Pitt concludes regular season action this weekend

[Chris Peak]

Pitt Concludes Regular Season Action This Weekend
Panthers Host Virginia Friday, Travel to Lehigh Sunday

Match Notes
FRIDAY: Tickets
SUNDAY: Live Stream

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh wrestling team (3-10, 1-3 ACC) closes the regular season this weekend as it hosts ACC foe Virginia (4-9, 0-4 ACC) Friday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m., before traveling to Bethlehem, Pa., to take on No. 9 Lehigh (10-3, 7-1 EIWA) Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m.

Friday’s dual will be held in the Petersen Events Center while Sunday’s final regular season dual will be held in Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.

FRIDAY PROMOTIONS
- Friday’s dual versus Virginia will be the Panthers’ #PittRetro night as the team will wear its new retro singlets. For photos, click here.
- The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a free “2 Takedown” retro foam finger.
- The first 500 students in attendance will receive a free retro #pinzburgh long sleeve t-shirt.
- Prior to the start of the dual, Pitt will recognize its four seniors in Dom Forys, Nathan Russell, Ryan Solomon and Nick Zanetta.
- At intermission of the dual, Pitt wrestling alumni in attendance will be recognized on the mat. The Panthers will also pay tribute to the late Rande Stottlemyer at that time.

HOW TO FOLLOW
- Friday’s dual will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra and may be viewed on WatchESPN/WatchESPN app.
- Sunday’s dual will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
- Live stats for both matches will be provided through TrackWrestling.com.
- Follow the team on Twitter at @Pitt_WRES for live updates and by also using #pinzburgh.

LAST TIME OUT
- Pitt dropped a 25-13 decision to No. 12 South Dakota State Friday, Feb. 9 in the Fitzgerald Field House. Junior Robert Lee (149), redshirt freshman Jake Wentzel (165), redshirt senior Ryan Solomon (285) and junior LJ Bentley (125) recorded wins for the Panthers.
- As a team, Pitt bounced back on Sunday, picking up a 23-10 win over Duke in Durham, N.C. Seven total Panthers posted wins en route to the dominate victory in Bentley, Lee, Wentzel, senior Dom Forys (133), redshirt senior Nick Zanetta (141), redshirt freshman Gregg Harvey (184) and redshirt sophomore Kellan Stout (197).

THE SERIES
- Pitt and Virginia clash for the sixth time in program history Friday, with the Panthers leading all meetings, 4-1.
- The two teams last met a year ago in Charlottesville, which resulted in a 19-14 win for Pitt.
- The Panthers and Mountain Hawks meet for the 63rd time in program history Sunday. Lehigh leads the all-time series 43-17-2.
- In their last meeting in 2016, the Mountain Hawks left Pittsburgh with a 28-8 win.

SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
- Virginia comes to Pittsburgh on a two-match losing streak after falling to Virginia Tech and Duke to open the month of February.
- Two Cavaliers are ranked in the latest InterMat rankings in No. 9 Jack Mueller at 133 pounds and No. 15 Louie Hayes at 125 pounds.
- Mueller, an All-American at 125 pounds a year ago, is now up a weight class and will face No. 11 Dom Forys at 133 pounds on Friday.
- Virginia has four wrestlers ranked in the second round of NCAA Division I Coaches’ Panel Rankings in No. 12 Louie Hayes (125), No. 7 Jack Mueller (133), No. 23 Sam Krivus (149) and No. 30 Andrew Atkinson (165).
- The Cavaliers are led by Steve Garland, who is 146-75 in his 13th season at the helm.

SCOUTING THE MOUTAIN HAWKS
- Lehigh ranks ninth in the latest USA Today/NWCA Coaches rankings after previously checking in at No. 11.
- The Mountain Hawks are 10-3 overall and recently took down No. 8 Arizona State on the road a week ago. The team will face Oklahoma Friday, Feb. 16 before taking on the Panthers Sunday.
- Eight Lehigh wrestlers are ranked in this week’s InterMat rankings and have all 10 starters in the second round of the NCAA Division I Coaches’ Panel Rankings.
- The Mountain Hawks are led by 2017 NCAA Champion and two-time All-American Darian Cruz at 125 pounds. Cruz ranks No. 1 in the Coaches’ Panel and is No. 2 in InterMat.
- Lehigh is led by Pat Santoro who is 133-44-1 in his 10th season leading the program.

