Black Shoe Diaries

Oh

I figured he was probably banned again by CG for voicing his opinions. I know I’ve been restraining myself over some of the remarks by our moderator and all of the remarks by MIEK.

I hope Rambler is OK. I miss his insights and humor too.

OlderBudweiser - January 28, 2012 reply

RR posted that he was leaving for awhile.

Think the whole scenario just wiped him out. Haven’t seen anything from him in weeks — hope he is not trying to deal with all this on his own.

PSU_Lions_84 - January 28, 2012 reply

Thanks for the update

There’s just too much going on here to follow everything.

OlderBudweiser - January 28, 2012 reply

OSU has had some great signing classes lately.

If these guys continue to develope, they’ll be a serious force in future B1G and NCAA tourneys due to some very high placers.

Of course – so have we.

InterMat had a recent story listing it's All-Backup Team.

Two of the ten spots are filled by the good guys.

157: James Vollrath (Penn State)
The current collection of Penn State middleweights (149-194) is arguably the most dominating and impressive of any in the history of college wrestling. James Vollrath, who started last season and placed seventh at the Big Tens, is this season stuck behind No. 7 Dylan Alton, who is by any metric is having an excellent season. Vollrath, a redshirt sophomore, was 23-7 last season and this year has a win over Joey Napoli of Lehigh and an overall record of 10-4.

and

174: Matt Brown (Penn State)
There is just nowhere to go for Matt Brown. Sitting behind two of the best wrestlers in the country has made Matt Brown into arguably the best overall backup in the nation. This season he finished runner-up at the Southern Scuffle, with his finals loss coming at the hands of teammate and No. 2 Ed Ruth. Brown, a redshirt freshman, has compiled a record of 20-2 and has a win over No. 7 Logan Storley of Minnesota and Dorian Henderson of Missouri. It almost seems unfair that he’d be locked behind such a talented wall of wrestlers, but if training behind those guys for three years gets him an NCAA title, I’m sure he’ll think it a smart decision to stay in Happy Valley.

Our cupboard is not bare by any means.

Don't know how Vollrath is ever going to see action

Jtot and I were talking a while back: next year you figure McIntosh redshirts, so Ruth and Wright can bump up to 184 and 197 respectively. From 149 to 197 you would have: A. Alton, D. Alton, Taylor, Brown, Ruth, Wright. Filthy.

OmarLittle - January 28, 2012 reply

Then again

If Vollrath can wrestle at 149 and Andrew comes back at 141 (if these are at all options) then you could have Alton, Vollrath, Alton, Taylor, Brown, Ruth, and Wright.

OmarLittle - January 28, 2012 reply

I believe Cael stated at the beginning of the season that Andrew was struggling to make 141 leading to his RS. May be a bit of hedging/coachspeak but if he was struggling with it this year another year won’t help.

Frank O'Brien - January 28, 2012 reply

So 149 it is! Poor Vollrath.

OmarLittle - January 28, 2012 reply

Doesn't it seem like just yesterday

we were waiting for our ‘Shadow Team’ to become eligible for varsity status, and wondering how well they’d actually do?

Question answered.

wresfan provided some great insight on these guys last year. We may need to entice him to drop some updated knowledge on us.

Frank O'Brien - January 28, 2012 reply

I dont’ know if I have time to go through all the guys in the background right now. But I’ll put some thought into it. I think one of the better wrestlers not getting mention is English. If he could get healthy I would think he’d have a real shot at 149 next year.

Problem is he’s been hampered by neck and back problems throughout his career. Tough break for the kid likely would have been an all american at least 1 year. And he may never even be a starter in his career. I have a feeling we’ll be saying that about a few more people in the coming years. For better or worse.

