2011 Big Ten Wrestling Tournament - Championships Brackets, Results, Pre-Seed Posted

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference has announced the preliminary seeds for the 2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, which are set to take place from March 5-6 at Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University. The pre-seeds, which rank the top eight wrestlers in each of the 10 weight classes, are decided based on a vote by the conference coaches.

Wrestlers from four schools have been chosen as No. 1 seeds for this year?s championships. Penn State leads the way with five top seeds, while Wisconsin has earned three and Iowa and Michigan have each received one No. 1 seed. Minnesota is the lone Big Ten team to have a seeded grappler in each of the 10 weight classes.

The fourth-ranked Nittany Lions will send five No. 1 seeds to the mat this weekend, as Andrew Long (11-1 overall record at 133 pounds), Frank Molinaro (25-2 at 149), David Taylor (31-0 at 157), Ed Ruth (29-1 at 174) and Cameron Wade (26-4 at 285) have each earned top billing in their respective weight classes. Ruth and Taylor enter the weekend ranked No. 2 nationally in their classes by the NCAA Coaches Panel, while Molinaro owns a No. 3 ranking, Long sits at No. 5 and Wade is ranked No. 6.

The Badgers, ranked 15th in the nation, picked up three top seeds in Andrew Howe (18-2 at 165), Travis Rutt (26-1 at 184) and Trevor Brandvold (11-0 at 197). Howe, the reigning national champion at 165, is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation. After winning an individual conference title at 197 last season, Brandvold holds a No. 3 ranking entering the weekend, while Rutt is ranked No. 2 at 184.

Reigning national champion Matt McDonough holds a 20-1 record at 125 for Iowa this season en route to the class? top seed. The Hawkeye sophomore is ranked No. 2 in the country entering the championships. Michigan?s Kellen Russell boasts a 30-0 record this season, earning the top seed at 141. Russell, a two-time Big Ten Champion, enters the weekend as the top-ranked grappler at 141.

Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin will each bring nine seeded wrestlers to the championships, while Penn State boasts eight and Northwestern holds seven. After clinching their fourth-straight conference regular season dual-meet title this season, the Hawkeyes will look to earn their fourth consecutive Big Ten Championships title. The 2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships pre-seeds can be found below.

2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships Pre-Seeds

125 lbs.

1. Matt McDonough, IOWA
2. Brandon Precin, NU
3. Zach Sanders, MINN
4. Brad Pataky, PSU
5. Sean Boyle, MICH
6. Justin Brooks, IND
7. Camden Eppert, PUR
8. Tom Kelliher, WIS

133 lbs.

1. Andrew Long, PSU
2. Tyler Graff, WIS
3. Tony Ramos, IOWA
4. B.J. Futrell, ILL
5. Levi Mele, NU
6. David Thorn, MINN
7. Zac Stevens, MICH
8. Ian Paddock, OSU

141 lbs.

1. Kellen Russell, MICH
2. Montell Marion, IOWA
3. Mike Thorn, MINN
4. Jimmy Kennedy, ILL
5. Andrew Alton, PSU
6. Kaleb Friedly, NU
7. Jake Fleckenstein, PUR
8. Shane McQuade, WIS

149 lbs.

1. Frank Molinaro, PSU
2. Andrew Nadhir, NU
3. Kurt Kinser, IND
4. Eric Terrazas, ILL
5. Cole Schmitt, WIS
6. Eric Grajales, MICH
7. Dan Osterman, MSU
8. Danny Zilverberg, MINN

157 lbs.

1. David Taylor, PSU
2. Derek St. John, IOWA
3. Jason Welch, NU
4. Colton Salazar, PUR
5. Paul Young, IND
6. Brandon Zeerip, MICH
7. Sean McMurray, MSU
8. Matt Mincey, MINN

165 lbs.

1. Andrew Howe, WIS
2. Colt Sponseller, OSU
3. Cody Yohn, MINN
4. Aaron Janssen, IOWA
5. Conrad Polz, ILL
6. Dan Yates, MICH
7. Ryan LeBlanc, IND
8. Kevin Bialka, NU

174 lbs.

1. Ed Ruth, PSU
2. Nick Heflin, OSU
3. Scott Glasser, MINN
4. Luke Manuel, PUR
5. Ethen Lofthouse, IOWA
6. Ben Jordan, WIS
7. Justin Zeerip, MICH
8. Curran Jacobs, MSU

184 lbs.

1. Travis Rutt, WIS
2. Kevin Steinhaus, MINN
3. Grant Gambrall, IOWA
4. Ian Hinton, MSU
5. Tony Dallago, ILL
6. A.J. Kissel, PUR
7. Cody Magrum, OSU
8. Quentin Wright, PSU

197 lbs.

1. Trevor Brandvold, WIS
2. Luke Lofthouse, IOWA
3. Logan Brown, PUR
4. Matt Powless, IND
5. Sonny Yohn, MINN
6. Anthony Biondo, MICH
7. Joe Barczak, ILL
8. Peter Capone, OSU

285 lbs.

1. Cameron Wade, PSU
2. Ricky Alcala, IND
3. Blake Rasing, IOWA
4. Tony Nelson, MINN
5. Ben Apland, MICH
6. Eric Bugenhagen, WIS
7. Joe Rizqallah, MSU
8. Ben Kuhar, NU

Are teeth being gnashed about Andrew Long's #1 seed, or are you alright with it?

