As we always do at this time, we are doing our projected seeding for the upcoming Big Ten championships at Rutgers. I will do one every weekday, continuing here with 174 pounds.

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The seeding rules changed once again this year. In 2019, they seeded all 14 guys if a weight had eight or more automatic qualifier allocations. This year, they are seeding every entry at all 10 weights no matter what the allocations look like.

There are not one, but two ranker's delights at this weight, plus as per usual the bottom five are a complete mess. This bracket will feature six of the top eight-ranked wrestlers in the country.

Seed Projections: 125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165

Projected 174 Seeds

1. Michael Kemerer, Iowa
2. Mark Hall, Penn State
3. Dylan Lydy, Purdue
4. Mikey Labriola, Nebraska
5. Devin Skatzka, Minnesota
6. Kaleb Romero, Ohio State
7. Joey Gunther, Illinois
8. Layne Malczewski, Michigan State
9. Tyler Morland, Northwestern
10. Philip Spadafora, Maryland
11. Jacob Covaciu, Indiana
12. Jared Krattiger, Wisconsin
13. Willie Scott, Rutgers
14. Max Maylor, Michigan

Pretty straightforward at the top: Kemerer beat everyone seeded 2-6, and I don't think even Tony Ersland would try to vote Dylan Lydy over Mark Hall.

Then we've got a real debate about 4, 5, and 6. I put Labriola fourth because he beat Romero twice and, although he has the most recent loss with Skatzka, still has a win over him this season. That win came in sudden victory in third-place match at CKLV.

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Skatzka gets the five with a win over Labriola and Romero, even though Romero has the most recent win, because the Buckeye does not hold a win over Labs.

Now that we've got that figured out, it's time to wrap our heads around the 7/8/9 grouping. I went with Gunther, who has the most reasonable losses of the bunch: Hall, Lydy, Romero and Tyler Morland, with wins over Layne Malczewski and Jacob Covaciu. Morland is tough because his loss to Malczewski was by injury default, but he also fell to Covaciu, giving him a worse resume than Gunther even with the head-to-head. Malczewski falls in the middle with the loss to Covaciu but beating Morland and losing to Gunther.

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As for the bottom five, 10-14 has some arguments to be made for each guy. I went with Maryland's Philip Spadafora at the 10 due to his win over Covaciu, though that was an injury default. Covaciu has not wrestled since then and it has been Diego Lemley in his place; Lemely will be last seed if he goes for the Hoosiers.

Scott's only conference wins are over Northwestern's backup and Max Maylor of Michigan. Krattiger's win over Morland puts him above Scott. Maylor did not have a Big Ten win.