What NCAA allocations, latest coaches poll means for Penn State wrestling

Penn State wrestling is now a week away from competing at the Big Ten tournament.

The nation’s No. 1 team and unbeaten Nittany Lions aim to qualify 10 wrestlers for the NCAA tournament following next weekend’s proceedings at Nebraska.

On Thursday, the NCAA released both its latest coaches rankings and also the weight class allocation for each conference ahead of their postseason events.

It indicates mostly good news for Penn State, as long as everything goes as planned in Lincoln March 5-6.

Here’s the breakdown.

What NCAA weight class allocations mean for Penn State

For those who are unfamiliar, the NCAA assigns qualifying allocations for each conference’s tournaments.

We’ll spell it all out below. But, for example, the Big Ten qualifies 10 wrestlers for the national tournament at 125 pounds. So, at the conference tournament, wrestlers will be competing for a title, of course, but national tournament seeding will be at play, as well.

As explained by Tom McAndrew on BWI’s The Wrestling Room forum, here’s, basically, what is at stake:

Weight classes where the BIg ten tournament is mostly just for seeding at NCAAs:

184: Big Ten has 12 allocations
197: Big Ten has 11 allocations
125: Big Ten has 10 allocations
133: Big Ten has 10 allocations

The other weight classes with their Big Ten allocations:

285: Big Ten has 9 allocations
174: Big Ten has 8 allocations
141: Big Ten has 7 allocations
149: Big Ten has 7 allocations
157: Big Ten has 7 allocations
165: Big Ten has 7 allocations

Most of the latter categories are still almost foregone conclusions for Penn State, barring major upset or injury. As you’ll see below, defending NCAA champions Nick Lee (141 pounds) and Carter Starocci (174) lead the way in their respective weight classes while heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet is in the top-five in the NCAA coaches poll and the conference. Then, Beau Bartlett is expected to work his way into the mix and head to Detroit and nationals at 149 pounds. He is seventh in the Big Ten in the coaches poll.

There are question marks at 157 and 165, of course, in a sense. But, Brady Berge is expected to wrestle his way to the national tournament at 157 and Creighton Edsell can, as well, at 165, though it’s no guarantee. He is No. 6 in the Big Ten in the coaches poll.

Where Lions are in the Coaches Poll

One important note heading into conference championship week is that Penn State wrestlers could qualify for the national tournament regardless of their Big Ten tournament performance. That’s because, as the NCAA release notes:

“After all the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 43 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 8, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on March 9.  All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.”

Penn State wants to put all 10 through to nationals based on standing atop the conference podium, of course. But, time will tell.

Here’s where each Lion stands nationally in the current Coaches poll. There are some limitations related to having enough matches at a certain weight that will leave some out of the mix listed below. But, again, that won’t stop them from making it to nationals with a strong performance.

125: Drew Hildebrandt, No. 6

133: Roman Bravo-Young, No. 1

141: Nick Lee, No. 1

149: Beau Bartlett, No. 16

157: Unranked, as Brady Berge does not have enough matches here to be ranked.

165: Creighton Edsell, No. 26

174: Carter Starocci, No. 1

184: Aaron Brooks, No. 1

197: Max Dean, No. 1

285: Greg Kerkvliet, No. 5

Final word for Penn State

Put it all together, and Penn State has to earn its spots in the national tournament on the mat. Many are all but guaranteed to get there, however, not all are. But, there is a path to qualify all 10 Penn State starters via either Big Ten tournament placing or at-large bids.

Big Ten preseeds are expected to be released Monday or Tuesday of next week.