The World-Famous ILLINI B1G Tournament Preview Special Issue (Volume One)

[ChiefIllini1]

For the complete preview, click on this link to The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond.

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133. LUCAS BYRD (#6, 23-3, 8-0)

There are really only three questions involved in Lucas Byrd’s tournament, from least important to most important: Will he be the second or third seed? Will he get revenge against Jesse Mendez? Will we finally get to see Byrd versus RBY? The answers to those questions will be yes, yes and hell yes.

The world demands Byrd versus RBY.

With the way the tournament brackets go, a second seed would get a first-round bye. Then, the thirteenth seed. That would likely be either Wisconsin's Taylor Lamont, Maryland’s King Sandoval or our friend, Kyle Burwick from Nebraska.
ILLINOIS fans would like to get a nice bonus win in the first round for the team race, but saving Lucas’ energy for the later rounds is more important.

As for getting the #2 seed, Mendez did have a win over the ILLINI during an early season tournament, but Byrd is 8-0 in conference while the Buckeye is 7-1. Moreover, the man in the Orange and Blue is a two-time All American. The ILLINI was ranked right behind Mendez in the previous Coach’s poll (#8, #9), and it was Jesse Mendez who has lost since then. Finally, in overall record, both have the same number of losses (3), but Byrd has nine more wins.

There were eleven B1G wrestlers in the last Coach’s poll. Unfortunately, it is likely that a few of them have fallen off simply because the competition in conference is incredible.

As an example, Michigan State's Rayvon Foley is an outstanding wrestler, but he is only 2-6 in conference duals. If he was just .500 in conference (4-4), his winning percentage against Division One wrestlers would be over .700 at 13-5.

[NOTE: Foley still probably gets an allocation spot for the conference because of his Coach's poll (#16) and RPI (#28) positions, although going 1-4 in his last five might jeopardize that.]

SEEDS

1. RBY (PSU) (13-0; 6-0)
2. LUCAS BYRD (ILLINI) (22-3; 8-0)
3. Jesse Mendez (OSU) (13-3; 7-1)
4. Chris Cannon (NW) (15-6; 6-2)
5. Brody Teske (Iowa) (6-2; 5-1)
6. Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) (13-6; 4-3)
7. Joe Heilmann (Rutgers) (18-6; 5-3)
8. Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) (14-3; 3-1)
9. Henry Porter (Indiana) (13-6; 4-4)
10. Rayvon Foley (MSU) (11-7; 2-6)
11. Dustin Norris (Purdue) (10-13; 3-5)
12. Taylor Lamont (Wisconsin) (9-12; 1-6)
13. Kyle Burwick (Nebraska) (7-7; 1-6)
14. King Sandoval (Maryland) (0-4; 0-3)

[ChiefIllini1]

CORRECTION: The second seed would get the winner of the #7 and #10 seeds. That would be Rutger's Joe Heilmann or MSU's Rayvon Foley given the seeds below. ILLINOIS fans would like to get a nice bonus win in the first round for the team standings, but saving Lucas’ energy for the later rounds is more important.

The #3 seed would face King Sandoval of Maryland in the first round.

[ChiefIllini1]

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PROP BETS

Your good friends at the ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond are sponsoring a contest in conjunction with the B1G wrestling tournament. The Winner gets two IWB&F&B t-shirts. Second place will receive one t-shirt. Here are the rules:

• Pick "YES" or "NO" for each of the prop bets listed.
• Pick the order of the final team standings for the tournament (tie breaker).
• The person with the most correct prop bet picks is the winner. Second place goes to the person with the second most correct prop bet picks.
• The tie breaker is the final team standings for the tournament. Ultimate tie breaker is the closest placement of Rutgers in the final team standings.