Here's the guys I'm curious about looking to next year

Conway @125, Frey 141 and HWTs Gingrich and Campbell. If these guys are the real deal and Nico can move up to 133 the dual lineup will be monstrous

125 Conway
133 Nico
141 Frey
149 A. Alton
157 D. Alton
165 DT
174 Ruth
184 Q
197 SmackIntosh
Hwt. Gingrich/Campbell

Unfortunately for guys like English, Brown and Cowburn they’re still out of a spot.

Campbell Brown (not the announcer)

Campbell is gone. Some team rule infraction (drinking??)
Ortega is bulking up for Hwt. next year now (I read somewhere.)

Brown needs to be worked in the lineup — if Taylor stays put at 165

I think Ortega is senior

I think your thinking of Ruggear who is bulking up next year. It will be Ginrich or Ruggear at heavy most likely. I think we’ll be in for a bit of a downturn at that weight even though I’m not a big fan of Wade.

I think Ruggear could be interesting an a lighter athletic heavy in the mold of McCoy.

Right you are!

Ortega may have to go at 197 if Morgan’s injury is serious — guess my wires were crossed thinking about that.

dees ees en drama - January 28, 2012 reply

So how are the rankings determined?

Is there some sort of formula to determine that Megaludis, for example, is #8? And are these the same rankings used for seeding the B1G and NCAA tournaments?

In-season rankings are like football rankings

They are arbitrary and there are several different organizations that rank wrestlers. Penn State and the NCAA use the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll as there “official” rankings but when tournament time comes around they mean nothing. The Big Ten’s “seed” each weight class and they look at how the wrestlers did against their Big Ten foe. The NCAA does something similar by ‘seeding’ each wrestler by how they finished in their individual conference tournaments.

There, I just confused you further.

Galen - January 29, 2012 reply

Hey you could always make it more confusing

You could try to explain the rpi and the gold and silver standards.

Succss With Honor Always - January 29, 2012 reply

The rpi takes into account the quality of people you've wrestled right?

The gold standards?

Doesn’t that have to do with 80% win percentage or something like that?

dees ees en drama - January 30, 2012 reply

Also, if I might add. The "official" NWCA team rankings appear to be aimed at dual match strength

Intermat’s team rankings project Tournament Points predicting how the teams will finishing assuming each wrestle to seed/ranking in the NCAA Championship.

dees ees en drama - January 29, 2012 reply

"like football rankings"

OH JOY JOY

Damn!

I missed the match. >.<

Tezcatlipoca - January 28, 2012 reply

Huh?

It’s tomorrow you still have time.

psuwresfan - January 28, 2012 reply

Yeah, I just saw that.

Unfortunately, Wifey has guests coming over and I may be forbidden from turning on the TV.

Tezcatlipoca - January 29, 2012 reply

More derp.

I have received permission to watch wrestling instead of entertain guests, and I can’t find where to watch it.

Tezcatlipoca - January 29, 2012 reply

The BTN isn't airing it until Tuesday.. I hate the BTN.

Succss With Honor Always - January 29, 2012 reply

see above, BTN is airing Minn/Iowa live, PSU relegated to tape airing on Tuesday.

Here’s the update
Nico dec. 6-2, PSU 3-0
L. Stieber fall Martellotti, team score 3-6
H. Stieber dec. Pearsall, 3-9
Tank 12-0 md. , 7-9
Alton dec., team score 10-9 heading into murderer’s row.

DT 18-3 TF
Ruth pin @ 2:05

Team score: 21-9

Q wins by fall

It’s gotta suck when you have two top 10 wrestlers losing by fall.

I don't think that was CJ Magrum that Quentin decked

But it was definitely the former mohawk-ed one that Ruth did.

Tom Ryan also did not send out Cam Tessari to face Tank. Not sure what either of those buckeye personnel decisions mean.

Very good, I missed that. Still sucks to be tOSU.

Werd

It’s so much fun to continue to hate them. I missed Nico’s match and Martellotti getting decked, but it looked like Pearsall fought nicely against the younger Stieber.

You watching Iowa & Minny on BTN in a few?

