Minnesota, NCAA Review

[JensenS]

Gabe Dretsch

v. Lee: Not a bad match, weird conflict in body types with Dretsch being real tall, and Lee being short and stocky. Hit a SWEEEET arm drag to pick up his first TD, and then a nice little single to pick up his second one. Also did a nice job using his length to make sure Lee didn't pick up a TD when he was in deep near the end of the second period.

v. Askren: I'll just say it, Gabe came to wrestle, no shame here in giving up the fall. Came right out of the gate with a little shuck by to a single but Askren managed to kick away and then came up with an "alright then" grin on his face. He did give up a few takedowns, but he didn't run. SO close to a TD shortly before he got pinned, Askren's kinesthetic awareness is just so good, he managed to scramble and get them to wind up going out of bounds. The fall, he got into a scramble, and Askren beat him in it. No shame there.

v. Letts: Nice to see him avenge the loss here. Gave up the TD in the first but didn't get rattled. Clutch job by him riding Letts for the whole third to send the match to OT, and then muscling a counter to a Letts shot to get him the winning TD.

v. Luke: Snoozer, but I doubt many really expected much less. Would have liked to see Dretsch maybe press things a little bit more, but I can't really complain here with this result, just bad luck that he ran into Luke so early in the wrestlebacks.

So there it is here. 2-2 with two wins over quality opponents, and losses to the Big 10 champ, and the National champ. Dretsch has tools to be an AA, he's big, strong, and relatively athletic. He needs to improve on his variety on his feet coming into next year, his mat work could obviously always improve as well, but he's better there than he is on his feet. For not being that highly recruited out of high school Dretsch has managed to carve himself out a nice little career thus far, love to see him grab an AA spot next year.

[goferphan]

remember when i said that i thought DS might be hurting around duals and everyone gave me crap?

[headshuck]

The MN coaches must have been freaking out with Konrad having surgery, Reiter's knee injury, CP out at the Scuffle, Glasser and Eidenshenk injured, Dustin's sprain, Rivera's injury....

[goferphan]

i actually think in some of the duals leading up to Big Tens, we should have had some of the wretlers rotating out of the line-up...i think to an extent we did that but i think rivera, ds and c.p. may have begun to wear down...ness was balls out all year but I don't think he is pulling a ton of weight and he is a young pup...

either way i am not going to fault the coaches as you know if they did rest them and then didn't wrestle to seed the other side would have said that they shouldn't have sat them down...the depth next year is going to help i think with sanders, ness, thorn, reiter, rivera at the lights and then stitch, glasser, safratowich, dretsch, c.p., larson, kuhlman in the middle...that ought to keep everybody fresh without having to drop too far down on quality...malamura, eidenshenk, berhow and nord as well...

[JensenS]

CP's 8 matches are up, my take on the first four.

v. Salazzar: Good first match for CP, he did a nice job dominating the ties, pushed Salazzar around a little bit, and picked up the stall. Hit his throw by single several times, and looked really good in the process

v. Midlam: Much like the Salazzar match, CP did a nice job asserting himself against an opponent that he was superior to. Once again, dominated the ties, and pushed Midlam around a little bit. The throw by single was out here too, but he hit a nice double, as well as a score from the front head, nice to see variety here

v. Jarred: Not much of a match, CP spent most of the first chasing Jarred around. He had a couple looks at offense that Jarred was able to stay away from, and then did a nice job avoiding a Jarred takedown in the splits position where as I've watched him this year have found he's surprisingly good in. Put a nice hard ride on him in the second under Ambrose's watchful eye, and then just did whatever in the third period

v. Poeta: I had a feeling as soon as I saw the result of this match and the terms on which it ended that I wasn't going to be very happy when I watched it. I was right.

The inconsistency in officiating is absolutely disgusting, but I'll get to that. CP did a fantastic job in the first period, stayed on Poeta hard from the feet, took all the shots, and picked up a nice TD almost a minute in. For the rest of the period or so, he put a good ride on Poeta, but did get hit for a 50-50 stall, Poeta stood up, and CP ran him out of bounds, stalling? Yes. But the fact that you could probably count on one hand the number of times it was called in the tournament doesn't do much for my peace of mind.

In the third period, CP just didn't do what he had to. He stayed out in space and tried to stay away, this is baffling to me. In all three of their matches its shown that CP has an OBVIOUS advantage when he has his underhook in. He didn't do that, and he set Poeta up to make himself look good to Ramirez, and due to the stalls and the TD he wound up losing.

As can be seen, I'm not putting all the blame on Ramirez, but I'm sure as hell going to put some. I've already discussed my feelings on the first stall call, I have NO idea where the second one came from, Ramirez wasn't on screen the exact second it happened, but CP had escaped probably fifteen seconds prior, they danced, and then CP got in on a shot on the edge and they went out. Some where in this situation Ramirez saw stalling, I didn't. Third stall call was legit, CP should have had better strategy with which to avoid it.