FAMILIAR FACES
- Two notable Pitt alumni will be in the opposite corner this weekend in Shelton Mack, who is in his third season as a volunteer assistant coach at Virginia, and Pat Santoro, head coach at Lehigh.
- A 2014 graduate, Mack was a three-time NCAA qualifier during his time as a Panther.
- Santoro, a 1989 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, is one of the Panther greats. During his four years at Pitt, Santoro is the only four-time All-American in program history. He also won national titles in 1988 and 1989.

FIVE PANTHERS IN COACHES RANKINGS
- Five Panthers remain in the second round of the NCAA Division I Coaches’ Panel Rankings, announced Feb. 8.
- Those Pitt wrestlers include Dom Forys (133 / #11), Nick Zanetta, (141 / #15), Taleb Rahmani (157 / 22), Gregg Harvey (184 / 33) and Ryan Solomon (285 / #15).
- The final rankings will be one of the tools used as part of the selection process to determine the qualifiers for the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

LOOKING AHEAD
- Pitt opens postseason competition Saturday, March 3 at the ACC Championship in Chapel Hill, N.C., hosted by the University of North Carolina.

 

[Pantherguy4]

Thanks, Chris!

 

[Chaos]

Related to the wrestlers' rankings-what do you have to rank to qualify for nationals? Thanks.

 

[Chaos]

Related to the wrestlers' rankings-what do you have to rank to qualify for nationals? Thanks.

Found the answer. https://www.ncaa.com/championships/wrestling/d1/road-to-the-championships

So how many of Pitt's wrestlers are expected to qualify? Thanks.

 

[guyutethepig]

Its a semi-complicated formula where conferences are awarded automatic bids at each weight based on what they place at their respective conference tourneys. Each weight in each conference will be different and they are based on whether a wrestler from the conference "qualifies" the weight by meeting certain criteria to give that weight in that conference a qualifying spot - this does NOT mean that the actual wrestler automatically qualifies before the tourney, just that his criteria meets the threshold and he has earned his weight an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA tourney. The auto qualifier criteria are a combination of coaches ranking, RPI and win percentage. I dont know how they are weighted and how it all goes together, though.

They give out a max of 29 automatic spots at each weight total, so at least the 4 remaining guys get in by a selection committee as an at-large "wild card" selection (this is how Suriano had to get in last year for PSU because he took an injury default and then forfeited out of the Big 10 tourney, so he got a wild card bid).

That said, here are my thoughts based on what Flo predicts as far as how many qualifiers the ACC will get:

125 (Flo predicts 2 qualifiers): if we only get 2 at this weight, it will be a battle for LJ. Fauz is the clear #1, but the rest of the field can be very dangerous. He lost to Hayes (UVA) in SV and got pinned by Norstrem (VT)

133 (Flo predicts 5): Dom should have no problem qualifying considering there are only 6 teams; even if it is less, Dom should still be in the top 2.

141 (Flo predicts 4): Gonna be a battle. Kevin Jack (NCSU) is the clear #1 heading into the tourney. Nick lost to Jack's backup 12-8; Headlee (UNC) in SV and Moore (VT) 2-0. He did beat the bottom 2 guys. If the ACC ends up with less than 4 qualifiers, NZ needs to be able to take out one of the top 3 (Jack, Headlee and Moore) or hope for an at-large.

149 (Flo predicts 4): gonna be real tough, but doable. Chisko (VT) moved up to 157, but will he be back down? I bet he will - he's had a tough run up at 157, but I dont know if the cut to 149 is getting too hard. Regardless, there are still 3 better guys ahead of Lee in Heilman (UNC), Donahue (NCSU) and Krivus (UVA). He lost to Chisko this year and got majored by Heilman. He wrestled backups against the rest except Duke, I think, and he beat that kid.

157 (Flo predicts 4): TR's run to the acc championship last year was awesome - but this year there are 2 new faces that were not there last year and I I see one as a HUGE roadblock - Hidlay (NCSU). He lost to Monday (UNC) in SV and Finesilver from Duke in a close match. So that is 3 guys that are theoretically ahead of him. He pinned the UVA guy and the big question mark is who is at 157 for VT since Chisko is there now. If the ACC gets less than 4, TR really has his work cut out for him - even at 4 it will be tough due to the new faces (Hidlay and Monday).

