Nasir Bailey will return to competition this weekend for Iowa at the Big Ten Championships, and he has two items on his agenda.

“It’s my first Big Ten tournament,” the junior 141-pounder said on Tuesday. “I’m really ready to compete now. I’ve been off the mat a little bit, so I’m ready to knock some rust off and kick a little ass.”

Bailey, ranked 13th nationally, is 10-7 this season, but he hasn’t wrestled since the Hawkeyes’ dual against Minnesota on January 30, when he lost to Vance VomBaur 10-1. Bailey suffered a hand injury in that match and was replaced by Kale Petersen for the rest of the regular season.

When Iowa’s pre-seedings for the Big Ten Championship were released, Bailey was the choice and was seeded fourth.

“We had some issues this year with health, and after that Minnesota match, we had to heal up,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said. “Kale Petersen had a chance. And the decision-making (for Big Tens) was we’re going to ride the guy we were riding before. So there’s some incentive for the guy who didn’t get the call, and he’s got to go to work, and there’s work to be done for the guy who did get the call, and he’s got to go to work.”

“Nothing really changed for me,” Bailey said. “I’ve been training, staying on the mat, getting in better shape, better conditioning. Nothing’s really changed, other than getting into the mindset, changing my focus and direction to the postseason.”

Bailey was a two-time All-American at Little Rock, winning two Pac-12 championships, before transferring to Iowa. Now he gets his first taste of the Big Ten Championships.

“I think I can definitely turn some heads and surprise a lot of people,” Bailey said. “I’m not sure what to expect, audience-wise or the atmosphere, but I’m just ready to compete. I’ve been in a lot of big tournaments, so my goal is to go there and win matches.”

Other Choices

The decision at 141 wasn’t the only choice Brands made for this weekend.

Victor Voinovich III will be at 157 over Jordan Williams. Angelo Ferrari, who hasn’t competed since the January 16 dual against Penn State, will be at 184. Gabe Arnold, who has wrestled in three different classes this season, will go at 197.

Voinovich is 10-4 this season. Williams is 8-7, with his match coming in the regular season dual finale against Oklahoma State, a 5-1 defeat to Landon Robideau.

“Very close,” Brands said of the decision. “It’s my call and we went with Voinovich for maybe one reason, and that one reason is a little more fight there.” 

Ferrari, who has been battling an undisclosed injury, is ranked second at 184. Asked how Ferrari can respond from the long layoff, Brands said: “Do what you were born and bred to do. His mom and dad have raised him to be a super competitor. Go do what you were born and bred to do. And he can score points.”

Arnold’s Postseason Spot

Arnold is 14-5 this season while competing in three different weights.

“Arnold’s a competitor,” said 174-pounder Patrick Kennedy. “It’s been a tough situation. But he is at 197 now, and so he is going to go out there and give his best. 

“Hey, he’s a hell of a wrestler. And so if he wrestles the way you should, and he makes the guy wrestle him, I feel really good about Gabe Arnold. Always have. I mean, I've been working out wrestling him since he was a junior in high school. He’s a tough cat, we all know that. And so if Gabe Arnold goes up there and makes a guy wrestle him, it's really in his favor.”

“We certainly never gave up on him,” Brands said. “And he has reset because the lows aren't quite as low. And you go through things as a competitor. You don't want to be in certain roles as a competitor. You want to be the man. And sometimes, when you're not the man and you don't get what you want, it's easy to go sucking your thumb or whatever. He has moderated that very well. Credit him. Credit him.”

The Seeding Formula

The Big Ten used WrestleStat’s Tournament Seeder Program, which used a 100-point algorithm to seed each weight for this season’s tournament — a decision which led to criticism after the pre-seeds were issued Monday.

“The criticism is warranted,” Brands said. “This is something the coaches have shot down before. WrestleStat is affiliated with other conferences. It kept getting brought up, we shot it down. This time, it was 12-1-1, one abstaining.

“Hey, it's only one year. I called the Big Ten Conference, had a conversation yesterday. 

‘How many years are we locked in on this one?’ Well, hey, we got what we wanted. Everybody wanted to try it, and here we are.”

“I see it, but hey, life's crazy,” said Kennedy, who is seeded third at 174. “And so, even if the seed you thought you were gonna get, you didn't get, so what? So I know my seed, I know how it was played out behind in different rooms and whatnot. But hey, that's it. That's all I can control.”