UPDATED: Preview of the ILLINI, SIUE and UTC Triangular

UPDATE: We now have probable starting lineups from FightingILLINI.com. The starters and "ors" listed for the various teams are as follows:

THE FIGHTING ILLINI

125: Justin Cardani
133: Lucas Byrd
141: We Rachal
149: Christian Kanzler
157: Joe Roberts
165: Danny Braunagel/Jake Reicin
174: DJ Shannon/Trey Sizemore 
184: Zac Braunagel
197: Nikita Nepomnyaschiy
285: Luke Luffman

SIUE

125: Tommy Dineen
133: Matt Malavsky
141: Saul Ervin
149: Caden Green
157: Max Kristoff
165: Cardeionte Wilson
174: Kevin Kschwendtner
184: Sergio Villalobos
197: Austin Andres/Ryan Yarnell
HWT: Aric Bohn/Colton McKiernan

UT-Chattanooga

125: Fabian Gutierrez
133: Brayden Palmer
141: Colton Landers/Franco Valdes
149: Noah Castillo/Grant Lundy
157: Weston Wichman
165: Caleb Waddell/Drew Nicholson
174: Carial Tarter
184: Matthew Waddell/Landon Lewis
197: Thomas Sell
285: Matthias Ervin/Grayson Walthall

The ILLINI will not be wrestling Dylan Duncan, Mikey Carr or Matt Wroblewski. Additionally, Danny Braunagel and Jake Reicin are both listed as possible starters at 165. There've been hints that Duncan and Carr will be second semester additions to the starting roster. Maybe Midlands? The Wroblewski omission is an unexpected development. Also, Jake Reicin will need to tape up his fighting shoes especially tight, as he's usually down at 157. 

Plugging in the new names into the Wrestlestat.com algorithm produces a 23-11 win for the ILLINI over Chattanooga. Against SIUE, the expected result changes the ILLINI win from 31-0 to 22-9. There is less room for error, but the ILLINI do have veterans--guys who've been in the program for a long time--stepping up. Next man up! 

END UPDATE   --------

The ILLINI are back on the mat this weekend! 

The drought is over, and we can now quench our thirst for Orange and Blue Wrestling. The team travels south to Edwardsville to battle both the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Will the ILLINI have all of the starters wrestling? Will the ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum have a roving reporter to give a recap of the action? 

I don't know. 

WHAT:  Triangular with UTC and SIUE

WHEN:  Schedule lists Noon and 3:00 pm. However, the UTC Schedule shows a 1:30 pm dual with the ILLINI. Hopefully, this'll be cleared up when FightingILLINI.com puts out its own preview of the matches. 

WHERE:  First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center, Edwardsville, ILLINOIS

WHY:  There be ***** to kick! 

VIDEO/STREAMING:  None noted on any of the three teams' schedules. Hopefully, the ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum will have a roving reporter who can provide a recap that we can put into a video. 

WHY WE HATE THOSE GUYS:  I'm trying to generate hate for SIUE, but I can't. They're our little bro! We pants them from time to time, give them ample grungies, but when they wrestle anybody else, we cheer for the Cougars. Plus, they just hired ILLINI stud Daryl Thomas and have one of the famed Ervin brothers on their roster who has very strong familial ties to the ILLINI's wrestling Ervins.  

UTC, on the other hand, comes from Tennessee. They say that Tennesseein' is Tennessee believing, but that's simply not true. If you've ever been to that state, you know that everybody there has incredibly flat heads. It's freaky. You could line up 5,000 of them in five columns of 1,000 each and safely (and smoothly) land a jumbo jet. 

PAST DUALS:  Not to be a big jinxy-poo, but the Fighting ILLINI are a perfectly perfect 11-0 against UTC. There was a dual between the teams in 2013 that ended with the Orange and Blue winning by the score of 29-10. In 2019, the ILLINI won 22-10 in the Moc's home gym. Here's the box score:

125- Justin Cardani (ILL) dec. Fabian Gutierrez (UTC), 5-2, ILL 3, UTC 0
133- No. 11 Travis Piotrowski (ILL) dec. Franco Valdes (UTC), 6-2, ILL 6, UTC 0
141- We Rachal (ILL) dec. Aidan Murphy (UTC), 5-3, ILL 9, UTC 0 
149- Mason Wallace (UTC) dec. Mousa Jodeh (ILL), 7-2, ILL 9, UTC 3
157- No. 10 Eric Barone (ILL) dec. George Carpenter (UTC), 8-5, ILL 12, UTC 3
165- No. 25 Danny Braunagel (ILL) dec. Drew Nicholson (UTC), 5-3, ILL 15, UTC 3
174- No. 15 Joey Gunther dec. Hunter Fortner (UTC), 4-0, ILL 18, UTC 3
184- Matthew Waddell (UTC) dec. No. 15 Zac Braunagel (ILL), 8-6, ILL 18, UTC 6
197- Rodney Jones (UTC) major dec. Matt Wroblewski (ILL), 14-4, ILL 18, UTC 10
285- Luke Luffman (ILL) major dec. Grayson Walthall (UTC), 17-3, ILL 22, UTC 10

Here are some past box scores against SIUE:

