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.