Pitt v South Dakota St

[FriendofPittWrestling]

"Short term Pitt should focus on becoming competitive in conference and developing into the team to beat in the ACC. To become a top 10 program Pitt will need to string together several ACC titles".

Just so everyone knows, ACC team ranked nationally are as follows: UNC#15, VaTech#13, NCSt#9 (but FloWrestling ranks NCSt #6).

If Pitt wins the ACC, they WILL be a top ten dual team. The ACC is really getting good.

Keep in mind, this is Gavin and Co. first full year!!

 

[Needanap]

"Short term Pitt should focus on becoming competitive in conference and developing into the team to beat in the ACC. To become a top 10 program Pitt will need to string together several ACC titles".

Just so everyone knows, ACC team ranked nationally are as follows: UNC#15, VaTech#13, NCSt#9 (but FloWrestling ranks NCSt #6).

If Pitt wins the ACC, they WILL be a top ten dual team. The ACC is really getting good.

Keep in mind, this is Gavin and Co. first full year!!

I agree with most of your point with the exception of gauging progress based on dual team rankings. Dual team rankings are no more than opinions that help generate clicks and subscriptions for the ranking organizations/websites. The true gauge of success will be placement in March at the NCAA tournament. Last year NC State had a champion, a finalist and at least one other wrestler that finished strong in Cleveland. Currently Pitt has one wrestler (Philippi) that is ranked high enough to reasonably project him to finish on the podium and become an All American. Hopefully a few others continue to improve and can make noise in March. Assuming that happens Pitt will still finish well behind the other top ten teams. I'm not trying to be a downer but rather a realist. Pitt fans have a lot to feel good about the improvement and direction of the program. Unfortunately there is a long way to go before anyone can project them as a top ten program.

 

[Needanap]

I agree with most of your point with the exception of gauging progress based on dual team rankings. Dual team rankings are no more than opinions that help generate clicks and subscriptions for the ranking organizations/websites. The true gauge of success will be placement in March at the NCAA tournament. Last year NC State had a champion, a finalist and at least one other wrestler that finished strong in Cleveland. Currently Pitt has one wrestler (Philippi) that is ranked high enough to reasonably project him to finish on the podium and become an All American. Hopefully a few others continue to improve and can make noise in March. Assuming that happens Pitt will still finish well behind the other top ten teams. I'm not trying to be a downer but rather a realist. Pitt fans have a lot to feel good about the improvement and direction of the program. Unfortunately there is a long way to go before anyone can project them as a top ten program.

PSU won last year with 140+ points and ASU finished 10th with somewhere around 40 points. Pitt finished somewhere north of 30th place in Cleavland with around 12 pts (not sure but I think that's close). Assuming a similar point distribution for top ten teams this year, Pitt will need to more than triple last year's points to finish in the top ten. I think Pitt can count on 133 and Hwt to generate some team points in March. Possible other weights would be 157 and 184 but as longshots to make it to the Round of 12. Where else do you see the points coming from?