2010 / ILLINOIS 48, SIUE 0

125: John Deneen (ILL) pinned Kris Treat (SIUE), 3:46 (6-0)
133: Daryl Thomas (ILL) forfeit win (12-0)
141: #13 Ryan Prater (ILL) tech fall Eric Biehl (SIUE) 17-1 (3:47) (17-0)
149: Eric Terrazas (ILL) dec. Kyle Lowman (SIUE) 7-4 (21-0)
157: Conrad Polz (ILL) maj. dec. Nick Jones (SIUE) 14-5 (25-0)
165: Joe Barczak (ILL) maj. dec. Steve Ross (SIUE) 15-4 (29-0)
174: #15 Jordan Blanton (ILL) pinned Blake Reed (SIUE), 3:58 (35-0)
184: #2 John Dergo (ILL) pinned Tim Mahoney (SIUE), 3:18 (41-0)
197: #10 Patrick Bond (ILL) maj. Dec. Robert Cooney (SIUE), 17-4 (45-0)
HWT: Marty Smith (ILL) dec. David Devine (SIUE) 10-5 (48-0)

Note that the current Cougar assistant coach, Daryl Thomas, won 6 points for the ILLINI in that dual. 

2016 / ILLINOIS 30, Southern Illinois Edwardsville 10

165: #1 Isaiah Martinez (ILL) over Sammuel Zimmerman (SIUE) (Fall 1:10) | ILL 6, SIUE 0
174: #12 Zach Brunson (ILL) over Jake Residori (SIUE) (Dec 4-1) | ILL 9, SIUE 0
184: #15 Emory Parker (ILL) over Jake Godinez (SIUE) (MD 18-5) | ILL 13, SIUE 0
197: Jake Tindle (SIUE) over Andre Lee (ILL) (Dec 6-1) | ILL 13, SIUE 3
285: Jake McKiernan (SIUE) over #6 Brooks Black (ILL) (Dec 6-0) | ILL 13, SIUE 6
125: #12 Freddie Rodriguez (SIUE) over Travis Piotrowski (ILL) (MD 14-6), ILL 13, SIUE 10
133: #2 Zane Richards (ILL) over John Muldoon (SIUE) (MD 15-5), ILL 17, SIUE 10
141: Mousa Jodeh (ILL) over Trevor Feagans (SIUE) (SV-1 5-3), ILL 20, SUE 10
149: Brock Ervin (ILL) over Tyshawn Williams (SIUE) (MD 9-1), ILL 24, SIUE 10
157: Kyle Langenderfer (ILL) over Karsten Van Velsor (SIUE) (Fall 1:14), ILL 30, SIUE 10

Brock Ervin was a notable winner in this one, but "Zach" Brunson had the best win over Jake Residori. Somebody named "Emory" Parker wrestled for the ILLINI at 184. (these misspellings are all on ILLINOISMatmen). Geesh! Zac Brunson would eventually graduate with a 4-0 record against AA Jake Residori, including a win in the NCAA tournament. 

KEY MATCHUPS:  Wrestlestat.com predicts a 29-3 win for the ILLINI over Chattanooga. The lone loss is supposed to be a 6-5 win by Fabian Gutierrez over Justin Cardani, although Cardani won the matchup in 2019 by the score of 5-2. 

Gutierrez is the best wrestler for UTC, having qualified for the NCAA tournament twice. He has a very nice 73-35 career mark. The two have similar records against common opponents. The Brawlnagels will have tough opponents, and they both wrestled the same guy in the 2019 dual. 

Danny Braunagel beat Drew Nicholson 5-3 back in 2019; currently, Little Brawny is at #23 on Wrestlestat, while Nicholson comes in at #48. Big Brawny lost to his Moc opponent at the 2019 dual by the score of 6-8. That would be Matthew Waddell, who is a two-time NCAA qualifier and a fifth-year Senior. Zac Braunagel is ranked #25 on Wrestlestat, while his opponent is #44. 

Another match to watch is at 157. Joe Roberts is favored by the algorithm, but Chattanooga's Weston Wichman started for the Mocs last year and built a fine 11-5 record. He also has a hairstyle that would not look out of place on the head of a roadie for Mötley Crüe. 

In every other match, the ILLINI can look for bonus. 

The algorithm has the ILLINI beating SIUE by the score of 31-0. The Cougar's best wrestler is Saul Ervin. Unfortunately for him, he wrestles at 141, where he's likely to run into either Duncan, Carr or Pucino. Saul qualified for the NCAA tournament last year and sports a 6-3 record this season. 

The other potential battle could be at heavyweight, where Luuuuuke Luffman will face off against Colton McKiernan. Luffman is rated at #24, while his counterpart is listed at #53. This is Colton's fourth year starting for SIUE, and he has a pretty nice 52-28 career record. One of those loses, though, was a :52 fall by some guy who went on the loose, none other than Deuce Rachal, back in 2019. 

CONCLUSION:  It should be a stat-stuffer day for the ILLINI, although Chattanooga will present some questions. Hopefully, the ILLINI can show up with everybody healthy and ready to wrestle. Wrestlestat.com lists Christian Kanzler as the starter at 149, with no sign of Dylan Duncan. 

It also has Kanzler favored in both of his matchups.

This dual can also illuminate for us fans the leader in the ILLINI room at 174. Is it DJ Shannon, Trey Sizemore or dark horse Luke Rasmussen? For those who haven't heard yet, the 174-pound red-shirted Caden Ernd had season-ending surgery after the Lindenwood Open. Best of luck to him on a speedy recovery!  

Finally, there are two other Ervins on the Chattanooga team. If the theory of Evolution has anything to say about it, every wrestler in the NCAA tournament in 3020 will be named "Ervin." 

It is inevitable.