These are the Prop Bets:

1. Spencer Lee will get a first-period pinfall in his first match at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
2. A team point will be deducted from Iowa's score during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
3. During the first commercial break after the beginning of the finals broadcast, there will be a commercial selling cars or trucks. (Y/N)
4. Carter Starocci will not give up a point in his first two matches during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
5. Nebraska will have three or more finalists at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
6. ILLINOIS will have a finalist at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
7. Maryland will have two or more semi-finalists at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
8. During broadcast of the finals, the cameras will catch a nervous coach with his finger in his nose (must be visually confirmed/actual nasal cavity penetration) (Y/N)
9. Taylor Lamont will wrestle and beat Kyle Burwick during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
10. The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Spencer Lee (Y/N)
11. The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Yianni Diakomihalis (Y/N)
12. At least two champions of the 2023 B1G tournament will do backflips or somersaults of some kind (Y/N)
13. The final team standings at the 2023 B1G tournament are as follows: [write names of teams]

ABOUT THE PRIZES

The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond t-shirts are made of 100% fabric and come complete with two or more armholes and a neckhole. They will be delivered to you free of charge by people who make a living delivering such things.


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[ChiefIllini1]

You can read the full Volume 3 Preview of the B1G Tournament at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond. All ten brackets are examined in an ILLINI-specific way, with special attention provided to the wrestlers who need to win some matches to earn a ticket to the Big Dance.

SAMPLE:

"Danny Pucino got the #6 seed instead of the #4 seed that he deserved. In another mysterious move, the coaches gave that #4 seed to Frankie Tal Shahar, who the ILLINI beat, and who DUCKED his last dual against Purdue's Parker Filius. Totally bogus, man.

As the #6 seed, Danny will face Joseph Zargo of Wisconsin in the first round. Zargo is 9-10 on the year, and is on a five-match losing streak. Those five matches were mostly against top ten wrestlers, though. He wrestled up a weight against ILLINOIS and came away with a 9-7 win over Jake Harrier. He's very strong, so Pucino will need to use his technique and quickness against him."

[Fighting Scot]

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PROP BETS

Your good friends at the ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond are sponsoring a contest in conjunction with the B1G wrestling tournament. The Winner gets two IWB&F&B t-shirts. Second place will receive one t-shirt. Here are the rules:

• Pick "YES" or "NO" for each of the prop bets listed.
• Pick the order of the final team standings for the tournament (tie breaker).
• The person with the most correct prop bet picks is the winner. Second place goes to the person with the second most correct prop bet picks.
• The tie breaker is the final team standings for the tournament. Ultimate tie breaker is the closest placement of Rutgers in the final team standings.

These are the Prop Bets:

1. Spencer Lee will get a first-period pinfall in his first match at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
2. A team point will be deducted from Iowa's score during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
3. During the first commercial break after the beginning of the finals broadcast, there will be a commercial selling cars or trucks. (Y/N)
4. Carter Starocci will not give up a point in his first two matches during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
5. Nebraska will have three or more finalists at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
6. ILLINOIS will have a finalist at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
7. Maryland will have two or more semi-finalists at the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
8. During broadcast of the finals, the cameras will catch a nervous coach with his finger in his nose (must be visually confirmed/actual nasal cavity penetration) (Y/N)
9. Taylor Lamont will wrestle and beat Kyle Burwick during the 2023 B1G tournament (Y/N)
10. The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Spencer Lee (Y/N)
11. The last match of the 2023 B1G tournament will involve Yianni Diakomihalis (Y/N)
12. At least two champions of the 2023 B1G tournament will do backflips or somersaults of some kind (Y/N)
13. The final team standings at the 2023 B1G tournament are as follows: [write names of teams]

ABOUT THE PRIZES

The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond t-shirts are made of 100% fabric and come complete with two or more armholes and a neckhole. They will be delivered to you free of charge by people who make a living delivering such things.


