Big Twelve Wrestling Championships this weekend

[MiccoMacey]

Going off memory, so please feel free to fill in holes as you see them. Some good story lines of you follow wrestling. The four Bog Twelve teams that have a wrestling program, plus some add-in teams for wrestling only.

125 - Ryan Millhoff in finals against OSU's returning All-American Eddie Klimara. Klimara has to be favored, but Ryan beat him in their last match, in Stillwater no less.

133 - Returning Natuonal Champion Cody Brewer in the finals against the only guy who beat him last year, All-American Earl Hall from Iowa State.

141 - Trae Blackwell lost first round. Will probably be out soon if not already. Will not qualify for NCAA tournament.

149 - True freshman Davion Jefferies with a pin in the semi's puts him in the finals against OSU's Anthony Collica, who may be the hottest wrestler in the country.

157 - Brock Wingbermuehle out.

165 - Clark Glass loses in semi finals. Probably needs to win a match or two to secure his qualifying for the NCAAs.

174 - Matt Reed loses a heartbreaker in OT in the semi finals. See Clark Glass above for NCAA chances.

184 - Anthony Dixon loses early, probably out soon. Will not qualify for NCAAs.

197 - Brad Johnson loses early, has already one a consolation match. Probably needs to finish high to qualify for the NCAAs.

285 - Ross Larson loses in semi finals. Real good shot at qualifying for the NCAAs.

I think we're still in second place, behind OSU who has nine in the finals.

 

[MdSooner#1]

Yeah, I think OU gets 6 in the NCAA Tourney. I feel the same about our wrestling coach Mark Cody as I do our baseball coach Hughes.


We are OU and can do better than these two.

 

[hOUston...]

Yeah, I think OU gets 6 in the NCAA Tourney. I feel the same about our wrestling coach Mark Cody as I do our baseball coach Hughes.


We are OU and can do better than these two.

Oh so true.

 

[MiccoMacey]

141 - Trae Blackwell took 4th place. Will probably not qualify for the NCAA tournament.

165 - Clark Glass takes third, will probably qualify for the NCAA tournament.

174 - Matt Reed takes third, will probably qualify for the NCAA tournament.

285 - Ross Larson takes third, will probably qualify for the NCAA tournament.

OU is in second place ahead of Iowa State, with just the finals left. OSU has it wrapped up with nine in the finals.

We'll be favored in one final and underdog in the other two.

 

[MiccoMacey]

Just some general stuff about our team. Please feel free to add/correct me where I'm wrong.

125 - Last year, freshman Ryan Millhof took 4th out of four. This year, he is a sophomore and the Big Twelve Champion, beating the OSU's 7th ranked and returning All-American Eddie Klimara for the second straight time after losing to him approximately 1,458 straight times. Great job by all the coaches, including former OU great Sam Hazewinkle who's working with him and Cody Brewer while Sam trains for the Olympics. Probably won't AA this year, as it's just so loaded with returning former AA's and great kids. Ryan looks like he'll have a good future for OU.

133 - Cody Brewer graduates after this year. More than likely a high place winner this year, making him a 3x All American and at least one time national Champion for OU for his career. Not sure who's going to replace him. Most likely candidate is true freshman Sean Deshazer, a 3x state champion out of Kansas who's redshirting this year. He was ranked as high as #3 at 132 his senior year in high school, 2x High School All-American.

149 - Davion Jefferies is a true freshman and placed 2nd, losing to Collica who's just on fire right now. Davion looks like he'll turn out to have a pretty good future for us. But most true freshmen get bet up pretty good their first year out of high school. See Ryan Millhof. I won't be surprised if he drops to 141 next year. He's a thin, more lanky kid with tons of athleticism.

165 - Clark Glass is a senior and is a good, decent college wrestler. Took third this year at the Big Twelve tournament. Probably won't AA, but will probably win a few matches at the NCAA tournament this year before he goes out.

174 - Matt "The Dude" Reed is a junior this year, and kind of a more athletic Clark Glass with just a little more upside IMO. Great explosive first move, pretty good defense, but doesn't open it up very often. I'd like to see a lot of improvement by next year.

285 - Ross Larson is a junior and has flirted around the top 15 all year long. Took 3rd at the Big Twelve tournament last year and this year. He has the potential to beat some decent opponents at the NCAA tournament, and has a win over Austin Marsden earlier in his career. I won't predict him being an AA this year, but I won't be surprised if he does, either. Should be looking at a top eight ranking at the beginning of next year.

 

[TSOU89]

Obviously you have a pretty good idea of how our current starting roster has wrestled and will finish out the season. I'll admit my disgust with the coaching situation has caused me to not be as good as a fan as I should be.
Which leads me to this. Why don't we cut Cody loose and let Lightner take over. Maybe Sam will come back after the Olympic trials as an asst to Lightner. I have a few contacts to some wrestlers/parents of wrestlers and I'm not liking the vibe I hear coming from the kids regarding Cody. I really think he's outta touch with kids and/or has some unrealistic expectations in some ways.
Thoughts?

