ILLINI NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

WHO:  Edmond Ruth, Chris Moore & Danny Pucino

WHAT:  NCAA Division One Wrestling Championships

WHEN:  Thursday, March 21 at 11:00 am (Central)

WHEN2: Friday, March 22 at 11:00 am (Central)

WHEN3: Saturday, March 23 at 10:00 am (Central); Finals at 6:00 pm

WHERE:  T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri

TV/STREAMING:  ESPN/ESPNU/ESPN+

UPDATE: SEVENTH-PLACE MATCH

EDMOND RUTH faced fifth-year Senior and four-time national qualifier Ben Pasiuk of Army in the final match of the ILLINI's season. Pasiuk had made the Round of 16 in a previous season and was, of course, an AA this year. 

Edmond finished his season with a win doing what Edmond Ruth does, with a body lock (and a couple of other takedowns) in a 16-6 major decision victory. He showed toughness to wake up on Saturday, make weight, tie up his shoes and beat an Army badass in the morning of the third day:

UPDATE: THE BLOOD ROUND

ILLINI Wrestler EDMOND RUTH faced the trickster, MJ Gaitan of Iowa State in the blood round. It was Gaitan with the takedown in the first period. Edmond answered with two takedowns of his own. 

Then, with :11 to go in the match, the trickster chain wrestles a very unique set of moves: A Flying Squirrel followed immediately by an attempted headlock throw, then a Tomoe Nage, which is a Judo throw going to your back and throwing your opponent's body over your head (like a Gator Bacon). 

UPDATE THROUGH QUARTERFINALS

Ruth had beaten him twice during the year, but it was 1-1 in Sudden Victory when Rocco Welsh scored the takedown to win against EDMOND RUTH in the quarters. The Buckeye moves on to the semifinals. 

Edmond will have to win one match to earn All-American honors. 

In the blood round, the ILLINI will have the winner between #8 seed muscle-bound Adam Kemp from Cal Poly (Fifth-place in IHSA State for Fremd, then Fresno State, then a transfer to Cal Poly) and #15 seed trickster/technical wrestler MJ Gaitan of Iowa State.

So, Edmond will face a guy who had to wrestle an extra, pressure-filled match before having to deal with the Orange and Blue star.

An update inside the update: In a satisfyingly long and tiring match, MJ Gaitan won a 13-8 match over Kemp. Gaitan showed himself to be vulnerable to the double leg takedown in the match.  

UPDATE THROUGH SESSION TWO

The fact that the three best ILLINI gas tanks and three most aggressive wrestlers made it to the NCAA tournament is not lost on us. DANNY PUCINO is aggressive in his attacks, CHRIS MOORE is aggressive in his defense, and EDMOND RUTH is aggressive in his demonstrative finishes. They'll all be back and can serve as examples in the room for what needs to be done to punch your ticket.

 

Cleveland Belton of Oregon State is a monster 141lber. He was a couple of inches taller than DANNY PUCINO and probably had six inches in wingspan. The Beaver won 20-8. Danny will need to add some strength in the off season to be able to handle these bigger guys. 

Even given the final wide scoring margin, it was within three during the third period, and it really looked like Pucino was going to break him. A couple of mistakes with suplexes or Gator Bacons led to the Beaver's scores. 

CHRIS MOORE put together a valiant effort against Caleb Fish but lost in overtime. I hope to never see another suplay from Pucino or Moore. (Perhaps one of Danny's was a Gator Bacon). Still, these guys are young and hungry and will be back next year. 

The ILLINI have a Quarterfinalist in EDMOND RUTH. He beat Alex Cramer of CMU 2-1 based on an escape and a stalling point. Like we thought, these guys are running and hiding from Edmond's underhooks. Cramer added a new twist by wrestling from a knee, attempting to take away the ILLINI's double-leg takedown. 

Never get into a fight with a Sicilian when death is on the line, and never get into a one-point match with Edmond Ruth when advancement is in question.

Edmond has Rocco Welsh of Ohio State in the quarterfinals. Of course, the ILLINI has two wins over him during the year. The thing about those wins is that Edmond showed an uncanny ability to win both on the mat (the dual) and on his feet (B1G tourney). Ruth is a complete wrestler.  

UPDATE WITH RESULTS FROM SESSION ONE

At 141, DANNY PUCINO had his best match with Brock Hardy yet. It was a loss, but it was about .005 second away from a win if he'd'a been just a little quicker with a reverse half while Hardy was on his back. Later in the match, he again came close to a pin--but not as close as that first attempt. 

He faces Cleveland Belton 18-8 from Oregon State in the first round of the consolation bracket. Belton gave Sergio Lemley a dogfight in the first round, so this should be a good one. 

CHRIS MOORE at 165 was wrestling the perfect first period against Dean Hamiti. He clubbed the Badger's head from left to right and moved sideways like a boxer. Then, he swooped in for the first takedown of the match. Hamiti escaped and seemed a little stunned. He got the takedown off of Chris, but they were locked in tight collar ties for a time after that, and I thought the ILLINI had a chance. 