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1. Yes, Spencer Lee gets a first period pin to kick off the tournament.
2. No points deducted for Iowa.
3. No car/truck commercials during first commercial break. I predict an ad for anti-fungal soap.
4. No, Carter Starocci will not shut out his opponents in first two matches. He’ll cut guys loose for the takedowns.
5. Yes, Nebraska will get three or more finalists.
6. Yes, Illinois will have a finalist.
7. No, Maryland will not have two or more semi-finalists.
8. No nose picking will be spotted in the finals, but the quarterfinals will have big-time boogers.
9. Yes, Taylor Lamont will wrestle and beat Kyle Burwick. I flipped a coin to decide.
10. No, the last match will not involve Spencer Lee.
11. No appearance by Yianni Diakomihalis unless the transfer portal operates at warp speed.
12. Yes, there will be at least two championship backflips or somersaults.
13. Final standings 1. Penn State 2. Iowa 3. Nebraska 4. Ohio State 5. Michigan 6. Northwestern 7. Minnesota 8. Wisconsin 9. Illinois 10. Rutgers 11. Michigan State 12. Purdue 13. Maryland 14. Indiana

[ChiefIllini1]

Good luck, Fighting Scot! I still haven't watched the Finals--no BTN for me--so I'll check it out later tonight when it shows up at BTN+.

[Nelson*0.5]

Another disappointing Big Tens for the Illini. A promising looking young team peaked way too early and was not ready for the most important tournament of the year thus far. 125 is still a huge problem and Cardani possibly returning does nothing to create optimism for next year. Lucas Byrd is still Lucas Byrd and he's pretty damn good. It was obvious that not many were ready for Nagao, even RBY who got ridden out and gave up a riding time point to end the match. Not sure where Byrd ends up in Tulsa, but I fully expect him to be on the podium. Whether or not it is higher than the past 2 years is an unknown. 133 has some tough hombres throughout the country, and Byrd is one of them. Pucino was very disappointing at 141 after racking up some very impressive wins early in the season. Harrier is undersized at 149. I love the way he scraps, but he is merely holding the place until someone better suited for the weight arrives (Webster?). Mikey Carr at 157 performed pretty much exactly as you'd expect from a guy who hardly wrestled at all this season. It was nice to see him back, but anyone who was really expecting more was a bit delusional. I believe that he would have been much better suited to earn an NCAA berth had he practiced and competed all season, but alas some things are more important than college wrestling. Good luck to you in your promising future, Dr. Carr. While Danny Braunagel at 165 DID qualify for NCAAs, he did so with a 1 win 3 loss record. Of course 165 is a very deep weight class, but Danny has been our starter here for 4 years and really has not improved vs the top guys in the country. He lost yet again to Northwestern's second string 157 pounder, i.e. Maxx Mayfield, after beating him at the Midland and losing to him in the dual. He did manage an 8th place finish, but lost to the 9th place wrestler. Not a whole lot to be optimistic about there. At 174, proved that the loss to the MN wrestler in the dual was not a fluke by losing to him again. He picked up a couple of decisions over a couple of .500 wrestlers. He lost to a very talented Smith from OSU for a second time this season by a similar margin as he did early in the season. He lost to Nelson Brand handily after eeking out a win against him in the dual a couple of months ago. While Ruth continues to be a bright spot for the Illini, he followed a 20 match win streak by going .500 in his last 10 matches. He does not open up nearly enough, but has the talent to sneak on to the podium in Tulsa. But, he also has the inconsistency to go 2 and out. Zac Braunagel has a nice tournament, but finished it out losing to a guy he beat in the second round. It happens. He has gone 2-2 against the Maryland wrestler on the season. I won't let it take anything away from the great season he has had. He picked up a nice win against Caffey after losing to him a few weeks ago. He's in the tournament in a VERY difficult bracket. I'm going to guess he'll be around a 9 or a 10 seed. He'll have to wrestle the tournament of his life to place, but I would not count him out with how he has been wrestling this season. Finally, Wroblewski finished his very mediocre career for the Illini going 0-2 in a bracket that was very talented up top, but very underwhelming on talent after the top 6. In total, the Illini had 2 wrestlers wrestle up to their seed in Byrd and Connel. Everyone else wrestled below their seed, unless of course you want to credit Harrier who lost every match he wrestled by placed 10th due to 2 medical forfeits. I'm sure the coaching staff finds this very concerning. Year 2 in the Poeta regime at least from a Big Ten perspective looks very similar to the former regime. I still have optimism that Poetta and staff will turn things around, but I'm sure they will be looking for a modified approach to the last 5-6 weeks of the season in the coming seasons.

