Big 12 Takes Advantage of the WWC and steals their AQ spots

[Sweepsingle]

Big 12 allotment: 6,4,3,3,3,3,4,3,4,3 36
Big 12 qualifiers: 3,3,1,2,2,3,3,2,2,2 23
WWC qualifiers: 3,1,2,1,1,0,1,1,2,1 13

The numbers don’t lie…the WWC went from 21 qualifiers to 13. I know that each year is different, but worst case the WWC would have gotten 10 for their champions plus 7-9 more making for an estimated 17-19 AQ’s. This year the sage John Smith was able to manipulate the allure of the big waters to entice the WWC to join the Big XII…and he now qualifies his whole team. Brilliant work.

And the allotment of any additional wild cards will surely weigh heavily in the favor of the Big XII vs WWC schools tomorrow…I will bet money on it!

Long term...maybe a good move for the WWC to join Big XII…MAYBE…if they make investments in their programs. Short term…sure looks like lost opportunity.

[Gladiator Dad]

I think you are correct on your numbers. Long term I think it's a good deal but in the present it isn't such a good deal. If you look at the brackets I think you will see several former WWC Wrestlers Knocking each other out of the running. I do think that there will be a few former WWC Members get an At-Large Bid this afternoon. Kocer should be able to get one, especially since there are 6 at-large spots at 149 and he was a wrestler who qualified one of the automatic bids this year. Unfortunetly I don't think Big Bem & Bengston will be selected but I would have liked to see them have made it.

I guess we will know in a couple of hours but here are a few former WWC wrestlers with an outside chance of an At-Large selection, it's a short list though.

125 - Chasen Tolbert (UVU)
133 - Josh Martinez (AF)
149 - Alex Kocer (SDSU)

[Chris]

I don't think anyone --- coach, wrestler, fan, or otherwise --- thought the move to the Big XII would pay right away. One of the common themes I heard after the announcement of the new conference forming was how it was going to be a good tool for recruiting. If that's the case, we shouldn't expect this move to benefit NDSU for another couple years.

[AKBison]

Kocer is a lock, pulling for Bengston but doesn't look good.

[Bison bison]

Confused.

Is the program looking to participate or excel?

[Sweepsingle]

Can they excel if they are not participating? When you lose opportunities because you join a league that you cannot compete in...then what is the point? If NDSU and the other WWC schools do not invest in the program in order to compete and excel in the sport, then it would have been best to stay in the WWC and have more opportunities.

One year is not enough time...but the points are valid. If NDSU can not get the upper tier wrestlers to commit to Fargo and wrestle at NDSU...is it because of location? Coaching? Team Culture? Lack of program promotion? etc.

Several other sports at NDSU have done a great job in recruiting talent to Fargo, The school and the boosters have spent money of facilities and increasing scholarships. Football, BB, and other sports are winning conference and national titles.

So next year when the new Stanford Center is complete...NDSU Wrestling should be able to attract athletes based on facilities. There should not be any more duals scheduled with declining programs. Go dual the top teams in the MAC, Big 10, etc along with ISU, OSU, and Oklahoma every year. Lets kids know that if you want to compete against the top programs in the country...then NDSU does not back down from anyone. Come to NDSU and be a National Champion!

Make an arrangement with FLO or someone else to broadcast every meet so that kids who travel from other states...their friends and family can watch them compete. Become a social media program that promotes the team and highlights all their guys. In todays world...kids eat that stuff up!

Then make sure we have the best coaches in the country. Kish is at a tipping point...is he the right guy to get us to the next level?...right now his leadership council (Asst Coaches, who appear to be nice guys) are not top tier guys that can take wrestlers to the next level. None of the assistants have won National Titles or are active in the USA arena. Iron sharpens Iron...Make NDSU a top tier RTC and get some of the top guys coming there to train. Success breeds success. Look at PSU's RTC or Ohio States. Who would not want to wrestle in that room. They have multiple National and World Champs competing in their clubs...that carries over to their recruiting and success on the mat!

[Bisonwinagn]

The WWC was down this year so I don't think it's correct to compare to last year. You need to calculate what this years qualifiers would of been.