It's 75 and sunny here in San Diego

I’m watching the kids in the pool but yeah, heading in as soon as the wife gets out here for pool duty.

I probably won’t endure the entire match but can’t miss 125.

Dominant performance by McD

Let’s hope Nico sees how to use his length against Sanders come tournament time. The B1Gs are going to be a battle at 125.

Just got home

stopped at Milky Way in Ft Loudon for supper. Nico was great. Pearsall fought hard and had a chance. Frank gets a tech fall if the ref calls stalling, he finally started and it made the OSU have to wrestle the rest of the match. Taylor had to work for his points, the kid he wrestled fought hard but just wasn’t close. Dylan wrestled a strong match and was dominant, just couldn’t turn the kid. Ruth, wow. He was ready and Heflin started out trying to wrestle but turtled when Ed got close to a cradle early, then Ed must have scouted something because he cradled Heflin up very easily, really shut up a somewhat boisterous OSU contingent, thinking about an upset at 174. Q, you could tell he was going to pin the guy, the guy didn’t have a chance. MM vs Campallatono was a great match but Camp did very little on offense until the last 45 seconds and MM was very good. The knee looked bad but he didn’t show any affects when he came back. Also thought he had the TD when he hurt his knee but didn’t get it, still finished strong nailing another single leg and was still being aggressive but careful at the end. Cam tried a couple shots early and got countered so he quit being offensive. No problem, the kid chose down, which suprised me and Cam dominated him on the mat and then finished strong. Fun Fun time and great pizza at Faccia Luna for lunch.

You live close to Ft. Loudon?

I grew up in Shade Gap, not too far from there.

biscoiv - January 30, 2012 reply

chambersburg,

drive up through Cowan’s Gap to Burnt Cabins to go to PSU.

BMAN13 - January 30, 2012 reply

Oh, and by the way

This pin was sweet as hell. First, in neutral, I love it when Ed just puts his hands on his knees, stands stock-still and looks wryly at his opponent. Like: ‘well? You got somethin for me?’ The answer, this year, has always been no of course. I’m still giddy with glee that we get to watch DT & Ruth back to back.

Once on top, he did a lot of what he tried against Lofthouse, bouncing from side to side to find the weakest side of his face to throw that cradle crossface onto and nothin was doin. So instead he decided to lock it up right in the middle of a TD scramble. Dude was worrying about giving up his back on the scramble when bam! He now had to worry about his neck meeting his own knee. To his credit, he flailed pretty nicely when Ed took him over on the turn, but that cradle was locked up. 6pts. Glorious.

Magrum has been out for a few weeks with an injury.

And Tessari apparently injured his elbow this week and that’s why he didn’t make the trip.

Another question

Do they always wrestle the in order of weight class from lowest to highest or do they mix it up or how does that work?

reedjohnmiller - January 29, 2012 reply

The short answer is no

I don’t know the details but there are duals that start at a different weight then progress through. ie. they may choose to start at Hwt, then proceed with 125-197.

I believe the home team has the option but the visitor can veto.

Thanks!

reedjohnmiller - January 29, 2012 reply

Final score 34-9

MM dec. 5-4 and Cam 9-0 MD. I’m going off the twitter updates so I’m real curious as to how Cam went from 0-0 after 2 to score 8 pts + riding time in the 3rd.

I watched it on all-access

He looked really decent. Nice (agile?) reversal in the second, then threw in legs and just hammered the crossface for a set of 3pt NF turns. Can’t believe I made it through a HWT match, but damn, it was worth it. He looked just like Tank does when he does those same moves. Very cool.

Right on, I have to wait for the video on BTN Tuesday.

