The season has reached its crescendo. There are 330 wrestlers now standing at the foot of the mountain that is the NCAA championships, and only 10 will scale it.

Like we always do at this time, the content will be coming in fast and furious for the signature event of the wrestling calendar. We've combined all 10 NCAA Previews into one, starting with 125 pounds.

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

At the beginning of the season, there was a feeling around the country that this would be a boring weight, at least when it came to determining the national champ. Spencer Lee had majored Sebastian Rivera, the highest returning placer from 2018, 12-0 in their last meeting, and pinned Nick Piccininni, who finished fourth in 2017 but did not place last year, in their most recent meeting.

Then Midlands happened, and everything changed. Rivera emerged as the favorite to some, and at the very least became a legitimate threat to derail Spencer's quest at becoming a four-timer. But Spencer would still make the finals, right? Well, that's a little harder to believe after Nick Piccininni pinned him in Stillwater.

Weight Class Previews: 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

Lest we forget though, the Hawkeye came into NCAAs as the three seed last year carrying the weight of two losses, and turned in the most dominating performance in the 20-year history of the weight class. The best version of Spencer Lee is historically notable, especially in the first period of matches.

Enough about that, let's get into the preview.

Title Contenders

#1 Sebastian Rivera, Northwestern

#2 Nick Piccininni, Oklahoma State

#3 Spencer Lee, Iowa

#4 Ronnie Bresser, Oregon State

#5 Jack Mueller, Virginia

All-American Threats

#6 Sean Russell, Minnesota

#7 Pat Glory, Princeton

#8 Vito Arujau, Cornell

#9 Rayvon Foley, Michigan State

#10 Brent Fleetwood, North Dakota State

I'm ready for all your "disrespect" talk. Bring it, please. I'm sleeping on all of you. And you know what, if I'm the reason you place or win a national title, because I put you in a different tier in a preview, you're welcome.

Ok now that that's out of the way, shoutout to the tri-state area! It's supposed to be New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, but this is wrestling, so replace CT with PA. Not to spoil anything, but three quarters of my AA picks wrestled in those states in high school. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, considering those states accounted for 28.5 percent of all the NCAA qualifiers.

I battled back and forth about how many should be under the "title contenders" header, but everyone agrees Spencer Lee is a title contender and Ronnie Bresser beat him the last time they wrestled, plus Mueller is undefeated. So that's how I came to that.

As for the AA threats, just check the resumes. This weight was basically seeded perfectly. Travis Piotrowski and on down the line, of course they can place. But based on resume, it's going to be very surprising for guys seeded 11 and below to crack into the placing round. Which of course means this bracket will get destroyed.

I decided to break this preview down by session, so let's get it rocking.

Session I

Matches to Watch:

Cole Verner vs Brent Fleetwood

Zeke Moisey vs Ryan Millhof

Alex Mackall vs Drew Hildebrandt

Michael McGee vs Gabe Townsell

Drew Mattin vs Elijah Oliver

RayVon Foley vs Carmen Ferrante

If we're not being corny and saying, "it's the biggest tournament of the year and anything can happen, all the first rounders are matches to watch!" these are the ones I'd circle.

Cole Verner is from a program that always puts guys on the podium and wrestles very hard. Not saying Verner necessarily can find his way on the podium, but Coach Branch and his staff always seem to have a couple guys really ready to roll come tournament time. In the dual, it was three takedowns to zero in favor of Fleetwood, but the last one came with about 15 seconds left to win 6-5.

The next one is a battle of transfers who have kind of fallen from grace. After making the finals as a freshman in 2015, Zeke Moisey hasn't quite been the same guy, though he did place last year. No one quite knows how he'll do after going 0-2 at Big Tens and clearly looking hurt. Similarly, Ryan Millhof missed a huge chunk of the year and hasn't looked like the guy who placed seventh in 2016.

When seeing that Michael McGee went 28-4, the question arises as to whether it was a bit of an "inflated" record. He didn't miss any time and wrestled everyone in front of him, but he didn't necessarily hit many high seeds during the year. Plus, Gabe Townsell is an absolute wildcard because he's got some upperbody stuff and mixers in his arsenal.

Elijah Oliver is a four-time qualifier who has split with Drew Mattin this year, really looking forward to that one. RayVon Foley appeared to be injured at Big Tens, and Carmen Ferrante gave Pat Glory all he could handle in the EIWA semis.

Session II

The heartbreak round. Not quite as gut wrenching as Friday night, but this is where cute first round upsets turn into legitimate bracket busters and seniors on their last legs either bow out or continue the long slog through the backside to place.

Foley being hurt really puts a damper on his potential second round match with Arujau. That's an 8/9 matchup, so of course it's the easiest to identify as the best second round matchup.

The 7/10 is the next easiest to identify, but Fleetwood against Glory could be fantastic. Fleetwood is coached by Jarrod Garnett, a former All-American himself who has coached several 125s on to the podium. But Glory is coached by two-time NCAA champ Joe Dubuque and Glory has that intangible "gamer" factor, so give me Glory.

Talking about draws though, man, Nick Piccininni was done no favors. He should absolutely be considered the favorite en route to the semis, but his second round match is against Sean Fausz, who beat Picc 9-5 in the Italy dual last January. Oh, and then he has a guy in the quarters that he couldn't take down the one time they wrestled this season.

Session III

Rivera over Arujau

Bresser over Mueller

Lee over Russell

Piccininni over Glory

You can mainline these quarterfinals right into my veins on Friday morning. No one is going to need any coffee when they wake up on the 22nd, they simply need to get to the PPG Paints Arena and feel buzz in the air as the lightest weight class puts on a show in the morning.

Right at the top is perhaps the best bet for an upset special in this tournament. I'm not picking it, but if you told me Vito somehow knocks off Rivera right before lunch on Friday, I wouldn't flinch. I honestly think it will be Rivera's hardest match of the tournament, and perhaps one where he is trailing in the third. Every national champ gets a little moment each tournament, and I think this could be his if he wins the whole thing.

Ronnie Bresser vs Jack Mueller is exactly what we want out of a four/five matchup. It's a tossup, both guys have excellent resumes, are All-Americans, and could present problems for the one seed. I think Bresser's combination of being able to get out from under anyone, as well as how difficult it is to take him down, puts Mueller in a bad spot. Bresser's elite speed gets it done in a one takedown match.

Lee over Russell is the least exciting, we've seen it before, and it's never been in doubt. This is where Iowa fans should feel great about Spencer's draw. The Gopher has been outscored 27-0 in three matches against Lee over the past two years.

At the very bottom is the match I teased in the previous section, Piccininni vs Glory. When they met on January 12th at Princeton, Glory took down Picc in the first and third periods. He also stopped every one of the Cowboy's shots and was close to getting another takedown in the first. But, Glory has sometimes shown himself to be vulnerable on bottom in his true freshman season, and was turned twice, once for two and once for four, getting ridden out in the second.

Session IV

Rivera 8-5 over Bresser

Piccininni 6-5 over Lee

Rematch time! It will be the second time this year we've seen Rivera against Bresser, likewise for Piccininni verse Lee.

Friday night has produced some craziness the past few years at 125. Last year, both guys who were national champs lost in the semis, with Lee pinning Nathan Tomasello in the third period. The year prior, Darian Cruz upset Thomas Gilman with one of the most creative takedowns we've seen on that stage. In 2016, Gilman pinned defending champ Tomasello in sudden victory and who can forget Zeke Moisey sucking Gilman into a cradle off a single leg in one of the loudest moments anyone can remember at the national tournament.

Rivera has had two very interesting matches with Bresser, with last year's 12-2 win at NCAAs being slightly misleading due a to a late takedown and nearfall. The match as a whole much more closely resembled their overtime match from the CKLV final. I think Bresser comes right out and doesn't give Bresser an opportunity to get in on a shot in the first period like he did in their previous two matches. It could be a bad read on my part, but I think Rivera finally cracks the code and gets Bresser a couple times with his own offense.

Session V

Ah yes, the best session of wrestling that no one watches. The most sparsely attended portion of the tournament is perhaps the most entertaining, as guys who have already placed either stop wrestling hard (think Dylan Palacio) or push through for the next best thing (think Nathan Tomasello).

In the consi semis, Spencer Lee techs Vito in a way we haven't seen him in college. Despite giving up the opening takedown, something snaps in the Hawkeye sophomore. He takes Vito down and turns him for four. He gets off bottom right away in the second, and hits his dump to four to go up 14-2. Starting on top in the third, he hits his bar and finishes off the tech before the match hits six minutes, with well over three minutes of riding time.

In the other consi semi, Ronnie Bresser frustrates Pat Glory in the first and it ends 0-0. Bresser gets out in the second but Glory picks up around 45 seconds of riding time. The Tiger chases Bresser around but the Beaver does give up a stall. Dubuque says something in between periods, and Glory is up and out right away. Bresser shoots a low single, and they're scrambling. Glory finishes the takedown but Bresser gets out. Dubuque wants Glory to close out the match and he does, with a clean Iranian finish and rideout.

In the placing matches, Jack Mueller comfortably beats Sean Russell, Vito beats Bresser by five, and Spencer Lee beats Pat Glory by seven, somewhere in between their match in the dual and the quarterfinal at Midlands, but with Glory getting the escape late to prevent the major.

Session VI

Rivera 7-4 over Piccininni

It comes down to the only two guys who were undefeated at the weight all year long. Rivera has looked the part of national champ for months now, winning CKLV, Midlands, and Big Tens. Meanwhile Piccininni has picked off everyone in his path, not having one misstep en route to titles at Reno, the Scuffle, and Big 12s.

One thing Rivera has done extremely well this season is get the first takedown of the match. He did it against Bresser in Vegas, did it against Spencer in Midlands, and will do it here. In fact, he'll get two and finish the period on top with a 4-1 lead.

In the second, Rivera will take bottom, which is where things get interesting. The Cowboy junior has gotten so good at turning guys either direction with his cross wrist tilt, even being able to win matches without scoring a takedown. He makes things interesting with a quick two count after riding Rivera for a little, but the Wildcat escapes to make it 5-3 entering the third.

Picc is up and out right away, making it a one point match and the crowd is on the edge of their seat. He patiently hand fights and chases Rivera around the ring, picking up his pace and firing off some shots. Going out of bounds, Rivera gets hit for stalling. He looks over at Brewer, and within three second after the whistle he's in deep on a shot. The sophomore cuts Picc right away, and it ends 7-4.

Nomad's AA Picks

1. Rivera
2. Piccininni
3. Lee
4. Glory
5. Vito
6. Bresser
7. Mueller
8. Russell

133 Pounds

The culmination of another glorious season of collegiate wrestling is nearly here. Time for us to traipse through the weight classes and break down the brackets in exquisite detail.

Nomad ably took care of the lightest division. Now, we shall trade my blogging slacks for a pair of analyst dungarees and get down to the nitty-gritty of 133-pounds.

Title Contenders

#1 Daton Fix

#2 Stevan Micic

#3 Nick Suriano

#4 Micky Phillippi

#5 Luke Pletcher

#6 Ethan Lizak

#7 Austin DeSanto

All-American Threats

#8 John Erneste

#9 Chas Tucker

#10 Roman Bravo-Young

#11 Tariq Wilson

#12 Montorie Bridges

#13 Austin Gomez

As you'll notice, 133-pounds is absurdly stacked. The die was cast for this to be a killer weight class when not one, but two NCAA runners-up decided to bump up a weight class. Nick Suriano lost just twice in two years at 125, although injuries forced him to forfeit matches in both seasons. Ethan Lizak always shows up in March, placing second and fourth in the last two NCAA tournaments down at 125. 

But it wasn't just Suriano and Lizak moving up, it was also Big 12 studs Daton Fix and Austin Gomez coming off redshirt and Roman-Bravo-Young starting right out of the gate for the Nittany Lions. What's more, it's Micky Phillippi also coming off a redshirt season and helping establish the Pitt Panthers are a force to once again be reckoned with. 

Now add a plethora of All-Americans and top tier talent returning and you've got a recipe for a mouthwatering bloodbath of a bracket. There will be no easy paths to the championship. There will hardly be an easy path to the round of 16. 

John Smith called it the toughest weight class he's ever seen, and who are we are argue with Coach Smith?

"The deepest I've ever seen any weight...ever...in my coaching career."

The ? knows how tough 133 is. pic.twitter.com/lgUuWihrDA

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) February 26, 2019

But before we get to those, let's mention a few potential dark horses who may not have gotten as many headlines as the guys listed above, but could be a trap for anyone foolish enough to overlook them. 

Landmines

Noah Gonser

Gary Wayne Harding

Codi Russell

Gonser will be wearing a Campbell Camel singlet but he'll also be representing the departed Eastern Michigan program that was foolishly shuttered by a blundering, shortsighted administration. Gonser made the Midlands finals and has a win over Montorie Bridges on his resume. 

A guy with two wins over Noah Gonser, and a legitimate beef with the seeds (and our rankings if we're being honest) is SoCon champ Codi Russell. 

Another name to make note of is Big Game Gary Wayne Harding. Harding has been flourishing at North Carolina after transferring from Oklahoma State for his senior campaign. 

Finally, like Nomad said, we also intend no disrespect if I leave anyone out of this preview or don't pick someone to place. Indeed, I am thrilled to provide any extra motivation any competitors use to reach their goals, and will be happy to take partial credit for any achievements that benefited from both my explicit and implied doubts. 

Session I

Matches to Watch:

Sean Nickell vs Matt Schmitt

DJ Fehlman vs Chas Tucker

Josh Terao vs Korbin Myers

Anthony Cefolo vs Ethan Lizak

Mario Guillen vs Roman Bravo-Young

You really can't go wrong with this bracket. There are going to be fire matches from first whistle on through the finals. While all the top seeds will be on the mat in this round (that is how the first rounds work), there still are going to be some hidden gems among the not quite marquee names as well.

Nickell vs Schmitt is a rematch from a January dual meet that saw Nickell prevail 2-1. Schmitt will be looking for revenge in his first NCAA tournament, while Nickell will try to advance to the top eight in his third and final tournament. 

