oh yeah, the Misenbrink kid is from Wisconsin. Wouldn't want to forget that one would we?

You just want to say to heck with all this, it's just not going to happen. I'm probably wrong and certainly I'll eat crow if so and be very happy to do so too as I too, bleed Badger red but when you get to a certain age and you've been monitoring this for a long time and the end result is still same year after year no matter who is wrestling or coaching or even when good things happen, they soon go backwards, well, it's just hard to write positive things or try to keep your optimism up in the face of the results. But you don't want to be a Negative Nancy either, so you just....leave it at that. 

[Army Ant]

I was surprised at how Hamiti dominated early (really seemed to overpower messenbrink) and then got extremely sloppy starting at end of 2nd period. Basically fell apart. Great job by Messenbrink though to keep the pressure on and catch Hamiti on his back.

[Army Ant]

I think the ship has sailed for Bono. He may actually be a great coach. Had success at SD St. and may have more success in future. However, for whatever reasons, he's lost the the confidence of the wrestling insiders and powers and HS wrestlers in the state. Hard to get that back once you lose it.

I think they need a fresh start. Will the next coach have more success? Probably not, but you gotta keep trying.

[1Iota]

Nothing is changing unless UW decides to make wrestling a priority. Between admittance, NIL money and support, it is impossible for UW to compete. 

[Harris]

This is going to be a tough NCAA tournament.  Hoping for the best, but expecting a tough road.  There is a six page thread about the Badgers coach over on Intermat for those of you who don't post there.

Bono

[DocWrestling]

Consider me in the corner thinking no matter who the coach is that this is the Badger's "station" in the Big Ten.  Everything goes well and they could maybe place 4th in Big Ten.  Bad years they would finish 10th.

No coach is going to change that.  Only the university can change that and if they are not adding anything for wrestling with spending 300 million on football facility then it is never going to happen. Now would be the time to add a wrestling room/wrestling center connected to this facility.

By the way, Missouri finished 4th in a below average big 12 conference tournament and finished behind South Dakota St.

[Army Ant]

They'll never be close to an Iowa or Penn St. but they can do better than they have. The ceiling and energy rises with a new coach/change. His reputation isn't good right now, deserved or underdeserved, and that's unlikely to change at this point. It's actually more likely to keep eroding once that starts

Yah, they could use a better facility too.

[1Iota]

Consider me in the corner thinking no matter who the coach is that this is the Badger's "station" in the Big Ten.  Everything goes well and they could maybe place 4th in Big Ten.  Bad years they would finish 10th.

No coach is going to change that.  Only the university can change that and if they are not adding anything for wrestling with spending 300 million on football facility then it is never going to happen. Now would be the time to add a wrestling room/wrestling center connected to this facility.

By the way, Missouri finished 4th in a below average big 12 conference tournament and finished behind South Dakota St.

This is the truth.  The main concern of the athletic department regarding wrestling is the overall GPA.  They expect wrestling to contribute to the overall athletic GPA.  This might sound insane, but I had a hockey coach explain this to me. 

[Army Ant]

Yah I guess its about expectations. Maybe he's doing "good enough" for a program thats always gonna lose money any way.

One thing I really liked this year was at least they had a lot of starters that went to HS in WI.