[JensenS]

v. Becker: Just ground it out here, got a nice TD early on, and was able to keep it together the rest of the way. Put a good ride on Becker and got the riding time which wound up being the deciding point. Becker is another guy who when CP works his underhook on him, its a complete 100% advantage for CP in my opinion, he got into some iffy situations in the third at times where he got out into space, either way...a nice win, it got him his AA spot. These two really don't like each other.

v. Zupancic: Kind of a snoozer, both had their attempts at offense through out the first two periods, both of which were spent on their feet, and then CP rode him out in the third to win 1-0. CP was lucky that this ref let him go, he needs to refine his top game a little bit in my opinion so he's not going to the legs so much.

v. Strouse: The match I predicted as the national final. Went pretty much like how their first match at Northeast Duals went back in Novemeber. CP was kind of more agressive, and did better at controlling the ties, but couldn't pick up a TD. I thought a stalling call could have been made in the third against Strouse, but it didn't. All hail inconsistency.

v. Kocher: Snoozer again. Both guys had their opportunities to score from the feet, and neither was able to convert, came down to mat wrestling, and here Kocher got the better of him, not a ton more to say. Seem to know each other pretty well.

So here this is. Glad to see CP get his first AA finish, but I think, and I'm sure he thinks the same that better can be done. As funny as it may sound, the thing I'd like to see CP do the most between now and next year is just get a little arrogant.

I don't think he thinks he's as good on his feet as he actually is. In my opinion, he's one of the best guys in the country at chain wrestling, he just has to bring it out. After he gets TD's on guys, he kind of forces a ride, and then as has been seen, he gets hit for stalling, I'd rather see a take them down let them up, push them around and rough them up a little bit. Also like to see him as I kind of made mention of vary his stuff from the top a little bit. He can obviously ride, and I've seen him run tilts on guys, but he has a big problem when guys get up to their feet, and then he goes to an ankle. He's gotten a little bit of a rep, and refs ding him way quicker than other guys. All things being said, I think he steps it up next year though, and really brings it.

[lostnumber]

the 2nd stall call on cp was absolute bs... from what Id heard of this match Id expected cp to look absolutely aweful and be completely gassed but this wasnt the case at all he wrestled a great match and was a little too evasive in the third for his own good, this match should have went to overtime cp got dinged about 20 seconds into the period as he was taking a shot, the other two calls I can understand.

[goferphan]

some wrestlers just get a reputation i think whether it is true or not...nagel used to get some really quick stalling penalties called on him although i must say that more often than not, he deserved it...its almost like with CP, the refs are waiting for the opportunity to ding him with the first one...

[lostnumber]

Nesses Matches: Coming Soon

Reiters Matches:

First match looked great like an animal struggled a bit with the guys length then took him down and absolutely worked him until he got a cradle locked up and finished it.
In his second match he looked very tough, the other guy had a dynamite shot and was able to get in on macks legs several times but only finished twice, They must teach the underhook to throwby single over at minnesota because Im pretty sure IVe seen every wrestler on the team except for dustin and yura hit it at least once this year.

Reiter vs valenti

Mack was by far the agressor in this match but valenti looked practically untouchable, he did enough to avoid stalling on his feet and compeltely schooled mack on the matt, the two times mack had him in danger in the first period valenti kept his composure and was able to explode his way out of them (Id never known how atheltic valenti was till I wathced this match, the kids a specimen). Im surprised valenti didnt get a five count on that tilt it looked like he held him there for long enough.

Mack Vs Mccomrick
It broke my heart watching this match especially since the reason mack lost is that he chose neutral in the 2nd period instead of going down (imo). THat was a terrible call on the reversal late in the 3rd mack was clearly standing up by the time mccormick was behind him but it wouldnt have mattered anyway because mack got the escape shortly thereafter. Mack didnt look hampered by his knee as far as I could tell (although he does wrestle wayyy too flat footed for my taste).
It was a close match that mccormick won in the last 20 seconds, but Im convinced that the real reason mack lost is his fear of choosing bottom which was perhaps influenced by valenti's rideout in the quarter finals. Instead of getting one he gave up a takedown and got an escape putting him down by one going into the third, if he had been up by one instead then mccormicks reversal would only have tied it and it would have gone to ot. (obviously I have no way of knowing what would have happened if mack had chosen down, he might have been ridden out or turned, or mccormick might have gotten a td later on in the period.

In my opinion he looked great in all of his matches he was agressive and physical and wrestled to win, he just had the bad luck of drawing the returning national champ in the quarterfinals and a tough former aa in the wrestlebacks. Look for him to be in contention for a national title next year

[ISU2008]

I'm glad to hear Mack was going after Valenti, I wasn't sure how the injury would affect his aggressiveness against the top guys. He shouldn't fear anyone next year (not that he would) and I see no reason he can't win it.