Im sure it was a tough decision and may still be changed since these are just preseeds. However. Ramos has not lost in Big Ten competition and has beaten Long and not wrestled Graff. I know he lost to Futrell at Midlands but McD also lost to Precin there and he is seeded ahead of him based on his win in a conference dual.

It doesnt really matter to me though. Ramos was going to have to beat either Long or Graff in order to win it if he had the one seed. Now he's just got to beat them both and I think he's wrestling very well right now and has a good chance of doing it.

Interesting match ups for PSU based upon the pre seeds

125
Pataky vs McD in the semis

133
It seems that the B10 is looking at what I was looking at & that is the entire B10 record & overall record. Based upon that Long has one defeat, Graff 2 & Ramos 3. Long will get Futrell again in the semis & then the Graff-Ramos winner in the finals. Graff-Ramos will be great to see.

141
Alton will have to face Kennedy in the Quarters. His reward for winning that? A 4th match vs Russell! And if he can get to the finals a rematch vs Thorn or Marion. But we knew this...All 5 could be in the quarters & meet again @ the NCAAs.

149
Frank will have to face the kid who gave him the hardest time all year in Zilverberg as an 8th seed.

157
Looks like a DSJ rematch in the finals.

165
No matter who we put in there they will have to face Howe in the quarters & avoid getting decked. Then an uphill battle in the wrestle backs to get a trip to the NCAAs.

174
Ruth looks like he will have to face the one kid he didn't all year in Heflin.

184
Quentin will have to go through Rutt in the quarters in order to get anywhere which he is capable of doing. I think somewhere this weekend we will see the Q we know probably in the wrestle backs on his way to a 3rd or 4th place & a trip to the NCAAs where he has a great chance to redeem his season.

197
I expect Ruggear to go 1-2 or 2-2. If he can sneak into 7th ot 8th that will be a bonus for PSU.

285
Cam will have to face the Nelson-Apland winner in the semis. This actually has me concerned. Call it a hunch but I worried that he goes down here & ends up 3rd. Might cost PSU a shot @ the team championship after a year of coming through in the clutch several times this year.

Pataky, Alton & Wright are all capable of wrestling above their seeds. If Cam can over one of 2 kids who gave him problems last time out & one of those 3 can get above their seed, PSU has a chance to win their 1st B10 team title.

In the duals this year, PSU did a good job getting bonus most of the time. Molinaro & Ruth will have to really step it up this week.

NoVa Lion figured this out below:

Based on those seeds here are the projected team scores. This only includes points for advancement and placement, not bonus points.

PSU 132.5
Iowa 122
Wis 106
Minn 90
Mich 80
NW 68.5
Purdue 60
Ill 58
Ind 56
OSU 44.5
MSU 32.5

KR I agree with a lot of what you said except for pataky wrestling above his seed. I guess he could maybe get third over Sanders, but I'm taking Zach especially with Pataky's health concerns. The top two spots at 125 are spoken for unless there is a massive upset. Not much room to climb for pataky. I do def agree with Alton and Wright having the potential to far outplace their seeds.

As I noted earlier, I think PSU has a better shot of placing ahead of Iowa in the NCAA's than the Big 10's. Yes, based on preliminary seedings PSU has the intial lead, but with most of PSU's seeds being #1, there is not a lot of room to move up. Iowa, on the other hand has 133, 141, 149, 174, 184(?), and Hwt (?) with real possibilities of placing above seeds. In light of that PSU has to hit on all cylinders or I think Iowa will win the Big 10's. But, at the NCAA's it could be a different story. I would not be surprised to see both PSU and Wisconsin place above Iowa at the NCAA's. Just my opinion for whatever it's worth (which isn't much!).

Honestly, I dont know how they should have sorted out 133. I would not have expected Long to be there, and I think arguments can be made for all 3. It would seem like Graff should be the 1 seed given his history and resume from this year. Long basically benefited from not wrestling much.

I don't like Ramos' match up against Graff though, so he's looking at a 3rd or 4th place finish imo.

Hawks have their work cut out for them with their draws.
125: Mcd cruises to finals
133: Ramos has Graff in Semis-As I said previously I dont like this matchup for Ramos.
141- Marion has Thorn in Semis-I like Marion again, but Thorn was money last year this time.
149- Mark Ballweg unseeded-I think he slips into top 8 personally.
157- DSJ v. Welch in semis-I'd expect DSJ to beat Welch again.
165- Jannsen v. Howe in semis-barring injury Jannsen won't sniff finals.
174- Ethen will have manuel in Quarters and Ruth in Semis. He's not makin finals.
184-Gambrall v. Steinhaus-Winnable for GG, nice shot to make finals.
197-LL will not have to worry about Yohn to make the finals and I think that's a good thing. Logan Brown is VERY Physical and huge. I wonder how that will bode for Luke who is not a big 97 and can get horsed off his shots. Don't think that's a great matchup for Luke, but I think he should win.
285-The Battle of the planets and I'll go with Rasing over Alcala. Though Rasing lost to Alcala earlier I like his chances in the rematch.

So there it is. If I had to guess the Hawks will get 6(max) in the finals and wind up with 2 champs, 4 runners up. 3 in the top 4 and 1 in the top 8.

QW has given no indication of improvement since he came back from injury.

If anything he has looked worse as the season has gone on. I'm doubting very seriously he is capable of a high placement at Big 10s.