Fehlman and Tucker will be another rematch. Tucker won in the dual meet 7-5 in sudden victory, which for Tucker counts as a high scoring match. Tucker is an EIWA champ on a 14 match win streak. Fehlman is an EWL champ (the last 133-pound EWL champ) and hasn't lost since his match with Tucker. Someone's streak will end Thursday morning.

It took Josh Terao a little while to get going, but the Flyin Hawaiin has been wrestling well as of late. Myers has been more up and down this season, but he has big match potential, having beaten the #4 seed Micky Phillippi in a dual meet.

Another wrestler with upset potential is Anthony Cefelo, who notched a win over the #13 seed Austin Gomez. Ethan Lizak, who sometimes struggles with opening round matches at tournaments, will be tested early. 

Guillen and RBY have a mere seven losses between them. RBY will be the favorite, but that is no walkover in the opening round for the Nittany Lion.

Session II

Matches to Watch:

Luke Pletcher vs Montorie Bridges

Austin Gomez vs Micky Phillippi

Tariq Wilson vs Ethan Lizak

Austin DeSanto vs Roman Bravo-Young

We're assuming all chalk in the first two rounds, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to get fire on Thursday night, which will be on ESPN by the way, if that kind of thing is important to you (winking emoji).

Pletcher took out Bridges at the CKLV, but November was a rough month for Bridges. Once January 2019 rolled out, Montorie has been lights out, winning 12 matches in a row before getting stopped by Daton Fix in the Big 12 finals. Pletcher has also been wrestling well, making the finals of his respective conference tournament. Whoever emerges the victor will have a full head of steam going into the quarters on Friday morning. 

The winner of Pletcher Bridges will get the winner of Gomez Phillippi (again, assuming chalk plays out). This is a great contrast of styles, as the lankier, funkier Phillippi could frustrate the powerful and explosive Gomez. Gomez is also must-see TV (or must-see stream, if you have your ESPN3 account working), because of his ability to come back from seemingly any deficit. 

Gomez was down 9-2 in the second to Ty Smith of Drexel in the Southern Scuffle before peeling off seven consecutive takedowns to eventually win 16-15.

Tariq Wilson made a name for himself at the 2018 NCAAs, with a Cinderella run to the semifinals and ultimately a third-place finish. Unfortunately, Wilson was hampered by injuries most of the season, so we probably haven't seen the redshirt-sophomore at full strength. He'll need to be close to it though when he wrestles Backpack Lizak, a competitor who always shows up in March. 

DeSanto RBY would be just another rematch. It was all DeSanto at Big Tens, as RBY couldn't match the famed DeSanto pace in the first two periods. You can beat Coach Sanderson and company will have a new gameplan for round two.

Session III

Matches to Watch:

Luke Pletcher vs Micky Phillippi

Austin DeSanto vs Stevan Micic

Ben Thornton vs Roman Bravo-Young (consi)

Austin Gomez vs Montorie Bridges (consi)

The tournament really gets cooking on Day 2. The championships bracket has been halved twice, whittling the title-contenders down to 16. Nine wrestlers will have had their season ended the day before, with eight more still alive for All-American honors. 

Pick any of the eight matches on championship side and it's going to be rad. Unfortunately, there's no way for a human brain to process eight rad wrestling matches simultaneously (I've live-blogged the last two NCAA tournaments so I know this fact all too well), but if you had to only pick one, I think DeSanto Micic is the obvious choice. 

You all remember what happened last time Micic wrestled DeSanto at the NCAA tournament, yes? And before that at the CKLV? No need to rehash that scene I don't think. But anyway, yeah, DeSanto Micic Part III could totally be a thing Friday morning. Get your gifs of people eating popcorn ready.

Another scintillating round of 16 matchup we could see is a rematch of Pletchdawg and Phillippi. It was Phillippi who prevailed at CKLV, which turned into the redshirt freshman's coming out party. It was a tight 2-1 victory, though, and Pletcher looked outstanding at the Big Ten Tournament, so consider this a true toss up.

The consolation bracket also gets heated up Friday morning. If things progress according to seed, then RBY could get a shot at revenge on Ben Thornton. Bravo-Young performed an ill-advised Kolat-style backflip while Thornton had one of his legs in the air. RBY needed injury time and Thornton claimed the win, however, RBY showed no lasting damage from the injury at Big Tens last week.

And once again, the dynamic Austin Gomez gets one of his potential matches highlighted. Gomez will have to come up with something new to get by Bridges, who beat him 6-3 at Big 12s. 

Session IV

Matches to Watch:

Daton Fix vs Micky Phillippi

Nick Suriano vs Stevan Micic

Austin DeSanto vs Austin Gomez (consi)

Roman Bravo-Young vs Like Pletcher (consi)

Luke Pletcher vs Tariq Wilson (consi)

Chas Tucker vs Ethan Lizak (consi)

Friday evening is everyone's favorite session, and for good reason, it's where hopes and dreams are either realized or brutally crushed. For the semifinalists, a finals birth and the bright lights of prime time cable TV is on the line. For those in the blood round, the fine line between All-American and did-not-place is determined.  

We've filled out all chalk in our bracket so far, but Session IV is where things get really interesting. Daton Fix's sole collegiate blemish was in a dual meet in Pittsburgh with Micky Phillippi. Fix has wrestled several tight matches this season but only Phillippi has been able to get his hand raised at the end. Can Phillippi make it two for two? We going with Fix to avenge that loss, but we very much doubt it will be a blowout. 

In the other semi, we think it will be Suriano avenging his loss to Micic. The Serbian Sickle medical forfeited out of the Big Ten Tournament after the semis, and while we've gotten no word about the severity of Micic's injury, with the way the newly minted Big Ten champ has been wrestling, even being just a little bit less than 100% is enough to swing our prediction in favor of Suriano. 

The consolation round will be equally spectacular. I included all of them, but of course, there is a good chance that none of them will happen, as all sorts of chaos could have ensued by this point. Should things play out that way, however, we think it will be Pletcher over RBY (again), Wilson finding his groove against a very tough Erneste, DeSanto avenging his loss to Gomez, and Lizak going on his typical postseason tear over Tucker.

Session V

Matches to Watch:

Ethan Lizak vs Luke Pletcher

Tariq Wilson vs Austin DeSanto

Micky Phillippi vs Stevan Micic

Saturday morning is hangover day for most of the NCAA crowd, although this year St. Patrick's Day weekend does not fall during the tournament. But for those of us able to soldier through the pangs of an early morning after a late night, the reward of the best-kept secret of the NCAA Championships awaits.

Predicting these matches is a fool's errand, as the probability that they will pan out exactly as we guess is vanishingly small. But prognostication is part of our profession, and so we will make the picks regardless of their propensity to be impeccable.

For third place, we've got Lizak doing Lizak things. His frame and top game is a horrible matchup for Pletcher, who we suspect will wrestle his heart out anyway, as Pletcher always wrestles that way. 

For fifth, we're taking Phillippi and predicting a semi-slide for Micic. If we're wrong about Micic, and he shrugs off his injury and wins the dang thing, he would not be the first 133-pounder to make a mockery of our NCAA picks. 

In the seventh-place match, how about the fire combo of Tariq Wilson and Austin DeSanto? We're picking DeSanto, but don't count out the Hawkeye from placing even higher, as he does have wins over Suriano and Lizak this season.

Session VI

Daton Fix vs Nick Suriano

Maybe its wishful thinking, but it feels like these two are fated to meet in the finals in Pittsburgh. From their 30 minute match at Who's #1 in 2014 to their marathon match just a couple months ago, no other two athletes have loomed over this weight class all year, regardless of what either of their rankings may have been (Flo's Instagram page notwithstanding). 

We couldn't tell you anything about this match that Mike Mal couldn't, so why not take the time to watch his preview and recap, complete with fancy-schmancy telestration.

Regardless of the outcome, we know it's going to be a war, and that both Suriano and Fix thrive in big matches. Suriano came out of a crazy Big Ten bracket bloodied and bruised but looking as sharp as ever. If he can get through Fix's defenses, he might be able to power his way to a title with singles and doubles. 

The problem is, Fix defenses are insanely good, and he has one of the most varied arsenals in the sport. His shrugs and inside trips are both so good that it's nearly impossible to stop both if Fix is firing on all cylinders.

This was one of the hardest picks to make, but we're going with the Oklahoma Jumpman to win the title, although we can't say we're incredibly confident about it. 

One prediction we feel safe in making, however, is that this weight class is going to extremely rad, and ridiculously fun to watch. 

Spey's Spredictions

1. Fix
2. Suriano
3. Lizak
4. Pletcher
5. Phillippi
6. Micic
7. DeSanto
8. Wilson

For our entire bracket, please see below.

My bracket for 133. pic.twitter.com/y3esrYZtau

— Jaroslav Hašek (@SpeyWrestle) March 14, 2019

Apologies for being boring and picking so much chalk. On the bright side, Micic placing sixth has great potential for blowing up in our face. We can also see how odd it looks for Micic to be good enough to beat DeSanto but not Suriano, Pletcher or Phillippi. But we figured if anything is going to wear a guy down, not just Micic but anyone, it would be back-to-back matches against DeSanto and Suriano. 

Also we had to do something to break up all that chalk!

141 Pounds

The entire wrestling community stands on a precipice, for ahead of us is the most exhilarating three days of the year, but it also means we are coming to the abrupt end of the season.

We're unloading the weight class previews in rapid fire fashion, crafting each with the same painstaking detail that the athletes who have worked all their lives to achieve their NCAA goals deserve.

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

The hardest thing to do in sports is to repeat. In each of the first three weight classes, last year's champ had eligibility to repeat. But I didn't pick Spencer Lee to go back-to-back in my 125 preview and Seth Gross only wrestled one match this year. But now we come to Yianni Diakomihalis, the man without a nickname because he is simply known as Yianni.

The Cornell sophomore is one of the biggest stars in the sport, but hasn't quite had the same prolonged reign atop the sport of other blue chippers. He couldn't secure his fifth New York state title due to an injury that prematurely ended his senior season of high school. Since winning his second Cadet world title in 2016, he's been third at two Junior Opens and couldn't compete in last year's because of a torn ACL.

I bring those competitions up because Yianni himself is not shy about his goals, which include world and Olympic titles. He said as much in his interview after EIWAs, knowing full well that he plans to continue wrestling long after college no matter how many national titles he wins.

Weight Class Previews: 125 | 133 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

The two seed, Joey McKenna, has freestyle aspirations of his own, having earned a silver medal at Junior Worlds in 2014 and winning a U23 bronze in 2017. Last year, McKenna wrestled in Final X, finishing higher on the national team ladder of USA Wrestling than he did with his third place finish at NCAAs in Cleveland.

I set the weight up like this to let you all know that these are already some of the most accomplished young wrestlers in the country, and also to say, get used to seeing these guys for years to come.

Title Contenders

#1 Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell

#2 Joey McKenna, Ohio State

#3 Nick Lee, Penn State

#5 Jaydin Eierman, Missouri

All-American Threats

#4 Josh Alber, Northern Iowa

#6 Mikey Carr, Illinois

#7 Mitch McKee, Minnesota

#8 Kanen Storr, Michigan

#9 Dom Demas, Oklahoma

#10 Nick Gil, Navy

#11 Tristan Moran, Wisconsin

#15 Kaid Brock, Oklahoma State

#16 Chad Red, Nebraska

I'm ready for all your "disrespect" talk. Bring it, please. I'm sleeping on all of you. And you know what, if I'm the reason you place or win a national title, because I put you in a different tier in a preview, you're welcome.

With all due respect to Josh Alber, who beat Jaydin Eierman, he's 0-3 against Yianni in college, and each time has lost worse than the previous match. Eierman has at least beaten Yianni in both folk and free, so that's why Alber isn't included in the top tier.

Mikey Carr earned himself the top seed at Big Tens, but also earned himself some questions heading into NCAAs with his eighth place finish at Big Tens. Two-time All-American Kaid Brock and last year's AA Chad Red are among the lower seeds that we can see finishing on the podium, because they've done it before. Sorry, Sa'Derian.

Session I

Matches to Watch:

Ian Parker vs Chad Red

Dom Demas vs Mitch Moore

AC Headlee vs Cam Kelly

Kyle Shoop vs Matt Findlay

Sa'Derian Perry vs Jamel Morris

Tristan Moran vs Max Murin

Parker and Red is a battle of two guys who both beat Dean Heil last year. Parker lost his final three duals of the season, and finished two spots below his seed at Big 12s; he was looking at a much better seed at the beginning of February. Red was just 12-11 against D1 competition but is a returning placer who just made the Big Ten finals. I'm expecting a war in round one.

Do yourself a favor and watch Demas' Big 12 final below, even if you've already seen it. Moore was in the ACC finals and has some upperbody and short offense tricks of his own. Somebody's probably getting dometossed in this match.

If you blinked, you probably missed it. @domonick_demas wins the 141 crown in just 54 seconds! ? #Big12WR pic.twitter.com/o4LNSK8TyL

— Oklahoma Wrestling (@OU_Wrestling) March 11, 2019

Cam Kelly's seed was hammered pretty hard on FRL 361, and UNC got a couple guys on the podium last year, so Headlee, who once wrestled at Who's Number One, could pull the first round upset. Kyle Shoop leads the nation in tech falls with 15 and Matt Findlay was having an excellent season before injuries seemed to derail it, but if he's healthy is extremely dangerous.

As mad as we are about the seeds, we're still even more mad about Eastern Michigan dropping their program. Shame on them, and shame on Bob Kustra. But at least Sa'Derian Perry has a new home in Old Dominion and another shot at placing. Jamel Morris just won ACCs and has only three losses on the year.

Tristan Moran did not wrestle against Iowa and didn't hit Max Murin at Big Tens. I think Moran has looked excellent all year and think very highly of what Coach Bono and his staff have done, however, Iowa needs Murin to do well, so I'm definitely watching this one to see if Murin can add anything to the Hawkeyes' team score.

Session II

The heartbreak round. Not quite as gut wrenching as Friday night, but this is where cute first round upsets turn into legitimate bracket busters and seniors on their last legs either bow out or continue the long slog through the backside to place.

