Postview: The B1G Tournament and Predicting a Wild Card for Danny Braunagel

THE LEG SWEEP AWARD

The Leg Sweep Committee ("LSC") didn't see many leg or foot sweeps in the B1G Tournament, but, boy, did this one catch our eye. This was an old school Steve-Mocco-Style ankle pick using your foot to pick up the ankle. 

Big Brawny used a throw-by to put Kaleb Romero off balance. Then, he hooked the ankle with his foot. The sequence did not end up scoring, as Romero is super-quick for the weight, but it was very close. It did put some fear in the Buckeye's mind. At the restart, his first move was backwards. 

ZAC BRAUNAGEL 

The ILLINI would lose his first match to Abe Assad of Iowa, then he would win five straight to earn third place. Maybe they'll spell his name right after this? Well, that never helped "Emory" Parker. 

Whatever that move was he used to beat Nebraska's Taylor Venz in the consolation semifinals will have to go in this year's NCAA hype video. 

LUCAS BYRD

After an adrenaline-depleting last-second semifinal loss, Lucas had an emotional letdown in the third-place match against Michigan's Dylan Ragusin. The ILLINI had already beaten him this year at the MSU Open. 

The kid in the Orange and Blue had a ton of highlights in the B1G Tournament that will go into the NCAA hype video, including the one below. I've already got the Thug Life song picked out for this sequence on the video:

In the picture above, Lucas was in the down position. He then went into a quad-pod, reached around quickly and hooked a DeSanto leg. He kept turning in and wrapped up the Hawkeye's legs until the ref finally had to give the reversal points. 

LUKE LUFFMAN

The Big Guy had a great tournament over-performing his seed all the way up to a sixth-place finish. Along the way, he beat multiple-AA Trent Hilger of Wisconsin and Christian Lance of Nebraska. Luke won by a 6-0 decision over Hilger, during which the ILLINI was never seriously threatened. It must be the man-bun. Against Lance, it was a 4-2 win, during which Luke was in control. 

JUSTIN CARDANI

There will be no waiting for a phone call this year for the ILLINI's 125lber. He is in the tournament after winning the ninth-place mini-tournament. With ten spots allocated to the conference at this weight, that means he safely made the cut. 

This makes Justin a two-time National Qualifier! But, fingers crossed, this will be the first time he'll get to wrestle there because Covid stole the 2020 Big Dance. 

DANNY BRAUNAGEL

This is from Wrestling by Pirate's blog, as he discusses who stole NCAA allocation bids, as well as who had them stolen at 165:

"Thieves: Brevin Cassella, Binghamton; Andrew Nicholson, Chattanooga; Austin Wilson, Nebraska; David Ferrante, Northwestern
Victims: William Formato, Appalachian State; Dan Braunagel, Illinois; Brian Meyer, Lehigh; Creighton Edsell, Penn State"

As you can see, Little Brawny earned a bid at 165, but he injury-forfeited out of the tournament. His going out to wrestle for :01 and then forfeit gives him a chance to become a wild card selection for the Big Dance. There are four wild cards to be selected by the coaches at this weight. Here's how those rivals for wild card spots look when it comes to the previous RPI and ranking: 

Anthony Valencia, ASU, #6 Coach's Ranking, NO RPI

Travis Wittlake, OSU, #8 Coach's Ranking, NO RPI

William Formato, APP State, #19 Coach's Ranking, #8 RPI

Brian Meyer, Lehigh, #22 Coach's Ranking, #13 RPI

Danny Braunagel, ILLINI, #24 Coach's Ranking, #17 RPI

Creighton Edsell, PSU, #33 Coach's Ranking, NO RPI

Joe Grello, Okla, NO RPI or Coach's Ranking

Tanner Cook, SDSU, NO RPI or Coach's Ranking

Isaac Judge, ISU, #32 Coach's Ranking, NO RPI

Jake Marsh, Princeton, No RPI or Coach's Ranking

The coaches will soon come out with a new ranking and RPI, so this is subject to change. With actual losses in their conference tournaments, you'd expect the potential rivals above will move down in those rankings.