Pitt-UNC

[Kreitzer]

match has been changed from 7pm to 2pm to avoid basketball crowd.

 

[lucac]

Yea I'm glad they moved as I have season tickets for both and this makes my life much easier

 

[Kreitzer]

I would really like to see the match on a different day than the WPIAL team championships.

 

[Chaos]

 

[FriendofPittWrestling]

Bad performance by Fenton. Maybe he is cutting too much weight, maybe the freshman hit a psychological wall, but he wrested another freshman and showed bad technique and very little fight. He needs to fight - at least to avoid giving up bonus points.

Phillipi is smart and a tough competitor but he keeps matches too close. Six minutes and 59 seconds of riding time only gets you one point. (so...for example... something like a locked hand penalty point might completely screw up your conservative strategy) Hopefully, he eventually switches gears and wants to dominate (and get bonus points) instead of win.

Hernandez is an unranked freshman but he is good. Bentley looked really good. Dominated from the top and used four different, really nice take downs.

Fourth ranked Austin O’Connor is a redshirt freshman but is a legitimate threat to the three guys above him at NCAA's. Lee gives up extra team points too easily.

Rahmani's opponents record was 16-7 but beat the 10 ranked guy from Buckner last night. Talibs pace was ridiculously slow and defensive but today, he did seem more disciplined and focused on avoiding bad positions. I would mark it as a step in the right direction.

Shame Wetzel was out at 165.

Harvey was sick but kept battling. He just lost to a better athlete and better wrestler.

Bonocorsi had a solid performance. He goes after people and his level of performance is so dependable, I have to keep reminding myself he is only a RS freshman.

UNC's 197 is talented freshman that had his red shirt removed last week against Virginia and then, went out and almost beat the guy from Virginia who is ranked 10 in the country. Stout pretty much dominated him. He continues to get better and more confident. If he ever start letting his athleticism fly offensively on his feet, he is really going to beat a lot of people. Still scares me when he gets to far onto his hip from top. Good athletes need to stay on thier toes to take advantage of their quickness and strength. Riding on your hip takes away those advantages.

Good heavyweight match- and speaking of a locked hand point screwing up your strategy - that penalty point really hurt. Meech should have stalled his ass off the last 40 seconds but I don’t think he has it in him.

Irespective of Meechs loss, the story of this match was the holes in Pitts line up. Lets all remember Gavin and Co's first recruiting class is still in red shirts and a very good second recruiting class is on the way.

 

[Chaos]

Bad performance by Fenton. Maybe he is cutting too much weight, maybe the freshman hit a psychological wall, but he wrested another freshman and showed bad technique and very little fight. He needs to fight - at least to avoid giving up bonus points.

Phillipi is smart and a tough competitor but he keeps matches too close. Six minutes and 59 seconds of riding time only gets you one point. (so...for example... something like a locked hand penalty point might completely screw up your conservative strategy) Hopefully, he eventually switches gears and wants to dominate (and get bonus points) instead of win.

Hernandez is an unranked freshman but he is good. Bentley looked really good. Dominated from the top and used four different, really nice take downs.

Fourth ranked Austin O’Connor is a redshirt freshman but is a legitimate threat to the three guys above him at NCAA's. Lee gives up extra team points too easily.

Rahmani's opponents record was 16-7 but beat the 10 ranked guy from Buckner last night. Talibs pace was ridiculously slow and defensive but today, he did seem more disciplined and focused on avoiding bad positions. I would mark it as a step in the right direction.

Shame Wetzel was out at 165.

Harvey was sick but kept battling. He just lost to a better athlete and better wrestler.

Bonocorsi had a solid performance. He goes after people and his level of performance is so dependable, I have to keep reminding myself he is only a RS freshman.

UNC's 197 is talented freshman that had his red shirt removed last week against Virginia and then, went out and almost beat the guy from Virginia who is ranked 10 in the country. Stout pretty much dominated him. He continues to get better and more confident. If he ever start letting his athleticism fly offensively on his feet, he is really going to beat a lot of people. Still scares me when he gets to far onto his hip from top. Good athletes need to stay on thier toes to take advantage of their quickness and strength. Riding on your hip takes away those advantages.