Somehow Joey McKenna and Kaid Brock went from starting the season ranked #2 and #4, respectively, competing against each other in the All-Star Classic, to this being a second round match. McKenna enters NCAAs still ranked second, but Brock, who was nearly majored by McKenna in that match, is now the 15 seed. Both are two-time AAs so I'm still saying you should watch, but it has lost quite a bit of luster.

Mitch McKee has yet to place at NCAAs, but finally has a good seed. Nick Gil is a senior who could be the "finally AAs" guy this year. This one is a great clash of styles that actually plays right into fireworks as Gil loves underhooks and double unders, possibly setting up McKee to bomb him, going back to his freestyle/greco roots.

Tristan Moran literally just beat Mikey Carr last week, as did Max Murin. Now, Carr beat both of them during the regular season, but either way, we're going to get a rubber match.

Kanen Storr beat Dom Demas for third at CKLV and now they will meet again for the right to battle Yianni. Storr's two hi-c finishes were too clean for Demas, and I think Storr stays too positionally sound for a guy like Demas to be able to hit his various trips. Give me the Michigan Man with a couple quick finishes once again.

Session III

Yianni over Storr

Eierman over Alber

Lee over Murin

McKenna over McKee

Not a ton of super high profile matchups in these quarterfinals. Yianni once pinned Storr at a Journeymen event all the way back in October of 2015. Those two are in totally different spots now, but Storr getting teched by McKenna, losing to Nick Lee and Mitch McKee by six points to Yianni being able to win by a major here.

I'm taking Eierman, put the point must be made that Alber and others seem to do better against Jaydin the more often they wrestle him. As a true freshman, Eierman pinned then redshirt freshman Alber at the UNI Open. Then in a dual late last season, Eierman took Alber down once in each period, with the one at the end of the second resulting in four nearfall off a cradle. In the middle of January this year, Eierman got a first period takedown, but Alber's takedown at the buzzer gave him the 4-3 win.

I'm 100% torn on who out of Max Murin and Tristan Moran is making it to Nick Lee, but either way, Lee is putting up double digits in that match. This is also the precise moment that Penn State knocks every other program out of this year's team race. The Indiana native probably won't be able to morph into a Jason Nolf or Bo Nickal type, but looking ahead to the era after those two graduate, Lee has huge team point potential to carry the Nittany Lions into the Aaron Brooks/Robbie Howard squads in a few years.

Much like Spencer Lee at 125, Joey McKenna has an amazing draw to the semis. Buckeye fans should be absolutely stoked about the other seven guys that landed in this bottom quadrant. Tuner's got upset potential, and Gil is an absolute pain to wrestle, but Mitch McKee is the favorite to come out and face McKenna. That one went 8-0 in the Big Ten quarters, with McKenna winning all three positions. He got two takedowns, a quick escape, and a turn plus riding time.

Session IV

Yianni 4-3 over Eierman

Nick Lee 6-5 over McKenna

For the fourth time in their college careers, and the sixth time overall including a couple freestyle matches, Yianni Diakomihalis will wrestle Jaydin Eierman. In both of the first matches, Eierman got his hand raised, which maps with just how difficult it is to beat someone that unorthodox when you've never faced them in that style before. Both Yianni's win last year in overtime of the NCAA semis and this year's 3-1 win in December came off of him attacking Eierman's left leg and then re-position his head to change direction. Whether that's how he beats him again this time or not, Yianni is likely one of the only guys who can specifically diagnose the areas where Eierman can be exposed, in real time.

Penn State has not lost a semifinal at the NCAA tournament since 2015, when Jimmy Gulibon fell to Cory Clark. They're on a 16-0 run on Friday night championship side matches, a streak that will eventually end but I don't think it ends here. Joey McKenna is an incredible wrestler from an incredible program and he's beaten Lee twice. But all three of their matches were one point decisions for the victor. McKenna has scored the first takedown in each match, but the two times he won he also scored a last second takedown to end the first period. Among other adjustments, I think PSU cleans that up in what will probably be the best match of this bracket.

Session V

I don't feel terribly comfortable with my All-American picks, in large part due to the complete randomness of results this year, the odd seeding that created, and the clear parity at the weight. But the bracket is the bracket and I made my picks.

In the top half consi semi, we'll get Buckeye against Wolverine, which is normally juicy. But McKenna teched Storr in the dual, which doesn't leave much room to pick an upset, though it might just be a major this time. On the bottom half, Eierman will have Mitch McKee, a match we've never seen before. That of course favors Eierman, as well as just their general history in the three years of varsity they've had.

Alber beat Demas in a dual on January 27th, and it probably plays out that way again. As the nine seed, it shouldn't be terribly surprising that Demas places, but all year he was considered the "bracket buster" and it just kind of stinks when those guys get seeds like nine. Alber closes out his career on a win with over 100 victories for the Panther Train and the Schwab Mob.

McKee and Storr wrestle for fifth in a rematch of the Big Ten consi semis (which could go totally different if Demas beats Storr in round two). That consi semi match was goofy, as Storr won the takedown battle 2-1, but McKee got two reversals and a four point nearfall late. It's Saturday morning, so let's all hope for a similarly entertaining battle for the fans that dare attend the most fun session. Fans! Show up Saturday morning in Pittsburgh, you won't regret it.

McKenna vs Eierman (again). We've spent a ton of time breaking this one down over the years, and Joey is just a terrible, terrible matchup for Jaydin. Outside of the 2017 bloodround, when Eeirman majored McKenna 8-0, these matches have been one-sided. Joey closes out his career on a win and gets a similar sendoff to the one Nathan Tomasello got.

Session VI

Yianni 8-6 over Nick Lee

These two have only met once before, a 12-7 win in the semis of last season's Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open. Both are clearly different wrestlers since then and are much closer to their fully evolved, maximum potential college forms. As good as Nick Lee is at keeping a high pace though, Yianni is one of the best in the country at turning your attacks into his points. He's a better scrambler, can earn riding time on top, and is actually an underrated leg attacker himself.

Both are true sophomores, so we could see this one as many as three more times in the NCAA finals. Lee is too wide open for this to be a boring match, and I think he gets at least one takedown of his own. But I see Yianni getting three takedowns, perhaps one in each period. Lee gets out each time, and neither tries to ride the other for an extended period of time.

Nomad's AA Picks

1. Yianni
2. Nick Lee
3. McKenna
4. Eierman
5. McKee
6. Storr
7. Alber
8. Demas

149 Pounds

As the great Canadian poet Shania Twain once said, "Looks like we made it. Look how far we've come." And folks, we are here to tell you that we have indeed made it to the 2019 NCAA Championships. The regular season and conference weekend are over. Time to have some fun.

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

My blogging duties have been temporarily put on hiatus while my preview responsibilities are attended to. There's a lot of possibilities for how 149 shakes out in Pittsburgh, but with no returning national champs in the field, whoever climbs to the top of the NCAA podium steps while be doing so for the first time in their lives.  

Title Contenders

#1 Anthony Ashnault

#2 Micah Jordan

#3 Mitch Finesilver

#4 Brock Mauller

#5 Matt Kolodzik

#6 Austin O'Connor

#7 Kaden Gfeller

All-American Threats

#8 Jarrett Degen

#9 Justin Oliver

#10 Pat Lugo

#11 Josh Heil

#12 Brady Berge

#13 Anthony Artalona

#14 Requir van der Merwe

#15 Max Thomsen

Given the choice of being inclusive or exclusive when considering title and AA contenders, we decided to make this a big tent preview. We included as many wrestlers in both categories as we thought prudent. 

Ashnault is the clear No. 1 and he's beaten Micah Jordan, the clear No. 2, twice this year in uncontroversial fashion. But we were not going to have a title contender list consisting of one name. Kaden Gfeller has proven he can hang with the best 149'ers, pushing Ashnault and Finesilver to the brink. So we do not apologize for including him and all those seeded better in the title contender tier with Ashnault, et al.

With as deep as 149 has been, there's an argument to be made that the top 15 seeds is not enough names. We rather arbitrarily drew the line at Thomsen, a past All-American who beat Alec Pantaleo when the Wolverine two-time All-American was down at 149 at Midlands. 

Tommy Thorn is another All-American who only managed a No. 20 seed. With a fifth-place finish and a win over No. 19 seed Cole Martin, we could very much see Thorn on the podium once again. 

But a line had to be drawn somewhere. And so we reiterate that absolutely zero disrespect is intended with any of our predictions. Although if a wrestler we didn't pick does outperform our prediction, we reserve the right to take credit for the inspiration.  

Landmines

Jared Prince

Henry Pohlmeyer

Parker Kropman

Before we walk through the brackets session by session, a few dark horses who could disrupt the roadmap laid out by the seeding committee. 

Navy's indefatigable Jared Prince epitomizes the military ethos with his relentless attacks and unstoppable motor. Prince put that motor to work against Matt Kolodzik in the EIWA semifinals, hitting two reversals and then shooting him out of bounds for a go-ahead stall point in the third.

Henry Pohlmeyer of South Dakota State was in and out of the top 20 all year long, but picked up a big win at Big 12s, knocking off the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, Max Thomsen. Like Prince, Parker Kropman of Drexel can also boast of a win over a two-time All-American, picking up a 2-1 victory over Kolodzik in a dual meet at the end of February.

Session I

Matches to Watch:

Tanner Smith vs. Malik Amine (pigtail)

Justin Oliver vs. Cortlandt Schuyler

Russell Rohlfing vs. Jarrett Degen

Khristian Olivas vs. Brady Berge

Anthony Artalona vs. Tommy Thorn

Cole Martin vs. Requir van der Merwe

Josh Heil vs. Henry Pohlmeyer

This weight class has grown on us like kudzu, wrapping its tendrils around us tighter as the season wore on and the depth of the weight class became more apparent. We like this weight class so much we listed the pigtail match as one to watch!

Before any of the top seeds take the mat, a round of pigtails will occupy the eight squares laid down on the floor of the PPG Paints Arena. Most of the 32 vs. 33 seeds will be of little consequence (although Joe Smith will be in the pigtail match at 165, more on him a bit later), but Tanner Smith and Malik Amine are both far more competitive then their records would suggest. 

Smith has been hampered by injuries but has multiple wins over national qualifiers in his career. Amine comes from one arguably of the deepest weights in unarguably the deepest conference. Managing an 11-7 record against Amine's schedule is impressive. 

In regular round-of-32 action, Justin Oliver, who placed seventh as a freshman and finished in the blood round the next two years, is the No. 9 seed but will be tested early by the unpredictable but dangerous Cortlandt Schuyler. 

The higher-seeded Rohlfing has beaten the lower-seeded Degen once this year at the Southern Scuffle. He also has a win over the No. 10 seed Pat Lugo. He'll need to regain the form to beat Degen again Thursday morning.

It's been rumored that Brady Berge's cut to 149 is difficult, as evidenced by his teammate Jarod Verkleeren getting a decent amount starts at 149 this season for the Nittany Lions. Khristian Olivas is a tough first bout if Berge is still recovering from a hard pull down to scratch weight. 

True freshman Anthony Artalona also has a tough opening-round match against redshirt senior and All-American Tommy Thorn. Cole Martin and Requir van der Merwe both spent most of the year in the top 20 and definitely did not get the attention they deserved. 

Finally, Josh Heil has also been under the radar but consistent and consistently ranked. His opponent Henry Pohlmeyer is not to be overlooked (but really, no one in the weight class is).

Session II

Matches to Watch:

Matt Kolodzik vs. Brady Berge

Anthony Artalona vs. Brock Mauller

Kaden Gfeller vs. Pat Lugo

Thursday night begins the heartbreak in Pittsburgh, as nine wrestlers will have their seasons (or in many cases, collegiate careers), ended. It's also the halfway mark to All-American status. Win in the round of 16, and you're in the quarters, one win away from guaranteed placement. A loss in the quarters sends you to the blood round, where it's another win-and-place bout. 

Every match in Pittsburgh is critical, but the second session is when the urgency begins to sink in. 

Given Kolod-zilla's recent struggles—two of his three losses on the season have come in the last two competitions of the season—Brady Berge will be a trendy upset pick. We're sticking with chalk, but there is a very real chance last year's third-place finisher gets sent to the consolation bracket earlier than expected.

Artalona and Mauller will be a battle of true freshman phenoms. Mauller's been ranked higher all year, but Artalona has not been far behind. We've also got a great clash of styles in the positionally sound, low scoring Artalona with the funky and free-flowing Mauller. 

Lugo got the better of Gfeller in the Dual of the Century of the Year, but Gfeller did not look as sharp in that match as he has in previous matches. If we buzzsaw Gfeller, like we did in the Southern Scuffle finals, Lugo is going to have a tougher time advancing to the quarters. 

Session III

Matches to Watch:

Matt Kolodzik vs. Brock Mauller

Mitch Finesilver vs. Austin O'Connor

Josh Heil vs. Tommy Thorn (consi)

Anthony Artalona vs. Brady Berge (consi)

As the great Rebecca Black was known to exclaim: It's Friday! The field is reduced to a mere dozen by the end of this session, with only four still eligible for an individual championship. 

You can't go wrong with any of the quarterfinal bouts, whether chalk prevails, as we have predicted, or if there are upsets. One huge bout to look out for is the veteran Matt Kolodzik versus the young Brock "Darth" Mauller. Mauller has the better name, but Kolodzik has the experience, and if he's able to slow Mauller down, we think Kolo can right the ship and make it to his second-consecutive NCAA semifinals.

Mitch Finesilver and Austin O'Connor have wrestled each other four times already this year. Finesilver won at the Hokie Open last November, in the dual a few weeks ago, and in the finals of the ACC Championship. O'Connor did get to taste victory once, though, in the consolation semis of the CKLV.

There are two consolation rounds Friday morning. They get much trickier to predict, but if you see a matchup like Tommy Thorn and Josh Heil, do make sure to tune in. We're also penciling in a fire matchup between Artalona and Berge. We have Berge advancing, but Artalona is also the type of guy who could go on a Cinderella run to a high AA placement.

