THE MSU OPEN PREVIEW (Part 2)
WHY WE HATE MICHIGAN STATE
We hate Michigan State because it exists. We can't hate it too much, though, because of Cam Caffey, Luke Daly, Miles Hoey, Marty Larkin, Braden Stauffenberg, and DJ Shannon, ILLINOIS schoolboys all. Moreover, when I retire as a wrestling writer, I intend to publish a children's book about Cam Caffey's delightful and intrinsic, unexplained and benevolent, mischievous hair.
Still, their whole state thinks that manufacturing a car is pretty awesome. Well, mister, even Kazakhstan and the Philippines manufacture cars. In ILLINOIS, we manufacture cars with an attitude: Caterpillar construction equipment. So, just stuff it already!
165. Danny Braunagel (#19)
#6 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State)
#9 Izzak Olejnik (NIU)
#16 Gerrit Nijenhuis
#27 Jordan Slivka (Ohio)
#38 Tracy Hubbard (CMU)
#42 Caleb Fish (MSU)
#48 David Ferrante (Northwestern)
An uninjured Danny Braunagel has beaten Michigan's Amine two out of two matches. He has been ranked as high as #6 in the country and was an Honorable Mention All American during the Covid year. ILLINI fans just hope he stays uninjured. Last year, it was a concussion right before the conference championships. The year before that, he suffered a broken bone in his arm late in the season.
I think that the Brawlnagel would have even greater chances against some of these guys at a dual with one-hour weighins. It is a mystery how Amine, Nijenhuis and Ferrante can make 165.
In any event, this is a top-heavy and loaded weight class at the MSU Open with three in the wrestlestat.com top ten and nine in the top fifty. If you work your way to the finals of this tournament, you are a national title contender.
Little Brawny is 6-4 against the field of top fifty wrestlers. He has not faced Kharchla, Nijenhuis, Slivka or Fish. He's seen too much of Olejnik and Ferrante. He has winning records against all of them except for Olejnik (1-2).
A thread on themat.com (RIP) during the offseason questioned how identical twins could wrestle at 165 and 197 during the same year. The answer is pretty obvious: Perspective. The Braunagel twins both weigh exactly 165 pounds. It's just that Zac always stands two feet from the camera, while Danny is four feet from the camera.
The ILLINI don't have anybody who looks to be entered in the Freshman/Sophomore bracket at this weight, although I think that Luke Odom could eat a pasta dinner and do an upper body drop set and be at 165.
And by the way, Danny Braunagel is super under-valued at #19.
174. Edmond Ruth (#40), Trey Sizemore (#94), Caden Ernd (#127)
#6 Ethan Smith (Ohio State)
#28 Sal Perrine (Ohio)
#34 Troy Fisher (Northwestern)
#48 DJ Shannon (MSU)
This weight class is short on highly ranked wrestlers, but there will be mucho drama. There are three excellent ILLINI wrestlers vying for that starting spot, so that's one level of drama. Then, you have former ILLINI DJ Shannon now at Michigan State, and that's a second level of drama. The final level of drama will be because there will be a wide range of top fifty wrestlers at the tournament to test the skill levels of the ILLINI.
You have Demetrius Romero of Utah Valley and Ethan Smith of Ohio State, both of whom have earned mid-tier AA status at the NCAA tournament and finished in the Round of 12. Moreover, both of them are cagey veterans. This will be Romero's eighth year in school and Smith's sixth.
Then, you have a couple of good but not great wrestlers in Sal Perrine of Ohio and Troy Fisher of Northwestern. Both of them are younger one-time NCAA qualifiers and should put the even younger ILLINI to the test.
In last year's event, Troy Fisher beat Oklahoma's Anthony Mantanona in the finals. Fisher won by DQ over DJ Shannon in the semifinals. Needless to say, the field at this year's event shapes up to be much stronger, even though it is not that strong compared to the other weights.
It doesn't look like the ILLINI will have anybody in the Freshman/Sophomore division unless Coach Poeta decides to wrestle redshirt Freshman Caden Ernd in that bracket. As for Sizemore and Ernd's wrestlestat.com rankings, they are low because of limited action. As the ILLINI Coach said, they are both state champs from tough wrestling states.