165 (Flo predicts 2): Wentzel is in trouble if we only get 2 autos here. He is 2-3 in ACC matches, but one win was against a backup to the guy ranked last at the weight. HIs other win was against Finesilver (Duke; there are FOUR Finesilver starters at Duke - 2 sets of twins). McFadden (VT) is the best guy at the weight, so JW would have to knock off at least one guy he lost to this year to get an auto qualify. If we get 3 at this weight, this would be huge for him, but I dont see it happening. Its a fairly weak weight in the ACC.

174 (Flo predicts 3): I hate to say this about one of our guys, but unless we get 6 auto qualifiers, I dont see Bell qualifying.

184 (Flo predicts 3): Renda (NCSU) and Zavatsky (VT) are the clear front runners. The final 4 guys are real close, with 3 being freshman. I really dont have anything to go on for this opinion other than gut, but I think Harvey has been wrestling fairly well and if we get 3, he's got a decent shot at qualifiying.

197 (Flo predicts 3): Another tough one here for us - I just don't see KS wrestling well enough for a long enough period to get in the top 3. He did beat the two guys ranked ahead of him in the last week, but he didn't wrestle any of the top 3 guys, and they are all really good guys - Haught (VT; recently ascended to #1 in the country), Chaid (UNC) and Machiavello (NCSU). He'd have to hold serve on the two guys he already beat and then upset one of the top 3 to make it. He has looked much better since his break, so who knows - he could do it.

285 (Flo predicts 4): Its hard to think that as a Senior, Solomon would be borderline to qualify, but at 4 - he's just that. He lost 5-1 to Kasper (Duke) and 5-3 to Boykin (NCSU) and to UNC's backup in SV. He beat Dunn from VT 2-0. These guys are all so close with the exception of Kasper. If we drop to 3 autos, he's gonna have to really step up his game.

So - without factoring in at-large bids if they dont qualify, here is what I think:

LJ: No
Dom: Yes
Zanetta: Yes
Lee: Yes
Talib: Yes
Jake: No
Bell: No
Harvey: Yes
Stout: No
Solomon: Yes

So - thats 6, which I think would be real good for this year. I think realistically, we are looking at 4 or 5, but 6 is doable. LJ could make a little run and get there, but I think Wentzel, Bell and Stout are just too big of long shots to make the tourney.

 

[Chaos]

Its a semi-complicated formula where conferences are awarded automatic bids at each weight based on what they place at their respective conference tourneys. Each weight in each conference will be different and they are based on whether a wrestler from the conference "qualifies" the weight by meeting certain criteria to give that weight in that conference a qualifying spot - this does NOT mean that the actual wrestler automatically qualifies before the tourney, just that his criteria meets the threshold and he has earned his weight an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA tourney. The auto qualifier criteria are a combination of coaches ranking, RPI and win percentage. I dont know how they are weighted and how it all goes together, though.

They give out a max of 29 automatic spots at each weight total, so at least the 4 remaining guys get in by a selection committee as an at-large "wild card" selection (this is how Suriano had to get in last year for PSU because he took an injury default and then forfeited out of the Big 10 tourney, so he got a wild card bid).

That said, here are my thoughts based on what Flo predicts as far as how many qualifiers the ACC will get:

125 (Flo predicts 2 qualifiers): if we only get 2 at this weight, it will be a battle for LJ. Fauz is the clear #1, but the rest of the field can be very dangerous. He lost to Hayes (UVA) in SV and got pinned by Norstrem (VT)

133 (Flo predicts 5): Dom should have no problem qualifying considering there are only 6 teams; even if it is less, Dom should still be in the top 2.

141 (Flo predicts 4): Gonna be a battle. Kevin Jack (NCSU) is the clear #1 heading into the tourney. Nick lost to Jack's backup 12-8; Headlee (UNC) in SV and Moore (VT) 2-0. He did beat the bottom 2 guys. If the ACC ends up with less than 4 qualifiers, NZ needs to be able to take out one of the top 3 (Jack, Headlee and Moore) or hope for an at-large.

