NCAA Brackets

[Big Bird]

I just turned on the NCAA selection show and saw Clay got the 6 seed. May Bethea round 1, then Heffernan. After that it would be Lavalle to get to the semis. I think it's a great seed. All the matches are difficult, especially Heffernan, but that is better than having to go through Kemerer, Berger, or Nolf

[Big Bird]

I like to go through the entire bracket and predict each match all the way through the tourney. It helps with a couple fantasy tournaments I'm in, but I haven't had the chance to do it yet. In my first look at the bracket, here are my thoughts on the NDSU guys
125- Losing the B12 final really hurt. Likely would've been the 5th or 6th seed. At the 5 seed, I would've picked him to get by either Lambert or Cruz. At the 6, I would've picked him to get by Freshman phenom Suriano (who it doesn't sound like will be at 100%). As it stands, I don't hate his spot. I think he beats Jimenez, who wrestled him really tough in Fargo a few years back, and then knocks off Piccininni in the rematch. Gilman is the best, most complete guy at this weight, but not a terrible matchup for Josh. He isn't overly strong or an absolute hammer on top. If Josh is aggressive on his feet, it is winnable. If he were to get by Gilman, I have a lower opinion of Cruz and Lambert than most and would pick Josh to win, but they are both solid. Lambert and Josh have wrestled really close matches in the past. If Josh loses to Gilman, I think it is likely he'd have a match vs either Dylan Peters or Josh Terao to AA. Both are tough matchups (Peters with his strength, Terao with his flexibility and scrambling), especially Peters when he is right, but he hasn't been right all year. I think Josh can beat them to AA
133- Cam got the best draw possible by seed, but I would've rather had him face Morris, Lantry, or 2xAA Hall. As it is, he has a very winnable match round 1, before running into NaTo. After that, he'd likely have Joey Palmer who I would pick Cam to beat. After that I'd pick him to lose to Scotty Parker. If Cam loses round 1 vs Devoy, he'd have Myers from Edinboro, who I don't like as a matchup for Cam all that much. Still, it's probably a coin flip and the winner would get Morris, who I think either would beat. After that, It would likely be Erneste, who I haven't seen enough of to accurately comment.
157- I already commented on it and I like Clay's semi draw a lot. I think Heffernan is tough as nails though and Taleb Rahmani has been on fire since Clay beat him earlier in the year. I'm sure Clay won't look past Bethea, but the Bethea family has some mean shots on their feet. I can guarantee they aren't comfortable with Clay's shot D though
165- I think he loses round 1 and has a coin flip at best in the wrestleback. If he gets by Martino, I wouldn't pick him to beat any of the 4 guys he could face. Still qualifying as a rFr is a huge accomplishment and getting a win would be huge too
HWT- Really rough 1st round draw. On the bright side he has beaten Hemida before and will have the chance to do so again in the wrestleback. After that, he would have Colin Jensen, who I have been wanting him to face for two years. I think Big Ben can, and will, beat him and advance to face Billy Miller, which is another winnable match. I won't predict him to win that one, but his wrestleback road isn't impossible by any means.

[onbison09]

Boy, J Rod got a tough draw though. Thursday night rematch of the Big 12 final and then you get Gilman. I like Ream's chances of making the podium though.

[RadioBison]

The loser of Fogarty/Rogers has the winner of the consolation pigtail, so they face Zilverberg orTyrell White before Martino or Cottrell.

The loser of Ream/Bethea is directly in the consolation pigtail and will face Griffin or Danishek. Hopefully this one doesn't affect us.

[1998braves64]

When do the matches start? See if I can get my son to watch a few he's been loving his youth wrestling the past few years. Last year tried to watch a few but he didn't show much interest even after I told him Bison players would be coming up occasionally!

[Big Bird]

When do the matches start? See if I can get my son to watch a few he's been loving his youth wrestling the past few years. Last year tried to watch a few but he didn't show much interest even after I told him Bison players would be coming up occasionally!