Session IV

Matches to Watch:

Anthony Ashanult vs. Matt Kolodzik

Mitch Finesilver vs. Micah Jordan

Kaden Gfeller vs. Brock Mauller (consi)

Josh Heil vs. Jarrett Degen (consi)

Brady Berge vs. Pat Lugo (consi)

Justin Oliver vs. Austin O'Connor (consi)

Everyone's favorite: the dog-bone formation. People love the dog-bone formation. They go wild for it. Two mats for the semifinals in the middle, two sets of two mats on either end for the blood round matches. For the wrestling junkies, it's pure unadulterated bliss. 

Ashnault and Kolodzik are familiar foes. They've met five times in the past, with Ashnault holding the 3-2 edge in the collegiate series. The two rivals first met in the 2015 Midlands for a pair of bouts. Kolo won on the top side, then Ash got revenge in the consi semis. They'd meet two more times in the 2016-17 season. Once again, Kolo won the first meeting, in an outdoor dual in Rutgers' football stadium, but it was Ashnault in the next and more important match, winning in the 2017 NCAA quarterfinals. 

Ashnault sat out the next season on a medical redshirt, but they were both back in action last fall. They collided yet again in a dual meet in Piscataway, where Ashnault left no doubt, winning 10-2. We predict the No. 1 seed Ashnault will remain perfect, advancing to the finals for the first time in his career.

On the other side of the bracket, it's MiJo (not at all his nickname, just something we're typing to save time) and Finesilver. Of the four Finesilver brothers in the NCAA Tournament, Mitch is having the best season, and has earned the highest seed for a Duke Blue Devil in recent memory. But Jordan has established himself as the clear No. 2 in the division, having only lost to Ashnault this season. We think Jordan takes this one and advances to the first final in his career, same as his potential opponent.

Then in the blood round, which is the most important consolation round in all of sports, in our humble opinion, expect heaps of blood, sweat and tears, and an incalculable amount of emotion left on the mat. We've got Mauller, Heil, Berge and O'Connor moving on the final eight, but as with so many other matchups in this weight class, we do not make those picks with an abundance of conviction.

Could Gfeller smash his way through Mauller? Of course. Might Degen stymie Heil with his praying-mantis-like frame? It's possible. Is a second straight win by Berge over Lugo a foregone conclusion? Definitely not. Is there a chance Oliver squeaks by the dynamic AOC? We should say so. 

In other words, we're hedging our bets. But the picks need to be made, so there we are. 

Session V

Matches to Watch:

Mitch Finesilver vs. Matt Kolodzik (3rd)

Brock Mauller vs. Austin O'Connor (5th)

Josh Heil vs. Brady Berge (7th)

The best-kept secret in NCAA wrestling should not disappoint at 149. Kolodzik has wrestled two Finesilvers in his career, but never Mitch. We have Mitch taking third in this battle of the brainiacs, but we'd be perfectly happy with Kolodzik proving us wrong and repeating his third-place performance from 2018.

A Mauller versus O'Connor bout would be an excellent showcase for the future of this weight class. Sophomore Josh Heil would be just the second Campbell Camel to earn All-American status if he makes it this far (the first being Nathan Kraisser in 2017). Brady Berge, on the other hand, would definitely not be the first Nittany Lion to reach the NCAA podium. 

Session VI

Anthony Ashnault vs. Micah Jordan

We've seen this one before. Twice in fact. In the CKLV finals and in the finals of the Big Ten Championships, both of which were likely the two toughest tournaments of the year, outside the NCAAs. 

In round one, it was all Ashnault, at least for the first two periods. A takedown followed by a trapped, bent leg and claw, followed by a two-on-one roll through tilt, gave Ashanult a big 10-0 lead in the first. Jordan battled back in the third period, pouring on four takedowns against an increasingly disinterested Ashnault to make the final a respectable 14-10.

Ashnault won round two as well. The first period of the Big Ten finals was scoreless, but things opened up in the second. Jordan wisely chose neutral, but it was Ashnault who got the key takedown and rideout in short time. Then in the third, an escape gave Ashnault a three-point lead. 

Two takedowns from Jordan knotted things up, but a clutch reversal from Ashnault put Ashnault back in command. A takedown in the final 10 seconds iced it for the New Jerseyan. 

Ashnault has now thwarted Jordan twice, and at all phases of the game. Which is not to say that Jordan won't be able to solve Ashnault in round three, just that we won't be making that prediction. Instead, we're picking Ashnault to cap off a legendary career at Rutgers. 

A title from Anthony would be the first in Rutgers program history. Furthermore, any All-American finish would make Ashnault the first four-time AA for Coach Goodale and the Rutgers program. The first three-time AA for the Scarlet Knights? Also Anthony Ashnault.

Spey's Spredictions

1. Ashnault
2. Jordan
3. Finesilver
4. Kolodzik
5. O'Connor
6. Mauller
7. Heil
8. Berge

For our entire bracket, please see below.

My 149 pound bracket. Please share yours with me. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/UAB97MHRHo

— Jaroslav Hašek (@SpeyWrestle) March 16, 2019

Apologies for the chalk and for any picks you disagree with. Six more weights to go!

157 Pounds

We've come to the halfway point of the 100-mile ultra marathon that is previewing the NCAA tournament. But as wrestlers, we all love the grueling pain of agonizing over every bracket, poring through results, and making a pick for all 640 matches.

The first four weights are all pretty wide open at the top, in terms of who can win the title. But at 157, the tournament might be a bit anticlimactic with one of the most dominant forces we've ever in Jason Nolf favored to win his third crown. That might prevent us from appreciating Nolf's greatness in real time.

What is legacy? The line that opened the "My Name is Jordan" FloFlim is what comes to mind every time I think of Jason Nolf. Back in October I got a big nostalgic in my 157lb season preview, saying the following about the senior: 

There are certain athletes in any given sport that are appointment viewing. Fans tune in to watch their spectacular goals, or crisp passing, or mind boggling feats of athleticism. Nolf's reached that point in the wrestling community, someone who seems to be making up moves as he goes along, but is really just pushing the sport into new realms. Maybe it's the reminder that injuries can derail careers, but if I were you, I'd make sure to watch every time Nolf takes the mat this year.

Nolf's stats jump off the page: 72 team points in just three national tournaments, and 59 career falls. If he hits his average and scores 24 team points in Pittsburgh, he'll be #7 on the all-time list, and at 27 points he moves into a tie with David Taylor for fifth. Over half of his college matches have ended in pins. He's also put up bonus in 87% of his matches, and should hit 100 career bonus point wins on Thursday.

He's currently 112-3 in his career, with one massive asterisk coming in the form of the John Van Brill injury default loss. So his only losses are to a four-time finalist, two-time champ, and he's on pace to be Top-10 in career points with three titles of his own. That pretty much sews Nolf up as one of the 10 best college wrestlers ever.

Weight Class Previews: 125 | 133 | 141 | 149

Beyond Nolf, there are two seniors from the Big Ten hoping to end their careers in grand fashion: Alec Pantaleo and Tyler Berger. Then there are super sophomores Ryan Deakin and Hayden Hidlay, who met in the U23 World Team Trials finals back in June. The interesting thing for me coming out of NCAAs ties back to this: what legacy will be left behind by the seniors, and who will set themselves up for a national title run next year in Minneapolis?

Title Contenders

#1 Jason Nolf, Penn State

All-American Threats

#2 Tyler Berger, Nebraska

#3 Ryan Deakin, Northwestern

#4 Alec Pantaleo, Michigan

#5 Hayden Hidlay, NC State

#6 Kaleb Young, Iowa

#7 Larry Early, Old Dominion

#8 Josh Humphreys, Lehigh

#9 Christian Pagdilao, Arizona State

#10 Steve Bleise, Minnesota

#14 Zach Hartman, Bucknell

Yes, there is only one title contender. By all means, cause a glitch in the matrix and prove me wrong.

Deakin did not place last year in some part at least due to his draw, so he will have to prove that was not a fluke, just freshman jitters against a couple guys with seven total All-American finishes between them.

The experiment to drop Kaleb Young to 57 has worked out great for Iowa, he is in excellent position to place. Larry Early is finally coming around to the guy many thought he would be coming out of high school, when he was a Top-15 recruit at OPRF. I personally feel the EIWA final I saw last Saturday between Josh Humphreys and Zach Hartman will be one in a series of many battles between two guys who will get on the podium more times than they won't.

Session I

Matches to Watch

John Van Brill vs BC LaPrade

Josh Humphreys vs Justin Ruffin

Jarrett Jacques vs Luke Weiland

Zach Hartman vs Griffin Parriott

Unquestionably my favorite first round match is John Van Brill against BC LaPrade. If you missed it the first time around, they met in a pigtail at CKLV. Van Brill only needed a takedown late down 2-1, but instead went with double overs and pinned LaPrade with one second left. It was absurd.

A year after meeting in the Super 32 quarterfinals, true freshmen Josh Humphreys of Lehigh and Justin Ruffin of SIU Edwardsville will see each other Thursday morning. After giving up a first period takedown, Humphreys got a reversal to end the first period tied. A second period escape and third period rideout gave Humphreys the 3-2 win.

Jacques has had an excellent true freshman season but Weiland is a returning national qualifier who went 2-2 last year. You already can tell from above I think very highly of Hartman, who spent a good portion of the year hovering around the 10-spot. But Parriott, much like Early, is a  former blue chipper who showed flashes of brilliance in making the CKLV finals.

Session II

Thursday night is where the wheat starts to separate from the chaff. That starts at the top with the 8/9 match between Josh Humphreys and Christian Pagdilao. A 6-1 loss befell Pagdilao in the dual, but this is the Sun Devil's last crack at the national tournament and Humphreys is a true freshman. I like the Mountain Hawk to be an AA, but we've seen bigger disparities be replaced by age and determination in March.

Steve Bleise and Larry Early spent one season both in the MAC, but did not meet. Early, formerly of Minnesota, and Bleise, now a Gopher but once at Northern Illinois, should meet in the second round to earn a spot against Tyler Berger in the quarters. Early's best win is over Hadyen Hidlay, while Bleise's is over Ryan Deakin. So when in doubt, go with the guy who did this with a broken hand.

Steve Bleise with a takedown back points in the final seconds to beat Andrew Shomers.

Oklahoma State leads Minnesota 8-6 at intermission. pic.twitter.com/JfzmxP3Y4v

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) November 18, 2018

I probably shouldn't be making a thing out of a guy who finished second at PIAAs against a guy who finished second in the world, but am I crazy to think Zach Hartman vs Ryan Deakin is going to be a match? Guys don't like going under Hartman, a lot of people choose neutral against him, and his cradle is vicious. Deakin's leg attacks should negate that, but Hartman is way too dangerous of a pinner to count out entirely.

Hayden Hidlay is 5-0 against Taleb Rahmani, the first one being a major and the last one being a six point decision. But all the others were one takedown matches, which we frequently overrate as being closer than they are. Anyway, it's not easy to beat a guy six times in a row and it's in Pittsburgh, so all I'm saying is I'm keeping an eye on it.

Session III

Nolf over Humphreys

Hidlay over Pantaleo

Deakin over Young

Berger over Bleise

Josh Humphreys fought Jason Nolf tough for over five minutes, keeping it within a decision. And then the flip switched. Nolf hit him with a hard snapdown, a vicious Winn Dixie, and then faked cutting him only to slap on a vicious cradle. It's worth another watch.

The Hidlay major over Pantaleo in the NCAA semis was a bit misleading given the nature of the six-point move. After also watching their freestyle match from the U.S. Open though, it appears to just be a bad style matchup for Pantaleo, much like the Wolverine is a bad style matchup for Tyler Berger. The Michigan senior can get the first takedown, he just needs to find a way to hold onto that lead.

How about a Midlands final rematch in the NCAA quarters? Sounds good to me. Another match where the score may be misleading, Deakin rode Young like a dog and took him down twice, although both were extended finishes that took some time to complete. It's kind of strange to think that these were three weight classes apart last year, but Deakin should earn his first AA placement with a comfortable decision.

Berger likely made adjustments from the sudden victory win in the dual to the 6-3 win in the Big Ten semis over Bleise. It seems destined that Berger and Nolf should meet once again, they have history going back to high school, but if Bleise can stop one or two of those shots and convert a re-attack of his own, this one has upset potential.

Session IV

Nolf 12-3 over Hidlay

Berger 4-3 over Deakin

A less than 100% Nolf beat Hidlay 6-2 in the NCAA finals, scoring twice on his left leg and earning riding time. It's hard to see a fully capable Nolf not at least doubling that score, especially as the Nittany Lions will be looking to lock up the team race. I also see him looking to be a bit more aggressive on top in this match, if possible. According to the fantastic stats of LemonPie, Nolf has 26.8% of his points this season from nearfall, and scored them in 22 of his 26 bouts. The ones where he didn't? Both matches against Berger, the Big Ten semis against Pantaleo, and Gary Dinmore back at the Keystone Classic.

The Nebraska coaching staff clearly placed an increased emphasis on preparing for Deakin's attacks on Berger's right leg. In the U23 semis, Deakin picked Berger apart with a swing single. But in the dual in January, Berger did a much bette job downblocking, tying up Deakin's wrists, and timing his sprawl. In turn though, Deakin did not let Berger finish any shot quickly, so it's possible the Northwestern staff picks up the go behind work. However, I think Berger, who has previous finishes of fifth and third, continues his success at NCAAs.

Bloodround picks: Pantaleo over Early, Humphreys over Hartman, Bleise over Jacques, Young over Laprade.

Session V

Alec Pantaleo has wrestled Ryan Deakin four times, twice in freestyle and twice in folkstyle. Back in the spring, the senior won 13-5 in the U.S. Open consi semis and 5-0 in the WTT challenge tournament third place match. Late in the season, Deakin picked up an 11-9 win in the dual, but Pantaleo avenged it win a 10-4 win in the Big Ten consi semis. So apparently these two are destined to wrestle in consi semis matches, and I'm calling for history to repeat itself for the Michigan Man.

Coming back to a point I made near the top, the seniors and sophomores dominate this bracket. Moving Steve Bleise up to 157 was clearly a wise move for his senior year, but he's 0-2 against Kaleb Young of Iowa. The first one had an epic ending, and the second was Young scoring off Bleise's offense. I think that Bleise steals one to set up a match with Hayden Hidlay, but won't be able to pull off a similar upset against NC State.

