The ILLINI Midlands Preview

"It's late in the Third Period, and your opponent is a kid from Iowa named Thanos. Avengers! Assemble!" 

WHAT:  Midlands Tournament

WHEN:  Wednesday, December 29, beginning at 9:30 (Central)

WHERE:  NOW Arena, 5333 Prairie Stone Pkwy, Hoffman Estates, ILLINOIS

WHO:  See List Below

TV/STREAMING:  BTN+ will have coverage; Trackwrestling will have brackets

HISTORY

The ILLINI have a long tradition of success at Midlands. The Orange and Blue finished in third place in 2019 without Mikey Carr in the lineup by putting half of the team in third-place matches. Before that, in 2014, the ILLINI finished second. Here is our Preview of that 2019 Midlands on ILLINOISMatmen.com. I will post more about ILLINI history at this prestigious tournament in the days leading up to the first whistle. 

As you recall, Covid stole the Midlands from us last season.

But, this Midlands will make a different kind of history this year. There will be a Women's tournament. With the loss of boxing and weightlifting from the Olympics, and with the loss of many storied Division One wrestling programs during the last few decades, it is incumbent upon all of us to get behind this phenomenon. If you're a misogynist, then do it out of selfishness. 

WILL THE IWB&F MAKE FUN OF TOM BRANDS AND IOWA AGAIN?

Yes. Of course we will. You can look forward to much jocularity at their expense. Some of it will actually be funny, too! Stay tuned for all of the fun. We might also make fun of Stupid Northwestern if we have time. 

ILLINI QUESTIONS

Fans of the Orange and Blue await answers to some key and interesting questions about this season. For example, when will Dylan Duncan and Mike Carr enter the lineup? Additionally, there is still some question about the starter for the ILLINI at 174. At the triangular with Chattanooga and SIUE, DJ Shannon manned the starting spot, but Trey Sizemore won an extra match. 

Then there's the question about Zac Braunagel's recovery from surgery. The early returns are very positive, as he beat his SIUE foe and a very good opponent from Chattanooga last week. A new question was added at that time, though, as Matt Wroblewski attended the Triangular in street clothes. How's he doing?

Finally, can the ILLINI find points in their Midland's lineup to replace Travis Piotrowski (3rd), Joey Gunther (3rd) and Eric Barone? Lucas Byrd can take over for Pio, but what about 157 and 174? 

WHO BESIDES THE STARTERS?

This is basically another one of those ILLINI Questions, but it deserves its own subheading. In 2019, the ILLINI took Lucas Byrd, We Rachal, Johnny Mologousis, David Riojas, DJ Shannon, Trey Sizemore and Nikita Nepomnyashchiy. Including starters, that makes a full busload of 17 wrestlers. It appears that Hef's strategy was to reward veterans who had been spot starters or who were fighting for starting positions and also get a look at promising redshirt Freshmen. Will Coach Poeta take the same tack? 

PARTICIPANT TEAMS

The ILLINI, Iowa, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Stupid Northwestern, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Purdue, Virginia, Princeton, Cal Poly, Central Michigan, Campbell, Navy, Army, Indiana, Ohio, Northern ILLINOIS, Bucknell, Binghamton, Harvard, Cleveland State, Brown, Edinboro, SIUE, Franklin & Marshall, Bloomsburg, Presbyterian, North Central, Chicago, University of Dubuque, and South Dakota State will be sending a partial squad.

PARTICIPANT INDIVIDUALS

The list of individuals is actually much longer. I've limited it here to those wrestlers who are at or around the #50 ranking by wrestlestat.com. 

125. JUSTIN CARDANI (5-2).  Spencer Lee (Iowa), Pat Glory (Princeton), Devin Schroder (Purdue), Michael DeAugustino (Stupid Northwestern), Eric Barnett (Wisconsin), Dylan Shawver (Rutgers), Ryan Miller (Penn), Beau Bayless (Harvard), Jacob Moran (Indiana), Antonio Lorenzo (Cal Poly), Logan Heil (Cleveland State), Brock Bergelin (CMU), and from Dubuque and North Central respectively, Cade Hornback and Julian Valtierrez. 

If Spencer Lee shows up, that would be a dynamite list of wrestlers at this weight. Quarterfinals will be replete with great matches, and making the semifinals could be a nice early-season proxy for finishing as an All American. 

133. LUCAS BYRD (6-1). Austin DeSanto (Iowa), Sammy Alvarez (Rutgers), Micky Phillippi (Pitt), Chris Cannon (Stupid Northwestern), Michael Colaiocco (Penn), Brian Courtney (Virginia), Josh Koderhandt (Navy), Matt Ramos (Purdue), Brock Hudkins (Indiana), Kyle Burwick, Anthony Sobotker and North Central will bring Robbie Precin.

