Zain's Pain Train: 149-Pound NCAA Preview

It's time to take a closer look at the weight classes for NCAA Wrestling Championships on March 16-18. We now begin our look at the middle weights with 149, and the conductor is Penn State's Zain Retherford.

Mar 11, 2017 by Andrew Spey

Zain's Pain Train: 149-Pound NCAA Preview

Now that we have our sweet, sweet brackets for the NCAA Wrestling Championships, it's time to take a closer look at the weight classes. We're doing a deep dive into each division, rolling out previews one at a time, so you can pour over and digest everything before the first whistle in St. Louis on March 16.

We now begin our look at the middle weights with 149.

The conductor is Zain Retherford, and his cargo is pain. We all know this train is neither stopping nor slowing down -- all we can do is get out of the way.

Quick show of hands: who here is on a 59-match win streak? Thank you all for not clowning around and keeping your arms at your side. The only one with a hand in the air right now wrestles for Penn State at 149, and he hasn't lost a collegiate match since March of TWO THOUSAND AND FOURTEEN.

Zain is the defending national champion and enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed (duh). Most of last year's All-Americans also return in a very top heavy weight class.

It should also be noted that Retherford has had two scares this year and is thus not totally invincible. He needed overtime to beat Iowa's Brandon Sorensen in a dual meet and managed "only" a 2-1 win over Anthony Collica in a dual against Oklahoma State, which is why you see Collica's and Sorensen's names below in the list of contenders.

We'll take a look at those three and a couple others next, followed by dark horses, and a full set of predictions and analysis (2017 NCAA tournament seeds in parentheses).

Title Contenders

(1) Zain Retherford, Penn State
(2) Anthony Collica, Oklahoma State
(3) Lavion Mayes, Missouri
(4) Micah Jordan, Ohio State
(5) Brandon Sorensen, Iowa

The junior from Benton, PA, has been in a league of his own the last two years, straight up bullying almost everyone he's faced since coming off a redshirt in 2015.

But the No. 2 and 5 seeds (Collica and Sorensen, respectively) did, as mentioned, give Retherford a run for his money this year. Collica, a senior, and Sorensen, a junior, are both tough, gritty, fundamentally sound wrestlers who aren't going to back down from any challenge, no matter how fearsome the reputation of their opponent.

While those two would like nothing more than a chance to dethrone Retherford, they'll have to maneuver their way through a crowded field, which is easier said than done.

Sorensen has traded wins with No. 4-seeded Ohio State sophomore Micah Jordan. Likewise, Collica split a pair of matches with third-seeded Lavion Mayes, a Missouri senior. Collica's win over Sorensen in a dual this year was likely the difference-maker for the seeding committee when it awarded the Cowboy the No. 2 spot in the bracket.

Dark Horses

(13) Alfred Bannister, Maryland
(14) Steve Bleise, Northern Illinois
(US) Sahid Kargbo, George Mason

Terrapin sophomore "Baby J" Bannister has the muscle and the guts to go upper body with anyone in the bracket. He will be a handful for any opponent.

Huskie sophomore (referring to the Northern Illinois mascot, not the wrestler's build) Steve Bleise has been flying under the radar in the Mid-American Conference. However the MAC once again snuck five wrestlers into the tournament from just nine programs, and any one of them, including Bleise, will be a problem for the bracket.

George Mason senior Sahid Kargbo does not have much in the way of big wins on his resume, but he doesn't have many losses either. If the Alexandria, Virginia, native can cobble two wins together, he will go deeper in the NCAAs than any Patriots wrestler since Cayle Byers' round of 12 run at 197 pounds in 2009.

Upset Special

Besides our dark horses, keep an eye out for Alex Kocer from South Dakota State. While unseeded in the tournament, Kocer checks in at No. 14 in the Flo Top 20. It's a safe bet SD State head coach Chris Bono will have his entire contingent "hashtag jacked up" for the tourney, and No. 8 seed Patricio Lugo of Edinboro will have to be at the top of his game to avoid an early trip to the consolation bracket.

Spey's Spredictions

Zain Retherford, Penn State
Lavion Mayes, Missouri
Anthony Collica, Oklahoma State
Brandon Sorensen, Iowa
Micah Jordan, Ohio State
Solomon Chishko, Virginia Tech
Max Thomsen, Northern Iowa
Steve Bleise, Northern Illinois

No upsets in the finals this time. Zain may end up wrestling a full seven minutes, but he's one of the safest bets in the tournament. I also expect him to pick up a lot of bonus points along the way, probably by throwing in suffocating legs and turning opponents through sheer brute force.

Watch Zain go to work on Micah Jordan and win by tech fall in last week's Big Ten Championship final:

Missouri's Mayes avenged his only two losses this year, (to UNI's Max Thomsen and Oklahoma State's Collica). I think he'll power his way past Collica in this season's rubber match to make the finals.

I think Sorensen likewise rebounds from a disappointing Big Ten finish and wins his rubber match with Jordan, in what will likely be an exhausting test of wills in the quarterfinals.

Also making it to the quarterfinals will be No. 9 seed Justin Oliver of Central Michigan, No. 7 Max Thomsen of Northern Iowa, and No. 6 Solomon Chishko of Virginia Tech.

Down in the consis, Collica will storm back from semifinal loss and battle through Jordan and Sorensen to claim third place. That will put MiJo in the fifth-place bracket with Chishko, where the Buckeye will hold seed and prevail.

Thomsen and, after an upset of Oliver in the bloodround, Steve Bleise of Northern Illinois, will compete for seventh place. The Panthers freshman will make it two in a row this year over his intra-conference rival.

There Will Be Bloodround

There are a lot of unknowns in this weight the further you move down the rankings. The thing I am expecting most out of this round is surprises. Nevertheless, I will brave the unknown and prognosticate all four bloodround matches, regardless of how wrong they may turn out to be.

In the final match of his career, Rutgers senior Ken Theobold gets beat by Micah Jordan. Central Michigan sophomore Justin Oliver's NCAA season is ended by Steve Bleise in the aforementioned upset. Baby J Bannister is stopped by Max Thomsen, and Princeton senior Jordan "Master Blaster" Laster is taken out by Solomon Chishko.

Think you can make better picks? There's a very good chance you can! Here's the 149 bracket. Let me know what you think, and enjoy the championship, wrestling fans!

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