Whereas most sports have but a single bracket with which to occupy their postseason discussions, college wrestling fans are blessed with ten glorious brackets every March. And contained within each bracket are 33 competitors, all seeded from one through 33. 

The seeding is determined using a formula, much of which is derived from the rankings in the coaches' poll. The seeds are then double-checked, and if it is determined necessary, adjusted by a committee of humans. 

Quite often, the seeds make a lot of sense. The system in place is now really quite good and demonstrably superior to the systems used in the past. Other times, however, they can leave the collective wrestling community scratching their heads. And while I truly believe this year's seeds leave very little to complain about, there were nonetheless some surprises which we'll highlight below. 

And if you want to check out the NCAA brackets for yourself, you can find them here.

1) Jax Forrest Nabs The Number 1 At 133

The seed that generated the most conversation was easily Jax Forrest getting the number one spot at 133, one of the deepest and most anticipated weight classes of the tournament. 

Kozak explains why he objected to the seed in the video embedded in the following Tweet.

Coaches’ rank + Jax Forrest getting the number one seed at NCAAs had Kozak fired up (yes this is what Kozak fired up looks like)#FRL presented by @athleteps pic.twitter.com/JWD3X04sGm

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) March 16, 2026

The main gripe comes from the fact that Ben Davino has similar wins and wrestled a full season, competing at the National Duals Invitational and a full Big Ten regular season, whereas Jax was in high school in the fall semester and faced significantly fewer NCAA D1 qualifiers. 

Where the 'matrix' (i.e. the formula they use to determine the seeds) dings Davino is that he has one loss to Marcus Blaze (which Davino avenged at the Big Ten Tournament), which gives Davino a worse winning percentage than the undefeated Forrest. 

Additionally, Davino has a win over Evan Frost, who was in the top 5 when that bout was contested. But Frost was not Iowa State's postseason rep at 133. Instead, it was Garrett Grice. Davino's win over Frost, therefore, no longer counts as a win over a National Qualifier (results from previous season are not factored into the seeding process at all), while Forrest now has an additional win over an NQ, as he beat Grice at Big 12s. 

Despite the crowded field in 133, Forrest would be a title contender at any seed. However, there is still a strong argument that a 25-1 record with wins over Blaze, Frost, Ayala X2, Fugitt, and Van Dee X2 with one loss to Blaze, should get seeded higher over someone with a 13-0 record with wins over Ayala, Seidel, and Larkin. 

2) Angelo Ferrari Drops to Number 7 at 184

The fact that Ferrari dropped to seven isn't as controversial as Forrest's ranking, it's just an unfortunate by-product of guys with limited seasons due to injuries receiving seeds below what they are ranked and what their general perceived level would be. 

Angelo has wins over Aeoden Sinclair, Dylan Fishback, Zach Ryder and Chris Moore against just two losses to Rocco Welsh (the number one seed), and has been ranked in the top 5 for most of the season. However, Angelo missed time in the second half of the season due to injuries and only amassed an 11-3 record. Additionally, his medical forfeit to Chris Moore at the Big Tens counts on his record and affects his win percentage and RPI, two stats that factored into his lower seed. 

Watch Angelo defeat Moore at NDI: 

Iowa fans shouldn't fret too much over the seed either, as 184 is extremely tight from seeds one through eight, so any seed in that range is going to have a difficult but navigable path to a championship. 

Cowboy fans find themselves in a similar but even less auspicious predicament at 184lbs, as Zach Ryder, who started the season in the top 10 after a win at the All-Star Classic over Jaxon Smith, is seeded #22, though ranked #12. Hurting Ryder's seed was having even more regular season losses than Angleo in addition to a countable medical forfeit loss at his conference championship. 

3) Markel Baker Gets A Top 10 Seed At 133

Absolutely zero disrespect intended to Markel Baker of Northern Illinois, however, he is ranked 29th in the latest FloWrestling rankings and 25th in the third coaches' poll. Baker collected an impressive 26 D1 wins on the season, but his best win was probably #20 Blake Boarman of Chattanooga. And -- again in all due respect -- there is little in his career resume to suggest he would reach the All-American podium this weekend. 

That said, I think it would be fantastic if Baker defied all and did exactly that, ripping off a legendary run in Cleveland that saw him finish in the top 8. I would seriously consider that to be one of the best things to happen next weekend, so know that I will be rooting for Baker on Thursday! 

4) Sam Goin Falls To The #33 Seed At 184

On the flipside of the perplexing seeds is Indiana's Sam Goin, who is ranked 15th in Flo's rankings and #14 by the coaches. Hurting Goin was the hellacious Big Ten schedule he had to endure that saw him match up against Rocco Welsh, Dylan Fishback, Silas Allred, and Chris Moore during the regular season. Goin also entered the Patriot Last Chance Open but had to withdraw due to injury and collected a countable medical forfeit to Dylan Newsome of Virginia. 

That, combined with a 12-8 record and a resume lacking in wins over national qualifiers and Goin falls all the way to #33. So if anyone is looking for someone who has a pigtail match to reach the final eight, you could do a lot worse than pick Sam Goin at 184!

5) Luke Luffman Only Manages The #26 Seed At 285

Just like Goin, Illinois' Luke Luffman had one of the biggest discrepancies between his seed and his ranking, and not in his favor, either. The Illini heavyweight is ranked 14th by Flo and 18th by the coaches, yet he only received the #26 seed in a very crowded 285lb field. 

Luffman's difficulties in receiving a higher seed at NCAAs is compounded by an insanely stacked heavyweight division in the Big Tens, the conference in which Illinois competes. Luffman's took losses to Koy Hopke, Ben Kueter, Nick Feldman, and AJ Ferrari. The the "worst" loss of that bunch is #12 Koy Hopke. A loss to Jim Mullen doesn't help, but even Mullen is ranked 19th. Really, it's the lack of wins over national qualifiers that made for an underestimated seed for Luffman. Which just makes for another value play for anyone doing a NCAA fantasy draft!

Watch Luffman beat Calvin Lachman at NDI:

And now, because I already crunched the numbers, below is a list of all the national qualifiers and the absolute difference between their seed and their FloWrestling ranking.