2023 NCAA Championship Session III Thread

[Tom McAndrew]

I'm setting this up the night before, so that everyone knows the plans, has the links, etc.

Please use the thread for all pre-session, in-session, and post-session discussion for the Session III of the 2023 NCAA Championships.

When:
March 17, 12:00 pm EDT

Where:
Bok Center, Tulsa, OK

TV:
ESPNU

Video Streaming:
ESPN+. Please note that this is the only way to get access to multiple mats. In past years, this was offered on ESPN3 (free to those that were ESPN subscribers), but this year you must have ESPN+, which is a subscription service.

Audio Streaming:
The radio PBP, with Jeff Byers at the mic, will be streamed for free. The pre-Session portion of the broadcast will begin at 11:40 am EDT, with the actual PBP of the matches taking place at 12:00 pm EDT. (LionVision indicates it's starting at 11:20. I think that's a mistake, but perhaps they will start 40 minutes before the Session.) You can access the audio stream at:

Wrestling NCAA Championships Session 3

Video: Wrestling NCAA Championships Session 3. Wrestling

gopsusports.com

Team Scoring:
The best place to track the team scoring is the Penn State Wrestling Club web site. The link for the team scoring is:

https://www.pennstatewrestlingclub.org/content/tournament_team_score.php?id=29&type=team

PBP:
I'll be available for PBP at the start of the session. Alas, as with Session I, I didn't check my schedule before agreeing to something in the late afternoon (dumb me). As such, I'm going to have to depart from the PBP around 2:45 pm EDT (give or take). @GregPickel will also be in the thread helping with PBP, and will take over when I have to depart. Hopefully, several of you will also step forward and provide some analysis, or some comments on each match. As always, I remind you to please include the score for the match, or provide some context (wrestler, school, and weight class) beyond just "that's not a takedown." It also helps to give folks a heads up as to what mat a PSU wrestler will be wrestling on. You can usually get that info from Ironhead's audio PBP, from Penn State Wrestling's twitter account, or from TrackWrestling.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

The PSU matchups in Session III:

133: #1 seed RBY vs. #8 seed Aaron Nagao (Minnesota)

141: #6 seed Beau Bartlett vs. #3 seed Cole Matthews (Pitt)

149: #12 seed Shayne Van Ness vs. #20 seed Graham Rooks (Indiana)

157: #2 seed Levi Haines vs. #7 seed Bryce Andonian (VT)

174: #1 seed Carter Starocci vs. #8 seed Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota)

184: #3 seed Aaron Brooks vs. #6 seed Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)

197: #9 seed Max Dean vs. #26 seed Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)

285: #3 seed Greg Kerkvliet vs. #11 seed Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)

All but Max Dean are in the Championship bracket. Dean is in the Consolations.

 

[JerryfisherPSU]

Great Job Tom, Much appreciated all your hard work! Greg also!

 

[SRATH]

Should be some good matches, certainly Beau has a tall order getting through Matthews. CM doesn't do much, but win. Haines and Andonian should be great......very dangerous wrestler who is always in good position and is a great scrambler. Andonian is just as good.

 

[GregPickel]

Some early mat assignments are out:

Shayne Van Ness: In the hole, mat 3

Levi Haines: In the hole, mat 4

Roman Bravo-Young: On deck, mat 5

Beat Bartlett: In the hole, mat 6

 

[psu0408]

The PSU matchups in Session III:

133: #1 seed RBY vs. #8 seed Aaron Nagao (Minnesota)

141: #6 seed Beau Bartlett vs. #3 seed Cole Matthews (Pitt)

149: #12 seed Shayne Van Ness vs. #20 seed Graham Rooks (Indiana)

157: #2 seed Levi Haines vs. #7 seed Bryce Andonian (VT)

174: #1 seed Carter Starocci vs. #8 seed Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota)

184: #3 seed Aaron Brooks vs. #6 seed Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)

197: #9 seed Max Dean vs. #26 seed Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)

285: #3 seed Greg Kerkvliet vs. #11 seed Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)

All but Max Dean are in the Championship bracket. Dean is in the Consolations.

Thoughts:

RBY will avoid taking bottom vs. Nagao, wins by Dec

Matthews and Bartlett find themselves in close matches frequently, so first TD will be huge in this one

SVN has a great opportunity for AA here against a guy he’s beaten comfortably

Haines/Andonian will be a scrap, Haines wins late.

Carter, Brooks and Kerk all roll against guys they’ve beaten before.

Max beats Hoffman, then Harvey/Pentz winner to force rematch vs either Beard or Bastida

For Iowa: Murin, Brands and Cass lose in QF today.

