2021-22 NCAA DI Rankings

Julian Objects in the Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appirez

Look, reasonable people are going to have to reasonably disagree with the 165-pound rankings this week.

We understand there are a lot of people that think Keegan O'Toole, who is undefeated on the season and is the highest returning placers from last year's NCAA tournament, and won a junior world gold medal over the summer, should be number one. 

We hope those people understand that we don't factor in freestyle results to these NCAA rankings, no matter how impressive. And that we also don't factor in placements, though we do factor wins and losses at the NCAA tournament more heavily than we do results from the regular season. It's a subtle distinction, but one we try to apply consistently throughout the rankings. 

With that in mind, when comparing Marinelli and O'Toole's 2021 seasons, we see comparable best wins and worst losses. And while we weigh current results more heavily than past results, Marinelli's career, and Wick's, for that matter, are enough for them to both edge out O'Toole in the rankings. Marinelli's best wins in particular are some of the best you'll find in any weight class.  

We should also get around to pointing out that this entire discussion was precipitated by both Griffith and Wentzel losing this week. #1 and #2 both took L's. That's wild. 

Anyway, we talk a lot about how we have a consistent framework for approaching these rankings that we hope removes as much of the subjectivity as possible. It's where we get all that jokey stuff about the Ranker's Guild, etc. So even though there is no way to fully prepare for every possible eventuality, we believe that our framework -- our rules and so-called Ranker's Oath -- however, misguided it may seem, serves us well and gives us ammunition to defend our rankings beyond a glib 'because we say so', which would be far less satisfying for everyone. 

You may prefer rankings that more closely replicate last year's NCAA placements. Or you may be looking for rankings that more closely resemble Vegas odds, where final projected placements also represent current rankings in a fashion more like how college football operates. 

Those are all perfectly good frameworks for ranking NCAA D1 wrestling, as are countless others. But that's not how these rankings operate, for better or for worse.

And anyway it's November. Let's wait until dual meet season at least before breaking out the pitchforks, please. 

Do you have questions or comments for the rankers? We welcome and encourage your feedback. Hit up Andrew Spey (email: Andrew.Spey@flosports.tv; Twitter: @SpeyWrestle) and JD Rader (email: jd.rader@flosports.tv; Twitter: @rader_jd)