Thoughts on ILL vs. Wisconsin

[Achilles]

The dual ended in a 15-15 tie wisc won the first 3 weights starting at 133...
it seemed like Illinois had alot of trouble finishing takedowns on wisconsin. I also thought it was funny how Barry Davis got a warning after the HWT match where weight was clearly pinned for at least 10 seconds.

Flores is getting better and better, but finishing on a guy like clum can be very difficult.

Poeta appeared to be the fastest person i have ever seen, but also is tiny for 165, i dont think it will matter though.

Alex T does absolutly nothing he won the match by slipping out of a cradle because henning was being very agressive on top, he might be the most boring wrestler to watch in the Country outside of maybe Teyon Ware IMO

Troy T was completely gassed at the end and almost gave up 2 takedowns in 15 seconds, he showed some slick deffense though.

Friedl and Poeta both needed to close out their matches for the team, Jake donar was stepping real heavy with his left foot i thought Poeta could have shot a low single picked it up and un laced his show before Donar realized what happend.

Overall i was more impressed with some of wisconsins guys and thought that they got screwed bad in the HWT match.

[illinifanMHS]

agreed weight is brutal he about cost us this match and cost us the michigan match it is time to let fletcher wrestle because he cant do any worse he's a nice kid but an eye sore when he gets on the mat with him your not even hoping for a win your hoping he doesnt do something stupid and get pinned. yeah friedl had a minute to get a td and he danced it was something else

[Conquistadors]

Thanks for comments on the dual.

Illinois has seemed rather flat since the Michigan dual. Hope they regroup. From what I gather, six of the guys did not score an offensive point today. Ugh.

Pete is a great wrestlers, but he is much more comfortable taking advantage of opponents mistakes/openings/aggressiveness than going on the attack. He wasn't like that his first year, when he wrestled with reckless abandon. As a sophomore he twice got pinned while ahead in matches. As Pete has learned how to wrestle mistake-free he has found more and more success. IMHO he has as good of a shot as anyone to win the national title this year (along with five or six guys). But it would be nice for Pete to get another takedown or two when the team needs bonus points.

I think you are rather harsh on Matt Weight. He isn't the only guy to have trouble in the Big Ten. He has actually stepped up and has had the courage to go toe-to-toe with Big Ten heavyweights. Earlier in the season he looked as though he was getting better, but the Big Ten season has not been kind to him. I applaud Matt for going out there! Matt Fletcher has also stuck with it over the years, but I seriously doubt that he would have fared better than Weight. I don't think that Fletcher had the mobility to compete with these guys. I also assume that Coach Johnson knows better than you or I. If you'll recall, Mike Behnke (who had much more size and a better wrestling pedigree than Weight) likewise got beaten up in the Big Ten season. I wish that Mike had stayed in school, but apparently he wasn't happy and decided to do something else.

Alex certainly has gotten more tactical over the last couple of years. However, if you look at what's he's done since New Years he has scored more points. Keep in mind that Henning may well be a top five wrestler. Furthermore, Henning and Alex are fairly similar in style. Alex can out-scramble just about anyone-- but that is also Henning's strength. So I'm not too surprised that Alex was extra cautious today. But your point that Alex is no longer an exciting wrestler is well taken. I'll settle for that if he can climb high on the podium the in March.

I know that Coach Johnson's goal is to get a team trophy (top 4). That is still a possibility, but it will be tough. But with Ott, Tirapelle, & Friedl as finalist possibilities; Poeta a strong possibility for mid-AA (or possibly higher); Byrd and Reynolds also looking as AA candidates; maybe Flores can win a match or two; oh, and there is this guy Cassio Pero who is a retuning AA-- with all that they certainly have the potential to place top four. But last year the Illini looked to have the 2nd best team in the country, and even with an unseeded Cassio getting 7th and Brian Glynn's spectacular 3rd place finish they still ended up getting sixth. The competition is tough!

No matter what, I'm planning on enjoying the Big Ten tournament and the NCAAs!

[Achilles]

I wasn't being hard on Weight i just thought he was pinned, Lee Kraemer is 4-0 in the big ten he might be a 184 lbr but he has wrestled pretty tough agaisnt some decent comp.

[Conquistadors]

I wasn't being hard on Weight i just thought he was pinned, Lee Kraemer is 4-0 in the big ten he might be a 184 lbr but he has wrestled pretty tough agaisnt some decent comp.

Achilles, I know you weren't hard on Weight. Sorry I wasn't clear. MHS was very upset that Matt hasn't been more successful. To be honest, he has done better than I thought he would do this season. Illinois hasn't won a match at heavyweight at the NCAAs since John Lockhart graduated.

