I have been to or watched 5 meets so far this year. The one thing I don't get is why we don't try to get riding time in a lot of matches. Yesterday there were at last 6 times the other wrestler was up and out in under 9 seconds and we didn't appear to even want to hold them down. These were tight matches and riding out a guy for 30-60 seconds would seem to be an optimal idea to tire the bottom guy out. Am I missing something here, are our guys just not good on top or is this something Dresser would be coaching them to do. I am a novice fan at most but it gets maddening to give up the point that quick.
Riding time
- Thread starter Rick
- Start date
if you’re frustrated with the riding ability of this team, you’re lucky you missed the KJ years
I agree stuclone...In the KJ years it was like...What is riding time?.....Never heard of it.....and we sure can't do it....Kevin Jackson might just be the worst wrestling coach ...NOT just in my lifetime, but in the history of ISU Wrestling.....
KJ isn’t the worst coach. He can coach guys that have internal motivation and willing to pay the price. He struggled with motivating guys that weren’t motivated themselves. That’s why he has success with Olympic level guys.
To answer this guys question, it's just not always the most effective strategy in a tight match. Say you're in a tie match and you need to ride out to get the RT point and win. Problem is that the guy escapes with little time left and you have no time to react, so either you lose or goes to OT.
If a wrestler is confident on his feet, it's generally a better strategy to go neutral. I always looked at it as neutral gives the advantage to the wrestler with more skill. Bottom advantage to the wrestler with more desire. A guy can get a flukey escape on sheer 'want to' and screw up the match for you.
It all depends on the situation and the opponent though...it helps to be good in all three positions so you have options.
I missed 125 and caught the last 1.5 periods of 133.
- 141: Parker is solid on top, but Demas is a tough guy for anyone to keep down. Demas couldn’t ride Parker either.
- 149: Degen rode hard, as he usually does. Puts himself in dangerous positions while on top, but that’s his style. He’s trying to use his length to gain exposure points
- 157: no chance there
- 165: Straw rode hard and picked up a riding riding time point
- 174: Neither guy was able to ride here. Manatona is hard to keep down
- 184: Coleman rode hard. Got a couple of quick tilts, and picked up the RT point
- 197: no chance
- HWT: Gremmel bullied his guy. Rode hard like crazy and let him up only to try for more takedowns to get bonus.
- 141: Parker is solid on top, but Demas is a tough guy for anyone to keep down. Demas couldn’t ride Parker either.
- 149: Degen rode hard, as he usually does. Puts himself in dangerous positions while on top, but that’s his style. He’s trying to use his length to gain exposure points
- 157: no chance there
- 165: Straw rode hard and picked up a riding riding time point
- 174: Neither guy was able to ride here. Manatona is hard to keep down
- 184: Coleman rode hard. Got a couple of quick tilts, and picked up the RT point
- 197: no chance
- HWT: Gremmel bullied his guy. Rode hard like crazy and let him up only to try for more takedowns to get bonus.
We probably all wish for more riding time. Am I right guys?
Colbray and Small are not known for being strong on top.
Small seems to be one of the better on his feet.
Parker is probably the best rider and Degen is pretty good also.
We are definitely better than in the KJ years.
We don't have a lot of real strong tilters. Nobody close to Spencer Lee's ability.
So if we want bonus, takedowns are the way to go, but that does require rideouts with short time left in periods.
Small seems to be one of the better on his feet.
Parker is probably the best rider and Degen is pretty good also.
We are definitely better than in the KJ years.
We don't have a lot of real strong tilters. Nobody close to Spencer Lee's ability.
So if we want bonus, takedowns are the way to go, but that does require rideouts with short time left in periods.
I don't think it is as big of a problem as in the past. I have seen a fair amount of matches where we have 3+ minutes of riding time and that is a complaint.
I would say Mackall and Carr are probably the best tilters of the varsity guys. Degen is decent too and Coleman can hit one every now and then.
Totally agree. We’ve gotten better riding and those are the two best right now. I would like to see us take this to the next level and actually see more turns. Watching Parker ride someone for 4 mins and win 4-2 Isn’t a long term plan for success. The margin of error is too small. Even if he can’t turn them he should be able to tire them and go neutral to score more in the 3rd.
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