Nickolas Velliquette » National Duals Proposal Heats Up Flo

I am going to the ncaa tournament this year to cheer on my team and see great wrestling. I did not go to the Olympic trials because it is only an individual tounament. I don't have the same emotional connection. It is less intense even though the wrestling is at an extremely high level. I agree that it is fun to have a situation like psu and Minn last year. Who's the best team? You could argue either way, but I don't think anyone was cheated. Have both events but don't change the current format. Can the ncaa sanction both team titles, adding a dual national champion? If so great, if not, leave the ncaa tourney alone and make the dual tourney a success without having to play a ridiculous trump card.

Thanks, Roper! There were many arguments I wanted to make for the national duals format, and I didn't get a chance to. A majority of my argument was not captured on video. It was more of a candid thing I just rolled with. The point I was trying to emphasize, as shown in the video, is that MOST PEOPLE GO TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL RACE. Glad you agree with me there, homie.

I'm opposed to the changes but I see Nick's side of the argument. Most people go to the NCAA tournament for the individual race. What the most watched round? Finals by far and 99% of the time the team title has already been decided. People are crazy about this tournament because individual match ups, upsets and to pull for their team, that would not change if a team score was not kept. So I doubt the Traditional Tournament would suffer if the change had been made.Also Joe I think your argument about fans cheering for the NC State guy vs Iowa/PSU/Cornell actually supports the duals more than the traditional tournament. People would go nuts if Edinboro was up by 4 points on Iowa with 3 matches left in a dual.All this being said The Duals have no chance of success unless the NCAA supports and sanctions a champ. Interest and importance go hand in hand.

Sorry Nick but I'm with Joe Flo on this one!

Sorry Nick but I'm with Joe Flo on this one!

leave things the way they are....

Swear to God I'm showing Joe this! Truth be told, this is a very heated and very important wrestling topic right now, and there are a ton of interesting viewpoints coming from both sides.

JoeFlo clear winner re debate logic! Nick seemed to be be relying on more of a "wing and a prayer/throw it against the wall and hope it sticks" rationale. Sadly, perhaps best argument for national duals team ncaa championship proposal is (i) that since coordinated, forward-thinking amateur wrestling leadership in the U.S. (folkstyle and freestyle/all levels) doesn't really exist; and (ii) given wrestling's current backwater sports position, then taking a big gamble now to increase popularity might make actually sense given cirstances and rare opportunity to effect material change. (Btw, haven't seen much debate on what I think of as a threshold issue: why is increasing the sport's popularity so all-important?)

At the NCAA tournament when you cheer for the guy or the move on mat 3 all the other mats hear it and are effected the NCAA tournament is loud and awesome. Dual settings are usually not as loud... Its nice in a bracket tournament to see guys coming across and meeting up in Quarters or Semis... In a dual the number 1 kid in the nation may not see a ranked guy or fewer ranked guys in the dual. Maybe starting in reverse order may help to keep more people around... Poor HWTS never get the full effect

The best part about the NCAA tournament is how loud it gets... You might be cheering for a wrestlers on mat 2 but all the other mats are hearing it and are affected... If you are at a dual setting, then the crowed is usually not as loud.

The best part about the NCAA tournament is how loud it gets... You might be cheering for a wrestlers on mat 2 but all the other mats are hearing it and are affected... If you are at a dual setting, then the crowed is usually not as loud.

The best part about the NCAA tournament is how loud it gets... You might be cheering for a wrestlers on mat 9 but all the other mats are hearing it and are affected... If you are at dual setting, then the crowed is usually not as loud.

I cant wait for this team tournament. In the individual tournament youre still gonna see a show from the guys that can give that to you. PSU locked up the team title before the finals even started..that didnt stop molinaro, taylor, and ruth from going apesh*t on all their opponents. they wanted to show their dominance as a program and that will not change. PSU will win the next two years at both tournaments anyway so people gotta shut up and stop complaining

l think that the importance of the team race at the NCAA individual tournament varies by round. Of course by the finals, fans have huge matchups to look forward to, but in the round of 32 or the round of 16, the team a guy wrestles for gives the fans something to cheer for or against. This is especially true of the guys who are unseeded. For example, when Troy Nickerson got beat in the second round in 2010, people went nuts (even though Nickerson was injured) because it meant that Cornell lost a big gun in their hopes of a national team title. When Zach Sanders got upset in the first round of the same tournament, it was the same story. That team race gives so much importance to every wrestler in the bracket. If fans are just going to NCAAs to watch the "best" wrestlers in the country, then they would be satisfied seeing the last few sessions. But people go to the first and second session to see crazy stuff happen, especially crazy stuff that changes the team race...