2021 NCAA Tournament

[Big Bird]

INCREDIBLE scramble by Weber for a td. He leads 2-1 heading to the third.

He starts neutral

[Big Bird]

Stalling on Weber. 30 seconds to go.

[Big Bird]

Weber hangs on for a 2-1 win. He needs one more win to be an All American

[Big Bird]

Pentz gets pinned, and his season ends. Great tournament by him

[AKBison]

Pentz gets pinned, and his season ends. Great tournament by him

Pentz was in deep multiple times but couldn't finish. Great tournament and high expectations for next year.

[Big Bird]

NDSU will have Franek and Weber in the blood round tonight. If they win, they are All Americans. If they lose their season is over.

Franek has Jacori Teemer from Arizona State.

Weber has star freshman Keegen O'Toole of Mizzou

[RadioBison]

I was getting nervous for Weber. Bullard smoked Fogarty last year with danger zone takedowns.

[AKBison]

NDSU will have Franek and Weber in the blood round tonight. If they win, they are All Americans. If they lose their season is over.

Franek has Jacori Teemer from Arizona State.

Weber has star freshman Keegen O'Toole of Mizzou

Ya, were gonna need a better big bird breakdown than that.

[RadioBison]

Askren was talking the other day about guys that get depressed after losing in the quarters and stop trying. It would be a shame if that happened to his guy O'Toole.

[Big Bird]

Ya, were gonna need a better big bird breakdown than that.

Franek vs Teemer
Teemer is supremely talented and has beaten Franek before. The big question for me is how will Franek respond after an absolute heartbreaker vs Deakin. If he wrestles as well as he did in that one, he wins. If he doesn't and Teemer wrestles as well as he has been this tournament, he wins.
Teemer is incredibly quick and gets to legs with ease. Franek's scrambling vs Deakin was far and away the best I've ever seen from him. He'll likely need to do the same against Teemer, who wins with quick leg attacks.
Franek badly needs to be on the attack and to control the ties. If he can control the ties and make Teemer shoot through his head and hands to get to his legs, he'll be able to effectively shut Teemer down, frustrate him, and tire him out. When Franek attacks and doesn't get all the way to the legs, he needs to be able to back out a bit, control the arms, and prevent Teemer from using his quickness to get a go behind.

Weber vs O'Toole
O'Toole is super funky. As RadioBison mentioned, he's been trained by Ben Askren and those guys generally are unconventional. That is both good and bad for Weber.
The good: I don't think O'Toole will be afraid to go upper body with Weber, and that is where Weber is strong. He also doesn't have an elite, go-to shot. He generally scores by controlling the ties and outscrambling guys. Weber has great hips and great senses and generally does very well in scrambles. If O'Toole does go upper body vs Weber, I think that's a mistake by O'Toole.
The bad: Everywhere Weber is strong, O'Toole is as well. While Weber's hips might be better, O'Toole is a better scrambler and really great at controlling ties. While O'Toole doesn't have an elite shot, he can gets to the legs, and when he does, he usually finishes.
It's a very interesting matchup and one I'm very much looking forward to. As basic as it is, I thin it'll come down to who controls the ties from neutral. Griffith was able to control the ties in the 2nd half of the match vs Weber, and that allowed him to come back and win.

Since Teemer beat Franek the last time they met, both Franek and Weber are probably both underdogs in these. With that said, we've seen that anything can happen and both guys are wrestling well right now. Franek had the #1 guy in the country beat for 6 min and 50 seconds. Weber had Griffith, who just beat the #1 guy, beat for 6 minutes. Both of these guys have come to NCAAs ready to battle and I hope both end the night as All Americans.