2020 BIG 10 Tournament Preview

The clear favorite here is Wisconsin’s Seth Gross. He avenged a 6-2 loss to Iowa’s Austin DeSanto and turned it into a 6-5 win.  What really gives him the nod as the likely #1 seed is his win over Penn State’s Roman Bravo Young.  Now not everyone will agree with me on this but I would give RBY the #2 seed and DeSanto the #3 seed. Either way, we’re looking at a likely epic battle between two tremendous talents in the semi-finals.

#4 seed?  Personally I’d give the nod to Travis Piotrowski of Illinois over Northwestern’s Sebastian Rivera for two reasons.  A – Rivera has only wrestled eleven matches this season, with only one of them, a loss to Gross, being against the top talent in the BIG 10.  Piotrowski on the other hand is 23-2 over all, with a loss to DeSanto and wins over Michigan State’s Garrett Pepple and Rutger’s Sammy Alvarez.  Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett comes into play within all of this as well.

The monkey wrench within all of this Michigan’s Joey Silva.  He’s only wrestled four matches this season but with a convincing 7-2 victory over Pepple, it’s obvious that he’s a contender to steal a spot.   What plausibly saves Pepple from an early round meeting with Silva is a 6-2 victory over Alvarez.

Looking at eight NCAA qualifiers with a strong possibility of nine if Silva knocks someone else out & they get in with an at large berth.

How I would seed?

#1 Seth Gross senior Wisconsin
#2 Roman Bravo Young sophomore Penn State
#3 Austin DeSanto junior Iowa
#4 Travis Piotrowski senior Illinois
#5 Sebastian Rivera junior Northestern
#6 Ridge Lovett Freshman Nebraska
#7 Sammy Alvarez Freshman Rutgers
#8 Joey Silva Freshman Michigan
#9 Garrett Pepple Senior Michigan State

Now I always say that seedings/rankings are different from predictions and this is why.  Sebastian Rivera is a returning BIG 10 champion.  He had an extremely close match with Gross at the Midlands.  I find it hard to believe that he’ll place as low as fifth but based on objective statistics, I cannot justify a higher seed.

A weight class I believe should take the top eight with a very strong possibility of at least needing an at large bid (if not getting one) because of Silva.

A weight class where I feel eight wrestlers have wrestled well enough this season to have earned allocations. I feel at least on paper these eight wrestlers ought to be the eight that end up on the award stand in New Brunswick.

What’s really fun here is that no one in this weight class has won a BIG 10 title yet.  Penn State’s Nick Lee who will obviously take the #1 seed has finished third twice.  Luke Pletcher of Ohio State has finished as the runner up twice & Nebraska’s Chad Red also has a runner-up finish to his credit.

The wrestler here that gives me a migraine with his unpredictability & inconsistency is Tristan Moran of Wisconsin. Talent and ability wise, I could see him upsetting his way to a phenomenal tournament. Yet I can also see him placing much lower than his seed.   I’m anxious to see what happens between him and Iowa’s Max Murin. Their last match was a tight one, in favor of Murin 3-2.

Who I think might take the seedings/rankings & throw it all to the wind is Minnesota’s Mitch Mckee. The peculiar thing about it, is that McKee has had a rather good season accumulating 23 victories against six losses.  It’s simply that he’s wrestled well OUTSIDE of the BIG 10 & not so well within it.  All six of his losses have been to BIG 10 opponents.  A returning All American from last season who looks to add a second medal to his resume, if anything consider this a testament to how tough the BIG 10 conference is.

Lastly I see Purdue’s Parker Filius & Illinois’s Dylan Duncan  filling up the seventh & eighth place slots.

How I would seed?

#1 Nick Lee junior Penn State
# 2 Luke Pletcher senior Ohio State
# 3 Chad Red junior Nebraska
#4 Max Murin sophomore Iowa
#5 Tristan Moran senior Wisconsin
#6 Mitch McKee senior Minnesota
#7 Parker Filius sophomore Purdue
#8 Dylan Duncan junior Illinois

What an incredibly tough weight class full of some off the wall parity.  I see as many as eleven allocations given given at this weight, with a twelfth wrestler capable of an upset.

I think the #1 seed would have to go to Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso who avenged a 6-4 loss to Brayton Lee of Minnesota turning it into a 4-2 victory & defeated Iowa’s Pat Lugo in a tiebreaker 2-1.

Looking over the rest of the weight class, let me illustrate some of the parity I speak of.

Cole Martin of Wisconsin majored Graham Rooks of Indiana  12-3 earlier this season and then lost to him 4-3 more recently.

Collin Purinton of Nebraska lost to Griffin Parriott of Purdue 7-3 & he’s beaten him 13-6.

Then of course another real question concerning Purdue is if they even wrestle Parriott.  I think they would take a 14-8 Parriott over a 10-7 Nate Limmex but no guarantee. Parriott I would think has already allotted a spot.  Limmex for what it is worth owns a 9-5 victory over Rutger’s Gerard Angelo.

