We have another tough dual match against #8 OSU at home on Friday night at 8pm (also on BTN)!!
Before I looked at the individual matches, I thought that it was very unlikely that we would be competitive in this dual. But for some reason, we seem to match up much better against OSU than I would have thought!! So with a fairly objective analysis, I actually have us winning a close one 16-15!!!
Now, we have seen this year how I say this is how we should do, and then of course, what really happens!!! Maybe this is a little like what happened to MN MBB at NE last night, finally a likely easy win then what???
There have been two problems with our team this year that have negatively affected our results:
1) We don't have Andrew Sparks or Aaron Nagao in the lineup. Sparks has been held out as his badly twisted leg (from last year) still isn't up to speed. So I think we're aiming to get him another year of eligibility by asking for a Medical exemption. Nagao looked very good early this year taking 2nd at the prestigious Cliff Keen Invitational. But Eggum has chosen to redshirt him, so he'll be a big factor for us next year.
2) Because of the above, Cael Carlson and Jake Gliva have been in the lineup. They have both shown some flashes of being ok starters, but they have also continued to lose swing matches against other wrestlers who were ranked close to them, but lower. This same thing could be said about Michial Foy. Michael Blockhus has had a tough year, but I have hopes that he will turn it on at tournament time, as I do for Isaiah Salazar. Pat McKee always seems to have a tough time with his weight, and then losing to a lot of slightly lower ranked guys. Sometimes I just think that he's a great tournament wrestler, who is finally comfortable with his game by then!! Maybe he's telling himself, that all those guys he lost to "I got them right where I want them now!!" Who knows???
So all of this is why some of my predictions have been off, we've lost some of these duals (and I've been fairly disappointed), when it looked like they were fairly easy wins!! I'm hoping we can do better tomorrow night!!!
Here's the article on our big match with OSU
Matt Krohn
Gophersports.com
Wrestling
2/9/2022
MINNEAPOLIS - The Gophers (4-5, 3-4 B1G) are set for their final dual meet of the regular season this weekend, as they are set to host the eight-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. CT.
The dual will also act as the program's Senior Day, as the Gophers will honor seniors Brent Jones, Jake Bergeland, and Gable Steveson for their careers in the Maroon & Gold.
The dual will be nationally broadcasted on Big Ten Network and live match-by-match updates can be found on Twitter at @GopherWrestling. There will also be non-televised extra matches as a part of Friday's action, which will begin at 7:00 p.m. CT.
Tale of The Tape - The Buckeyes
Ohio State is led by long-time head coach Tom Ryan who is at the helm for his 17th season, leading the Buckeyes to a 182-63 record during that time. The Ohio State roster showcases some veteran talent up and down the lineup as they have a total of four wrestlers ranked inside the top-10, led by Sammy Sasso, Carson Kharchla, Ethan Smith, and Kaleb Romero.
The Series with Ohio State
Minnesota leads the all-time series against the Purdue Boilermakers with a record of 38-18-2 in a series that dates back to the 1926-27 season. Ohio State has claimed the last four meetings against Minnesota, but the two teams have split the previous ten matchups. The Golden Gophers' most recent victory against Ohio State came in 2014 when Minnesota defeated the Buckeyes 25-10 in the NWCA National duals semifinals.
First Meeting: W, 14.5-12.5 (1926-1927)
Last Meeting: L, 13-22 (1/26/2020)
Longest Win Streak: W13 (2/19/1994-2/24/2008)
Longest Losing Streak: L4 (2/6/2015-present)
Current Streak: L4
Last Meeting:
Minnesota and Ohio State most recently met in 2020, where the the Gophers dropped the home dual inside Maturi Pavilion by a 22-13 score. The Buckeyes took six of the ten bouts in the matchup, including the final three matches of the evening in order to secure the dual win. The Gophers four wins in the dual belonged to Ryan Thomas, Owen Webster, Gable Steveson, and Patrick McKee, as Steveson won by major decision, while Thomas, Webster, and McKee all claimed decision wins in the contest.
My Predictions:
125 #9 Patrick McKee wins over #11 Malik Heinselman (MN 3 - OSU 0)
133 #29 Jake Gliva wins over Dylan Koontz (6-0)
141 #15 Jake Bergeland wins over #20 Dylan D’Emilio (9-0)
149 #30 Michael Blockhus loses to #2 Sammy Sasso (9-3)
157 #4 Brayton Lee wins over #33 Jason Hubbard (12-3)
165 Cael Carlson loses to #4 Carson Kharchla (12-6)
174 #18 Bailee O’Reilly loses to #7 Ethan Smith (12-9)
184 #20 Isaiah Salazar loses to #6 Kaleb Romero (12-12)
197 Michial Foy loses to #21 Gavin Hoffman (12-15)
285 #1 Gable Steveson wins by maj. dec. over #13 Tate Orndorff (16-15)
Final Team Score MN 16 - OSU 15
With us winning this closely, LOTS COULD GO WRONG, so these are the most likely changes that would affect the team scores:
125 - Pat McKee could lose (MN -3 / OSU +3)
141 - Jake Bergeland could lose (MN -3 / OSU +3)
If one or both of these changes happen, we lose 18-13 or 21-10. So our guys need to wrestle to their seeds!!!
With this being a likely competitive match, this one would be a good one to see live. So, come on down to the Pav!!!
Up Next:
Following the regular season finale on Friday evening, the Gophers will prepare for the postseason as the Big Ten Tournament is set to take place from March 5-6 in Lincoln, Neb, as the team will compete to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, which will take place in Detroit from March 17-19.
