Entering this season, there is only one wrestler in all of Division I who is halfway to four NCAA titles. Attempting to knock off Vincenzo Joseph in his quest for his third national title are six other All-Americans returning at 165 pounds. 

What will be interesting to see is if Joseph can have his first undefeated season, an ultimately pointless accomplishment if you can still win the crown with losses, but something for which every wrestler obviously strives. He has the potential to hit Evan Wick, Chance Marsteller, and Logan Massa in the regular season.

Returning AAs By Weight

125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157

Heading up to 174 are David McFadden and Chandler Rogers, but entering the weight is Joseph Smith. Aside from Cenzo, Smith will be the only other multiple-time placer at 165 this year.

An interesting note before we start the article: the last champ at 165 who didn't end up with more than one NCAA title in his career was Andrew Howe, who went undefeated as a sophomore in 2010. Since then, Jordan Burroughs, David Taylor, Kyle Dake, Alex Dieringer, and Vincenzo Joseph have been the titleholders. 

Vincenzo Joseph, Penn State: 1, 1, ?, ?

The Nittany Lion enters this season with a 47-6 career record, and two of the biggest wins in this decade. With the graduation of Isaiah Martinez comes Joseph entering the role of favorite, the one being hunted, by the rest of the guys on this list. Along with that, can he create separation from the field? Meaning, he's had overtime or last-second wins at his two national tournaments before the finals, which in theory means he was in danger of losing those matches.

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Logan Massa, Michigan: 3, DNP, ?, ?

A leg injury suffered at CKLV severely derailed Massa's sophomore season. Although he kept wrestling and picked up wins over Alex Marinelli and Isaiah White, it seemed like Massa was not the same type of buzzsaw he was during his 32-3 freshman year. Perhaps that just means the other guys have caught up to him, but hopefully he'll be healthy this year so we can find out for sure if that is the case or not.

Evan Wick, Wisconsin: 3, ?, ?, ?

Wick entered NCAAs as the No. 10 seed and ended his redshirt freshman year in the bronze-medal stand on the podium in Cleveland. He'll get to wrestle Joseph on January 13 in Madison, just two weeks after Midlands. Among guys who beat him last season, Richie Lewis has graduated and McFadden is moving up in weight.

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Chance Marsteller, Lock Haven: DNW, DNW, 4, ?

The long, strange journey of Chance Marsteller is coming to an end this season, at least as it pertains to competing in college wrestling. After several years of not being able to compete at a conference tournament, for one reason or another, he not only qualified for his first national tournament but made it all the way to the third-place match. He'll get one final crack at a national title, something that hasn't been done at Lock Haven since 1997 and a goal many thought Marsteller would achieve multiple times.

Joe Smith, Oklahoma State: 7, 4, ?, ?

It's never easy to see an All-American on the bench, especially for the Cowboys, who went from getting fourth-place points from Smith in 2017 to not even qualifying 157 last year. Smith is bumping up this season and will still be big for the weight. Back in 2015, right after he graduated high school, Smith lost 7-3 to Marsteller at UWW Junior Nationals and fell 4-0 to Logan Massa at Junior Trials. A year later, Cenzo pinned him at the Junior Open, in what was the last time he saw any of the guys from this list.

Alex Marinelli: 6, ?, ?, ?

It was well documented that Marinelli ended his season 6-6 over his final dozen matches after entering the Big Ten championships undefeated. However, during the regular season he beat Joseph, Massa, Rogers, Richie Lewis, and Nick Wanzek, so it's very obvious Marinelli can be in the national championships conversation. The Hawkeyes are relying on plenty of young guns this season, and Marinelli is one of them.

Jon Jay Chavez, Cornell: DNQ, DNQ, 7, ?

After not wrestling a match in the 2016-17, Chavez came back strong to win EIWAs and place at the big show. Now a senior Greco-Roman world team member, the senior might miss some early season matches as he transitions back into folkstyle. Starting NCAAs as the 16 seed, Chavez outlasted Isaiah White in tiebreakers in the Round of 12 and then took out two-time All-American Rogers in the seventh-place match.