THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

  WHO:   Nebraska Cornhuskers WHAT:   Final Home Dual; Senior Day!  WHERE:   State Farm Center, Champaign, ILLINOIS WHEN:   Friday, February 3 at 7:00 PM (Central) WHY:   Vivisect the Huskers! SPECIAL:   Senior Day, WHITE OUT, Arm Wrestling tournament for an Xbox TICKETS:  FREE ADMISSION TV/STREAMING:   BTN+ ( subscription service ) AN OBSERVATION ABOUT THE ALGORITHM Before the ILLINI wrestled Minnesota last Saturday, and before Nebraska wrestled Wisconsin, and before Michigan State wrestled Maryland and Ohio State, I checked to see which team wrestlestat.com predicted to win these duals. At that time, the algorithm predicted the ILLINI to beat both Nebraska and Michigan State by the same score, 16-15.  After the ILLINI got shellacked by Minnesota, the predicted dual score stayed the same against Nebraska, a 16-15 win for the good guys. But against the Spartans, the prognosticated win increased for ILLINOIS, to an 18-12 margin. That's the case even though MSU whupped Maryland 37-9.

It was ILLINI basketball coach Lou Henson who said that each season his college teams would have two spectacular performances, two abysmal ones, and the rest would be somewhere close to the mean. Hopefully, with this match and the earlier routing by Pitt, the ILLINI have suffered the two low points on their graph.  The first four Gophers took a very committed shot within :20 of the start of their matches. Three of those shots were successful, one was close. Two of those takedowns were the winning margins in those matches.  In the last five matches, it was a similar story. At 125, Pat McKee shot right off the whistle and secured a takedown. At 141, Jake Bergeland shot at the whistle and got a takedown.  The ILLINI need to be ready at the start of the match! You and I talked about this before, friends, and, at the time, I noted that other coaches would be watching.  The Gopher staff was watching.  MIKEY CARR This one time I think I can speak for all ILLINI fans in saying that it is a pri

WHO:   Minnesota Golden Gophers WHAT:   Dual WHERE:    1925 University Ave SE,  Maturi Pavilion, Minneapolis, Minnesota WHEN:   Saturday, January 28 at 1:00 pm (Central) WHY:   Destroy the Gophers!  TV/STREAMING:   BTN TICKETS:   $10 Youth, $10 Senior, $15 Public A DAY IN HISTORY It is Friday, February 12, 2016.  The Billboard charts are full of unpleasant music. For example, Justin Bieber holds the numbers one and two spots with his hits, Love Yourself and Sorry . At the movies, your day is much better because Deadpool opens in 3,558 theaters and makes an incredible  $47,335,592 that night. Assassin's Creed: Chronicles was released three days ago, and your kid brother has been playing it for the last 72 hours straight.  The people having the best time, though, are at Huff Hall for the ILLINI dual with Minnesota. It's Senior Night, and befittingly, Senior Jeff Koepke seals a dual win for the good guys. Other winners for ILLINOIS include Francis Edelen, Zane Richards (tech),