Good heavyweight match- and speaking of a locked hand point screwing up your strategy - that penalty point really hurt. Meech should have stalled his ass off the last 40 seconds but I don’t think he has it in him.

Irespective of Meechs loss, the story of this match was the holes in Pitts line up. Lets all remember Gavin and Co's first recruiting class is still in red shirts and a very good second recruiting class is on the way.

Thanks for the rundown. Are any of Pitt's wrestlers seniors? Which wrestlers who are redshirting will we likely see in the lineup next year? Thanks.

 

[eastender2]

Thanks for the rundown. Are any of Pitt's wrestlers seniors? Which wrestlers who are redshirting will we likely see in the lineup next year? Thanks.

Bentley is a senior.

 

[FriendofPittWrestling]

I wrote this back in November but here it is...

Below I have paraphrased and plagiarized some of the nice work done by Stephen Patrick at Pittsburgh Sports Now. Gavin and Co are really establishing a nice foundation - particularly in western PA. Still a year or two away from top ten team year in and year out.

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2018/07/18/mcgill-commits-wrestlings-2019-class-grows-stronger/

Colton Camacho
Currently ranked 14 th at 138 by FloWrestling. As a sophomore he went 35-9, won sections, placed 3rd in the WPIAL. He DNP at states but placed 8th at Powerade.
As a junior he went 40-3, won sections and WPIALs, placed 2nd at states, placed 7th at Flo Nationals, 3rd at Junior Nationals, and 3rd at Powerade.

Austin Cooley
Ranked the 5th best 195 pounder in the country. Massachusetts native transferred to prep powerhouse Wyoming Seminary after his sophomore season and placed 3rd at the Prep National Championships. Placed Ironman, Powerade, Fargo tournaments and won Eastern States. ( He won the Mat town tournament at Lock Haven in November as a freshman.)

Jared McGill
FloWrestling has McGill ranked 9th at 182. PIAA placed 6th, 4th, and 3rd competing at 160 and 170 pounds. A FloNationals finalist and two-time NHSCA All American. (He won his second Powerade Tournament this year)

Ryan Sullivan
Currently ranked 7th in the country by FloWrestling (now 18th at 120)
As a sophomore he went 39-4 placing 2nd in the WPIAL and at States.
As a junior he finished 42-1 with both WPIAL and PIAA titles.

A summary/prediction of Pitts recruiting work over the last two years ...so far!

Fenton - 125
Sullivan - 125
Newell - 125/133
Camacho - 133/141 (he is at 126 this year...125 as a freshman ???)
Matthews - 141
Kemerer - 149/157
Crawford - 165/174
McGill - 174/184

Pitt's current line up
125: Brendon Fenton Fr
133: Micky Phillippi Rs Fr
141: LJ Bentley Sr
149: Robert Lee Sr
157: Taleb Rahmani Rs Jr
165: Jake Wentzel Rs So
174: Gregg Harvey Rs So
184: Nino Bonaccorsi Rs Fr
197: Kellan Stout Rs Jr
285: Demetrius Thomas Jr

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

Bentley is a senior.

And Lee!

 

[bwh05]

The locking hands was a killer. If Meech cuts him loose he's up 5-2 with no stall calls. All he has to do is kill time to win.

 

[mike412]

I don’t see Fenton starting another match in his career after this year unless there is a total transformation. (Of course, I said that about Stout last year, and he has totally transformed.)

Matthews for Bentley should be a seamless transition. Hopefully, Kemerer can slot in at 149 and move up to 157 after Rahmani graduates. Harvey tries hard, but McGill should be an improvement at 174. If he is better than Crawford, I hope Gavin starts him as a true freshman rather than redshirting him.

Presumably, Cooley is the replacement for Stout and will redshirt next year. We will need a replacement for Thomas after next year. Wouldn’t it be nice to be PSU and have three Hwts, each of whom probably is top 5 to 15 nationally?