Xmas32

Honestly, I don't hate it if this game gets cancelled. NU is 4-0 on the week and a loss to NMSU is honestly way more harmful than a win. No point in pushing for a game in the crappy weather and risking injury.

Inexcusable decision by Lovett there. I have no idea what he was thinking. I didn't see the CKLV match so I'm not sure if Henson just rode him but damn man if you choose top you basically have to turn him or ride him for the whole 2 minutes otherwise you're going to OT. No idea why the coaches urged Smith to take the bottom position against Barnett especially since Smith secured the 1st TD. Just dumb! Give your guy a fighting chance. Bummed about Pinto. He's a live by the sword die by the sword guy and we've seen him put himself into weird situations all year but he's always usually able to muscle out. Didn't work this time and he still almost came back. I predicted 5 AAs initially so I'm feeling a little smart but man, Nebraska is 2 dumb decisions away from 6 AAs and sitting in 3rd right now. Feels weird.

Agreed. We knew it was going to be tough sledding in most of the matches but was hoping maybe Smith or Pinto would be able to get over the hump

Alright boys it's moving day! Nebraska had a pretty darn terrific Day 1 but today is where the big points are because if you win this morning in the QFs, you lock up AA status. Let's jump in. As always, shout out Dylan from Corn Nation who does a great job covering the club: https://www.cornnation.com/ 125: Man, Smith has been electric so far this tournament. He gets another crack at Barnett who he's 0-2 against this year. Smith dropped a close decision to Barnett in the dual and if my memory serves, had Barnett in real trouble a couple times but Barnett funked out. Smith admittedly got hammered at Big Tens but that sometimes happens as Barnett is really tough on top. I'm not exactly going out on a limb here but if Smith can get the first TD and avoid needing to go underneath, that would be huge. Both guys have looked great so far in this tournament. Barnett is rightly the favorite but we're homers here, so let's say Smith gets it done. Now, if Smith drops his match he falls into a pretty favorable pod in the consi as the 4 wrestlers in there are all seeded lower than Smith. That being said, 125 is completely nuts so nothing would surprise me. 133: Van Dee had a nice win avenging a loss versus UNI in the first round before he just went up against a little better guy in Orine from NCST. I do think Van Dee got a little hosed in the 2nd period as I thought he did enough to warrant an escape but even if he gets the 1, Orine had racked up enough RT to get a point so Van Dee would've needed a TD either way. Van Dee has a tough road to hoe in the consis. I think he beats Wells from Minnesota but then he probably has to get by Latona of VT who is a 2x AA who is a tough cat. If we go full homer and say Van Dee beats Latona he'll have to beat either Frost of ISU the 8 seed or Daton Fix of Okie Lite who is the #1. Van Dee has had a great campaign, I just don't think he gets to the podium this year. 141: Hardy looked awesome yesterday. The funk was in full display and he handled Lemley nicely. He's got the 1 seed, Mendez of Ohio State who already owns a 11-3 win over Hardy at the CKLV. Mendez has looked tremendous this year and it will take a really special effort from Hardy to get past him. I don't think Hardy has the firepower to do it and will drop to the backside. The good news is, he, too gets a favorable pod. 2 of the 4 guys in there--Navy and Arizona State have already lost to Hardy by 4 and and 5 points respectively. Also, Cushing the NU backup beat the Purdue guy so you'd feel good about Hardy's chances. I'll stick with my original prediction of Hardy getting AA status. 149: Ridge did Ridge stuff. I didn't love him giving up the TD at the very end to Rooks but at this stage of the game, it's survive and advance. He's going to have a fist fight this morning with Swiderski of ISU, nothing out of the ordinary but ISU is going to try and ugly this thing up. Ultimately, I think Ridge gets it done and moves on like we thought. 157: Robb looked great and really blew it open versus Lewan which changed who the whole trajectory of the match. He's got Haines this morning from Penn State who has handled Robb previously and I think it just a level above right now. As with the other NU guys, he'll be favored in the blood round and should lock up AA status again. 165: Oh mama Taylor! He looked awesome in the 1st round and hung on for dear life against a really tough WVU guy. Taylor showed some great upper body work to go up 5-0 and did jusssssstttt enough to earn the win. His reward? Congratulations you get Keegan O'Toole from Mizzou, a 2x national champ who is arguably the best P4P guy in the tournament. On the backside, he isn't going to face anyone that is highly seeded. He's split with the AF guy and owns a win over Fish from MSU. He'll have to wrestle tough but he's got the skills to secure an AA finish. 184: The refs tried to cheat our boy Lenny with a terrible stall call but he overcame and now is in the QFs against Munoz. I predicted he'd beat Munoz to lock up AA but should he drop the match, he falls into a pod and if it breaks a certain way, will get a rematch with fellow beefcake Rogotztke of Ohio State who is strong like bull. Even if Pinto loses this morning I think he should have enough gas in the tank to secure an AA finish. 197: Allred was the beneficiary of a nice little upset and had a couple nice wins and finds himself in the QFs against Hidlay of NCST who is on a vision quest right now to wrestle Brooks of PSU. Allred beating Hidlay would be a massive upset which I don't see happening. In the blood round, I think he ends up catching either Smith of MD (yes please) or Cardenas of Cornell (no thank you). That being said, Cardenas looked terrible against Elam of Mizzou so maybe he's dinged up? If Allred gets Smith, he AAs, if it's Cardenas, total coin flip. HWT: Nash was outgunned in his first match like we thought. In the consis, he came within a whisker of getting a TD in SV to advance but unfortunately he had a little lapse on the edge of the mat and ended up giving up the TD and losing. Nash was understandably frustrated coming off the mat but he can hold his head high. Going from basically off the street and making the NCAAs in basically a semester is incredible. I'm revising my predictions from yesterday, I think Nebraska gets 6 AAs and if the cards break right, they can get 7 which would be a truly massive haul. GBR!