Best-contested match was 197

Although, in one scramble Morgan twisted his knee, screamed out and took injury time. It looked VERY bleak. I was expecting the worst news. But he shook it off & finished with a nice win. That dude was underwhelming (Campolatano). Obviously a magnificent athlete, but didn’t demonstrate any offense as far as I could tell. His 4pts were escapes. Morgan couldn’t ride him at all, but there must be like 5-6 inches difference in height. What McIntosh is doing as a true frosh at 197 is ridiculous. If he redshirts next year and comes back in after Q graduates, he could have an unbelievable career.

I’m still very curious what he’s gonna accomplish this year.

Redshirting SmackIntosh...

As long as Q and Ruth can seriously contend for NC after moving up then the redshirt is probably the best option for the team. Otherwise, I’d like to keep these guys where they are. That is, I’d prefer to be dominant at 2 weights instead of very good at 3.

he reversed in the third, the kid took down in the second and Cam turned him and rode him the entire period

Seems like

OSU tried not to lose just like Iowa did last week; shamful for top tier teams to play the stall game BUT the ref allowed it pretty much throughout the dual.

The white-out was a bust — there was more blue than white in the stands today; even our wonderful AD was wearing blue (I guess he didn’t get the memo either). They handed out white pompoms but nobody used them. Someone needs to step up and do a better job of organizing these events rather than today’s half-hearted show — better not to try than to be unorganized like they were today.

Morgan was escorted out by the doctor when he walked out after his win. Even injured he showed he is better on his feet than Campo. I want to watch the replay on Tuesday to see why he didn’t get the takedown when he was injured.

Our big guns looked fantastic. Ruth and Quentin are so fun to watch and Taylor put on a show as usual.

disagree

OSU kids wrestled way harder to score than Iowa. Taylor’s kid wasn’t close in talent but was still trying to take it to him. Frank’s guy stalled, but when Frank gets that leg ride in deep it is pretty hard to do much of anything without giving up back points. Heflin started out aggressive but just had nothing for Ed, god that was fun to see that ass kicking. Ed made the no 8 wrestle look silly. Cam’s guy was game too and fought off a couple shots and almost got a counter TD on the one but had nothing for the big man on the mat and did well not to get pinned. Alton’s kid looked for openings but there were none, none. Dylan is really starting to remind me of Molinaro in style. He also got up and out quick, something he struggled at in high school.

From posted article on Penn State Wrestling Club site

The Nittany Lions dominated the match from start to finish, winning eight of ten bouts, notching 10 bonus points off two pins, a tech fall and two majors, and winning the takedown war by a gaudy 16-4 margin. Penn State did not give up a single takedown in its eight victories and had five wrestlers get riding time points.

Agree to disagree. In the last two dual meets PSU opponents (other than the lightweights) have not tried to wrestle nearly as much as they tried not to lose by a big margin. If the ref had enforced the spirit of the new stalling rules the match would have been much more exciting to watch. There were a lot of fans who were disappointed with OSU stall tactics today. OSU wrestlers were tying up in neutral not to score but to avoid being scored upon (e.g., no takedowns.) On bottom, OSU wrestlers were on their bellies trying not to get turned in far too many bouts (e.g., 5 bouts with significant riding time.) Opponents have scouted well and are employing a non-aggressive strategy that will continue to work until the refs start applying the new stall rules as intended.

I was at the match today and watched the replay of the Iowa match and just thought OSU gave some effort to wrestle.

Nico won a tough match where both guys went hard. As I said with Frank’s guy, its pratically impossible to do much of anything when he is using the hard leg drive. His guy could have gotten hit when in neutral but Frank had something like 5 minutes ride time so there really wasn’t much neutral time. OSU guys were being dominated much more than the Iowa guys. And even though there was a lot of non offensive wrestling going on, it didn’t seem near as bad as the Iowa match. Other than Frank and Dylan, I don’t see where the OSU guys stalled. They couldn’t do anything on offense, but they didn’t really stall. I laugh when the crowd hollers during Frank’s matches because I just wonder what are you supposed to do when he has legs and a power half or the forearm on the head. THe guy can’t do anything at that point.