Big Ten Wrestling Championship | 2018 NCAA Wrestling

2018 Big Ten Tournament Middleweight Preview

Previews and predictions for all four middleweights at the 2018 Big Ten tournament.

Feb 28, 2018 by Wrestling Nomad

2018 Big Ten Tournament Middleweight Preview

The top wrestlers in the nation's strongest conference are set to battle for titles and NCAA bids at the 2018 Big Ten Championships in East Lansing, Michigan, this weekend.

The first session of the two-day tournament starts at 10 AM ET on Saturday, March 3. The pre-seeds can be found here.

We are running previews for every weight class, and today we're covering the four middleweights at 149lb, 157lb, 165lb, and 174lb. Tuesday's lightweight preview is available here.

For each weight, we show the automatic qualifier allocations available for the NCAA tournament, as well as the pre-seeds. We finish each weight with predictions for the top four finishers.

WATCH THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT LIVE | SATURDAY, 10 AM EASTERN

149 Pounds: 9 Allocations

Zain Retherford, Penn State
Brandon Sorensen, Iowa
Ryan Deakin, Northwestern
Colton McCrystal, Nebraska
Ke-Shawn Hayes, Ohio State
Eleazar DeLuca, Rutgers
Alfred Bannister, Maryland
Malik Amine, Michigan
Steve Bleise, Minnesota
Cole Martin, Wisconsin
Austin Nash, Purdue
Eric Barone, Illinois
Jwan Britton, Michigan State
AJ Raya, Indiana

I was pretty surprised that the Big Ten wound up with nine allocations at this weight, which also means it seeds every wrestler. That is of course contingent upon Steve Bleise of Minnesota being in the field, who hasn’t wrestled since January 21.

I also think the conference got the five and six seeds wrong, as Ke-Shawn Hayes has no wins over anyone in the top four and lost to Eleazar DeLuca, who did not lose to anyone seeded below him. If you’re Ohio State, you’d actually want Hayes to be the six, as that gets him away from Zain Retherford and sets up a rematch with Brandon Sorensen if Hayes can upset Ryan Deakin in the quarters. Hayes only lost 4-2 to Sorensen and actually scored the first takedown in that match.

Big Ten Rankings: 149lb

The seeds for the Big Ten tournament have matched the pre-seeds every year since 2015, so if they hold, Hayes and McCrystal will match up for the first time this season in the quarterfinals, a key match for the Buckeyes’ hopes of a team title this weekend.

Aside from the intrigue with Hayes, the most interesting matchup of Saturday will be the two vs. three semifinal of Ryan Deakin vs. Sorensen, which Sorensen won on a controversial headgear pull in overtime during the Hawkeyes' dual with Northwestern. I like Sorensen once again in the rematch, and for Hayes to get by everyone else to face Deakin for third.

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Nomad’s Picks

1) Zain Retherford 2) Brandon Sorensen 3) Ryan Deakin 4) Ke-Shawn Hayes

WATCH THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT LIVE | SATURDAY, 10 AM EASTERN

157 Pounds: 8 Allocations

Michael Kemerer, Iowa, Jason Nolf, Penn State
Alec Pantaleo, Michigan
Micah Jordan, Ohio State
Tyler Berger, Nebraska
Andrew Crone, Wisconsin
Jake Short, Minnesota
John Van Brill, Rutgers

There is no bigger question heading into conference weekend than the health of Jason Nolf. Will he wrestle? If he does, is he at 100 percent? Will he go the Nick Suriano route from last year and medical forfeit out of the tournament? If he does, can Penn State still win anyway? So many questions and all justified, as he is the most fascinating wrestler of this season.

The other big question, will he or Michael Kemerer get the one seed? They are currently tied for the top pre-seed. This is of course only an issue because Nolf’s loss “doesn’t count” in the mind of most folks since it was an injury default. This matters a great deal to the likes of Micah Jordan, who could get a few extra points for Ohio State with a finals appearance.