Thursday at 11am

[Gladiator Dad]

The 157 Lb Bracket has been redrawn. Brian Murphy from MI has withdrawn from the tournament due to injury. I hadn't heard anything about an injury but evidently the injury occurred during the 3rd place match with Berger from NE.

Clay will now wrestle Paul Fox of Stanford in Rnd 1 and most likely Russell Parsons (ARMY) in Rnd. 2.

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/wrestling_d1_2017.pdf

[Gladiator Dad]

NCAA Championships Schedule

Thursday, March 16:
10 a.m. Doors Open- Scottrade Center
11 a.m. - 3 p.m. (approx.) First session- 8-mat Configuration, Pigtails and First Round competition
4:30 p.m. Doors Open- Scottrade Center
6 p.m. - 10 p.m. (approx.) Second session- 8 mat configuration;
Preliminaries: Wrestle-back Prelims; wrestle-back First Round
Followed by Championships Round, Second Rd. and Consolation Rd.

Friday, March 17:
9 a.m. Doors Open- Scottrade Center
10 a.m. – 2 p.m. (approx.) Third session- 8-mat configuration; * Quarterfinals on middle 4 mats
Wrestle-back Second and Third Rd on 4 outside mats

5:30 p.m. Doors Open- Scottrade Center
7 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (approx.) Fourth session- 6-mat configuration; * Semifinals on inside mats
Fourth Rd. wrestle-backs on outside mats; followed by Fifth Rd. Wrestle-backs (Blood Round)

Saturday, March 18:
9 a.m. Doors Open- Scottrade Center
10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (approx.) Fifth session- 3- mat configuration

5:30 p.m. Doors Open- Scottrade Center
6:35 p.m. – 6:50 p.m. (approx.) Grand March Parade of All-Americans
7 p.m. - 10 p.m. (approx.) Championship Finals

[RadioBison]

Clay will now wrestle Paul Fox of Stanford in Rnd 1 and most likely Russell Parsons (ARMY) in Rnd. 2.

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/wrestling_d1_2017.pdf

Clay against Parsons? My heart might not be able to take all of the scrambles.

[AKBison]

The 157 Lb Bracket has been redrawn. Brian Murphy from MI has withdrawn from the tournament due to injury. I hadn't heard anything about an injury but evidently the injury occurred during the 3rd place match with Berger from NE.

Clay will now wrestle Paul Fox of Stanford in Rnd 1 and most likely Russell Parsons (ARMY) in Rnd. 2.

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/wrestling_d1_2017.pdf


How does this compare to what his two first likely matches were in the original bracket.

[RadioBison]

I can't analyze every match in the tournament like BigBird can, but I have been preparing to see how well the various ranking systems do in predicting the tournament. As a by product of that, I now have a spreadsheet that shows the results if everything were to go by ranking for each system. I should point out that if both wrestlers were unranked in a system, I used a virtual coin flip. For Wrestlestat, I went by the rankings and not using the prediction tool.

Here I am showing the predicted final place or else round of elimination.

125 - Rodriguez

5th place (WIN)
7th place (InterMat, Wrestlestat, SetonHallPirate, Trackwrestling)
Eliminated in Bloodround (Seeding, Flo, TheOpenMat)

133 - Sykora

Eliminated in 3rd Consolation (SetonHallPirate)
Eliminated in 2nd Consolation (TheOpenMat)
Eliminated in 1st Consolation (Seeding, InterMat, Flo, WIN, Wrestlestat, Trackwrestling)

157 - Ream

6th Place (Seeding, TheOpenMat)
7th Place (InterMat, WIN, Trackwrestling)
Eliminated in Bloodround (Flo, SetonHallPirate)
Eliminated in 2nd Consolation (Wrestlestat)

165 - Fogarty

Eliminated in 2nd Consolation (Seeding, InterMat, Flo, WIN, Wrestlestat, SetonHallPirate, Trackwrestling)
Eliminated in 1st Consolation (TheOpenMat)

285 - Tynan

Eliminated in 2nd Consolation (Seeding, InterMat, Flo, TheOpenMat, WIN, Wrestlestat, SetonHallPirate, Trackwrestling)