[ChiefIllini1]

For a cool breakdown of the ILLINI B1G tournament with paragraph breaks and with a list of the NCAA qualifiers (alas, Pucino didn't get an at-large bid) check out The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond.

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SAMPLE:

LUCAS BYRD

The Wyrd led the ILLINI again with a third-place finish. If it hadn’t been for the “Gopher Choker”—yes I’m going to start calling Aaron Nagao the Gopher Choker—it would’ve been even better. Also, interesting to me and perhaps nobody else, Lucas Byrd finished third, while Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez, the two seed, finished sixth. This isn’t hindsight is 20/20; no, this is knowing that Lucas Byrd is a proven commodity, a warrior who has been there, done that.

We still didn’t get the Byrd-RBY match that the universe demands.

Byrd started out with a pinfall in 4:12 over Jackson Cockrell of Maryland. He then lost to the referee who allowed the Gopher Choker to avoid contact for seven minutes while employing his choke ride and using a front headlock for a cumulative 2:00 during the match.

After that, the ILLINI beat former high school teammate Dustin Norris from Purdue 7-3, beat Rutgers’ Joe Heilmann by major decision 8-0. Next, he dealt another loss to Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin, this by the score of 6-1. Finally, Lucas beat old foe Chris Cannon in SV 3-1 to win third. One loss and some very high-profile wins will equal a nice seed in the Big One.

Against such outstanding wrestlers as Dylan Ragusin and Chris Cannon, Lucas Byrd has an eye-popping 9-1 career record. Also, the unassuming-in-person-Lion-on-the-mat won two matches with bonus for the ILLINI.

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DYLAN CONNELL

Like Ruth, Connell is in his first year (of hopefully many years) in the starting lineup, and like his teammate, Dylan earned an automatic bid to the Big Party. He started out his tournament with a really tough SV (2-4) loss to a real good wrestler in Rutgers’ Brian Soldano. I was watching his match with Lenny Pinto of Nebraska (and even rewound it a couple of times) and couldn’t tell how he got injured. In any event, at :57 of a scoreless match, it seemed Dylan’s head might have come into contact with Pinto’s knee.

I was worried for him.

The ILLINOIS schoolboy four-timer could not continue the match. Surprisingly, he rebounded the next day to trounce Purdue’s Ben Vanadia and Northwestern’s Evan Bates to earn his bid in the ninth-place bracket. It was a bit of a shock to see him wrestle so well after such a devastating injury the day before. Tough kid!

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[ChiefIllini1]

Winners of the Prop Bet Contest have been announced, and Fighting Scot is one of them. Check out the post here at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond.

You can message me here, Mr. Fighting Scot, or send an email to thetortmaster@yahoo.com with your shirt size and a mailing address. Cheers!


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SAMPLE:

Second prizes and one t-shirt apiece are hereby awarded to every poster who got at least eight of the prop bets right. These include: FSL ILLINI (9 correct answers but sucked at the team race, ya homer), Ionel on Intermat (9 correct answers but didn't have a tie breaker with team standings), Mr. PeanutButter on Intermat (8 correct answers, got first four teams right in team standings) and Fighting Scot on ILLINOISMatmen (8 correct answers but did a brilliant job on the team race).




A reminder of what the prop bets were:


1. Spencer Lee will get a first-period pinfall in his first match at the 2023 B1G tournament (No, he did not.)

2. A team point will be deducted from Iowa's score during the 2023 B1G tournament (No, somehow Terrence and Phillip managed not to give up a team point.)

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8. During broadcast of the finals, the cameras will catch a nervous coach with his finger in his nose (This was close. Tom Brands went to his nose multiple times during the Spencer Lee interview, but didn't have penetration. Also, the PSU coaching staff during the Haines match had their hands cupped around their mouths the whole time, but you couldn't tell if they dug for gold. I suspect they did, but have no proof. Clever fellows!)

[NOTA BENE: I actually won $100 during a Super Bowl with this bet. The wager was that one of the coaches would go spelunking for a clingberry during the last five minutes of the game, and dadgumit!, Bill Cowher came through for me!]

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