The ILLINI Versus the Stupid Gophers Dual Preview (part one)
WHAT: ILLINI/Minnesota Dual
WHEN: Friday, February 4, 2022 at 7PM (Central)
WHERE: Assembly Hall (State Farm Center)
WHY: We can kill all the gophers. We don't even need a reason.
TV/STREAMING: BTN+
LAST TIME OUT
The ILLINI lost 13-26 to Stupid Northwestern on Saturday. They only had one dual over the weekend. Minnesota is 2-3 in Big Ten conference duals with losses to Iowa (10-22), Wisconsin (15-21) and Michigan (14-20). They have beaten Nebraska (19-13) and Northwestern (31-9). Since their last match was the loss to Michigan, we'll look at the box score for that dual:
#4 Michigan (20), #11 Minnesota (14)
FINAL RESULTS
125: #1 Nick Suriano (MICH) maj. dec. #9 Patrick McKee (MINN), 14-6
133: #8 Dylan Ragusin (MICH) dec. #24 Jake Gliva (MINN), 6-5
141: #15 Jake Bergeland (MINN) dec. #4 Stevan Micic (MICH), 5-2
149: #25 Michael Blockhus (MINN) maj. dec. Pat Nolan (MICH), 15-4
157: #4 Brayton Lee (MINN) dec. #14 Will Lewan (MICH), 4-3
165: #12 Cameron Amine (MICH) dec. #26 Cael Carlson (MINN), 6-1
174: #6 Logan Massa (MICH) dec. #20 Bailee O'Reilly (MINN), 7-4
184: #2 Myles Amine (MICH) maj. dec. Sam Skillings (MINN), 12-4
197: #6 Patrick Brucki (MICH) dec. #31 Michial Foy (MINN), 8-2
HWT: #1 Gable Steveson (MINN) maj. dec. #4 Mason Parris (MICH), 18-8
TIME CAPSULE
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was an age of information, and an era of disinformation.
It was February 12, 2016.
On that day, Jim Gilmore drops out of the Republican primary for President of the United States. He is better known as Jim Whomore? The Libyan, Syrian and Yemeni civil wars still rage on.
And the ILLINI roll over the Gophers.
It was a dual full of unexpected turns, huge upsets and important firsts. Francis Edelen gets his first Big Ten dual win, Jeff Koepke celebrates Senior Night with a match-winning victory over Chris Pfarr, and Nick Wanzek scores a crazy and disputed 13-10 upset over #2 Zac Brunson. Here's the box score for that dual:
#12 Illinois 19, #16 Minnesota 16
197: #3 Brett Pfarr (MINN) dec. Emery Parker (ILL), 10-5 | 0-3
HWT: #10 Michael Kroells (MINN) major dec. #20 Brooks Black (ILL),8-0 | 0-7
125: Francis Edelen (ILL) dec. Skyler Petry (MINN), 3-2 | 3-7
133: #2 Zane Richards (ILL) tech fall Sam Brancale, 17-2 (MINN) | 8-7
141: #9 Tommy Thorn dec. Mousa Jodeh (ILL), 6-2 | 8-10
149: #14 Jake Short dec. Kyle Langenderfer (ILL), 8-3 | 8-13
157: #2 Isaiah Martinez (ILL) major dec. Brandon Kingsley (MINN), 15-6 |12-13
165: #4 Steven Rodrigues (ILL) major dec. Brandon Krone (MINN),21-8 |16-13
174: Nick Wanzek (MINN) dec. #2 Zac Brunson (ILL), 13-10 | 16-16
184: #15 Jeff Koepke (ILL) dec. Chris Pfarr (MINN), 8-4 | 19-16
MATCHUPS
JUSTIN CARDANI (9-6) vs. PATRICK MCKEE (15-4). Since winning third at last year's NCAA tournament, McKee has improved on that season's 15-7 record. His notable wins this year include a 3-0 mark against Drake Ayala. No other wins stand out so far.
His four losses are all to folks who have at least been Round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, Eric Barnett of Wisconsin, Nick Suriano of Michigan, Michael DeAugustino of Northwestern and Trevor Mastrogiovanni of Oklahoma State.
In last season's dual, Cardani had him beat until some late third-period funk ruined everything. There is video of that match.