Well that escalated quickly ... @Hawks_Wrestling's Kaleb Young gets the win after a 6-point move. @FloWrestling pic.twitter.com/cD1sxsQVpz

— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) January 13, 2019

Young has been one of the more underrated guys in the country, which I suppose makes sense since it's a little easier to fly under the radar in a weight like 157. He's the six seed and has twice beaten Bleise, so he could end up in the sixth place match, but somehow I came up with a bracket featuring Young and Humphreys, another guy who beat Bleise, wrestling for seventh. I've talked quite a bit about Humphreys in this preview, and it's possible he loses to Hartman in the Round of 12. He's probably better now than he was in December, but this seventh place match probably goes down similar to Young's win in the dual.

The fifth place match is between two familiar foes, Steve Bleise and Ryan Deakin. They met three times as 149 pounders and three times this year, with Deakin leading the series 4-2 overall. Both times Bleise won have featured some odd penalty points or circumstances, which is hard to replicate. Deakin's wins have been more dominant, so that's the pick. Which means heading into the 2019-20 season it will be Hidlay and Deakin atop the rankings.

Speaking of Hidlay, Pantaleo gets one last crack at the Wolfpack sophomore. It's always fun getting to wrestle someone twice in one tournament, and in this case, the first time is to become an All-American and the second is the final match of someone's college career. If there's a time he's going to beat Hidlay, it's now. But I'm not picking it that way.

Session VI

Nolf 15-5 over Berger

Here are the scores of the five matches these two have wrestled in college, ending with the most recent: 19-3, 15-7, 13-5, 10-4, and 12-4. Nolf's outscored Berger by a 3:1 margin in their careers, with most of those points coming on their feet. The Nittany Lion has scored 24 takedowns against Berger and only given up two. Nolf has only turned Berger twice, and those came in their first two matches against each other. With all that in mind, I think Nolf picks up six takedowns, an escape, a point for stalling, and riding time. A dominant end to one of the most incredible college careers we've ever seen.

Nomad's AA Picks

1. Nolf
2. Berger
3. Hidlay
4. Pantaleo
5. Deakin
6. Bleise
7. Young
8. Humphreys

165 Pounds

The NCAA Championship is coming to Pittsburgh, bringing 330 of the raddest and baddest dudes on the planet to Steel City. To prepare for the most fantastic three days on the calendar, we've written these previews for you, the savviest and most intelligent sports fans on Planet Earth.

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

Like the celebrated bulls of Pamplona, the 165-pound weight class will be thundering into Pittsburgh like a herd of angry steer. Leading the charge is the top bovine himself, the undefeated Alex Marinelli. 

A title for the Bull won't come easy, however, especially not with Vincenzo Joseph, the two-time reigning champ in the field. 

So let us suspend our blogging activities and don our prognosticator's cap as we dig into all the nooks and crannies of the 165-pound NCAA championship bracket.   

Title Contenders

#1 Alex Marinelli

#2 Vincenzo Joseph

All-American Threats

#3 Josh Shields

#4 Evan Wick

#5 Chance Marsteller

#6 Logan Massa

#7 Isaiah White

#8 Mekhi Lewis

#9 Demetrius Romero

#10 Branson Ashworth

#11 Bryce Steiert

#12 Ebed Jarrell

#13 Andrew Fogarty

#33 Joseph Smith

There is a tremendous amount of talent at the top of this weight class, but two names stood out from the rest all season long, those being Alex Marinelli and Vincenzo Joseph. 

Cenzo and Marinelli remained undefeated this season up until their epic Big Ten finals bout a couple of weeks ago in Minneapolis. They've also both had their fair share of close bouts this season, so it's not unthinkable that another challenger from the field wrestles on Saturday night.

However, if Vegas were price out odds to win this division, Marinelli and Joseph would be the frontrunners, with no disrespect intended to anyone else in the bracket. 

Hey, speaking of NCAA betting odds...

Oh snap! NCAA odds are out. Tweet me your favorite plays. I'll start working on a breakdown shortly. https://t.co/pqTzcr9fm6

— Willie Saylor (@WillieAtFLO) March 16, 2019

Wick, Marsteller, Massa and White have all given either Cenzo or Marinelli (or both) a run for their money this season. So if you wanted to include them in the title contenders category, we would not protest. 

Shields lost soundly to both Marinelli and Joseph, but has racked up some impressive wins and has but one other loss on the season, to fellow contender Evan Wick. That head-to-head victory would have probably locked up the No. 3 seed for Wick, had he not lost to Logan Massa in the Big Ten Championship's third-place bout.

Mekhi Lewis is one of the few wrestlers who can claim to have beaten Marinelli in a match in the last calendar year. Though that victory came in freestyle, it nonetheless bolsters Lewis' contender credentials.  

Romero, Ashworth, Fogarty, Steiert and Smith form a studly quintet of Big 12 contenders. They are all seeded close together because little separates them talent-wise. The exception being Smith, a two-time All-American who was only seeded 33rd because he wrestled the entire season up to the Big 12 tournament up at 174-pounds and the previously established seeding criteria determined he must receive the lowest seed in the tournament. 

Ebed Jarrell's losses at the EIWA to Cael McCormick and Gordon Wolf are tough to square with All-American contender status, but we like Jarrell and he does have a victory over Isaiah White back in November, so we are going to include him on the list regardless. 

Land mines

Gordon Wolf

Tanner Skidgel

Te'Shan Campbell

Speaking of the Gordon Wolf of Wall Street (Wolf majored in finance, so we're sure he will never get tired of hearing that joke), if there's a wrestler no one in the field is looking forward to seeing, it's the EIWA third-placer from Lehigh. 

Tanner Skidgel won the EIWA, so you know he is dangerous, even if you are unfamiliar with his name. And Te'Shan Campbell had a bumpy season, spending some of it up at 174-pounds, but when he's cut down to 165, he's as lean and mean as anyone in the bracket. 

Session I

Matches to Watch:

Joe Smith vs Tyler Moreland vs. Alex Marinelli

Te'Shan Campbell vs. Ebed Jarrell

Andrew Fogarty vs. Tyler Marinelli

Jesse Dellavecchia vs. Tanner Skidgel

Connor Flynn vs. Gordon Wolf

Moreland's record is 6-9 (sorry, had to mention it—we're very mature) but that's coming out of one of the toughest weight classes in bar-none the toughest conference in wrestling. Assuming Joe Smith wins, though, his reward is the No. 1 seed in the country. Before the season started, you could've convinced us that this would be the finals match. Now it will likely take place Saturday morning. NCAA wrestling is wild. 

Jarrell will get tested right out of the gate. We will know if those EIWA losses were a fluke or not soon after the first whistle. Tyler Marinelli has just two losses on the year, to Jesse Dellavecchia and Tanner Skidgel, both at the Southern Scuffle. 

Dellavecchia, the last EWL 165-pound runner-up ever, will wrestle this year's EIWA's champ, Tanner Skidgel, in a battle of the only two people to beat Tyler Marinelli this season. That is one bizarre coincidence that we literally just stumbled upon accidentally. Kind of creeping us out to be honest. 

If Flynn v Wolf doesn't put double digits on the scoreboard, we will eat a corner rug.

Session II

Matches to Watch:

Alex Marinelli vs. Jon Viruet

Mekhi Lewis vs. Demetrius Romero

Isaiah White vs. Branson Ashworth

165-pounds on Thursday night may not have the fireworks that other divisions will, but the groundwork will be laid for an absolutely killer Friday. 

Marinelli and Viruet is one of the most intriguing 1 vs 16 seeded bouts we'll see in Pittsburgh. They've met twice before, both in the quarterfinals of the Midlands. In 2017, Marinelli won 3-2. In 2018, Alex needed sudden victory win. 

There are two ways to look at Marinelli's draw as the undefeated No. 1 seed. 

Option 1 - Glass Half Empty

R32: a two-time All-American

R16: guy who took Alex to sudden victory

QF: guy who beat Alex in freestyle 

SF: guy who beat Alex 16-3 in last year's NCAAs

Option 2 - Glass Half Full

R32: took fifth place at Big 12s

R16: took sixth place at EIWAs

QF: guy who lost to Connor Flynn this season (no disrespect to Flynn)

SF: guy Alex beat three times this season

And course it's the same guys in both options: Joe Smith, Jon Viruet, Mekhi Lewis and Evan Wick. So on one hand, it would appear Alex's draw is particularly tough for a No. 1 seed. On the other hand, its nationals, there are no easy paths and everyone at the tournament is good.

Lewis beat Romero a season ago and out-placed him at the CKLV in December, but Romero has been making waves all season, having notched wins over Logan Massa and Joe Smith. He's also representing the dearly departed Boise State wrestling program. Romero had just finished his second year on campus when the shameful Bob Kustra shuttered the program to make way for his unjustifiable pet project of bringing varsity baseball to BSU.

Ashworth has a victory over White from an early dual this season, so it would be tough to call it an upset if history repeats in Pittsburgh. 

Session III

Matches to Watch:

Alex Marinelli vs. Mekhi Lewis

Chance Marsteller vs. Evan Wick

Josh Shields vs. Logan Massa

Isaiah White vs. Vincenzo Joseph

Joe Smith vs. Branson Ashworth (consi)

Demetrius Romero vs. Gordon Wolf (consi)

Junior freestyle world gold medalist Mekhi Lewis has sky-high potential, but as of now, Marinelli has the more proven track record in folkstyle. 

Evan Wick is a bad matchup for Chance Marsteller, as was shown in Cleveland a year ago. Wick's cradles feature in the nightmares of everyone at 165, but especially for the stockier types like Chance.

Although he was an All-American last yeah, Josh Shields has jumped another level after jumping up a weight class. Having the Valencia brothers as training partners certainly doesn't hurt. He beat Massa 7-3 in a dual meet earlier this year. 

White is now 0-2 in his college career against Joseph. Cenzo beat Isaiah 2-0 in a dual meet and stopped him in sudden victory in the quarterfinals of the 2018 NCAA Championship. Isaiah, like everyone else who wants to beat Vincenzo, will have to figure out a way through Joseph's impregnable defense if he wants to make it to his first NCAA semifinal round. 

Smith got the first takedown, but Ashworth scored the go-ahead two to beat the two-time All-American Cowboy in the consolation semifinals at the Big 12 Tournament (did we mention that Joe is a two-time All-American yet?). It would be a stunningly quick exit for Smith if something like that were to happen in Pittsburgh, but sometimes that's just how the bracket crumbles.

If Romero and Wolf don't put double digits on the scoreboard, we will eat a challenge brick. 

Session IV

Matches to Watch:

Alex Marinelli vs. Evan Wick

Vincenzo Joseph vs. Josh Shields

Chance Marsteller vs. Branson Ashworth (consi)

Bryce Steiert vs. Mekhi Lewis (consi)

Andrew Fogarty vs. Isaiah White (consi)

Demetrius Romero vs. Logan Massa (consi) 

It's the fan favorite Friday-night session, replete with the celebrated dog-bone six mat formation. 

On one of the center two mats will be (if everything follows our picks and the seeds) the fifth meeting of Marinelli and Wick. After Wick demolished Marinelli 16-3 in the consolation semifinals of the 2018 tournament, there was talk of Wick separating himself from everyone not named Vincenzo Joseph in the 165-pound weight class. Three consecutive wins by Marinelli against zero losses this season have put that notion to rest. 

We think Marinelli makes it four-in-a-row, but we have our reservations, because, you know, 16-3. 

On the other center mat will be (according to us and the seeding committee) Joseph vs. Shields. Cenzo beat Shields 11-2 in a dual meet this season. That was Shields' worst loss in his college career and the only time he has ever been majored. We've got Cenzo advancing to his third consecutive finals and a chance for revenge against Marinelli. 

In the heartbreak consolation round of 12, we were forced to pick four wrestlers to come up just shy of All-American status, though we would be thrilled for those wrestlers to prove us wrong. 

We've got Marsteller beating Ashworth, just like he did at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. We've got Lewis over Steiert, as it played out at the CKLV. We think White gets by Fogarty, which also happened at the 2017 Daktronics semifinals. Finally, we have Massa getting revenge for the CKLV third-place bout, which Romero won 9-6, although it was 18-0 tech fall for Massa in the quarterfinals.

Session V

Matches to Watch:

Logan Massa vs. Josh Shields (third)

Evan Wick vs. Mekhi Lewis (fifth)

Chance Marsteller vs. Isaiah White (seventh)

Let's be honest, no one knows how things are going to unfold in the consolation round, so we just had fun with these picks. Massa over Shields (reversing the result the quarterfinals), Wick over Lewis, and Marsteller over White. 

Our justification: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Session VI

Alex Marinelli vs. Vincenzo Joseph

Marinelli's 9-3 victory over Cenzo in the Big Ten finals tied Joseph's largest margin of defeat in his collegiate career. The other six-point defeat coming at the hands of Keaton Subjeck in Joseph's second varsity match in November 2016. 

The win in Minneapolis was the second for Marinelli over Joseph in their two meetings. In both cases, it was Cenzo's signature inside trip that was his undoing. In both matches, while Cenzo was snaking his right leg round Marinelli's left, Alex was adjusting his upper body positioning to neutralize Joseph's deadliest attack. 

In 2018, Marinelli countered by squeezing a body lock down and to the left, sending Cenzo to his back for a six-point move and securing the come-from-behind win. In 2019, Marinelli began squeezing the body lock before Cenzo whipped his right leg behind Alex's. That ill-advised trip made Cenzo's fall to his back that much swifter. Alex also hastened the descent by widening his stance as Joseph tried his counter attack, providing the balance he needed when Joseph tried to roll off his back once they both tumbled down onto the mat. 

In that same Big Ten finals bout, trailing late in the match, Vincenzo went to the well once more, only this time, Marinelli wasn't in position to counter with a body lock, so he swiveled his hips around Cenzo and butt-dragged around for two more points to ice the match. 