I thought the same thing but also figured Robb was thinking, "Just don't give up the big move". On no planet did he probably think he was going to land a 7 point move on Lewan haha.

Pretty terrific round 1 for Nebraska. Only loss was Nash at HWT which is not a surprise.

Big day today folks! Mat Madness kicks off at 11am CST https://www.ncaa.com/championships/wrestling/d1/broadcast-info I'm partial to ESPN+ as I love the ability to watch individual mats. https://www.cornnation.com/2024/3/18/24103868/wrestling-nebraska-in-the-trophy-hunt-going-into-ncaa-championships?_gl=1*8vgpg0* As for the Skers, every draw is tough of course. 125 and 133 both tough go's there. If either guy can get to the blood round, that would be pretty solid. 141--Hardy's draw for the first couple matches is manageable. He's got Pucino of IL now as the Cornell kid is out injured and then Hardy should catch Lemley of Michigan. Those 2 have split on the year but to me Hardy has the edge and if not for some poor mat awareness, would be 2-0 against Lemley. I'll give Hardy the benefit of the doubt that he gets his mind right and gets to the QF and most likely faces Mendez of OHST where I think he loses. He should have a winnable match in the blood round and secures AA honors. 149--Ridge should cruise to the QFs where he'll most likely bump into Chittum of Iowa State who is a tough customer and will try and bully it up against Lovett. From there he's onto the SF and probably gets another date with Henson of VT in a rematch from the Cliff Keens. It'll be another tough one but I think Ridge comes out on top. From there, it just feels like we're going to get Ridge/Gomez III although the bottom part of the bracket is loaded up with some tough dudes. Parco from ASU, Gomez and Arrington from NCST are no slouches and the part of the bracket is going to be a knife fight. I think Ridge gets it done and brings home the gold! 157--Robb gets Chumbley of NW who he's beaten a few times and then gets Lewan of Michigan most likely. Robb has had good success against Lewan so I'll give him the edge but then he runs into Haines of PSU where he'll most likely lose. In the blood round he'll have a winnable match and I think Robb secures not only another AA finish but also gets over the 100 career match win hump. I'm really rooting for him. 165-Taylor has been a great story this year. I think he wins his first match against PITT but drops his next one to Hall from WVU who is a tough cat. 165 in the Big XII is a murderers row this year. On the back side, I think Taylor can scrape together another couple wins but ultimately falls in the blood round. The experience should be huge for Taylor in what has been a really terrific freshman campaign. 184--It's AA or bust for Pinto this year. He gets a rematch against CAMP in what was a tight match in November before most likely getting a rematch with Bullock of UM who he's looked comfortable against. If the seeds hold he'll catch Munoz of Oregon State whom Pinto beat at CKLV last year. Let's give Big Len the benefit of the doubt and the AA status. He'll lose to Keckeseien of UNI in the SF as I believe Keckeseien is on a manifest destiny campaign to win the title this year after being so close for so long. I don't know how it happens but Pinto is going to match up with Truax again haha. 197--Allred has got a tough draw man. I think he gets by Geog of Ohio State but then he gets Glazier of IA who hammered him in the dual. Now, this was when Allred was looking terrible so I'm not sure how much of it was Glazier being a cut above versus Allred being hurt/sick. Still, while I think the match is closer, I'll give Glazier the edge. I think Silas can make the bloodround but he's most likely going to have to beat either Cardenas of COR or Beard from LEIGH and both those dudes are studs. Cardenas TF'd Allred at CKLV. I think Allred unfortunately falls short again. HWT--Anything Nash gives the team is basically gravy IMO. He has a tough opener against Schultz of ASU but should be able to peel off a win or two in the consis. If Nash can go something like 2-2, that would be tremendous. So, that gives NU 1 champ and 4 total AAs. I'm not sure if that's going to be enough to secure a top 4 finish. They might need one more AA out of either Allred or Taylor. Now, if Taylor AND Allred make the podium in addition to everything else? That's a path to finishing 2nd (nobody is going to come within 30+ points of PSU).