Kanen Storr of Michigan, Jarod Verkleeren of Penn State, and Yahya Thomas of Northewestern also come into the mix.    As you can see within the photo above, it’s absolute shenanigans.

If that isn’t enough Michigan State’s Alex Hrisopoulos poses somewhat of a threat of an upset.

I could theoretically seed this eight different ways and no matter what order I put these guys in I’d have someone with legitimacy in their argument wanting to question mine.

The best I could do after giving it a lot of thought?

#1 Sammy Sasso freshman Ohio State
#2 Pat Lugo senior Iowa
#3 Brayton Lee freshman Minnesota
#4 Kanen Storr junior Michigan
#5 Graham Rooks freshman Indiana
#6 Collin Purinton senior Nebraska
#7 Gerard Angelo freshman Rutgers
#8 Jarod Verkleeren sophomore Penn State
#9 Cole Martin senior Wisconsin
#10 Yahya Thomas junior Northwestern
#11 Griffin Parriott junior Purdue

In all sense of reality I can see some of these guys meeting twice in the same tournament & splitting matches with one another.  Losing 4-1 on Saturday & then coming back to avenge the loss on Saturday by major decision.

This weight class interest me for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost I think it is perhaps the most straight forward as far as seeding is concerned.   From where I stand their should be six allocations at this weight class with a possible seventh.  I would think that 22-8 Quinn Kinner of Ohio State with most of his matches being a 157 would be one, but I’m not for certain considering he started the season off wrestling at 133.

Ryan Deakin of Northwestern is the clear #1 seed and it’s hard for me to believe that his best BIG 10 finish thus far has been fifth.  Kaleb Young of Iowa the clear #2 seed and he finished fourth last season.

It rounds out clear Kendall Coleman of Purdue, Will Lewan of Michigan, Jake Tucker of Michigan State & Peyton Robb of Nebraska.  In all my seeding predictions thus far 125-157, this is where I’m almost confident I won’t see an objection.

#1 Ryan Deakin junior Northwestern
#2 Kaleb Young junior Iowa
#3 Kendall Coleman freshman Purdue
#4 Will Lewan freshman Michigan
#5 Jake Tucker junior Michigan State
#6 Peyton Robb freshman Nebraska
#7 Quinn Kinner freshman Ohio State

Yet, here’s the kicker….

This weight class is loaded with potential upsets.  In baseball players steal bases.  In wrestling, wrestlers steal allocations.  Mike Van Brill of Rutgers can be dangerous at times and you never want to overlook him.  A guy to really look out for may be Minnesota’s Ryan Thomas.  He defeated Tucker 5-2 & most of his matches with the other top talent in the BIG 10 have been close.  He took Young into the tiebreakers.  I’ll even give losing record Bo Pipher of Penn State a fighter’s chance.  The Nittany Lions almost always seem prepared for tournaments.   Lastly, Illinois’ Eric Barone is never shy to turn it on when it counts.  I can see him upsetting his way to qualification as well.

I really, really appreciate this weight class because nearly everyone has wrestled everyone.  There’s a bit up for debate in some of the seeding but for the most part I feel it is fairly straight forward.  A deep weight class full of ten wrestlers who I feel have earned allocations, plus two more who could pose a threat.

#1 seed without question goes to Iowa’s Mike Kemerer who has looked phenomenal thus far this season. It’ll be easier said than done knocking off two time BIG 10 champion Mark Hall of Penn State but with a convincing 11-6 head to head victory, he’s the clear #1 going in.

Purdue’s Dylan Lydy has more than earned the #3 spot here & it’s difficult for me to imagine that this year’s CKLV & Midlands champ has yet to finish any better than fifth here.  Very difficult to believe that he has yet to be an All American.  I don’t see him knocking off Hall in what should be a semi-final match-up but I do see him finishing a strong third.

How to seed Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola, Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero & Minnesota’s Devin Skatzka takes some analyzing.  Labriola and Skatzka have split this year with Libriola winning 7-5 s.v and Skatzka winning 7-2.   Skatzka has also split with Romero winning 1-0 and then losing 2-1.  Labriola  defeated Romero twice by scores of 2-1 and 3-1.    With that, I think it puts Labriola at #4, Skatzka at #5 and Romero at #6.   I don’t see too many complaints with Labriola, although I know some will come back at me thinking Romero should be ahead of Skatzka.

I think the rest of the weight class as I have it seeded is fair.

Who to keep an eye on here is Tyler Morland of Northwestern.  His record is nothing to look at but they guy can be dangerous in the right situations.  Last season he took a losing record into the BIG 10’s and upset his way to qualification.  Even won a match at the NCAA’s.  Ended the season with a losing record, but nevertheless as an NCAA qualifier.

I also wouldn’t put it past Rutger’s Willie Scott to pull off an upset or two.  Grello is most likely not wrestling due to injury & I’d imagine that Scott will wrestle here.  It’s his final BIG 10 tournament. He’s wrestling in front of his home crowd.  Those types of motivators can make a person wrestle at their best. It’ll be fun to see what happens.