Before I looked at the individual matches, I thought that it was very unlikely that we would be competitive in this dual. But for some reason, we seem to match up much better against OSU than I would have thought!! So with a fairly objective analysis, I actually have us winning a close one 16-15!!!
Now, we have seen this year how I say this is how we should do, and then of course, what really happens!!! Maybe this is a little like what happened to MN MBB at NE last night, finally a likely easy win then what???
There have been two problems with our team this year that have negatively affected our results:
1) We don't have Andrew Sparks or Aaron Nagao in the lineup. Sparks has been held out as his badly twisted leg (from last year) still isn't up to speed. So I think we're aiming to get him another year of eligibility by asking for a Medical exemption. Nagao looked very good early this year taking 2nd at the prestigious Cliff Keen Invitational. But Eggum has chosen to redshirt him, so he'll be a big factor for us next year.
2) Because of the above, Cael Carlson and Jake Gliva have been in the lineup. They have both shown some flashes of being ok starters, but they have also continued to lose swing matches against other wrestlers who were ranked close to them, but lower. This same thing could be said about Michial Foy. Michael Blockhus has had a tough year, but I have hopes that he will turn it on at tournament time, as I do for Isaiah Salazar. Pat McKee always seems to have a tough time with his weight, and then losing to a lot of slightly lower ranked guys. Sometimes I just think that he's a great tournament wrestler, who is finally comfortable with his game by then!! Maybe he's telling himself, that all those guys he lost to "I got them right where I want them now!!" Who knows???
So all of this is why some of my predictions have been off, we've lost some of these duals (and I've been fairly disappointed), when it looked like they were fairly easy wins!! I'm hoping we can do better tomorrow night!!!
Here's the article on our big match with OSU
Minnesota to Host Buckeyes in Regular Season Finale
Matt Krohn
Gophersports.com
Wrestling
2/9/2022
MINNEAPOLIS - The Gophers (4-5, 3-4 B1G) are set for their final dual meet of the regular season this weekend, as they are set to host the eight-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. CT.
The dual will also act as the program's Senior Day, as the Gophers will honor seniors Brent Jones, Jake Bergeland, and Gable Steveson for their careers in the Maroon & Gold.
The dual will be nationally broadcasted on Big Ten Network and live match-by-match updates can be found on Twitter at @GopherWrestling. There will also be non-televised extra matches as a part of Friday's action, which will begin at 7:00 p.m. CT.
Tale of The Tape - The Buckeyes
Ohio State is led by long-time head coach Tom Ryan who is at the helm for his 17th season, leading the Buckeyes to a 182-63 record during that time. The Ohio State roster showcases some veteran talent up and down the lineup as they have a total of four wrestlers ranked inside the top-10, led by Sammy Sasso, Carson Kharchla, Ethan Smith, and Kaleb Romero.
The Series with Ohio State
Minnesota leads the all-time series against the Purdue Boilermakers with a record of 38-18-2 in a series that dates back to the 1926-27 season. Ohio State has claimed the last four meetings against Minnesota, but the two teams have split the previous ten matchups. The Golden Gophers' most recent victory against Ohio State came in 2014 when Minnesota defeated the Buckeyes 25-10 in the NWCA National duals semifinals.
First Meeting: W, 14.5-12.5 (1926-1927)
Last Meeting: L, 13-22 (1/26/2020)
Longest Win Streak: W13 (2/19/1994-2/24/2008)
Longest Losing Streak: L4 (2/6/2015-present)
Current Streak: L4
Last Meeting:
Minnesota and Ohio State most recently met in 2020, where the the Gophers dropped the home dual inside Maturi Pavilion by a 22-13 score. The Buckeyes took six of the ten bouts in the matchup, including the final three matches of the evening in order to secure the dual win. The Gophers four wins in the dual belonged to Ryan Thomas, Owen Webster, Gable Steveson, and Patrick McKee, as Steveson won by major decision, while Thomas, Webster, and McKee all claimed decision wins in the contest.
My Predictions:
125 #9 Patrick McKee wins over #11 Malik Heinselman (MN 3 - OSU 0)
133 #29 Jake Gliva wins over Dylan Koontz (6-0)
141 #15 Jake Bergeland wins over #20 Dylan D’Emilio (9-0)
149 #30 Michael Blockhus loses to #2 Sammy Sasso (9-3)
157 #4 Brayton Lee wins over #33 Jason Hubbard (12-3)
165 Cael Carlson loses to #4 Carson Kharchla (12-6)
174 #18 Bailee O’Reilly loses to #7 Ethan Smith (12-9)
184 #20 Isaiah Salazar loses to #6 Kaleb Romero (12-12)
197 Michial Foy loses to #21 Gavin Hoffman (12-15)
285 #1 Gable Steveson wins by maj. dec. over #13 Tate Orndorff (16-15)
Final Team Score MN 16 - OSU 15
With us winning this closely, LOTS COULD GO WRONG, so these are the most likely changes that would affect the team scores:
125 - Pat McKee could lose (MN -3 / OSU +3)
141 - Jake Bergeland could lose (MN -3 / OSU +3)
If one or both of these changes happen, we lose 18-13 or 21-10. So our guys need to wrestle to their seeds!!!
With this being a likely competitive match, this one would be a good one to see live. So, come on down to the Pav!!!
Up Next:
Following the regular season finale on Friday evening, the Gophers will prepare for the postseason as the Big Ten Tournament is set to take place from March 5-6 in Lincoln, Neb, as the team will compete to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, which will take place in Detroit from March 17-19.