149 (Flo predicts 4): gonna be real tough, but doable. Chisko (VT) moved up to 157, but will he be back down? I bet he will - he's had a tough run up at 157, but I dont know if the cut to 149 is getting too hard. Regardless, there are still 3 better guys ahead of Lee in Heilman (UNC), Donahue (NCSU) and Krivus (UVA). He lost to Chisko this year and got majored by Heilman. He wrestled backups against the rest except Duke, I think, and he beat that kid.

157 (Flo predicts 4): TR's run to the acc championship last year was awesome - but this year there are 2 new faces that were not there last year and I I see one as a HUGE roadblock - Hidlay (NCSU). He lost to Monday (UNC) in SV and Finesilver from Duke in a close match. So that is 3 guys that are theoretically ahead of him. He pinned the UVA guy and the big question mark is who is at 157 for VT since Chisko is there now. If the ACC gets less than 4, TR really has his work cut out for him - even at 4 it will be tough due to the new faces (Hidlay and Monday).

165 (Flo predicts 2): Wentzel is in trouble if we only get 2 autos here. He is 2-3 in ACC matches, but one win was against a backup to the guy ranked last at the weight. HIs other win was against Finesilver (Duke; there are FOUR Finesilver starters at Duke - 2 sets of twins). McFadden (VT) is the best guy at the weight, so JW would have to knock off at least one guy he lost to this year to get an auto qualify. If we get 3 at this weight, this would be huge for him, but I dont see it happening. Its a fairly weak weight in the ACC.

174 (Flo predicts 3): I hate to say this about one of our guys, but unless we get 6 auto qualifiers, I dont see Bell qualifying.

184 (Flo predicts 3): Renda (NCSU) and Zavatsky (VT) are the clear front runners. The final 4 guys are real close, with 3 being freshman. I really dont have anything to go on for this opinion other than gut, but I think Harvey has been wrestling fairly well and if we get 3, he's got a decent shot at qualifiying.

197 (Flo predicts 3): Another tough one here for us - I just don't see KS wrestling well enough for a long enough period to get in the top 3. He did beat the two guys ranked ahead of him in the last week, but he didn't wrestle any of the top 3 guys, and they are all really good guys - Haught (VT; recently ascended to #1 in the country), Chaid (UNC) and Machiavello (NCSU). He'd have to hold serve on the two guys he already beat and then upset one of the top 3 to make it. He has looked much better since his break, so who knows - he could do it.

285 (Flo predicts 4): Its hard to think that as a Senior, Solomon would be borderline to qualify, but at 4 - he's just that. He lost 5-1 to Kasper (Duke) and 5-3 to Boykin (NCSU) and to UNC's backup in SV. He beat Dunn from VT 2-0. These guys are all so close with the exception of Kasper. If we drop to 3 autos, he's gonna have to really step up his game.

So - without factoring in at-large bids if they dont qualify, here is what I think:

LJ: No
Dom: Yes
Zanetta: Yes
Lee: Yes
Talib: Yes
Jake: No
Bell: No
Harvey: Yes
Stout: No
Solomon: Yes

So - thats 6, which I think would be real good for this year. I think realistically, we are looking at 4 or 5, but 6 is doable. LJ could make a little run and get there, but I think Wentzel, Bell and Stout are just too big of long shots to make the tourney.

Thanks for taking the time to post this. It's very informative.

 

[persp]

LJ needs a good run in the ACC tourney, but he has been wrestling really well as of late, so I think he can do it. He had Hayes beat if he could have kept his hips, and gave Cruz a solid battle and showed much better defense against him. He has more than enough offense to win if he can keep up the D. His confidence is growing too. His issue seems to be when he gets in scrambles and gets out leveraged against stronger guys.

I was down on him after he came back from injury, but he has showed me something recently.

 

[guyutethepig]

LJ needs a good run in the ACC tourney, but he has been wrestling really well as of late, so I think he can do it. He had Hayes beat if he could have kept his hips, and gave Cruz a solid battle and showed much better defense against him. He has more than enough offense to win if he can keep up the D. His confidence is growing too. His issue seems to be when he gets in scrambles and gets out leveraged against stronger guys.

I was down on him after he came back from injury, but he has showed me something recently.

I’m in agreement - but he’s one of 5 others competing for that line spot behind Fauz. Unless they get 3 spots, but I don’t think we have another guy that can qualify the spot.