The list of Top 50 wrestlers is shorter at 133 than at 125, but the quality through the first eight (including Lucas Byrd) is crazy good. We could see a rematch of last year's NCAA blood round between Byrd and Phillippi, his Big Ten semifinal with DeSanto or Big Ten third-place match with Chris Cannon. Alvarez is back in the Rutgers lineup, although how he makes 133 is a mystery. If you make semis in this bracket, you deserve immediate AA status!

141. WE RACHAL (4-6); MIKE CARR (0-0). Jaydin Eierman (Iowa), Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers), Dresden Simon (CMU), Cole Matthews (Pitt), Dylan Cedeno (Virginia), Parker Filius (Purdue), Gabe Willochell (Edinboro), Kyran Hagan (Ohio), Joseph Zargo (Wisconsin), Corey Shie (Army), Saul Ervin (SIUE), Justin Bierdumpfel (Brown), Wil Gil (Franklin & Marshall), Shannon Hanna (Campbell), Darren Miller (Bucknell), Cayden Rooks (Indiana) and there's North Central's Javen Estrada. 

This is another long list of great wrestlers. I'm not even sure if Carr or Duncan or Rachal will wrestle at this weight, but it's going to be crazy! Near the bottom of the list is Darren Miller from Bucknell, for example, who has a 6-0 record this year and who qualified for the NCAA tournament last year, losing to Lucas Byrd in the first round. 

I have to say that Justin Bierdumpfel is now my favorite NCAA name. That sounds like the ending of my old Friday nights: Beer. Dump. Fell. 

149. CHRISTIAN KANZLER (5-2); DYLAN DUNCAN (0-0). Yahya Thomas (Stupid Northwestern), Austin Gomez (Wisconsin), Max Murin (Iowa), Josh Heil (Campbell), PJ Ogunsanya (Army), Mike Van Brill (Rutgers), Anthony Artalona (Penn), Alec Hagan (Ohio), Legend Lamer (Cal Poly), Jarod Verkleeren (Virginia), Kolby DePron (Bucknell), Marcus Robinson (Cleveland State), Graham Rooks (Indiana), and North Central will bring Alex Villar. 

I would love to see Mikey Carr beat Yahya Thomas and Max Murin again, or enjoy Dylan Duncan taking them on. Mike Van Brill is still spelling his own name wrong. There's an ILLINOIS flavor here with Kanzler, Duncan, Alex Villar (Plainfield), Yahya Thomas (Twister's), Gomez (Glenbard North), and I'm sure I'm missing somebody. 

157. JOE ROBERTS (7-5). Ryan Deakin (Stupid Northwestern), Quincy Monday (Princeton), Kaleb Young (Iowa), Kendall Coleman (Purdue), Doug Zapf (Penn), Andrew Cerniglia (Navy), Jordan Slivka (Ohio), Markus Hartman (Army), Johnny Lovett (CMU), Robert Kanniard (Rutgers), Elijah Cleary (Pitt), Garrett Model (Wisconsin). Additionally, top non-D1 wrestlers include Cole Cervantes from North Central, Darian Estevez from Chicago and Zarik Anderson of Dubuque. 

In 2019, Eric Barone won two matches to help the ILLINI reach the podium as a team. This is going to be a strong bracket to test Joe Roberts. I hope he gets a match with Kanniard, Cleary or Model to judge his progress. He also needs a rematch with Ohio's #24 Jordan Slivka, who currently has a 15-2 record, and who beat Roberts at the MSU Open 2-1. 

165. DANNY BRAUNAGEL (5-2). Evan Wick (Cal Poly), Alex Marinelli (Iowa), Jake Wentzel (Pitt), Zach Hartman (Bucknell), Phillip Conigliaro (Harvard), Izzak Olejnik (NIU), Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin), Justin McCoy (Virginia), David Ferrante (Stupid Northwestern), Lucas Revano (Penn), Dalton Harkins (Army), Val Park (Navy), Cardeionte Wilson (SIUE), Riley Smucker, Cleveland State, Grant Cuomo (Princeton), and Dubuque is bringing Liam Corbett, while North Central will have Payton Geigner. 

The top four wrestlers after Brawny have six All-American finishes. This is a very tough bracket, and up to this point, this is the strongest in my opinion. Note that Cardeionte Wilson forfeited to the Brawlnagel last week. Is he injured? I want to see the ILLINI completely healthy and back to beating NIU's Izzak Olejnik. 

174. DJ SHANNON (4-2); TREY SIZEMORE (1-2). Mark Hall (unattached), Andrew McNally (Wisconsin), Nelson Brands (Iowa), Nick Incontrera (Penn), Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue), Austin Murphy (Campbell), Troy Fisher (Stupid Northwestern), Joshua Kim (Harvard), Jaden Fisher (Bucknell), Adam Kemp (Cal Poly), Mason Kauffman (NIU) and Chicago is bringing two-time AA Ben Sarasin. 

