Big Ten wrestling tournament preview: What is the Penn State outlook at 125-157 pounds?

Penn State wrestling seeks its third straight Big Ten title when it starts this year’s conference championships on Saturday at Northwestern. The Nittany Lions will have all 10 starters in Evanston, including five number one seeds.

Blue-White Illustrated is previewing the tournament leading up to Big Ten Network’s live coverage of the first round at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Today, we start with the early outlook for the Lions at 125-157 pounds. Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at 165-285 pounds. Saturday morning, we’ll have predictions. And, there will be complete coverage from start to finish all weekend.

Let’s dive into the first five weight classes.

125 pounds: Penn State freshman Luke Lilledahl

Seed: No. 4

Expected opening opponent: No. 13 Caelan Riley, Illinois

Weight class breakdown: Undefeated Matt Ramos of Purdue is the top seed in this weight class. That means he’s on Lilledahl’s side of the bracket, and thus, he would have to beat him in the semifinals, if the seeds hold, to make the finals.

Ramos has not wrestled the Nittany Lion, Nebraska’s Caleb Smith, or Rutger’s Dean Peterson, who are the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds, respectively, and figure to meet in the semifinal on the other half of the bracket.

Joey Cruz of Iowa, the five seed, likely awaits Lilledahl in the quarters. The Penn State freshman beat him by technical fall, 22-6, during the regular season.

This bracket looks chalky, with the champion all but guaranteed to come out of the top four seeds.

133 pounds: Nittany Lion sophomore Braeden Davis

Seed: No. 4

Expected opening opponent: No. 12 Andrew Hampton of Michigan State

Weight class breakdown: If you feel like you’re having deja vu, we can’t blame you. Last year’s 133-pound Penn State starter, Aaron Nagao, also faced Hampton in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament last year after spending some time off the mat during the regular season. The Nittany Lion beat him by major decision, and we’d expect Davis, as long as he’s healthy, to have success as well, considering he already beat the Spartan by technical fall this year.

Iowa’s Drake Ayala is the No. 1 seed here and the potential semifinal opponent for Davis on the top-half of the bracket. Neither wrestler is going to have a cakewalk to get there, though. Davis figures to draw Rutgers’ Dylan Shawver, who he beat just by decision in January, in the quarters. And, the always pesky Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State should be waiting for Ayala.

The bottom half of this bracket is stacked. Lucas Byrd of Illinois is the two-seed and likely finalist. But, he’ll have to get through three-seed Braxton Brown of Maryland, but only if the Terp gets by likely quarterfinal opponent Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska, of course.

141 pounds: Penn State graduate senior Beau Bartlett

Seed: No. 1

Expected opening opponent: A round one bye will give him the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 bout, which features No. 8 Henry Porter of Indiana vs. No. 9 Greyson Clark of Purdue. Bartlett has never wrestled either.

Weight class outlook: Bartlett was the top seed in last year’s Big Ten tournament but lost in the final to Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez. We expect that final to happen again.

The Buckeye holds the all-time series lead between the two, 3-2, but the Penn State senior has the most recent win, which is why he’s the No. 1 seed and Mendez the No. 2. Both project to make the semifinals, where Bartlett would have to deal with No. 4 Vance Vombaur of Minnesota and Mendez No. 3 Brock Hardy of Nebraska, if the seeds hold as expected, to setup the latest rematch between the two.

149 pounds: Nittany Lions sophomore Shayne Van Ness

Seed: No. 1

Expected opening opponent: Thanks to a first round bye, he will draw the winner of No. 8 Kal Miller of Maryland vs. No. 9 Dylan Gilcher of Michigan in the quarterfinals.

Weight class breakdown: Some will quibble over the Big Ten coaches deciding to rank Van Ness No. 1, Kyle Parco of Iowa No. 2, and Ridge Lovett of Nebraska No. 3, after a round-robin of wins and losses against each other during the regular season. But, the top three seeds here could have gone in just about any direction and the decision would have been defensible.

As it currently stands, the Penn State sophomore got the best draw. Dylan D’Emillio of Ohio State, who he beat only by decision a few weeks ago, will be no easy out as the likely semifinal opponent on the top half. But, assuming the Nittany Lion gets the job done, he will almost certainly face one of Parco or Lovett, and whichever it is will have already been through a grueling match with the other one.

157 pounds: Penn State sophomore Tyler Kasak

Seed: No. 2

Expected opening opponent: A first-round bye means he will face the winner of No. 8 Chase Saldate of Michigan vs. No. 9 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State.

Weight class breakdown: Kasak’s lone loss in his first season as the 157-pound starter for Penn State came via injury default opposite Maryland’s Ethen Miller earlier this year. That helped the Terrapin to a perfect regular season record, which makes him the top seed at Big Tens.

Many are hoping Kasak and Miller meet again in the finals so they can wrestle a full seven minutes and decide who should earn a higher seed at nationals. For that to happen — assuming the seeds chalk out — Miller will need to beat Iowa’s Jacori Teemer in the semifinals while Kasak would have to stop Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor, who he already beat by decision, 9-3, earlier this year.

A Kasak-Miller final should be expected.