Will Joseph continue to live and die by the inside trip if he sees Marinelli for the third time in the NCAA finals? He might. He might also try relying on his underrated blast double that he cleanly hit on Marinelli in their 2018 match. 

For Marinelli, a key to victory will be finding a way to generate offense and finishing his high crotch attacks through Cenzo's lead hips. 

Or perhaps they'll both just let it fly and we get to witness dueling throws for seven minutes, reminiscent of the classic Schultz vs. Banach 1982 NCAA finals match. One can only hope. 

Spey's Spredictions

1. Marinelli
2. Joseph
3. Massa
4. Shields
5. Wick
6. Lewis
7. Marsteller
8. White

For our entire bracket, please see below.

NCAA bracket for 165 pic.twitter.com/GgkeMxE5JC

— The King of Chalk (@SpeyWrestle) March 16, 2019

Apologies for the boring chalk picks and for disrespecting the wrestlers we picked against. Nomad is next up with 174, then we'll handle 184. See you then!

174 Pounds

We're just days away from the start of the 2019 NCAA tournament, and the previews are still flying in. The 330 best college wrestlers in the nation will all soon converge on Pittsburgh for three of the most grueling days of their lives.

The end of the middleweights means that we return to the greatest rivalry in college wrestling history: Mark Hall versus Zahid Valencia.

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

One of the rarest things in college wrestling is for two national champions to have the same four-year overlap, and stay in the same weight class as each other. That's exactly what's happened with the Sun Devil and Nittany Lion though.

Hall took round one in the infamous "headgear pull" semifinal en route to his national title as a freshman in 2017. Zahid took about 100 shots to win round two at the start of last season in the All-Star Classic, which is the first ingredient for a great rivalry: having wins against each other in multiple seasons.

They met again in the NCAA finals in Cleveland, with the two athletes putting the crowd on their feet after an early scramble, and Zahid winning 8-2 after taking Hall down in each period. This past December, Hall struck back, shutting down a Zahid attack and turning into a takedown of his own, as well as riding out the whole third period.

Weight Class Previews: 125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165

In order for them to meet on Saturday night, Hall has to once again beat Myles Amine, who he has taken out four times in college, but each was only by one point. Valencia will have to avenge a Feb. 8 loss to Daniel Lewis in which he got cradled up and pinned.

Title Contenders

#1 Mark Hall, Penn State

#2 Daniel Lewis, Missouri

#3 Zahid Valencia, Arizona State

All-American Threats

#4 Myles Amine, Michigan

#5 Jordan Kutler, Lehigh

#6 David McFadden, Virginia Tech

#7 Jacobe Smith, Oklahoma State

#8 Taylor Lujan, Northern Iowa

#9 Devin Skatzka, Minnesota

#10 Mikey Labriola, Nebraska

I'm ready for all your "disrespect" talk. Bring it, please. I'm sleeping on all of you. And you know what, if I'm the reason you place or win a national title, because I put you in a different tier in a preview, you're welcome.

Similar to my argument with Josh Alber at 141, Amine has never beaten Hall. If he were to do so in the semis, it would be considered a notable upset for pretty much everyone in the arena and watching across the country. He's beaten Kutler twice in a row after losing to him in a dual last season.

Session I

Matches to watch

Brandon Womack vs. Neal Richards

Brit Wilson vs. Spencer Carey

Ethan Smith vs. Kimball Bastian

Since losing to Mark Hall in the Keystone semis, Richards has won 21 matches in a row. His first match is against former 165-pound AA Brandon Womack.

A little MAC versus EIWA action as Wilson opens up with Carey, two guys who have flown under the radar but would be set up much better to be bracket busters simply by making it to round two.

Smith should do what he's done all season and fire off a dozen shots against Bastian. That match has plenty of opportunity to be high scoring and/or ridiculous match. This round as a whole is hard to pick upsets on paper, which is theoretically the case for every weight now that they're seeding down to 33, but is especially difficult for 174.

Session II

The heartbreak round. Not quite as gut-wrenching as Friday night, but this is where cute first-round upsets turn into legitimate bracket busters and seniors on their last legs either bow out or continue the long slog through the backside to place.

Aside from Micky Phillippi against Austin Gomez at 133, the Devin Skatzka/Taylor Lujan match might be favorite round two bout of any weight. Phillippi is an underrated leg attacker who is excellent on top and could definitely put Gomez in a hole, as we've seen all season from the Cyclone. Lujan's boot scoots and petersons against the red hot Skatzka, peaking at the right time. Sign me up.

At the beginning of his redshirt season, Mikey Labriola beat Jacobe Smith 7-6 in the finals of the Bob Smith Open. That alone would make this one interesting, but then throw in Labriola's propensity for explosive doubles and fearlessness to attack, combined with Jacobe's ability to go upper body, and you've got a recipe for beautiful disaster.

Session III

Hall over Lujan

Amine over Kutler

Zahid over McFadden

Lewis over Smith

Hall beat Lujan 6-2 last year in a quarterfinal. In the first period, Hall scored off a duck that he turned into a horseshoe finish. Lujan then got caught in an odd chin-whip position to get turned about halfway through the first, and Hall would only score again on an escape and riding time. Hall's ability to ride and negate Lujan's upper-body tricks and funk makes this a pretty bad matchup for the Panther.

Amine's ability to come out the back and hit Iranian finishes kept Kutler off his own offense in the dual. At last year's NCAAs, when they also met as the 4/5, Amine went head outside and fought through a chest lock to score the only takedown of the match. Being able to time Kutler's double will be huge for Amine.

David McFadden is a high-level wrestler, an All-American and U23 world team member. But I don't see much reason why Zahid can't do the same type of thing to DMF that Joe Smith did to the Hokie at the Southern Scuffle.

The only time Jacobe Smith and Daniel Lewis have faced off resulted in a Lewis win, but that was in a dual last season. He's still of course good enough to beat Lewis for the first time, but the Tiger senior has had an incredible season, with just the single loss to Amine in the CKLV finals. When in doubt, I'm taking the guy who's better on top, but the fact that Jacobe can throw just about anybody is terrifying. Easily the most anticipated quarter of this weight.

Bloodround picks: Kutler over Labriola, Lujan over Lydy, Jacobe over Bastian, McFadden over Skatzka.

Session IV

Hall 3-2 over Amine

Zahid 7-5 over Lewis

Both of Hall's wins over Amine this season were 3-2, once in the dual at the Bryce Jordan Center and again in the Big Ten finals. The takedowns he used to win those matches were different though, with the dual being decided on a go-behind late in the third period. Last Sunday in the conference finals, Hall scored late in the first period off an attempted slideby that turned into coming out the back door on a single. Amine is one of the best wrestlers in the country, and were it not for Hall could be a multiple-time finalist or champ. But just like Mitchell Port and Devin Carter had Logan Stieber, Amine has Hall.

Daniel Lewis had one of the most randomly surprising moments of the season, in part because we thought Zahid and Mark were so far separated from the field, if not score-wise at least results-wise. I'm not sure I see Lewis pinning Zahid again, but he did get the first takedown of the match, which turned into a Valencia escape and takedown. That turned into backpoints for the Sun Devil, but then Lewis ultimately got a reversal. Zahid got out to end the period 6-4 before the cradle in the second. Zahid's going to have trouble getting out once again, which is why I see him trying to rack up the takedowns early and put Lewis in a hole.

Session V

All of the NCAA tournament weights are easy to pick going mostly chalk, if nothing else because they now seed all 33 and it's easy to call someone a "bracket buster" until you have to sit down and pick them to beat someone they got majored by in the regular season. That's why Zeke Moisey is the most improbable finalist of the past five years: many people felt he could do better than his 15 seed, but basically no one saw him beating Nahshon Garrett and Thomas Gilman. At 174, it's the hardest to pick upsets.

This weight has been extremely easy to rank over the past two seasons, because for whatever reason the top 10 or so guys all seem to overlap in their schedules. To set up the consi semi against Daniel Lewis, we're going back to the 2018 Southern Scuffle semis, in which Jordan Kutler beat Taylor Lujan. The other side is a couple guys meeting at a catch weight, as Jacobe Smith started the year at 184 and David McFadden was a 165 last season. Maybe it's recency bias, the but Jacobe we saw at Big 12s can beat McFadden.

Kutler was clearly not right in the consi semis last year when he had to injury default against Lewis before the first period ended. But he was much closer to full strength when Lewis beat him 8-1 in December. Now, seven of those points came in the first period and then they traded escapes, but Lewis' ability to ride and score points in bunches makes him hard to pick against.

You've heard me make no bones about the fact I think Jacobe is primed for a great tournament, but Amine's low single stuff is going to be too much. The Wolverine is clearly the third-best guy in the country.

I can't emphasize enough that the fans in Pittsburgh and watching at home should be locked in on Saturday morning. How about David McFadden versus Taylor Lujan for seventh? You think those two aren't putting up fireworks? Kutler and Jacobe for fifth will be their fourth meeting in the past three years, with Kutler winning all three. He won 10-5 at University Nationals in 2017, took a 5-4 decision on riding time at last season's Journeymen event and a 4-2 win in the second round of NCAAs last year.

Myles Amine was the only one to beat Daniel Lewis this season, but due to some other results came out third in the round robin between him, Lewis and Zahid. But it looks like we'll get a repeat of last year's third-place bout, which was won by Amine 4-2 in sudden victory. That one went drastically different than the CKLV finals, with Amine getting ridden out in the second, but then getting a takedown late in the third to force overtime. Their match in Vegas was far more entertaining, with 17 points on the board, kicked off by a couple reversals in the first period.

To beat Daniel Lewis, you've got to be able to overcome his dominance on the mat. That means getting multiple takedowns, which is exactly the type of match Amine can win. The chest wrap is concerning, and the late stall certainly changed the match in Vegas, but Amine's neutral is going to be the difference once again.

Session VI

Hall 4-1 over Valencia

There was a time I said I would never pick Mark Hall over Zahid Valencia, no matter what the results of their matches looked like. Very simply, I felt Zahid was better and a more offensive-minded wrestler. To me, in a battle of evenly matched opponents, the guy always looking to score would come out on top more than the counter-based wrestler.

It was the way Mark won their match in December, as well as seeing him live at the Southern Scuffle, that changed my mind. It is abundantly clear that the recorder prodigy was changing how he was wrestling, sprawling and feeding hips more as opposed to turning everything into a scramble. It added a new wrinkle to his game, something that seemed relatively impossible given that Mark scored all of his offensive points in different ways at last year's NCAA tournament.

Zahid's still firing off shot after shot, majoring the likes of Jordan Kutler and Taylor Lujan. There's a reason this guy made it to Final X last June, and it starts with his "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality. But the oohs and ahhs of last year's final will be replaced by downblocking and riding. Making it a less entertaining match is how Mark Hall wins his second NCAA title.

Nomad's AA Picks

1. Hall
2. Valencia
3. Amine
4. Lewis
5. Smith
6. Kutler
7. McFadden
8. Lujan

184 Pounds

The 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships are nearly here! But you already knew that, didn't you? This is our eighth preview article, there's no way you're just now hearing about the NCAAs. 

Anyway, we're pumped, and we're pumped that you're pumped for it. And we know you're pumped because how could you not be pumped with these brackets? Now let's dig into 184. 

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

Like the Joker to Batman, or Thanos to the Avengers, or Finn DeTrolio to Vito Spatafore, the 184-pound weight class has been the arch nemesis of rankers all season long. Myles Martin stabilized the top spot, starting the preseason as No. 1 and remaining there as he went undefeated in the regular season. After that, however, the rankings resembled a swirling miasma of numbers from week to week.

Weird things happened at this weight class. For instance, despite the propensity for the top half of the top 20 in a typical weight class to be relatively consistent, especially later in the season, there was a new No. 2 in five of the last six weeks of the regular season. 

The No. 2 seed, All-American Shakur Rasheed, wrestled just 18 Division I opponents this season. Shak beat everyone he faced, but only three of his opponents received seeds in the top 20. Rasheed also forfeited out of the Big Ten Championship final. We put student-athlete safety ahead of everything else, so we won't quibble with the decision not to wrestle, we're just mentioning it to point out how difficult that makes it to place Rasheed in the hierarchy of the division.

184 also stands out in being less reliant on the Big Ten conference for depth. Five of the top 15 seeds are from the ACC. Three of the top 11 are from the EIWA. That is rare, not just this year, but in any year in recent memory. 

The good news is that very shortly, out of the chaos will coalesce a new order. There will be questionable calls and arguments about upsets, but we will have by one way or another a champion and seven more All-Americans. And at least we can finally stop relying on the eminently fallible human rankers. 

The Favorite

#1 Myles Martin (Ohio State)

These Other Guys Are Really Good Too

#2 Shakur Rasheed (Penn State)

#3 Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech)

#4 Emery Parker (Illinois)

#5 Max Dean (Cornell)

#6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)

#7 Nick Reenan (North Carolina State)

#8 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)

#9 Taylor Venz (Nebraska)

#10 Sammy Colbray (Iowa State)

#11 Louie DePrez (Binghamton)

#12 Cash Wilcke (Iowa)

#13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt)

#14 Dylan Wisman (Missouri)

#15 Chip Ness (North Carolina)

Myles Martin isn't invincible, but he's looked pretty untouchable this season. Martin was held to a regular decision on quite a few occasions, but he's won every takedown battle in every match he's wrestled, and has scarcely even been threatened from neutral. 

Shakur Rasheed is also undefeated, but he has wrestled a fraction of competition that most every other contender has this season. Which isn't a knock on his talent, just a fact that he's gotten less reps against the top contenders this season than anyone else, often by a large margin. For example, Rasheed has two matches against wrestlers in the top 15, while Taylor Venz has 12 matches against top 15 opponents with five wins. Chip Ness, who has a win over Venz, has had nine.

That will likely change soon enough, as after an opening-round match against No. 31 Kevin Parker of Princeton, Rasheed will probably have to go through four more top 15 competitors to reach the top of the podium. This is just one of innumerable reasons to get pumped up for the NCAAs.

