ILLINOIS VS. SIUE PREVIEW

 

WHAT: ILLINI v. SIUE Dual

WHERE: First Community Arena, Edwardsville, ILLINOIS

WHEN: Saturday, November 2nd, 6:00 pm (Central)

TV/STREAMING: ESPN+

HISTORY: ILLINI 9-0 since 2002

UPDATE ON STREAMING

According to both the ILLINI and SIUE websites, the match will be streamed on ESPN+. So, if you got ESPN, you can watch, but you better log in now because it's a hassle. If you don't, you can go here and purchase a month for $11.99.

UPDATE ON LINEUPS

Southern ILLINOIS came out with an article about their lineup after wrestle-offs, going weight by weight. There will be some changes. We will add those below. For example, it appears that Drew Davis will get the start at 125 because the true Freshman won the wrestle-off.  

THE START OF THE SEASON

Both the ILLINI and SIUE have just completed wrestle-offs. Seniors have graduated and new faces have arrived. The rookies will be discussed below in the individual matchups. Whether ready or not, the season starts on Saturday. The fans are ready to see what this ILLINI team can do. 

WHY WE LOVE SIUE

Yeah, we know. This space is usually reserved for why we HATE the other team. But SIUE is our little brother. When he was tiny, we bounced him on our knee and made faces so he would giggle. Sure, by the time we got to high school, we let him know not to approach us in the hallway, and even gave him the WTF-Are-You-Even-Doing look when he tried to interrupt us in front of our school locker. But do we really hate SIUE? 

No.

Not yet. Maybe someday. If they keep getting better, and we expect that they will, then we will focus the energy of a billion atomic bombs of hate at the Cougars. 

A DAY IN HISTORY

On January 8, 2010, the top grossing movie was Avatar. On the radio, it was Kei$ha with Tik Tok, while on the television, you could choose from a lineup that included Bones, Supernanny, Ghost Whisperer or Smallville. The top selling video game hardware was the wii, while the hot game was the New Super Mario Brothers for wii. 

Seems like a crappy day to us. 

But fear not ILLINI fans, there was magic in the air that evening, as the ILLINI Wrestling team entertained their fans at Huff Hall with a 48-0 win over the SIUE Cougars. This is how your Orange and Blue heroes got the job done:

125: John Deneen (ILL) pinned Kris Treat (SIUE), 3:46 (6-0)
133: Daryl Thomas (ILL) forfeit win (12-0)
141: #13 Ryan Prater (ILL) tech fall Eric Biehl (SIUE) 17-1 (3:47) (17-0)
149: Eric Terrazas (ILL) dec. Kyle Lowman (SIUE) 7-4 (21-0)
157: Conrad Polz (ILL) maj. dec. Nick Jones (SIUE) 14-5 (25-0)
165: Joe Barczak (ILL) maj. dec. Steve Ross (SIUE) 15-4 (29-0)
174: #15 Jordan Blanton (ILL) pinned Blake Reed (SIUE), 3:58 (35-0)
184: #2 John Dergo (ILL) pinned Tim Mahoney (SIUE), 3:18 (41-0)
197: #10 Patrick Bond (ILL) maj. Dec. Robert Cooney (SIUE), 17-4 (45-0)
HWT: Martin Smith (ILL) dec. David Devine (SIUE) 10-5 (48-0)

Did you notice the ILLINI wrestler at 133? Great wrestler. Great coach. Great recruiter and ...

We hope everybody realizes that we're joking. SIUE Associate Head Coach Thomas is a winner. So is Head Coach Jeremy Spates. We're looking forward to a great rivalry in the future. 

THE TEAM MATCHUP

According to Wrestlestat.com, the ILLINI are the #13 ranked dual team in the country. That source has SIUE as the #56 dual team. According to Intermat, the Orange and Blue show up as the #12 dual team, while the Cougars don't make the top thirty. 

