ACC Wrestling Tourney Question

[mike412]

Does anyone know what the ACC tournament format will be? This will be the first year with 7 teams, so I am assuming the #1 seed in each weight class will receive a bye and then #2 will wrestle #7, #3 will wrestle #6 and #4 will wrestle #5. That would leave 4 wrestlers for quarter final bouts.

Bright should be #1 at 141 and Wilps at 174. I haven't checked all the ACC results but I think Bono might be #1 at 197. Max should be #2 at 184 since he lost to Sheptock of MD and I would think Mack and PJ also might be #2. Zanetta wrestled better in ACC matches than in out of conference matches so he should be a 2 or 3 I would think. Mikey, Morelli and whoever wrestles at 157 will likely be low seeds.

I don't think we are going to be a good tournament team because we seem to be a lot like Rande's teams of the last decade in that guys get worn out with too many matches. But being ranked #1 and only having to wrestle two matches should help Bright and Wilps should win his weight class. We likely will need two others to win their weight classes among the rest and I think we could win at 125, 133, 197 and Hwt, so hopefully we can get at least 2 of those 4. The best thing is that no one will have to wrestle more than 3 matches over 2 days.

I really hope this team's conditioning is better than I fear. I am getting tired of going to NCAAs where I see wrestlers from teams like PSU, Iowa, Oklahoma State, etc. score tons of points in the wrestle-backs while Pitt wrestlers consistently lose in either their first or second consolation bout. One of the great things about that tournament to me is that the wrestle-backs give you a lot more chances to root for your school. But, it has been disappointing to qualify 7 or 8 wrestlers and then have 4 or 5 done by the end of day one.

If I recall correctly, last year Oklahoma State actually led PSU on Friday after the morning session. But by the time all of the consolation bouts were done PSU had pretty much clinched the title because of the wrestle-backs including 2 or 3 where they beat Oklahoma State or Iowa wrestlers head to head. Winning the NCAAs with only 1 or 2 national champions is a real testament to having great team depth.

 

[bwh05]

Yes the #1 seeds will get a bye

This post was edited on 2/25 9:25 AM by bwh05

 

[singregardless]

Last year, the top 2 seeds had byes - but with the addition of Pitt, like you suggested, I'd imagine only the 1 seed gets a bye this year.

Boley, Midlands champ & victor over Bono in December, will get the 1 seed at 197. Not to say Bono couldn't beat him - I think Nick has gotten better since then. And, truthfully, he once came close to getting a fall on Boley in December (before eventually losing). Coach Wilps beat Boley last year, so you'd have to think there'd be some discussion there.

No way P.J. will be #2. Gwiazdowski will be 1. Myers of MD will be 2. It will be between him & Walz of VT for the 3 seed. I could see that going either way. The rest of your seed predictions look more or less right.

I think Shelton is the key for us. DeCamillo was the ACC champ at 133 last year (upset the 1 seed) and was Shelton's only loss in conference. That said, Shelton is the higher ranked kid. If Virginia takes 133, 149, 157, and 165 - we're in trouble. If Z can't pull off individual conference title #4, if Bright falters, doubly so.

Guys whose performances are most intriguing to me - Racciato & Thommuseit.

This post was edited on 2/25 12:53 PM by singregardless

 

[mike412]

Mikey intrigues me also as does the question of which Z shows up. I thought Sheptock defeated Max pretty easily in the dual match and in fact that Max was injured from a throw by Sheptock.

Z is capable of beating any 125 pounder and capable of flaming out. So is Mikey. Morelli has improved since wrestling most of the ACC guys and could pull an upset. Garbinsky can do okay if he is healthy but he hadn't been since he got hurt.

We don't have a team full of guys who can rack up bonus points either. Mikey, Tyler and Bono really are the only three. Of course Mikey is as likely to get pinned as he is to pin someone. I think UVA is more likely to rack up bonus points.

 

[singregardless]

Racciato - it's going to be interesting to see how many nods the ACC gets at 149. He technically lost to 3 ACC 149'ers (Barber, Sako, Neibert). Does the ACC gets 4 nods at 149? Maybe, maybe not. With all of that said, he's performed admirably in the two biggest matches of the year. All of those wrinkles, plus his style make for a lot of interesting storylines.

Z. Ugh. I remember when Nauman got to flash his four fingers after winning his 4th individual conference title. I hope Z can get to experience that as well. I'm less confident than I was before, but really Kraisser has been just as inconsistent as Z has been. (The painful difference being Z is a senior, Kraisser is a sophomore.)

To be clear, I never definitively said he got hurt during the Maryland match. I just took something I saw (him looking (nearly) overly active practicing against Tyler Wilps pre-match, getting slammed by Sheptock, then missing the next few matches) and passed it along as a sort of theory.

In neither of their two previous matches did Sheptock dominate. The first match, Max had the lead until giving up one of those Sheptock/Morelli-esque 2's with 5-10 seconds left. This year, Max tried overpowering Sheptock and it ended up resulting in (too many) lockups that negated Max's other strengths (his balance, in particular). I just keep coming back to Matt Wilps beating #1 Chris Honeycutt in the EWL's a few years back after taking some losses during the regular season (and eventually losing to him in the NCAA's). Max seems a little too good to lose to the same guy 3 times, but that's me. Maybe Sheptock is that good. We'll see.

This post was edited on 2/26 4:52 PM by singregardless