UPDATE #2 FROM THE MSU OPEN and FINAL REVIEW

MATT WROBLEWSKI.  He's gotten a lot bigger in the arms and shoulders. He's very close to being a monster. Jack Kilner of Edinboro had nothing for him, as it was a Wrobocop takedown clinic. His single is very quick!  At the end of two, it was 11-4 for the ILLINI. I mean, he's gotten A LOT BIGGER in the arms. Matt ends the match 15-4 going for a cradle. 

LUUUUUKE LUFFMAN!  Wow! He wrestled Keigan Yuhas of Findlay, who looked like an NFL linebacker. Yet, it was the ILLINI who out-athleted him. Within :05 of the start of the match, Luke attempted a foot sweep, which earns him THE GOLDEN BOOT AWARD. He hit brilliant singles that almost looked like a giant Dylan Duncan. By the third period, he'd already earned over two minutes of riding time. Finally, three things that show the new aggressive Luffman: (1) When he released his oponent, he tried to trip them up from behind, (2) he kept releasing the Findlay heavy to keep adding points, even with :30 left in the third, and (3) he threw in is underhooks with the ferocity you see from IMAR. Good win!

CADEN ERND'S SECOND MATCH.  He's on the championship side of the bracket, and he faced Leonardo Galasso of CMU, a game wrestler, who got singled and scrambled to death by the ILLINI, who won 6-3. 

DYLAN CONNELL.  By the time I got to Dylan's match--blame Caden--it was already 14-2 for the ILLINI, who was beating on Devonjae Hudson of Northern ILLINOIS, an old foe. With :30 seconds left in the match, Dylan was still fighting for tilts and not letting Hudson go. He got a tilt with :02 on the clock and finished 16-2. 

DANE DURLACHER.  He wrestled a great match against Bryce West of NIU, and he was robbed by the timekeepers, who added mystery seconds to the clock to allow for a last second takedown. There shouldn't'a oughta been a white paddle for that BS!

JUSTIN CARDANI.  In his second match on the championship side (the quarterfinals), he faced Drew West of NIU and finished two beautiful, wonderful takedowns in the first period and built up over a minute of riding time. While riding and building up time in the second, he executed two cross-wrist tilts and the second one scored four points. THE HEARTS OF ILLINI FANS SING! That pushed his lead to 8-1 with :30 left in the period. The Huskie got an escape, and we started the third, 8-2, good guy. Third period and a quick ILLINI escape and another finished takedown for an 11-2 lead with over 3 minutes of riding time. 

LUCAS BYRD.  He had Vince Perez of CMU in the quarterfinals, and he secured a quick takedown and :55 of riding time before the Chippewa escaped. Byrd tried a tilt that was unsuccesful, so he decided to put on a "variety" takedown clinic, shrug-bys, head outside singles, doubles, spin-behinds, etc. He kept constant pressure on Perez. And finally, an ankle pick to complete the buffet of takedowns. I take that back, Perez attempted a very slick duckunder (that would work on 90% of other wrestlers), but Lucas re-ducked him and came up with the takedown. A 19-8 major. 

KENNY KERSTEIN.  Got hosed by the refs against a MSU wrestler at MSU. Big Ten Wrestling! Match ended 3-2, but that wasn't even close to reaction time. Bad dog! 

DANNY BRAUNAGLE.  Amazing pin from the ILLINI in the quarters against a really good Colt Yinger of Ohio. Brutal efficiency! 

RAMIN ABRAHAM.  In the Open 197 weight, he took a quarterfinal match over Stupid Northwestern's Brendan Divine. The final score was 10-5, and the ILLINI, who is quite the specimen, had the gas to go after takedowns in the third period. Big win for him!

D.J. SHANNON.  In the quarters, the ILLINI beat a four-year starter from Ohio, Logan Stanley, by a 6-5 score. A couple of takedowns helps in these matches. 

MATT WROBLEWSKI.  In the quarterfinals, he met the DII champ last year, Ryan Vasbinder, who had transferred to MSU. They went to overtime and rideouts, and apparently, there's a rule that you don't go to a second overtime in this tournament, so they awarded the win to Vasbinder. So, it's officially a 3-2 SV-2 win for the bad guy. 

CARDANI AND BYRD.  Both lose in the semis to Oklahoma wrestlers. My bad advice: Justin needs to keep moving on bottom, and if he ever stops, then he'd better catch the leg that the top wrestler is going to try to stick in. Lucas is gonna have to get used the the bullseye on his back and the fact that nobody will want to engage with him. 

SCOREKEEPERS.  My goodness these scorekeepers suck! Then, you have to listen to them confess to their negligence on the video. 

FINAL REVIEW:  The ILLINI placed five in the Semifinals, even without Dylan Duncan, Mike Carr or Zac Braunagel wrestling. The Freshmen, for the most part, looked great. I believe that DJ Shannon was disqualified for biting. I'd like to hear his side of the story before passing judgment. Wroblewski probably had the win of the tournament beating Cam Caffey. The bad news was how the ILLINI handled the semis. On the other hand, they came back and wrestled well for third or to get to the third-place match. Lots for Coach Poeta to work on. 

What will help the ILLINI in the long run is having somebody like Justin Cardani finish with a 5-1 record, giving him a jumpstart to the season. Joe Roberts picks up a 4-2 record and valuable varsity experience. Luke Luffman got the pin for third place at the end of the Open with all of the ILLINI circling the mat and cheering him on.