Most likely and I admit, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to AD career pathing. I think some take the athletic department route and climb up, some maybe come from being SIDs and others come from external organizations that have strong fundraising components.

From my perspective as a total outsider message board idiot your point makes sense to me. The two groups are fighting and joke, "What's Alberts gonna do, leave?" and then everyone laughs. Then, Alberts leaves and they realize that this is actually a serious issue and they act like...you know...adults and get it sorted out.

Would love to see a run back of yesterday's performance. Jump on the Bison early and hopefully cruise from there.

It was actually pretty nice yesterday which was good. Little cruddier today but at least the sun is out. Hopefully they can take care of business against NDSU.

This is just pure speculation on my part but I wonder if Gold had been in play this whole time but was getting blocked for political reasons. Alberts leaves, the BoR realizes they need to get their poop in a group, pushes forward the guy everyone wanted in the first place.

Great outing by mcconnaughey, he looked terrific out there. You can never have enough starting pitching.

https://www.cornnation.com/2024/3/18/24103868/wrestling-nebraska-in-the-trophy-hunt-going-into-ncaa-championships

Pretty excellent week last week. No real qualms splitting the series with Wichita State as they should be a pretty decent club this year and it allowed Harrahill to get an early taste of big time baseball. I expect him to be sharper in his next outing if they give him the ball again this week against NDSU. The schedule is shaping up really, really nicely so far. The early season losses don't sting as much as Oklahoma and Texas Tech both look solid and even Baylor won 2/3 from TTU this weekend so if they could get back to respectability that would be huge. This week is sneaky massive, not because the opponents are tough, but because the opponents all STINK this week. This is the worst Omaha team I've seen in the past 5+ years and NDSU is just not great either. Two sneaky landmines on Tue/Wed, the weather is going to be kinda sucky, just big time 'gotta take care of business' games. New Mexico State not as bad, they at least have a pulse. After this week, the non-con is pretty solid. You midweek games outside of SDSU are all against teams having solid seasons. KU/KState/Creighton all have pretty solid clubs this year and won't be RPI black holes if Nebraska drops a game to them.

Really nice job getting the series win over a scrappy Nicholls team. Man, you'd have to pay me a whole lotta money to go to the game today. Plenty of good seats available! It's gonna be nastyyyyy.

Anyone else cooking through The Gentlemen on Netflix? @teachercd show would probably be right up your alley. IIRC you mentioned that you liked the Guy Richie style British crime shows. I'm halfway through so far and I've enjoyed it quite a bit. It's pretty slick, has some good humor, pretty much a classic Guy Ritchie program except it's a TV show which is great because it's 8 hours of fun versus 2!

