Achilles
03-06-2006, 09:31 AM
It just didn't seem like Illinois was ready for the tournament, maybe Johnson has them peaking for NCAA's or something. But a team that did look like they were ready was Minnesota, there wrestlers were all in very good shape and had tightened up technique, and they won alot of matches because of it.
My thoughts on the tournament...
125- Velez nearly beat simmons in the semis, giving up a takedown in the final second. I thought Ott wrestled as good as he could have against Debuque, winning on a caution point however, but he still deserved to win. I also thought that unseeded Collin Cudd had a hell of a tournament only loosing to the returning champ twice 7-3 and i think 10-3 and taking 5th.
133- Tom Clum wrestled very well, Personaly i thought that Fleeger was going to win this and win NCAAs with only two ppl being able to give him a tough match (Bunch and Clum). But in the semis Clum put a take down clinic on Fleeger as he was mentaly broke (he hates loosing, defaulted the rest of his matches like he has done in the past, he appeared to be a little hurt but wasn't limping around the arena or anything)
Then the Finals match between Clum and Rieter may have been one of the best matches i have ever seen. Clum scores a quick takedown, then Rieter bear hugs Clum doesn't put him to his back though. Clum gets another takedown as time runs out in the second, and with the score tied at 4-4 Clum chooses Nuetral to avoid giving up the ridding time point. They go through 5 OTs ridding eachother out before Clum finally secured the takedown in a very amazing 20 second long scramble. Clum later got the OW of the tourney.
141- Very suprised to see churella take 4th here, Tsirtsis has been wrestling very well the last month and a half. Lang funked Churella into giving up 2 and 2 in the first period of the semis and hung around for the win. Simmons looked tough throughout the tournament, it will be interesting to see how this weight shapes up. I would expect Pero to get the wild card.
149- Returning champ takes 5th, and Dustin makes everyone besides Jaggers look stupid. Troy T, wrestled as good as he could have finding a way to win against three much better opponents. Withstandley took an early exit and i would suspect woodal to get the wild card here, however, with Jaggers hurt that would make woodal the alternate which would make room for another wild card.
157- CP wrestled well the entire tourney, it goes back to how well Minnesota was prepared for this tournament. They rode the dog piss out of everyone, and CP just wrestled harder than Alex in the finals. His toughest match came against Craig Henning in the semis winning by 1 pt riding time, i thought Henning should've taken top in the third period though.
165- Nothing real special here, Poeta didn't look good at all, i think Nagel was just way too big for him and guys like Durkee were even slowing him down. Churella is a beast on top and the Purdue kid had a hell of a tournament, not sure if he won a match in the big ten this year before the tournament and he took 6th i think
174- Perry is very funky, quickly pinns his only competition before the finals, (ie wisc. and donny reynolds) then runs into Herbert who seems to be just as funky only twice as strong, Perry out funks him and gets the take down then gets out funk'd to his back and stuck. Nice match for the 2 minutes it lasted. But this weight was another example of the stalling Illini as in the wrestle backs Reynolds was wrestling Dretchd from Minnesota, and was stalling after out of bounds and taking tons and tons of injury time for a broken nail? at first or something was in his eye i guess, but i think Dretch finally hurt him at the end enough to maybe warrant an ice pack. Minnesota fans did not like this match, Damien Hahn screaming at Reynolds from the side was the best.
184- What a weight, Friedl did what he had to against a beat up but still probably the most beastly person i have ever seen in Eric Bradley. But roger kish had a very good tournament, and just like the rest of the minnesota guys looked real good and very prepared for Big Tens. Wissle vs. Bradley many coulda picked this to be the NCAA finals but they were wrestling for 3rd 4th in the big tens
197- Davis is a weird looking wrestler but he put Byrd to his back to get it done. Dallas Herbst seemed to have pinned everybody but took 7th, idk what happend there, i think he lost to Byrd and someone else, but he is tough on top.