 

[WV lion]

I call Bartlett match going to OT with score 1-1 in regulation

 

[GregPickel]

3 Penn State wrestling storylines to watch on Day 2 of the NCAA Championships

Penn State enters Day 2 with a lead in the team race at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. What are we watching for?

www.on3.com

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Some early mat assignments are out:

Shayne Van Ness: In the hole, mat 3

Levi Haines: In the hole, mat 4

Roman Bravo-Young: On deck, mat 5

Beat Bartlett: In the hole, mat 6

crap. Sounds like we'll have to coordinate things pretty early, @GregPickel, for PBP

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[cb1994]

crap. Sounds like we'll have to coordinate things pretty early, @GregPickel, for PBP

wow hot and heavy right out of the gate!

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Some early mat assignments are out:

Shayne Van Ness: In the hole, mat 3

Levi Haines: In the hole, mat 4

Roman Bravo-Young: On deck, mat 5

Beat Bartlett: In the hole, mat 6

Track is showing more than the next 3 on some of the mats.

I think the sequence will be:

- RBY is the 2nd match on Mat 5 (should be the 1st one involving a PSU wrestler)
- Bartlett is the 3rd match on Mat 6 (should be after RBY's match, but could start before RBY is done)
- SVN is the 4th match on Mat 3
- Haines is the 5th match on Mat 4

@GregPickel -- I'll do PBP for RBY. Let's alternate for the others, so you plan on doing Bartlett and Haines, and I'll do SVN. Will that work for you?

 

[Tom McAndrew]

(LionVision indicates it's starting at 11:20. I think that's a mistake, but perhaps they will start 40 minutes before the Session.)

As I suspected, Byers pre-Session show did not start at 11:20 am EDT.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Byers is now live on LionVision

 

[GregPickel]

Track is showing more than the next 3 on some of the mats.

I think the sequence will be:

- RBY is the 2nd match on Mat 5 (should be the 1st one involving a PSU wrestler)
- Bartlett is the 3rd match on Mat 6 (should be after RBY's match, but could start before RBY is done)
- SVN is the 4th match on Mat 3
- Haines is the 5th match on Mat 4

@GregPickel -- I'll do PBP for RBY. Let's alternate for the others, so you plan on doing Bartlett and Haines, and I'll do SVN. Will that work for you?

Sorry Tom, just finished a quick store run and am settling in now. Yep, you got it.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

For Iowa: Murin, Brands and Cass lose in QF today.

Murin is almost a certain loss, going up against Yianni

Brands - Mekhi Lewis is an interesting matchup. Lewis, IMHO, is the better wrestler. That said, he won R1 2-1 over #30 seed Jackson Turley (Rutgers) and won R2 5-4 over #19 seed Troy Fisher (NW). Brands is a grinder, and could win a low scoring match. If Mekhi opens up his offense, he should win, but it's not as much of a gimme as many would have anticipated before NCAAs

Cassioppi - Schultz (ASU) could go either way (not a big surprise in a 4 seed (Schultz) vs. 5 seed (Cass) matchup.

 

[Paruffus]

The PSU matchups in Session III:

133: #1 seed RBY vs. #8 seed Aaron Nagao (Minnesota)

141: #6 seed Beau Bartlett vs. #3 seed Cole Matthews (Pitt)

149: #12 seed Shayne Van Ness vs. #20 seed Graham Rooks (Indiana)

157: #2 seed Levi Haines vs. #7 seed Bryce Andonian (VT)

174: #1 seed Carter Starocci vs. #8 seed Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota)

184: #3 seed Aaron Brooks vs. #6 seed Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)

197: #9 seed Max Dean vs. #26 seed Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)

285: #3 seed Greg Kerkvliet vs. #11 seed Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)

All but Max Dean are in the Championship bracket. Dean is in the Consolations.

Many thanks for these updates. Without 'em we'd be out in the cold.

 

[gimb14]

I think this afternoon sessions will show just how early we can wrap this up. We should have 5 or 6 semifinalists. I don't see Iowa with more than 3 or Nebraska 4. This is where we pull away.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[gimb14]

Sorry Tom, just finished a quick store run and am settling in now. Yep, you got it.

There may be some overlap for you guys, but they may do one weight at a time. 4 mats for 4 quarterfinal matches per weight. It's the outer mats that could be more likely to overlap with Dean.

Edit: Based on the tweet 2 above this, looks like they're waiting for the different weights.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

@GregPickel -- see Penn State Pat's tweet. "We are holding quarters till all are done then 4:30 break before next weight." Based on that, it may not be quite as bad for us as I thought (thankfully). Let's still go with the alternating PBP on the first 4.

 

[SRATH]

Murin is almost a certain loss, going up against Yianni

Brands - Mekhi Lewis is an interesting matchup. Lewis, IMHO, is the better wrestler. That said, he won R1 2-1 over #30 seed Jackson Turley (Rutgers) and won R2 5-4 over #19 seed Troy Fisher (NW). Brands is a grinder, and could win a low scoring match. If Mekhi opens up his offense, he should win, but it's not as much of a gimme as many would have anticipated before NCAAs

Cassioppi - Schultz (ASU) could go either way (not a big surprise in a 4 seed (Schultz) vs. 5 seed (Cass) matchup.