How I’d seed it?

#1 Mike Kemerer junior Iowa
#2 Mark Hall senior Penn State
#3 Dylan Lydy senior Purdue
#4 Mikey Labriola sophomore Nebraska
#5 Devin Skatzka senior Minnesota
#6 Kaleb Romero freshman Ohio State
#7 Joey Gunther senior Illinois
#8 Jacob Covaciu junior Indiana
#9 Layne Malczewski freshman Michigan State
#10 Philip Spadafora sophomore Maryland

This weight class is insane. Matter of fact if we resurrected Noah Webster & showed him 2020 BIG 10 184 lbs he might even let us use it as an example in the dictionary.   I’m talking parity out the wazoo and everyone seems to have lost to and beaten everyone.  Throw the names into a hat and draw as far as I’m concerned.  This is a seeding committees ultimate nightmare.

From where I stand, I think all but two deserve to go to the NCAA’s.  Maybe I’m a bit overstretched here, but at least twelve wrestlers out of the fourteen that will be entered make a case.  As to how these guys will be seeded?

I would have to go with Penn State’s Aaron Brooks as the #1 seed.   He has a loss to Taylor Venz of Nebraska by a 9-5 decision, but he majored Rocky Jordan 15-4, who beat Venz 3-2 & he defeated Iowa’s Abe Assad who defeated Venz 6-4.

As to the rest of the eleven?

I did the best I could do…

#1 Aaron Brooks freshman Penn State
#2 Abe Assad freshman Iowa
#3 Taylor Venz junior Nebraska
#4 Cam Caffey sophomore Michigan State
#5 Rocky Jordan freshman Ohio State
#6 Zach Braunagel freshman Illinois
#7 Billy Janzer freshman Rutgers
#8 Jelani Embree sophomore Michigan
#9 Owen Webster senior Minnesota
#10 Johnny Sebastian senior Wisconsin
#11 Max Lyon junior Purdue
#12 Jack Jessen freshman Northwestern

Probably don’t agree with me on this one.  That’s cool.  I’m not so sure I agree with myself.  I took the vast amount of parity and gave more weight to some wins than I did others.  No matter how you seed this, someone that beat someone is seeded below the someone they beat.  There’s no way around it at this weight.

I can see as many as ten allocations at this weight class for the BIG 10. Still a bit of parity but not near the mental asylum seeking insanity that is 184.

Ohio State’s Kollin Moore is the clear favorite and I don’t see anyone denying him his third title.   I really thought he’d be a four time BIG 10 champ for the Buckeyes.  With the way he handled both Penn State’s Shakur Rasheed 14-6 & Purdue’s C.J. Brunner 16-6, I have no doubt that he’ll be back atop the award stand.

Speaking of which I sort of surprised myself seeding Rasheed as low as I did but I felt I had to.  He not only lost to Moore, but he also lost to Iowa’s Jacob Warner and to Nebraska’s Eric Schultz as well.  With his other loss being a 7-5 decision to Lucas Davison of Northwestern who in turn has lost twice to Brunner, sixth is as high as I could justifiably put Rasheed.  I don’t see him finishing that low however.

As to the rest of the weight class Maryland’s Jaron Smith has figured out a way to catch opponents off guard and put them on their backs.  Some would see this as a reason to place him higher than I did but with two losses to Michigan’s Jackson Striggow I feel justified in where I placed him.

How I would seed?

#1 Kollin Moore senior Ohio State
#2 Eric Schultz junior Nebraska
#3 Jacob Warner sophomore Iowa
#4 C.J. Brunner senior Purdue
#5 Lucas Davison freshman Northwestern
#6 Shakur Rasheed senior Penn State
#7 Jordan Pagnano senior Rutgers
#8 Jackson Striggow senior Michigan
#9 Jaron Smith senior Maryland
#10 Hunter Ritter senior Minnesota

If only it were as predictable as Minnesota’s Gable Steveson seems to be.  Being undefeated and last year’s BIG 10 runner up, even though Michigan’s Mason Parris is also currently undefeated, I had to give him the nod.

I see 8 allocations here, with a slight, teeny, tiny possibility of a steal from Luke Luffman of Illinois.  I don’t give it much of a chance, but I give it better than not at all.

There’s a bit of parity throughout the weight that could shift some spots around but for the most part I feel pretty compelled in how I seeded.

What really throws me off is whether Nebraska starts 13-4 David Jensen or 10-7 Christian Lance.  Jensen has more wins but Lance has the head to head 3-1 s.v. win.  Nothing to do at this point other than guess, and my guess is Jensen.

How I would seed?

#1 Gable Steveson sophomore Minnesota
#2 Mason Parris sophomore Michigan
#3 Anthony Cassioppi freshman Iowa
#4 Trent Hilger sophomore Wisconsin
#5 David Jensen senior Nebraska
#6 Gary Traub junior Ohio State
#7 Seth Nevills freshman Penn State
#8 Thomas Penola freshman Purdue