[illinifanMHS]

i know he has wrestled tough at the beginning of the year and i didnt mean to be that harsh i was just frustrated and have been frustrated with him. i have talked to johnson this was before the michigan match and he said how pleased he has been with weight this year. i apologize to matt he is a far better wrestler than i ever was. would like to have known what was wrong with donny today i planned on asking mark but i did want to bring it up after the tie.

[Conquistadors]

I have no info on Don Reynolds. It could simply be a case of letting Don have extra time without competition and the potential for injury. As we all know, Don had a serious knee injury a few years ago and has also had less serious leg injuries (was it an ankle at National Duals a year ago?). Don has generally looked good this season and I would guess that Coach Johnson wants to make sure that Don is healthy for Big Tens. I'm just speculating here.

I guess we'll find out the Big Ten seeds in about a week.

[Dondo]

Does anybody know why Cassio Pero didn't wrestle for Illinois at 149?

[Dondo]

Does anybody know why Cassio Pero didn't wrestle for Illinois at 149?

I meant Pero at 141

[illinifanMHS]

he got hurt in the iowa duel and has avoided any contact since then he should be ready to go for the big10's

[Achilles]

Don reynolds probably didn't wrestle to protect his seed at big tens, last year He lost twice to wisconsin one time by a major i believe, and Kelly is a dangerous wrestler, Don wouldn't have had anything to gain by wrestling him.

[Conquistadors]

Don reynolds probably didn't wrestle to protect his seed at big tens, last year He lost twice to wisconsin one time by a major i believe, and Kelly is a dangerous wrestler, Don wouldn't have had anything to gain by wrestling him.

Achilles, I have to respectfully disagree. Aside from Herbert, 174 is a real mess seed-wise in the Big Tens. Both Perry and Flaherty have missed a lot of duals due to injury and with the other guys there is the A beat B beat C who in turn beat A situation. I would think that Don's potential seed could have been helped out by wrestling and beating Flaherty, but I don't think that losing to Flaherty would have disadvantaged Don. That's just my guess.

On a side note, with two Illinois starters not competing I'm glad I didn't bother making the drive to Champaign for the dual. It is a big effort for me to get to Champaign and I would have been ticked had I only gotten to see 80% of their starting line-up. To me, if a coach knows that he isn't going to wrestle someone, why not announce it in advance? In general, I don't see how that helps your opponent strategically (I'm sure there are exceptions). Although wrestling will never be a major sport, we could learn something from football and basketball programs where weekly news conferences are normal and coaches commonly give injury updates and let the public (and their opponents) know who likely will or will not compete in the upcoming week. If wrestling wants to build its fan base (or keep what it has), it truly needs to learn how to communicate better. If you take your fans for granted... they may not be there in the future.

Right now Michigan State is gaining a following around the country by webstreaming their home duals for free. Illinois (and all other programs) should take notice of that. With the media infrastructure in place at universities, I would guess that the cost of doing this is miniscule.

[Achilles]

Achilles, I have to respectfully disagree. Aside from Herbert, 174 is a real mess seed-wise in the Big Tens. Both Perry and Flaherty have missed a lot of duals due to injury and with the other guys there is the A beat B beat C who in turn beat A situation. I would think that Don's potential seed could have been helped out by wrestling and beating Flaherty, but I don't think that losing to Flaherty would have disadvantaged Don. That's just my guess.

On a side note, with two Illinois starters not competing I'm glad I didn't bother making the drive to Champaign for the dual. It is a big effort for me to get to Champaign and I would have been ticked had I only gotten to see 80% of their starting line-up. To me, if a coach knows that he isn't going to wrestle someone, why not announce it in advance? In general, I don't see how that helps your opponent strategically (I'm sure there are exceptions). Although wrestling will never be a major sport, we could learn something from football and basketball programs where weekly news conferences are normal and coaches commonly give injury updates and let the public (and their opponents) know who likely will or will not compete in the upcoming week. If wrestling wants to build its fan base (or keep what it has), it truly needs to learn how to communicate better. If you take your fans for granted... they may not be there in the future.

Right now Michigan State is gaining a following around the country by webstreaming their home duals for free. Illinois (and all other programs) should take notice of that. With the media infrastructure in place at universities, I would guess that the cost of doing this is miniscule.

I think Mark and Kelly are a little different because Perry is ranked 3rd in the country. Don also has a high ranking which helps his seed if he were to loose to Kelly i think it would only make Kelly's seed higher and Dons lower but thats just my guess. But i was just speculating there could be a number of reasons that he didn't wrestle.

But about the web casts, that dual was web casted on Illini's web site and i know michigan and wiscon web cast all their home duals and wisconsin's are free. Iowa and northern iowa also have local TV stations broadcasting their duals as well.