I kinda like Sears moving to Saturday as he's been just nails this season. With him in the Saturday spot, he can right the ship if you drop the series opener and if you win on Friday you love your chances turning the ball over to him to get the series win.

Weather looks ok this weekend, will be not great on Friday but Saturday should be nice. Sunday looks chilly, hopefully that plays into NU's favor.

There's a way to do things and a way to not do things. I will grant (and this will be the last time I bring this up ITT in order to not derail) that it wouldn't of mattered because Denney hated Trev's guts.

Oh geez are you telling me the guy that told the UNO wrestling program they were getting eliminated the night they won the national title is leaving again like a snake in the night? I for one, am shocked. Shocked I tell you! Rest in piss Alberts.

Agreed, tough beat for Bubba.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2024-03-12/ncaa-announces-large-selections-2024-di-wrestling-championships?fbclid=IwAR06TVQBxE1UO_UvURBF_zvmVIAiUYLKFY9QXOjDwsgbo9-p7BlbigoZM9E Darn, no dice for Bubba at 174. Maybe he'll be the alternate at 174 in case someone can't go. https://www.ncaa.com/_flysystem/public-s3/images/2024/03/12/24_D1Qualifers[80].pdf Just saw this, Bubba is the 2nd alternate.

All in all, hard to argue with the results from this weekend. If a couple more things broke right for Nebraska they finish in 2nd. 125--Smith is probably disappointed he didn't wrestle to his seed but all in all, I thought he was fine this weekend. He got taken down early by McKee and after that, it was tough because McKee is a hammer on top for most guys. He caught Ramos on the backside which was unlucky and dropped another and then he got hammered by Barnett who did not have a great tourney. 125 is a complete crap shoot and Smith probably has some confidence going into NCAAs seeing Davis win Big Tens. 133--I thought Van Dee had a nice tourney. He got the starch taken out of him by Nagao in the QF given up that early TD and then it was pretty much a wrap from there. Nice job battling back in the Consis although I didn't love the Teske match as he had that won in regulation and kinda brain farted there. 141--Little bit of a disappointing result for Hardy who should've been in the Semis. Just a really bad blunder there against Lemley in the QF giving away the match. Nice job coming back although I hope to goodness he doesn't need to wrestle Woods to AA because Hardy just doesn't match up at all against him. 149--Awesome job by Ridge beating Gomez again who is so, so dangerous. Great job on defense there at the edge when I thought Gomez was going to get him. I'd really like to see Gomez on the other side of the brackets at NCAAs. 157--Nice job by Robb getting 3rd. There seems to be a clear ceiling for him now as Franek and Haines are a cut above. Robb can definitely still AA but man, 157 is a meat grinder of a weight class. I can't be too critical of Robb because he's such a warrior. 165--Nice job by Taylor, wrestled to seed. He beat the guys he's supposed to beat and he lost to the guys that are a bit better than him. The future is super bright with him especially at 157. 174--Game effort by Bubba as always. He's undersized at 174 and that was clearly evident wrestling the two beefcakes from Ohio State (how is that dude a freshman!!) and Rutgers. I hope Bubba did enough to earn a WC so we'll see. 184--Weird being disappointed with Pinto finishing 3rd. He kinda wrestled like a dummy against Truax and I hope his lower leg injury isn't too serious. If you give Pinto a gas tank you'd get a better version of Salazar from Minnesota and that guy can win a national title. As it stands, Pinto has AA upside but I can also easily see him going 2-2 or something like that. 197--I know 197 is a little down this year in the Big Ten but I thought Allred handled himself nicely. He ran into Brooks and Brooks did Brooks stuff but I loved seeing him really put it on Smith from Maryland in the 3rd/4th match. Allred looked great this weekend and I hope he can carry that momentum into NCAAs HWT--Great job by Nash to qualify, tremendous story. Would be awesome if he could find a way to pick up a win or two which is possible if he gets the right draw.

100% agreed. Hardy's mat awareness there at the end was questionable at best. I think he got jobbed not getting NF but you gotta overcome it. Conditioning looked much, much better.