Yeah, I did the math in this thread when the brackets came out and that's why I'm stressing how much on the border we are of a great tournament or a disappointing one.
Gomez, Parker, and Colbray all are seeded shy of placing, with, if you go by seeds (and ranking, since the only difference between looking at seeds and ranking is Degen's match vs Oliver makes him the underdog if you go by ranking)
Going with the coaches ranking rather than seeding, we'll have matches today between
- Gomez bowing out tommorow morning in the third round of consolations with a loss to Bridges, who he lost to 2-6 at Big 12s
- Parker bowing out with a loss to Brock in the 2nd round of consolations, who he beat 6-3 head to head but is ranked seeded and ranked lower than (this is obviously a good place for us to overperform but he'll need to beat Eirman or Alber to AA)
- Colbray bowing out with a loss to #6 Dean or #4 Parker in the R12
That's a lot of matches between guys that are more or less evenly ranked. If we all of those that's a good sign for the weekend. But tomorrow is really when we'll get the chance to fade away or separate. I'm not trying to tamper expectations or anything here,we have a lot of possible upside and I am hoping we see it. I'm just trying to stress how on the border this team is and how much is riding on the wrestlers and coaches having a good weekend. This is where Dresser and co earn their paycheck.
- #12 Parker vs #13 Red in Round 1
- #10 Degen vs #8 Oliver in Round 2
- #23 Straw vs #25 Monday in 1st round Consolations
- #11 Colbray vs #10 Reenan in Round 2
- #6 Miklus vs #10 Brunner in Round 2
- #26 Gremmel vs #27 Maley in Round 2
Even though we are slight underdogs and will need to do some major grinding out wins. I am still extremely giddy that I get watch ISU guys in 9 weights. I have faith in the guys and know we will have an upset or two go our way and hopefully have no major head scratchers. It is fun to be a cyclone wrestling fan again.