[Gladiator Dad]

Sweepsingle does bring up some good points. I think NDSU is trying to improve on a few of the points, one being social media. I would say they were behind here but I have seen steady improvement this year. Here are a couple of videos that they produced for the Big XII

Big XII Day 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfpC1_eXoJk

Big XII Day 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR4cCmUbsdQ

I think these are great steps in the right direction as far as social media goes. They do offer a Live Stream from sidearm sports but to sweepsingle's point you would get more exposure for the program on Flo.

I think the new facility will be a great help in recruiting kids to NDSU as well. They actually are expecting to move into the new wrestling room this summer. The temporary facility was functional but it's not the same as walking into a real wrestling room.

I think the exposure NDSU received by wrestling in the Big XII Tourny last weekend was huge. There were a lot of young wrestlers in the building who got to see NDSU compete in an event like that may never have considered NDSU before that might now since they will get to wrestle the OKST, OK ISU's of the world on a regular basis going forward. I will be interested to see how the schedule shakes out next year since year two of most of the dual contracts are now done. That will free up potential duals within the new conference providing they have openings as well. I know that West VA & ISU approached NDSU for a dual but most of teh schedule was already set going into this year but like I saud most of those contracts have been honored so we will see what happens with next year's schedule.

[Gladiator Dad]

The selections from 141 - 285 have been released and Bengston and Tynan and unfortunately did not get an At-Large Selection

[Gladiator Dad]

Big 12 allotment: 6,4,3,3,3,3,4,3,4,3 36
Big 12 qualifiers: 3,3,1,2,2,3,3,2,2,2 23
WWC qualifiers: 3,1,2,1,1,0,1,1,2,1 13

The numbers don’t lie…the WWC went from 21 qualifiers to 13. I know that each year is different, but worst case the WWC would have gotten 10 for their champions plus 7-9 more making for an estimated 17-19 AQ’s. This year the sage John Smith was able to manipulate the allure of the big waters to entice the WWC to join the Big XII…and he now qualifies his whole team. Brilliant work.

And the allotment of any additional wild cards will surely weigh heavily in the favor of the Big XII vs WWC schools tomorrow…I will bet money on it!

Long term...maybe a good move for the WWC to join Big XII…MAYBE…if they make investments in their programs. Short term…sure looks like lost opportunity.

You can now officially add these three to the list but that's still less than last year.

125 - Chasen Tolbert (UVU)
133 - Josh Martinez (AF)
149 - Alex Kocer (SDSU)

[larson311]

Can they excel if they are not participating? When you lose opportunities because you join a league that you cannot compete in...then what is the point? If NDSU and the other WWC schools do not invest in the program in order to compete and excel in the sport, then it would have been best to stay in the WWC and have more opportunities.

One year is not enough time...but the points are valid. If NDSU can not get the upper tier wrestlers to commit to Fargo and wrestle at NDSU...is it because of location? Coaching? Team Culture? Lack of program promotion? etc.

Several other sports at NDSU have done a great job in recruiting talent to Fargo, The school and the boosters have spent money of facilities and increasing scholarships. Football, BB, and other sports are winning conference and national titles.

So next year when the new Stanford Center is complete...NDSU Wrestling should be able to attract athletes based on facilities. There should not be any more duals scheduled with declining programs. Go dual the top teams in the MAC, Big 10, etc along with ISU, OSU, and Oklahoma every year. Lets kids know that if you want to compete against the top programs in the country...then NDSU does not back down from anyone. Come to NDSU and be a National Champion!

Make an arrangement with FLO or someone else to broadcast every meet so that kids who travel from other states...their friends and family can watch them compete. Become a social media program that promotes the team and highlights all their guys. In todays world...kids eat that stuff up!

Then make sure we have the best coaches in the country. Kish is at a tipping point...is he the right guy to get us to the next level?...right now his leadership council (Asst Coaches, who appear to be nice guys) are not top tier guys that can take wrestlers to the next level. None of the assistants have won National Titles or are active in the USA arena. Iron sharpens Iron...Make NDSU a top tier RTC and get some of the top guys coming there to train. Success breeds success. Look at PSU's RTC or Ohio States. Who would not want to wrestle in that room. They have multiple National and World Champs competing in their clubs...that carries over to their recruiting and success on the mat!

Great post, I couldn't agree more