2022-2023 Season

[RadioBison]

Yeah, you're probably right. He's been snake bit in close ones at NCAAs, and Swensen had some nice shots.

I think he beats Gfeller by like 3 and gets his first B12 title.

Hopefully he has turned a corner. A lot of those close losses at NCAAs were all against really good guys, where he just couldn't close them out. Still, 157 has a lot of guys who could win this year, so it will be interesting.

[Big Bird]

DJ scoreless to start the third and starts on bottom.

Quick escape and he leads 1-0. No stalls either way, but King has had a couple decent shots

[Big Bird]

DJ stays aggressive and gets a late TD to win 3-0!

Even if he doesn't get top 4, I think he's in NCAAs now.

Pentz now up

[Big Bird]

Pentz with another pin!

Team really rebounded and have closed the day very strong

[Big Bird]

I thought they weren't doing the "true placement" matches, and if that's the case, NDSU pushed 5 through to NCAAs on day one and very likely a 6th.

Franek, Caliendo, and March definitely are in, and pretty sure Midkiff and Pentz are too (only way they wouldn't be, is if they do the true placement matches).

Parker is probably in too, as he is guaranteed a top 6 place and even though the B12 only got 6 allocations, I think DJ would get in even if he lost his final 2 matches.

As far as guys outside of them, I guess it's possible Dylan could get a WC, although I think it'd be very unlikley. Same with Mora.

[PaBizon]

All in all a decent day for the BiZon. Even after a rough first session. Like most in here thought they’d get five in and possibly a sixth which looks to be the case.

125 Negrete wrestled ok the first match but got caught. Got a win in match two and looked terrible in match three. Prett much as expected.
133 Midkiff laid an egg in match one but came back solid in the next two. I didn’t think he could beat Phipps but he rode him hard. Looks like he’ll be dancing.
141 tough tough tournament for Dylan. Even if the one in a million chance came for Dylan I’m not sure it would be worth it for him. He needs to let his body recover as he looks beat up.
149 March pins Martinez again. I won’t doubt March against him any longer. Wrestles with a chip on his shoulder and continues to have some of the best mat returns out there. Congrats on a very good day for him.
157 franek continues to be Franek. Methodical, confident, never rattled. He thinks he’s going to win the close ones and doesn’t panic. I’m thinking he gets the Big 12 title he deserves to finally get.
165 Caliendo is damn good and he’s not afraid of the moment no matter who he’s facing. Just happens to be in what is by far the deepest weight class out there. He lost 8-3, IMO should have been 8-5. I’m very much hoping he faces Hall for third place. Will be a great test for the national tournament.
174 Sax is a .500 wrestler and will remain there unless he finds some form of offense. Didn’t expect anything different than what happened
184 DJ had a chance to win that first match but it slipped away. He had a decent day and was never in danger against King. The way he wrestled the back half of the year shows he deserves his spot.
197 tough first match but the pinning machine garnered some extra team points in the next two. Someone that people won’t want to wrestle in the tournament.
HWT. I had Mora pegged for 8th and really thought he would beat Trussel in match two. He wrestled a very solid match one against Nevills. Learning experience for the tank. Needs to spend the summer learning to finish his shots on guys bigger than him.

Team sits in 6th just a couple points out of fifth. Right about where they should be. Opportunity is there for a bunch of points tomorrow. Wrestling to seed tomorrow would get them a 6th, a 4th, a 1st, a 3rd and two 5th’s which would be a solid finish to the conference tournament. I’ll predict 6th at 133, 5th at 149, 1st at 157, 3rd at 165, a 5th at 184 and a 5th at 197.

Go BiZon

[Portlandbison]

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[IowaBison]

Thank you Bison fans. Mac has had an up and down career. You all were critical of him when it was deserved but always had his back/supported him as well. Mac is proud to be a Bison and loves his teammates/coaches. Now I hope he just wrestles hard the rest of the year and enjoys every second of it. Thank you Bison nation, the Midkiffs love you!

[Big Bird]

PABizon,

I think you're spot on with Sax and Mora.

Sax actually had some shots yesterday where he was able to get in deep and even finished 2. He needs more of that to become an NCAA qualifier. I think he saw that it's a lot harder to scramble for TDs at 174 than 149 when you don't have a significant length advantage and the other guys are stronger. He had some real positives this year, but until he develops an ability to generate his own offense, he won't become a qualifier. Good news, he showed he can do that yesterday, it just came too late.

For Mora, he needs to be able to finish his shots much better. It was a fairly prevalent theme for him this year, and with how ineffective he is in the top position, he can't afford to not convert shots when he gets to the legs.

[Big Bird]

Thank you Bison fans. Mac has had an up and down career. You all were critical of him when it was deserved but always had his back/supported him as well. Mac is proud to be a Bison and loves his teammates/coaches. Now I hope he just wrestles hard the rest of the year and enjoys every second of it. Thank you Bison nation, the Midkiffs love you!

Enjoy the day and hopefully we see some a couple more wins from Mac today and in 2 weeks.

Looking back on his career, he's been through a lot. He's bounced around weight classes a lot and it's been for the betterment of the team and not really to optimize his chances of getting to NCAAs and I really appreciate him doing that. I still remember the heartbreaker a couple years ago against Moody, where he was 1 period away from qualifying and wound up losing and not getting in, and how much of a hut punch that was.

To go through his career bouncing around weights for the team, have a brutal near miss, take a year off, and then battle like he did yesterday and earn his ticket, I hope he (and you all) are basking in his achievement.