The Ruth & Connell Party, and the Second Day in the Trial of Byrd v. Orine

We are going to start with breakdowns of the Edmond Ruth and Dylan Connell brackets. There will be three parts. The first part will discuss each of their first-round matchups. This was covered in our initial NCAA preview writeup, so you can skip it or get a refresher. 

The second part will go into a little more depth about what would happen after the first round given a win or a loss. Finally, the third part will include their new NCAA hype video in the cool Thug Life format. You might notice a cameo in one of the videos from King Jeremy Hunter. 

So, let's start with Edmond Ruth's bracket:

174.  EDMOND RUTH

PART ONE

The first-round matchup for Ruthless is Phillip Conigliaro of Harvard. The Crimson wrestler is in his fourth season starting, and he made it to the Round of 12 last year at 165. He's had a little less success at 174. His 11-6 record this time around doesn't come close to his 22-6 and 31-7 seasons at the lower weight. 

Wrestlestat.com is predicting a 6-5 win for the good guy, and it also indicates that Edmond is 9-2 against common opposition, while Conigliaro is 6-2. This year, the Harvard lad has lost to the #16 wrestler (by major), #43, #17, #8, #56 and had a medical forfeit. He did beat #14 Michael O'Malley and #17 Nick Incontrera in the EIWA tournament. 

But at the same tournament was when he lost by major to the #16 wrestler and lost a decision to #43. 

The one thing you can say for sure about this Harvard Crimson is that he must not be good at turning or cheap tilts. His bonus percentage for his career is 13.95%. But up at 174, it has dropped to 5.88%. 

PART TWO

Moving past the Harvard lad, Edmond will most likely face an-already old nemesis in Bailee O'Reilly of Minnesota. This would be their third match with the Gopher taking the first two. 

The two losses to O'Reilly have both been by two points. The first was 4-6 at the dual, and the second was 2-4 and came at the BTT. O'Reilly has a huge leg brace on, but has shown himself to still have some quicks. 

Edmond will need to defend that speedy single-leg attempt and be ready to re-switch or follow on top. This is O'Reilly's sixth year in the Gopher lineup and third year starting. He qualified for the NCAA tournament twice before, but one was the Covid year. The other was last year, and he was two and BBQ. Admittedly, he had a pretty tough draw. 

Get past O'Reilly, and Edmond will be in a battle between Pennsylvania legends. Ruthless versus Carter Starocci. The Nittany Lion will be favored here, for sure, as he only has two career losses and seventy-five wins. 

Lose in the second round against O'Reilly, and Edmond would have either Sal Perrine of Ohio (22-7), Mickey O'Malley of Drexel (15-4) or Rocky Jordan of Chattanooga (19-2). Perrine is the 26th Seed, O'Malley is likely still injured and has nineteen matches on the year, and we remember Ruth beating Rocky Jordan 5-2 in the dual. 

His prospects are good for a win. 

A loss in the first round would likely mean the loser of the match between Nick Incontrera or Bailey O'Reilly. Ruthless has beaten Penn's Incontrera in each of their two matches: This year at the Midlands 4-1, and last year at the ILLINOIS Matmen Open by the score of 4-3.

PART THREE

Part three is the fun part. This is when we unveil the NCAA hype video for Edmond Ruth. It is done in the cool Thug Life style. Here you go:

  

184.  DYLAN CONNELL

PART ONE

As the #23 seed, Dylan will face Travis Wittlake of Oklahoma State in the first round. The Cowboy is the #10 seed and sports a 19-5 record. The wrestlestat.com algorithm is calling for a 9-3 win for the bad guy. Connell will have to rely on his strength and will need to protect his legs against this foe, as Wittlake wrestled at 165 last season.

Of course, the Cowboy is most famous for his run a couple of years ago at 165, where he came from the ten seed to finish fourth at the NCAA tournament. 

This is his fifth year in the Cowboy lineup and his fourth year as a starter. As noted previously, he started three years at 165. This is Wittlake's third NCAA tournament, placing fourth two years ago with that crazy run and earning Covid AA status the year before that. 

Against common opposition, Connell is 1-6, while Wittlake is 3-4. Dylan did as good or better than his rival in a few of those losses. It looks like the Cowboy will rely heavily on takedowns, as his bonus percentage has dropped off considerably since moving up in weight. He's got a career 25.66% bonus rate, but up at 184, he's 16.67%. 

PART TWO

Get past Wittlake, and the ILLINOIS schoolboy four-timer would likely be matched up with Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech. Bolen is the seven seed and sports a 19-5 record. Dylan is 5-10 versus common opponents while Bolen is 18-6. 

Bolen is 112-30 in his career, and he's made it to the Big Party, well, this will be his fifth time. He is a one-time All American. 

Lose the match against Bolen in the second round, and Connell would likely face either Cade King of South Dakota State (19-9) or Brian Bonino of Drexel (21-8). Connell lost 2-4 to King at the UNI Open last year. I think the Jackrabbit would see a totally different Dylan Connell in this tournament. 

Connell whupped Bonino 10-4 in the Tiger Style Invite this year. (I'm pretty sure some clips of it are in the hype video below). 

Lose in the first round, and the ILLINI would likely get David Key of Navy (21-9). Key made it to the Round of 16 two years ago but didn't qualify last year. Interestingly enough, he lost in this year's EIWA tournament to Brian Bonino, the guy Dylan trounced at the Tiger Style Invite. 

PART THREE

Again, you will find that Part Three is where the party begins. Here you have a Dylan Connell NCAA hype video with a special guest appearance from an ILLINI Assistant Coach:

 

BYRD v. ORINE (Trial Day Two)

Beginning where we left off in Day One ...

Lucas Byrd is 16-7 while Kai Orine is 10-10 against common opponents. I would ask members of this supposed jury to consider that. Last season, Byrd was 5th in the nation. Orine made Round of 16. The year before that Byrd was also 5th, while Orine didn't even start for NC State.

And the guy who beat Orine 18-4 this year is 0-2 versus Byrd. I think, in closing, the members of this supposed jury are smart enough to realize:

(1) The Seeding Committee has to take history into account. Otherwise, they will give the third seed to a guy like Aaron Brooks again in the future. Or, give the #5 seed to a one-time Round of 16 fellow with a worse record than the two-time AA with a better record. 

(2) Don't seed anybody as high as #5 who has given up 18 points in a match.

(3) Use common sense.

(4) Lucas Byrd is a wrestler from Ohio, but Byrd wrestles for the University of ILLINOIS. Now, think about that. That does not make sense! Why would a wrestler from Ohio - a 133 pound wrestler - want to live in Champaign with a bunch of ILLINI? That does not make sense! What does that have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! None of this makes sense. If Lucas Byrd wrestles for ILLINOIS, you must acquit!