It wasn't to be. 

His next match will be with Caleb Fish of MSU. Wow! Haven't these guys seen enough of each other? The previous matches have been low-scoring and close (1-0) and (4-2) for Fish and high-scoring and close (11-10) for Moore. Should be a good one. 

It was EDMOND RUTH'S time at 174, and he needed all of the third period to get the winning takedown against Myles Takats. It was a high crotch that Edmond switched to a double with :13 left in the period. I told y'all that the Bucknell Bison kid looked like a Freshman Zac Brunson. 

The playbook that the Bucknell coaching staff thought up involved this: Run away from Edmond's underhooks. If Ruth got one underhook deep, then grab the other hand before he can slip that one in. Takats got called for stalling (should've been more than once), but we're hoping to see the ILLINI make these guys pay for their running and hiding, especially with a solid reattack when they finally do take a shot. Also, wear them out running away and cost them multiple stall warnings. 

In the next round, Edmond Ruth will face Alex Cramer of Central Michigan. This was a tech fall victory for the Orange and Blue at the dual back on November 19, 2023. 

UPDATE FOR DANNY PUCINO FANS

Vince Cornella has withdrawn from the wrestling tournament the day before it is supposed to start. That impacted the ILLINI because Cornella was at 141, and so Danny Pucino moves up one seed line to #24. 

Ignore the Moneyball for Danny below. 

Instead of the original opponent drawn for him, Pucino will face Brock Hardy of Nebraska, the #9 seed. Here is the new re-drawn bracket:

Hardy has a 2-0 record against the ILLINI with a fall most recently in the dual and a tech fall in last season's dual. The Cornhusker is the one with the skinhead; he likes to ride legs and looks for a cradle at all times. 

Like Voltaire, we want the best of all possible worlds, and, in this case, that is probably Danny getting off quickly with a take down and holding Hardy down for as long as he can, using as much effort as he needs to use. 

So far in their matches, it has been Hardy getting off first then resorting to a punishing ride. If Pucino can get that first quick takedown, maybe he can turn it into a gas tank match?

Hardy spent the last week preparing for Vince Cornella, so he'll have to make adjustments as well.  

HOW TO WATCH

If you have ESPN on your teevee, you will need to turn it on and choose the correct channel that displays ESPN at the right time. If you have the Disney Bundle or Hulu, you should have access to the streams. You can purchase a monthly subscription to ESPN+ for $10.99 at this link. Be sure to cancel as soon as the tournament is over. 

THE ILLINI

Three ILLINI Wrestlers will represent the Orange & Blue in Kansas City at the NCAA D1 tournament: Danny Pucino, Chris Moore and Edmond Ruth. We have prepared a hype video for each of them, and we'll drop a new one every day starting today with Danny Pucino. 

We also look at first-round opponents for each, as well as provide a copy of their bracket. Since the athletes aren't supposed to look past the first round, we'll take a Moneyball look at their first-round opponents. 

#25 DANNY PUCINO

In the final Coaches Ranking, Danny showed up at #26. His RPI was up at #18. As for a first round opponent, that would be fellow ILLINOIS schoolboy Sergio Lemley of Michigan, who has the #8 seed. 

Both of these wrestlers have gas tanks, but Pucino's might be the best in college. Likewise, they both love the technical and tricky holds. That's why some of Danny's opponents get "PUCINO'D." Lemley especially loves to reach back and grab a leg on his reversal attempts from bottom. 

Danny will also throw everything at his opponents.

Lemley isn't much of a shin-whizzer guy, and because of that, gives up singles to high-level and patient opponents like Beau Bartlett and Kannon Webster. He has big wins over Brock Hardy, Real Woods and Mitch Moore (x2). His losses are to Woods, Hardy, Bartlett (x2), Tagen Jameson of Okie State and Cael Happel of UNI. He also started off the season with a 7-11 loss to Northwestern's Joel Vandervere. Hmmm. 

The advantages for Danny Pucino could include gas tank and time-of-weigh-in concerns. Lemley is a pretty big 141lber. Doors are supposed to open to the arena at 9:30, but perhaps weigh-ins will take place before that. Wrestling starts at 11:00 (Eastern) with Danny having the #46 match with many of the matches ending quickly because of the seed mis-matches (and the new three-point rule). 

Danny could wrestle before Noon or thereabouts.

The Michigander (he is dead to us) likes to slap the top and the side of the head for timing, and he will poke folks in the eye. He hasn't quite mastered the Lucas Byrd reversal, but he will reach behind, grab a leg and roll, and he'll hit a standard switch. 

MONEYBALL

We have done a cursory Moneyball look at six of the Wolverine's matches. They include matches he has won and lost and stretch back to high school (according to Coach Medlin, habits, including good and bad, die hard). The matches involved Real Woods, Beau Bartlett, Brock Hardy, Kannon Webster, Mitch Moore and Vincent Robinson. This is the data we pulled:

Also, note that almost all of his escapes from bottom position involved stand-ups, and nearly all of them involved standing up with the leg opposite the ride (e.g. That's a good foot to grab in short time.). Opponents scored against him via spin behinds (x2), singles (x2), reversals (x3), ankle pick (x1), double leg (x1) and escapes (x7).

