Mizzou Northern Iowa ODU to the MAC!

[r.payton@att.net]

Russ I think you'll be suprised by UNI. This year they are very young but after a year of experience I think they will be very good. Not Iowa/OSU good but good nonetheless. Here is the lineup I think they will have by the time Midlands rolls around.

125 Joe Colon
133 Levi Wolfensperger
141 Lazor/Reiter/Jauch
149 Tanner Hiatt
157 David Bonin
165 Jensen/Banach
174 Cody Caldwell
184 Ryan Loder
197 Cabell/Kettman
285 Beale/Krumwiede


Next years
125 Dylan Peters RFr
133 Joe Colon RSr
141 Levi Wolfensperger RJr
149 Hiatt/Reiter/Witte/Lazor

157 Hiatt/Witte/Jensen
165 Cooper Moore RFr
174 Cody Caldwell RSo
184 Ryan Loder RSr
197 Cabell/Bartell
285 Cody Krumwiede RSo

I think UNI has a fine young team ( and you'll notice I prefaced 125-141 on where Wolfs and Colon wrestle . ) They don't match up too well with CMU this year -125 Colon /roth and 133 Sentes /Wolfs and 184 Loder/bennett are worth admission alone .Plus i am very excited to see if Reiter does as well as i think he can .184 in the MAC just became a 3 deep race with Bennnett/Loder and Larsons fighting it out . Same with 133 .
From a fantasy owner's standpoint this merger is huge as a lot of seeming champs in the MAC just became 2nd or 3rd placers .

[r.payton@att.net]

the ONLY team w/o a top 20 guy is Northern illinois and I thunk smith is a top 20 guy . AWN/TOM rankings are out .

[ban basketball]

Ban--can you help me to understand that? My understanding is, that apart from the automatic qualifcation of a conference champ, all the rest of the # of qualifiers/weight are based on the national ranking criteria, isn't it? So, whether the conference has 6 or 10 teams, the # of qualifers is based on the rankings/criteria of the wrestlers at that weight in that conference, according to my understanding. I don't see how it would necessarily affect UNI's # of qualifiers. Help me out.

Believe it or not, I was writing my reply to this post when this site went down, so I'm trying again.

From memory...I am deliberately and completely ignorant of how the qualifying system works, but I do know that (1) UNI has far more slots available in the MAC than the WWC to get to the big dance and (2) Panther fans are thrilled that we have so many more slots available in the MAC than we did in the WWC.

I'm not sure how any of this works, but it tells this thick-skull that the MAC offers more opportunities for UNI wrestlers to get to the big dance than the WWC?

Is that right?

[ban basketball]

I also have to say that that UNI lineup over the next couple of years looks as good as anything I've seen in Pantherland in a LONG while!

[BlueBloodLion]

Believe it or not, I was writing my reply to this post when this site went down, so I'm trying again.

From memory...I am deliberately and completely ignorant of how the qualifying system works, but I do know that (1) UNI has far more slots available in the MAC than the WWC to get to the big dance and (2) Panther fans are thrilled that we have so many more slots available in the MAC than we did in the WWC.

I'm not sure how any of this works, but it tells this thick-skull that the MAC offers more opportunities for UNI wrestlers to get to the big dance than the WWC?

Is that right?

Ban,
I'm pretty sure that the entire system of automatic qualifiers from a few years ago is dead and gone. There are no longer a fixed number at each weight going into the season. Now, the number you get is based on the number of ranked guys at that weight in that conference that year. The "ranking" is a the qualifying system of rankings, not Intermat or AWN (or JenSen's mid-season) type rankings.
So the new conference could have fewer or more spots, but it would be weight by weight, and it would specifically be set by how strong that weight in that conference is. If you think more spots = more opportunity to qualify, then yes, that is certainly a possibility. But there should be stronger competition to earn those spots, so in theory, it should even out. Personally, I think that once you have 3 spots in a weight, it will work that way pretty well. If there are fewer and you HAVE to make (or worse win) the final to qualify, then one guy and/or a tough seeding in a bracket can blow the whole thing .

[Gantry]

the ONLY team w/o a top 20 guy is Northern illinois and I thunk smith is a top 20 guy . AWN/TOM rankings are out .

I think the Smith/Fanta combo at 133 & 141 will give NIU some wins but outside of that it could be trouble. NIU also has a high ranked recruit from Missouri (Ethan Davis) coming out of a 16-3 redshirt, he may push Fanta for the starting job.

[ban basketball]

Ban, I'm pretty sure that the entire system of automatic qualifiers from a few years ago is dead and gone. There are no longer a fixed number at each weight going into the season. Now, the number you get is based on the number of ranked guys at that weight in that conference that year. The "ranking" is a the qualifying system of rankings, not Intermat or AWN (or JenSen's mid-season) type rankings. So the new conference could have fewer or more spots, but it would be weight by weight, and it would specifically be set by how strong that weight in that conference is. If you think more spots = more opportunity to qualify, then yes, that is certainly a possibility. But there should be stronger competition to earn those spots, so in theory, it should even out. Personally, I think that once you have 3 spots in a weight, it will work that way pretty well. If there are fewer and you HAVE to make (or worse win) the final to qualify, then one guy and/or a tough seeding in a bracket can blow the whole thing .

None of this was any news to me, but I'm simply saying that more slots available translates into better chances of getting in. Just witness the Big 10 and 12 for proof of that. If two guys in the Big 10 can go 0-3 in the conference tournament and then have a wrestle off to see which of the two biggest losers goes to nationals, I call that a pretty easy in into the national tournament. In fact, in the Big 12, you could forfeit/default your way in! In the WWC, where UNI was before, THAT was TOUGH. You either had to get to the finals to get in, and in many weight classes you have to win it outright to get in. FAR fewer chances of making it than in other conferences.