Dual vs SDSU

[Big Bird]

With no national duals match for NDSU, the only match left before B12's is on the road vs SDSU on Sunday. SDSU will take on Purdue Friday night and it will be interesting to see if Nate Rotert wrestles. If he is out vs Purdue on Friday, I can't imagine he will wrestle against NDSU, especially being a legit AA contender this year. He could skip this week, default out in B12s and still get a good seed for NCAAs. Rotert has a history of shoulder troubles and when his shoulder isn't at full strength, he isn't remotely the same guy (case and point: Tommy Peterson's win over him). Whether Rotert wrestles or not will play a large role in the outcome of the NDSU-SDSU dual, but it won't be the only factor. SDSU should certainly be favored with both teams at full strength, but there is still a very reasonable path to victory for NDSU with wins at 125, 157, 165 (tossup between HS teammates), HWT and either/both of 141/184. NDSU should get bonus at 125 and possibly at 157 and HWT (although Big Ben hasn't been wrestling well lately). SDSU should get bonus at 133 and 174 (Urbach has been wrestling very poorly and Kocer is red hot again) and possibly at 197 (assuming full health from rotert), with possible chances at 141, 149, and 184. My predictions:

125- Rodriguez maj Gillette. Josh has pinned Gillette before and it would be huge if he can do it again. 4-0 NDSU
133- Gross tech Sykora. Cam has been wrestling very well, but Gross has been on fire all year and is very familiar with Cam's style, so I wouldn't anticipate the tilts working. 5-4 SDSU
141- Andrade dec Nein. The biggest weak spot in each lineup is right here. I think Pohlmeyer is better than Andrade and could get a major. 8-4 SDSU
149- Kocer dec Friedman. Probably should predict a major here, but I'm putting faith in Friedman to slow Kocer down enough. Friedman has been winding up on his back far too much lately and Kocer is outstanding on top. 11-4 SDSU
157- Ream dec Peterson. Could be a major, but I'm actually fairly high on Peterson. 11-7 SDSU
165- Zilverberg dec Fogarty. True toss up, with Fogarty already beating him in OT, but Zilverberg's results are much better than Fogarty's lately. Hope I'm wrong 14-7 SDSU
174- Kocer maj Urbach. Urbach has been really poor lately and Kocer has been at the complete opposite of the spectrum. Wish Nielson was in there. 18-7
184- McNutt dec Mueller. This would be an upset but McNutt wrestled well, save for two big exchanges that went Mueller's way last time around. For the middle 5 minutes, it was all McNnutt and he looked to have the better gas tank. 18-10 NDSU
197- Eaton forfeit 18-16 SDSU. I don't expect Rotert in there and they forfeited there last dual. I would've thrown Brady Ayers out there, but they're holding onto his RS. I don't get what the plan is next year for Ayers, since Mueller, Rotert, and Kocer are all back and Ayers/Mueller won't have a spot unless one can make 174 and they RS Kocer.
HWT- Ben dec Macki. Macki is not good and offers nothing offensively, but Ben has really struggled offensively lately too. Could even be a fall here. 19-18 NDSU

I didn't anticipate picking NDSU to win, but my predictions apparently show NDSU winning. Rotert's availability affects this dual a ton. If I'm Bono though, I let the big fella continue to rest and gear up for an AA run, even if it means losing to your rival. I'd throw Funk (who is in his RS but has no spot next year) or Ayers out there to save some bonus points too, but SDSU didn't do that this week.

Should be a great one and I can't wait!

[Bisonwinagn]

Can anyone explain how SDSU's program became so good? They were horrible a few years ago and are now better than NDSU. How is that possible and how does NDSU take that next step from fringe top 25 to say top 10-15. Is it recruiting and how could SDSU get such good talent out of nowhere.

[Big Bird]

Can anyone explain how SDSU's program became so good? They were horrible a few years ago and are now better than NDSU. How is that possible and how does NDSU take that next step from fringe top 25 to say top 10-15. Is it recruiting and how could SDSU get such good talent out of nowhere.

