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Chip

Mar 20 2002, 01:16 AM

You know, Minnesota is having a banner winter. An incredible run by the women's hoops team (way to go Brenda!), and I've already predicted an NCAA Championship for both ice hockey teams.
I'm doing it again...the Gophers will win the NCAA wrestling title for the first of three titles this winter. talk about Sears points!!

Why will Minnesota defend their NCAA title? Because they are deep. In tournaments like this, the depth is the key. You can win individual weight classes, but one title does not a team champion make. Two titles don't even a team champion make. In fact, as Minnesota proved, you can win the team title without winning an individual title.

This year, though, the Gophers should get at least two individual titles and very well could repeat the awesome feat of having an All-American at all 10 weight classes.

Iowa will provide the biggest test for the Gophers, but some of the guys that haven't been as strong on the national scene will have to step it up big time for them. A couple lucky breaks will help, but Minnesota is so deep.

The show spot is up for a grabs among a couple different teams, including both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, Michigan, and Iowa State...the usual suspects. The teams here that get their guys to capitalize on the upsets and even the bonus points will be key for the third place trophy.

First of all I have to give proper respect to Cael Sanderson, who is about to finish his collegiate career undefeated with four national titles. He has majored (at least) everyone this year save one. If nothing else, he deserves this one.

At 125, Abas will win over Minnesota's Vega. Holman from Okla State (by way of UNC) will face a tough repeat of the Big XII finals in the quarters against Ridings of OU, and if Vega gets past Lenhard from UPenn and then Eustice from Iowa, he'll beat Holman to get to the finals. Vombaur from Boise will get to the semis where he will lose to Abas, but he'll beat Holman for 3rd.

At 133, Minne's Ryan Lewis is my pick for the title. A BigTen title was a great motivator, and he's excited. The two best matches of the tourney should be the Douglas-Black match in the upper bracket and the Thompson-Durden match in the lower. Lewis over Thompson for the gold. Lewis is in Thompson's head.

At 141, there are going to be some great matches. Rankings this year have been all over the place, and the seedings are somewhat helter-skelter. I think that whoever wins the Gray-Larkin semifinal will win the title. Conley from Navy is wrestling with a lot of confidence and should come out of the top, but if he doesn't it will be Aaron Holker from ISU. Any one of these four could win the 141.

At 149, it's a matter of who is in charge...Jared Lawrence's heart or his mind. If he wrestles without the memory of losing regularly to Zadick, then he can take the title. If he thinks about it, mail the trophy to Iowa now. Jared Frayer had a great showing at Big 12s. He could give Zadick fits in a semifinal, more so than Billman will in the bottom half for Lawrence.

At 157, Becker has a couple touch matches in Bertin in the quarters and then Nakamura in the semis. In the top half, Snyder should sail through to the semis where he will face the winner of the Owen-Roller matchup. Roller should win and then it would be a rematch of the Big12 title match, won by Snyder. I like Becker in a match against Snyder.

At 165, I'm liking Joe Heskett, and the sentimentality helps here. He has been runner-up twice, and that experience will pay dividends. McMath will be a worthy opponent in the semis (assuming he gets by Henson of UPenn the round before). The Lackey-Lewis match will be a great one and I think that it will just be a matter of which one of the three of them (Heskett, Lewis, Lackey) has a solid tournament and controls the pace of the match.

At 174, it depends if Olson wants it bad enough. He won the BigTen title with a mediocre tournament. I'm predicting an upset loss to Greg Parker of Princeton in the semis. Parker is explosive and exciting, and that's not a great matchup for Olson. In the bottom half, while Koschek is the returning champion, he's struggled with injuries and Jones of West Virginia is wrestling with a lot of confidence right now, including a win over Koschek for the EWL title. Parker lost to Jones in the opening tournament of the season (his only loss), so a final between these two could be pretty fun to watch.

At 184, I think Damion Hahn of Minne and Andy Hrovat will get through to the semis in the lower bracket. Hahn bested Hrovat for the BigTen title, and the winner here should win the whole thing. Justus of Virginia Tech is winning, but he will face a tough match with Rob Rohn in the quarters. A Jessman Smith-Viktor Sveda matchup in the quarters could also be a big one, if it is a clean match. Both are capable of spacing out and giving the match away. If Justus gets by Rohn then he should take the Smith-Sveda winner and then in turn lose to the Hahn-Hrovat winner.

197. Cael Sanderson. Five wins here will give him a collegiate career record of 159-0. That's right. Zero. Nil. Zippo. No Losses Ever.
Oh yeah, in second place...Owen Elzen of Minne. He should beat Trange in the semis, thanks to his experience in the NCAA's last year and a grueling Big Ten tourney.

At HWT, fans are hoping for a rematch of the Big Ten title match between Rowlands (OSU) and Mocco (Iowa), which was won by Rowlands in the tie break. Isn't that always how it is in the HWT bracket? I think that's what will happen; Rowlands should get by Lowney in the semis and Mocco should beat OU's Crump. That will be a great semi. If Mocco acts like a freshman, then he will lose to Crump. If he plays it maturely, then he could win the whole thing.

Charlie in the Trees

Mar 20 2002, 01:41 PM

When? Where? Is any of it on TV?
Please do all of the work for us and allow us to not even make a minimal effort at obtaining information?

Chip

Mar 20 2002, 01:58 PM

oh, um, yeah....at the Pepsi Center in Albany this weekend. ESPN2 has finals on Saturday starting at 2pm. I'm not aware of any other tv coverage. I'll have to wait to get updates from up there; I won't be able to watch it so I will have to tape it.

beetarmee

Mar 21 2002, 03:32 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Charlie in the Trees:
When? Where? Is any of it on TV?
Please do all of the work for us and allow us to not even make a minimal effort at obtaining information?