The algorithm at Wrestlestat.com has the ILLINI winning this dual 34-0. Last season, this was a 28-7 win for the O&B under the lights and on stage. Hopefully, the Cougars have something special planned as well. This was that dual's scoreboard:

125:	Justin Cardani (ILL) dec. Davian Guanajuato (SIUE), 4-1	ILL 3 I SIUE 0
133:	Marcel Lopez (SIUE) dec. Kole Brower (ILL), 5-3	ILL 3 I SIUE 3
141:	Danny Pucino (ILL) tech. fall Danny Martinez (SIUE), 19-4 (5:46)	ILL 8 I SIUE 3
149:	Caleb Tyus (SIUE) major dec. Jake Harrier (ILL), 9-1	ILL 8 I SIUE 7
157:	Joe Roberts (ILL) dec. Brock Woodcock (SIUE), 4-0	ILL 11 I SIUE 7
165:	Luke Odom (ILL) dec. Bradley Gilllum (SIUE), 8-6	ILL 14 I SIUE 7
174:	Edmond Ruth (ILL) major dec. Dom Lopez (SIUE), 20-6	ILL 18 I SIUE 7
184:	Dylan Connell (ILL) dec. Deron Pulliam (SIUE), 5-4	ILL 21 I SIUE 7
197:	Isiah Pettigrew (ILL) dec. Ryan Yarnell (SIUE), 10-6	ILL 24 I SIUE 7
285:	Luke Luffman (ILL) major dec. Bryson Buhk (SIUE), 15-4	ILL 28 I SIUE 7

THE INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS

The rankings next to the wrestler are from Wrestlestat.com. We learned of SIUE wrestle-off results from killdozer at the Intermat forums. 

125. #21 Ramazan Attasauov v. #76 Davian Guanajuato. We expect Coach Poeta to give Ramazan some "weight breaks" during the year. He has wrestled at 133 for 5 or 6 seasons. The O&B have #118 Caelan Riley ready if necessary. He's wrestling better than that ranking. 

Justin Cardani beat Guanajuato 4-1 last year. We expect the margin could be greater against Ramazan in his first official ILLINI match. However, we could see ILLINOIS schoolboy Drew Davis in the lineup here. Although we expect him to eventually redshirt, he did beat Guanajuato in the wrestle-off. 

Wrestlestat.com is calling for an 11-4 Ramazan win over Guanajuato. We can see that. 

UPDATE: It appears that Drew Davis will get the start. He's a tough kid, but Ramazan will still likely be at or near the borderline for a major here. Moreover, Attasauov can ask his teammate Joey Ruzic for tips on wrestling Davis, as those two had a storied rivalry in high school. 

133. #6 Lucas Byrd v. #66 Marcel Lopez. We think Lopez is a very good wrestler. He did beat Kole Brower in the dual 5-3 last season. We don't think he is anywhere good enough to beat Byrd. 

Wrestlestat predicts a 9-3 win for Lucas, and that's really not too far-fetched, as Lopez kept it to within 5 points against Nasir Bailey later in the season last year. 

As an aside, when you have young guns like Lopez, Davis, Almarinez, Nosler, Woodcock and Gillum, you can envision a nice nucleus taking shape for future Cougar teams. 

141. #36 Danny Pucino v. #92 Danny Martinez. This was a tech fall in the dual last year, but Wrestlestat.com is calling for an 11-7 Pucino win this time. In defense of Martinez, that was his first match ever as a redshirt true Freshman. 

The real question here is who will wrestle for the ILLINI. We expected a wrestle-off match between Pucino and Will Baysingar, but it didn't materialize. That signals to us that somebody was injured. Besides Baysingar, the ILLINI have other options available. 

149. #9 Kannon Webster v. #46 Eric Almarinez. We think the Cougar will end up being a good wrestler for SIUE. He had a 23-10 record last season as a redshirt Freshman and represented his school in their conference tournament. 

On the other hand, his best win against a D1 opponent was over the #40 wrestler. Then, he lost to that guy later in the year. We think the major decision that Wrestlestat.com has come up with is reasonable.

UPDATE: Hayden Whidden might get the start here. He was a close winner over Almarinez in the wrestle-off. Coach Spates indicated that Whidden was hampered by injuries last year. He was also hampered by Kannon Webster, who scored a 21-6 Tech Fall in 4:22 against him at the Greyhound Open. 

