****Official National Duals Thread****
- Thread starter CYVADER
- Start date
I haven't been following the team lately, but has Drouin been out or sick? Seems as if there was high hopes for and AA at the beginning of the year, but not really wrestling his best right now.
i don't think he's been hurt, and i feel he's been wrestling pretty well. he's lost some tuff matches to quality guys, and won some over good wrestlers as well.
I drove down and watched the first two duals. I'll throw in a quick summary of my take.
125- Jones looked like you'd expect a true freshman to look against BSU. He fought hard at the end trying to avoid the major, but he was overmatched.
Hunter got the first td against NIU and had some decent scrambles, but couldn't close the deal. He had a chance to win it imo.
133- Cash was overmatched against Hoch and I thought at one point in the 3rd he was going to get stuck. He did well to keep it to a major. He looked good against NIU. He is a hustler and you can't fault the effort.
141- Drouin looked good. He wrestled tough and did a nice job of fighting back in the BSU match and getting us a good win in OT. He seems to be able to get in on good shots a lot and if he can increase the percentage he finishes he'll continue to improve. The kid he wrestled from NIU was a punk and I was happy to see Chris beat him.
149- Carr tied for my most frustrating ISU wrestler of the day. He was gassed in the 2nd and did very little in his match, yet was still only down 1 point with over a minute left in the 3rd when the match was restarted after his injury time. He took 0 shots in that minute plus...FREAKING ZERO! Jackson was livid and there was no doubt that Mayfield getting the match against NIU was a result of Carr's inability/unwillingness to wrestle.
Mayfield at least put forth some effort, but very little offense.
157- Weatherman opened with a nice shot against Hall from BSU and looked to be in position to finish it but couldn't. It was all down hill from there. He got the first two tds against NIU and looked like he was confident, but once again, he couldn't close the deal. It seems like he is close to turning a corner, but he needs to be able to finish.
165- Sorenson was the biggest bright spot of the day. He is a combination of being methodical while still wrestling hard. He worked hard for the bonus point against the Boise kid and controlled the NIU kid. He was up 8-3 with almost 4 minutes of riding time when he stuck the NIU kid. He seemed like he wanted to be out there more than anybody else.
174- I think the Boise kid was told to not get stuck. Reader took him down with relative ease and racked up quite a bit of riding time, but the match just never took off from there. It was a dominant 4-1 win is there is such a thing and everybody was disappointed...that says something about Reader. He looked much more like himself in the 2nd match, toying with the kid and getting 4 or 5 sets of back points iirc.
184- Shaffer has a little funk to him but he was outmatched against Smith.
Riley had some opportunities in his match but couldn't quite get it done. Like Jones, he looked like a true freshman.
197- I'm not sure if Ward's knee is 100% but the way he wrestled was disappointing. He was close to getting riding time in the 3rd and gave up the escape with close to 50 seconds left, so was down 1. As with Carr, he took ZERO shots in those 50 seconds. I just don't understand that.
Hawes got the call against NIU. He got a quick td and pretty much milked that out, winning a ho hum 3-2 match.
285- Simonson wrestled really hard and I like his effort. I don't think either of his opponents were elite by any means but he gets after it and has some good offense on his feet. He's also tough on top. Gibson was up both matches but Simonson got the call.
Overall, I'd say the first dual was the most disappointing effort I've seen out of a KJ coached squad. Some guys were overmatched and some were flat, but the effort just was not there. We looked better, against lesser competition in the NIU match. Hopefully Carr and Ward, among others, got the message and come out with some fire whenever they see the mat again. I decided to get some family time in instead of sticking around for the American dual, so hopefully somebody can provide updates for that.
125- Jones looked like you'd expect a true freshman to look against BSU. He fought hard at the end trying to avoid the major, but he was overmatched.
Hunter got the first td against NIU and had some decent scrambles, but couldn't close the deal. He had a chance to win it imo.
133- Cash was overmatched against Hoch and I thought at one point in the 3rd he was going to get stuck. He did well to keep it to a major. He looked good against NIU. He is a hustler and you can't fault the effort.
141- Drouin looked good. He wrestled tough and did a nice job of fighting back in the BSU match and getting us a good win in OT. He seems to be able to get in on good shots a lot and if he can increase the percentage he finishes he'll continue to improve. The kid he wrestled from NIU was a punk and I was happy to see Chris beat him.
149- Carr tied for my most frustrating ISU wrestler of the day. He was gassed in the 2nd and did very little in his match, yet was still only down 1 point with over a minute left in the 3rd when the match was restarted after his injury time. He took 0 shots in that minute plus...FREAKING ZERO! Jackson was livid and there was no doubt that Mayfield getting the match against NIU was a result of Carr's inability/unwillingness to wrestle.
Mayfield at least put forth some effort, but very little offense.
157- Weatherman opened with a nice shot against Hall from BSU and looked to be in position to finish it but couldn't. It was all down hill from there. He got the first two tds against NIU and looked like he was confident, but once again, he couldn't close the deal. It seems like he is close to turning a corner, but he needs to be able to finish.
165- Sorenson was the biggest bright spot of the day. He is a combination of being methodical while still wrestling hard. He worked hard for the bonus point against the Boise kid and controlled the NIU kid. He was up 8-3 with almost 4 minutes of riding time when he stuck the NIU kid. He seemed like he wanted to be out there more than anybody else.
174- I think the Boise kid was told to not get stuck. Reader took him down with relative ease and racked up quite a bit of riding time, but the match just never took off from there. It was a dominant 4-1 win is there is such a thing and everybody was disappointed...that says something about Reader. He looked much more like himself in the 2nd match, toying with the kid and getting 4 or 5 sets of back points iirc.
184- Shaffer has a little funk to him but he was outmatched against Smith.
Riley had some opportunities in his match but couldn't quite get it done. Like Jones, he looked like a true freshman.
197- I'm not sure if Ward's knee is 100% but the way he wrestled was disappointing. He was close to getting riding time in the 3rd and gave up the escape with close to 50 seconds left, so was down 1. As with Carr, he took ZERO shots in those 50 seconds. I just don't understand that.
Hawes got the call against NIU. He got a quick td and pretty much milked that out, winning a ho hum 3-2 match.
285- Simonson wrestled really hard and I like his effort. I don't think either of his opponents were elite by any means but he gets after it and has some good offense on his feet. He's also tough on top. Gibson was up both matches but Simonson got the call.
Overall, I'd say the first dual was the most disappointing effort I've seen out of a KJ coached squad. Some guys were overmatched and some were flat, but the effort just was not there. We looked better, against lesser competition in the NIU match. Hopefully Carr and Ward, among others, got the message and come out with some fire whenever they see the mat again. I decided to get some family time in instead of sticking around for the American dual, so hopefully somebody can provide updates for that.
Drouin has been pretty solid all year. He hasn't always come through, but hardly been a big disappointment. I think he has a decent chance at AA in March.
if reader doesn't at least get a major i will be very disappointed in him and kj. they need to go in with the mind set of a major. let him up and take him down. 5 minutes of riding time doesn't do the team any good.
