About that New WIN Magazine College Team Tournament Index Ranking

 

WIN Magazine has the ILLINI ranked #19 with three ranked wrestlers (Carr, Byrd and Duncan) and two in the top eight (Byrd and Duncan). As usual, I think folks are underselling the ILLINI. This particular ranking is based on how many tournament placement points the teams would receive if the ranked individuals placed where they are ranked. The individual rankings only go out to the top 20. 

Sleeping on Cardani.  The WIN Magazine rankers have good reason to leave Justin Cardani off their rankings at this point. He had a bit of a sophomore slump. Even with that, though, he has already beaten two All-Americans in Brandon Courtney and Eric Barnett. His overall record against those in the WIN top twenty is 7-11. But here's the deal: A number of those ranked wrestlers are maxed out in terms of potential. Cardani is still young and has room to grow physically. If he gets confident in his offense and that cross-wrist tilt, watch out brother. 

Lucas Byrd and Dylan Duncan.  A similar story applies to Lucas Byrd. He has room to grow physically into the weight, and he's even younger than Cardani. Moreover, he showed a learning curve in his matches with DeSanto that blew out the top of any graph you want to try to stick it in. The rankers put Dylan Duncan at #7 when he finished 5th in the NCAA tournament last year. Win Magazine has Real Woods, Chad Red and Andrew Alirez ahead of him even though Woods petered out in the Round of 12, Duncan beat Red for 5th place (and beat him in the dual if we're being honest), and Alirez is coming off an injury. Most importantly, Duncan has become an impeccable college top guy, riding the snot out of really good wrestlers. That is an improvement that they're not taking into account, it seems. 

The Carr Show.  I can't give the rankers too hard of a time for putting Mikey in the #20 spot. He has been plagued by injuries. Yet, he's also beaten numerous All Americans, including Chad Red, Thomas Thorn, Yahya Thomas, Mitch McKee, Sa'Derian Perry and national champion Nick Lee. The last two folks he beat before bowing out with an injury last season are ranked higher than him: Michael Blockhus and Yahya Thomas. Finally, he's already finished 2-2 at the NCAA tournament twice, and any ILLINI, when given one more chance at an AA finish, almost always deliver. 

Beware the Brawnys!  They had injuries last year that caused a sophomore slump. There's no doubt that, if healthy, they belong well into the top twenty of any reasonable list. Danny has beaten All Americans including Ethan Smith, Zach Hartman and Cameron Amine. In fact, more than one-fifth of Amine's career losses (2 of 9) are to Little Brawny. Most importantly, during his uninjured year, Danny Braunagel finished with a 23-9 record and AA Honorable Mention honors. Zac Braunagel is in the same category, having won AA mention for a freshman campaign that finished up 21-10. He also has a 4-2 career record against the wrestlers WIN has at #14 (Rocky Jordan) and #16 (Nelson Brands). "Healthy Brawnys Again Wreak Havoc," will be the headline after this next season. 

The Orange Hulk.  (Somebody needs to let Andre at wrestlestat.com know that Luke Luffman was an "NQ" two years ago.). Luffman's improvement on his body and his wrestling from his first year to his second was noticeable. He has multiple wins against big guys who are multiple-time AAs. The Big fella's 1-1 against Christian Lance, who is ranked #17 on the list. Significantly, he's young, and he keeps improving. He scored points at the NCAA tournament last year, for pete's sake! 

Conclusion: Top Ten will be tough to crack, with Virginia Tech and Michigan (underrated) rounding it out. But the ILLINI will improve on this #19 ranking with any luck at all. So, yes, I will count my chickens before they hatch, and I'll thank you to mind your own **** henhouse. I have no idea if transfer Joe Roberts can score a point or two at the Big Dance, and I have no idea how much WroboCop and Shannon/Sizemore can improve under the tutelage of Coach Ruth. Any help they can provide would be a nice surprise.