Lemley is a prolific attempter, but is not really successful that often with his takedowns. This is evidenced by 25 matches and four tech falls. The eighth seed at 133 and 149 have both wrestled fewer matches and have more tech falls. Swiderski at 149 has seven this year. Lemley does ride well and has caught people unawares three times with his cradles in the matches we surveyed. 

#28 CHRIS MOORE

Chris finished up at #27 in the Coaches rankings with no RPI even though he wrestled 15 guys who were ranked in the RPI with wins against three of them. His first round match is against Wisconsin's Dean Hamiti, another clash of ILLINOIS schoolboy stars. 

The key to beating Hamiti is found in the videos of the Badger's matches with Cameron Amine of Michigan. Hamiti is 0-3 against him and has averaged 3.33 points in those matches. It is hard to keep good position against the Wisconsinite, but that's what you have to do and what Amine did.

Amine was able to keep Hamiti at bay by constantly pushing his head to the side, using violent throw-bys, and tying him up with tight collar ties and underhooks.  

In the dual this season, the Badger did pin Moore, but the true Freshman actually did a number of things right before that. What he didn't do right was take bad shots from distance that Hamiti used for his reattacks. 

For example, three of the five takedowns he got against Tyler Lillard were off of reattacks. It was just as bad for Bryce Hepner of Ohio State. Bad shots lead to points for Hamiti. Even Mike Caliendo got caught because of a bad shot. 

In his wins against the Joliet Catholic product, Cam Amine rarely took shots and then only did so if there was a wide opening or a mistake by his opponent. This cost him stall warnings, but it won him the matches. When not throwing around Hamiti or pushing his head side to side or using an underhook or front headlock to control him, the Wolverine moved from side to side like a boxer.

We have gathered data from seven of Hamiti's matches including those with Amine (x2), Bryce Hepner, Antrell Taylor, Tyler Lillard, Mikey Caliendo and Chris Moore himself. We used that data to create this Moneyball look: 

The issue of weight management might not be a big deal here. Chris Moore is very solid, and he wrestled in high school at 170 last season. Although Hamiti seems to have gotten a lot bigger in the past couple of years, their match will be #96, which should put them more than two hours after weigh-ins possibly more or much more. 

The keys to a very competitive match include: Hamiti wants you to shoot when you don't want to shoot. Be patient. Keep moving him violently, and keep moving yourself side to side. He wants you to shoot, get stuck underneath, then he can use his long arms to break you down, then break your lock on his leg for the reattack takedown. 

#3 EDMOND RUTH

Edmond finished up #5 in the Coaches Ranking with a tough #3 RPI. His opponent is Myles Takats of Bucknell, the #30 seed with a 24-14 record as a true Freshman. Since he's relatively unknown, we need some biography on the dude. 

Takats is a two-time finalist at the state of Ohio high school tournament. He won at 175 last year, and finished runner-up the year before at 165. Strange but true: The year before that he did not place at 126. 

He bumped up a lot of weight in one year!

He does have a third-place at Ironman on his resume. This is a really good get for the Bucknell Bison wrestling team. He'll probably transfer to Michigan as a Senior. Wrestlestat.com currently has him at #41.

 

He started off the season with a 7-1 win over DJ Shannon of MSU. His best win this year was against the #46 wrestler from Chattanooga. He has the following losses to guys who Edmond has beaten: Danny Wask, Navy, 2-6; Brody Baumann, Purdue, 5-9; Nick Incontrera 2-6 and 1-4. 

Takats had three wins and three losses at the EIWA tournament. That Sixth-place finish earned him an auto bid. 

He is a meat and potatoes wrestler. Almost all basic fundamental wrestling. He did wrestle from his knees a number of times, but that was more in response to his opponent doing that. He also has a nice over-collar shrug-by that isn't too common. 

Otherwise, it is your standard fare. Good old fashioned switches from the bottom, almost exclusively collar ties up top, and single, double, throw-by and spin-behind attempts for takedowns.

We gathered data from seven of his matches for our Moneyball look. Some of these matches were from his high school state finals series, and one match was Rocco Welsh teching him in the first period at Junior Nationals. 

His opponents included Welsh (Freestyle), Nick Incontreras (x2 at EIWA tournament), Brayden Thompson (OSU, ended early b/c of injury), Jarrel Miller (x2 at high school state and district finals) and Jeremy Olszko (high school semis). Here's the Moneyball look:

I think a good comparison would be to a Freshman Zac Brunson. He's going to be good, maybe one day really good like Zac was, but he's still young. He did look to be in very good shape and spirits even for his fifth-place EIWA tournament match. He's lost his baby fat.

In the Moneyball graphics, there is a pie chart for turns and tilts. These are attempted turns and tilts. Takats attempted a total of five tilts/turns and did not receive any swipes in all of those matches. He's not a tilter.