With the release today of the 64 at-large selections, the full 330 wrestler field for the 2021 NCAA Championships is set. On Monday morning, I made my predictions for who I believed would receive at-larges at each weight. My goal was to be within one at each weight. I ended up getting 53 out of 64 correct. I was perfect or within one at eight weights, but on two weights, I missed three. I believe you'll see why below.

We'll start with the surprise since, for the most part, they lead to the snubs. I could have added a few more slight surprises, but everyone else who was selected I can see and understand the case for why they were selected.

Surprise At-Large Selections

141 - Cayden Rooks (Indiana)

Rooks entered the Big Ten Championship 2-6 on the year with two of those losses coming to Danny Bertoni, who finished the year 3-9, and Jaden Enriquez, who only beat Rooks this season. Rooks' best regular-season win came against Colin Valdiviez, who did earn an automatic qualification spot, but is still just 5-8 on the season and majored Rooks at the Big Ten Championships.

After going 1-2 in State College, Rooks dropped into the ninth-place bracket the Big Ten runs at weights qualifying eight or more wrestlers. Rooks knocked off Matt Santos in the opening round and then beat Marcos Polanco, who he also topped in the first round, before falling to Dylan D'Emilio in the ninth-place bout. The weight auto qualified eight wrestlers to the big dance, so D'Emilio was the one who finished one spot out of qualifying. 

While Rooks does have two wins over Polanco, who was #21 in the second coaches rankings, Polanco is 1-3 since those rankings came out and the lone win came against Dom Dentino, who is winless on the year. 

141 - Marcos Polanco (Minnesota)

As I just explained, I don't believe Rooks should have gotten in, and Polanco lost to Rooks twice at the Big Ten Championships, and finished well outside the auto qualifying spots. While he does have wins over two auto qualifiers, Colin Valdiviez and Parker Filius, Valdiviez was 2-6 going into the Big Ten Championships and Filius is 7-7. Between the two, they have just one ranked win this season, #16 Dylan Duncan. 

141 - Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State)

While D'Emilio finished one spot out of qualifying, he's just 7-6 on the year with two of those wins coming against Danny Bertoni of Maryland, and losses to unranked Danny Pucino and Matt Santos. D'Emilio has the strongest case of the trio of 141-pounders with three wins over auto qualifiers, Filius, Drew Mattin, and Rooks, but as I just explained above, two of those three have losing records and Filius is just .500. 

184 - Ryan Reyes (Oregon State)

While Reyes finished one spot out of qualifying and had a winning record, 6-4, none of his wins came against wrestlers who qualified for the NCAA Championships. Reyes also lost to Dom Ducharme in the Pac-12 finals, who did not appear in the second set of coaches rankings. 

197 - Logan Andrew (Chattanooga)

Andrew was 9-6 on the year, didn't register a win over a wrestler in the NCAA Championship field, and had an unranked loss to Finlay Holston. 

197 - Colin McCracken (Kent State)

While McCracken had a win over auto qualifier Ben Smith, he took unranked losses to Andy Smith and Jake Walker and went 0-2 at the MAC Championships in a weight that only qualified three wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. While he was 8-5 on the year, two of his wins were against non D1 competition. 

197: Owen Pentz (North Dakota State)

Like Andrew, Pentz finished with a winning record, 7-4, but didn't have a win over a wrestler in the NCAA Championship field. 

Wrestlers Who Were Snubbed

125 - Justin Cardani (Illinois)

While his record was a rough looking 3-9, you have to actually dig into it and look at the wins and losses. All nine of Cardani's losses came to wrestlers ranked in our top 16. #1 Spencer Lee, #9 Devin Schroder, #10 Malik Heinselman, #11 Michael DeAugustino, #13 Dylan Ragusin, #14 Liam Cronin, #15 Patrick McKee, and #16 Eric Barnett. Cardani also has a win over #16 Eric Barnett which is a better win than any of the wrestlers who earned an at-large have on their resumes. 

Throughout their careers, the four wrestlers from outside the Big Ten who earned at-large selections, are a combined 0-4 against the wrestlers who beat Cardani this year. Cardani even beat Gutierrez head-to-head last season. 

I understand what his record is, but you won't convince that Cardani is not one of the 33 best 125-pounders in the country. 

141 - Gabe Willochell (Edinboro)

True freshman Gabe Willochell turned in an impressive 13-3 season with two wins over top 25 ranked Derek Spann. Two of his three losses were to top 20 ranked and auto qualifiers, Saul Ervin and McKenzie Bell, and he finished one spot out of qualifying at the MAC Championships.

141 - Sam Hillegas (Virginia Tech)

While Hillegas doesn't have that win you can hang your hat on, he also had no unranked losses like three of the wildcards selected at this weight did. All five of his losses,  #7 Tariq Wilson, #8 Zach Sherman, #13 Cole Matthews, and #14 Brian Courtney, came to wrestlers ranked in the top 13 nationally.

165- Nick South (Indiana)

Like Cardani, South must have been punished for having a bad record, 5-8, but only lost to top 25 ranked wrestlers who auto qualified for the NCAA Championships. Those losses came to #9 Dan Braunagel, #12 Cam Amine,  #23 Joe Lee, #19 Peyton Robb, and #21 Gerrit Nijenhuis. Most importantly though, South had two wins over auto qualifiers, #22 Jake Tucker and David Ferrante. 

184 - Michael Battista (Virginia)

Like Ryan Reyes, who likely received the final at-large at this weight, Michael Battista went 6-4 this season. However, he beat a wrestler in the NCAA Championships field, Gregg Harvey, lost only to auto qualifiers and finished one spot out of qualifying. In my opinion, Battista should have gotten in.

197 - Landon Pelham (Central Michigan)

This one is a head-scratcher. Pelham was 8-5 on the year with four of those losses coming to auto qualifiers, and he beat and out placed Colin McCracken at the MAC Championships, who received an at-large selection over Pelham. 

197 - Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)

Another Big Ten wrestler punished for having a brutal schedule. Hoffman finished the season 5-7 but had wins over Matt Wroblewski, who was #22 in the second set of coaches rankings, and Billy Janzer who earned an at-large selection. Janzer avenged the loss to Hoffman at the Big Ten Championships but is just 3-5 and had no wins over wrestlers in the field. Six of Hoffman's seven losses came to wrestlers in the field and ranked in the top 25.