This is likely the weakest bracket in the tournament. I don't count Mark Hall. When folks compare the Southern Scuffle to Midlands this year--and those folks are fans of a team at the Scuffle--they will bring up this weight class. We'll get a look at Wisky's transfer from Kent State, Andrew McNally, who is a three-time NCAA qualifier and one time blood-round reacher. Of note, DJ Shannon was a DQ against Troy Fisher at the MSU Open. Trey Sizemore beat Fisher at last year's dual by the score of 4-3. The "scoring wrestler" for the ILLINI should rack up some points here for the Orange and Blue. Can they match Gunther's third-place finish? 

184. ZAC BRAUNAGEL (2-0). John Poznanski (Rutgers), Brit Wilson (NIU), Bernie Truax (Cal Poly), Donnell Washington (Indiana), Max Lyon (Purdue), Travis Stefanik (Princeton), David Key (Navy), Chris Weiler (Wisconsin), Ethan Ducca (Edinboro), Michael Battista (Virginia), Caleb Hopkins (Campbell), Logan Deacetis (Bucknell), Myles Wilson (Iowa -- or Abe Assad?), Cade King (South Dakota), Deandre Nassar (Cleveland State), Brad Laughlin (Army), and Chicago will travel Maguire Pecci, while North Central brings Brock Montford. 

This is such a stronger bracket than 174. Some All Americans and a lot of quality depth. I want to see the Brawlnagel whup Max Lyon and Chris Weiler. Zac Braunagel will also want revenge on Caleb Hopkins, who beat him at the NCAA tournament last season. I'm not up to date on the Iowa scene, but Myles Wilson has been wrestling for them lately. Will Assad return to the lineup for Midlands? 

197. MATT WROBLEWSKI (4-2); NIKITA NEPOMNYASHCHIY (1-3). Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt), Jacob Warner (Iowa), Louie DePrez (Binghamton), Greg Bulsak (Rutgers), Thomas Penola (Purdue), Jay Aiello (Virginia), Jake Koser (Navy), Luke Stout (Princeton), Braxton Amos (Wisconsin), Cole Urbas (Penn), Ben Smith (Cleveland State), Nick Willham (Indiana), Andrew Davison (Stupid Northwestern), Aaron Bolo (CMU), Jack Brown (Army), Cody Mulligan (Edinboro). In addition to these big school studs, North Central will bring two-time AA Cody Baldridge (Morris HS). 

There is no Ferrari or Buchanan or Dean or Woodley, but the bracket has almost everybody else. This weight is stacked and super solid! To get a top six finish, Wrobocop would need to beat an All-American quality wrestler. That will depend, of course, on whether the ILLINI is recovered from whatever kept him out of the triangular last week. The Rutgers transfer from Clarion, Greg Bulsak, already has 102 career wins and has already qualified for four NCAA tournaments. 

285. LUUUUKE LUFFMAN (6-1). Tony Cassioppi (Iowa), Matt Stencel (CMU), Trent Hilger (Wisconsin), Lucas Davison (Stupid Northwestern), Jack DelGarbino (Princeton), Boone McDermott (Rutgers), Quinn Miller (Virginia), Joe Doyle (Binghamton), Taye Ghadiali (Campbell), Jacob Slinger (Pitt), Ben Goldin (Penn), Colton McKiernan (SIUE), Riley Smith (Navy) and non-D1 big boys from Dubuque--Robert Melise--and Chicago--Cole Fibranz.

This is another quality bracket! A lot of firepower at the top but also deep to the bottom. Luuuke is coming off of a dominant win over top fifty Colton McKiernan at last week's triangular. Can he repeat his magic against Trent Hilger? Or, create new magic against Skim Tony or Matt Stencel? I have one request: Beat Princeton's DelGarbino and then find Nonfat Tony in the dressing room and tell him, "See, that wasn't so hard." 

THE TEAM RACE

Iowa is the prohibitive favorite, even if they show up without Lee, Kemerer and Murin. I don't believe those three have seen the lineup yet this year except for one dual match for the latter. With Cassioppi, DeSanto, Eierman, Marinelli and Warner scoring big points and bonus along the way, it should be a fight for second. 

I see the best challenges for ILLINOIS coming from Rutgers, Wisconsin (if Braxton Amos starts living up to the hype), Purdue and Stupid Northwestern. Will the Mildcats fall apart again? The ILLINI finished third last time because of a number of big paper upsets. They need to rekindle whatever fire was in their hearts at that tournament. GO ILLINI!!!