157. #21 Jason Kraisser v. #63 Brock Woodcock. We think both of these wrestlers are undervalued in these rankings. Woodcock, if he isn't already, will likely be the best Cougar on the team this year. He wrestled against ILLINOIS four times last season, and the only time a wrestler in the O&B got his hand raised was the early season dual when Joe Roberts was not yet injured.

The Cougar was a four-time State Champ in Missouri. 

It is going to be a long season predicting match results for Kraisser. He's had three years with a bonus percentage at 50% or over. His ability to wrestle on the mat and secure pinfalls can be unpredictable. So, for this dual, we'll go with the 8-5 ILLINI win prognosticated by Wrestlestat.com. 

(But if we were betting, we'd bet the over.). 

INTERMISSION VIDEO

Here's video from last year's dual in Champaign in a theatre and on stage:

165. #51 Braeden Scoles v. #138 Bradley Gillum. Both teams had some crazy wrestle-offs at this weight. In the video above, you see former ILLINI Luke Odom get the winning takedown against Bradley Gillum. He transferred during the off season to SIUE and recently lost two close matches in the Cougar wrestle-offs. 

At ILLINOIS, Scoles had a crazy wrestle-off with wins over last year's true Freshman starter and National Qualifier Chris Moore. He also beat a really tough Caden Ernd. 

Gillum is an ILLINOIS high school product, but Wrestlestat.com is giving the match to the Wisconsin 4xer Scoles by the score of 11-5. We think Braeden is seriously undervalued in the rankings, and he'll have a chance to prove that here with a bonus point or two. 

174. #15 Danny Braunagel v. #89 Dominic Lopez. The Cougars have a number of good wrestlers at 165, but there's a bit of a hole at 174. In fact, Wrestlestat.com has Lopez starting in this spot even though he lost the wrestle-off for the 165 spot in a close one. The rest of their guys at 174 aren't as good as Lopez, so like Wrestlestat.com, we expect him to wrestle up a weight here. 

The bad news is that Danny Braunagel is waiting. 

Little Brawny and twin Zac will have some serious friends and family attending this meet, as Belleville is about 30 minutes from Edwardsville. Danny wrestled a teammate who is better than the SIUE starter last Thursday and majored him. That's what Wrestlestat.com is predicting: A major. We think it could be a tech or pinfall.

UPDATE: Griffin Ray will get the start for the Cougars. He was a Top 100 recruit and 1x Missouri State Champ. After a year at Nebraska, he transferred to SIUE. His last match as a Cornhusker was a major decision loss to another Nebraska backup, which explains the transfer. 

184. #4 Edmond Ruth v. #49 Deron Pulliam. This was a close 5-4 win for Dylan Connell in the dual last season. Pulliam is a big guy, and it will serve as a useful tool to see how Edmond will react to a strong opponent up a weight at 184. 

Pulliam's best win after two years in college is over the #65 wrestler at the weight. Wrestlestat.com is calling for a 7-4 win for the good guy. Connell executed a strong double-leg takedown for the winning margin in his match with Pulliam. Edmond is pretty good at those as well. 

197. #9 Zac Braunagel v. #73 Nick Nosler. Like some of the other guys on the Cougar team, we enjoyed watching Nosler wrestle for Team ILLINOIS over the Summer. The Brawlnagel, though, is a war machine, and he just beat a wrestler ranked higher than Nosler by major in the ILLINI wrestle-offs. 

In the video above, you can see that teammate, Isiah Pettigrew, get the win over veteran Ryan Yarnell of SIUE. Nosler has to fill those shoes for the Cougars, and it should be a rough start with Big Brawny looking so sharp. Wrestlestat.com is calling for a major decision, and that or more is certainly possible. 

285. #16 Luke Luffman v. #98 Bryson Buhk. These two met last season in the dual with Luuuke coming away with the 15-4 major decision. Wrestlestat.com is predicting a 12-3 major as well. 

But, you know what, my friends? We haven't seen a Luke Luffman like the Luke Luffman who wrestled in the recent wrestle-offs. Always agile, he's even quicker than before. He's added some new tricks, and they aren't super fancy one-off moves, but riding and takedown techniques that he can use over and over again. 

We think that a major decision is the floor for this match.