Landmines

Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)

Jackson Hemauer (Fresno State)

Will Schany (Virginia)

Oklahoma State's lineup shufflings were great for the fans, as it helped the Cowboys put out a better lineup for dual meets despite suffering a rash of injuries to several of their starters. It did not do any favors for their seeds. Dakota Geer spent much of the season up at 197 filling in for an injured Preston Weigel, and was punished by the established seeding criteria for his lack of matches at 184. Two-time FloNats champion Dakota Geer is better than his No. 26 would suggest, and he represents a major challenge for anyone unlucky enough to draw him in the bracket.

Will Schany spent most of the year in the top 20 thanks to an excellent performance at the CKLV. Jackson Hemauer did a spell in the rankings thanks to a late-season charge for the Bulldogs of Fresno State. Neither wrestler should be slept on by any of their potential opponents.

Session I

Matches to Watch:

Nick Gravina vs. Cash Wilcke

Cam Caffey vs. Dylan Wisman

Nick Reenan vs. Dakota Geer

Chip Ness vs. Tate Samuelson

For as wild as 184 has been all season, we still don't expect there to be ton of upsets in the first round. There very well could be some unexpected results, we're just not going to predict they happen here. 

One wrestler who could defy his seed is Nick Gravina of Rutgers. The Gravy Train was derailed by a multitude of injuries, but there are few if any grittier and gutsier wrestlers in the NCAA. Gravina and Wilcke both made the bloodround last year (Wilcke up at 197, Gravina at 184) and this will be their first time facing each other in college (they were scheduled to wrestle for fifth at Big Tens but Gravina was a medical forfeit). 

Cam Caffey has an unorthodox style that is a joy to watch and often gives his opponents fits. Unfortunately, Caffey did not have his style working for him at Big Tens and he had to wrestle back for ninth and hope for a wild card, which he received. Wisman will be a very tough challenge in the first round, as he owns a win over All-American Max Dean this season. 

Reenan versus Geer may be one of the best first-round matches in the entire tournament. Reenan is a Final X competitor who started the season red hot before slowing down after missing some time due to injuries. Geer ping-ponged between 184 and 197 before settling back down at 184 for the postseason. This will be no picnic for Rick Neenan. 

Chip Ness is an All-American senior but has struggled with consistency during the regular season. He'll need his A game early, as he drew the talented (and large) true frosh from Wyoming, Tate Samuelson.

Session II

Matches to Watch:

Taylor Venz vs. Ryan Preisch

Nino Bonaccorsi vs. Emery Parker

Lou DePrez vs. Drew Foster

Chip Ness vs. Shakur Rasheed

Thursday evening is when the NCAAs really begins to pick up a full head of steam, and we think that will be very apparent once the 184-pounders take the mat. Our love of chalk is pretty well established by this point in the previews, but even we couldn't help ourselves and are picking Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt to upset Emery Parker. Parker has missed time this season due to injury, and we think the young redshirt freshman Bonaccorsi will be hungry to establish Pittsburgh as his city. If he wins, we fully expect Kyle Bratke to tweet out, in all caps no less, a statement to that effect. 

If we're wrong, well, it wouldn't be the first time!

If we were feeling particularly saucy, we'd also predict an upset by Lou DePrez over Drew Foster. But we're not, and so we didn't. But if you all wanted to take a risk in your NCAA pools, a No. 11 DePrez over No. 6 Foster is not a bad bet. 

Speaking of making bets, Willie has the scoop on the NCAA betting odds that were just released. He has good advice and you should listen to him.

Finally, keep an eye on Rasheed and Ness. Shak has had a few quality wins this year, including a victory over Sammy Colbray that has looked better as the season wore on and Colbray rose in the rankings, but if he is hampered by the injury that kept out of the Big Ten finals, it could be an opportunity for Ness to break into the quarterfinals. 

Session III

Matches to Watch:

Myles Martin vs. Ryan Preisch

Max Dean vs. Nino Bonaccorsi

Zack Zavatsky vs. Drew Foster

Nick Reenan vs. Shakur Rasheed

These quarterfinals are going to be bales of fun. We are going to be practically drowning in rad matches. We got so jacked up thinking about all the cool bouts this round is going to feature, we picked not one, but two upsets. What is the world coming to?

We did not pick an upset of Myles Martin, however, as we are not feeling that wacky. Martin's matchup with Preisch should be a good one though. Preisch is preternaturally strong, and Martin is otherworldly quick. In this instance, and in so many others, we think speed kills and MyMar makes the semis for the third time. 

But Dean versus Nino? Yeah, we are going to call it. Not that Max Dean isn't a beast. He is, as evidenced by his win over fellow beast Ryan Preisch in the EIWA finals. But we think it's Nino's time and Nino's city, and we want all of you to tweet something to that effect if Bonaccorsi does in fact make it to the semifinal round. 

We're going back-to-back upsets in the next quarterfinal bout. But at least this one is grounded in actual results. Foster has Zavatsky's number, beating him on the front side and back side of the 2018 CKLV tournament. A lot of season has transpired since then, and Zavatsky could very well have a game plan to solve Foster. Still, this is a nightmare draw for ZZ. 

Finally, once again, keep an eye on Shakur. If he makes it by Ness there's a good chance he's good to go against Reenan, where he will be the favorite, but by the skinniest of razor-thin margins. And the same can be said for Reenan getting by Colbray. If Reenan can get by that hoss, he is going to be primed and ready to go against Rasheed. This was probably the toughest match to pick in this whole tournament. We really wanted to put Mr. Final X in the semis, but ultimately had to go with chalk. We still love chalk, after all.

Session IV

Matches to Watch:

Myles Martin vs. Nino Bonaccorsi

Drew Foster vs. Shakur Rasheed

Sammy Colbray vs. Max Dean (consi)

Lou DePrez vs. Ryan Preisch (consi)

Cash Wilcke vs. Nick Reenan (consi)

Taylor Venz vs. Zack Zavatsky (consi)

It's the most wonderful session of the most wonderful tournament of the year. Semis in the center, bloodround on the ends, all manner of wrestling folks confusing their friends and acquaintances with discussions of dog bones.

Pittsburgh may end up being Nino's city, but this Cinderella run is going to pumpkinize in the semifinals against Myles Martin. At least we got to call a couple of upsets. What a thrill.

In the other possible semifinal bout, both Foster and Rasheed will be seniors fighting for their first trip to the finals. We're picking Rasheed to get it done here. His cross-face cradle is too deadly, as Foster's teammate Jacob Holschalg learned all too well last year. That will set up the MyMar versus Sugar Shak match that we were denied in Minneapolis. 

We really struggled with the bloodround picks. As fans, we all win. But when you're penciling in a winner, you're also picking someone to come up short, and one can't help but fill the twinge of remorse as a decision is made. 

Sammy "Coldspray" Colbray certainly has the horsepower to hang with Max Dean, but we think the experience of Dean is the difference maker.

It's a similar call for DePrez versus Preisch. DePrez could easily prove us wrong, and we would bank on him making the podium next season, but for now we're going with the senior Preisch to finally make it over the hump on his third time wrestling in the round of 12.

For Wilcke, it's bloodround heartbreak for the third consecutive year. It would please us very much to be wrong, but Reenan has improved so dramatically since his 0-2 true freshman year and we don't see him being denied a place in the top eight.

For Venz and Zavatsky, we are retroactively hoping our upset pick of Foster over ZZ in the quarters does not come true, as that would prevent this matchup from potentially happening in the round of 12. But since we did actually make that upset pick, we're now taking Zavatsky to reverse the result from the last time these two met, which was in the 2018 consolation semifinals. This is another complete toss-up, so it is with little confidence that we make the aforementioned pick.  

Session V

Matches to Watch:

Zack Zavatsky vs. Max Dean (third)

Drew Foster vs. Nino Bonaccorsi (fifth)

Ryan Preisch vs. Nick Reenan (seventh)

At this point in the tournament, and especially at this weight class, we can all recognize how foolish it would be to honestly expect these exact results to take place. 

But brackets are the name of the game, and this is what we wrote down. These would be the first All-American honors for Bonoccorsi, Preisch and Reenan. For Zavatsy, Dean and Foster, it would be their second. 

Session VI

Myles Martin vs. Shakur Rasheed

Even Penn State fans will recognize that Martin has both a greater probability of making the finals than Rasheed, and a greater probability of winning the title. That doesn't mean Rasheed has no chance, it's just looking at things objectively.

Thought both wrestlers are undefeated on the season, Martin's resume is more impressive, and his list of credentials more expansive. 

For example, not to pick on Taylor Venz, but he is an All-American that Martin and Rasheed have both beaten recently. Rasheed won by scoring two takedowns to none. Martin won by scoring five takedowns to none. Also, go to the 3:50 mark of the match and tell me Myles is not an alien. It's absurd the things he can do. 

Rasheed does have the home-run ball in his back pocket in the form of this cross-face cradle, but we predicting Martin to go back to the front and win his second national title and fourth All-American honor, cementing his status as one of the greatest Buckeyes ever to don the Scarlet and Grey. 

Spey's Spredictions

1. Martin
2. Rasheed
3. Zavatsky
4. Dean
5. Bonaccorsi
6. Foster
7. Preisch
8. Reenan

For our entire bracket, please see below:

Here is my 184 pound bracket. It was very difficult. pic.twitter.com/uSSj98N5cw

— The King of Chalk (@SpeyWrestle) March 17, 2019

Nomad wraps up his five previews with 197 next, then we'll conclude our series with the heavies. Pittsburgh can't come soon enough!

197 Pounds

The light heavyweights close out our previews for the 2019 NCAA Tournament. A weight that routinely produces surprises has been reduced to the Bo Nickal show this year.

I made the case early on: the Hodge is Nickal's to lose. I also don't have a Hodge vote, but it seems pretty obvious to me he is the most dominant wrestler in the country this season. The Hodge stats will come in another article, so let's just focus on the tournament for now.

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

He's pinned the two seed, but hasn't faced anyone else in the top seven. That doesn't bother me one bit, I've got him scoring 27.5 team points in his final collegiate tournament. This will be the springboard to his senior level carer, where fellow three-time champs J'den Cox and Kyle Snyder await.

Kollin Moore has been No. 2 all season and has career finishes of third and fourth, with 32 career team points. He's on pace to be the next four-time All-American for Ohio State, which if things go to plan will be their fifth in a three-year span. Moore is set up to be the bridge from the Snyder/Jordan/Tomasello/McKenna era to the Sasso/Kerkvliet/Decatur/Hoffman era.

Weight Class Previews: 125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184

Preston Weigel has just eight matches against Division I opponents who aren't his teammates, but half of those are qualifiers, and he has big wins over AA threats Jacob Warner and Willie Miklus. I still think he should be the No. 4 seed behind Pat Brucki, but this preview is about how the bracket was actually drawn. Brucki avenged his only loss in the EIWA finals and appears to be on an upward trajectory since coming out of Carl Sandburg in Illinois.

Title Contenders

#1 Bo Nickal, Penn State

All-American Threats

#2 Kollin Moore, Ohio State

#3 Preston Weigel, Oklahoma State

#4 Pat Brucki, Princeton

#5 Jacob Warner, Iowa

#6 Willie Miklus, Iowa State

#7 Jay Aiello, Virginia

#8 Nathan Traxler, Stanford

#9 Ben Honis, Cornell

#10 Tom Sleigh, Virginia Tech

#13 Malik McDonald, NC State

#14 Eric Schultz, Nebraska

I'm ready for all your "disrespect" talk. Bring it, please. I'm sleeping on all of you. And you know what, if I'm the reason you place or win a national title, because I put you in a different tier in a preview, you're welcome.

If there is any weight in which the whole of the Top-16 seeds could be in consideration to place, it's this weight.

Session I

Matches to watch

Stephen Loiseau vs. Josh Hokit

Ben Honis vs. Jake Jakobsen

Rocco Caywood vs. Thomas Lane

Tanner Orndorff vs. Eric Schultz

Randall Diabe vs. Jake Woodley

Starting off with a good one between the 16 seed Hokit and the 17 seed Loiseau. They've never met in college, and should be a fun style clash. Loiseau is generally a scrambler who can get reversals and put guys in awkward situations, while Hokit doubles as a Fresno State football player with almost 1,000 career rushing yards.

I think Honis is going to outperform his seed and be an All-American, but this will be his third meeting with Jakobsen this season. A rivalry match between schools like Lehigh and Cornell is always worth mentioning in my book, though Jakobsen was not able to take Honis down in either match this season.

Caywood is coming off a seventh-place finish at EIWAs and needed an at-large bid, but still wound up getting the No. 12 seed because of how ridiculous this weight is. Lane was the Pac-12 finalist and this is the second year in a row he's qualified for the big show. Caywood can just as easily get the same place he did at EIWAs in Pittsburgh, but he might also just be ripe for an upset.

Eric Schultz beat Tanner Orndorff in the Journeymen Classic to start the season, and teched him at University Nationals in 2017. Orndorff will have trouble fighting off Schultz's leg attacks, but the Husker is a classic hit-or-miss 197. He's held Nickal, Warner and Moore to two-point matches, but also has double-digit losses this season.

Randall Diabe beat Jake Woodley 5-3 in a dual in December, with both surrendering a takedown to each other. Diabe led 3-0 entering the third before Woodley tied it up with an escape and takedown of his own. But Diabe got out and also earned riding time. That was a different Woodley though, he was 13-8 and on the outside looking in for NCAA qualifying. Then he won eight of his last nine matches, finishing third at Big 12s to qualify outright.

Session II

The heartbreak round. Not quite as gut-wrenching as Friday night, but this is where cute first-round upsets turn into legitimate bracket busters and seniors on their last legs either bow out or continue the long slog through the backside to place.

Keeping with Honis, he's got Pac-12 champ and Southern Scuffle finalist Nathan Traxler in round two. They would have met on the backside at CKLV, but Honis med forfeited out of the tournament. Traxler is more comfortable in shootouts, while Honis prefers more controlled, lower-scoring matches.

Jay Aiello and Tom Sleigh are meant to wrestle a third time. Aiello took round one with a 9-1 major at CKLV, then Sleigh bounced back with a 7-3 win in the dual. Somehow they did not meet at the ACC tournament, so winner take all here.