285- Personally didn't expect weight to get out of this tournament, but he did congrats to him. Konrad is a monster!
great tournament too bad for Jaggers, i woulda like to see him vs. Tannenbuam. And Illinois qualified 10 guys more than any other team i think in the country
My thoughts on the tournament...
125- Velez nearly beat simmons in the semis, giving up a takedown in the final second. I thought Ott wrestled as good as he could have against Debuque, winning on a caution point however, but he still deserved to win. I also thought that unseeded Collin Cudd had a hell of a tournament only loosing to the returning champ twice 7-3 and i think 10-3 and taking 5th.
133- Tom Clum wrestled very well, Personaly i thought that Fleeger was going to win this and win NCAAs with only two ppl being able to give him a tough match (Bunch and Clum). But in the semis Clum put a take down clinic on Fleeger as he was mentaly broke (he hates loosing, defaulted the rest of his matches like he has done in the past, he appeared to be a little hurt but wasn't limping around the arena or anything)
Then the Finals match between Clum and Rieter may have been one of the best matches i have ever seen. Clum scores a quick takedown, then Rieter bear hugs Clum doesn't put him to his back though. Clum gets another takedown as time runs out in the second, and with the score tied at 4-4 Clum chooses Nuetral to avoid giving up the ridding time point. They go through 5 OTs ridding eachother out before Clum finally secured the takedown in a very amazing 20 second long scramble. Clum later got the OW of the tourney.
141- Very suprised to see churella take 4th here, Tsirtsis has been wrestling very well the last month and a half. Lang funked Churella into giving up 2 and 2 in the first period of the semis and hung around for the win. Simmons looked tough throughout the tournament, it will be interesting to see how this weight shapes up. I would expect Pero to get the wild card.
149- Returning champ takes 5th, and Dustin makes everyone besides Jaggers look stupid. Troy T, wrestled as good as he could have finding a way to win against three much better opponents. Withstandley took an early exit and i would suspect woodal to get the wild card here, however, with Jaggers hurt that would make woodal the alternate which would make room for another wild card.
157- CP wrestled well the entire tourney, it goes back to how well Minnesota was prepared for this tournament. They rode the dog piss out of everyone, and CP just wrestled harder than Alex in the finals. His toughest match came against Craig Henning in the semis winning by 1 pt riding time, i thought Henning should've taken top in the third period though.
165- Nothing real special here, Poeta didn't look good at all, i think Nagel was just way too big for him and guys like Durkee were even slowing him down. Churella is a beast on top and the Purdue kid had a hell of a tournament, not sure if he won a match in the big ten this year before the tournament and he took 6th i think
174- Perry is very funky, quickly pinns his only competition before the finals, (ie wisc. and donny reynolds) then runs into Herbert who seems to be just as funky only twice as strong, Perry out funks him and gets the take down then gets out funk'd to his back and stuck. Nice match for the 2 minutes it lasted. But this weight was another example of the stalling Illini as in the wrestle backs Reynolds was wrestling Dretchd from Minnesota, and was stalling after out of bounds and taking tons and tons of injury time for a broken nail? at first or something was in his eye i guess, but i think Dretch finally hurt him at the end enough to maybe warrant an ice pack. Minnesota fans did not like this match, Damien Hahn screaming at Reynolds from the side was the best.
184- What a weight, Friedl did what he had to against a beat up but still probably the most beastly person i have ever seen in Eric Bradley. But roger kish had a very good tournament, and just like the rest of the minnesota guys looked real good and very prepared for Big Tens. Wissle vs. Bradley many coulda picked this to be the NCAA finals but they were wrestling for 3rd 4th in the big tens
197- Davis is a weird looking wrestler but he put Byrd to his back to get it done. Dallas Herbst seemed to have pinned everybody but took 7th, idk what happend there, i think he lost to Byrd and someone else, but he is tough on top.
285- Personally didn't expect weight to get out of this tournament, but he did congrats to him. Konrad is a monster!
great tournament too bad for Jaggers, i woulda like to see him vs. Tannenbuam. And Illinois qualified 10 guys more than any other team i think in the country