Anyway, in the match, Cardani gets to McKee's legs four times in the first period and stalemates each time. He has two realistic opportunities to score a takedown, one of which seems impossible that he did not convert.
In that instance, McKee is sitting on his butt, Cardani has one of his legs, and all the ILLINI needs to do is swim over his arm to grab McKee's second leg and hold him there for a two-Mississippi count. The ILLINI's head is already out, nothing needed to improve there. Just swim over and hold.
After a point for an escape and a stalling point, Cardani leads 2-0 at 1:09 in the third when the Gopher hits his Gator Bacon for four points. The match ends 4-2 in favor of McKee.
The ILLINI is 12-22 against common opponents, while the Gopher is 16-14.
LUCAS BYRD (14-1) vs. JAKE GLIVA (10-8). This is the fourth year as a Gopher, first year starting for Gliva. He's probably best known for losing by only two to Austin DeSanto and by three to Chris Cannon. Earlier in the year, he was majored by Oklahoma State's Daton Fix.
His opponent is becoming legend:
After the early season hiccup at the MSU Open, Lucas Byrd has been on a tear. His matches are as close as you can get to flawless victory.
Gliva looks like the missing Braunagel triplet and has the same hard-nosed attitude in a smaller package, except he's blonde and a pretty plain vanilla-type wrestler. He likes the collar tie and underhooks. The Gopher wants to be in tight, look for short offense, and grind out matches.
The way that Lucas Byrd manhandled Chris Cannon, and the way that Cannon recently manhandled Gliva makes me think that the ILLINI can get a major here. If that's true--if Byrd can major a tough kid like this Gopher--he will be taking a higher step on the podium at the Big Dance.
Lucas Byrd is 10-2 against the same guys who have given Gliva a 2-7 record.
DYLAN DUNCAN (1-0) vs. JAKE BERGELAND (15-5). I am super-biased. I'll admit that. My pro-ILLINI prejudice is stipulated. But I think that both Duncan and Byrd have what it takes to be national finalists at the NCAA tournament.
It was great to see Dylan back for the Northwestern dual; it was even better to see that he has added beaucoup muscle to his shoulders and biceps. When you add strength to a guy who was already a wizard technician, and who had become exceptionally proficient at riding, you've got a real contender.
He first has to get by tough cookie Jake Bergeland. The Gopher just had the biggest win of his college career over Stevan Micic of Michigan. He's tough like Gliva, but has a much higher ranking.
Bergeland's five losses this year have all been to top-ten level guys. Jaydin Eierman, Clay Carlson of SDSU (x3) and Grant Willits of Oregon State. In fact, according to wrestlestat.com, the Gopher is supposed to beat Duncan by two points.
This is Bergeland's fifth year on the Minnesota team, but his first year starting. At last year's dual, he wrestled an extra match against Christian Kanzler, winning 2-1. The Gopher has been wrestling 149 his whole time in college, so he'll be pulling some weight on Friday.
I see this matchup as being similar to Byrd's: A tough brawler-type wearing the Gopher singlet versus the slick All American from ILLINOIS.
CHRISTIAN KANZLER (10-7) vs. MICHAEL BLOCKHUS (13-9). The Gopher is a two-time national qualifier and a transfer from Northern Iowa. In the dual last year, Blockhus lost a 3-5 hard-fought match with Mikey Carr.
He is strong and kind of a plodder and grinder. Kanzler should keep this to a regular decision. The Gopher has the better record against the same guys (6-8) than the ILLINI (2-7).
Blockhus is 1-4 in the Big Ten so far this year, but his four losses are all to top five guys!
JOE ROBERTS (9-11) vs. BRAYTON LEE (15-1). It doesn't get much easier in the Big Ten for Joe Roberts. Now, he has to face another top ten wrestler. Lee has beaten Kaleb Young of Iowa, Jarrett Jacques of Missouri, Peyton Robb of Nebraska and a couple of other noteworthy opponents this year, but he has that blip on his record caused by a 5-10 surprise upset loss to Garrett Model of Wisconsin.
Wrestlestat.com is calling for a major decision win for the Gopher. The key for Joe will be to stay off his back in the first period. He has done an admirable job fighting off his back so far this year, but I would (and I imagine he would) much rather see him doing an admirable job fighting on his feet.
Joe is 0-4 against common opposition. Brayton Lee is 4-4.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Comments
Post a Comment