2021-2022 Season

[PaBizon]

The BiZon had a number of wrestlers competing at the North Country open at St John’s University this past weekend. They had a number of place finishers, most notably, first place finishes by Carlos Negrete jr and Michael Caliendo. Negrete Jr had a fall and two tech falls with one of the Tech Falls being against Robby Horsman of St Cloud St whom he lost to earlier this year.

[Portlandbison]

Hopefully Negrete is ready to fill that massive hole at 125 next year. Really excited for Caliendo from what he showed this year and him being able to step in the lineup next year will be huge. I expected more from Weber this year and I hope he gets going this last month before Tulsa but right now I don't think the drop off from weber to caliendo will be that big.

[PaBizon]

Hopefully Negrete is ready to fill that massive hole at 125 next year. Really excited for Caliendo from what he showed this year and him being able to step in the lineup next year will be huge. I expected more from Weber this year and I hope he gets going this last month before Tulsa but right now I don't think the drop off from weber to caliendo will be that big.

I think Negrete would be a decent updrade right now and will be a very competitive 125 pounder in the future. Totally agree on Caliendo and the drop off being minimal from Weber. Weber lost last Friday night to a guy Caliendo beat earlier this year. That being said last year Weber saved his best wrestling for the Big 12 tournament and the National Tournamnet. I’m holding out hope that happens again.

[NoFear]

You guys love NDSU wrestling but I think you have your blinders on of what happens in the room and with the development of the kids. Give me on example of a kid that has gotten better after his incoming freshman year or better which ones have failed. Luke was better coming in as a transfer.

[Big Bird]

You guys love NDSU wrestling but I think you have your blinders on of what happens in the room and with the development of the kids. Give me on example of a kid that has gotten better after his incoming freshman year or better which ones have failed. Luke was better coming in as a transfer.

I get your point, and while lack of development does happen, there are success stories.

Kurtis Julson and Mac Stoll, even though they are a bit older now, are two that stick out to me. Droegemueller and Austin Brenner are the two on the team that stand out to me. They were quality HS wrestlers, but hardly D1 locks. I know Metz and Franek were big time recruits, but they've gotten better too.

No offense to Stoll, as he was better than I ever was in HS, but he had no business going D1 and developed into an NCAA qualifier and won a match at NCAAs.

[NoFear]

Metz and Franek should of been AA already

[PaBizon]

You guys love NDSU wrestling but I think you have your blinders on of what happens in the room and with the development of the kids. Give me on example of a kid that has gotten better after his incoming freshman year or better which ones have failed. Luke was better coming in as a transfer.

I’m not sure what you mean by blinders on?? Almost every kid gets better after their freshman year. It’s why almost all of them redshirt as purely from a physical standpoint 18 year old kids generally aren’t as strong as 20-21 year olds are. But if you want examples Hayden Zelmer would be one. Not highly recruited out of HS, hit a growth spurt while in college and ended up an All American. Steven Monk is another. Finished third in the country his senior year giving David Taylor his toughest match in the semis that year. Kurtis Julson, Clay Ream and Cam Sykora also come to mind. As for the ones that regress it’s usually due to injuries. Mitch Bengston comes to mind. NQ his Freshman year but not his Jr or Sr year. Luke Weber had a very good Fr season at Nebraska but never could crack the starting line up there. He came here and was an average starting d1 wrestler. Last year (IMO) he took the single biggest season step forward I’ve seen a wrestler take under Kish as a head coach ending up as a Big 12 champ. This year has been a bit of a bumpy road for him but as I stated I’m hoping his best is still to come. I would love to know how the practice room matches between Weber and Caliendo go as I bet there are some nice battles.

[PaBizon]

Metz and Franek should of been AA already

Why do you think they both should be AA’s already? Where they were ranked in HS??? Metz hasn’t shown anything in college that would say he should or could be an AA. Franek is progressing from NQ to Round of 12 last year to hopefully top 8 this year.

[Big Bird]

Why do you think they both should be AA’s already? Where they were ranked in HS??? Metz hasn’t shown anything in college that would say he should or could be an AA. Franek is progressing from NQ to Round of 12 last year to hopefully top 8 this year.

Plus, with Metz, while he has great greco accolades, there are very few guys with his body type AAing anymore. The HWT weight class has gotten so athletic and so good. Gable, Parris, Kerkvleit, Cass, Hendrickson, Elam, so on and so on are all really high level athletes. Throw in other guys like Schultz and Stencel who are massive and have high accolades and AAing at HWT is just so damn difficult. I think Metz is wrestling the best he ever has this year and still has a minimal chance at AAing. A guy like Trent Hillger will have an uphill battle just to AA, whereas 5-10 years ago, he's probably an easy 5 guy each year.

[RadioBison]

You guys love NDSU wrestling but I think you have your blinders on of what happens in the room and with the development of the kids. Give me on example of a kid that has gotten better after his incoming freshman year or better which ones have failed. Luke was better coming in as a transfer.

I believe that you are close to JVM. After his good free-style season, scoring points like crazy, and getting a win over a guy like Verkeeren, my hopes got up. I thought he was on the verge of being an NCAA qualifier as a freshman, and I expected he was on track to make it the next three years. But, that never quite happened, and I take it that it didn't end on good terms. I'd love to hear more about how the coaches did or didn't contribute to that. I am all for improvements.

I haven't seen the purely anti-Kish posters on here too much lately. Those guys liked to remind us that we haven't recruited any all-Americans since Kish took over. I think that is likely to change soon, but we'll have to wait and see. From my outside perspective, the team seems to be improving, especially since the new assistants have arrived. We were seconds away from having two AA's last year, and the guys seemed to peak at the right time the last couple of years.