#42 NDSU vs #6 Virginia Tech

[larson311]

Gonna be a tough/rough one.

Rankings are from Wrestlestats.com
125 - #7 Dance DEC #14 Rodriguez 3-0 VT (Maybe 4th time is a charm)
133 - #31 Norstrem DEC #104 O'Brien 6-0 VT
141 - #19 Chishko MD #120 Friedman 10-0 VT
149 - #7 Mastriani DEC #34 Ream 13-0 VT (Not sure if Ream will wrestle maybe Bengston but he didn't wrestled at the Bison Open either. I didn't hear about any injury for Bengston?? Mastriani beat Ream last year 17-5)
157 - #2 Brascetta Fall #86 Nehring 19-0 VT
165 - #106 McFadden DEC #77 McNutt 22-0 VT (This is probably a tossup)
174 - #4 Epperly MD #114 Thompson 26-0 VT
184 - #7 Zillmer DEC #20 Zavatsky 26-3 VT
197 - #17 Haught MD #104 Paxton 30-3 VT
285 - #4 Walz MD #88 Tyanan 34-3 VT

[Big Bird]

I'd love it if McNutt wins, but I'd be verrrrry surprised. Wrestlestats is an interesting site, and I like it, but whatever formula has McFadden as the #135 guy at 165 is broke. McFadden is a top 10 guy at 165 IMO and I think he AAs this year. If VT wrestles all starters, I think Zillmer is the lone winner. That being said, Mastriani runs hot and cold and is beatable. I think Ream would have a better chance to knock him off, but that assumes he's healthy too. You can never say Bengston doesn't have a chance either, he has big move potential. Rodriguez is capable of beating Dance too, but he has to get away quickly and finish some shots. The toughest thing about Dance, is that he always seems to be in good position, which makes it super tough to score on him. He's very patient and incredibly opportunistic when his opponents get out of position too. Tynan shouldn't beat Walz, but I like watching Tynan wrestle and am interested to see if he can get to Walz' legs. Nick Brascetta is a personal favorite of mine too. Excited to see how good Solomon Chishko really is in person after his huge win this weekend. Most of all, I'm excited to see another very high quality team coming to town. Even if it gets ugly, it's nice to see a top 5 team travel to Fargo. Plus, it can serve as a measuring stick for the current year and show everyone what a top 5 team looks like and how much talent and work is necessary to get there in the future.

[Gladiator Dad]

This dual could get ugly this early in the season with some of our young guys still developing but I think this is the type of competition you need to make improvements as a team and as individual wrestlers. (Rankings from InterMat released today)

125 #3 Joey Dance vs #15 Josh Rodriguez - Rodriguez is capable of beating Dance but I give a close Dec to Dance although I would love to see Dance loose. 3-0 VaTech
133 #17 Kevin Norstrem vs Nick O`Brien - I like O'Brien but I don't think he's ready to take on Norstrem yet, Norstrem with a Maj 7-0 VaTech
141 #10 Solomon Chishko vs Mitch Friedman - Chisko is the real deal & wins by Tech 12-0 VaTech
149 #13 Sal Mastriani vs Clayton Ream - OK maybe I'm a little bias here but Ream by a Dec, if he can get on the top Mastriani has trouble defending legs 12-3 VaTech
157 #5 Nick Brascetta vs Grant Nehring - Brascetta by Maj 16-3 VaTech
165 #20 David McFadden vs Tyler McNutt - I think McNutt if he gets on his offense can hang with McFadden but VaTech by Dec 19-3 VaTech
174 #6 Zach Epperly vs Blake Thompson - Epperly is solid and wins by Maj 23-3 VaTech
184 N/R Zack Zavatsky vs #5 Hayden Zillmer - Zillmer by Maj 23-7 Va Tech
197 #19 Jared Haught vs Logan Paxton - I still don't know much about Paxton but I give VaTech the Dec 26-7 VaTech
HWT #2 Ty Walz vs Ben Tynan - I think Tynan is developing nicely but Walz is too much Dec VaTech 29-7 VaTEch

[larson311]

I'd love it if McNutt wins, but I'd be verrrrry surprised. Wrestlestats is an interesting site, and I like it, but whatever formula has McFadden as the #135 guy at 165 is broke. McFadden is a top 10 guy at 165 IMO and I think he AAs this year. If VT wrestles all starters, I think Zillmer is the lone winner. That being said, Mastriani runs hot and cold and is beatable. I think Ream would have a better chance to knock him off, but that assumes he's healthy too. You can never say Bengston doesn't have a chance either, he has big move potential. Rodriguez is capable of beating Dance too, but he has to get away quickly and finish some shots. The toughest thing about Dance, is that he always seems to be in good position, which makes it super tough to score on him. He's very patient and incredibly opportunistic when his opponents get out of position too. Tynan shouldn't beat Walz, but I like watching Tynan wrestle and am interested to see if he can get to Walz' legs. Nick Brascetta is a personal favorite of mine too. Excited to see how good Solomon Chishko really is in person after his huge win this weekend. Most of all, I'm excited to see another very high quality team coming to town. Even if it gets ugly, it's nice to see a top 5 team travel to Fargo. Plus, it can serve as a measuring stick for the current year and show everyone what a top 5 team looks like and how much talent and work is necessary to get there in the future.

I think initial rankings on Wrestlestats take some time for them to go up since they are point/computer based. I admittedly was not that familiar with him being a true freshman so I went with the ranking. After looking at it more closely and seeing that he beat #6 Weatherman I'd say McFadden should win that one.

[Gladiator Dad]

We will get to get a better measurement of VA-Tech on Saturday when they wrestle SDSU

Sat, Nov 21 Virginia Tech at Frost Arena start time 4:30 p.m

[Big Bird]

I think initial rankings on Wrestlestats take some time for them to go up since they are point/computer based. I admittedly was not that familiar with him being a true freshman so I went with the ranking. After looking at it more closely and seeing that he beat #6 Weatherman I'd say McFadden should win that one.

Yeah, that makes more sense. The thing that bugs me about that site is the duplicate names that make some of the results go to one name and other results to a similar name even though they're for the same guy. Examples Josh and Joshua, Ben and Benjamin, etc

[Takedown]

Data bases are only as good as the people inputting the data. If there are different variations of the spelling, the software is not able to distinguish that they are the same people. Overall I like the site because it is a central place to see results and compare wrestlers. It may be slow to update and keep exact data...but it is great for a free site!

[larson311]

Yeah, that makes more sense. The thing that bugs me about that site is the duplicate names that make some of the results go to one name and other results to a similar name even though they're for the same guy. Examples Josh and Joshua, Ben and Benjamin, etc

I agree, I will email him and see what he plans on doing about that. It's just one guy working on it as a hobby and he's pretty receptive to making changes to get it right.

[Gladiator Dad]

I'm not sure if any of you listen or were aware of this podcast but it was pretty interesting take on the VA-Tech dual this week.

http://www.ndheadlock.com/#!podcast/odj4t

[larson311]

Good podcast, I will have to bookmark this, thanks!