A few things here (these are all just my opinion):

- SDSU has done a great job promoting their program/brand. Home duals broadcast on FloWrestling is huge in the wrestling community. They're a constant on social media too.
- Great local support that has seemingly come out of nowhere. SDSU puts on a hell of a show at their duals and the place is consistently packed. Part of that is they have had a much better home schedule than NDSU.
- SDSU simply hit on some recruits. Alex Kocer wasn't even going to wrestle at SDSU and Bono talked him into coming to practice. He showed up, beat their best wrestler and Bono talked him into being on the team and he dominated. Alex Kocer on the team then led to David Kocer coming aboard. David Kocer very well could AA this year and he is a true Junior. Seth Gross was a big time recruit who got dismissed from Iowa for a law enforcement infraction. He transfers to SDSU and is an instant impact guy. Rotert was a big hit too, and he was another SD kid. Outside of that, they've done an ok job of getting 2nd and 3rd tier MN recruits and turning them into worthwhile projects, with Luke Zilverberg being the biggest success.
- They were getting better for a few years, but when they hired AJ Schopp they took a massive step forward. Schopp was a dominant top wrestler for Edinboro and SDSU has really improved on top since he arrived on the staff. If Bono moves to Iowa State and Reader becomes the SDSU coach, it'll be interesting to see if Bono offers Schopp his top assistant job.

For all of the success that SDSU has had this year, they still have exactly ZERO All Americans and ZERO team conference titles. NDSU has produced AAs in Sprenkle (who beat an all time great, Matt McDonough, just to AA), Steven Monk (3rd place), Kurtis Julson (huge cinderella story run), and Hayden Zillmer (the only American ranked in the world in Greco Roman wrestling right now) and have Clay Ream and Josh Rodriguez potentially joining them this year. For me, I measure success for the team in terms of conference champs, NCAA qualifiers, AA's, dual wins, and academic achievements. NDSU has still been consistently beating SDSU in these areas by and large.

For NDSU to take the next step forward and get into the top 10-15, they just need to round out the roster. Right now 141 (with Bengston hurt), 174, and 184 are not adequate to get into the top 10-15 as a team and 197 is a ways away too. Outside of those weights, the team is really solid. Plus, there will be a lot of talent graduating from our mat in the next 13 months (Rodriguez, Tynan, Ream, Friedman, Gliva, Bengston (depending on whether he wants a medical redshirt)). The challenge with any wrestling team, outside of Penn State, is how do you fill ten weights, plus have adequate depth with only 9.9 scholarships to give out? Looking at our bench, I'm not sure we're prepared to replace Bengston, Gliva/Friedman, and Ream, so I'd like to see an emphasis put on those middle weights (coincidentally, SDSU landed some really good recruits from MN in this range). Jared Franek would be a great start.

[Christopher Moen]

Can anyone explain how SDSU's program became so good? They were horrible a few years ago and are now better than NDSU. How is that possible and how does NDSU take that next step from fringe top 25 to say top 10-15. Is it recruiting and how could SDSU get such good talent out of nowhere.

Love him or hate him, Bono can coach and recruit. His ability to promote wrestling reminds me J Rob. Wrestling is a difficult sport to get spectators to watch for a few hours, especially when it's a college dual meet.

[BadlandsBison]

Does South Dakota have greater participation at the high school level? I'm guessing yes.


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[Christopher Moen]

Does South Dakota have greater participation at the high school level? I'm guessing yes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

According to the NFHS database, South Dakota, on average, has about 20 schools and 300 more athletes participating in wrestling.

Does that make South Dakota better? Not necessary. While they have had great, Olympic-caliber wrestlers in the past in the Scheer brothers, Lincoln McIlravy and Randy Lewis and not to forget that Lesnar-guy, South Dakota, as far as I remember, is not known for having national-caliber teams on a consistent basis. North Dakota currently has West Fargo and back in the day had the Nation's best high school team in Bismarck Century thanks to Milo Trusty's MATPAC program (which is currently doing wonders now in Windsor, CO along with Milo's son, Monte).

[RadioBison]

Can anyone explain how SDSU's program became so good? They were horrible a few years ago and are now better than NDSU. How is that possible and how does NDSU take that next step from fringe top 25 to say top 10-15. Is it recruiting and how could SDSU get such good talent out of nowhere.

I added up the NCAA placement points for each team over the last four years (16 points for 1st down to 3 points for 8th). We're at 23rd out of 77 teams in that span. There's just a handful of non-P5 schools above us, and they are pretty big names in terms of wrestling. There is room for improvement, but it certainly won't come easily.