Lewis didn't really look engaged in those matches. Folks don't roll over just because you are a returning finalist. Brands is really tough. Reminds me a bit like Cole Matthews, won't do a lot, will keep it close and find a way to gut it out.

 

[GregPickel]

@GregPickel -- see Penn State Pat's tweet. "We are holding quarters till all are done then 4:30 break before next weight." Based on that, it may not be quite as bad for us as I thought (thankfully). Let's still go with the alternating PBP on the first 4.

Ha, there was definitely a part of me that wondered if they would do something to secure the TV window. That's it!

 

[GregPickel]

Man, Noto is giving Lee his best shot.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Wow, I can't recall seeing Spencer Lee ridden (and tilted) like Noto (Lock Haven) is doing. Spencer got 10 points in the 1st period, so he should win the match, but Lee doesn't look so dominant.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

#27 seed Ventresca (VT) and #3 seed Cronin (125) in OT, tied 1-1

Edit: Cronin with the TD in OT, to win 3-1

 

[Karl_Havok]

Man, Matt Ramos with a last second reversal to win. 125lbs went chalk.

 

[GregPickel]

Cardinale of WVU, the 28 seed, has Purdue's Ramos on the ropes, but a late reversal gives the fourth-seeded Boilemaker the win.

 

[cb1994]

WOW what a crazy sequence at the end ofRamos / Cardinale. what a great match

 

[Karl_Havok]

Alright RBY up now on 3.

 

[gimb14]

Wow, I can't recall seeing Spencer Lee ridden (and tilted) like Noto (Lock Haven) is doing. Spencer got 10 points in the 1st period, so he should win the match, but Lee doesn't look so dominant.

Apparently Lee also stalls on bottom. First time he's been there so we didn't know. I hate Iowa style wrestling.

 

[Karl_Havok]

I like that they are running all championship quarters at the same time so we don't get two PSU guys wrestling at the same time.

 

[Karl_Havok]

Apparently Lee also stalls on bottom. First time he's been there so we didn't know. I hate Iowa style wrestling.

Glory has turned Spencer in the past. He definitely is not the same guy after the first period. I think Glory can turn him if he meets him in the finals. Noto was close a couple of times.

 

[GregPickel]

Man, Matt Ramos with a last second reversal to win. 125lbs went chalk.

Video:

 

[cb1994]

just an EXCELLENT reversal. wow

 

[Karl_Havok]

Gutsy call for RBY to go under Nagao but he gets a slick reversal so it's 2-0 with 1:26 RT.

 

[GregPickel]

Gutsy call for RBY to go under Nago but he gets a slick reversal so it's 2-0 with 1:26 RT.

I really thought Byers nailed it. RBY wanted to prove to himself that he wasn't going to ride him out again.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

133 Quarters: #1 seed RBY vs. #8 seed Aaron Nagao (Minnesota) (I'll use AN)

RBY takes a seat, and puts on his sweat top, during the break they're taking after each weight class

These guys just met in the final of the B1G Tourney. Nagao is good, and if he can hold 133 should be a factor for several years for Minny.

Per 1
AN with a quick shot and gets a single. RBY with a whizzer. Stopped for PD with 2:34 left (RBY's knee was being twisted the wrong way). Thru 1:30, and RBY has yet to shoot. AN really working to control RBY's head. RBY sort of shoot, but is blocked. RBY tries a throw-by, nothing. RBY shoots a single, not even close. 30 sec left. End

Per 2
RBY defers, and AN takes bottom. He's up quickly on the whistle, but RBY returns him, they get in a scramble as AN has RBY's knee. RBY frees it and AN is flattened. RT goes over 1 min for RBY. AN sits out, to his feet, they scramble, and a stoppage for stalemate with 39 sec left. Caution on AN on the restart. AN hits a roll but RBY stays with him. AN to his feet, RBY lifts and returns him. RBY trying to tilt him and does a bit but not enough to get swipes. End. RT @ 2 min for RBY

Per 3
RBY takes bottom, after a talk with Cody. Caution on AN. AN throws in boots. RBY frees the boots and gets a reversal (wow), 2-0. OOB with 1:07 left. AN up quickly on the whistle, returned and hits a roll on it, and is eventually out, 2-1. RT @ 1:39 for RBY. AN shoots, nothing. RT is locked for RBY. They are on the edge, and OOB with 21 sec left. AN shoots, nothing. OOB with 6 sec left. AN with a caution on the restart (he dove for RBY's ankle before the whistle) which is a point for RBY, 3-1. End. With 1:39 in RT, it's a 4-1 DEC for RBY. He's on to the semis, with career win #99.