 

[Plainosooner]

Whatever happened to the three brothers who were recruited in the same year a few years ago?

 

[MiccoMacey]

Obviously you have a pretty good idea of how our current starting roster has wrestled and will finish out the season. I'll admit my disgust with the coaching situation has caused me to not be as good as a fan as I should be.
Which leads me to this. Why don't we cut Cody loose and let Lightner take over. Maybe Sam will come back after the Olympic trials as an asst to Lightner. I have a few contacts to some wrestlers/parents of wrestlers and I'm not liking the vibe I hear coming from the kids regarding Cody. I really think he's outta touch with kids and/or has some unrealistic expectations in some ways.
Thoughts?

In all honesty, I have very little contact with any of the wrestlers or their parents. This is just my assessment of what I've seen/read elsewhere.

We definitely have some good upcoming kids. I hate this moniker/excuse, but we are a relatively young team. Only one senior (Cody Brewer), in our starting lineup.

Senior:
Cody Brewer (133)

Juniors:
Clark Glass (165)
Matt Reed (174)
Brad Johnson (197)
Ross Larson (285)

Sophomores:
Ryan Millhof (125)
Trae Blackwell (141)
Shayne Tucker (149/157 - started most matches last year, Big Twelve champ last year as well)
Andrew Dixon (184)

Freshmen:
Noah Teaney - (141 a few matches this year)
Davion Jefferies (149)
Brock Wingbermuehle (157)
Lance Dixon (184)
Joel Dixon (197)

We also have some good true freshmen waiting in the wings. I already mentioned Sean Deshazer, but also Hayden Hansen was a highly rated kid coming out of HS last year.

With our current qualifiers, we should place anywhere inside the Top 15-20, maybe even better if we get an upset here or there. Is Joe C going to replace a head coach that just placed second in the Big Twelve tournament and placed top 20 at the NCAAs? Especially since that's a huge step over last year? When we've been ranked inside the top 10 most of this season? I'm doubting it.

I bet he continues to monitor, and as long as Mark is making progress each year why would you fire him? For whom? An unproven Head Coach? I love Lightner, and Hazewinkel, but if you're going to make a change because we're not as accomplished as some would like (me included), you go for an experienced coach at a good DI program, not necessarily two hometown favorites.

But yes, if you want to take a chance on an up-and-comer, Lightner isn't a bad choice at all. I'm not sure how accomplished at recruiting he or Maple or Howe are, but they've all got the credentials and youth to do so.

 

[MiccoMacey]

Whatever happened to the three brothers who were recruited in the same year a few years ago?

It's hard for triplets...in theory, they are all going to be somewhere around the same weight. So two are probably going to be wrestling up or down a weight from their natural weight. That's tough to do in college.

Most thought they were good recruits (me included), but that they were more "projects" than immediate impact kids. Great kids, great students, great workout room partners...they'll help make everyone else better as well. But Joel seemed to have the most upside (he was the most accomplished coming out of high school, I believe). He wrestled for the USA team against the Pennsylvania kids in the Dapper Dan Classic, the other two represented just the OK All-Stars. And I know Joel was in the finals at Fargo in 2013.

Where they will fit in the roster going forward is beyond me. Like all OU fans, I'll be rooting for them, just like I'm rooting for all of them to do well.

 

[MdSooner#1]

OU did in fact finish 2nd in the Big 12 wrestling Championship.

OSU won with 161 points
OU had 100 and
ISU had 87


As I thought we got 6 wrestlers in the NCAA tourney. I think the best we could hope for is to finish around 18th or so in the country.

 

[MiccoMacey]

OU did qualify six. Here are there outlooks:

125 - Ryan Millhof gets the #5 seed. He's gets #4 Gilman in the quarters, and hopefully #1 Tomasello in the semis. Not a bad draw.

133 - Cody Brewer gets the four seed, and he only has two losses. Would like to have seen the current Big Twelve champion and returning National Champion get the three seed over a kid that didn't win his conference. Plus, that puts the two and three seeds who are from the same conference on the same side in the semis. Unless they're trying to guarantee a finalist for their conference, it might have been better to split those two. But, like everybody else, in order to be the best you have to beat the best. He's going to have to go through #1 Nashon Garrett at some point, the only kid in the tournament who's beaten him.

149 - Davion Jefferies gets the #3 seed Mayes from Missouri. That's not as bad as it sounds. Davion lost nust 4-2 to Mayes a few months back. It's a decent/good chance for an upset.

165 - Clark Glass got the 15 seed. Doesn't help him much, but it's nice to be thought of. Congrats, you get #2 Jordan in the second round.

174 - Matt Reed gets the #3 seed from Missouri. Blaise Butler pinned Matt last time. Would be good to see how he does if he stays off his back.

285 - Ross Larson is unseeded, and draws the 12 seed, then #5 Adam Coon from Michigan, then #4 Austin Marsden from OSU. That's a tough row to hoe.