184. Dylan Connell (#85)
#9 Matt Finesilver (Michigan)
#16 Layne Malczewski (MSU)
#17 Keegan Moore (Okla)
#30 Jack Jessen (Northwestern)
#41 Deandre Nassar (Cleve)
#46 Jacob Armstrong (Utah Valley)
More excitement at this weight, as ILLINI fans get to see the first varsity start for Dylan Connell, who was a four-time ILLINOIS state champion. Connell went out and wrestled thirty-one matches as a redshirt last year, going 25-6. Now, he is jumping levels big time, having to face a bracket that includes four wrestlers who I think are real AA threats.
Romero finished in sixth at the NCAA tournament last year. Finesilver has a Round of 16 under his belt. Both have been in college at least six years and qualified for the Big Dance three times.
Layne Malczewski has qualified for NCAAs three times but is yet to win a match. Keegan Moore has qualified twice and made it to the Round of 16 once. He's in his seventh year of college.
Both Deandre Nassar and Jack Jessen are one-time NCAA qualifiers.
My one request of the tournament committee and seeding coaches is to not do any more psychic damage to NIU's Devonjae Hudson and make him wrestle Dylan Connell. That poor fellow will be a good wrestler for NIU one day, but making him face Dylan Connell is cruel and unusual.
Last year, Dylan scored a major and two techs against Hudson. That also happened on the freestyle circuit in high school. Enough is enough!
Chase Waggoner could be in the Open or Freshman/Sophomore divisions. He is listed at 184 (where he wrestled last year) on wrestlestat.com, but is listed at 197 on FightingILLINI.com.
197. Zac Braunagel (#11)
#18 Gavin Hoffman (OSU)
#30 Andrew Davison (Northwestern)
#31 Evan Bockman (Utah Valley)
This will be the debut at 197 for Big Brawny. I'm convinced that he can beat all of these guys, even the higher ranked Caffey. That's because the Brawlnagel has already beaten Caffey.
Coach Poeta believes that Zac has an advantage against the bigger guys because of his speed and movement. According to the ILLINI leader, Braunagel has consistently done better against the bigger 184-pound wrestlers. We saw this in action during the "Rumble on the Rooftop." This was InterMat's writeup about the ILLINI's matchup in that event against a former NCAA finalist at 197, Brett Pfarr:
"Brett Pfarr vs. Zac Braunagel
Braunagel, who wrestles for the University of Illinois, came out strong by hitting a slick single-leg attack and finished with a dump to take an early lead. The more experienced Pfarr finished a leg attack for a takedown to draw within 3-2 midway through the second period. Pfarr added another single-leg shot for a takedown to take a 4-3 edge with under a minute to go. The hard-charging Braunagel responded by converting on a leg attack in the closing seconds for the winning takedown to win 5-4. It was an action-packed and entertaining match with both guys firing in on numerous shots."
285. Matt Wroblewski (#44)
#5 Lucas Davison (Northwestern)
#9 Tate Orndorff (Ohio State)
#28 Josh Heindselman (Okla)
#31 Josh Vasbinder (MSU)
#33 Jayden Woodruff (Utah Valley)
WroboCop will face some of the best heavyweights in the country during his first official matches at 285. Because of a shoulder injury and surgery, Luke Luffman is taking his redshirt year. He is still apparently recovering, so he won't wrestle here unattached.
Yet, Matt Wroblewski has had a lot of experience wrestling one of the best heavyweights in the country in practice. That experience should help. Hopefully, he has learned how to maneuver around and not under the fatties.
His long arms should be suitable for snatching knees and picking ankles. Getting off bottom will be job one, especially against the really good mat-wrestling heavyweights.
The ILLINI could go with Mike Bosco and Daniel Renshaw in the Open or Freshman/Sophomore divisions. They are both Sophomores.
Another interesting development from the Ohio State wrestle offs. Bryce Hepner beat Carson Kharchla in a one-point squeaker, riding him out in the third period.
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