The Voice of Reason.......

[thom67]

I believe MM will be an AA.

 

[AFHawk86]

Tobini's been the only one to make predictions after his Midlands assessment so I'll provide mine.

125- I'm not sure McD wins 9 out of 10 against Precin, but he's seen him and will know what to do next time. I'm going to predict 2nd at Nationals, because if rankings hold he'll face Precin in the semis and lose to Robles only because he's unfamiliar with him.

133- As President of the Tony Ramos fan club, I am willing to admit that it's time to let Clark take over (this is with the thought that Moore is not going to get another chance). Ramos is undersized and I think he should start his cutting now so that he can make 125 next year. I love the way he goes at it, but I believe Clark's defense may be able to allow him to place higher. 5-6 range at Nationals

141- When Marion is on the mat, I will adjust this weight. Ballweg is going to be good but he needs to get some confidence in his shot. He's got the attitude to be good and he doesn't quit, so if he starts shooting more be may be able to be a low AA.

149- I am willing to give elder Ballweg a pass as this was his first competition at his new weight and from what others were saying the cut was pretty hard. I think he gets better as the season goes on and will win a couple of matches on the backside at Nationals.

157- Was highly disappointed in DSJ. I remember Gable mentioning that he looks to his coaches when times get rough. I've only seen a couple of matches of him, but in high school and against ISU he looked confident and no one was going to beat him. Lately he's been off. I was pretty critical of him since, but there is talk that he has been injured. If indeed he is injured, then he may not heal in time this year if he keeps wrestling thru it. As of now, he probably wins a couple matches on the front side and loses the rest at nationals to miss being an AA.

165- I hope the decision has been made to leave Janssen in. I like guys who shoot rather than trying to counter. Kerr is good at the latter but he's not that good. If indeed Janssen is given the keys to the weight, I think his confidence grows and he pulls out 7-8 to AA.

174- I think that his confidence took a hit after he got waxed against Reader. If he can get on a roll and start to dominate he will be a good one. This could also be his last year in the lineup if Evans surpasses him. If he finishes high at Big Tens, then he will be an AA.

184- This weight is confusing, because GG apparently has bought in but is so inconsistent. As long as he gets a good draw and stays on the championship bracket, be can AA, but when he loses he will lose his confidence and not win another match at nationals.

197- I think he is going to surprise us in March. When his conditioning is in top gear and with his aggressiveness, he is bond to catch some breaks in Philly. Going out on a limb but a mid-tier AA.

HWT- In my opinion, things can only get better. I think he might be able to pull off a win on the front side and a couple on the backside and miss being an AA.

As a team, I'm not jumping off the bandwagon, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen this year. If these guys are as good as we think they are and Brands can fix whatever is ailing them (in my opinion, mental toughness) than they can make a run, if they get some help. I think we finish behind Cornell, PSU, and Ok St.

Good post pumpdog. I've noted our feelings after Midlands are based on previous expectations (very high for Hawk fans). Specifically, expectations were low for Ethan Lofthouse because he lost 2 matches coming into the tourney. His ranking fell to 20+ and our expectations fell. Now we have a more positive outlook on his chances to AA because he performed better than expected. Conversely, we expected Gambrall to win the tourney and he faltered the last few matches. Now the majority of posts have a more favorable expectation for Ethan and less favorable for Gambrall (both are ranked in the teens). That may change again after Okie State...

 

[CRwrestling]

I believe MM will be an AA.

It's not that I didn't beleive you, but the Joey Slaton saga was too fresh for me to believe that Montel would see the mat. I see now he's reinstated, assuming he's wrestling at the end of the season I agree we just got another AA.

 

[CRlightweight]

CRwrestling, would you "bet your balls" that the Hawks don't have any more AA's? Would you bet them that they have less than 3 AA's this year? I tend to think that we are closer to having 4-5 AA's than we are to having only 1. Most all of the problems from last week are mental and can be fixed.

The imfamous preseason quote from Brands was that the young guys would either "get tough or poop there pants." Obviously they dirtied there pants when things got tough last week after being tough early in the year. Remember that this was the first 2 day competition for the Hawks this year and the first real tough competition outside of ISU. They got down but now they have a lot of work to do to build back up. Now you know why they aren't going to National Duals the very next weekend. I look for this team to get tough and get on a roll to end the year. I don't know that they will win the national title but I think that they'll be top 5 and I wouldn't "bet my balls" that they can't get it done!!

See, this is what scares me so much. the fact that they are mental issues. If you ever work with college wrestlers, fixing technical issues, adding strength, cutting weight, etc. etc are the easy things to fix. Teaching guys mental toughness, fight, confidence or other mental issues is much, much more difficult. that's why people like Ramos so much. Sure he has issues but seems to have the mental side down. I'm just concerned that these guys should be further along than they are. Sure they are young but most have been in the room 2,3,4 years. Hopefully Tom can get them turned around. If anyone can, it's him.

 

[pin2win]

u have a great point CR...college athletics is all about heart and strength and not so much skill...in high school these kids can get away with just their skill and no mental or physical strength....this hit home a bit for me because that was my #1 problem in college