157lb Big Ten Rankings

I’m very curious to see how Andrew Crone fares this weekend. This guy went on a tear, winning 10 matches in a row against Big Ten foes before falling twice at the end the season. There’s a very real possibility he makes the finals but also could go 0-2. Who knows?

The way I see it, Nolf defaults out, Kemerer wins his first Big Ten title, and we see the good version of Alec Pantaleo. Beyond that, it'll be Jordan vs. Crone for third.

Nomad’s Picks

1) Michael Kemerer 2) Alec Pantaleo 3) Micah Jordan 4) Andrew Crone

WATCH THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT LIVE | SATURDAY, 10 AM EASTERN

165 Pounds: 10 Allocations

Isaiah Martinez, Illinois
Alex Marinelli, Iowa
Vincenzo Joseph, Penn State
Richie Lewis, Rutgers
Evan Wick, Wisconsin
Nick Wanzek, Minnesota
Logan Massa, Michigan
Isaiah White, Nebraska
Te’Shan Campbell, Ohio State
Jacob Morrissey, Purdue
Bryce Martin, Indiana
Austin Hiles, Michigan State
Brendan Burnham, Maryland
Mike Sepke, Northwestern

The deepest weight in the country this year is 165 in the Big Ten, as evidenced by seventh-seeded Logan Massa of Michigan, who last year was the two seed going into NCAAs and finished third. Massa's seeding means he has a quarterfinal against the two seed, who at this time appears to be Alex Marinelli.

We did a very long debate on FRL and I also did an article about who should be the top seed at 165, Marinelli or Isaiah Martinez. It appears the coaches went with Martinez based on his win over Marinelli from last year at Midlands. Which means, if Marinelli gets by Massa again, as he did in a 3-2 win on January 27, we’ll see a rematch of Marinelli and defending NCAA champ Vincenzo Joseph.

A couple other interesting rematches include Isaiah White vs. Te’Shan Campbell, as they split at CKLV, and Richie Lewis vs. Evan Wick, with Lewis riding Wick out for the entire third period to win when Wisconsin dueled Rutgers. That pushed Lewis up to fourth in the conference rankings.

Last year, Martinez beat Joseph twice before the NCAA finals. He also majored Marinelli, and majored Evan Wick this season. I think that's the IMar we see once again, the one who goes into his final NCAAs as the favorite and hitting on all cylinders. This weekend, the Illinois senior accomplishes a historic feat and wins his fourth Big Ten title.

Nomad’s Picks

1) Isaiah Martinez 2) Vincenzo Joseph 3) Evan Wick 4) Alex Marinelli

WATCH THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT LIVE | SATURDAY, 10 AM EASTERN

174 Pounds: 7 Allocations

Mark Hall, Penn State
Bo Jordan, Ohio State
Myles Amine, Michigan
Dylan Lydy, Purdue
Johnny Sebastian, Northwestern
Devin Skatzka, Indiana
Joey Gunther, Iowa
Ryan Christensen, Wisconsin

This weight lacks a ton of intrigue. Joey Gunther won the wrestle-off over Kaleb Young and will be the seven seed, which is the last seed that would earn an allocation if the results went chalk. It's one spot off where we have him in our conference rankings.

Saturday's big match will be the semifinal between Myles Amine and Bo Jordan, who have had two excellent matches so far this season. Jordan took the first match 6-4 at CKLV, and then Amine returned the favor with a last second takedown in the dual meet.

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One of the interesting quarterfinals is Dylan Lydy vs. Johnny Sebastian. Their previous matchups have slowly gone Lydy's way, as Sebastian majored him last year, then got a late pin to start this year at the Michigan State Open. But a couple weeks ago in the dual, Lydy won 2-1 in overtime to snag the fourth seed.

I think Marky winds up with his first Big Ten title and doesn't suffer the same fate as last year. I have a hard time seeing Jordan losing to Amine twice in a row, but it might be the best match of the tournament at this weight.