NCAA wrestling finals on ESPN2 March 23, 7:30pm Eastern

Session 1 Photos
http://www.themat.com/specialevents/2002/d...div1/photos.asp

Hail Cael! I've seen Sanderson wrestle in person, and he's incredible, operating a whole different level from everyone else. A great artist (that's his major), or is that another thread.

Sanderson ESPN article with pic
http://espn.go.com/ncaa/s/2002/0320/1354873.html

Iowa State bio with pic
http://cyclones.fansonly.com/sports/m-wres...son_cael01.html

Sanderson Article with pic
http://cyclones.fansonly.com/sports/m-wres.../032700aaa.html

Sanderson USA Today sports
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/sto...r-sanderson.htm

Army and Navy have a couple strong competitors.

Army star
http://goarmysports.fansonly.com/sports/m-.../013002aaa.html

Navy star ranked #1
http://baltimoresun.com/sports/college/bal...rts%2Dheadlines

Action pic Navy tops Army
http://baltimoresun.com/sports/college/bal...rts%2Dheadlines

ESPN Cael Sanderson

Chip

Mar 21 2002, 05:18 PM

Some early news...#1 Justus got beat in the 1st round by Lundegreen from CS Fullerton, which really opened up the top bracket to Rohn from Lehigh.

Other upsets included McMath (165), who I thought might challenge into the semis. Some other seeds to fall were Rusak of ODU (174) and Carr of WVU (157). Other than that, everything seems to be going to form.

Cael 1-0 so far with a fall....

Chip

Mar 21 2002, 11:05 PM

Wow, I thought Vega would have trouble in the second round, but I thought it would be with Lenhard and not Noto. But now he's gone, which means that the points for Minne will have to come through the consies. He can do it, but boy he made things hard for himself. And with Volkmann losing, the Gophers will have some trouble...but then it's not like the Hawks of Iowa are making it a challenge with some early losses themself (Moffit).

Sean Gray (VPI) lost at 141, but like I said things are crazy at this weight. Larkin is pleased about that!

Chip

Mar 23 2002, 05:48 PM

Yeah Gophers!!
Minne won their second consecutive title with their depth and with solid bouts from people who weren't expected to win. But that's what makes the Gophers so dangerous. Seven All-Americans. Not the domination of last year, but still... Seven. Oklahoma didn't win a title (2 runners-up) and had six All-Americans and still finished second.

Hail Cael!
the match with Trange was exciting, but only because the question was whether or not he would pin him or major him. (He majored him 12-4). Simply amazing.

Most things went like I had imagined. I picked six of the ten champions, so that was pretty good . (And 13 of the 20 finalists!)

Mar 24 2002, 06:18 AM

I said it before on another post but simply put, Cael Sanderson should be Sport Illustrated's Sportman Of The Year. Today's NY Times barely mentions him.

beetarmee

Mar 24 2002, 01:58 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Chip:
Yeah Gophers!!
Minne won their second consecutive title with their depth and with solid bouts from people who weren't expected to win. But that's what makes the Gophers so dangerous. Seven All-Americans. Not the domination of last year, but still... Seven. Oklahoma didn't win a title (2 runners-up) and had six All-Americans and still finished second.

Roy Robertson

Apr 6 2002, 07:03 PM

Chip: Did you see the 184 finals match between Rob Rohn (LeHigh) and Josh Lambrecht (Okie State)? I wasn't there, alas, but I heard that Rohn's big move at the end had people on their feet speaking in tongues. Would love to find a picture of it.

Rob

Apr 7 2002, 08:43 AM

Thanks for the picture of Sanderson. Gotta love the package on him. Those singlets don't hide anything, do they.

sportinlife

Apr 7 2002, 02:17 PM

There's a miniature depiction of what a cover photo of Cael Sanderson as SI sportsman of the year might have looked like inside the latest issue.

The photo looks like a detail, without the ref, of the Tom Roske AP shot in the USA Today article.

Bittersweet for Sanderson fans maybe but all those letters they wrote made an impression.

beetarmee

Apr 16 2002, 11:52 AM

[quote]Originally posted by Roy:
Chip: Did you see the 184 finals match between Rob Rohn (LeHigh) and Josh Lambrecht (Okie State)? I wasn't there, alas, but I heard that Rohn's big move at the end had people on their feet speaking in tongues. Would love to find a picture of it.

ESPN2 re-broadcast NCAA wrestling finals at 2PM on Monday April 22.

ESPN re-broadcast 2PM on Thursday April 25.

Rohn's wins was awesome. Down 14-2 in 3rd he does a cement-mixer turning Lambrecht to his back with about 1:20 left. Took another minute to convert the pin. Watch it!

BeetArmee

Thumper

Apr 16 2002, 03:34 PM

Luckily I taped the whole championship off ESPN. I knew Cael would win and I wanted to see it. Incredible! Wish Coel Sanderson was wrestling, hot young man. To bad Oklahoma State didn't do better than we did. We're slowly loosing our winning heritage over the last decade. Still if you ever get to the OSU campus, go to the NCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame. Well worth it. Not a wrestler myself, (baseball) but did date one while a student at OSU. He taught me a new respect for the sport. One of the most pure forms of sport.

[ April 16, 2002: Message edited by: thumper ]

Roy Robertson

Apr 16 2002, 06:23 PM

Thanks, BeetArmee; I'll ask my friend redsoxbreath if he'll tape it for me. I see you are an Annapolis guy. Were you there two years ago when Navy hosted the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships? They did a wonderful job hosting, and reasonably well on the mat, (Mike Bigrigg!!) but what a lovely town, and campus too! My only complaint was that there were too many beautiful men.

Roy

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