Based on his performance at Big 12s, and Schultz propensity to take losses, Preston Weigel and Oklahoma State fans should not sweat the second-round match too heavily. But Weigel has a history of keeping guys in matches and Schultz has shown this season to be able to hang with the best in the country. Every once in a while those types of matches are a recipe for upsets.

Session III

Nickal over Honis

Brucki over Warner

Weigel over Miklus

Moore over Sleigh

The good people over at 3D Wrestler Stats put out an Instagram post that broke my brain the other day. According to their stats, which I put a good deal of trust in, Bo Nickal has been in neutral 96 different times this season, the start of matches, after escapes, etc. He's taken his opponent down 90 of those times. Which not only means he ends basically every period on top, you also know with 100 percent certainty that he's always working for a pin. I think he techs Honis.

Brucki and Warner renew a longstanding rivalry from their days as preps in Illinois at the same time. Those frequently went the way of the Hawkeye, but that changed at Midlands last season. Aside from that match, I have general concerns about Warner because of how he's done at Midlands the past two years. Perhaps not a good way of judging someone, as his only other college tournament was Big Tens where he got third, but it's a worry for me. I also just saw Brucki control matches at EIWAs and didn't get to watch Warner live.

Preston Weigel, originally the master of the 6-0 win (escape, four-point nearfall, riding time) turned Willie Miklus four separate times in the Big 12 finals. This is not the guy who went 0-2 at NCAAs last year and missed more than half of this season. Weigel is at or close to 100 percent and turning at a rate that puts him among the best in the country at any weight. If anyone can beat Kollin Moore for the right to face Bo Nickal, it's the Cowboy.

Moore and Sleigh did not cross paths in two separate CKLVs, but there's not much reason for Buckeye fans to be concerned here. Sleigh is very much an AA threat, and could very well wind up rebounding in his blood-round match, but he has never shown himself to be on Moore's level. It would also be absurd poetic justice if this ridiculous weight went chalk into the semis.

Session IV

Nickal 11-2 over Brucki

Weigel 5-3 over Moore

When I was at the Dave Schultz in January, the NJRTC guys were saying Brucki is everyone's least favorite guy to wrestle at RTC practice, which is to say senior-level athletes are complimenting Brucki's talent and work ethic. They mentioned his size and that they feel he can create some matchup problems for Nickal. I do not share those sentiments, but he's being trained to believe he can beat someone of Nickal's caliber. I still think Bo majors him.

The first three times I looked at this bracket, I just picked Moore and didn't give it a second thought. And picking against multiple Buckeyes who head into NCAAs ranked No. 2 isn't really fun, considering they have clearly been the second-best program in the country these past four years. Consider who Moore has lost to though: guys who he can't overpower, who won't fall prey to his barrel roll, plus Weigel has the ability to get riding time. The 197 final has been all seniors two years in a row, and the trend continues on Saturday.

Session V

A truly fascinating consi quarter to me is Ben Honis against Jacob Warner. As I mentioned above, Warner has had some issues at Midlands that made me pause and think about how he will perform on the backside. I've also been pretty clear that this is the year he would take some lumps, which still means he places as a freshman, and then next year is when he makes the jump to title contender. Willie Miklus takes out ACC champ Malik McDonald on the other side.

Moore and Honis have wrestled four times in their careers, with two majors for Moore sandwiched around a couple decisions. I'm not sure Moore gets the major, but I think the eight-point wins are closer to their respective talent levels than the two-point ones.

Brucki versus Miklus is one I'm going to apply a cliche to: who wants it more? The Cyclone will have locked up four-time AA status by then, and is a sixth-year senior who has battled injuries his whole career. Does he have two more matches in him? I think he wins one of his last two—just not sure it's this one.

On to the placing matches. McDonald exceeds expectations with his conference title and podium finish to close out his career, but loses out to Honis. Miklus avenges his extremely goofy loss to Warner from the dual, and this time does not try to cradle the Hawkeye while he has a lead late. Moore majored Brucki twice last season, once in the dual and once at NCAAs. There's not much evidence to think Brucki will win this one, but will close the gap slightly.

Session VI

Nickal 14-3 over Weigel

Since Cael Sanderson took over at Penn State, the Nittany Lions have had some of the most dominant wrestlers of not just this generation, but of all time. Nickal is right at the top in terms of being a "sure thing," perhaps only second to Zain last year and David Taylor's Hodge-winning sophomore and senior seasons.

Considering he pinned the guy who's been ranked second all year, it stands to reason he can major Weigel. Bratke said on a previous FRL Weigel's probably a little too much to be pinned and I agree. Nickal gets to 14 off a couple takedowns, two turns, an escape and riding time. Then, in a few days he will be awarded the Hodge, completing the prophecy.

Nomad's AA Picks

1. Nickal
2. Weigel
3. Moore
4. Brucki
5. Miklus
6. Warner
7. Honis
8. McDonald

285 Pounds

We're writing this, our final preview, on Monday. We leave for Pittsburgh on Tuesday. First whistle is noon Thursday. If someone could hit the fast forward button to get us to Thursday already, that would be super.  

NCAA Brackets in FloArena

Time to roll out the earth shakers. This division has been dominated by a three-man heavyweight jam. What makes the Derek White-Anthony Cassar-Gable Steveson troika so unique is that none of them have ever been an NCAA All-American before. White fell in the blood round in Cleveland last year, Anthony Cassar didn't start (a hazard of being on a team as deep as Penn State) and Gable Steveson is but an 18-year-old true freshman.

Only three All-Americans from last year will be in the field in Pittsburgh: Maryland's Youssif Hemida, Amar Dhesi of Oregon State and Iowa's Sam Stoll. 

The graduation of Kyle Snyder, Adam Coon, Jacob Kasper and Mike Hughes, among many others, led to the changing of the guard that is currently transpiring. Cassar usurped his All-American teammate Nick Nevills to make his first tourney appearance. Mason Parris, Trent Hillger, Demetrius Thomas, Chase Singletary and others are also punching their first ticket to the big dance.

This is a new era of NCAA heavyweights. Time to dig into our final bracket of bone-rattling behemoths. 

Title Contenders

#1 Derek White (Oklahoma State)

#2 Anthony Cassar (Penn State)

#3 Gable Steveson (Minnesota)

All-American Contenders

#4 Jordon Wood (Lehigh)

#5 Mason Parris (Michigan)

#6 Amar Dhesi (Oregon State)

#7 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)

#8 Demetrius Thomas (Pittsburgh)

#9 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)

#10 Youssif Hemida (Maryland)

#11 Thomas Haines (Lock Haven)

#12 Conan Jennings (Northwestern)

#13 Matt Voss (George Mason)

#29 Sam Stoll (Iowa)

No one enters the heavyweight bracket with an unblemished record. Four wrestlers have only one loss, and one of them is Amar Dhesi, who is just 10-1 with three wins over national qualifiers. The three others are constituents of our triumvirate of title contenders.

Steveson, Cassar and White are a combined 84-3. Steveson beat White, White beat Cassar, and Cassar beat Steveson. White ended up winning the seeding lottery, while Cassar and Steveson will both occupy the bottom half of the bracket. 

Heavyweight was surprisingly volatile this season, and there is a good argument for adding to the list of All-American contenders. We stopped at Matt Voss the Boss more or less arbitrarily, and then added Stoll, who has a brutal path to the podium, however, it just felt wrong excluding him from the list, so we didn't.

Landmines

Billy Miller (Virginia Tech)

Jeramy Sweany (Cornell)

Ian Butterbrodt (Brown)

Billy Miller is a four-time national qualifier, having made the tournament as a freshman, sophomore and junior while competing for Edinboro. Now a Hokie, Miller will be looking for his first Saturday match at NCAAs. 

Jeramy Sweany is now a three-time qualifier and will be looking to become Cornell's first ever heavyweight medalist. 

And Ian Butterbrodt's name was too good not to feature somewhere. Listen, it's our preview, and we'll add Ian Butterbrodt to the list of landmines if we want to. Butterbrodt also made the EIWA finals, so we'd say he earned his inclusion through his wrestling and his outstanding name.

Session I

Matches to Watch:

David Jensen vs. Chase Singletary

Matt Stencel vs. Jeremy Sweany 

Cory Daniel vs. Conan Jennings

Matt Voss vs. Zach Elam

Thomas Haines vs. Billy Miller

Tate Orndorf vs. Joey Goodhart

It's a rematch right off the bat for two very evenly matched Big Ten heavyweights in Jensen and Singletary. A chance to get revenge or establish dominance.

Stencel is Central Michigan's highest-seeded qualifier, but he will be tested early by the dangerous Jeramy Sweany, who's got a win over Cory Daniel among other fellow qualifiers.

Speaking of ACC finalist Cory Daniel, he'll have an opportunity to upset Conan Jennings in the first round. Jennings has the higher seed, but he's had an up and down season. Well, more like down and up, as he is in the midst of a Conan Jennessaince (when we said in the D1 Stock Reports that we were done making this joke, we were lying).

Voss has the higher seed and the top 20 ranking, but if Zach Elam can regain the form that saw him place third at the CKLV, he could score the upset.

Haines and Miller are old EWL and PSAC foes, though Miller is an ACC man now. Miller beat Haines in the 2018 EWL final but this year Haines has had the better season.

Orndorff placed second at the CKLV, where Goodhart could only muster an eighth-place finish. But their resumes are very similar and this should be a solid bout.

Session II

Matches to Watch:

Matt Stencel vs. Demetrius Thomas

Mason Parris vs. Concan Jennings

Thomas Haines vs. Amar Dhesi

Trent Hillger vs. Youssif Hemida

Big Meech Thomas (who is also an accomplished violinist by the way) tore through the ACCs, but he'll have a tough second round match against Matt "The Tracer" Stencel. Meech did pin Stencel back at the 2018 CKLV, but there has been a lot of season between then and now.

Speaking of rematches, Parris and Jennings could meet for the fourth time this year. Despite Parris being the No. 5 and Jennings being the No. 12, Jennings owns a 3-0 record over Parris so far. 

Dhesi was third last year, but only has 11 matches under his belt this season. Haines will have an upset on his mind as he makes his final postseason push.

Hemida will also be looking for an upset, at least according to seeds, although he did beat Hillger for third at the Big Tens just a couple of weeks ago. Hemida is also wrestling for his coach Kerry McCoy, who recently announced he was stepping down as head coach of the Terrapins. 

Session III

Matches to Watch:

Derek White vs. Demetrius Thomas

Conan Jennings vs. Jordan Wood

Gable Steveson vs. Amar Dhesi

Youssif Hemida vs. Anthony Cassar

We picked Hemida and Jennings in very mild and not unprecedented upsets in the second round, but it's back to chalk in the crucial quarterfinals, where a win means a trip to the semis and a coveted All-American honor. 

White and Thomas will be an explosive match pitting Cowboy Bulk Job power versus Pitt Panther power. This match was a 9-8 thriller won by White in a January dual meet.

Wood and Jennings have never met in college before, but Wood will be the favorite to make his first semifinal round of his young career. 

Steveson and Dhesi have also never met before. Steveson had looked invincible before taking the first loss of his collegiate career against Anthony Cassar in the Big Ten finals. If his confidence is not too shaken, he should be able to get by Dhesi and line up a rematch with Cassar. 

Hemida and Cassar have yet to wrestle, but odds are it will be Cassar, who could be the Nittany Lions' seventh semifinalist. 

Session IV

Matches to Watch:

Derek White vs, Jordan Wood

Gable Steveson vs, Anthony Cassar

Trent Hillger vs, Conan Jennings (consi)

Thomas Haines vs, Demetrius Thomas (consi)

Mason Parris vs, Youssif Hemida (consi)

David Jensen vs, Amar Dhesi (consi)

We're picking Steveson to get revenge on Cassar. Not that we would be surprised for Cassar to go two-in-a-row against the true freshman phenom, it's just that Steveson will have had two weeks to prep for Cassar and his elbow post freight train double. Having two-time NCAA champ Tony Nelson in the room to train with should help Steveson adjust for Cassar's punishing signature move.

White and Wood were in a tight 3-2 bout a little over a month ago, but White was in control for most of the match. We think the rematch will go pretty much the same way. 

The blood-round matches are the toughest to call, as it's never fun to say who you think won't become an All-American. We've got Hillger and Meech earning their first NCAA medal, with seniors Hemida and Dhesi concluding their college careers also with All-American honors. However, as with all the other picks, we would be quite pleased to find Jennings, Haines, Parris and Jensen prove us dead wrong.

Session V

Matches to Watch:

Anthony Cassar vs. Jordan Wood (third)

Demetrius Thomas vs. Youssif Hemida (fifth)

Amar Dhesi vs. Trent Hillger (seventh)

These are just educated guesses at this point. The only result about which we have much confidence is that Cassar takes third. And if Cassar beats Steveson in the semifinals, then we're fairly confident it will be Steveson taking third. 

But none of this will have any effect on the actual matches, so let's not get too worked up about it either way.

Session VI

Derek White vs. Gable Steveson

We've seen this one before. And we can, in fact, see it again, right now, by watching this video. It's doubtful Steveson will be able to hit another six-point move on White, which was the difference maker in this early season dual. We expect things to be measured and tactical, as most heavyweight bouts at this level are. 

White has been superb ever since taking this loss, beating Cassar in the Scuffle finals and cruising to a Big 12 title with a tech fall over AJ Nevills. But Steveson has looked superb all season long, even in his loss to Cassar in Minneapolis. We thought Steveson was the best heavyweight at the start of the season, and we think he proves it in Pittsburgh. 

Will we be vindicated in our beliefs, or will we leave Pittsburgh with the proverbial egg on our face? We shall soon find out!

Spey's Spredictions

1. Steveson
2. White
3. Cassar
4. Wood
5. Thomas
6. Hemida
7. Dhesi
8. Hillger

For our entire bracket, please see below:

Here it is: my heavyweight bracket. pic.twitter.com/HLy95DqUYJ

— The King of Chalk (@SpeyWrestle) March 18, 2019

Okay, that's it. The hay is in the barn, as the saying goes. Time to wrestle. Let's party, Pittsburgh!