Rank	Team	Points	Conference
1)	Penn State	248	Big 10
2)	Oklahoma State	227	Big 12
3)	Iowa	187	Big 10
4)	Ohio State	174	Big 10
5)	Minnesota	171	Big 10
6)	Cornell	153	EIWA
7)	Missouri	135	MAC
8)	Virginia Tech	122	ACC
9)	Illinois	100	Big 10
10)	Edinboro	93	EWL
11)	Nebraska	79	Big 10
12)	Northwestern	73	Big 10
13)	Oklahoma	68	Big 12
14)	Iowa State	67	Big 12
15)	Michigan	65	Big 10
16)	North Carolina State	64	ACC
17)	Lehigh	59	EIWA
18)	Wisconsin	55	Big 10
19)	Kent State	41	MAC
20)	Northern Iowa	41	MAC
21)	Pittsburgh	33	ACC
22)	Oregon State	30	Pac 12
23)	North Dakota State	26	Big 12
24)	Old Dominion	26	MAC
25)	Indiana	25	Big 10
26)	North Carolina	25	ACC
27)	Virginia	25	ACC
28)	Central Michigan	23	MAC
29)	Citadel	19	SoCon
30)	Wyoming	19	Big 12
31)	Boise State	18	Pac 12
32)	Maryland	18	Big 10
33)	Rutgers	18	Big 10
34)	Duke	17	ACC
35)	Stanford	16	Pac 12
36)	Pennsylvania	15	EIWA
37)	Rider	14	EWL
38)	West Virginia	12	Big 12
39)	Ohio University	11	MAC
40)	Columbia	10	EIWA
41)	American	9	EIWA
42)	Arizona State	9	Pac 12
43)	Michigan State	7	Big 10
44)	Navy	7	EIWA
45)	Brown	4	EIWA
46)	Purdue	4	Big 10
47)	Cal State-Bakersfield	3	Pac 12
48)	Clarion	3	EWL
49)	Franklin & Marshall	3	EIWA
50)	Lock Haven	3	EWL
51)	Princeton	3	EIWA
52)	Utah Valley	3	Big 12

[Tony Almeida]

According to the NFHS database, South Dakota, on average, has about 20 schools and 300 more athletes participating in wrestling.

Does that make South Dakota better? Not necessary. While they have had great, Olympic-caliber wrestlers in the past in the Scheer brothers, Lincoln McIlravy and Randy Lewis and not to forget that Lesnar-guy, South Dakota, as far as I remember, is not known for having national-caliber teams on a consistent basis. North Dakota currently has West Fargo and back in the day had the Nation's best high school team in Bismarck Century thanks to Milo Trusty's MATPAC program (which is currently doing wonders now in Windsor, CO along with Milo's son, Monte).

Those Bismarck teams were a force to be reckoned with, both Century and Bismarck High.
I loved wrestling against MATPAC, I was wondering what those Trusty boys were up to these days, is Milo from North Dakota?

[Christopher Moen]

Those Bismarck teams were a force to be reckoned with, both Century and Bismarck High.
I loved wrestling against MATPAC, I was wondering what those Trusty boys were up to these days, is Milo from North Dakota?

Mandan I believe. Terry Steiner speaks highly of Milo. And yes, those Bismarck teams were, and somewhat still are, great teams. When I was in Middle School, Bismarck Century was one of the best teams ever. No Minnesota team, including Apple Valley and Simley.

[Tony Almeida]

Mandan I believe. Terry Steiner speaks highly of Milo. And yes, those Bismarck teams were, and somewhat still are, great teams. When I was in Middle School, Bismarck Century was one of the best teams ever. No Minnesota team, including Apple Valley and Simley.

I remember going to a MATPAC meet at the University of Mary back when I was in middle school or younger (I think you and I are the same age) and there was an exhibition meet there as well or something like that, I can't exactly remember what it was and why they were there but it wasn't just us youngsters bc one of the Steiner boys wrestled Randy Burwick (from Dickinson) and there was a team from New Zealand (not 100% sure it was New Zealand, but definitely a foreign team) there and of course other wrestlers I don't remember...but one thing I do remember from that meet was the New Zealand team changing clothes right in the open on the mat without any discretion in their jockstraps and all...had all the girls snickering and staring. Needless to say it was a strange thing to see, had me wondering if they had locker rooms in New Zealand (if indeed it was New Zealand).

Thought I would share this with you maybe you were there...