INTERMAT released its NCAA Tournament Field Projection and Pitt is projected to have NINE! Qualifiers. There is no projected qualification from Keslar at 157 and the ACC is only projected 3 spots at his weight. This means he likely, barring a run of upsets to end dual season, will need to get an upset victory or two at ACC's to get the auto-qualification spot. Hopefully Virginia's Cedeno, who is currently the third ranked guy from the ACC, can do well enough from here on out to secure the third qualification spot. Keslar beating him in the dual, or somehow Scott/Andonian, would go a long way for him qualifying for NCAA's.
Now going weight by weight of the guys projected to qualify:
125: Macho is 1 of 4 ACC guys projected to qualify, and his wins over Ungar and McCrone will help with criteria for securing an allocation for the ACC or a possible At-Large Campaign. All 4 wrestlers at 125 could likely beat each other depending on the day so ACC's and the rest of dual season will be very interesting.
133: Vin is 1 of 4 ACC guys projected to qual, Orine and Latona are returning AA, but hopefully Vin's solid performances and some help from the rest of the ACC can secure auto-qual spots, as I do believe Vin is worthy of automatic NCAA qualification.
141: Cole is 1 of 4 ACC guys projected to qual. His case is very interesting, as he has never lost to any of the other wrestlers in the ACC before. He is undefeated against Jack, McNeil and Crook. However they have all outperformed him so far this year and are ranked much higher than him in the country. Cole really needs to turn himself around and some wins over familiar opponents in duals or at ACC's could help him out a ton. However with his struggles at times this year, especially wrestling multiple matches in 1 day I could see him being upset at ACC's and possibly missing out. The rest of the dual season is very make or break for him.
149: Solomon is 1/3 ACC qualifiers. The other two are ranked 2 and 3 in the nation. There is not much room for error for Finn, as if the ACC loses its 3rd Qualifier spot than he is fighting an uphill battle to auto qualify. However I feel as if he will beat the guys he is supposed to beat to close out the season. Scott from UNC is projected to just miss and his dual matchup/ACC matchup vs Finn could have huge implications for NCAA's.
165: Holden and Connor Brady are the clear top two 165's in the ACC in my opinion and I think they will face off in the finals. Further, I think Holden will be the ACC Champ and auto-qualify regardless of how many slots the conference gets. It would require an incredibly large fall off from this point on for him to not qualify through ACC or at-large.
174: Luca is in a very tough 174 weight class in the ACC. I think he will be able to make the finals, but even if he does not the ACC should have 4 qualification spots and he will likely auto qualify. The second half of our lineup is honestly filled with guys who should be more concerned about becoming an AA than about qualifying.
184: Reece is in another stacked weight class, where as long as he doesn't collapse down the stretch he should be able to comfortably qualify for the NCAA tournament. His issue seems to be that he can sometimes be very up and down against the same guy so the more times he sees his ACC foes the more concerned I get.
197: The ACC is very strong at 197 and Mac is one of its 4 projected qualifiers. I believe that he will continue these good performances he has been having and will qual automatically and likely make the ACC finals.
285: The ACC only has 3 spots at 285 and Daton will have some tough matches vs Trephan and Catka(s), but I do fully expect him to make the ACC finals and hopefully win a potential rubber match with Trephan.
Overall I fully expect everyone from 165 up to qualify, and I do believe that Cole, Vinny and Finn will definitely qualify. Camacho makes me nervous to do his up and down nature but his high quality wins and sheer desire to finally make NCAA's will likely get him in IMO. Keslar has little chance of making it as an At-Large bid, but if he can show out at ACC's and there is a 3rd qualifier spot it is not out of the question at all for Pitt to have all weights qualify.
Now going weight by weight of the guys projected to qualify:
125: Macho is 1 of 4 ACC guys projected to qualify, and his wins over Ungar and McCrone will help with criteria for securing an allocation for the ACC or a possible At-Large Campaign. All 4 wrestlers at 125 could likely beat each other depending on the day so ACC's and the rest of dual season will be very interesting.
133: Vin is 1 of 4 ACC guys projected to qual, Orine and Latona are returning AA, but hopefully Vin's solid performances and some help from the rest of the ACC can secure auto-qual spots, as I do believe Vin is worthy of automatic NCAA qualification.
141: Cole is 1 of 4 ACC guys projected to qual. His case is very interesting, as he has never lost to any of the other wrestlers in the ACC before. He is undefeated against Jack, McNeil and Crook. However they have all outperformed him so far this year and are ranked much higher than him in the country. Cole really needs to turn himself around and some wins over familiar opponents in duals or at ACC's could help him out a ton. However with his struggles at times this year, especially wrestling multiple matches in 1 day I could see him being upset at ACC's and possibly missing out. The rest of the dual season is very make or break for him.
149: Solomon is 1/3 ACC qualifiers. The other two are ranked 2 and 3 in the nation. There is not much room for error for Finn, as if the ACC loses its 3rd Qualifier spot than he is fighting an uphill battle to auto qualify. However I feel as if he will beat the guys he is supposed to beat to close out the season. Scott from UNC is projected to just miss and his dual matchup/ACC matchup vs Finn could have huge implications for NCAA's.
165: Holden and Connor Brady are the clear top two 165's in the ACC in my opinion and I think they will face off in the finals. Further, I think Holden will be the ACC Champ and auto-qualify regardless of how many slots the conference gets. It would require an incredibly large fall off from this point on for him to not qualify through ACC or at-large.
174: Luca is in a very tough 174 weight class in the ACC. I think he will be able to make the finals, but even if he does not the ACC should have 4 qualification spots and he will likely auto qualify. The second half of our lineup is honestly filled with guys who should be more concerned about becoming an AA than about qualifying.
184: Reece is in another stacked weight class, where as long as he doesn't collapse down the stretch he should be able to comfortably qualify for the NCAA tournament. His issue seems to be that he can sometimes be very up and down against the same guy so the more times he sees his ACC foes the more concerned I get.
197: The ACC is very strong at 197 and Mac is one of its 4 projected qualifiers. I believe that he will continue these good performances he has been having and will qual automatically and likely make the ACC finals.
285: The ACC only has 3 spots at 285 and Daton will have some tough matches vs Trephan and Catka(s), but I do fully expect him to make the ACC finals and hopefully win a potential rubber match with Trephan.
Overall I fully expect everyone from 165 up to qualify, and I do believe that Cole, Vinny and Finn will definitely qualify. Camacho makes me nervous to do his up and down nature but his high quality wins and sheer desire to finally make NCAA's will likely get him in IMO. Keslar has little chance of making it as an At-Large bid, but if he can show out at ACC's and there is a 3rd qualifier spot it is not out of the question at all for Pitt to have all weights qualify.
